Duda Blog

Duda study finds AI-optimized websites drive 320% more traffic to local businesses

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 12:22:37 GMT

Boulder, CO., April 16, 2026 - Small businesses don’t compete with the web, they compete with the little shop around the corner. However, according to a new study, that competition largely plays out online. Duda , a leading white label website building platform for agencies and SaaS companies, found that AI-crawled sites generate 320% more human traffic, 270% more form submissions, and 250% more click-to-call events than non-crawled sites.

Additionally Duda analyzed what, exactly, made LLMs crawl some websites and not others, and identified five major tweaks that SMBs can make without the aid of complicated tools and expensive consultants. More than 99% of U.S. businesses are small to medium sized and rely heavily on local SEO to drive people to their shops. With projections that AI search will overtake traditional search by 2028, local businesses need to increase their Answer Engine Optimization (AEO).

Local AEO will replace Local SEO by 2028

Local SEO is one of the highest intent searches possible, and the bread and butter of many agency SEO services. Research shows that 76% of local searches result in same-day store visits, 80% of U.S. consumers search for local businesses weekly, and 32% do so daily. Together, 46% of all Google searches have local intent.

Local AEO builds upon all of this by allowing consumers to conduct far more specific questions than ever before, such as, “What’s the best mechanic near me that specializes in hybrid vehicles?” Even consumers who still ‘Google it’ are receiving answers generated by LLMs with integrated Google’s AI Overviews.

Five must-haves for Local AEO

Duda’s study of more than 850,000 websites with 69M AI crawler visits found that sites with blogs, local schema, GBP synchronization, and dynamic pages are crawled 400% more than the median site built on Duda.

Each blog post is associated with a 7% increase in crawler visits, and signals fresh, relevant content. Implementing local schema, namely clearly laying out a businesses’ key information such as address and opening hours, helps search engines and AI crawlers understand and find it better. Synchronizing a Google Business Profile ensures that crawlers see consistent and accurate local business information across the web. Dynamically generating content from data, like pages for services or locations, encourages deeper crawling by providing more specific information more clearly and in a more structured way.

Additionally, the number of pages in a website also improves performance, with each additional page associated with a 4% increase in crawler visits .

“For years, local visibility meant ranking on a search results page. Now it means being included in the answer itself. That’s a major shift, and a big opportunity for small businesses that invest in the right foundation online,” said Oded Ouaknine, CRO of Duda. “Local businesses that provide clear, structured, and trustworthy information online will be the ones AI platforms recommend to customers.”

“This is a moment where agencies and SaaS platforms have a responsibility to lead. If we build the right tools and best practices now, we can help millions of businesses stay relevant as the web evolves,” said Itai Sadan, CEO and Co-Founder of Duda.

About Duda

Duda is a leading white-label web-building platform for digital agencies, SaaS platforms, and web professionals offering web design services to SMBs. From its industry-leading AI Assistant to advanced API-driven automation workflows, Duda offers web professionals a comprehensive suite of tools to build pixel-perfect, feature-rich websites efficiently and at scale–all on a flexible platform that can be fully customized to match their go-to-market strategy and ideal customer experience. As the top platform for Core Web Vitals, a critical metric for SEO performance, Duda makes it easy for web professionals to deliver a superior digital presence and outstanding performance to their customers under their own brand. More than 22,000 organizations have trusted Duda to build 1 million active websites. For more information, visit www.duda.co .

Core web vitals: What agencies need to know in 2026

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 14:55:28 GMT

Core Web Vitals aren't new, Google introduced them in 2020 and made them a ranking factor in 2021. But the questions keep coming, because the metrics keep changing and the stakes keep rising.

Reddit's SEO communities were still debating their impact as recently as January 2026, and for good reason: most agencies still don't have a clear, repeatable way to measure, diagnose, and fix them for clients.

This guide cuts through the noise. Here's what Core Web Vitals actually measure, what good scores look like today, and how to improve them—without needing a dedicated performance engineer on every project.

What Core Web Vitals measure

Google evaluates three user experience signals to determine whether a page feels fast, stable, and responsive:

Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) measures how long it takes for the biggest visible element on a page — usually a hero image or headline — to load. Google considers anything under 2.5 seconds good. Above 4 seconds is poor.
Interaction to Next Paint (INP) replaced First Input Delay (FID) in March 2024. Where FID measures the delay before a user's first click is registered, INP tracks the full responsiveness of every interaction across the page session. A good INP score is under 200 milliseconds.
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) measures visual stability — how much page elements unexpectedly move while content loads. A score below 0.1 is good. Higher scores signal that images, ads, or embeds are pushing content around after load, which frustrates users and tanks conversions.

These three metrics are a subset of Google's broader Page Experience signals, which also include HTTPS, safe browsing, and mobile usability. Core Web Vitals are the ones you can most directly control and improve.

Why your clients' scores may still be poor

Core Web Vitals scores vary dramatically by platform, hosting, and how a site was built. Some of the most common culprits agencies encounter:

Heavy above-the-fold content . A homepage with an autoplay video, a full-width image slider, and a chat widget loading simultaneously will fail LCP every time. The browser has to resolve all of those resources before it can paint the largest element.
Unstable image dimensions . When an image loads without defined width and height attributes, the browser doesn't reserve space for it. It renders the surrounding text, then jumps it down when the image appears. That jump is CLS.
Third-party scripts blocking the main thread . Analytics pixels, ad tags, and live chat tools run on the browser's main thread. When they stack up, every click and tap has to wait in line — driving INP scores up. A single slow third-party script can push an otherwise clean site into "needs improvement" territory.
Too many web fonts . Each font family and weight is a separate network request. A page loading four font files before rendering any text will fail LCP, especially on mobile connections.
Unoptimized images . JPEGs and PNGs served at full resolution, without compression or modern formats like WebP or AVIF, add unnecessary weight to every page load.

How to measure them accurately

There are two types of Core Web Vitals data you should be looking at for every client:

Lab data comes from tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, Lighthouse, and WebPageTest. It simulates page loads in controlled conditions. Lab data is useful for diagnosing specific issues and testing fixes before you deploy them.
Field data (also called Real User Monitoring, or RUM) comes from actual users visiting the site. Google collects this through the Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX) and surfaces it in Search Console and PageSpeed Insights. Field data is what Google actually uses as a ranking signal — and it often looks worse than lab data because it reflects real-world device and connection variability.

If your client's site has enough traffic, you'll see field data in Search Console under Core Web Vitals. This is your baseline. Lab data helps you understand why the scores are what they are.

For clients with low traffic who don't have enough field data to appear in CrUX, you'll be working primarily with lab scores. Set that expectation early so clients understand that improvements may not immediately show up in Search Console.

Practical fixes that move the needle

Fix LCP: get the hero image loading first

The single most effective LCP improvement is adding fetchpriority="high" to the hero image tag. This tells the browser to prioritize that resource over everything else. If you're using a background CSS image for the hero, switch it to an <img> element — background images aren't discoverable by the browser's preload scanner.

Also check whether your hosting serves images through a CDN with caching. Edge delivery dramatically reduces the time-to-first-byte, which feeds directly into LCP.

Fix CLS: define dimensions for every media element

Every image, video, and ad slot on the page needs explicit width and height attributes in the HTML. If you're using responsive CSS, you can still define the aspect ratio with aspect-ratio in CSS while leaving the actual size fluid. The key is giving the browser enough information to reserve space before the asset loads.

Avoid inserting content above existing content after page load. This is common with cookie banners, sticky headers that change height, and dynamically loaded ad units. If you need to show these, anchor them to fixed positions so they don't push content around.

Fix INP: reduce what's competing for the main thread

Audit third-party scripts and defer or remove anything that isn't essential. Tools like WebPageTest's waterfall view or Chrome DevTools Performance panel show you exactly which scripts are blocking the main thread and for how long.

Load chat widgets, analytics, and ad tags asynchronously and after the page's critical path has resolved. For most clients, moving non-essential scripts to load after the DOMContentLoaded event is a meaningful INP improvement with no visible impact on the user experience.

For websites with heavy JavaScript — particularly those built on frameworks with large client-side bundles — consider breaking up long tasks into smaller chunks using the browser's Scheduler API or simply splitting components so the main thread isn't locked for more than 50 milliseconds at a stretch.

What platforms handle automatically

One of the practical advantages of building on a platform optimized for performance is that many of these fixes are applied by default. Duda, for example, automatically serves WebP images, lazy loads below-the-fold content, minifies CSS, and uses efficient cache policies for static assets. As of May 2025, 82% of sites built on Duda pass all three Core Web Vitals metrics — the highest recorded pass rate among major website platforms.

That baseline matters when you're managing dozens or hundreds of client sites. It means you're starting each project close to or at a passing score, rather than diagnosing and patching a broken foundation.

How much do Core Web Vitals actually affect rankings?

Honestly, they're a tiebreaker — not a primary signal. Google has been clear that content quality and relevance still dominate ranking decisions. A well-optimized site with thin, irrelevant content won't outrank a content-rich competitor just because its CLS is 0.05.

What Core Web Vitals do affect is the user experience that supports those rankings. Pages with poor LCP scores have measurably higher bounce rates. Sites with high CLS lose users mid-session. Those behavioral signals — time on page, return visits, conversions — are things search engines can observe and incorporate.

The practical argument for fixing Core Web Vitals isn't just "because Google said so." It's that faster, more stable pages convert better. Every second of LCP improvement can reduce bounce rates by 15–20% depending on the industry and device mix. For client sites that monetize through leads or eCommerce, that's a revenue argument, not just an SEO argument.

A repeatable process for agencies

Audit every new site before launch. Run PageSpeed Insights and record LCP, INP, and CLS scores for both mobile and desktop. Flag anything in the "needs improvement" or "poor" range before the client sees the live site.
Check Search Console monthly for existing clients. The Core Web Vitals report surfaces issues as they appear in field data. Catching a regression early — before it compounds — is significantly easier than explaining a traffic drop after the fact.
Document what you've improved. Clients rarely see Core Web Vitals scores on their own. A monthly one-page performance summary showing before/after scores builds credibility and makes your technical work visible.
Prioritize mobile. Google uses mobile-first indexing, and field data shows that mobile CWV scores are almost always worse than desktop. If you only have time to optimize one version, do mobile first.

Core Web Vitals aren't a one-time fix. Platforms change, new scripts get added, campaigns bring in new widgets. Build the audit into your workflow and treat it like any other ongoing deliverable, and you'll stay ahead of the issues before they affect your clients' rankings.

Duda's platform is built with Core Web Vitals performance in mind. Explore how it handles image optimization, script management, and site speed automatically — so your team spends less time debugging and more time building.

Why systems, not tools, are the future of vertical SaaS

Tue, 31 Mar 2026 15:46:15 GMT

SaaS companies are feeling the pressure. Businesses are tired of paying for dozens of different services that don’t talk to each other, and are starting to demand to see clear ROI from every vendor they contract. Buyers today want fewer systems to manage, easier integrations to implement, and a bigger bang for every buck they spend on software subscriptions.

In 2025, organizations utilized roughly 54% of their SaaS licenses (up from the 47% license utilization of 2024), which translates into $19.8M in license waste for an average mid-market company — a hefty tax to pay for unnecessary complexity. But the numbers also hint that organizations are addressing this issue and reducing the expensive waste.

The consolidation trend is also visible in SaaS buying trends. The average B2B SaaS sales cycle has extended from 107 days in early 2022 to 134 days in 2025, a 25% increase as businesses weigh options and scrutinize vendor offerings before committing. And they are looking to commit, as more companies are looking for long-term relationships with vendors, with multi-year contracts now accounting for 40% of SaaS agreements, a dramatic increase from just 14% in 2022.

Especially in a time when vibe coding promises to let just about anyone build their own apps by simply describing what they need, SaaS companies need to rethink their growth strategies. To maintain your lead in a dynamic market, the next evolution isn't about just adding more features. It’s about the strategic transition from being a niche tool to becoming a Vertical Operating System (vOS), and the essential backbone that executes work (rather than just recording it).

Evolving from SaaS to vOS and the role of AI

For over a decade, SaaS tools functioned primarily as Systems of Records. They served as digital filing cabinets where various business data was fed manually to track business different functions across a growing number of tools. While these tools solved industry-specific problems, they often remained isolated, creating manual overhead.

Today, record-keeping is no longer enough. In 2026, buyers want a Vertical Operating System (vOS): a System of Action that doesn't just store data about work done but executes the work itself. In fact, in 2025, 59% of vertical SaaS companies were considered multi-product.

Harnessing the power of context

The most significant competitive moat for any vertical SaaS is in context and data - inventory, scheduling, and customer behavior you already enable. The trouble with many SaaS platforms is that they waste the power of context by trapping it in a narrow core product. A vOS activates this asset through Data Gravity , making your platform the central intelligence system for every business decision and action.

This is where product stickiness and retention co-exist with extensive interoperability with other tools. Systems that connect the core financial and operational workflows of an organization to functions of sales, marketing, purchasing, HR, and strategic decision-makers are not optional nice-to-have tools. They’re essential infrastructure that businesses are reluctant to replace.

AI as the intelligence layer

In 2026, it is safe to say that AI is no longer a shiny feature but often the component that turns tools into intelligent assistants. Buyers move away from exploratory copilots toward autonomous agents that perform multi-step tasks. When all the data lives in a single fabric, it enables proactive workflow automation that puts AI in the loop and reduces human copy-paste work between applications.

The vOS evolution: Before and after

Consider a gym that uses a SaaS to manage customer appointments with private trainers. The system is operated by the secretary of the gym, and is disconnected from all other systems. When a trainer calls in sick, the secretary will need to call up or email each of the customers whose appointment had to be canceled.

With a vOS, the process is simplified and automated. The sick employee marks their absence in a web application, and the system automatically notifies the secretary and manager, as well as all the clients affected. It might also offer the client the option to reschedule with another available trainer using the scheduling widgets on the gym website.

Building the vOS: Build, buy, or partner?

At this point you may be thinking: we can’t afford the risk of developing all that in-house. You’re not wrong. Developing sophisticated automation and vertical workflows from scratch is a massive financial burden. Simple SaaS applications now cost between $20,000 and $80,000 to develop, while complex, AI-integrated systems easily exceed $300,000 in initial R&D alone. For many SaaS providers such R&D resources are simply out of reach.

Instead, many SaaS leaders are opting for one of two growth strategies:

Strategic acquisitions : SaaS businesses are increasingly “ becoming the hunters ” and acquiring niche tools that solve adjacent problems (like a CRM buying a specialized document automation tool) to deepen their industry grip.
Embedded partnerships : The rise of feature-in-a-box technology providers lets SaaS platforms embed fully branded, AI-enabled capabilities (like website builders, fintech services, or user behavior analytics) without writing a single line of core code.

The data supports the attraction of third-party SaaS features as a service: 88% of SaaS companies that implement embedded fintech services report significantly higher customer engagement, and 85% report improved customer acquisition. With the right technology partners aboard, SaaS providers can transform into a vOS at a fraction of the cost.

The website builder opportunity

If you look at the Vertical OS as the digital brain of the business, then the website is the face. It’s the digital storefront and the primary online interface between the business and its clients. This means that businesses today require websites that are active participants in business workflows and connect seamlessly to the core stack (CRM, ERP, etc.) rather than static, standalone brochures.

For SaaS businesses, owning the digital storefront drives two notable business outcomes:

Faster revenue growth : Platforms offering integrated website builder services can potentially accelerate their revenue growth rate by 21%, and more than double their addressable market.
Superior retention : Websites are one of those must-have services that, when deeply integrated into business functions, can be nearly impossible (and exceptionally expensive) to replace. Vertical SaaS multi-product strategies that integrate the website builder onto the vOS can dramatically increase retention .

Winning the market with Duda’s embedded website builder

The future of vertical SaaS belongs to the platforms that run the business, not just record it.

As customers consolidate their tech stacks in 2026, they are shedding single-purpose tools in favor of comprehensive operating systems. Industry studies and forecasts make it clear that the path to growth in Vertical SaaS stems from smart expansion into multi-product strategies that build a vOS around the core product and leverage AI to enable deeper workflow automation.

If your platform holds the goldmine of context (inventory, staff, scheduling, and customer data), it only makes sense for businesses to build their website within that vOS. With Duda, website builder integration does not require a massive R&D pivot or extensive investment. By adopting a “ Crawl, Walk, Run ” strategy, you can integrate white-labled website builders into your vOS one step at a time.

If you’re ready to test the business case for an embedded website builder in your SaaS, drop us a line.

Maximizing SaaS growth with an API-driven website builder

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 16:18:26 GMT

Scalable growth for software companies depends on automating the repetitive elements of the customer lifecycle. Unsurprisingly, then, when a portion of your value proposition includes providing a professional web presence for every user, manual design and management become significant bottlenecks. Transitioning to an API-driven website builder reduces this friction, allowing your team to prioritize your core product rather than wasting time on tedious website upkeep.

By leveraging a robust partner API , you integrate website creation and maintenance directly into your existing software ecosystem. This approach allows you to acquire customers faster, reduce operational overhead, and provide a seamless experience that keeps users engaged with your platform.

Automating client management with API permissions and SSO

Managing a growing user base requires a system for access and security that does not rely on manual intervention. When you scale, your team cannot spend time creating login credentials or setting individual permissions for every new account. Integrating these functions via API ensures your administrative backend remains lean while providing clients with a professional experience.

Programmatic account provisioning and granular access

An API-driven workflow allows you to create client accounts the moment a user signs up for your SaaS product. This eliminates the delay between a purchase and the start of the onboarding process. Once an account exists, you use the API to assign specific permissions.

Permissions are not an all-or-nothing proposition. You define exactly what a client can see and do within the editor. For example, you might grant a client the ability to edit text and images while restricting their access to the site’s layout or developer mode. This protection ensures that clients keep their content fresh without accidentally breaking the site’s design. Automating these assignments provides a tailored experience that matches the technical skill level of each user.

Savvier platforms can leverage these permissions to create website tiers, unlocking advanced features, like AI and SEO auditing capabilities, as the end-user moves up the ladder. This, too, can be automated.

Frictionless access through Single Sign-On

Security is paramount, but the user experience remains the primary driver of retention. Requiring clients to remember separate credentials for their website editor creates friction and increases support tickets. Single Sign-On (SSO) solves this by allowing users to jump from your software directly into the editor without a second login.

When a user clicks a link in your dashboard, your system generates a secure, time-sensitive SSO link via the API. This link authenticates the user and opens a white-labeled editor within your own domain. This keeps your brand at the center of the experience and ensures the website builder feels like a native feature of your SaaS platform rather than a third-party add-on.

Accelerating the site lifecycle: generation, publication, and domains

The traditional website build process often hinders customer onboarding. Moving from a signed contract to a live site involves dozens of manual steps that do not scale. An API-driven workflow replaces this bottleneck with a predictable pipeline that handles any volume of new sign-ups.

Instant site generation from templates

Instead of starting from a blank canvas for every customer, use the API to spin up a new site based on a pre-designed template. By passing a POST request to the website creation endpoint, your system selects the appropriate template for a client’s industry and generates a functional website in seconds.

This process goes beyond cloning a design. You can inject initial business data—such as the company name, phone number, and primary location—directly into the site during the creation call. This means the first time your client logs in, they see a website already personalized to their business, significantly reducing the time to value.

Programmatic publication and automated domain assignment

A website only provides value once it is live. The API allows you to trigger the publication of a site programmatically. This is particularly useful for SaaS companies that offer instant websites as part of a trial or a quick-start package.

Handling domains is often the most technical part of the process for a business owner. You simplify this by using the API to assign domains and subdomains to specific sites. Whether you use a subdomain of your own platform or a custom domain provided by the client, the API manages the assignment and triggers the generation of an SSL certificate. Automating this step ensures every site is secure and professional from the moment it goes live.

Maintaining data accuracy with bidirectional synchronization

The value of a website diminishes if the information on it is outdated. For SaaS companies that already hold business data, such as a CRM, an inventory system, or a directory, keeping that information synced with the client’s website is critical for retention.

The efficiency of the connected data library

A connected data architecture acts as the bridge between your source of truth and the live website. Every site includes a content library that stores core business information like operating hours, logos, social media links, and addresses. Instead of editing the website's design to change a phone number, you update the data in the library via the API.

Because widgets on the site are bound to these library fields, any change to the data reflects instantly across the entire site. If a restaurant changes its closing time in your platform’s dashboard, your system pushes that update to the API, and the website updates automatically. This ensures that the client's customers always see accurate information.

Two-way sync for a unified ecosystem

Synchronization is most effective when it is a bidirectional process. This allows changes made within the website editor to flow back into your core SaaS product. If a client decides to upload a new logo directly through the website builder, the API notifies your system of the change. Inversely, if the client changes their operating hours within your system, the website can update automatically to reflect that.

This creates a single source of truth across your entire ecosystem. When your platform and the client's website remain in sync, you eliminate data silos and reduce the risk of conflicting information. This level of automation provides a reliable experience for the client, which is a powerful driver for long-term customer loyalty and increased lifetime value.

Building a scalable engine for SaaS growth

Adopting an API-driven approach to web presence is a strategic move for any SaaS company looking to scale. It moves the burden of site management from human designers to automated systems, allowing you to focus resources on developing your core product features.

By automating client management, site generation, and ongoing data maintenance, you create a scalable engine for growth. You can onboard thousands of clients with the same effort it takes to onboard ten, all while maintaining a high standard of quality and security.

How to get web design clients quickly (6 pro tips)

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 07:47:13 GMT

The process of earning new clients is just as much an art as it is a science. It requires a strategy that reduces friction for the prospect and establishes you as the obvious choice for their business. While many agencies struggle with long sales cycles and inconsistent lead flow, you can accelerate your growth by focusing on high-impact habits that prioritize speed and credibility.

Here are six professional tips to help you secure web design clients quickly.

1. Narrow your focus to a specific niche

It might seem counterintuitive at first, but as a web design business, focusing your efforts on one niche at a time is a great way to get new clients faster.

By choosing a niche you can really build an expertise in a specific industry.

Your niche could be determined according to different factors:

Geographical (Local or regional businesses)
Industry specific (Construction, restaurants, law firms, fitness centers)
Psychographics or values related (Vegan, eco friendly, conscious brands)

For example, if you focus on fitness websites, you’ll know what these clients like, how they talk, and what their audience is looking for. This information will help you to sell your website creation services a lot more easily with custom solutions that really resonate with them.

On top of that, you’ll have plenty of relevant website examples to display as a selling argument and use as templates for your next websites. That’s less web development, and more high quality web design services. Prospective clients will see at a glance how great their website will look if they work with you.

Another advantage of focusing on one niche is that you’ll get to have a reputation in the industry.

Word of mouth is a powerful tool, and getting references from business owners, entrepreneurs and small businesses within an industry can really help you build a good client base. As an expert in a specific niche, you can increase your pricing, and attract more clients than if you’d be just another generic profile out of millions.

2. Start networking

There’s a reason why networking events are still around to this day; it’s a fantastic way to find new business. Nothing can replace real interactions and the trust you build when discussing with someone.

A good way to start networking is to find local events and associations to join. If you’re targeting the fitness niche, join a few health & fitness-related events, local businesses events, email newsletters, conferences, and facebook groups. Distribute some business cards to potential customers and showcase your web design projects on your own website.

You’ll be surprised at how many new clients you can gain from just a few events per year.

However, remember not to be too salesy and upfront; join the conversation, ask relevant questions , make connections, but don’t try to sell your services right away. Build relationships first, then business will follow.

3. Earn referrals

You already know that offering a good service to your existing clients is of utmost importance, but it doesn’t only result in happier customers, it can also result in future referrals and testimonials for your website design services.

Think about it, if you need a new hairstylist, which one will you trust more; your friend with amazing hair telling you that their hairstylist is incredible, or an ad telling you that Paolo Pauletto is great?

All you need to do is nurture your client relationships and ask your most loyal customers to refer to you if they encounter someone needing a new website. Most of the time it will come naturally but it’s always worth asking, you never know how you’ll get your next client.

If you want to get more referrals quicker, you can also provide an incentive, like a discount, free products, or a commission per referral.

4. Leverage freelance marketplaces & job boards

A lot of clients will start their search for a service by looking it up on different freelance marketplaces and job boards. Upwork, Fiverr, and Guru being among the most popular.

On Upwork alone, more than 760,000 active clients fill their freelance positions, spending a combined total of over $4 billion every year.

That’s a lot of business you might be missing out on.

On top of that, those websites can be a good first step for you to build your agency portfolio with smaller projects or drive quick revenue to increase cash flow. Finding web design clients can be a lot of work, and you don’t have to be a freelance web designer to be on those apps and find your ideal clients, or first clients. You can use them to help build your startup, diversify your target market, your type of clients, help with lead generation and get more interesting case studies.

So go create your account, showcase your work, pricing, and specifications, bid on projects, and wait for the phone to ring (or notification to pop). You can also use tools like LinkedIn’s recruitment platform, Behance or AwesomeWeb.

All that’ll be left for you to do after that is create amazing proposals for your clients to get the ball rolling.

5. Use content marketing

To get started with content marketing, you first need a good website to host all your content, services and portfolio. A great way to get it in minutes is to use Duda; its builder is made specifically to help you save time and create powerful and beautiful websites .

Build the perfect agency website right away that’ll bring customers straight to your door, then get started with these content marketing tips.

Blog and website content

Content marketing is frequently forgotten when it comes to getting new clients quickly. Sure, writing blog articles or landing pages in the hope of being found and ultimately closing a sale can seem like a long-term investment. However, using content is an effective way to gain new customers on a regular basis without having to pay for it every time (unlike ads).

A good website content strategy is a great way to promote your services and capture your clients’ attention with specific articles answering their questions and positioning you as the expert and leader in the industry. As an agency, you can talk about the best practices when building your brand, what type of website to have, new trends, and more.

For example, you could write a blog about the best color palettes to use in the health & fitness industry and why. If this article ranks on search engines, every time someone is looking for that specific information, they’ll encounter your website, your brand, your services. That’s evergreen content; steady leads every month, no more work.

The one important thing to keep in mind is to optimize these articles for search engines. It’s a powerful way to be found by your target audience, so make sure you follow a good SEO checklist before hitting publish.

Social media

Social media platforms are a great way for you to showcase your work and gain more followers, and therefore, more clients.

PPC ad campaigns

One of the many ways you can leverage social media platforms is to create ad campaigns as part of your digital marketing strategy. You can target your niche or the people who already went on your website, so you only pay for relevant clicks.

You can even use instant sites in pay-per-click campaigns to boost your revenue at scale with targeted social media ads that automatically creates a site for your leads. They simply fill a quick form and get a website instantly.

What better way to impress at scale and get a discussion started?

If you want to leverage social media organically, here are a few tips for each platform:

Facebook

On Facebook, the best strategy is to build an online community with a proper business page to showcase your services and keep your clients, friends and family updated. The type of content you should create to garner engagement would be video and animated content, as well as images.

Instagram

Instagram is the perfect platform for designers as it’s an image-focused social media. Take advantage of their tool to wow your audience with an online portfolio that showcases your best work and personality. Don’t forget to use hashtags to reach more than just your closest friends and current clients.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is great for all your business related content, but also to find new customers. After all, you’re a business, looking for businesses who need your services. Include a few hashtags that could attract the right audience to your posts, create content that discusses best practices, and position yourself as an expert to get the most out of your LinkedIn account. You can also be active in LinkedIn communities, and take advantage of LinkedIn’s Recruiter tool to showcase your services.

Email marketing

Email marketing might sound like just a nice to have, but it is an incredibly effective tool to generate sales.

Research from Litmus claims that, on average, email drives an ROI of $36 for every dollar spent, higher than any other channel.

You can implement a newsletter on your website, and send weekly or monthly updates with your latest work, blogs, tips, promotions, and more. This will not only help you nurture your relationships with current customers, but also keep you top of mind when it comes to web design for everyone in your email list.

Dedicated emails can also be sent when you start offering new services, to announce great news about the company, or even to ask for feedback and improve your business.

Here are some tips to get the most out of your email marketing outreach:

Have a short and interesting subject line : Something that’ll make your audience want to know more.
Don’t spam : Don’t send too many emails every week, and make sure they are always relevant, not just salesy.
Create automated workflows : When you get a new sign up, make sure they receive automatically some nice emails about your company, services, how you can help them, or other content they might like. Automating makes the work a lot easier for you.
Segment your audience : If you’re starting to get a lot of different types of traffic (or different industries) segment them so you can send the most relevant content to each person.

Multimedia and downloadable content

From e-books to webinars, courses and videos, there’s a plethora of different downloadable content you can use to help you get more web design clients.

Good educational content can be used as a way of getting new leads and emails. You could, for example, offer an online course (video, webinar, PDF) on your website for free, but simply request that the user enter their email address and name to have access. This way, you build yourself a list of potential clients, who are interested in what you offer, and they get free quality content. Win-win.

Of course, you need to make sure that the content you create will bring the right type of traffic to your site. If for example you create a video on how to design birthday cards for kids, but that you only offer services to tech businesses, your new leads probably won’t convert into clients.

6. Don’t be afraid to outbound

I know, cold outreach seems so salesy, time consuming, and out of touch, but it really doesn’t have to be! When used properly, cold outreach can be very valuable. Don’t just send cold emails through an automation tool, there are better ways.

Here are a few pointers to keep in mind for a successful outreach:

Target the right audience : LinkedIn connections, followers, past clients, prospects, leads.
Come prepared : Before reaching out, take a look at their website, branding, and how you could improve their web design.
Don’t be too salesy : Ask about them, what they are up to, if they need anything.
Do follow-ups : Whether it’s by email, social networks or a scheduled meetup, make sure to follow-up from time to time as their needs can change and they need to keep you top of mind.
Show your value : Don’t just say that you could do XYZ services, tell them why it would be beneficial for them. Will it increase their engagement, sales, traffic?
Impress them with a custom example : Why not create a website for them in seconds and show it as a selling point? With tools like Duda’s API this could be done at scale, for all your email reach outs.

Ready to get started?

All those tips can be either used separately or all together to maximize the effectiveness. Try to focus on one of these channels at a time, then add more to it. For example, why not get specialized on one niche, network in related events, create pertinent blog content that you share on social media and in your newsletter, then do some cold outreach to reach new leads?

The biggest problem you’ll have now is you’ll have too many clients! But worry not, I have a solution for that too!

Simply scale your agency by providing powerful and beautiful websites in minutes with Duda’s website builder . It’s the perfect all-in-one solution for web designers and agencies. It’s been specifically designed with agencies’ needs in mind, so you can create multiple websites in the blink of an eye!

Choosing the right business model for your web design agency

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 16:45:56 GMT

In 1991, the first website was published by researchers at CERN (fun fact, it’s still live ). Not long after, the first web design agencies began to form, offering professional design services for large—and eventually small—busiensses hoping to capitalize on the power of the web. While the early agencies of the 90s had to struggle alone, enduring a significant amount of trial and error as they developed their businesses, the market has matured substantially since then.

We can clearly see now that there is no single right way to structure an agency. Instead, owners have developed a sophisticated range of financial architectures, each designed to solve specific challenges—balancing the need for immediate cash flow against the goal of long-term stability. The industry today is a diverse ecosystem where billing structures are as carefully engineered as the websites themselves.

Success for an agency owner is defined by how well they align their pricing with their target niche's financial reality. Below, we tap into the mindsets of several agency owners to uncover four agency operational models and the logic behind them—as well as direct insights from those managing them.

1. The subscription model

This model mirrors the telecommunications industry, where the "hardware" (the website) is provided with little to no upfront cost, subsidized by a long-term service contract. This approach is designed to eliminate the sticker shock of a multi-thousand-dollar invoice, making high-end digital marketing accessible to businesses that prioritize monthly cash flow over capital expenditure.

Ruan Marinho (Develomark)

Marinho emphasizes that this model works because it shifts the focus from a one-time transaction to the total lifetime value of a client.

"The idea is to package your services such as website design, search engine optimization, paid ads, and online listings management into an annual plan. For example, if you normally charge $12,000 per year, you can sign clients to a 12-month contract and bill $1,000 per month instead. This approach has proven highly effective for acquiring new accounts because it lowers client hesitation while maintaining long-term revenue."

Danny Barrera (Contractor Click)

For Barrera , the goal is to create a frictionless entry point for home-service contractors, leading to extreme loyalty and high retention.

"Our Essentials Program delivers a lead-generating Duda website, foundational SEO, hosting, and ongoing support for $500 per month on a simple month-to-month plan. Clients own their site after seven months, and we refresh designs every 18 months. This has resulted in a 96% retention rate."

Justin Sturges (Stand Out Results)

Sturges takes a philosophical stand against the "product" mindset, treating the agency as a permanent utility for the client.

"I sell a service, not a product. Everything—from the design to the SEO—is part of a sticky, affordable, recurring monthly fee... It results in a diversified, predictable income stream."

Alex Griffin (Koalaty Marketing)

Griffin utilizes a hybrid of the subscription model by adding a performance-based incentive, ensuring the agency is motivated by the client's actual revenue.

"Pay per sale, similar to affiliate marketing... typically we charge a one time $500 fee for building the site... then it’s pay per sale."

2. The classic project model

The traditional model remains the industry's bedrock, particularly for high-end, custom-coded, or enterprise-level projects. The logic is simple: a significant upfront payment covers the agency’s immediate labor costs and ensures the client is deeply committed to providing the feedback and assets required to finish the project.

Paul Lancieri

Lancieri views the deposit as a filter for quality clients and a catalyst for project momentum.

"Call me 'Old School'; however, I do not open my designing laptop for under $2,500.00 with 50% upfront... I've found throughout the years that when they have skin in the game, they respond better and faster."

Sigurdur "Siggi" Svansson (Klick)

Svansson focuses on a transparent, milestone-based structure that protects the agency's resources while giving the client a clear light at the end of the tunnel.

"Clients pay 30% at project start and 70% upon website launch, keeping the financial commitment clear and predictable for both parties."

Lesli Lindgren (Keep Simple Design)

Lindgren pairs the classic 50/50 split with a mandatory maintenance "floor" to ensure the site doesn't degrade after launch.

"Projects are billed 50% upfront and 50% at launch... every client is placed on an ongoing care plan that covers hosting, technical maintenance, updates, and light support to keep the site healthy long-term."

Peter Brissette (Digital Marketing Dude)

Brissette views the upfront build as a prerequisite for a long-term hosting partnership.

"We charge for the full web design up front and then monthly hosting/maintenance. We will not take on projects that don't include the hosting."

Ervins Puksts (Ervins Studio)

Puksts maintains the integrity of the professional service by strictly tying payments to the completion of the work.

"Every project has a clear, one-time fee... split into 50% upfront and 50% upon completion," followed by a mandatory maintenance plan.

Bill Sholar (Short Story Marketing)

To combat launch drag, Sholar implements a time-bound trigger for the final payment.

"Half paid as we start, the rest when we launch or after ~45 days whichever comes first."

Brian Lewis (WebAct)

Lewis demonstrates how the classic model can be scaled up or down based on the perceived risk of the client.

"For smaller engagements, we usually request full payment upfront... For larger projects, we start with a 50% down payment."

Callum Wells (Web Hero)

Wells balances a healthy upfront margin with an affordable entry-level recurring fee for small changes.

"50% deposit - 50% on go live + monthly £34.99 then ad hoc hourly rate charges for anything they don't want to do themselves."

Tina Jerzynka (Websmart)

Jerzynka moves the billing cycle forward to ensure the agency's cash flow stays ahead of the production schedule.

"The creation fee is invoiced when the first draft is sent, and the monthly fee starts the month after the draft was sent."

3. The hybrid model

Hybrid models acknowledge that many businesses want a high-end, custom website but cannot justify a large capital outlay. By acting as the bank, the agency can close more deals while still eventually receiving the full project value.

Hanan J. Wilson (Productive I.T.)

Wilson offers "internal financing" as a competitive advantage to win bids against more expensive, rigid agencies.

"Clients can spread [the design fee] over 12 months, 24 months, or 36 months... the goal here is to set expectations and allow them three simple options for each service level."

Eric Acevedo (Visual Media)

Acevedo’s model is built on the power of choice, allowing the client’s current cash position to dictate the contract type.

"They can choose between a one-time web project fee or a monthly subscription that includes the website, marketing, ongoing maintenance and support... the latter requires a minimum 24-month commitment."

Lori Osborne (BizBolster Web Solutions / Authority Platform™)

Osborne treats the website as a year-long engagement, ensuring the agency is present for the critical months following a launch.

"50% upfront, remaining 50% spread over 12 months, with the whole program structured as a 1-year engagement."

Nick Desrocher (GroClix)

Desrocher advocates for a discovery-first approach where the financing is tailored to the client's actual financial health.

"For cash-tight businesses... we use transparent creative financing: payments are spread over time, sometimes beginning with a smaller 'introductory' rate."

Nat Rosasco (Olive Street Design)

Rosasco illustrates the need for flexibility in the sales process to accommodate different corporate accounting preferences.

"For smaller jobs, we require full payment upfront. For larger projects, we use a phased down payment to make the schedule more manageable."

4. Phases and tiers

In this category, the billing structure is used as a strategic tool to manage expectations and ensure that marketing efforts are built on a solid technical foundation.

Ryan Stack (The Stack Group)

Stack separates the "product" from the "promotion," ensuring the client understands that a website is a prerequisite for successful marketing.

"Phase 1 is the high-performance build, and Phase 2 is the growth engine. This allows us to focus on quality first, then results."

Shawn Dixon (Clover Creative Group)

Dixon uses the client’s long-term vision to determine whether they are a candidate for a one-time project or a recurring growth plan.

"We ask the client where do you want to be in 12 months... and then build a plan to get there, often offering a choice between a 50/50 project or a 12-month growth plan."

Alex Schupp (Crowd Digital Marketing)

Schupp maintains a clean break between the build and the ongoing service, offering a menu of marketing tiers post-launch.

"Every project is billed 50 percent at the start and 50 percent upon delivery... Once the website launches, clients can choose from a variety of monthly plans."

The architecture of success

The common thread among these diverse approaches is a shift away from one-off work toward predictable, recurring revenue.

By choosing a model that aligns with their operational strengths, whether it is the high-touch "Classic" build or the frictionless "Subscription" model, agency owners are building businesses that are more resilient and easier to scale. Ultimately, the ability to architect these financial relationships will remain as important as the ability to design the websites themselves.

How to write case studies that convince humans and get cited by AI

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 20:15:57 GMT

For decades, case studies and customer success stories were human-focused BOFU (Bottom of the Funnel) or sales artifacts. They hid in downloadable PDFs and static website pages, designed mostly to build trust with prospects before they signed a contract. In 2026, case studies have transformed into multimedia stories that inform another important audience: AI answer engines.

It’s common knowledge in the digital marketing industry that online discoverability is moving away from traditional methods and into the era of zero-click content engagement . Up until recently, SEO professionals aimed for customer success stories to be indexable by the Googlebot in a way that wins visibility in search engine results for relevant search queries. Today, your case studies aren’t just indexed by search engine bots or used as collateral by sales teams. They hold the potential to serve as reliable, high-fidelity training data for AI answer engines.

Fortunately, the underlying elements that make case studies compelling to humans and discoverable by search indexing bots are the same ones that make them citable by AI models. In this guide, we’ll walk through the subtle differences and changes you can make to existing case study production and publication workflows to make your success stories (and those of your clients) satisfy the human need for narrative and the AI need for structured facts.

Interviews and numbers: Mining the ground truth

Customer success stories are typically based on interviews rather than short testimonials. This means that whoever is producing the case study needs to take on the role of a journalist—including background research, the art of interviews, and sometimes even the technical aspects of recording, filming, and editing the interview.

Simply asking a client if they’re happy and steering them toward a quote about how helpful your team has been will not yield a particularly original or helpful answer. To get an answer worthy of human and bot attention, you need to extract and communicate the “unguessable” truths and sentiment—the kind that AI cannot predict or hallucinate based on its training data.

Radically specific and unguessable details

When interviewing clients for case studies, your primary goal is to extract metrics that are unique and memorable. An AI can guesstimate (infer through probabilistic next-token generation) that an SEO agency “improved traffic” for a client. It cannot hallucinate “increased organic traffic by 4,162%” or “added 600 clients in 30 days.” These very specific metrics and numbers serve as ground truth anchors that verifiably tie your agency to the results.

Tip : In the questions sent to the interviewee in advance, gently push for numbers, percentages, and “before and after” KPIs.

Trust signals and sentiment

AI engines love numbers, but they also look for reasons to trust or distrust content according to their preset parameters. AI crawler bot algorithms are trained to detect sentiment and attribution, so a direct and attributed quote from a valid entity (like a C-level executive) serves as a valuable trust signal for the AI to validate the data points surrounding it.

Tip : Make sure that every case study features at least one champion quote that explicitly defines the problem and the solution in the client’s own words and voice.

The structure: Optimizing for extraction

The raw data from your interview needs to be organized before it can be consumed. Typically, the advice is to save the conclusion for the summary and “the best for last” since humans prefer a linear logical journey. Bots, on the other hand, just want facts fast. You can deliver both by balancing storytelling and the listing of data.

BLUF with a cheat sheet

Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems often prioritize information found early in the document . If your key results are buried somewhere in the middle or toward the end of the page, the AI might miss them. This is where the “Executive Summary” becomes your secret weapon. By placing a structured table of facts at the very top of the page, you reduce the cognitive load for human prospects scanning for results, while serving up a clean, structured data platter for AI crawlers.

Tip : Place a cheat sheet of facts at the very top of your case studies, with a bulleted list or table that explicitly labels your data points: Service, Key Result, Industry, Business Name, etc.

The narrative: fluency is authority

Once you have your ground truth data and structural BLUF in place, it’s time to write the actual story. While humans prefer a hero’s journey, AI models are looking for semantic associations and question-answer pairs. Here’s how you can combine both:

Reverse-engineering intent

Generic headers like 'The Challenge' are invisible to an AI looking for answers. To win the citation, you need to reverse-engineer the user's prompt. Treat your H2s as the answers to the questions your prospects are typing into ChatGPT or Google.

Tip : Change generic headers like “Results” to specific questions like “How [Client] improved their ROI” or “How [Your Brand] Helped [Client] Achieve [Impressive Number]”. Instead of simply replacing “Challenge” with “Slow Site”, go into detail like “Decreased Website Performance due to Core Web Vitals failures.”

Explicit entity naming

To help AI models pinpoint relationships between data points, you can feed their knowledge graph with defined “Entities”. Through the lens of an AI algorithm, a brand is an entity, a speaker is another, as is the author and other brands mentioned in the text. The more entities an AI can recognize, the easier it is to weave your truths into its answers to queries.

Tip : Flaunt your tech stack and name the tools and technologies you employ. This will help you associate the brand with industry giants and software ecosystems in the eyes of AI models.

Turning case studies from sales collateral to AI training data

For years, the goal was to keep users reading pages for as long as possible. Today, the goal is to provide an answer that drives action whether directly or indirectly. Winning the mentions in the new answer economy of online discoverability doesn’t mean reinventing the proverbial wheel. It means creating a better experience for busy human readers and AI models alike.

When it comes to case studies in the age of AI answers, a good success story is just the beginning. By writing, structuring, and publishing case studies rich with explicit entities, specific integers, and semantic clarity, you turn them into high-fidelity training data that AI models use to generate answers to user queries.

Local search dominance is the next growth lever for home service SaaS

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 14:00:19 GMT

The home services industry, comprising HVAC technicians, plumbers, electricians, and landscapers, operates on a foundation of local trust and immediate need. When a homeowner faces a burst pipe or a failing furnace, they do not conduct extensive research. They search for a solution nearby and choose the provider that appears first, looks professional, and offers an effortless booking process.

For SaaS companies serving these providers, the value proposition has historically focused on internal efficiency. You offer tools for dispatching, invoicing, and customer management. While these features are essential for retention, they do not solve the primary challenge your customers face: acquisition.

By integrating a high-performance website builder into your platform, you shift from being a back-office utility to a front-office growth engine. When you empower your users to dominate local search engine optimization (SEO) and local answer engine optimization (AEO), you directly increase their revenue.

This creates a virtuous cycle of loyalty, which reduces churn as your software becomes the source of their most valuable leads.

The shift from search results to direct answers

The landscape of how homeowners find services is changing. Traditional SEO, which focuses on ranking a website in a list of links, is now joined by AEO. Answer engine optimization prepares content for AI-driven interfaces like digital assistants and generative search experiences. These engines aim to provide a single, definitive answer to a user's query rather than a list of options.

For a local plumber, this means the goal is no longer just appearing on the first page of Google . The goal is being the specific business recommended when a user asks their phone, smart speaker, or favorite AI assistant for the best-rated plumber nearby.

SaaS providers that offer structured, schema-rich website templates allow their customers to feed these engines the precise data they require. This includes service areas, real-time availability, and verified reviews. By automating the technical requirements of AEO, you give your customers a competitive advantage that they likely cannot achieve on their own.

Driving lead volume through local SEO

Local SEO remains the most effective way for home service professionals to capture high-intent traffic. Most service providers lack the time or technical expertise to manage the complexities of local rankings. They often settle for outdated, slow, or non-responsive websites that actively repel potential customers.

When your SaaS platform provides a built-in website solution, you can standardize the elements that drive local rankings:

Localized landing pages : Automatically generate pages, in bulk, for every suburb or city your customer serves.
Performance and speed : Ensure every site passes core web vitals, a critical factor for mobile search rankings.
Mobile-first design : Since most home service searches occur on mobile devices, providing a seamless mobile experience is a baseline requirement for conversion.

By handling these technical hurdles, you ensure your customers appear exactly where their prospects are looking. When a provider sees a steady stream of leads originating from a site powered by your platform, the perceived value of your software increases significantly.

Improving customer retention and lifetime value

The SaaS market is crowded, and price competition is constant. To protect your margins and reduce churn, you must become indispensable . There is no better way to achieve indispensability than by becoming a revenue generator for your clients.

If a landscaping company uses your software for scheduling but finds their own leads through expensive third-party aggregators, your platform is an expense they might cut during a lean month. However, if your platform provides the website that generates those leads directly, your software becomes the most important line item in their budget.

Providing websites also creates a sticky ecosystem . Transitioning to a new field service management tool is difficult, but moving to a high-ranking website that is integrated with your business data is even more daunting. This integration fosters long-term loyalty and allows you to increase your average revenue per user (ARPU) by offering website management as a premium tier or add-on service.

Streamlining the path to conversion

Attracting a visitor to a website is only half the battle. For home service providers, the website must act as a high-conversion sales tool. Many providers lose business because their contact forms are broken, their phone numbers are not click-to-call, or they lack a clear way to book an estimate.

A website solution integrated with your SaaS platform eliminates these points of friction. You can embed your native booking widgets, real-time scheduling calendars, and customer portals directly into the site. This creates a seamless transition from a Google search to a confirmed appointment in your system.

This automation benefits both parties. The service provider spends less time on the phone qualifying leads, and the SaaS company sees higher data throughput, which provides better insights into the health of the customer’s business.

Building brand authority in the local market

Trust is the currency of the home service industry. A professional, modern website signals reliability and competence. Conversely, a site that is difficult to navigate or looks dated can drive a prospect toward a competitor, even if that competitor has fewer years of experience.

Your SaaS platform can provide templates designed specifically for the trades. These designs should prioritize trust signals, such as:

Prominent display of certifications and insurance.
Integrated customer testimonials and star ratings.
High-quality galleries of completed work.

By providing the framework for a professional digital presence, you help small businesses compete with large national franchises. This empowerment builds a deep level of trust between you and your users.

Using data to prove ROI

One of the greatest challenges for SaaS companies is demonstrating the tangible return on investment (ROI) of their product. When you provide the website, you gain access to the full customer journey. You can show your users exactly how many leads the website generated, which services are most in demand in specific areas, and the conversion rate of their booking pages.

Presenting these metrics in a clean, accessible dashboard within your software turns abstract benefits into concrete proof of value. It allows your sales and success teams to have data-driven conversations about how your platform is growing their business, rather than just helping them manage it.

Scaling your SaaS through professional website services

Integrating website capabilities into your SaaS offering is more than a feature update. It elevates your business model, aligning your success with the success of your customers. By focusing on outcomes like more leads, higher profits, and better local visibility, you position your company as a leader in the field service technology space.

The technology exists to make high-ranking, high-converting websites accessible to every local service provider. By taking on the responsibility of local SEO and AEO for your clients, you remove a significant barrier to their growth and secure your own place as their most valued partner.

Duda unveils new AI-powered Duda Academy to help pros launch better websites, faster

Thu, 19 Mar 2026 14:00:06 GMT

Boulder, CO., March 19, 2026 — Duda, the leading white label digital presence solution for agencies and SaaS platforms, today announced the launch of Duda Academy . This next-generation customer training platform is the evolution of Duda’s educational resources, specifically engineered to empower web builders to get their clients online faster and with greater precision.

As the digital landscape becomes increasingly complex, Duda Academy addresses the primary challenge facing modern agencies and SaaS platforms: the need for rapid, scalable expertise. The platform introduces a first-of-its-kind AI tutor, a sophisticated learning assistant capable of generating custom learning plans tailored to each individual user’s skill level and goals. Beyond curriculum planning, the AI tutor provides real-time, personalized answers to learner questions, acting as a 24/7 mentor to help builders overcome technical roadblocks the moment they arise.

The transition from the previous training model to Duda Academy represents a shift toward more personalized, results-oriented education. By focusing on efficiency, the platform ensures that builders spend less time troubleshooting and more time delivering high-performing websites to their SMB clients.

"Duda Academy was built with intention. Someone new to Duda has different needs than someone who's been on the platform for years, yet both deserve resources that meet them where they're at," said Marianne Sheldon, Lead Learning Experience Designer at Duda. "If you're learning something for the first time, our courses will walk you through it step by step. If you're mid-project and just need a quick answer, the AI-powered tutoring can point you to exactly what you need. Just ask a question, solve a problem, then get back to building."

Duda Academy is the latest addition to Duda’s growing ecosystem of productivity-focused tools. It joins the Learn Panel, a contextual education hub located directly within the Duda Editor, and Duda Copilot, the platform’s conversational AI assistant. Together, these features create a seamless support network that allows builders to work with more confidence, productivity, and creative freedom.

About Duda

Duda is a leading white label web building platform for digital agencies, SaaS platforms, and web professionals offering web design services to SMBs. From its industry-leading AI Assistant to advanced API-driven automation workflows, Duda offers web professionals a comprehensive suite of tools to build pixel-perfect, feature-rich websites efficiently and at scale-all on a flexible platform that can be fully customized to match their go-to-market strategy and ideal customer experience. As the top platform for Core Web Vitals, a critical metric for SEO performance, Duda makes it easy for web professionals to deliver a superior digital presence and outstanding performance to their customers under their own brand. More than 22,000 organizations have trusted Duda to build 1 million active websites. For more information, visit www.duda.co .

How to write comparison pages that AI engines cite

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 17:18:42 GMT

Organic traffic is dropping steadily, with a growing number of users turning to AI chatbots for answers instead of visiting your website. High SERP is no longer the leading metric in online discoverability. In 2026, you need to get cited and quoted by AI agents, and the tactics have changed.

Comparison content (like “X vs. Y”) is an effective way to ground AI models in fundamental truths about a brand or a product, ensuring your clients’ (and your own) unique value proposition (UVP) is the one the answer engine pulls. For the human buyer, well-built comparisons tap into demand at the most critical stage of the funnel, drawing buyers closer to a closed deal. Moreover, getting cited is the new top spot on Google search with 90% of buyers surveyed by TrustRadius saying that they click through the sources cited in AI Overviews for fact-checking purposes.

Before we discuss the ins and outs of writing and publishing comparison pages that AI engines cite and users read, let’s start with a sensitive point: getting your clients to see the contribution of comparison content to their bottom line.

Making the case for comparisons

Comparison content can be a hard sell with many stakeholders - both internal and external. Some worry about offending competitors; others don’t want to mention them at all to avoid giving them free airtime. And then there are the issues of ethics and legality of comparisons.

Before you can convince your clients to include comparison pages on their website, it’s important that you understand and believe why this type of content is a business reality in 2026.

Filling the empty chair

If you don’t define the comparison, an AI model will do it for you, often hallucinating features or pulling biased data from a competitor’s website. Publishing this content is the only way to ensure you control the narrative and provide a reliable source for LLMs and users alike.

AI anti-hallucinogenics

AI chatbots are statistical prediction engines. When they lack data, they guesstimate—generating believable but (too often) incorrect answers. With clear, structured comparison pages, you anchor the AI with a crawlable and categorized ground truth about products, preventing hallucinated features or services from showing up.

Keeping it fair

Some of the most common objections to comparison content publishing are legal and ethical. Businesses are worried that emphasizing their superiority over competitors might not only offend competitors but could also lead to legal trouble if the competitors decide to sue. Here are a few things to keep in mind when dealing with client objections:

It’s only a matter of time before the competition catches up with answer engine optimization (AEO) and publishes their own comparison pages - probably ones that position them as a superior choice.
There’s nothing illegal about comparison content as long as it adheres to the FTC’s rules regarding honest reviews and comparisons .
You can protect yourself by linking to information sources, including screenshots, and timestamping the data you include (like “according to the manufacturer website, as of January 2026…”).
If a competitor is better at a specific use case (like Enterprise scale vs. SMB agility), admitting it actually builds trust and disqualifies bad-fit leads.

Before you start mass-producing comparison pages for your clients, it’s important to plan those pages to inform and perform for AI answer engines and humans at the evaluation stage of the buyer journey.

Formatting comparisons for AI (and buyers)

Side-by-side comparisons, especially ones that are authentic and reliable, have always been a powerful type of marketing content. With AI, their ability to push forward buyer journeys is multiplied by your ability to get your comparisons cited by AI engines. That’s where your SEO expertise comes in handy - technical answer engine optimization (AEO) for comparison pages.

So how do you make a versus page citable?

Answer first

Humans are used to skimming through content, and with comparison pieces we often scroll to the bottom to see the verdict. AI models read content differently, looking for relevance as early as possible in the page. To get the models’ attention, start comparison pages with a TL;DR conclusion that provides a clear and definitive summary.

Example: “The main difference between X and Y is that X is best suited for enterprises with complex and advanced permission stacks, while Y is best suited for startups looking for rapid deployment and pay-as-you-go pricing.”

Chunk it

Neither bots nor people like to ingest long blocks of text. General purpose AI models struggle with wall-of-text narratives but excel at extracting data from clearly labeled sections. This means that breaking content into logical self-contained blocks with clear headers (H2s and H3s) will make it much more citable.

Tables as databases

LLMs rely heavily on structured data to avoid hallucinations, so they are drawn to tables that contain it. Tables are an effective tool for communicating with AI bots probing your website as they provide a clear, structured set of categorized entity relationships. These allow the algorithms to turn data in your comparisons into knowledge graphs with entities, attributes, and map the relationships between them to generate answers for user queries.

Mark up your schema

While tables help AIs read the data, schema markup helps it understand the entities included, and their attributes. For comparison pages, you can layer standard Product and FAQPage schemas to inform bots on what is being compared. This is especially critical in helping AI agents distinguish reviews from product specification pages.

With Duda, you can deploy AI-friendly comparisons at scale across multiple clients as the platform automatically handles schema for many widgets (like FAQs and Product pages), eliminating manual code updates for AEO.

Making comparison content work with Duda

Comparative content is one of the most effective content types in 2026. It doesn’t require expensive video production or abstract creative campaigns. It is simply about organizing facts in a way that is useful to humans and readable to machines.

When done right (using the structures and ethical guardrails we’ve outlined) comparison pages create a Winning Content Trifecta:

For the user : You remove friction at the bottom of the funnel, giving them the confidence to choose your client over the competition.
For the client : You turn a source of anxiety (competitors) into a source of authority, controlling the narrative while adhering to ethical and legal best practices.
For the bots : You provide the structured data and grounded facts that answer engines seek out, ensuring your client gets cited where it counts.

And the best part for agencies? With the right tools at your disposal, you don’t need to spend time reinventing the proverbial wheel for every client and every page. Duda’s agency-centric website builder platform lets you produce comparison pages at scale without technical overhead.

With native support for Schema markup, dynamic pages for rapid template replication, and AI-assisted online discoverability tools, you can deploy high-performance comparison libraries for your clients in a fraction of the time it takes on legacy platforms.

Why client relationships are the key to agency profitability

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 14:00:32 GMT

Digital marketing agencies face a shifting landscape where technical execution is becoming a commodity. As automation scales and generative tools lower the barrier to entry for basic web design and SEO, the traditional vendor model is under pressure. To maintain healthy margins and long-term stability, your agency must transition from being a service provider to a strategic partner.

The most effective way to accomplish this transition is to establish complete and total ownership over the customer relationship. When you own the relationship, you control the narrative, the platform, and the perceived value of your work. This ownership serves as your primary differentiator in a market increasingly crowded by DIY solutions and automated tools.

Why relationship ownership is your strongest differentiator

A common misconception among agencies is that their clients are purchasing websites. This couldn’t be further from the truth. What SMBs actually want is the outcome the website provides; be that leads, form submissions, or eCommerce sales. The best way to provide outcomes, then, is to take on the role of a guide. Owning that relationship means being the sole point of contact and the primary source of expertise for your client's digital presence.

Building defensible trust in the age of AI

Artificial intelligence can generate code, write copy, and even suggest design layouts in seconds. However, AI cannot understand a client’s specific business anxieties, their local community context, or their long-term personal goals.

As AI becomes more prevalent, the "human touch" becomes a premium asset. Clients value the peace of mind that comes from knowing a professional is monitoring their results and adjusting strategy based on real-world nuances. By positioning your agency as the human layer that directs and validates technology, you create a level of trust that a software-only solution cannot replicate.

Transitioning from vendor to partner

A vendor is replaceable based on price. A partner is essential based on outcomes. When you own the relationship, you shift the conversation away from "How much does this feature cost?" to "How does this strategy grow my revenue?" This shift allows you to:

Dictate the pace of innovation: You decide when to introduce new technologies to your clients.
Reduce price sensitivity: Clients pay for the results you deliver and the relationship you maintain, not just the hours you bill.
Increase lifetime value: Deeply embedded partners are rarely fired because the cost of switching—both logistically and emotionally—is too high.

The competitive risk of transparent platforms

One of the greatest threats to agency margins is "platform leakage." This occurs when a client discovers the underlying technology you use and realizes they can access it directly for a fraction of the price you charge.

The DIY trap

Many popular site builders, such as Wix Studio , are designed to be "pro-sumer" platforms. While they offer advanced features for designers, they remain heavily branded. When a client logs into a dashboard and sees another company’s logo, the illusion of your proprietary service is broken.

This creates a significant competitive risk. If a client sees they are on a DIY-adjacent builder, they may begin to question your markup. They may visit your branded platform’s pricing page and realize they could be paying less for the same product. This realization often leads to clients attempting to take it in-house or switching to a cheaper freelancer who uses the same tool.

Protecting your margins with white labeling

To prevent this, sophisticated agencies prioritize white-label capabilities. This is where the choice of your tech stack directly impacts your bottom line.

Duda is purpose-built for agencies, offering a fully white-label environment that removes all traces of the underlying platform. Unlike other platforms, where the parent brand is often visible to the end user, Duda allows you to brand the entire experience—from the login screen and the editor to the automated analytics reports—as your own.

This level of control provides two distinct advantages:

Eliminating switching risk: Because the client views the platform as your proprietary tool, the thought of switching to a DIY builder never occurs. They are using your system, which is part of your unique service offering.
Protecting price integrity: When the platform cost is hidden, your client cannot shop your overhead. You can maintain stronger margins because the value is placed on the total solution you provide, not the individual cost of a software subscription.

Elevating the SMB partnership through automation

The rapid advancement of AI and automation is often framed as a threat to agency billables—and they certainly can be! However, in reality, these technologies are the keys to unlocking a higher tier of service. By automating the repetitive, low-value technical tasks that previously consumed your team’s bandwidth, you create the space necessary to act as a true strategic advisor.

Moving from execution to advisory

Small business owners are currently overwhelmed by an increasingly complex digital landscape. They do not just need a website; they need to understand how local search, privacy regulations, and AI-driven consumer behavior affect their bottom line. When your agency uses automation to handle site maintenance, basic SEO updates, and performance reporting, you shift your time toward interpreting that data for the client.

This interpretation is where the real value lies. An automated report can show a client their traffic is up, but a strategic partner explains why that traffic is or is not converting into sales. AI can draft a blog post, but a partner ensures that the content aligns with the brand’s unique voice and the specific pain points of their local customers.

The empathy advantage

In an era of automated support bots and faceless software platforms, high-touch human guidance is a luxury that SMBs are willing to pay for. Use the time saved by AI-driven workflows to pick up the phone, schedule quarterly strategy reviews, and provide proactive advice.

When you are the person helping a small business owner navigate a crisis or capitalize on a new market trend, you transcend beyond a line item in their budget. In a way, you become a part of their leadership team. Automation provides efficiency, but your human insight provides the direction. This combination creates a partnership that is impossible for a DIY tool or a generic AI platform to disrupt.

Next steps for your agency

Owning the customer relationship is the only way to insulate your agency from the commoditization of digital services. By choosing tools that respect your brand and hide your margins, as well as strategies that center the agency-client relationship, you position yourself as a high-value partner rather than a transparent reseller.

When vibe coding meets real-world scale

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 13:30:06 GMT

The promise of vibe coding for website creation is intoxicating. With a single prompt and a bit of natural language, a beautiful, functional website appears in seconds. For a small agency or a freelancer building one site at a time, this feels like the ultimate efficiency hack.

But a tool that builds one website beautifully is not a tool that can manage tens, hundreds, or even tens of thousands of them. And certainly, a team that builds and maintains only a single site for their business doesn’t necessarily have the skills, or the expertise, necessary to manage many sites at scale.

When businesses attempt to scale their website offering using vibe-only platforms, they typically encounter what we call the “vibe coding iceberg.” Above the surface, the speed and accessibility of initial site production are impressive. Below the surface, however, lies a massive mass of hidden risks, unpredictable costs, and operational debt that can sink even the most ambitious SaaS platform or digital agency.

The hidden costs of unsustainable models

The economics of vibe coding are currently unproven and often unstable. Many platforms offering these services operate at significant losses, with margins 50% to 60% lower than standard SaaS models due to high LLM costs. Cursor, a leading vibe coding platform, estimated in 2025 that Anthropic is subsidizing their Claude Code vibe coding product by 900%; from $2000/month in compute down to $200.

For a business owner, this introduces a significant vendor viability risk. If you bet hundreds or even thousands of sites on a platform with unsustainable economics, you are vulnerable to sudden price hikes or service changes as the provider attempts to adjust their commercial model.

Beyond the vendor's subscription fee, you face compounding internal costs:

Overcomplicated maintenance : Asking AI to tweak a button’s position or change a font’s color is like asking a colleague standing across the room to hand you a cup that’s sitting right next to you. These requests burn credits, leading to unnecessary costs, and often takes longer than it would have to just do it yourself in a drag-and-drop editor.
Technical escalations : When basic changes lead to code-breaking errors, you become forced to involve expensive engineering resources for what should have been a low-cost edit.
Support strain : Your support teams must become experts in an inconsistent maintenance experience, trying to fix different vibes across thousands of unique, AI-generated sites. Different sites may use different class and ID naming convenience, CSS frameworks, and different package dependencies—all in seemingly random ways.

The danger of fragmented management

Operational predictability is the foundation of a profitable business. When you manage thousands of sites, you require standards, governance, and control. Vibe-only platforms often lack this infrastructure , leading to a disconnected ecosystem where management becomes fragmented.

In a vibe-coded environment, even small updates often require new prompts or total regeneration of the code base. This creates a dangerous cycle:

Unpredictable changes : New prompts risk overwriting prior website logic, unintentionally breaking existing code.
Specialist dependency : Non-technical teams, who should be able to make simple text or image edits, find themselves dependent on specialists who understand the original prompt.
Inefficient maintenance : Simple edits become surprisingly complex over time as the codebase becomes a black box of AI-generated snippets.

Operating at scale requires a platform that centralizes data and keeps it in sync across your entire portfolio. Without this, your support and troubleshooting teams cannot work efficiently, and your operational costs will climb as your catalog of websites grows.

The security and compliance gap

Security and compliance are mandatory for any professional website, yet they are frequently an afterthought in vibe-coded environments. AI-generated code is rarely secure by default and often introduces exploitable vulnerabilities unintentionally. According to Veracode , 45% of AI code samples fail security tests.

When you build on a vibe-only platform, security becomes a site-by-site technical effort. You must manually audit and verify the quality of every generated site. At scale, this makes security a full-time job that eats into your margins.

Privacy and accessibility face similar hurdles. Considering a startling 94.8% of all website homepages contain some WCAG 2 failure, it’s unlikely that an LLM is going to generate a website more compliant than its training data. In fact, a small study of 6 vibe coded websites found 308 accessibility errors across all sites.

Compliance then, too, becomes a site-by-site effort; requiring prompting, checking, and re-prompting until something is generated that can pass an audit—If it ever even does. Compliance isn’t optional, when sites run afoul of the law, whether privacy or security, it exposes owners to expensive legal actions.

Even the integrity of the site itself, or all of your sites, isn’t guaranteed when vibe coded. Take DDOS attacks, for instance. Duda has built the right infrastructure to prevent any attack on a single site from impacting all of our sites. Vibe coding doesn’t offer those guarantees.

The pain of a thousand cuts

Vibe coding tools pride themselves on convenience. However, being convenient isn’t the same as being sustainable. It’s “convenient” to sweep crumbs underneath a rug, and it’s “convenient” to grab fast food instead of cooking—but neither of these habits are long-term solutions.

While it may not be part of the initial request, clients, ultimately, want more from their websites than a simple brochure. They want the ability to log in and make simple updates, the ability to connect their forms with their marketing technologies, and the ability to synchronize data with third-party platforms like their Google Business Profile.

None of this is easy to prompt into existence—some of it cannot be prompted at all.

Take client access, for example. Your vibe coding platform may only support one user account, or it may support multiple accounts all with the same access level. That means your business will need to create a unique account for every client, then share complete administrative access with those clients. Either that, or deny them access to their own websites—an unsustainable business practice.

Should you choose to grant your customers complete access to your vibe coding platform, you risk them poorly prompting the system, causing destructive changes to their site—changes you may not be able to reverse if you didn’t invest in comprehensive backups. If they are able to prompt more effectively, they may decide to vibe code their website themselves, without paying the additional margins your business requires.

The impact snowballs as more and more factors of managing websites at scale are swept under the rug in favor of convenience.

The Duda approach: AI speed with platform power

Duda has taken a different approach to AI site creation. We believe in providing the speed of AI backed by the power of a leading CMS built for scale.

Instead of generating isolated code that is difficult to manage, Duda’s AI generates real Duda CMS components. This distinction is critical for long-term business health:

Full editability : Sites remain fully editable in a native experience without requiring further AI prompts or regeneration for minor changes.
Safe delegation : Non-technical teams can safely and easily make updates using established platform tools, preserving the integrity of the site.
Predictable costs : Ongoing edits do not require AI usage or credits, keeping your lifecycle costs predictable as sites evolve. Your costs are locked in for the term of your contract, and Duda’s team can work with you to create custom, long-term contracts that align with your budget.
Performance by design : Because Duda’s AI Stack operates within the rules and structure of a proven platform, performance and SEO/AEO are enforced automatically.

Building for the future of search

The goal of any website is results. Measurable outcomes like performance, discoverability, and conversion. As search evolves, websites must be more than just vibey; they must be highly optimized for both human users and AI crawlers.

Duda is an industry leader in Core Web Vitals , with an 85% pass rate across all sites. The platform includes built-in tools for:

Instant rendering : Automatic image optimization and Critical CSS ensure your sites load fast.
Optimal crawling : Auto-generated sitemaps, robots.txt, and llms.txt guide search engines and LLMs efficiently.
Visibility suites : Native AI tools help you analyze and audit sites for AI search visibility, providing actionable recommendations for automated optimization.

Realizing the promise of scale

The businesses finding the most success today are those leveraging automation to optimize their workflows without sacrificing stability. Duda’s partners are seeing 30% to 50% faster build times while actually reducing their operational costs.

For example, some agencies have moved from delivering 100 websites per month to 400, all while maintaining a 7-day delivery window. They achieve this because they aren’t dependent on vibe coding. Rather, they’re using a purpose-built platform that solves the very operational problems that raw AI tools create.

At DoorLoop , a property management software platform, one man was able to build and launch over 1000 websites; another example of the high level of scale businesses can unlock.

As the market changes and new discovery paradigms, like AI search, emerge, the need to build reliably at scale is only going to increase. Websites now need significantly more pages to drive organic traffic—all filled with useful, accurate content.

Businesses that prioritize outcomes, and that recognize AI for what it is—one of many tools within an arsenal—will always come out ahead. REST APIs and robust automations, like those available within Duda , are force multipliers when combined with AI. They enable more consistent and predictable outputs that are more in-line with client expectations more often.

Conclusion

Speed is essential, but it cannot come at the expense of your business’s stability. Vibe-only tools are the tip of the iceberg; they look great at first glance but hide significant risks that only reveal themselves as you attempt to grow.

To build a sustainable, profitable business, you need a partner that understands the requirement for standards, governance, and predictable costs. You need a platform that gives you the speed to create and the power to manage.

Duda, refreshed: A more modern way to build and manage sites

Tue, 10 Mar 2026 11:49:40 GMT

Many of us view efficiency as a refinement of our processes, but, really, it’s more of an elimination of friction. That friction can exist in many places—including our tools. When an interface feels cluttered or unpredictable, it drains the mental energy required for high-level creative and strategic work.

Your tools should be a source of inspiration, not friction. They should provide a focused, high-performance environment that allows you to move faster and build with greater confidence.

To support this goal, we are introducing a series of visual and structural uplifts designed to modernize the Duda experience. These updates go beyond simple aesthetics. By refining the core UI elements you interact with every day, we are creating a platform that feels more intuitive, looks more professional, and functions with greater precision.

A cohesive visual foundation

Your software should feel as trustworthy as the services you provide to your clients, and as beautiful as the websites you’re building. To achieve this, we have systematically updated the foundational elements of the Duda interface. You will notice new fonts, updated button styles, redesigned modals, and a fresh set of icons and illustrations throughout the platform.

These changes set a new tone that is cleaner and more balanced. We have updated small but critical details like popups, checkboxes, toggles, and empty states. While these improvements are subtle, they significantly impact your daily workflow. The result is a product that feels more cohesive and polished. You might not consciously notice every change to a toggle or a font weight, but you will feel the difference in how the platform responds to your input.

These updates, some live and others coming soon, offer better spacing and smoother interactions, ensuring that the visual environment remains consistent whether you are adjusting global styles or fine-tuning a specific widget. This consistency builds an intuitive sense of familiarity in the tool, allowing you to focus entirely on the site you are building rather than navigating the interface itself.

Streamlining navigation with the new sidebar

The sidebar is the primary entry point for most of your design actions. We redesigned this space to improve discoverability and reduce visual noise. The new layout features a structure that feels more balanced and open, giving the editor a fresher feel that adapts better to different screen sizes.

This update helps you find the tools you need faster without overwhelming your workspace. One of the most significant additions to this new sidebar is the integrated “Add Panel.” Previously, you might have found yourself switching between separate panels for widgets, media, and text. The new add panel combines these elements into a single, streamlined location.

By placing every drag-and-drop element within one location, we have made the process of building sections faster and more intuitive. You spend less time clicking through menus and more time executing your vision. This new sidebar is already live, and represents a major step toward a more efficient editing experience.

Enhancing focus with the new top navigation bar

The top navigation bar serves as the command center for your projects. As this new version rolls out to all users, you will notice a significantly cleaner layout that prioritizes your most frequent actions. We moved less-used functions into a "More" menu, clearing the path for the tasks that matter most during active editing sessions.

Several key improvements define this new top bar:

Mega menu integration : A new mega menu makes it easier to discover platform capabilities quickly, reducing the number of clicks required to reach specific settings.
Platform consistency : Navigation is now consistent between the Editor and the Site Overview dashboard. This visual harmony ensures that moving between client management and site editing feels natural and fluid.
Simplified actions : We simplified the primary action buttons and standardized the location of the back and close buttons, making navigation predictable across different views.
Increased workspace : By streamlining the top bar, we freed up more space for your content and custom code, allowing you to stay focused on the canvas.

These changes ensure that the interface stays out of your way. When the tools you need are exactly where you expect them to be, you can maintain a state of flow and complete projects in less time. Existing users can explore all of the changes in this walkthrough video .

A foundation for continuous improvement

This modernization effort is not a one-time event. It is an ongoing project aimed at refining the details that make Duda the most professional website builder for agencies, SaaS platforms, and professionals building websites at scale. We view these updates as a foundation that allows us to build and deploy new features even more quickly in the future.

You can expect to see these refinements continue to roll out. Each update aims to make the platform more reliable, more capable, and more enjoyable to use. By investing in a modern, high-performance UI, we are ensuring that your agency has the best possible environment to deliver results for your clients.

Explore the new interface today and see how these improvements can speed up your design and development workflow.

How the women of Duda are shaping the future of leadership

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 15:12:14 GMT

International Women’s Day serves as a moment to celebrate the progress made in the professional landscape, as well as to reflect on the work that remains. At Duda, we believe that building a better web starts with building a more inclusive culture. This year, we are focusing on the theme of "Give to Gain"—the idea that by contributing mentorship, advocacy, and clarity to those around us, we create a more durable and successful ecosystem for everyone.

The digital marketing and tech industries often move at a relentless pace. In these high-growth environments, it is easy to focus solely on metrics and milestones. However, the long-term success of any platform, or digital marketing agency, relies on the human infrastructure behind the code. We spoke with several women at Duda to discuss how they navigate their careers, establish their voices, and lift others as they climb.

The power of advocacy and representation

Advocacy is often framed as a grand gesture, but in practice, it is built through daily, intentional actions. Creating space for diverse voices ensures that the products we build reflect the world they serve. When women advocate for one another, they improve, and even future-proof, company culture.

"Advocacy is really nothing fancy," says Therry Willis, an account manager at Duda. "It is a matter of truly wanting to have everyone represented at the table and doing what you can to create positive change. For me, it is encouraging and celebrating the success of other women and offering to listen when I can hear that a teammate is having a tough day".

This perspective shifts the focus from competition to abundance. In an industry that can sometimes feel like a zero-sum game, Willis argues that there is always room for more talent. "The more you give, the higher the long-term return. For me personally, it means operating from a place of abundance instead of competition. There is room at the table. And if there isn't, let's build a bigger table".

Redefining value beyond the job description

For many women in tech, the path to leadership involves learning when to lean in and when to push back.

Emily McEvoy highlights the importance of setting boundaries to maintain professional focus. "I feel like women sometimes are given things that are outside of their job description just because they're a woman," McEvoy says. "That is an opportunity to raise your voice and push back—to not be taken advantage of. Know your value and know your worth and show it to other people".

By establishing these boundaries, professionals can dedicate their energy to the tasks that drive real impact for their clients and their companies. This clarity of purpose allows for more significant contributions to the business's overall success.

Amplifying the quiet experts

In many corporate environments, the loudest voice in the room often receives the most recognition. However, business stability is frequently maintained by those who work steadily and reliably behind the scenes. A key component of the "Give to Gain" philosophy is ensuring these unsung heroes receive the credit they deserve.

Marianne Sheldon emphasizes the need to recognize all types of contributors. "I aim to give credit and recognition as often as possible and when it's appropriate," Sheldon says. "It is great to highlight the big wins and the extraordinary accomplishments. However, it is just as important to recognize those people who provide that stability to a business through that steady, reliable effort. Those unsung hero types are not always the loudest people in the room, but they play such a critical role in business success and shaping business culture".

When leaders intentionally amplify quieter experts, they gain better outcomes and a more inclusive environment. This approach fosters trust, which is a more durable asset than any single performance metric.

Knowledge sharing as a catalyst for trust

Information is only valuable when it is accessible. When colleagues share their knowledge, they build the trust necessary for teams to make smarter decisions more quickly.

Joyce Santos views knowledge sharing as a core part of her role. "Knowledge is power, but sharing it is where the real value lies," Santos says. "To me, give to gain is translating complex data into clear insights to my colleagues. When I give them clarity, I gain their trust and we all make smarter decisions".

This transparency reduces friction within teams and allows businesses to move faster. It also empowers others to grow their own expertise, creating a cycle of continuous improvement.

Overcoming the perfectionism trap

The pressure to be perfect often prevents professionals from speaking up or taking risks. This is particularly true for women who may feel they need to be completely certain before contributing to a discussion. Breaking this cycle is essential for fostering true collaboration.

Rebecca ORork reflects on how her perspective has evolved throughout her career. "Early in my career, I felt like I had to be 100% sure before speaking up. I didn't want to slow things down or ask something obvious," ORork notes. "But I've learned that if I'm wondering about something, I'm probably not the only one. And when I ask it, it doesn't disrupt the room. It strengthens it. That's when better solutions surface and collaboration really happens".

Lana Schissel also touches on the burden of perfectionism and the immense amount of labor women have historically contributed to the corporate world. "Perfectionism really allows women to pick up the slack," Schissel says. "I think women should take more credit for how these companies look in the present day".

Building the ecosystem for the next generation

The work being done today at Duda, and across the digital landscape, creates the environment the next generation of leaders will inherit. For many of the women we spoke with, this mission is personal.

"As a mom raising a daughter, I think a lot about the ecosystem my daughter will inherit," says Willis. "Every time we help someone grow, normalize ambition, or challenge bias, we're helping our future leaders gain".

Schissel echoes this sentiment, highlighting the importance of agency and self-care. "The most powerful antidote that we have to that world and ushering in a new one is one in which women have agency over their careers, over their wallets, over their families, and over their bodies," she says. "As long as we take care of ourselves and each other, we will have doors that open that do not limit us".

Moving forward together

International Women’s Day is a reminder that progress requires consistent, daily effort. By choosing to give—whether through mentorship, clarity, or advocacy—we all gain a more resilient and innovative industry.

The lessons shared by the women at Duda provide a roadmap for any professional looking to make a meaningful impact:

Establish your value : Recognize your worth and set boundaries that allow you to focus on high-impact work.
Share your expertise : Use your knowledge to provide clarity for your team and build trust.
Amplify others : Look for the quiet experts and ensure their contributions are recognized.
Speak up : Do not wait until you’re 100% certain to contribute; your questions often lead to better solutions.

As we move forward, we remain committed to fostering a culture where support and inclusion are the foundation of everything we build. Together, we will keep moving forward.

How agencies can upsell online bookings (without sounding salesy)

Thu, 05 Mar 2026 14:44:52 GMT

Most agencies and web professionals recognize that online bookings are one of the most powerful features you can add to a website to drive new and ongoing business.

They reduce friction, capture high-intent visitors, and turn websites into active revenue channels instead of digital brochures.

However, small and medium-sized businesses don’t just wake up one day and ask for a booking widget. After all, the less they have to think about their websites, the better—it’s why they have you. But, of course, this creates an opportunity for agencies to present bookings as a practical, meaningful business upgrade—and package it in ways that feel low-risk and high-value.

With Duda currently offering free access to its booking widget until August 16, 2026, agencies have a rare window to introduce booking-enabled websites at scale, remove hesitation related to pricing, and establish bookings as a standard part of their client offering.

Below are proven ways agencies can upsell bookings effectively, without turning the conversation into a hard sell.

1. Lead with outcomes, not functionality

Clients don’t care about widgets. They care about results. Instead of positioning bookings as “online scheduling,” frame it around specific business outcomes:

Fewer missed leads
Faster conversion from website visits
Fewer back-and-forth emails
More predictable appointment flow

A simple shift in language changes the conversation. Compare:

“We can add a booking widget to your site.”

Versus:

“We can help your website convert visitors into confirmed appointments—automatically, 24/7.”

When bookings are positioned as a revenue and efficiency tool, the value becomes easier to grasp, especially for service-based SMBs.

2. Offer bookings as a free trial, not a permanent commitment

One of the biggest blockers for SMB adoption is uncertainty. How do you convince a small business owner with a limited budget that a booking widget is worth it? That’s where the power of a free trial comes in.

With free access through August 16, 2026, agencies can confidently say:

“Let’s test this with real customers.”
“We’ll review bookings data after 60 or 90 days.”
“If it doesn’t deliver value, we can remove it.”

This reframes the decision from buying software to running an experiment. Clients are far more likely to say yes when the risk feels contained.

Agencies can also define clear success metrics upfront:

Number of appointments booked
Reduction in manual scheduling
Conversion rate from key web pages

This way, Duda’s booking tool becomes measurable, not abstract.

3. Bundle bookings into website packages

Another effective strategy is to stop selling bookings as a standalone add-on and instead package it into your website tiers.

For example:

Starter Website

10 core pages
Search engine & AI search optimization
Basic contact form

Growth Website

Everything above
Online bookings
Site editing access

Premium Website

Everything above
eCommerce
Booking performance reporting
Ongoing conversion optimization

By bundling bookings into higher-tier packages, agencies increase average deal size while giving clients a clear upgrade path tied to growth instead of features.

This approach also positions bookings as a natural evolution of the website, rather than an optional extra.

4. Use bookings as a differentiator in competitive pitches

Many SMBs are comparing agencies on price and design alone. Booking-enabled websites give agencies a concrete differentiator.

In competitive bids, that difference matters. Especially as AI-powered search and zero-click results reduce the amount of traffic reaching SMB websites, the sites that do get visits need to convert efficiently.

Bookings give agencies a practical answer to the question: What does this website actually do for my business?

5. Position bookings as an upgrade in operational efficiency

For many SMBs, the major pain point of concern is the idea that they might have to intensively manage and monitor their booking widget.

Missed calls, double bookings, manual calendar updates, and no-shows can all add friction behind the scenes. Agencies can reframe bookings as an operational improvement, not just a marketing tool.

Key talking points in your pitch might include:

Centralized appointment management
Automatic confirmations and reminders
Calendar sync to reduce errors
Less admin time spent scheduling

This resonates strongly with owners who are already stretched thin. You’re not selling technology, you’re selling time back.

6. Make bookings an easy yes by handling the setup

Another adoption blocker is perceived effort.

Agencies that position bookings as “something we’ll fully handle” remove yet another barrier.

That includes:

Setting up services and availability
Matching the booking experience to the site’s design
Testing the flow end-to-end
Training the client on usage

With Duda’s native booking widget, the design and deployment effort is minimal, making it realistic for agencies to standardize bookings across multiple client sites without adding ongoing support overhead.

7. Use data to justify ongoing value

Once bookings are live, agencies gain access to something far more valuable than a feature: data.

Bookings data enables conversations about:

Which services are most in demand
Which pages drive the most appointments
Peak booking times
Drop-off points in the booking flow

This data supports ongoing services like:

Conversion optimization
Marketing campaign refinement
Service pricing adjustments
Reporting that clearly ties website performance to business outcomes

When agencies can say, “Your website generated 42 booked appointments last month,” the value of the relationship becomes undeniable.

Why now is the right time to introduce bookings

The free access to Duda Bookings until August 16, 2026 removes the most common objection agencies face, which is (of course) cost.

There’s no upfront software expense, no long-term commitment, and no reason not to test bookings with the right clients. For agencies, this creates an ideal moment to:

Standardize bookings across new builds
Revisit existing client sites with a clear value-add
Increase package value without increasing client risk

Most importantly, it helps agencies shift the client conversation from deliverables to outcomes—from websites as projects to websites as growth tools.

Conclusion

Upselling bookings doesn’t require aggressive sales tactics. It requires better positioning.

Recommended ways to frame Duda bookings include:

Lead with business outcomes
Reduce risk through trials
Package bookings strategically
Handle setup and optimization
Use data to prove value

For service-based SMBs, the ability for customers to book the moment they’re ready is critically important. For agencies, helping clients unlock that moment is one of the simplest ways to deliver measurable ROI—and to stand out in an increasingly crowded market.

With Duda Bookings available to try for free between now and August 31, 2026, there’s never been a better time to make higher-converting sites the standard—not the exception.

Simplicity and the art of digital product design

Wed, 04 Mar 2026 18:28:06 GMT

Building digital products requires a constant battle against a subtle, well-intentioned enemy: complexity. While adding options often feels like progress, doing so can quietly drive users away. True innovation frequently lies not in what you add, but in what you have the discipline to remove.

The following principles explore the tension between simplicity and options and how to navigate the pitfalls of feature creep to build more effective tools.

The 1 to 60 rule of product development

In aviation, the 1 to 60 rule states that if a pilot is off course by just one degree, they will miss their target by one mile for every 60 miles flown. Software development follows a similar trajectory. A single unnecessary option or a small deviation from the core user experience may seem insignificant in isolation. However, as these decisions compound over time, the product eventually misses its destination entirely.

Small deviations—like adding an edge-case setting or an extra button to the dashboard—lead to a product that is "off course." You may start with the intention of being helpful, but you end up with a "complexity monster" that confuses the very people it was designed to serve.

Identifying the complexity traps

Complexity rarely happens because of poor intentions; it happens because humans are naturally inclined to equate "more" with "better." Several common traps can nudge a product off course:

The everything onboarding: Many products attempt to explain every feature through guided tours and tooltips. This often leads to a high drop-off rate. As noted in the discussion, one team found that only 30% of users completed a guided onboarding, while 70% got lost before they even started.
The enterprise checkbox hell: Adding features simply to look "serious" or to match a competitor’s comparison chart creates a cluttered interface. Specialized software sometimes features toolbars with dozens of buttons that require a physical cheat sheet to navigate.
The settings graveyard: Decisions that should be made by the developer are often offloaded to the user as "options." When you say yes to every customer request, you bury the core workflow under a mountain of settings.
The "what if" paranoia: Teams often build for hypothetical scenarios or edge cases that rarely occur in the real world. This distracts from the needs of the 95% of users who only require the core functionality.

Strategies for radical simplicity

To maintain clarity and utility, digital marketing professionals and product leaders must prioritize outcomes over technical features.

1. Make decisions for your users

Instead of asking users to configure every detail, make the smart choice for them. For instance, an application might automatically block out travel time for meetings or set a default reminder window. As Patrick Enzinger observed, "We replaced complexity with clarity, instructions with examples, and choices with decisions." If a setting serves a purpose but hasn't caused a complaint in years, it might not need to be a setting at all.

2. Show, don't tell

Rather than using text-heavy tutorials, use the product to explain itself. Pre-filling new accounts with dummy data—such as sample invoices or appointments—allows users to see exactly how the tool functions in a real-world scenario. This "self-explaining" approach allows users to start being productive immediately rather than spending their first hour in a configuration menu.

3. Build for the 95%

It is a common mistake to optimize for the "power users" who represent only a small fraction of the user base. While these users are often the loudest, catering to their specific edge cases can alienate the majority of your customers. Success often comes from doing a few things exceptionally well rather than doing many things at a mediocre level.

The hidden cost of "more"

Feature creep feels like progress because it is easier to sell new capabilities than it is to sell a refined experience. However, the hidden costs of complexity are substantial:

Longer learning curves: It takes users weeks instead of hours to become productive.
Increased support burden: Support teams spend their time answering basic navigational questions rather than solving high-level problems.
Lower adoption: Users often give up during onboarding because they are forced to make too many decisions before they have seen any value.

Evaluating your course

To determine if your product or process is veering off course, consider these three questions:

Can we make this decision for the user?
Does this help users accomplish their goal faster?
Would we rather explain this or show it?

Simplicity is not the absence of functionality; it is the presence of clarity. By focusing on the essential needs of the professional user and having the discipline to say no to "good" ideas that add friction, SaaS platforms can build tools that truly empower their clients to move faster and make better decisions.

Connect your AI assistant to Duda with MCP

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 14:39:26 GMT

The transition from AI as a chatbot to AI as an active collaborator has the potential to upend how digital agencies manage their workflows. While many professionals use AI to brainstorm ideas or draft copy, the process usually involves a repetitive cycle of copying, pasting, and manual formatting. The Duda MCP Server changes this dynamic by allowing your AI assistant to perform tasks directly within your Duda account.

Instead of acting as a separate entity, the MCP server serves as a professional-grade connector between your creative strategy and your site management dashboard. This integration means your AI assistant can now manage sites, maintain data collections, and update SEO metadata without you having to click through menus or navigate multiple tabs.

How the Duda MCP server works

The Duda MCP Server acts as a bridge that provides your AI—whether you use ChatGPT or Claude—with the context of your specific sites. It moves beyond simple text generation by giving the AI the tools to execute changes. Because the AI can see where your data lives and how it is structured, it can suggest improvements and then implement them based on your approval.

Establishing this connection transforms your AI tool from a conversational interface into an actionable agent. It can surface ideas you may have overlooked, optimize existing content for better conversion, and handle the technical maintenance that often slows down project timelines.

Setting up your connection

Connecting your accounts is a straightforward process that requires authorizing a secure connection between your preferred AI assistant and your Duda dashboard.

1. Enable the connector

We’ll begin by locating the Duda MCP Server within your AI settings, then following the authorization prompts to ensure that the assistant has the necessary permissions to securely interact with your site data.

2. Discover what’s possible

Once the connection is active, you can verify the integration by asking the AI to "list available tools." The assistant will display a comprehensive list of its capabilities, which include finding specific sites, updating site content, and managing data collections.

Workflows for high-efficiency site management

The primary value of the MCP server lies in its ability to automate repetitive, high-volume tasks. Agencies like yours can use these workflows to maintain high standards while increasing their output speed.

Content management and research

Managing a blog traditionally requires separate steps for research, drafting, and technical uploading. With the MCP server, these steps happen in a single conversation.

For example, an agency partner can use a prompt like this to direct the AI:

"Act as an industry expert. Research the top-ranking competitors in my field and identify the three main topics my target audience is looking for. Suggest a blog post title and a 500-word outline. Once I approve the plan, use the Duda MCP to create the post with optimized SEO metadata."

This approach ensures that the resulting content is not only well-written but also technically ready for publication.

Data management at scale

For sites that rely on large collections or operate in multiple languages, the MCP server can analyze existing data to identify and fill gaps. This is particularly useful for maintaining consistency across complex site structures.

A content strategist might use the following prompt:

"Act as a bilingual content strategist. Review the [Collection Name] collection in my Duda account. Identify any gaps in the current entries and suggest three new paired topic ideas in [Language 1] and [Language 2]. Once I approve, generate the content for two new rows using the existing collection structure."

eCommerce and store optimization

The MCP server can read product data directly from your native store. This allows it to suggest updates to product titles and descriptions based on competitor research and SEO best practices.

A professional prompt for store optimization might look like this:

"Act as a conversion copywriter and e-commerce specialist. Review the current product titles and descriptions in my store. Search for top-performing competitors in the [Your Category] space to identify effective keywords. Suggest three ways to update my descriptions to better highlight our value. Once I approve the strategy, update the product rows in my store."

A strategic approach to agency growth

Using the Duda MCP Server allows professionals to focus on big-picture strategy rather than manual data entry. By providing the AI with clear perspective, parameters, and purpose, you achieve higher-quality results with fewer iterations.

The integration offers several practical benefits for day-to-day operations:

Direct feedback loops : If an update requires a specific adjustment, such as a different image or a tone change, you can instruct the AI to fix it within the chat. The update occurs live on your site immediately.
Proactive improvements : The AI can identify opportunities for SEO or ROI improvements that you might not have requested, allowing you to provide more proactive value to your clients.
Organized data : The server keeps your site data structured and accessible, ensuring that your AI assistant always works from a foundation of accurate information.

The Duda MCP Server is a more efficient way to build and maintain professional websites. It empowers you to manage the technical details of your sites through natural conversation, making AI a practical and high-performing part of your daily workflow.

How Duda’s AI-powered widget builder turns daydreams into digital realities

Mon, 02 Mar 2026 14:19:10 GMT

Imagine if creating custom widgets for Duda websites was as easy as simply typing your idea into an empty text field. How would that change the way you deliver websites to clients and the value you provide? Just think of it; if this were possible, you could quickly address practically every niche request your clients could ever come up with.

Well, dream no longer. Duda’s new AI-powered widget builder enables you to use conversational AI to generate new custom website widgets entirely inside the Duda platform. No need for third-party solutions, environments, or complex coding. This new tool makes it possible for anyone to create useful widgets in mere minutes!

Let’s now take a look at the overall advantages of Duda’s custom widget builder, how the introduction of AI makes it even more powerful, and some examples of the types of widgets you can now create for clients using this revolutionary feature.

What is the Duda custom widget builder?

At its core, Duda’s widget builder is a feature that allows web professionals to create fully custom, reusable widgets using industry-standard web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, directly inside the Duda editor. Custom widgets created by agencies and freelancers behave and feel like Duda’s built-in widgets, but incorporate any functionality your client needs. Third-party tools, unique design elements, or entirely new interactive capabilities tailored to specific use cases can be added to websites quickly and easily.

These widgets are more than just code snippets: they are reusable assets. Once created and published, they can be deployed across multiple client sites, dramatically reducing repetitive work and improving consistency for agency workflows.

How AI supercharges widget creation

Traditionally, building a custom widget—even with Duda’s built-in tools—required at least some basic coding and development skills. Site owners and web pros needed at least a moderate understanding of how HTML is structured, how CSS styles elements, how JavaScript interacts with the DOM, and how to test and debug for responsive behavior, etc.

However, with the release of our new AI-powered widget builder, knowledge of those specific skills are no longer required.

Below is a breakdown of how the process now works, thanks to this monumental change.

1. Conversational UI for widget specs

Instead of starting from a blank code editor, you describe what you want in plain language. For example:

“Create a countdown timer showing days, hours, minutes, and seconds until a launch date.”
“Build an interactive pricing calculator that updates as users change inputs.”
“Make a carousel of customer testimonials with fade animations.”

The AI assistant takes this description and generates an execution plan and working code for you.

This conversational interface lowers the barrier to entry dramatically. Non-coders can now participate meaningfully in widget creation and developers can save hours or even days of grunt work.

2. Immediate preview & iteration

Once Duda’s AI has created a widget, you can immediately preview it within the editor. If something needs tweaking—layout, colors, interactions—you can ask Duda to adjust it through another natural language prompt. Want to change a font, add responsiveness on mobile, or include animation? Just say so.

3. No local setup required

You don’t need a local development environment. There’s no setup of Node.js, Git, or deployment pipelines. Everything happens inside the Duda editor, streamlining your workflow.

4. Fewer bottlenecks & faster deployment

For agencies, this means fewer bottlenecks. Junior designers can prototype widgets; project managers can experiment with concepts without waiting for developers; and senior engineers can focus on the hard stuff instead of getting bogged down with basic coding.

Who can access the AI widget builder?

Initially, the Widget Builder feature was exclusive to Duda’s Custom plan. With the introduction of the AI Assistant, Agency and White Label plan holders now get access too.

With the lower tier plans, you can publish up to 3 AI-powered widgets, and add them to up to 10 sites. If you need unlimited widget building capacity (along with API access, etc.), upgrading to the Custom plan unlocks those capabilities.

This tiered access model makes it easier for agencies of different sizes to start experimenting with the widget builder and delivering more value to customers.

Why agencies should care

The AI Widget Builder isn’t just a curiosity or time-saving gimmick; it’s a strategic advantage for agencies for several reasons:

1. Speed to delivery

Widgets that previously may have taken hours or days to code can now exist in minutes. When deadlines loom and clients ask for last-minute additions to their sites, your team no longer has to scramble to create best-in-class solutions.

2. Consistency across projects

Reusable, client-specific widgets mean you don’t need to reinvent the wheel for every project. You can build a library of widgets—interactive calculators, dynamic galleries, custom forms, or whatever else you like—and reuse them across multiple client websites.

This boosts consistency, quality and performance across your entire portfolio of sites.

3. Lower cost of entry

Not every agency has a full team of developers. Smaller teams, especially designers or solopreneurs, can now build advanced functionality without a single line of code. This levels the playing field with large agencies and makes you much more competitive in a (often) challenging marketplace.

4. Client satisfaction

Anyone who has ever worked with SMB clients knows that they frequently want custom features that set their websites apart. With Duda’s AI widget builder, you can deliver bespoke functionality quickly, delighting clients and increasing retention.

Example widgets you can build today

Below are some practical examples of the types of widgets that can be quickly and easily created with this new tool.

1. Bespoke countdown timer

A common request among small business clients across a wide variety of industry verticals is some sort of custom countdown timer. Perfect for product launches, event pages, or special sales campaigns, a countdown widget with animated digits, color controls, and optional sound cues provides urgency, builds anticipation and boosts conversions.

Example prompt:

“Create a countdown timer widget that shows days, hours, minutes, and seconds. The countdown should animate the digits and allow colors to be customized in the settings panel.”

2. Dynamic pricing calculator

A pricing calculator can help customers understand potential costs instantly. For service businesses or eCommerce stores, this widget could calculate quotes based on user inputs and display results in real time.

Example prompt:

“Make a pricing calculator that lets users choose service options and updates the total cost instantly. Include drop-downs for options and visual steps as users go through selections.”

3. Custom bar chart or graph

Clients love when they can use data visualization to highlight performance metrics or product benefits. Unlike static images, a chart widget that updates with dataset inputs adds professionalism.

Example prompt:

“Create a custom bar chart widget where agency team members can input labels and values. It should be mobile responsive and animated on load.”

4. Infinite scrolling gallery

Great for portfolios or product collections, an infinite scrolling image gallery keeps users engaged without overwhelming them with content.

Example prompt:

“Build an infinite scrolling image carousel with autoplay and smooth transitions. Include dot navigation and pause on hover.”

5. Interactive FAQ or accordion widget

Every pixel worth of space is precious on an SMB website. A collapsible FAQ format enhances UX while saving aforementioned space.

Example prompt:

“Make a collapsible FAQ widget with search functionality and smooth animation when sections open.”

6. Custom contact form with conditional logic

Lead generation forms are one of the most common and mission-critical types of SMB website widgets. With Duda’s AI-powered widget builder you can help clients generate leads with logic-driven forms that show fields only when certain criteria are met.

Example prompt:

“Create a contact form widget with conditional fields and show a phone number field only if the user says they want a call back.”

Best practices for building widgets with AI

To get the most out of the AI Widget Builder there are few key things to remember. These include the following.

Be explicit & detailed

AI works best when prompts are crystal clear. Include specifics like:

What UI elements you need
Interactive behaviors
Mobile responsiveness
Animation preferences

Iterate & tweak

Use the built-in widget preview feature and tweak options. Ask the AI assistant to adjust colors, layout, or logic until it’s exactly right for your client’s business.

Test on multiple devices

Although the AI does a great job, always test your widget on different screen sizes. Even small tweaks can make a big difference in UX.

Conclusion

Duda’s new AI-powered Widget Builder is a powerful leap forward in website building. It takes one of the most technical parts of site customization and makes it intuitive and conversational. Agencies can now convert ideas directly into functional solutions without sacrificing quality, speed, or creativity.

Whether you’re a seasoned developer, an emerging designer, or a solopreneur, this tool unlocks new possibilities for client work. From dynamic interactive features to bespoke design elements, the only limit is your imagination.

Why web design freelancers are delighted by Duda

Fri, 27 Feb 2026 20:58:50 GMT

Being a freelance web designer or digital marketer can be both liberating and incredibly challenging. The ability to keep your own hours, pick what projects you take on, and be your own boss is often seen as the dream scenario by so many people. The flip side? You’re working without a net.

Billing? That’s your responsibility. Responding to client comments and questions? That’s on you. Keeping websites updated and secure? You’re on the hook. And the list doesn’t stop there. Everything from design aesthetics to SEO (do we dare even mention AI-powered search ?) is in your hands, and yours alone. And this exciting, sometimes nerve-racking, way to work makes it absolutely essential that a freelancer selects the best possible tools to rely on.

For a wide variety of reasons, Duda is the perfect fit for this particular bill. When freelancers use the Duda platform to build websites for their clients, they’re not just getting a website builder—they’re getting an entire ecosystem of products and features that are specifically designed to help freelancers punch above their weight and scale up efficiently.

Let’s now take an in-depth look at what exactly makes Duda such an ideal site-building solution for freelance web designers and digital marketing professionals.

A web design platform with a purpose

If any web pro out there is wondering, “Is Duda good for freelancers?” The answer is a resounding, “yes”.

As mentioned earlier in this blog post, Duda is much more than a mere website builder that anyone can use to build sites. The team of developers and product designers behind the platform has been laser-focused on providing tools that are geared toward professional use for the better part of two decades now. The need to take a holistic approach in supporting the day-to-day operations of web pros who build sites for clients is basically their North Star.

The result of this obsession with offering ever-better tools to web designers and digital marketers is a platform that is flexible, extensible and packed to the gills with automation and AI-powered features that transform hours of busy work into streamlined workflows.

This sets Duda apart from site builders such as Wix and Squarespace that were primarily developed to help small business owners directly and treat agency- and freelance-specific features as afterthoughts. Independent web designers and digital marketers who choose to work with Duda can trust that their needs will always be put first above all other considerations, providing them with a significant advantage over competitors who choose to work with other tools.

Duda features designed for freelancers

Now that we’ve discussed the philosophy of Duda’s team and how they act to carry out their mission, let’s examine some of the individual products and features that are key to supporting and simplifying the life of a freelancer.

Comprehensive website security & easy maintenance

When a freelancer chooses to use a system like WordPress to build websites, they can expect to spend hours and hours maintaining their clients’ sites, updating plugins and ensuring there are no security vulnerabilities. This is often a key blocker that keeps web designers, developers and digital marketers from taking on new clients. If all of your time is spent trying to make sure existing client sites don’t go down or break, taking on new projects is pretty much impossible.

In contrast to platforms like WordPress, Duda provides an ecosystem that is maintained by a professional team of product managers and backend engineers. This ensures that all of the features included in a Duda website are always up to date and there are no security gaping security vulnerabilities to worry about or monitor for.

Additionally, every single website built on the Duda platform comes with critical security features built-in by default and is hosted on a rock solid infrastructure.

The entire Duda platform, including both individual websites and the editor itself, is hosted on Amazon’s AWS platform, which guarantees a 99.5% uptime. The company also holds an active ISO 27001 certification and employs SAST, DAST, and SCA testing tools alongside cloud-infrastructure vulnerability scanners to ensure the integrity of the platform.

Based in Europe and worried about GDPR compliance? Don’t be. Duda supports Europe-only hosting in Frankfurt and advanced cookie compliance integrations, which ensures the sites you create adhere to the strictest privacy regulations.

Lastly, websites published on the platform include fully automated DDoS mitigation, free SSL certificates, and data encryption.

Together, these features save you hours and hours of time that would usually need to be spent babysitting your clients’ existing websites. Instead, you can dedicate that precious time to searching for net new clients and taking on fresh projects. Or learning a new hobby. Or going on vacation. We’re here to help you work more efficiently—what you do with the time saved is really up to you.

A 100% white label platform

Even if you’re an individual freelancer and don’t think of yourself as a digital agency owner, you still have your own brand, and it’s always a good idea to make sure that shines through for the clients you serve. And that’s why Duda enables you to place your own name, brand colors and logo on nearly every part of the Duda platform those clients might ever come into contact with. The website editor, support portal, automated email communications generated by the platform, billing pages, client login pages, website preview pages—all of it can be marked up with your branding so that clients only know you’re using Duda if you want them to.

It’s important to remember that working with a white label website builder isn’t just all about successful self-promotion (though that certainly part of it). There’s a strategic angle as well.

The really important benefit is that you can enable customers to take an active role in managing their websites, without worrying that they will see the platform you’re working with and begin to wonder if they can create and maintain a website without you. Since Duda provides white label capabilities for every customer-facing part of its platform, you can bring clients into the site creation and management process at any point. From sharing a link to the editor so they can view and provide comments on early designs, to giving them access to manage the products in an eCommerce store, Duda makes it easy for you to work closely with clients, confidently. This both saves you time and looks impressive to customers at the same time (which, of course, strengthens custom loyalty).

Industry-leading AI capabilities

The AI revolution has produced an almost indescribable impact on the workflows and processes of basically everyone who relies on tech tools to serve their customers. Efficiency gains and capacity increases have grown by leaps and bounds since the release of LLMs like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude, and perhaps nobody has benefited more than solopreneurs and freelancers.

With support from the right kinds of AI tools, individuals can now accomplish what only yesterday took entire teams to do—and in a fraction of the time. And with Duda’s AI tools, the possibilities for web design freelancers are essentially limitless.

Here are just a few ways Duda’s AI Stack helps freelancers work faster, expand their service offerings, and deliver high-quality results, without adding complexity to their workflow.

Content creation and optimization — Generate page copy, headlines, product descriptions, and blogs directly within the editor. You can also refine tone, shorten or expand text, and adapt content to fit different client needs without leaving the platform.
Built-in SEO assistance : AI helps generate titles, meta descriptions, alt text, and other essential SEO elements at scale, reducing manual work while improving consistency across sites.
Page and section generation : Instead of starting from a blank canvas, AI can propose layouts and sections based on the business type, giving you a strong foundation you can customize.
Smarter client onboarding : AI-assisted content collection forms help gather key business information upfront, minimizing delays and cutting down on endless revision cycles.
Conversational workflows and automation : With AI-powered commands, you can create pages, publish content, or update site elements using natural language, streamlining repetitive tasks.

With these tools in hand, freelancers can operate much more like full fledged agencies, capture more customers and provide more value than most have probably ever thought possible.

Fully integrated client billing

Designing, developing and maintaining websites for clients are all pointless actions unless you can collect payment for your work. But keeping track of which customer owes what can be quite a headache for a freelancer with a growing client list. Nobody wants to spend time sending out invoices and chasing down payments for their services.

So to help streamline payment collection, Duda offers fully integrated, white label client billing tools . You can automate invoicing, get paid for both one-time projects or ongoing subscriptions, and even trigger site publishing (or unpublishing) based on payment status—entirely inside the Duda platform.

Duda’s integrated billing system allows you to customize communications regarding payments, and integrates with Stripe for secure, local currency payments via major credit and debit cards.

Notably, the benefits of having your billing tools integrated with the rest of the Duda platform don’t just extend to you as a freelancer. Clients enjoy a seamless, white-labeled experience, accessing their sites and billing in one place under your brand.

A dashboard tailored for multi-site management

One of the most common challenges faced by freelancers is the need to work with separate tools and juggle multiple logins for each one of their clients’ individual projects. Duda removes this problem entirely by providing freelancers with a centralized dashboard where you can view, manage, and organize all your sites in one place.

However, the dashboard is really only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Duda features that make it easy for freelancers to manage a large quantity of websites.

Other key Duda features that help freelancers with multi-site management include:

Granular roles and permissions : Duda gives you complete control over what your clients can and can’t do on their websites. You can assign specific levels of access to customers so they can only make the edits and changes you want them to.
Site-specific invites : Clients are invited to collaborate on individual sites, so they only see their own projects. This keeps you from having to worry about the wrong customer getting access to the wrong website.
Reusable templates & bulk duplication : You can save custom templates and duplicate existing sites in bulk to launch new projects faster and maintain consistency across your portfolio.
API-controllable governance : Duda's API enables you to automate site management tasks, from assigning permissions to duplicating sites, making it easy to scale and streamline operations as your client list grows.

Final thoughts

Freelance web design work comes with real freedom, but also real responsibilities. When everything from site security to client communication falls on your shoulders, the tools you choose matter a lot.

Duda stands out because it was built with those realities in mind. It combines hosting, security, client access, billing, AI assistance, and site management into a single platform that actually holds up as your workload grows. Instead of patching together plugins and third-party services, freelancers can rely on one system that is stable, professional, and designed for client work.

For web designers and digital marketers who want to spend less time maintaining websites and more time delivering results, Duda offers a practical foundation to build and scale a freelance business with confidence.

Epos Now & Duda partner to empower SMBs with AI-driven, instant eCommerce integration

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 14:03:17 GMT

Boulder, CO., February 26, 2026 — Epos Now , a global leader in cloud-based point-of-sale (POS) and embedded finance, has partnered with Duda , the leading professional website-building platform for SaaS companies and agencies, to revolutionize how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) transition to multichannel selling.

The partnership allows 100,000+ global merchants to quickly launch fully synced, professional online stores, connecting physical and digital commerce.

Omnichannel is no longer optional in today’s SME landscape. This integration allows Epos Now merchants to generate high-performance, SEO- and AEO-ready websites instantly. By leveraging Duda’s robust API and AI-driven automation, the Epos Now ecosystem can now pull existing product data, descriptions, and inventory levels directly from a merchant’s POS to build a complete digital storefront in seconds, eliminating technical barriers that traditionally keep local businesses offline.

Redefining the "storefront" for the modern merchant

This partnership addresses the critical "fintech gap" in which many SMEs struggle to sync their physical inventory with online sales, leading to overselling or manual data-entry errors.

"Our mission has always been to level the playing field for independent businesses," says Joe Squire, Marketing Director at Epos Now. "With this partnership, we are giving our merchants a single, AI-enabled ecosystem where their physical store and digital presence act as one. This is about speed-to-market and operational intelligence."

Why this matters:

For Epos Now merchants : Users benefit from a "built-for-you" platform backed by industry-leading infrastructure. Duda currently leads the market in AI search optimization (driving a 283% year-over-year increase in AI-led traffic) and dominates Google’s Core Web Vitals with 83% of sites achieving "Good" scores. These superior speeds and SEO rankings empower local shops to outpace global giants in search results.
For the wider industry : This collaboration represents the next evolution of embedded commerce. By integrating a high-end Content Management System directly into a financial platform, Epos Now is expanding its role as a comprehensive business engine.

“Search is evolving, and small businesses have to evolve with it,” says Oded Ouaknine, Chief Revenue Officer at Duda. “We’re proud to partner with Epos Now to make it easier for merchants to launch high-performing, AI-ready storefronts that drive real visibility and real results.”

About Duda

Duda is the leading white label web building platform for digital agencies, SaaS platforms, and web professionals offering web design services to SMBs. From its industry-leading AI Assistant to advanced API-driven automation workflows, Duda offers web professionals a comprehensive suite of tools to build pixel-perfect, feature-rich websites efficiently and at scale-all on a flexible platform that can be fully customized to match their go-to-market strategy and ideal customer experience. As the top platform for Core Web Vitals, a critical metric for SEO performance, Duda makes it easy for web professionals to deliver a superior digital presence and outstanding performance to their customers under their own brand. More than 22,000 organizations have trusted Duda to build 1 million active websites. For more information, visit www.duda.co .

About Epos Now

Epos Now is a global fintech leader providing cloud-based POS and business management solutions to over 100,000 merchants across 70+ countries. Supporting industries from retail to hospitality, Epos Now’s ecosystem integrates payments, inventory, and embedded finance to help SMBs streamline operations and accelerate growth. Learn more at eposnow.com/us .

31 AI design tools for agencies

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 14:22:36 GMT

When it comes to client delivery, there's no substitute for human creativity and critical thinking. We're a long way away from artificial intelligence replacing designers and creatives.

An AI tool won't listen to your clients' needs, assess their customer base, and develop a brand, website, or campaign that resonates with them. But, for an expert designer, it's a powerful extension of their skills and capabilities. And it can save you a heck of a lot of time.

As an agency owner , adding AI design tools to your stack will make your business more efficient and competitive. And it'll streamline your design process, allowing you to take on more clients and deliver high-quality work at a faster pace.

Let's take a look at some of the best AI-powered design tools the market has to offer.

What is an AI design tool?

An AI design tool is a type of software that uses artificial intelligence and machine learning technology to assist designers in a part of their creative process. They range from simple design assistants that suggest color palettes and fonts, to more complex tools that can generate entire designs based on user inputs and preferences.

Some AI design tools are standalone applications, while others are integrated into existing design software like Adobe Creative Cloud or Canva. They can also be web-based, making them accessible from any device with an internet connection.

AI design tools for digital agencies are similar to other types of AI design tools. The main difference is that they're built for collaboration and scale — a team of designers can use them to streamline their workflow and produce high-quality designs at a faster pace.

How is AI used in web design?

Broadly speaking, AI serves three purposes in the web design process:

Automation. AI can automate repetitive tasks, freeing up designers' time for more complex and creative work.
Assistance. AI tools can suggest design elements like color schemes, font pairings, and layout options based on user preferences and data.
Creation. Some AI tools have the capacity to generate entire designs based on user inputs, making the initial design process faster and more efficient.

AI has different use cases at various stages, from initial brainstorming and ideation to final execution and delivery. For instance, a design team could use AI to analyze a client's brand and audience, then use another AI tool to come up with multiple design concepts. They could then test each and work on the final product collaboratively.

Benefits and challenges of AI design tools for agency owners

93% of web designers use AI tools for at least one part of their workflow. That's because they significantly speed up the creation process and reduce creator's block by quickly handling tasks like generating unique product descriptions or marketing materials. This reduction in manual effort leads to faster turnaround times and higher productivity from your design team.

They also enable personalization at scale. AI can analyze large volumes of data, which you can use to tailor your clients' marketing content closely to individual user preferences. In addition to delivering them a better end product, you're helping them increase their engagement and customer satisfaction.

As a result, agencies using AI generally report better client retention. We can attribute this to their ability to meet client objectives more effectively and consistently showcase their impact through detailed reporting and data collection.

But these tools aren't without their challenges. As an agency owner, you'll have to invest time and resources into researching, selecting, and training your team on the right AI tools that fit your agency's workflows. You'll also have to ensure your chosen tools integrate seamlessly with your existing design software, improve your process without adding extra steps, and fit into your budget.

How to evaluate AI-powered agency design tools

There are multiple factors to consider when evaluating AI design tools for your agency. Here are some key points you have to keep in mind:

Ease of use and user adoption
Compatibility with your systems and workflows
Agency-specific features and capabilities
Output quality (for generative AI tools )
Cost and return on investment
Customer support and resources available for training and troubleshooting
Security and data privacy measures
Scalability to support growing or changing teams

You'll also have to look at feedback and reviews from other agencies using the tool. If possible, get a demo and test the tool with a few members of your organization before full-scale implementation. That way, you'll have valuable insights into real-world usage and make a more informed decision.

Top AI design tools for digital agencies:

1. Midjourney

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Midjourney is an innovative AI tool that transforms textual descriptions into visual images. It uses advanced machine learning techniques to interpret and visualize concepts provided by designers, making it a powerful tool for creative visualizations.

Notable features include:

Granular control. Users can fine-tune details like color gradients and lighting to match the desired mood or style of the image.
Text overlays. Allows the addition of text within the generated images, enhancing the visual message.
Conversational refinement. Enables users to iteratively refine images through feedback, akin to working with a digital artist.
High image resolution. Supports generating images up to 1,792 x 1,024 pixels, allowing for detailed and expansive visuals.
ChatGPT integration. Connecting ChatGPT with Midjourney allows for personalized image generation based on user input, expanding the tool's capabilities even further.

Midjourney's ability to generate high-quality, detailed images from simple text prompts is particularly useful for agencies that need rapid concept visualization and creative campaign elements.

Its features support marketing, graphic design, and even e-commerce, by providing tools that can swiftly produce compelling visuals for social media posts, advertisements, and product showcases. And its flexibility in image customization and iterative refinement makes it ideal for agencies that require unique and eye-catching images that stand out in competitive markets.

Midjourney offers several subscription plans:

Basic Plan: $10/month (or $8/month billed annually)
Standard Plan: $24/month (details available on their site)
Pro Plan: $48/month
Mega Plan: $96/month

These plans vary in terms of the number of images you can generate and the level of access to premium features like higher resolution and image variations.

2. Runway

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Runway is a versatile platform that integrates various AI-powered tools to facilitate the creation and manipulation of videos, images, and audio content. It's designed to streamline the content creation process, enabling both novices and professionals to produce high-quality digital media.

Its standout features include:

Automated removal. Runway simplifies editing by effortlessly removing backgrounds from images and videos.
Text-to-image and 3D texture generation. Your team members can generate detailed visuals and textures simply by making textual descriptions.
Motion tracking and green screen masking. You can use Runway to enhance video production by tracking movements and integrating virtual backgrounds.
Real-time collaboration. It allows teams to work together seamlessly on projects in real time.
Custom AI model creation. Full plans offer tools to build and train bespoke AI models tailored to specific creative needs.

Its broad range of functionalities that cover nearly every aspect of digital content creation — from video and audio editing to complex 3D modeling and AI-driven automation — make it ideal for agencies developing campaigns with videos, animations, and other dynamic content.

It's particularly beneficial for teams looking to reduce the time and effort involved in content production, while also providing options for high customization and brand alignment. Plus, real-time collaboration supports agencies with distributed or remote teams, enhancing productivity and project management.

Runway operates on a freemium model, with basic access provided for free. Detailed pricing for more advanced features and higher usage limits involves a credit system, costing $0.05 per second of video generated by Runway Gen-2. More comprehensive pricing details are available directly from their website.

3. DALL-E 2

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DALL-E 2, developed by OpenAI, is a sophisticated AI model that generates detailed images from textual descriptions. It builds upon its predecessor by offering higher-resolution images and more realistic and context-aware modifications.

Its core features are:

Inpainting and outpainting. DALL-E 2 can edit parts of images by either adding or modifying elements as well as continuing the visual narrative beyond the borders of the original image.
Variations. It can create multiple stylistically similar images based on the original input, offering diverse visual interpretations.
Seamless integration. The API of DALL-E 2 allows easy integration into digital workflows across your agency, facilitating a smooth process for creating visuals.
Image models. You can build DALL-E straight into your other apps through the abovementioned API, allowing for endless tailoring to your agency's workflows.

DALL-E 2 is especially beneficial for creative and web design agencies that need to produce high-quality and diverse visual content quickly. Its ability to generate images from text can significantly speed up the creative process, from initial concept to final product visualization.

The inpainting and outpainting features are excellent for creating unique marketing materials, product designs, web pages, and engaging digital content that helps your clients stand out.

Access to DALL-E 2 requires purchasing credits from OpenAI, though specific pricing details are complicated — you can find them directly on OpenAI's platform .

4. Magnific AI

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Magnific AI is an advanced AI-powered platform designed to upscale and enhance images. It uses generative AI technology to transform any image into a higher-resolution version, adding detailed enhancements that are controlled by the user through various customizable settings.

Special features include:

Advanced AI upscaling. Cutting-edge generative AI technology creates high-resolution images without losing quality or creating artifacts.
Detail enhancement. It's easy to make intricate detail additions with control over the 'Creativity' slider to adjust the realism and detail level.
User-friendly interface. The platform is accessible to designers of all skill levels, with intuitive controls and support, fast user adoption, and quick time to value for your business.
Versatile applications. Magnific works for a broad range of uses, including graphic design, digital art, marketing material enhancement, and personal photo improvement.

We recommend Magnific AI for agencies that spend a lot of time creating professional presentations and marketing materials, either internally or with clients.

Its ability to upscale images without losing detail makes it ideal for prepping high-quality visuals for print or digital ads and web pages. And its customization options allow creative teams to fine-tune images to meet specific aesthetic needs and client demands.

Magnific AI offers several pricing tiers:

Pro Plan: $39/month
Premium Plan: $99/month
Business Plan: $299/month

Annual subscriptions offer two months free, enhancing cost-effectiveness for long-term use across your organization.

5. Krea AI

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Krea AI is a creative platform that leverages artificial intelligence to generate high-quality visuals from user inputs. It allows users to upload images and videos, train the AI, and generate visuals directly on a digital canvas, catering particularly to fields like graphic design, product photography, concept art, and architecture.

Features include:

Real-time AI training. Your team members can enhance models on the fly and receive instant feedback, fostering a dynamic creative process.
Logo illusions. You can transform logos with AI, blending them with various themes and styles to create unique designs.
AI patterns. With Krea, you can auto-generate detailed patterns and textures.
Real-time image and video generation. You can modify and see changes in real time, enhancing creative workflows.

Krea AI's capabilities make it an excellent tool for web design, creative, and marketing agencies looking for rapid prototyping and creative image manipulation. Its real-time feedback system allows for quick iterations, making it perfect for dynamic project environments where speed and precision are crucial.

Krea AI offers a free version with basic features and daily usage limits. The unlimited version (with no limits on daily usage) is available for $30/month. Annual subscriptions save 20% on costs, making it a cost-effective solution for long-term use.

6. Khroma

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Khroma learns your clients' color preferences and generates personalized color palettes based on inputs from your design team. It's designed to streamline the color selection process by offering an infinite array of color combinations tailored to clients' tastes.

Special features include:

AI personalization. After selecting an initial set of 50 preferred colors, Khroma's AI learns your preferences to suggest new palettes.
Infinite combinations. Generates limitless color combinations that you can view as typography, gradients, palettes, or custom images.
Search and save. It offers advanced search capabilities to filter combinations by color properties like hue, and the ability to save and reference favorite palettes.
Browser-based interface. It's fully operational from within a web browser, no downloads necessary.

Design agencies of all types and sizes benefit from its ability to rapidly produce diverse and aesthetically pleasing color schemes based on learned preferences. It facilitates a scalable design process , provides inspiration, and ensures brand consistency across client projects. Its user-friendly interface and AI-driven suggestions make it an excellent tool for both seasoned designers and those less experienced with color theory.

Kroma is free to use, making it accessible for individuals and agencies alike.

7. Looka Logo Maker

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Looka Logo Maker is an AI-driven platform that allows users to create custom logos and complete brand identities with ease. Utilizing generative AI, Looka streamlines the logo design process by generating a variety of logo options based on minimal user inputs such as company name, industry, and style preferences.

Our favorite features are:

AI-generated designs. The logo maker automatically creates numerous types of logos tailored to user specifications.
Extensive customization options. Your team members can make detailed adjustments to color, font, and symbols in the logos.
Brand kit. Users can create comprehensive brand kits, including business cards, email signatures, and other marketing materials.
Print shop. Looka offers a service to print the created logos on various merchandise like t-shirts and mugs.

If you produce professional logos and branding materials for your clients, Looka is an ideal tool for your services. Its AI-driven tools reduce design time significantly while still allowing for customizations to match specific brand requirements. Agencies can leverage its capabilities to service more clients efficiently or to offer rapid prototyping of brand concepts.

Pricing for your agency is as follows:

Basic Logo Package: Provides a single low-res logo file for $20.
Premium Logo Package: Includes multiple high-resolution files and full logo ownership for $65.
Brand Kit Subscription: Access to over 300 design files and full branding materials for $96 per year.
Brand Kit Web Subscription: Includes all the features of the Brand Kit Subscription plus an AI-generated website for $129 per year.

8. Stable Diffusion

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Stable Diffusion is an open-source deep learning model that generates high-quality images from textual descriptions. It operates on a latent diffusion model (LDM) architecture, which includes a variational autoencoder and a U-Net for generating and refining images.

Your design team can use this tool for tasks like inpainting, outpainting, and image-to-image translations guided by text.

Stable Diffusion's best features include:

High-quality image generation. The AI design software produces photorealistic images from text prompts.
Text-guided image-to-image translation. It transforms existing images based on text descriptions.
Inpainting and outpainting. You can enhance or extend parts of images using Stable Diffusion's AI.
Open source. The platform is freely available for modification and redistribution under the Creative ML OpenRAIL-M license.
Model training. You can train the system on your clients' datasets to create avatars and get accurate results based on the client you're working with and their brand preferences.

Stable Diffusion efficiently produces diverse artistic and commercial imagery, significantly speeding up content creation for marketing, advertising, social media posts, and web design projects. The ability to customize and integrate this tool within various workflows also makes it highly adaptable, depending on your specific agency's needs.

The tool's team package costs $47 per month, but app design and development agencies should go for the high-end tier for $147 per month (to beta launch apps within the platform). Model training costs $1 each, but there are price breaks for large-scale agencies training thousands of models for clients.

9. Generated Photos

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Generated Photos is an advanced AI tool that provides high-quality, hyper-realistic images of human models. It allows users to generate faces and full-body images with a high degree of customization in terms of facial features, expressions, ethnicities, ages, and clothing. The platform is designed to produce diverse and copyright-free images suitable for various creative and commercial projects.

Standout features include:

Human generator. Create full-body human images tailored to specific requirements.
Face generator. Customize facial features and expressions.
Anonymizer. Modify images to protect identities.
API integration. Seamlessly integrate generated images into various applications, social profiles, and client websites.

Generated Photos is particularly valuable for agencies involved in advertising, gaming, media production, and personal branding. It allows for the rapid creation of diverse and realistic human images, reducing the need for traditional photoshoots and expediting content creation.

You can also use it in the web design process for SaaS clients , ecom brands , and other businesses that need avatars for chatbots, virtual assistants, and guided site tours.

The full version of the platform costs $199 per year, but there is also a free version available with limited features. For agencies, there are custom pricing options available depending on the number of users, images, APIs, and custom-trained datasets needed.

10. VanceAI

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VanceAI is a platform offering a suite of AI-driven photo enhancing and editing tools. It provides capabilities such as image upscaling, sharpening, denoising, background removal, and photo restoration. These tools utilize advanced deep learning algorithms to achieve professional-level results quickly and easily.

Its best capabilities include:

Image enhancement. Improves image resolution and quality.
Photo restoration. Repairs and revitalizes old or damaged photos.
Background removal. Automatically extracts objects from their backgrounds.
Image denoiser. Reduces noise while preserving details.
Toongineer Cartoonizer and VansPortrait. Converts images into cartoons or pencil sketches.

VanceAI is fantastic for agencies thanks to its broad range of tools that simplify and automate the photo editing process. It is particularly useful for enhancing image quality when designing ecommerce websites , creating marketing materials, repurposing content for web and social platforms, and restoring archival photographs.

VanceAI offers a flexible pricing model, including a free tier to test its capabilities and various paid plans based on image credit usage. The paid plans provide access to more advanced features and higher processing limits.

11. Uizard

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Uizard is a revolutionary platform that simplifies the process of creating user interfaces. It is designed to help both seasoned designers and novices alike, enabling rapid creation of wireframes, mockups, and prototypes. Uizard’s AI capabilities transform text prompts into detailed UI designs, convert sketches to digital format, and adapt screenshots into customizable mockups.

Its standout capabilities are:

Autodesigner. Uizard generates multi-screen mockups from simple text inputs.
Real-time team collaboration. It facilitates teamwork by allowing real-time design collaboration.
Screenshot and wireframe scanners. Convert screenshots and hand-drawn sketches into digital designs on your smartphone.
Theme generator. Instantly create design themes from images, URLs, or from scratch.
Text and image assistants. AI-powered tools to generate textual content and find images.

Uizard is ideal for agencies because it accelerates the design process, from ideation to prototyping. Its intuitive interface and AI-enhanced features allow teams to quickly turn concepts into usable designs, making it an excellent tool for rapid prototyping and collaborative design efforts.

Uizard offers a freemium model. For agencies, it's priced at $12 or $49 per creator per month, depending on the level of usage and support needed. Larger agencies should opt for the higher tier to get priority support and unlimited everything.

12. Smart Upscaler

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Smart Upscaler, developed by Icons8, is a web-based tool that uses advanced artificial intelligence to upscale images while preserving their quality. It enhances low-resolution images by intelligently analyzing and filling in details that are typically lost in smaller files.

Features include:

AI-powered upscaling. Enhances images up to 64 megapixels, ensuring that details are sharpened and the natural appearance of the upscaled images is maintained.
Batch processing. You can upscale multiple images simultaneously, ideal for projects requiring uniform enhancement across numerous assets.
User-friendly interface. Designed to be accessible for both amateurs and professionals, with a simple drag-and-drop functionality.
API availability. An API enables integration of upscaling functionalities into other applications or workflows.

Smart Upscaler is good for agencies that need high-quality image outputs for digital or print media. It is particularly useful for enhancing image assets for high-resolution displays or marketing materials. The ability to upscale images quickly and in batches makes it an efficient tool for dealing with large volumes of visual content for clients.

Pricing varies wildly depending on the number of images and the credit type needed for upscaling. Most products range between $9 and $15 per month, with an unlimited plan costing $99 per month.

13. Colormind

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Colormind is an innovative tool that uses deep learning to generate color palettes. It can extract color styles from a variety of sources like photographs, movies, and popular art, adjusting daily with new datasets for fresh inspiration.

Its notable features are:

Dynamic learning. The system continuously updates its learning models to improve palette suggestions for your clients.
Image color extraction. It can generate color palettes from uploaded images.
Palette customization. There are additional tools for adjusting and locking in specific colors within a palette.

Colormind is ideal for design agencies looking for dynamic color inspiration. Its ability to generate cohesive color schemes quickly makes it a valuable tool for speeding up the design process, ensuring brand consistency, and experimenting with color theory in projects.

The best part about Colormind is it's free to use with no hidden costs. No matter the size of your agency, it's a great resource to have in your design toolkit. Designers can install it themselves if they like.

14. Fontjoy

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Fontjoy leverages deep learning to create harmonious font pairings, simplifying the design process for both seasoned designers and novices. The tool uses a neural network to analyze and match fonts that complement each other in style, weight, and contrast, offering a pleasing aesthetic balance.

Fontjoy's core features are:

AI-drivenfont pairing. Automatically generates balanced font combinations.
Font locking. Allows users to 'lock' a chosen font and experiment with other combinations around it.
Manual font customization. Users can manually adjust their font selections for further personalization.
Accessible web-based interface. Designed for ease of use, Fontjoy supprts both beginners and experienced designers.

Fontjoy is a great tool for agencies that need to quickly identify effective font pairings for various design, website , and branding projects. Its AI-powered engine provides a fast, intuitive way to explore and visualize potential font combinations, decide between web-safe fonts , and streamline the creative process and aiding decision-making.

Like the previously mentioned tools on this list, Fontjoy is free to use, making it accessible for freelancers and agencies alike without additional investment.

15. Designs.AI

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Designs.AI stands out as a multi-functional platform that supports a broad spectrum of design needs, integrating seamlessly into the workflow of digital agencies that require quick turnaround times and consistent, high-quality results.

It leverages artificial intelligence to facilitate the creation of logos, videos, speeches, and more, making professional-quality design accessible to users of all skill levels, particularly beneficial for marketers, small business owners, and content creators.

Its best features include:

Logomaker. Your team can generate unique logo designs automatically.
Videomaker. They can also create videos suited for multiple platforms and use cases.
Designmaker. Dynamic templates facilitate fast and simple creation of stunning visual content.
Speechmaker. It auto-converts text into natural-sounding speech for videos and presentations.
AI witer and color matcher. The system's AI enhances marketing content and finds perfect color palettes.

Designs.AI's comprehensive suite of tools cover most aspects of digital marketing and content creation. It accelerates workflows by automating the design process, from initial concepts to ready-to-publish content, enhancing productivity and allowing agencies to scale their creative output efficiently.

It's also useful for communication and client reporting — you can use it to generate visuals and content for client presentations.

While the basic functions are available for free, advanced features and capabilities are unlocked through paid subscriptions , offering greater flexibility and access to premium options.

16. Fotor

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Fotor is an all-in-one photo editing solution that simplifies the process of enhancing and designing images. It features an intuitive interface that makes user adoption quick and seamless. It utilizes advanced AI to offer tools like photo enhancement, background removal, and object removal, alongside traditional editing tools like cropping, resizing, and color adjustment.

Its defining features are:

Art generator. Transforms text or images into various art styles.
Photo enhancer. Improves image quality with options to upscale images.
Background remover. Automatically removes backgrounds from photos.
Object remover. Clears unwanted objects from photos seamlessly.
AI headshot generator. Creates professional headshots and avatars.

We highly recommend Fotor for agencies that need to create high-quality visual content, from social media graphics to professional headshots. While these are tasks that take hours manually, Fotor can accomplish them in minutes with just a few clicks.

Pricing: Offers both free and paid plans, with the Pro plan starting at $4.99 per month (billed annually), providing advanced editing features and more extensive cloud storage options.

17. Dream

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Dream (by Wombo) allows users to create unique artworks using AI. Designers can input a text prompt and choose from various art styles, and the tool generates artwork in seconds. It's designed to be user-friendly and accessible to everyone, regardless of their artistic skills.

Features that stand out to us are:

Diverse art styles. The platform has a wide range of art styles, allowing for extensive creative exploration within the application.
Mobile and desktop synchronization. Designers enjoy a seamless experience across different devices.
Community features. Users can share their creations and view others' artworks within the app.
Customization options. Your team can upload images from your clients' media repositories to guide the AI's creations.

This platform is ideal if you're looking for a tool that facilitates fast conceptual visualizations or wish to produce cartoon-like animations without extensive time investments. Its ease of use and the ability to generate high-quality, diverse artworks make it suitable for enhancing digital content, marketing materials, and social media posts.

The tool offers a free version with basic features, while more advanced features, including additional styles and effects, are available through a subscription model starting at $4.99 monthly or $59.99 annually for premium access.

18. NightCafe

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NightCafe is an accessible AI art generator that uses multiple AI models to create unique art from text prompts. It's designed to be easy to use for both beginners and professionals, providing a platform for users to create, share, and discuss AI-generated art.

Its top features include:

Variety of AI models. It includes popular models, including two mentioned in our list: Stable Diffusion and DALL-E 2.
Community interaction. Features for community engagement, including art challenges and social sharing, facilitate the discovery of talented artists, inspiration for new creations, and community-built fine-tuned models.
Customization options. Users can customize their art with different styles, and the tool supports text-to-image conversion.

NightCafe is great for agencies because it's easy to set up and use. The ability to rapidly generate diverse artistic concepts, and the extensive customization it allows, make it good for producing visual content to go alongside written copy.

NightCafe offers several plans, ranging from $4.79/month for the AI Beginner plan to $39.99/month for the AI Artist plan when billed quarterly.

19. Playground AI

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Playground AI is an innovative platform that enables users to create and edit images using AI technology. It's designed to make the process of generating and manipulating images easy and accessible for everyone. The tool allows for the mixing of real and synthetic images to create unique visuals and offers extensive customization capabilities.

Our favorite features of this AI design tool for agencies include:

Mixed image editing. The platform combines real and synthetic images, meaning you can combine elements from different images to create a unique, real-looking design (while many AI platforms tend to produce overly stylized or unrealistic results).
Command-based edits. Design teams have precise control over the editing process through text commands.
Erase and fit tools. Users can remove unnecessary elements or fit objects into any scene.
Sketch to reality. The system automatically interprets and converts drawn sketches into detailed images.
Collaborative features. Your team members can collab on creative projects, making it a great choice for larger agencies that work on client projects as a group.

We love Playground because it simplifies the creation of complex images and graphics, which can be particularly useful for social media posts, marketing materials, and client presentations. Its ability to generate photorealistic images and its easy-to-use interface make it perfect for agencies that need to create high-quality visuals quickly and collaboratively.

Playground AI is free to use, but its best agency features come with the $12/month Pro plan, which comes without limits and includes features for high-quality downloading.

20. Lunacy

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Lunacy is a versatile graphic design software developed by Icons8, available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. We love it for its robust vector graphic capabilities, allowing designs to scale without quality loss, making it comparable to other professional tools like Adobe Illustrator or Sketch.

Key features include:

AI-powered image and text tools. Lunacy incorporates AI to speed up tasks such as background removal, image upscaling, and text generation, helping you focus more on creative aspects of design.
Real-time design team collaboration. You can collaborate with team members in real-time, making it ideal for remote teamwork and ensuring that designs are aligned with all stakeholders' feedback.
Extensive asset library. The platform offers a vast library of icons, photos, illustrations, and UI kits, significantly reducing the need to source assets externally.
Cross-platform availability. It supports seamless functionality across different operating systems, with native app experiences for each platform.
Offline mode. Lunacy can be used offline, making it suitable for environments with unreliable internet connections.
Easy integration. It integrates with other design tools and supports importing from and exporting to formats like Figma and .sketch.

Lunacy's combination of powerful features makes it an excellent option for design agencies looking to enhance productivity without increasing overheads. Its ability to handle complex vector tasks, along with real-time collaboration and an extensive built-in asset library, ensures that agencies can deliver high-quality designs efficiently.

The platform's graphics subscription package only costs $9.99 per month, and it comes complete with unlimited access.

21. Let's Enhance

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Let's Enhance is an AI-driven suite of tools designed to enhance image quality, making it highly suitable for professionals and businesses who need to upscale images for print or digital use. It's especially beneficial for enhancing low-quality photos (including user-generated content) and can upscale images up to 16 times their original size without losing detail.

Its best features include:

AI upscaling. Let's Enhance can significantly increase image resolution while maintaining clarity, ideal for preparing images for high-quality prints or digital displays.
Batch processing. This feature allows multiple images to be enhanced at once, saving time for users with large volumes of photos to process.
Noise reduction. The tool effectively removes noise and artifacts, ensuring that the upscaled images look clean and professional.
Face recognition. An automatic face recognition feature sharpens details in portraits, making it useful for professional photographers and marketers.
Versatile file support. It supports various file formats like JPG, PNG, and WebP, accommodating a wide range of user needs.

Let's Enhance is perfect if your agency deals with high volumes of low-resolution images. Whether it's enhancing images for ecommerce, marketing materials, or client presentations, this tool provides a fast, efficient solution to improve visual content quality.

Let's Enhance offers a flexible pricing structure. The free plan provides 10 free credits, while paid subscriptions (starting at $12 per month) offer more features and 100-300 credits, plus batch processing.

22. Canva

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Canva is a comprehensive design tool that integrates AI technology to streamline and enhance the graphic design process. In addition to its world-class design features, it also offers a variety of AI-powered features that cater to client work.

Key AI features within Canva include:

Magic Studio. This suite within Canva includes features like Magic Write, which helps generate text content, and Magic Resize, which adapts your designs to different formats automatically.
AI photo editor. Canva's AI photo editor allows users to perform tasks such as removing backgrounds, adding filters, and automatically adjusting the color and lighting of images. This simplifies what would typically require complex photo editing software.
Content generation. Canva can generate text and visuals from simple prompts, supporting creative processes with quick drafts and design elements that align with user input.
Real-time collaboration. Your designers can work together on client projects seamlessly, regardless of their physical location.

What makes Canva so special is it enables rapid creation of on-brand content, which is crucial for maintaining consistency across marketing collateral and client presentations. With tools like Magic Resize and Brand Kit, agencies can quickly adapt designs for various platforms and campaigns without starting from scratch.

Canva Teams and Pro use per-user pricing, while Canva Enterprise offers a custom solution with advanced features for large-scale agencies and larger organizations. See Canva's pricing structure here .

23. Topaz Labs

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Topaz Labs offers a suite of AI-powered tools designed to enhance photo and video quality, making it a strong candidate for agency use, especially for those involved in photography and videography. The tools available, including Sharpen AI, DeNoise AI, and Gigapixel AI, work together to improve image sharpness, reduce noise, and upscale images without losing detail.

Topaz Labs' standout features include:

AI-powered noise reduction. This feature removes graininess and artifacts from images, producing clean and professional results.
Image upscaling. With the help of AI technology, Topaz Labs can upscale photos without losing detail or creating a blurry effect - ideal for print materials or large digital displays.
Batch processing. Users can enhance multiple photos simultaneously, saving time and effort.
Video Enhance AI. Topaz Labs can upscale videos to 4K, improve frame rate conversion, and stabilize shaky footage, making it useful for restoring old videos or enhancing new footage.

Topaz Labs' products are particularly notable for their user-friendly interface which simplifies the photo editing process. This is complemented by the ability to function as standalone applications or as plugins within Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom, ensuring seamless integration into existing workflows.

The pricing model for Topaz Labs is straightforward, with Photo AI combining the features of several apps into one platform for $199, which includes a year of unlimited upgrades.

24. DreamStudio

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DreamStudio is an innovative AI-driven platform developed by Stability AI, designed to generate high-quality images from textual descriptions. Utilizing the Stable Diffusion technology, DreamStudio provides a versatile and intuitive environment for creating detailed artworks, offering features like inpainting, outpainting, and advanced image upscaling.

DreamStudio's key features include:

Effortless image generation. Quickly produce images based on text prompts.
AI-powered editing capabilities. Therea are tools for inpainting and outpainting to refine and expand images incorporated into the platform.
Exclusive StableDiffusion models. Your design team has access to unique models that enhance the quality and detail of AI-generated images.
Canvas for infinite workspace. There are no spatial constraints with DreamStudio's infinite canvas, allowing for flexibility in the design process.
History tracking. Keep track of your creation parameters and revisit past works.

DreamStudio is especially beneficial for agencies that deal with visual content creation for marketing or advertising purposes. With DreamStudio, agencies can quickly produce high-quality images without the need for graphic design expertise, saving time and resources.

The company operates on a credit system, where each image generation consumes credits based on the complexity and the resolution of the output (approximately $1.18). This flexible pricing structure can fit various budgets and usage rates, making it accessible for both small projects and large-scale operations.

25. Adobe Firefly

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Adobe Firefly is the generative AI tool developed by Adobe, designed to enhance the creative process by generating images, videos, 3D models, and more from text prompts. Part of the Adobe Creative Cloud, Firefly integrates with other Adobe applications, including Photoshop and Illustrator, to provide a seamless user experience across various media types.

Its key features include:

Generative AI. Firefly can generate a wide array of digital content, including fully editable vector graphics, images, and even text effects.
Seamless integration with Adobe Creative Cloud. Enhances workflows by allowing users to easily incorporate AI-generated content into existing projects using familiar Adobe tools.
Accessibility. Firefly supports a broad range of languages for text prompts and is designed to be intuitive, catering to design teams anywhere in the world.
Ethical AI use. Adobe emphasizes responsible AI use, ensuring Firefly is trained on legally compliant sources, like Adobe Stock and public domain content. It also incorporates features that enable users to opt out of using their creations for AI training.

If your agency already uses Creative Cloud, Firefly is a must-have addition. By speeding up some of the most time-consuming facets of the design process (like creating custom graphics and illustrations), Adobe Firefly can help maximize your team's productivity while still delivering unique, high-quality, human-made designs for your clients.

Firefly offers a free tier with limited capabilities, which can be expanded by purchasing additional credits. Full access is integrated into Adobe Creative Cloud subscriptions, providing a more comprehensive feature set for professional use.

26. Scribble Diffusion

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Scribble Diffusion transforms basic sketches into detailed images. Developed by Replicate and based on the Stable Diffusion model, this open-source platform is accessible to any designer who wants to experiment with AI-enhanced image creation.

Key features include:

AI-enhanced sketch refinement. Automatically enhances simple sketches into more intricate and polished images.
Real-time interpretation and transformation. Allows you to see changes as they happen, which is great for tweaking your designs on the fly.
Cross-plartform compatibility. Being web-based, Scribble Diffusion can be used across various devices, enhancing its accessibility.
Open-source accessiblity. The tool is free to use and modify, encouraging collaboration and innovation within the community.

We love Scribble Diffusion because it provides a digital canvas for design teams to experiment with new styles and techniques. It also enables your content team to produce unique visuals for blogs, social media, and marketing collateral.

Scribble Diffusion is free to use, so trying it (or suggesting your designers give it a go) costs nothing but time. Its open-source nature also allows for customization and improvement based on user feedback, making it a versatile and continually evolving tool.

27. AutoDraw

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AutoDraw is a unique web-based tool developed by Google Creative Lab that combines machine learning with drawings from talented artists to help users create images quickly and easily. As you start to sketch, AutoDraw's AI suggests completed drawings to enhance your creations, effectively transforming rough doodles into polished art.

Key features include:

Real-time artistic suggestions. As you draw, AutoDraw's AI analyzes and suggests completed drawings in a variety of styles to enhance your sketch.
Collaborative element. Users can collaborate on a drawing in real-time, making it an excellent tool for team projects or remote work.
Compatibility with various devices. Available on both desktop and mobile devices, AutoDraw makes it easy to create or edit designs from anywhere.
Personalization. You can import your own drawings into the platform to add a personal touch to your creations.

If creator's block is ever a problem, AutoDraw can help in the early stages of design, providing inspiration and variety to your sketches. And it's free to use, making it easily accessible for anyone looking to experiment with AI-powered design tools.

28. Microsoft Designer

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Microsoft Designer is an AI-powered graphic design tool that integrates seamlessly into the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. It's designed to help both professionals and creative enthusiasts quickly create high-quality images, social media posts, invitations, and more using generative AI technology like DALL-E.

Its best features include:

Simple text prompts. Users can describe what they want, and the tool generates one-of-a-kind images and design suggestions, accommodating everything from social media content to professional branding materials.
Automatic resizing. Microsoft Designer resizes the design to fit various social media and ad formats, saving time and effort for designers who need images in multiple sizes.
AI-driven text generation. For captions and hashtags, the tool provides an AI-generated list of keyword recommendations to enhance visibility and engagement.
Motion graphics. If you want to create website animations or eye-catching social media posts, Microsoft Designer can generate and suggest motion graphics for your designs.

Microsoft Designer is currently available in a public preview , which is free to use. This accessibility allows users to experiment with its features and provide feedback to improve the tool further.

29. Jasper

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While Jasper is primarily a content creation platform, it streamlines the copywriting aspect of web design and development, making it an essential tool for designers as well. The tool has dozens of pre-built templates, making it easier to create engaging content for social media, email marketing, and even website landing pages.

Some of Jasper's top features include:

AI-powered copywriting. Jasper uses AI technology to generate 100% original written copy in just a few clicks. You can edit it in a content editor, similar to Google Docs.
Template customization. Users can customize the pre-built templates to fit their brand and design aesthetic, ensuring a cohesive and professional look across all platforms.
Integration with other tools. Jasper has integrations with popular email marketing and social media platforms like Mailchimp, Twitter, and Instagram, making it easy to export your content directly to these channels.
Brand Voice. Jasper learns from your clients' previous web pages and blog content, meaning you can create a separate profile for each client and ensure that your future copy aligns with their unique brand voice and style.
Jasper Art. This feature allows users to generate custom graphics and illustrations for their content, enhancing its visual appeal.

Jasper is the ultimate tool for aligning your copywriters with your design team and pumping out iterations of written content fast. Its Teams plan starts at $125/month, and larger businesses can use its Business plan, which is custom-priced. Therea re no limits on output capacity, making it a cost-effective choice for scaling content creation.

30. Bing Image Generator

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Bing Image Generator, also known as Bing Image Creator, is an AI-powered tool developed by Microsoft that allows users to create images from text prompts. It utilizes advanced AI models like DALL-E 3 to generate high-quality, photorealistic digital pictures, drawings, and more.

Features include:

Text-to-image generation. Users can input textual descriptions, and the AI will generate corresponding images. This feature is integrated directly within Microsoft Edge, making it accessible as part of the browsing experience.
High-quality outputs. The tool produces photorealistic images that closely align with the prompts designers give it.
Easy accessibility. Bing Image Creator is integrated into the Microsoft Edge sidebar, allowing users to generate images without leaving their browser window.
Creative flexibility. Your design team can modify the generated images by providing additional context and details, offering a degree of customization to better meet their needs .

Bing Image Generator is particularly useful for creating quick visual content directly from the web browser, enhancing productivity and creative workflows for both personal and professional projects. It is a free tool, providing an accessible way for anyone on your team to experiment with AI-generated imagery.

Agency best practices for implementing and using AI-powered design tools

As with any new technology, there are a few best practices to keep in mind when incorporating AI-powered design tools into your agency's workflow.

Here are our most essential tips to consider:

Start small. It's always tempting to jump in and use every feature of a new tool right away, but it's best to start small and gradually incorporate new features into your workflow. This approach will allow you to become familiar with the tool and its capabilities before using it for more significant projects.
Provide training and resources. Ensure that your team has access to proper training and resources to use the tool effectively. This may include tutorials, workshops, or access to customer support.
Encourage experimentation. Allow your team members to experiment and play around with the tool's features and capabilities. This will help them become more comfortable with using it and may even lead to new ways of incorporating AI into your design process.
Seek feedback from clients. When using AI-powered design tools for client projects, it's essential to seek feedback and approval from them before finalizing any designs. This will ensure that the end result meets their expectations and aligns with their brand.
Also seek feedback from team members. It's wise to test different tools and get feedback from a few members of your design team before committing. And remember, the best AI design tool for your agency is one that complements your creative process and empowers you to deliver exceptional work at scale.

VEED is a browser‑based AI video editor that helps agencies produce polished video content without the learning curve or heavy hardware requirements of traditional software. Whether you’re cutting promotional clips, adding captions, enhancing audio, or using AI voice cloning to generate realistic voiceovers, VEED brings all the core tools into one easy-to-use, accessible place that works from any device with a web browser. Creators and teams appreciate how it streamlines everyday video workflows so you can focus on creative impact rather than technical setup.

Some of VEED's best features include:

AI‑assisted editing. Auto‑generated subtitles, background noise removal, clean audio, and translation tools.
Brand kit & templates. Save and reuse brand colors, logos, and styles for consistent client videos.
Multilingual support. Translate your videos into 50+ languages with one click.
Cloud‑based workflows: No downloads or powerful hardware needed; all editing happens online.
Team collaboration. Share projects, feedback, and assets across teams in real time.

What makes VEED especially valuable for agencies is its blend of manual controls and intelligent automation. You can trim and refine clips by hand, add brand‑consistent visual elements, and then use AI‑assisted features like auto‑subtitles, noise removal, and language translation to speed up production. That balance makes it a flexible choice for content teams managing tight deadlines and high output demands.

Agencies scaling video work will find VEED’s collaboration and brand‑kit tools especially helpful. Teams can create reusable templates, centralize brand assets, and assign roles, all of which help keep large projects aligned and efficient. Whether you’re launching social campaigns, client deliverables, or internal explainers, VEED makes quick, professional video creation possible without pulling in external editors.

VEED offers plans that fit agencies of all sizes, starting with a Free tier that lets you test basic editing tools with watermark exports and limited video length. Paid plans unlock full capabilities: a Lite plan around $12/month removes watermarks and adds HD exports; the Pro plan (~$29/month) includes all AI tools, 4K exports, complete brand kits, and advanced editing features; and the Business plan (~$59/month) adds collaboration controls, priority support, and expanded storage.

Final thoughts

AI tools mean a lot for agencies . They streamline processes, increase productivity, and allow for more creativity and innovation (at a faster pace).

With Duda's AI Stack, you can:

Generate text directly within Text widgets on the editor canvas. It supports various types of text, including new titles, paragraphs, and custom text.
Create meta titles and descriptions for pages automatically, optimizing for SEO best practices.
Generate image alt text for every image in your media library, all in one click.
Generate sections, pages, and even entire multi-page sites with content, images, and design specifically tailored to your client.

Try Duda for free to see how Duda's website builder and AI features can help you scale your services and deliver exceptional results for your clients.

Why field and home services management SaaS companies need to partner with a website builder

Thu, 19 Feb 2026 04:10:01 GMT

Your customers are experts in their fields. They know how to repair a faulty HVAC system, rewire a residential kitchen, or manage a complex landscaping project.

However, they’re probably not experts in web design. When they sign up for your field or home services management software, they do so to gain efficiency and grow their businesses. If your platform only solves the back-office side of their operations, you are leaving a critical part of their success—and your own revenue—on the table.

The home services industry is evolving. Today, consumers do not just look for a phone number; they expect a digital experience that allows them to book a service, pay an invoice, and track a technician in real time. For SaaS companies serving this vertical, the most effective way to meet these expectations and drive growth is to partner with a professional website builder.

The shift from back-office tool to growth engine

Historically, field service management (FSM) software focused on internal logistics like dispatching, routing, and inventory. While these features are essential, they are invisible to the end consumer. A plumber might have the most efficient routing software in the world, but if their website is outdated or lacks a booking button, they will never get the chance to show it.

By integrating a website builder into your SaaS offering, you transform your product from a utility into a comprehensive growth engine. You enable your customers to manage the entire lifecycle of a job, starting from the moment a lead lands on their site. This shift positions your software as an indispensable part of their business identity , not just a tool for their office manager.

Closing the gap between booking and conversion

The primary goal of any home service business is to fill their calendar. When you provide a website through a partnership with a builder like Duda, you eliminate the friction between a potential customer and a booked appointment.

Instead of asking a contractor to figure out how to embed your booking widget into a third-party site—which often leads to broken layouts and poor mobile performance—you can deliver a pre-integrated solution. This ensures that every website your customers use is optimized to drive traffic directly into your software.

When your booking solution is natively integrated into a high-performing website, you see higher adoption rates of your core features. More bookings through your platform means more data, more processed payments, and a clearer demonstration of ROI for your customers.

Increasing customer retention through deep integration

Churn is a constant challenge for SaaS providers. One of the most effective ways to lower churn is to increase the number of "sticky" features a customer uses. A customer who uses your software for dispatching might switch to a competitor for a lower price. A customer whose entire digital presence—domain, website, SEO, and booking flow—is tied to your platform is far more likely to stay.

Providing a website builder allows you to offer a complete "business-in-a-box" solution. When your customers’ lead generation is inextricably linked to your software, your platform becomes the foundation of their business. This deep integration makes the cost of switching much higher and the value of staying much clearer.

Tip: Want to learn more?

Scaling professional design without the overhead

Most SaaS companies are not interested in becoming web design agencies. Building an in-house website editor is a massive undertaking that distracts from your core product roadmap. Partnering with a dedicated website builder allows you to offer professional-grade design capabilities without the development burden.

With a platform like Duda, you can leverage automation and dynamic pages to create hundreds or thousands of websites at scale. You can build industry-specific templates for electricians, roofers, or cleaners that already include your proprietary widgets.

Using an API-led approach, you can automatically push customer data—such as business hours, service areas, and contact information—directly into a website template. This allows your customers to launch a professional, SEO-optimized site in minutes rather than weeks.

Capturing new revenue streams

Expanding your product offering through a partnership provides immediate opportunities for expansion revenue. You can offer websites as a premium add-on or bundle them into a higher-tier subscription.

Because a website is a high-value asset, customers are often willing to pay a monthly fee for hosting and maintenance. This creates a predictable, recurring revenue stream that complements your core software fees. Additionally, since the website drives more transactions through your software, you benefit from increased usage of your other paid features, such as payment processing or automated marketing tools.

Empowering customers with local SEO & AEO

For home service providers, local search is everything. If a homeowner searches for "emergency plumber near me," the businesses that appear at the top of the results win the job.

Generic website builders often lack the technical SEO and AEO infrastructure required to rank well in local searches. By partnering with a platform focused on performance, you ensure your customers’ sites are fast, mobile-friendly, and structured for search engines.

Features like automatic SSL, schema markup, and optimized Core Web Vitals are built into the platform. This means your customers get a competitive edge in their local market without needing to understand the nuances of search engine algorithms. When your customers' businesses grow because of the leads their website generates, your SaaS platform gets the credit.

Reducing support and implementation friction

When customers try to manage their own websites on various platforms, they often turn to your support team when your widgets do not work correctly. These "not our fault" support tickets drain resources and frustrate everyone involved.

By standardizing on a single website builder partner, you create a controlled environment. You know exactly how your software interacts with the site. This predictability reduces the time spent on troubleshooting and allows your implementation team to get new customers up and running faster. A smoother onboarding experience leads to higher initial satisfaction and a faster path to value.

Driving results in a competitive market

The vertical SaaS market for home services is becoming increasingly crowded. To win, you must offer more than just a functional dashboard. You must offer a way for your customers to outshine their competitors.

A professional website is no longer a luxury for a field service business; it is a requirement. By providing this through a strategic partnership, you solve a major pain point for your customers while simultaneously improving your own business metrics. You save them time, help them acquire more customers, and solidify your position as their most valued technology partner.

The math is simple. Better websites lead to more leads. More leads lead to more jobs managed in your software. More jobs lead to higher revenue and lower churn.

Focus on what you do best—building great management software—and let a professional website builder handle the digital storefront. This partnership ensures that both you and your customers have the tools necessary to thrive in an increasingly digital industry.

Want to learn more about how partnering with a website builder can take your field and home service management software to the next level? Talk to us!

The top 10 best influencer marketing software platforms in 2026

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 18:26:18 GMT

Influencer marketing has become one of the best ways brands can build social proof in order to promote their products and services online.

This gives brands a strong reason to partner with influencers who truly align with their style and values to effectively convey their messages. However, for an agency, managing hundreds of creators every week can be time-consuming and negatively impact profitability.

To effectively capitalize on the benefits of influencer marketing, agencies need to invest in better infrastructure. Infrastructure that can automate the heavy lifting involved with managing client influencers, while simultaneously helping them match the right influencers to the right campaigns.

In this article, we’ll be investigating what that infrastructure might look like, by exploring the 10 best pieces of influencer marketing software.

Influencer Hero
Captiv8
Upfluence
Modash
Aspire
Traackr
GRIN
CreatorIQ
Sprout Social
HypeAuditor

Evaluation criteria

Choosing the right tech stack is a massive decision for any agency. If the tool doesn't fit your workflow, then what you’re left with is little more than just expensive clutter.

Here are the five non-negotiables we look for before pulling the trigger on a new platform:

1. Intuitive workflow

A platform should save you time, not create a new full-time job. You shouldn't need a month of onboarding just to send a campaign brief. If the interface feels clunky or the learning curve is too steep, your team simply won't use it. That’s money down the drain. Instead, look for a tool that feels natural from day one.

2. Data depth and quality

Quantity matters, but quality matters more. You need a database that doesn't just give you a list of names, but, rather, provides the granular filters your agency needs to find that needle in the haystack. We look for real-time audience insights and fraud detection to ensure the creators we’re pitching to clients are actually worth the investment.

3. Pricing that scales

Don’t get locked into an enterprise contract if you’re operating with a startup budget—but don't outgrow your tool in six months, either. Be clear on your volume. Whether it’s a flat monthly fee or a "per-seat" model, make sure the cost aligns with your margins and allows you to scale as your client roster grows.

4. Seamless eCommerce synchronization

Influencer marketing is no longer just a "brand awareness" play; it’s a performance engine. If the platform doesn’t talk to your specific storefront , you’re making life harder than it needs to be. Native integrations allow you to track sales, manage giftings, and pull ROI data without the manual spreadsheet headache.

5. Client-ready reporting

At the end of the day, you have to prove the work. Prioritize platforms with clean, visual dashboards that make your agency look professional. You need the ability to export clear data on clicks, conversions, and revenue so you can spend less time building slides and more time optimizing your next move.

The 10 best influencer marketing software solutions

1. Influencer Hero

Influencer Hero is an all-in-one influencer marketing software platform, preferred by agencies seeking the best solution for managing campaigns end-to-end.

It allows agencies to find and vet influencers, run outreach at scale, manage UGC collaborations, track content and posts, and measure sales or performance—all from a single dashboard. Instead of juggling multiple tools, one account manager can oversee influencer discovery, communication, approvals, and reporting across multiple clients in one place.

This makes Influencer Hero especially useful for agencies offering fully managed influencer marketing services, where efficiency, visibility, and scalability matter.

Standout features :

AI-powered workflow optimization : From discovery to outreach, Influencer Hero uses AI to suggest the best creators, auto-generate messages, and even predict campaign success.
Multi-platform integrations & automation : Influencer Hero supports more than 30 integrations across eCommerce, analytics, communication, and reporting tools. The platform also includes automation features that let agencies customize workflows—from notifications to tracking and payouts—so the software adapts to different client needs.
Automates & personalized research : With Influencer Hero, agencies can build unique email sequences tailored to their audiences, powered by engagement and response-boosting AI suggestions.
Influencer list tracking : Agencies can easily spot influencers already following or interacting with their client’s content, helping to prioritize the partnerships with the highest potential.
Chrome extension for real-time insights : Check engagement rates, audience demographics, and creator growth rates as you browse social media , then add them to your campaign with one click or tap.
Application pages & storefronts : Launch branded signup pages and creator storefronts to scale inbound interest and track affiliate sales.

Pricing : Influencer Hero offers different plans depending on your needs.

Standard Plan: Starts at $649/month. Allows you to contact up to 1,000 creators a month.
Pro Plan: Starts at $1,049/month. Allows you to contact up to 5,000 creators a month.
Business Plan: Starts at $2,490/month. Allows you to contact up to 10,000 creators a month.
Custom & Agency: Custom pricing based on your brand needs.

Agency win : Influencer Hero is a great fit for managing creator campaigns at scale, thanks to automated and advanced tracking tools. By automating the entire funnel, from AI-powered outreach to automated product fulfillment, agencies are able to task a single account manager with what would otherwise be the work of three.

Pro tip : Use Influencer Hero’s "Automated Follow-up" sequences to maintain a high response rate for your clients without needing a dedicated outreach manager.

2. Captiv8

Captiv8 provides enterprise-grade software to run creator campaigns with confidence. This is the choice for agencies that lead with data-heavy strategies.

Standout features :

Influencer discovery : Search through a database of over 15 million creators using advanced filters like interests, location, and safety score to maximize creator compatibility with your campaigns.
Global brand mentions : Track mentions of your brand or competitors across various platforms, including social posts, captions, and hashtags, to identify potential influencer partnerships.
Customizable reports : Build reports by dragging and dropping metrics, then export them directly to Looker Studio or Google Analytics for deeper analysis.
Campaign tracking : Monitor campaign performance with detailed KPIs such as sales, engagement , ROAS, earned media value (EMV), and more.
Storefronts & affiliate programs : Available for enterprise-level services, allow creators to curate products and engage in affiliate marketing—with additional costs for integration.

Pricing : There are different pricing options:

$25,000 annually (with an annual commitment only)
$3,000 one-time onboarding fee
$20,000-$30,000 per month for storefront + affiliate program (enterprise-level managed services)

Agency win : High-end social listening tools that allow you to track competitor sentiment and pitch "defensive" influencer strategies to your clients.

Pro tip : Use the "Velocity Index" to identify rising stars for your clients before they become mainstream (and expensive).

3. Upfluence

Upfluence helps you transform creators into revenue engines by building valuable partnerships that grow client businesses.

Standout features :

Identify influencers within your customer base : Upfluence can analyze customer data to uncover which buyers are also influencers (typically 1%-3% of your list).
Built-in social listening : With their social listening tool, Upfluence tracks conversations, emerging trends, and high performing content related to your brand or competitors—a valuable asset for research and campaign planning stages.
Ideal for Shopify and Amazon sellers : Upfluence deeply integrates with both Shopify and Amazon, simplifying affiliate tracking while connecting creator activities with real sales performance data.
Leverage past collabs : With Upfluence you can easily import data from creators you’ve worked with before. Their latest analytics become accessible within the platform, allowing your brand to easily re-engage them in new campaigns.

Pricing : All plans are custom made, so you pay only for what you need and nothing else. There’s a minimum full year of service you have to commit to with monthly payments. On average plans start around $2,000/month or $24,000 yearly.

Agency win : Powerful discovery filters and eCommerce integrations to track every dollar back to specific creators.

Pro tip : Install the Upfluence "Live Capture" widget on your to automatically build a database of their most influential site visitors.

4. Modash

Modash is an all-in-one influencer marketing platform designed for eCommerce brands.

Standout features :

AI-powered creator discovery : Use different text prompts such as “aesthetic fashion influencers in the US,” or upload a reference image to get highly relevant influencer suggestions through AI search .
Find Your Fans feature : The platform automatically identifies creators who are already following your brand and therefore are more likely to partner with you.
Massive creator database : Because the platform is based on public data, they hold a database of over 350M profiles. This broad number of creators can be great for global campaigns.
Real-time campaign content tracking : Any influencer content made for your campaign is collected and analyzed live.
Affiliate automation : Set up gifting campaigns to create discount codes, generate affiliate links, and manage payouts.

Pricing : There is a range of different plans and options.

Essential Plan: Starts at $199/month (paid annually). Allows you to contact up to 100 creators a month.
Performance Plan: Starts at $499/month (paid annually). Allows you to contact up to 250 creators a month.
Enterprise Plan: Custom pricing based on your client’s needs.

Agency win : Great for start-ups and teams who seek for data accuracy and a massive database. The ability to find the "needle in a haystack." If your client needs a very specific creator, Modash finds them in seconds.

Pro tip : Use the “Lookalike” feature to find over 50 influencers who match the profile of your client’s top performing creator.

5. Aspire

Aspire is an influencer marketing platform for managing influencer campaigns, from discovery to gifting, content approvals, and sales tracking.

Standout features :

Dual discovery model : Combine advanced creator searches with an inbound marketplace of over 1M influencers actively applying to your campaigns.
Gifting & affiliate tools : Generate promo codes, manage gifting carts, track affiliate sales, and manage payouts all in one place.
Comprehensive workflow & CRM : Handle everything from contracts and briefs to automated follow-ups, content approvals, and tracking.
CreatorStores : Enable influencers to build curated storefronts featuring your products, driving more organic conversions.
Robust UGC licensing : Built-in digital term sheets that secure reuse rights for ads or multi-channel campaigns.

Pricing : Aspire’s pricing generally works on tiered plans tailored to your brand’s needs, so costs may vary depending on your specific requirements. The Essentials Plan, for example, starts at $2,299/month on a 12-month contract, totaling $27,588 annually—plus a one-time onboarding fee of $2,000, bringing the first-year investment to $29,588.

Agency win : Aspire is a great platform for mid-size to enterprise level teams and provides an interesting model twist. Instead of spending hours messaging creators, customers receive applications, then decide whether or not to approve individual creators.

Pro tip : Repurpose high-performing influencer content into your client’s Duda-built landing pages to boost on-site conversion rates instantly.

6. Traackr

Traackr is an influencer marketing platform that helps brands deliver growth with data-driven influencer insights.

Standout features :

Brand vitality score : This unique metric blends visibility, impact, and brand trust into one score, giving you a clear view of how your brand stacks up against the competition.
Budget calculator : Tracckr includes a built-in calculator that helps you estimate how much to invest in each creator by analyzing their historical performance data.
Efficiency metrics dashboard : Evaluate cost-effectiveness with precision using key metrics like CPC, CPE, CPV, and cost per story view, giving you the insights needed to optimize influencer spend.
Global performance benchmarking : Access industry-wide benchmarks from thousands of brands and millions of influencers to compare your campaign results by vertical, region, or format—helping teams identify gaps and growth opportunities.

Pricing : All plans are custom made, so you pay only for what you need and nothing else. Plans usually start at $32,500/year.

Agency win : The "Brand Vitality Index" (VIT) provides a standardized metric you can use to prove brand lift and share-of-voice growth to C-suite clients.

Pro tip : Use "Influencer Fee Recommendations" to ensure your agency is negotiating the most profitable rates for your clients.

7. GRIN

GRIN is a great platform to build and scale world-class creator programs.

Standout features :

All-in-one stack integration : GRIN seamlessly connects with tools like Klaviyo, PayPal, DocuSign, Slack, Gmail and Outlook—combining all your marketing operations into one connected platform.
eCommerce native : GRIN is designed for brands with large product catalogs, handling everything from product seeding to sales-based commissions.
Dedicated program support : Optional Creator Strategists can help with onboarding, execution, and campaign optimization—acting as an extension of your team.
Creator-friendly experience : Influencers get personalized dashboards, granting access to briefs and links, as well as providing a place to upload content.

Pricing : GRIN offers different plans and pricing options, all of which require a minimum 12-month contract:

Fixed pricing: Starts at $25,000/year (with monthly payment options available).
Additional plans: Can cost $10,000/year or more, depending on features and volume.

Agency win : GRIN is a strong choice for eCommerce brands looking for end-to-end influencer management.

Pro tip : Use the "Relationship History" log to ensure that, when an account manager leaves your agency, new account managers have the full context of every creator conversation.

8. CreatorIQ

CreatorIQ combines enterprise workflows and data-driven insights to deliver scalable creator marketing solutions.

Standout features :

Deep data API integrations : Get realtime API connected data from all major platforms to ensure your reports are always accurate and compliant.
Branded one-sheets & live approvals : Review influencer profiles, check key metrics, preview content, and collect stakeholder feedback.
Strategic support : Count on dedicated implementation managers, onboarding process and quarterly planning sessions to keep your campaigns on track.
Integrated payment & tax compliance : Handle creator payments directly in the platform with just one click, making finances easier to manage.

Pricing : There are a range of different plans available, including:

Basic Plan: Starts at $35,000/year. Includes 1,000 contact creators per month.
Standard Plan: Starts at $50,000/year. Includes 2,500 contact creators per month.
Professional Plan: Starts at $90,000/year. Includes 5,000 contact creators per month.
Enterprise Plan: Starts at $200,000/year. Includes 7,500 contact creators per month.

Agency win : CreatorIQ gives agency owners enterprise-level visibility across dozens of client accounts, making it easy to monitor performance, budgets, and creator activity from a single dashboard.

Pro Tip : Use CreatorIQ’s historical data to build "Success Projections" during the pitch phase.

9. Sprout Social

SproutSocial (formerly Tagger) offers advanced campaign workflows, detailed analytics, and tools for outreach, gifting, and performance tracking.

Standout features :

Advanced discovery filters : Search creators by age, region, and engagement to find precise matches.
Brand fit & safety AI : SproutSocial affinity scores on brand alignment help brands ensure strategic selections.
Content approval workflow : Creators submit draft content within the platform for review before posting. This gives brands final oversight before new content becomes public.
Competitive benchmarking & EMV reporting : Customized dashboards compare campaign performance against competitors using top-tier analytics like real-time Earned Media Value (EMV), audience insights, and content approval metrics.

Pricing : Pricing varies depending on every brand's needs. The base plan, for example, s tarts at around $1,600/month per user, plus $600 per additional user. Agencies can pay monthly or annually, but a full-year commitment is mandatory. This translates into an annual investment of over $19,200 for one person or $25,200 for a team of two.

Agency win : It centralizes everything, from scheduling, listening, all the way to influencer discovery, into a single "Smart Inbox."

Pro tip : Use Sprout’s "Social Listening" tool to identify creators who are already talking about your client organically, then reach out to recruit them.

10. HypeAuditor

HypeAuditor is an influencer marketing platform designed to find, vet, and activate influencers.

Standout features :

AI-powered discovery : The platform analyzes bios, captions, and images to accurately categorize creators.
Social listening & competitor tracking : Discover influencers already mentioning your brand or competitors, making it easier to build real partnerships.
Flexible campaign management : Handle everything from outreach to payments and reporting—all within the same platform, then integrate with your eCommerce store to track promo codes and sales.
Searchable reporting : Export reports as PDFs, or share direct links with stakeholders, complete with eCommerce metrics like revenue and conversion rates by creator.

Pricing : HypeAuditor’s pricing is customizable, with the standard “Business” plan starting at around $10,000/year. Pricing can be adjusted based on the number of reports, active campaigns, and platform usage. They also offer a 24–48 hour free trial for new users.

Agency win : Very useful if your client cares deeply about transparency, audience authenticity, and fraud detection.

Pro tip : Always include the "Audience Quality Score" (AQS) in your client pitches to justify why you chose specific (and perhaps more expensive) creators.

Final thoughts

Influencer marketing has become one of the most, well, influential marketing strategies among agencies and brands alike across the globe.

It doesn’t matter if you are working with a small, medium, or massive brand. Adopting the right influencer marketing software for your agency unlocks new growth potential for you and your clients.

There’s no right software for everyone. Just like with influencers themselves, agencies need to figure out their own goals, then go with the right fit for their workflows.

Mastering Domain Authority: How to choose the right Domain Authority Checker and use it to boost your clients' SEO

Fri, 13 Feb 2026 13:54:45 GMT

Domain authority matters—but only if you're measuring it correctly.

For agencies managing multiple client sites, choosing the right domain authority (DA) checker isn't about finding the "best" tool. It's about finding the tool that fits your workflow, delivers consistent data, and helps you make faster decisions about link building, competitor analysis, and SEO strategy.

This guide walks you through how domain authority works, which tools deliver reliable metrics, and how to use DA data to drive real improvements in your clients' search rankings.

What domain authority actually measures

Domain authority is a predictive metric developed by Moz that estimates how likely a website is to rank in search results. The score ranges from 1 to 100, with higher scores indicating stronger ranking potential.

DA isn't a Google ranking factor—Google doesn't use it in its algorithm. But DA correlates strongly with ranking performance because it's built on signals Google does care about: quality backlinks, linking domain diversity, and overall link profile strength.

When you're evaluating a client site or analyzing competitors, DA gives you a quick snapshot of relative authority. A site with DA 45 will typically outrank a site with DA 25 for similar keywords, assuming other factors are comparable.

Why agencies need reliable DA checkers

You're not checking domain authority for vanity metrics. You're using it to:

Prioritize link building targets : Identify which sites are worth pursuing for backlinks based on their authority relative to your client's site
Assess competitor strength : Understand the SEO landscape before recommending keyword targets or content strategies
Track progress over time : Monitor whether your link building and SEO efforts are moving the authority needle
Set realistic client expectations : Show clients where they stand relative to competitors and what's achievable

The right DA checker saves you time by delivering this data quickly, consistently, and in a format that integrates with your existing workflow.

The main domain authority checkers compared

Several tools measure domain authority or similar metrics. Each uses slightly different methodologies and data sources.

Moz Domain Authority

Moz created the domain authority metric. Their DA score is calculated using machine learning models that analyze linking root domains, total links, MozRank, MozTrust, and other factors.

When to use it : Moz DA is the industry standard. If you're communicating with clients or other agencies, referencing Moz DA ensures everyone's speaking the same language.

Limitations : Moz's link index is smaller than some competitors. You might see different DA scores than what other tools report for authority.

Pricing : Free for limited checks. Moz Pro starts at $179/month for unlimited checks and additional SEO tools.

Ahrefs Domain Rating

Ahrefs measures Domain Rating (DR), which focuses specifically on the strength and quantity of backlinks pointing to a site. DR ranges from 0 to 100.

When to use it : Ahrefs has one of the largest and most frequently updated backlink indexes. If you need detailed link data alongside authority metrics, Ahrefs delivers both.

Limitations : DR is purely link-based. It doesn't factor in other signals like content quality or user engagement that might influence actual rankings.

Pricing : Starts at $29/month . Simple checks are free.

Semrush Authority Score

Semrush Authority Score combines backlink data with organic traffic data and other signals. Scores range from 0 to 100.

When to use it : If you're already using Semrush for keyword research or site audits, the Authority Score integrates seamlessly into your existing reports.

Limitations : The methodology is less transparent than Moz or Ahrefs, making it harder to explain score changes to clients.

Pricing : Semrush One plans start at $165.17/month and include Authority Score as part of broader SEO toolsets.

Majestic Trust Flow and Citation Flow

Majestic offers two metrics: Trust Flow (quality of backlinks) and Citation Flow (quantity of backlinks). Both range from 0 to 100.

When to use it : Trust Flow is particularly useful when evaluating link quality. A high Trust Flow relative to Citation Flow indicates a clean, authoritative link profile.

Limitations : Majestic's interface feels dated compared to newer tools. The dual-metric system can confuse clients who expect a single authority score.

Pricing : Lite plan at $49.99/month. More comprehensive plans run $99.99 and up.

How to choose the right tool for your agency

Your choice depends on three factors: what you're already using, what your clients need to see, and how often you check domain authority.

If you're building a new SEO stack

Start with Moz. The DA metric is widely recognized, the free tier lets you test it without commitment, and Moz Pro integrates well with other tools if you scale up later.

If you need deep backlink analysis

Choose Ahrefs. The combination of Domain Rating and detailed backlink data makes it the strongest option for agencies focused on link building.

If you want all-in-one SEO reporting

Go with Semrush. You'll get authority metrics alongside keyword tracking, site audits, and competitive intelligence in a single platform, reducing tool sprawl.

If budget is tight

Use Moz's free DA checker for spot checks and Majestic's Lite plan ($49.99/month) for ongoing monitoring. This combination covers most agency needs without breaking $100/month.

How to use domain authority data to improve client SEO

Checking DA is the starting point. Using it strategically drives results.

Set link building priorities

Pull DA scores for potential link targets. Focus your outreach on sites with DA 10-20 points higher than your client's current score. Links from sites with significantly higher DA pass more authority and have greater ranking impact.

Avoid wasting time on sites with DA below your client's score unless there's strong topical relevance or traffic potential.

Benchmark against competitors

Identify your client's top 5-10 organic competitors for their primary keywords. Check their DA scores. This tells you whether you're competing in a space where you need to build authority or where you can win through better content and on-page optimization.

If competitors average DA 60 and your client sits at DA 30, link building becomes the primary strategy. If the gap is smaller—say DA 42 versus DA 38—focus on content quality and technical SEO to gain ground faster.

Track progress monthly

Domain authority changes slowly. Monthly checks are sufficient for most clients. Quarterly is fine for smaller sites with less aggressive link building.

Export DA scores into a simple spreadsheet or dashboard. Show clients the trend over time rather than obsessing over small month-to-month fluctuations. A site moving from DA 28 to DA 34 over six months indicates meaningful progress.

Identify link building gaps

If your client's DA isn't growing despite consistent link acquisition, check the quality of incoming links. Use Ahrefs or Moz to review the DR or DA of linking domains. If most links come from low-authority sites, you're building quantity without quality.

Shift strategy toward fewer, higher-quality links from authoritative sources in your client's industry.

Common mistakes when using domain authority metrics

Treating DA as a ranking guarantee

High domain authority doesn't guarantee rankings. A DA 70 site with thin content and poor user experience will lose to a DA 45 site with comprehensive, well-optimized content.

Use DA to assess competitive landscape and link building priorities, not as a substitute for on-page SEO and content strategy.

Comparing DA across different tools

Moz DA, Ahrefs DR, and Semrush Authority Score use different calculation methods. A site with Moz DA 50 might have Ahrefs DR 60. These differences are normal.

Pick one tool and stick with it for internal tracking and client reporting. Mixing metrics creates confusion and makes progress harder to communicate.

Ignoring DA changes after algorithm updates

Google algorithm updates can shift rankings independent of domain authority. If your client's rankings drop but DA remains stable, the issue likely lies elsewhere—content quality, technical issues, or user experience.

Don't default to "we need more links" every time rankings fluctuate. Use DA as one data point among many.

Moving forward

Choosing a domain authority checker isn't complicated. Identify what you need—quick spot checks, detailed backlink data, or integrated reporting—and pick the tool that fits your workflow and budget.

Once you have consistent DA data, use it to prioritize link building targets, benchmark against competitors, and track progress over time. That's how domain authority becomes a practical tool rather than a vanity metric.

Start with one tool, check your clients' sites monthly, and adjust your SEO strategy based on what the data reveals. You'll make faster decisions and deliver clearer results.

Building a scalable agency through AI-driven systems

Thu, 12 Feb 2026 15:00:15 GMT

Artificial intelligence alone is not a strategy. For many digital marketing agencies, the sudden influx of AI tools has created a paradox: they are producing more content than ever before, yet their profit margins remain stagnant and their teams feel more overwhelmed. The reason is simple. AI provides speed, but only systems provide scale.

If you treat AI as a collection of individual shortcuts, you create a fragmented workflow that requires constant human intervention to fix. To move faster and make better decisions, you must shift your focus from what AI can do to how your systems govern that output. This article explores how to integrate AI into a structured agency framework that drives predictable growth and measurable results.

The trap of the AI productivity myth

Many agency owners believe that giving every employee a ChatGPT seat or an AI image generator will automatically increase billable capacity. In reality, without a system, AI often introduces new forms of technical debt. When every team member uses AI differently, you lose brand consistency, quality control, and data security.

Scaling an agency requires a repeatable process where the outcome is independent of the individual performing the task. If your AI usage depends entirely on the "prompt engineering" skills of a single creative director, you have not scaled; you’ve just moved the bottleneck. True scale occurs when you embed AI into your standard operating procedures (SOPs), ensuring that the technology serves the system rather than the other way around.

Defining the system: Three pillars of agency scale

To move beyond the "tool-first" mindset, you must build your agency around three core systemic pillars. These pillars ensure that AI acts as a multiplier for your existing expertise rather than a replacement for it.

1. Standardized input protocols

High-quality output begins with the data you feed into your tools. Instead of allowing team members to write prompts from scratch for every client project, create a centralized library of "Gold Standard" inputs. These protocols should include:

Client persona maps : Detailed documentation of voice, tone, and audience pain points.
Brand guardrails : Specific instructions on what the AI must never say or do.
Structural templates : Pre-defined outlines for blog posts, landing pages, or site architectures.

By standardizing the input, you reduce the time spent on iterations and ensure that the first draft produced by AI is 80% of the way to the finish line.

2. The human-in-the-loop validation framework

Systems fail when they lack an accountability layer. As you integrate AI, your team's role shifts from "creators" to "editors and strategists." You must implement a formal validation step where a human expert reviews AI-generated work against a specific checklist:

Fact-checking : Verifying all data points and citations.
Strategic alignment : Ensuring the content serves the client’s specific conversion goals.
Emotional resonance : Adding the nuance and empathy that algorithms cannot replicate.

This system protects your agency’s reputation and ensures that the speed of AI does not come at the cost of professional integrity.

3. Integrated platform architecture

The most significant barrier to scale is a "Frankenstein" tech stack. If your team has to copy and paste AI content between five different apps to get a website live, you are losing the time you gained.

Scalable agencies use platforms that bake AI directly into the production environment. When AI is integrated into your website builder or project management tool, it eliminates the "integration tax." This allows your team to generate SEO metadata, draft sections, or adjust layouts without leaving the workspace, directly reducing the total hours required to launch a client site.

Moving from tasks to outcomes

When you build systems, you stop selling hours and start selling outcomes. AI allows you to compress the time it takes to perform a task, but your system allows you to capture the value of that time.

Consider the process of building a client website. Without a system, AI helps you write the copy faster. With a system, you use AI to analyze the client’s existing data, generate a site map based on proven conversion patterns, and populate a template designed for high performance. The result is not just a "faster website," but a more effective marketing asset delivered in half the time.

Measuring the success of your systems

To confirm your systems are working, track these three metrics instead of just looking at total output:

The practical path to implementation

You do not need to overhaul your entire agency overnight. Start by identifying the most repetitive, time-consuming task in your current workflow—likely site migration, content drafting, or SEO tagging.

First, document the manual process exactly as it exists today. Second, identify where an AI tool can accelerate a specific step. Third, create a checklist that a junior staff member can use to verify that the AI's work meets your agency's standards. This is how you build a system.

By focusing on the architecture of your workflow, you ensure that AI serves your long-term business goals. You transition from an agency that is "experimenting with AI" to an agency that is built for the future of digital marketing.

How to find an ideal eCommerce solution for every SMB

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 15:00:05 GMT

Ever since the world wide web was first created, small businesses have steadily grown more dependent on digital spaces to advertise and offer goods and services to consumers. Nowadays, “eCommerce” might simply be better thought of as “commerce” given its ubiquity across the many industry verticals in which it plays a significant role.

However, just because there are a thousand and one use cases for eCommerce solutions in today’s world doesn’t mean there are an equal number of eCommerce providers with effective products for SMBs. Many offer overkill solutions with features no SMB would ever need; others are far too labour-intensive for small, resource-constrained teams to use; and some just aren’t powerful enough for the demands of selling online today. And of course, far too many—no matter where they lie on that spectrum—charge third-party fees, which over time can take a big bite out of an SMB’s bottom line.

For digital marketing professionals and SaaS companies that want to help their SMB customers sell online, it’s critical to provide a rightsized eCommerce solution that meets their needs without overburdening their operation (or yours).

What SMBs need from eCommerce solutions

There are a wide variety of criteria that should be considered when deciding what type of eCommerce solution is best for a digital agency or SaaS platform to offer to their SMB customers. Chief among these are capabilities that will help them sell more, operate efficiently and scale without excessive cost or complexity.

Let’s quickly drill down into each of the individual aspects of a platform that should support these key pillars.

Ease of use & setup

An eCommerce solution that is appropriate for SMBs should be intuitive enough for non-technical users to manage confidently. Pre-built themes, guided onboarding, visual editors, and drag-and-drop tools that make it possible to update products, layouts, and content without relying on developers are all critical components of a rightsized eCommerce solution for SMBs.

Core storefront features

A robust digital storefront is the foundation of any successful eCommerce-reliant business. A mobile-responsive design, fast load times and strong Core Web Vitals , and built-in search and navigation tools like filters and categories are essential. For SMBs selling internationally, multi-language and multi-currency support is also key. These features directly impact conversion rates and overall customer satisfaction.

Payment & checkout

Flexible, secure payment options are essential for maximizing sales. The right platform should support multiple payment gateways, including credit cards, digital wallets, and region-specific payment methods. A fast, secure checkout experience reduces cart abandonment and builds customer trust, making it a critical driver of revenue for SMBs.

Fulfillment & shipping

Efficient fulfillment tools help SMBs save time and avoid costly errors. Features like real-time shipping rate calculators, automated label generation, and streamlined return management can significantly simplify day-to-day operations. When fulfillment runs smoothly, consumers receive orders faster and are more likely to become repeat customers. This, in turn, makes your eCommerce offering all the more valuable to your SMB clients. And, of course, the more value you offer, the more likely those clients are to stick with your digital agency or SaaS platform for the long haul.

Marketing & SEO tools

Built-in marketing and SEO tools help SMBs grow without relying on a large stack of third-party software. The more of these features and advantages included in your eCommerce offering, the better chance your SMB clients have to successfully sell online.

Essential capabilities include SEO basics like meta tags and automatic sitemap generation, but the ideal eCommerce platform will go far beyond that. Out-of-the-box optimization for Core Web Vitals and pagespeed, server-side rendering, a global CDN, alt text support, image optimization and more are all key components of ensuring a store can be found quickly and easily online. Additionally, features related to on-page SEO should all be integrated with AI tools to make it easy for both web pros and their SMB customers to manage pages and make updates quickly at scale.

Flexible promotions and discounting, email marketing integrations/features for campaigns, and cart abandonment tracking are also critically important for selling online today. And to round it out, the ideal eCommerce offering for SMBs would include features such as blogging to further support organic traffic and long-term growth.

Security & compliance

Security is non-negotiable for eCommerce and regulations surrounding how businesses can advertise and sell online are constantly evolving. A rightsized eCommerce platform will include SSL certificates, support data protection regulations like GDPR and CCPA, and integrate with payment processors that are PCI-DSS compliant. Strong security safeguards customer data, protects an SMB, and reinforces trust across all stakeholders: end customers, business owners, and digital professionals.

Transparent pricing

Nobody likes surprise costs and that’s especially true when it comes to tools that have been purchased to help generate revenue from online sales. The right eCommerce solution for SMBs clearly outlines subscription costs, transaction fees (if any), and add-on expenses, and scales predictably as the business grows. Avoiding hidden costs helps SMBs plan confidently for the future and is essential to building trust between a SaaS provider or digital agency and their clients.

A comparison of common eCommerce solutions

When evaluating which eCommerce platforms to offer to SMBs, it’s tempting to default to the most well-known names in the market. But popularity doesn’t always equal suitability—especially when you factor in cost predictability, operational simplicity, and how well a store integrates into a broader website experience.

Below, we compare some of the most common eCommerce solutions agencies and SaaS platforms provide to SMBs, with a focus on integration, ease of use, transaction fees, and long-term fit.

Duda (Native eCommerce)

Duda’s native eCommerce is built directly into its professional website builder, with performance, SEO, and operational efficiency at the core. It is designed specifically for agencies and SaaS platforms delivering websites and stores at scale.

Pros

Native eCommerce built directly into the website builder
Single WYSIWYG workflow for site + store authoring
0% Duda platform transaction fees
Strong SEO, performance, and Core Web Vitals out of the box
Purpose-built tooling for agencies and SaaS platforms, including white-labeling, automation, APIs, and reusable assets

Cons

Smaller app ecosystem compared to Shopify
Advanced enterprise commerce features may be limited for very large or complex stores

Overall SMB fit

Duda is one of the most compelling right-sized eCommerce solutions for SMBs, particularly when delivered by agencies or SaaS platforms. It strikes a rare balance: powerful enough to sell effectively online, but simple and predictable enough to avoid unnecessary cost and complexity. And, most importantly, natively integrated with a full, industry-leading website builder platform. For most single-site SMBs, it delivers exactly what’s needed and little that isn’t.

Shopify

Shopify is a commerce-first platform built specifically for online selling and is often the default choice for businesses starting an eCommerce operation. It supports a wide range of use cases, from small merchants to large, high-volume retailers.

Pros

Market-leading eCommerce platform with a massive app ecosystem
Excellent reliability, global reach, and scalability
Strong out-of-the-box commerce features for growing and complex businesses

Cons

Charges third-party transaction fees unless merchants use Shopify Payments
App ecosystem often introduces cost creep through recurring add-ons
Commerce-first platform, meaning website design and content workflows often feel secondary or bolted on

Overall SMB fit

Shopify is a strong option for SMBs that expect to scale aggressively or require advanced commerce features early on. However, for many small businesses it can be overkill. The combination of transaction fees, app costs, and platform complexity makes Shopify less attractive for SMBs that simply want a reliable, low-maintenance store embedded in their website.

Ecwid (by Lightspeed)

Ecwid is designed to add eCommerce functionality to an existing website rather than replace it. It’s commonly used by SMBs that want to start selling online quickly with minimal disruption to their current site.

Pros

Designed to bolt a store onto any existing website

Fast setup and very approachable for non-technical users

No platform transaction fees

Cons

Intentionally lightweight feature set

Less cohesive UX compared to native, builder-integrated stores

Advanced shipping, checkout logic, or POS workflows may require add-ons

Overall SMB fit

Ecwid is an excellent choice for SMBs that already have a website and want to add commerce quickly without rebuilding. For agencies and SaaS platforms, it’s a great tactical option. But as native eCommerce becomes more common in site builders, Ecwid’s “add-on” advantage is increasingly narrow.

BigCommerce

BigCommerce positions itself as a robust, extensible eCommerce platform aimed at businesses with more complex needs. It is frequently chosen by brands planning for growth, multi-channel selling, or custom integrations.

Pros

Robust, enterprise-grade commerce features

Strong support for headless and multi-channel selling

No platform transaction fees and broad payment gateway flexibility

Cons

Steeper learning curve than builder-native solutions

Less intuitive for non-technical SMB users

Integration into third-party site builders often requires developer involvement

Overall SMB fit

BigCommerce is best suited for SMBs that are already pushing into mid-market territory or expect significant growth. For smaller merchants, the power it offers often translates into unnecessary complexity compared to right-sized, builder-native platforms.

WooCommerce (WordPress)

WooCommerce is an open-source eCommerce plugin built for WordPress, giving site owners full control over their store’s functionality. It is widely adopted due to its flexibility and deep WordPress ecosystem.

Pros

Extremely flexible and open-source

A vast plugin ecosystem

No platform-imposed transaction fees

Cons

Not a turnkey solution—requires hosting, security, updates, and maintenance

Total cost of ownership can grow unpredictably

Higher reliance on developers or technical expertise

Overall SMB fit

WooCommerce works well for SMBs that are already committed to WordPress and need deep customization. For most small businesses, and the web pros that serve them, it introduces more operational overhead than necessary.

Wix eCommerce

Wix eCommerce is a native commerce offering inside the Wix website builder, designed for ease of use and fast launch. It is popular among small businesses that want an all-in-one solution with minimal technical complexity.

Pros

Native integration with the Wix website builder

Very easy to use and fast to launch

Strong design flexibility and built-in marketing tools

Cons

Less depth for complex commerce workflows

Certain fees and limitations vary by region and payment method

Scaling beyond basic use cases often requires replatforming

Overall SMB fit

Wix is a solid option for SMBs that value speed and simplicity over advanced commerce functionality. It’s well-suited for smaller catalogs and straightforward selling models.

Squarespace Commerce

Squarespace Commerce is tightly integrated into Squarespace’s design-led website platform. It’s often chosen by creatives and service-based businesses where brand presentation is a primary driver of sales.

Pros

Exceptional design templates and brand presentation

Native commerce tightly integrated into the site editor

Simple workflows for small catalogs and creators

Cons

Commerce depth is limited compared to dedicated platforms

Transaction fees apply on lower-tier plans

Less flexibility for operationally complex businesses

Overall SMB fit

Squarespace is ideal for creatives and brand-led SMBs that prioritize aesthetics and simplicity. It’s a strong choice when commerce supports the brand rather than driving operational scale.

Conclusion: How to right-size eCommerce for SMBs

The mistake many platforms make is assuming SMBs want more features, more integrations, and more complexity. In reality, SMBs want clarity, predictability, and speed to value—eCommerce that works as a natural extension of their website, not a separate system to manage.

For agencies and SaaS providers, the winning formula is clear:

Seamless integration with the website builder
Minimal operational overhead
No platform transaction fees
Built-in SEO, performance, and security
A solution that scales when needed, not before

Advanced eCommerce platforms absolutely have their place, especially for businesses with complex operational or growth requirements. But they shouldn’t be the default. For many SMBs, a rightsized eCommerce approach delivers better outcomes for both merchants and the digital professional that serves them without overwhelming either.

Platforms like Duda illustrate how native eCommerce, built directly into a professional website builder, can meet the real needs of SMBs without unnecessary complexity or hidden costs. For agencies and SaaS companies focused on long-term client success, that kind of right-sized foundation often proves more sustainable than starting with an overengineered solution.

And that’s what modern eCommerce for SMBs should be about.

Duda announces new feature to combine professionally designed templates with AI

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 15:30:37 GMT

Boulder, CO., January 28, 2026 / EINPresswire.com / — Duda , the leading white label website building platform for agencies and SaaS companies, today announced the release of their new “Populate Template with AI” feature. Available initially via Duda’s API , AI-populated templates combine the speed and simplicity of client-specific AI-generated content with the precision and design quality of custom built website templates.

The feature was developed in response to the unique needs of SaaS companies. Platforms are able to fully customize their templates with structures and design considerations specific to the verticals they serve, and can embed their proprietary technologies, like booking widgets or quote tools, directly within the templates.

“We’re always excited to enable our partners with new ways to build and offer websites,” said Avigayil Lewin, Product Director of Duda’s AI Experience Group. “SaaS platforms are eager to offer AI-generated websites, but continue to tell us they need more control over the appearance, performance, and functionality of those sites. This feature solves that.”

Today, AI-generated, or “vibe coded,” websites suffer from unpredictable, often generic, designs, alongside poor levels of accessibility and search optimization. Populate Template with AI overcomes this by combining Duda’s industry-leading infrastructure, security, and Core Web Vital scores with unique, customer-specific content generated programmatically by AI.

88% of SMB owners consider website integration with their backend technology to be important, yet only 11% get their website from their SaaS vendor. Offering these websites has been shown to reduce customer churn by nearly 25%, while automating product onboarding has been shown to increase adoption rates by as much as 200%.

Populate Template with AI can be combined with Duda’s other innovative APIs to customize the fonts and color palettes of the site or to update content like business hours—all programmatically. These sites can be further refined using Duda’s white label drag-and-drop editor, resulting in a complete, end-to-end website building solution for SaaS companies.

To learn more about Duda's powerful REST API, schedule a 1:1 today .

About Duda

How Duda used the Speculation Rules API to boost its runtime sites users’ experience

Tue, 13 Jan 2026 21:08:40 GMT

Website performance is no longer optional. It is one of the main reasons to choose one website builder over another. When every millisecond matters, building fast and reliable websites is not just a technical goal but a key part of your clients' business success. Strong performance drives user satisfaction, increases engagement, and improves search visibility. All of these factors are essential for growth.

In the competitive web landscape, superior site performance is key to success. It not only enhances the visitor experience but also claims to improve search engine rankings.

A high-performing website loads quickly, maintains a stable layout that prevents user frustration, and provides smooth, responsive interactions. These three key measurements, defined by Google, are known as Core Web Vitals (CWV).

Since their introduction, the Core Web Vitals have evolved, and today they are defined by the following three metrics:

LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) – speed of loading main content.
INP (Interaction to Next Paint) – how quickly the page responds to user interactions.
CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) – stability of layout during loading.

Duda leads the market in website performance. According to Google’s latest Core Web Vitals Technology Report , an impressive 85% of Duda-powered sites achieve “good” Core Web Vitals scores, the highest among website building platforms:

This leadership isn’t by chance. It's the result of Duda’s relentless focus on speed, stability, and user experience at scale. Every optimization, from infrastructure to runtime innovations, is designed to ensure that sites built on Duda consistently perform at the top of the web.

One of the tools Duda uses to achieve these results is the Speculation Rules API . This article explains how Duda applies the Speculation Rules API to improve future site navigation and enhance LCP scores. It also discusses the challenges faced and shares data to help you decide whether this API could improve your own site's performance.

Ready to dive in? Excellent. But first, let's understand what the Speculation Rules API is.

Speculation Rules API

From MDN :

“The Speculation Rules API is designed to improve performance for future navigations. It targets document URLs rather than specific resource files, and so makes sense for multi-page applications (MPAs) rather than single-page applications (SPAs).”

This feature allows site authors to control the loading strategy for different pages. For example, an author can specify that when a user hovers over a link to the About page, the browser should prefetch its content. This ensures that when the link is clicked, the page's assets are already loaded, providing a seamless transition and faster page loading.

The feature replaces the <link rel="prefetch"> hint and the Chromium-only, deprecated <link rel="prerender"> . Although it is often described as an “experimental” API, Duda has deployed it with careful rollout and monitoring, taking advantage of its support in modern Chromium-based browsers.

The Speculation Rules API offers a simple and direct configuration process. You specify a List of URLs or CSS selectors matching those Anchor elements, or rules to identify the URLs on the page, the desired strategy (prefetch or prerender), and the "eagerness" level that will trigger it.

While there are multiple implementation methods (which will be explored in more detail later), a basic implementation using a Script tag would appear as follows:

In the example above you can see the different configuration parts mentioned: strategy (“prefetch”), urls (“where”) and the triggering “eagerness” which is set as “moderate.”

You can read more about Chrome's implementation of Speculation rules here .

Initial approach

Our strategy was straightforward: implement the <script type="speculationrules"></script> on our runtime sites, initially under a feature flag, and then observe the outcomes. The configuration needed to be versatile enough for all sites, yet carefully designed to avoid the risks associated with prerendering pages (a topic we'll explore further in this article).

Here's the initial configuration we utilized:

We implemented a prerender rule for all paths while excluding those with potential undesired implications like /logout , and incorporating selector matching. Although Google suggests a milder prefetch strategy initially, we opted for a more aggressive approach, anticipating greater performance benefits, and committed to close monitoring.

As we awaited the results from our Core Web Vitals monitoring tools, we started observing a growing number of complaints from the field…

Speculation Rules & Google crawlers

While investigating customer reports about unexpected URL paths, such as /logout, being crawled by Googlebot and appearing in Google Search Console, even for sites without a logout page, we identified a key connection. These paths exactly matched those configured in our Speculation Rules. This finding led us to disable the speculation feature and conduct a thorough investigation into the underlying issue.

Given the Speculation rules feature is relatively new, information online was scarce. This prompted an unconventional approach: reaching out to key individuals who might offer assistance. Barry Pollard , a Web Performance Developer Advocate at Google and a leading expert on Speculation Rules, was a primary contact. In an age where such influential figures are accessible via numerous channels, I took a chance and directly messaged Barry on X (formerly Twitter) with a bit of "chutzpah" to inquire about our situation.

Initially, Barry was skeptical about the connection to Speculations. However, once I asserted that disabling the feature stopped the crawling of these missing paths and our internal logs showed Googlebot reaching these pages, Barry was convinced. He then conducted his own experiment, confirming the existence of a real issue, but this had no direct connection to the Speculation rules but rather to how crawlers operate. Specifically, when a crawler encounters a URL-like path in a document, whether it's an actual href or a path written as part of a rule (as in our case), it attempts to access it. Essentially, crawlers follow anything that could potentially be a link.

Crawling of “potential links” is not a problem per-se, but does create noise in Google Search Console when the “links” fail with a 404—for example if a site has no /logout URL despite appearing in the generic Duda rules.

Given this understanding, we sought a solution. While excluding URLs not on the site in speculation rules, or adding paths to the robot.txt file offers an immediate fix, it's not scalable for Duda. This approach would necessitate site-specific definitions and complex logic to differentiate valid from invalid paths. Our goal was a swift, universal application that would deliver immediate performance benefits across all sites.

So, Barry came up with an alternative that avoided the issue: defining Speculation Rules using an HTTP header. This way, the rules wouldn't be tacked onto the actual document, keeping them out of crawlers' reach.

Define Speculations Rules in an HTTP header

To define Speculation Rules via an HTTP header, include a Speculation-Rules header in the site's document response. The value of this header should be a URL pointing to a JSON file (or multiple files) that outlines the rules. The content of this JSON file is identical to what would be placed within a script tag (as described previously).

An example for such header can be:

You can read more about it in detail here .

Once the browser spots this header, it sets up the speculation rules. Now's a good time to hit pause and figure out how we can confirm these rules are actually being recognized and put to use.

Debugging Speculation Rules

Once you've got your speculation rules set up, you can check them out by opening DevTools. Just head over to the "Application" tab and find the "Speculations loads" section. You should see something like this:

This means that our Speculation Rules were accepted by the browser. If you wanna know if these rules are being respected and acted upon you need to open the “Speculations” section, and test it.

When hovering over the links which the speculation rules have identified, the status of this path goes from “Not triggered” to “Running” and then to “Ready”, which means that they were prerendered and now ready to be navigated much quicker.

We reactivated the feature after resolving the crawling issue and confirming the speculation rules were active. We closely monitored its performance, attentive to real-world feedback, alas something was still not working as expected.

Some bumps on the way

We previously encountered an issue in Microsoft Edge for Windows, where pre-rendered pages containing videos could cause the browser to freeze and crash. This was related to Edge’s “Preload pages for faster browsing and searching” feature. The problem has since been fully resolved by the Edge team.

You can find more details about this bug in this thread; Pre-rendered pages with videos don't load on MS Edge on Windows .

With the bug resolved, we were able to reactivate the feature and monitor its performance.

Improvements in LCP

Speculation rules are anticipated to positively impact the Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), which measures the loading speed of a page's main content. We have observed promising improvements in our internal LCP scores, a trend also confirmed by data shared by the Google team with whom we are collaborating.

The feature, launched in mid-June, has led to a gradual improvement in LCP scores, as illustrated by the weekly distribution chart below. This gradual change is directly tied to the number of sites republished since the Speculation rules were enabled.

We used CrUX History API Navigation Type Breakdown to measure the shift. We saw that it was shifting from "navigate" to "prerender," indicating that the Speculation rules are functioning as intended.

Navigation type categorizes how a page loads, reporting the proportion of page loads across seven distinct types. Several of these types optimize loading performance. For example, pages restored from the bfcache load almost instantly, and the back_forward_cache navigation type tracks these bfcache restores. Similarly, the prerender type signifies a page that was pre-rendered, also resulting in potentially near-instant page loads.

And in addition to that the good impact it has over the LCP:

The mobile challenge

Our speculation rules are set to "Moderate" eagerness, meaning prerendering is triggered when a link is hovered over or clicked. However, this raises a question for mobile users: what happens when there's no "hover" interaction?

The Chrome team has recognized this limitation, and recently updated their Speculation Rules implementation with heuristics to help speculation on mobile in this case.

The new mobile moderate behavior involves a more complex algorithm, optimized for an effective precision/recall balance:

The anchor needs to be within 30% vertical distance from the previous pointer down.
The anchor needs to be at least 0.5x as big as the largest anchor in the viewport.
We wait 500 ms after the user stopped scrolling.

This enhancement was fully rolled out on August 22nd.

You'll notice that speculation rules positively impacted mobile navigation type, though not as significantly as desktop.

What to be aware of

Pre-rendering involves the browser fetching and rendering a page's assets before actual navigation. This includes downloading and executing scripts, which can sometimes lead to unintended consequences. For instance, pre-rendering a logout page could trigger a logout action simply by hovering over its link. Therefore, it's crucial to exclude pages where pre-rendering might cause undesirable actions, which is why Duda’s default rules specifically exclude pages like the logout page.

Be aware that pre-rendering and prefetching can lead to an increase in server/CDN hits. This might result in higher traffic numbers without a corresponding increase in actual visits (e.g., hovering over a link doesn't guarantee a click). Therefore, it's crucial to monitor your server hits to ensure they align with your expectations.

Conclusion

Our Duda journey with the Speculation Rules API has been a wild ride. We hit a few bumps in the road, like sneaky crawler behavior and a video bug that seemed to have a personal vendetta against Edge browser, but our insistence on having it proved to be the right direction, and our Core Web Vitals scores see great benefit from it.

So, what's the takeaway from our Speculation Rules API escapade? While these cutting-edge features are like supercharging your website, you've got to be prepared for a few twists and turns. For other platforms and developers out there, this API, especially with the HTTP header method, can be a fantastic way to spruce up your site's performance and give users a smoother experience. Just be ready to roll up your sleeves and tackle any integration quirks that come your way!

Resources mentioned

Crawl, walk, run: Add a website builder to your SaaS without slowing the roadmap

Thu, 08 Jan 2026 17:43:58 GMT

If you’re on a SaaS product or revenue team, “let’s build our own website builder” is one of those ideas that sounds great in a strategy deck and awful in a sprint plan. Owning the website layer promises new revenue and stickier customers, but it also means designing and maintaining visual editors, hosting, SEO and AI visibility, accessibility, security, and support long before you see any ROI.

A single production-grade website builder integration can easily take 6-24 months of engineering time, most of it on unglamorous plumbing your customers expect to “just work.”

You don’t have to make that bet. Instead of a big-bang “build a builder” project, you can take a crawl-walk-run path with an embedded, white-label platform like Duda: launch a minimal viable website offering with a small subset of customers, deepen integrations once you see attach and revenue, and let a specialist own performance, compliance, security, and maintenance.

Let’s break down that phased journey (with real-world examples) to learn how SaaS businesses can add customizable client websites as a real product line without extensive and expensive investments.

What is the crawl-walk-run approach?

In product development, crawl-walk-run is a way to de-risk major investments. You start with a lean MVP to gather feedback, then layer on integrations and automation once the value is proven, and only in the final phase do you invest heavily and scale promotion.

For embedded website builders in SaaS, that translates to:

Crawl : Offer a quick-to-market implementation to a narrow cohort or customers to see if bundled, managed websites move ARPU and early retention using no-code tools and white-label flows wherever possible.
Walk : Turn “websites” into a defined product line with clear packaging, pricing, and plan eligibility, and start using APIs and SSO to tie the website experience tightly into your product.
Run : Treat the website layer as a strategic revenue and retention engine, powered by advanced features like custom code, webhooks, complex automations, and data-driven workflows across a governed fleet of sites.

Crawl: Testing the revenue story

In the crawl phase, you’re not “rolling out a website builder” to your entire customer base. You’re running a contained experiment with a small, clearly defined cohort to answer one question: does a bundled website offer actually move revenue and stickiness?

The goal at Crawl is to learn whether websites deserve a place in your value proposition and sales motion. Your core product stays in the lead, and websites play a supporting role with the tightest possible scope:

Narrow audience : Choose one vertical, region, or customer segment where websites are obviously valuable and where you already know the workflows. You’re optimizing for fast learning, not a perfect cross-section of your base.
Tightly scoped offer : Start with one or two clear packages (e.g., “Starter site with integrated booking” or “Single-location business site”) instead of promising every possible integration or layout.
Low-code plumbing : Use no-code and low-code tools (like Zapier or n8n) to handle triggers and data syncs (rather than burning engineering time on custom integrations just to test demand).

What to measure at Crawl

The Crawl experiment should quickly tell you whether websites are worth more investment. Focus on a small set of learnings from this pilot group:

Attach rate : Of the customers you offer sites to, how many say yes?
ARPU uplift : How much extra revenue do you see from accounts with a site versus similar accounts without one?
Early retention signals : Do accounts with sites log in more, adopt more features, or churn less?
Organic demand : Do other customers start asking for “that website thing” they’ve seen in your marketing or heard about from peers?

Crawling with Duda

On Duda, Crawl rarely requires writing a line of code. You use Duda’s white-label website builder to deliver and manage sites for your pilot cohort, while your product team validates whether this should become a permanent line on the roadmap.

A typical Crawl-stage setup with Duda includes:

One vertical, unified experience : Pick a single ICP and build a template that bakes in your core workflow (bookings, listings, jobs, etc.). Travel SaaS platform Bókun did exactly this : they combined their booking widget with Duda templates to give tour operators a turnkey “site + booking” package instead of sending them off to struggle with generic CMSs.
A branded flow : Even at crawl, you don’t want users to feel they’ve wandered out of your app. With Duda’s white-label editor and SSO, you can link straight from your dashboard into a co-branded builder where everything matches your product. That’s how SaaS players like Broadly turned “we’ll help you get a site” into a seamless, guided experience rather than a support nightmare.
Guardrails and measurement first : Your team controls templates, design systems, and core settings, while you track key adoption and revenue metrics by segment. That gives you a clean read on whether accounts with a site behave meaningfully differently from similar accounts without one.

Walk: Refining a defined product line

At the Walk stage, websites stop being an experiment. They become a real product line in your SaaS with a defined SKU, clear packaging, revenue targets, and a repeatable delivery process. The question shifts from “can this work?” to “is this scalable and profitable?”

A walk-stage integration typically includes:

Productized packaging and pricing : Websites become a clear line item in your offering. You decide which plans include a site and how websites show up in sales decks and pricing pages.
Deeper integration with your product : “Website” is now a persistent area in your app, not a one-time flow. Customers can discover, create, edit, and manage their site from within your app instead of jumping out to a separate tool. Core objects from your product flow into site templates so the website feels like a front-end for a system, not a disconnected brochure.
Stronger identity, permissions and guardrails : Authentication, roles, and access controls are defined and enforced. There’s an owner for templates and content models, a process for rolling out changes, and basic observability around site creation, changes, updates, and failures.

What to measure at Walk

Here you’re validating whether websites can stand as a scalable, profitable line of business.

Attach rate by plan : Of accounts eligible for a site, how many actually create one, and how does that compare to Crawl?
Activation and time-to-value : How long it takes a new customer to go from signup to a live site, and what percentage start or publish a site during onboarding.
Website-driven revenue : Incremental MRR/ARR from website-inclusive plans and add-ons, plus how often websites pull customers into higher tiers, ad packages, or DFY services.
Account retention and product health : Differences in churn, engagement, and feature adoption between accounts with active sites and similar accounts without.
Operational efficiency: Average time spent per site (builds, recurring edits, reporting) and the volume of support tickets or manual interventions related to websites.

Walking with Duda

On Duda, the Walk phase is where “websites as a feature” harden into a commercial product line. Crawl has already proven demand with a narrow cohort; now you standardize plans, flows, pricing, and operations so websites reliably drive revenue and retention.

Integration at the Walk stage with Duda typically features:

Commercialized website plans : Websites show up as a named SKU in your pricing and packaging, often bundled into specific tiers or sold as DFY builds. Property management platform DoorLoop added Duda-backed websites as a formal part of their offering, launched hundreds of customer sites in under two years, and saw customers with a published site send about twice as many rental applications while cutting churn dramatically.
Embedded, in-app website area : “Website” becomes a persistent section in your app navigation and user flows. Event-management platform doo wired its event dashboard straight into a custom-branded Duda builder via SSO, so users can spin up and manage event sites without leaving the app
Data-connected templates at scale : Core objects (properties, events, services, locations) feed directly into Duda templates, so sites behave like a front-end for your system of record. DoorLoop’s property data flows into standardized layouts while doo’s event data flows into event pages.

The next step is Run, where you treat the website layer as a strategic, automated revenue and retention engine.

Run: Websites as a strategic revenue & retention pillar

At Run, websites are fully embedded in your SaaS. The web layer is wired into your data and workflows, and you manage the entire fleet of sites as a lever for revenue, NRR, and product usage.

Your typical Run-stage setup includes:

Fleet-level scale and governance : Hundreds or thousands of sites share centrally managed templates, design rules, and content models, so brand, legal, and accessibility updates are rolled out once and applied everywhere.
Extensive automation and webhooks : Site creation, updates, and retirement are triggered by lifecycle events in your product (new account, new location, status changes), orchestrated via APIs and webhooks rather than one-off scripts.
Product workflows on the web layer : Booking, applications, payments, and portal logins run through the site using custom code and integrations, turning websites into a living front end to your platform.

What to measure at Run

Here, you’re tuning a mature engine rather than proving the concept:

Fleet coverage and health : Percentage of eligible accounts with an active site and how many sites are current on templates, brand, and compliance.
Website-driven revenue and NRR : MRR/ARR tied to websites and related services, plus NRR uplift for accounts with sites versus those without.
Engagement and growth : Volume and growth of core actions (bookings, applications, orders, logins) and conversion rates coming through your sites.
Automation and operating cost : Share of sites provisioned and updated automatically and the volume of manual tickets per 100 sites.

Running with Duda

With Duda, Run is where websites operate as a governed, automated growth engine under your brand:

Fleet-level governance at scale : You update templates, components, and accessibility tooling once and propagate the change across thousands of client sites. AppFolio , for example, consolidated a large portfolio of property management sites on Duda and used marketplace tools to roll out accessibility improvements across the board in a single coordinated motion.
Automated provisioning and updates : New accounts, locations, or offerings trigger sites or new pages automatically, filled with data from your platform. A leading hospitality provider uses Duda’s APIs and templates to spin up conversion-focused hotel sites much faster than before, while turning the website fleet itself into a recurring MRR line.
Websites as a primary growth engine : Sites become a standard part of your go-to-market. With private transportation platform Moovs , embedded Duda-backed sites fit into its core offer so operators get a modern, conversion-ready site plus booking in one place, contributing to clear gains in ARR, customer growth, and qualified traffic flowing through those websites into its core product.

A safer way to add a real revenue line

Client websites are a growth opportunity for SaaS-based businesses, but they don’t have to be large up-front investments. If you treat them as a crawl-walk-run journey, you can validate the revenue story, turn it into a clean product line, and only then scale into a governed fleet that delivers measurable business outcomes. Duda’s role in that journey is to give you one platform you can use at every stage: light-touch pilots in Crawl, embedded and data-connected experiences in Walk, and fleet-level governance and automation in Run.

If you’re ready to map what Crawl, Walk, Run could look like for your own platform, talk to us about embedding Duda as your website layer.

Duda recognized as a top workplace in Colorado

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 16:48:29 GMT

BOULDER, CO., January 6, 2026 — Duda , the leading white label website building platform for digital marketing agencies and SaaS companies, today announced it has been recognized by Built In as one of the Best Places to Work in 2026. The annual awards honor employers across the U.S. whose benefits and compensation set the standard for today’s workforce.

Now in its eighth year, Built In’s Best Places to Work program celebrates the companies shaping the future of work. In a rapidly evolving AI-first job market, recognition as a Best Place to Work helps employers stand out as trusted brands when candidates turn to tools like ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews to research where to work next.

“Today’s candidates discover the companies they want to work for using AI tools,” said Maria Christopoulos Katris , Founder & CEO of Built In. “Earning a Best Place to Work award not only signals to candidates that you invest in your people, it’s a lever to strengthen how AI search tools understand and represent your company’s story.”

“At Duda, we believe building great products starts with building an exceptional team,” said Oded Ouaknine, Chief Revenue Officer at Duda. “This recognition reflects our ongoing commitment to creating a culture where talented people feel empowered, supported, and inspired to do their best work. We’re proud to be a place where innovation, collaboration, and growth thrive.”

Duda was honored on the “Colorado Best Midsized Place to Work” and “Colorado Overall Best Places to Work” lists. The awards reflect Built In’s data-driven approach, evaluating companies based on compensation, benefits, and company-wide culture programs.

With teams spanning the U.S., Israel, Canada, the UK, Brazil, and the Philippines, Duda cultivates an inclusive, collaborative, and empowering culture worldwide. Employees flourish in a hybrid work model that balances remote flexibility with in-person connection, supporting teamwork, engagement, and individual growth.

“We are honored by this recognition and see it as both affirmation and accountability,” said Brenda Gierke, Director of US People at Duda. “It reflects what is working at Duda while keeping us focused on listening and improving the Duder experience as we evolve.”

About Duda

Duda is a leading white label web building platform for digital agencies, SaaS platforms, and web professionals offering web solutions to SMBs. From its end-to-end, industry-leading AI Stack to advanced API-driven automation workflows, Duda offers web professionals a comprehensive suite of tools to build pixel-perfect, feature-rich websites efficiently and at scale–all on a flexible platform that can be fully customized to match their go-to-market strategy and ideal customer experience. As the top platform for Core Web Vitals, a critical metric for SEO performance and AI discoverability, Duda makes it easy for web professionals to deliver a superior digital presence and outstanding performance to their customers under their own brand. More than 22,000 organizations have trusted Duda to build 1 million active websites and counting. For more information, visit www.duda.co .

About Built In

Built In is the “always on” recruiting platform that reaches the tech professionals that other leading recruiting platforms don’t. Designed to help companies hire expert tech talent, Built In continuously drives brand awareness with content. Monthly, millions of the industry’s most in-demand global tech professionals visit our site to stay ahead of tech trends and news, learn skills to accelerate their careers, find the right job opportunities and get hired. Thousands of companies, from fast-growing startups to the largest enterprises rely on Built In. By putting their stories in front of our uniquely engaged audience, we help them hire otherwise hard-to-reach technical and expert talent. For more information, visit www.builtin.com .

About Built In’s Best Places to Work

Built In’s annual Best Places to Work program honors companies with the best total rewards packages across the U.S. and in the following tech hubs: Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington DC. Best Places to Work is distinct because its algorithm selects tech companies that build their offerings specifically around what tech professionals value in a workplace. For more information, visit employers.builtin.com/best-places-to-work .

AI browsers and the web of the future

Tue, 16 Dec 2025 22:02:01 GMT

AI is everywhere, and it’s changing the way people interact with websites. By late 2025, 46% of adults on the Internet in the US were already using generative AI tools for online searches and everyday tasks. The web browser, our main interface with the web for two decades, is in the crosshairs of the tech giants looking to bring their AI services toward mass adoption. This means that the way websites are built will have to change as well and adapt to serving two audiences: AI engines and human users.

For marketers, this is a tectonic shift that can only be compared to the introduction of connected mobile devices. Now, AI browsers are promising a change bigger than smaller screens - making websites into little more than an interface for robots to crawl and perform actions.

Before we discuss the role of digital marketing agencies in this transition, it’s worth defining what is what in the evolving landscape of user-AI-web interfaces.

AI browsers vs AI search vs AI agencts

For years, a user agent like “Chrome on Android” in your analytics report was indicative of a real person looking at a page for a certain length of time. With AI services involved, that’s no longer the case. Your website now interacts with the end user through multiple AI touchpoints, and in some instances, it is never seen by a human at all. Let’s start by understanding what each does, and how we, marketers, see it (or don’t) in our website analytics dashboards.

AI search

The topic that’s been discussed most in the digital marketing circles is the impact of AI search on traditional organic search traffic. Some of us are already feeling the drop due to Google AI Overviews drastically reducing CTRs . But how does it actually work?

AI search results are generated by the various engines based on information collected by their own crawlers (think Google Bot on steroids) to ingest and refresh your content. Your websites become training data and live reference material, shaping the answers people see (even if they never click through).

AI browsers

ChatGPT Atlas , Perplexity’s Comet , Dia , and even Firefox’s upcoming AI Window are trying, each in their way, to bake the answer layer into the browser itself. Users still see sites in a traditional browser, but an AI reads the DOM, summarizes content, compares tabs, and often becomes the primary “interface” to website content. Early adopters are already boasting about replacing human assistants with an AI web browser.

In your logs, these sessions will appear as regular desktop or mobile browser traffic, but the user experience of the website will be drastically different from that of a non-AI browser.

AI agents

Atlas’s Agent Mode, Comet’s agentic workflows, and ChatGPT tasks are a different beast altogether. These are the “doers” who perform actions on behalf of users. AI agents can spawn virtual or headless browser instances that click, scroll, fill out forms, and submit them the way a user would, as well as interact with service APIs. AI agents can be baked in with an AI browser (like Comet and Atlas) or launched from AI assistant applications or web interfaces.

From an analytics and measurement perspective, these can be the most confusing participants in customer journeys. Some run locally in a user’s browser, others run in the cloud under generic “ ChatGPT-User ” or headless Chrome user agents.

The role of marketing agencies in an AI-mediated web

The client journey is mutating. In some AI-led journeys, the human barely sees your client sites at all. That means that whoever owns and maintains a site’s structure and content now has a more central role than before. In day-to-day agency work, AI-led browsing trends will shape how you build, how you measure, and how you keep the “digital source of truth” alive.

Building websites (also) for agents

AI engines of all kinds treat your clients’ sites as a kind of API interface for information they can ingest. They crawl the site to pull structured data and execute flows that were normally performed by users, but all without your beautiful designs and thought-out layouts ever admired by human eyes. That doesn’t mean that the brand and products turn invisible, or that you need to build a second, secret site for machines.

The good news is that you’re already doing 90% of the work of making sites agent-friendly by ensuring your clients’ sites are well-structured, fast, accessible, filled with original content, and SEO-sane. In reality, it’s what both humans and AI agents want: a clear, low-friction description of what’s true, what’s available, and how to get it.

It’s worth noting that researchers and businesses alike are pushing toward standardization of explicit, high-level actions for AI agents like “add to cart” or “book appointment” that agents can confidently interact with (instead of brittle pixel-level clicking). OpenAI and Stripe’s Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) standard already lets users fully complete a purchase through the ChatGPT interface.

Rethinking analytics and attribution

Getting a complete picture of the buyer journey across digital touchpoints was always a challenge, but with AI in the picture and zero-click behaviors on the rise, things are more complex than ever . AI surfaces increasingly satisfy intent on the results page or inside an assistant, while sending only incremental traffic to websites .

That creates an AI-driven “dark funnel.” Decisions are shaped by your content, but the exploration happens inside AI Overviews, AI chat apps - not on pages with your analytics pixels. This makes classic last-click attribution not only noisy but also dangerously misleading.

In response, a mini-industry of “AI visibility” tools is emerging to track how often brands get cited or recommended in AI answers, and how changes to content or schema affect that visibility. At the same time, C-suite guidance is nudging marketers to compensate for missing click-level data with more resilient strategies. This makes it the agency’s job to explain the shift and communicate the response plan that pairs traditional metrics (revenue, conversion, branded demand) with a small set of AI-aware indicators and experiments.

Maintaining your clients’ digital source of truth

Much like search engine indexing bots, generative AI systems don’t crawl once and forget the site existed. They keep coming back, but instead of indexing, they use your clients’ websites as a rolling reference file. Also similar in nature are the signals these bots use to evaluate content, with freshness, originality, consistency, and credibility before surfacing it to users. If key pages are thin or outdated, models will either downrank the sites or worse - start making guesses and generating hallucinations with your clients’ logos on them.

To serve AI bots with accurate and fresh data, you must look at websites the way they do - as a living knowledge system. This is where AEO/GEO guidance and AI SEO playbooks all converge on the same basics : consolidate answers to common questions, keep core facts current (pricing, availability, terms, locations, etc.), and structure them in formats answer engines and AI browsers reliably ingest.

From an agency perspective, this only strengthens the importance of a robust content ops strategy that can deliver at scale. For clients, it means enhancing collaboration between content owners internally. Knowledge-base teams already treat freshness as critical to preventing bad AI answers. Business websites now need the same discipline.

How Duda helps you stay ahead

AI is all the rage, and it may reach mass adoption faster than any digital tool before it. But new interfaces will come and go. Underneath all that, the pattern is clear: your clients still need a fast, reliable, discoverable, well-structured website that tells the truth about their business and makes client-agency collaboration smooth.

If you’re building on Duda, a lot of that groundwork is already handled for you. The platform keeps pushing Core Web Vitals performance to the top of the CMS pack, so sites load quickly and stay stable as standards tighten. It bakes in structured data support, SEO tooling, and accessibility features. On top of that, Duda’s AI Stack and SEO overview help you generate and maintain titles, meta descriptions, alt text, and on-page copy inside a governed editor, not a black box.

In an AI-mediated web, the combination of solid infrastructure, human judgment, and governed ease of use is exactly why your clients choose you to build and maintain their websites.

AI meets API: Integrate Duda in minutes

Tue, 09 Dec 2025 17:35:10 GMT

Have you ever hit a roadblock with limited development resources, or struggled to quickly evaluate a platform without writing a single line of code? In today’s competitive market, waiting weeks for developer resources isn’t an option.

We've bridged the gap between AI and the Duda platform. By configuring Duda's Model Context Protocol (MCP), you give your AI assistant direct access to the Duda API and our developer documentation. This turns your AI assistant into a powerful developer on your team, instantly making the Duda API more accessible and helping you unlock value faster to break into new markets. Today, you'll see how a tool like Cursor AI can turn a simple prompt into a fully functional Duda application.

Choosing your AI Assistant

Selecting the right AI tool is the first step in this process. For this guide, we'll be using Cursor AI , which offers a generous 14-day free trial, more than enough time to complete this demo. However, you are free to use any AI assistant you prefer or already have access to. Just keep in mind that the output and file generation may vary depending on the model you choose, which means your subsequent setup and troubleshooting steps might look slightly different than what we cover here.

Create a directory

The first step is to create a new folder on your computer. This will be your project directory, where all the files generated by the AI assistant will be stored. Once created, open this new folder as your current project in your code editor.

Configure the MCPs

Next, we need to set up your AI assistant to communicate with the Duda API and access our documentation. In this walkthrough, we will show you how to do direct settings input . This is done by configuring the Duda MCP and Duda Dev Docs as integrations.

Direct settings input involves updating your tool's configuration file to connect to our services. The final configuration will look similar to this:

Confirm your configuration

To ensure your MCP is set up correctly, run the 'List Tools' prompt in the chatbox. If the AI returns a list of Duda-related calls and functions, your configuration is successful!

Run the prompt

Think of the AI prompt as your project's blueprint. Be sure to include clear technical requirements (like Node.js/React) and detailed feature specifications (like a responsive template gallery and SSO integration) to get the most accurate and runnable application.

The following prompt has been tested and is highly optimized to produce a clean, runnable full-stack application using the Duda API. Consider this your starting point! We encourage you to look through our developer documentation and add any extra features you need for your specific application.

Run the app

After the code is generated, follow the setup instructions provided in either the README.md file or the AI's response area to get your application running.

Duda + AI: The future of high-velocity development

This journey from a simple prompt to a live, functional application demonstrates a fundamental shift: Duda's powerful API is now instantly accessible to everyone.

For agencies and technology partners, the bottleneck is no longer writing complex code; it's defining the desired outcome. By using an AI assistant and the Duda platform via the MCP, you reclaim weeks of development time. This integration doesn't just make evaluating the API easier, it unlocks new business opportunities. You can now rapidly prototype complex solutions, set up working MVPs, and enter new market segments faster than ever before.

The future of high-velocity development is here, and it’s driven by the speed and accessibility of the Duda API, with AI.

Website builders need more than just AI

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 15:00:05 GMT

AI website builders can take you from zero to hero overnight. Then the morning after hits: micro-edits, layout regressions, usability fixes, security issues, prompt churn, and unhappy clients. The headache compounds as you scale your portfolio beyond one or two sites.

Lean too hard on generative tools and see idea diversity drop by an average of 40% , a 10× spike in monthly security findings, and two thirds ( 66% ) of developers spending more time debugging AI-generated code.

The real question is how to use AI to ship faster without the side effects. But before we answer, and explain how Duda lets agencies keep zero to hero AI-powered velocity without the associated pains, let’s quickly review the main issues with AI-generated websites in 2025.

Should agencies rely on AI to build websites?

The short answer is “not by itself”. AI-generated websites are quick and easy to put together. They may even look good and work as expected when you first publish them, but day two is when things get complicated.

LLM hallucinations : AI can be very confident while dead wrong. Even the most advanced reasoning models can hallucinate facts, UX components, and useless code that may encumber performance.
Prompt churn & brittle outputs : Tweak a line in the hero and many AI builders re-generate entire sections, causing layout drift and even more reworks and manual fixes.
Accessibility and compliance blindspots : AI generated website code can cause many WCAG failures that require human intervention to correct since automated scan results don’t prove compliance . WebAIM’s 2025 report stresses that absence of detected errors does not indicate a page is accessible or conformant. Regulators have also pushed back on “one-click AI compliance” claims, culminating in a $1M FTC order against an overlay vendor.
Infosec risk : Vibe-coded websites are packed full of security vulnerabilities that can slip into production unnoticed, and turn into full-blown breaches across multiple client sites, as is evident by AI-accelerated builds leaking sensitive data.
Sameness at scale : AI is not a tool known for its originality. When you use the same tool to generate 100 sites with different prompts, you’ll still see a pattern of repetition. One study showed that while ChatGPT was briefly banned in Italy, the Instagram posts of restaurants became less similar, while engagement rose by ~3.5%.

So the full answer is that AI speeds delivery, but without governance it breeds rework, sameness, and risk.

Building websites with AI: How to accelerate delivery and keep control

How can you use AI in website building without drifting into mundane sameness or waking up to endless day-two reworks? Adopt an agency AI playbook, customize it to your specific needs and processes, and enforce it using streamlined workflows. To help you get started, here is a short list of best practices you can employ.

Define non-negotiables before you prompt

Before you guide an AI to generate anything, decide what “good” and what “ready” mean for every site you ship, and make those standards visible to the team and the client. For agencies shipping at scale, that means defining, in plain language, the minimum bar for things like accessibility, privacy/consent, basic security for data capture, performance expectations, and editorial quality. Framing these as release gates ensure quality is cohesive across pages and accounts.

Next, bake the requirements into your prompts and briefs, and seed prompt templates with the same constraints you’ll use in review. This steers AI to generate inside your standards rather than around them and reduces the “morning-after” edits that drain margin on AI-assisted builds.

Design from the outside in to avoid sameness

Design choices should not be left to the discretion of AI website builders. To ensure AI adherence to brand guidelines set by designers or the clients themselves, codify the brand.

Lock your tokens : Define typography scales, spacing, and color tokens with contrast rules (AA/AAA) up front so anything AI generates inherits readable, on-brand defaults. Keep a quick link to the WCAG success criteria and A11Y Project checklist in every brief you feed into the AI.
Pre-approve a trusted set of components : Design, create, and test patterns for common components like navigation, forms, cards, modals, hero, testimonial, pricing, and FAQ. Each pattern should include content slots, character-count guidance, and attach a description to each component or website section so the AI works with components it understands rather than invent ones from scratch.
Constrain, scope, and include art-direction variants : Mix pre-approved layout variants and use detailed, component-scoped prompts (token set, sizes, alignment) to combat sameness without sacrificing speed.

Employ AI for scaffolding but professionals for accuracy and voice

AI provides scaffolding, not move-in-ready sites. For digital marketing agencies, this means even more checks and balances to bring the human into the loop in the most effective way possible before sites are ready for visitors.

Define explicit review gates : Set review points throughout your AI workflows. For example, Gate 1 can check for hallucinations and verify claims and links, Gate 2 for accessibility assurance, and Gate 3 for brand voice and tone validation.
Let AI draft, not publish : Instead of filling pages with placeholder texts until the content department delivers, you can draft section copy, alt texts, microcopy and SEO metadata with AI. Then, hand the product over the human editors to tweak and refine. This reduces prompt churn and avoids layout drift from re-rolling whole sections for tiny edits.
Protect critical content : AI shouldn’t invent legal disclaimers, consent language, privacy policy text, pricing terms, or regulated claims. Draft those from approved templates and legal sources, and make sure the AI cannot make changes to these components and sections.

Ensure rollbacks and auditability

Website edits should not be made with fingers crossed. They should be attributable and reversible without adding extensive overhead.

Version every change : Keep named snapshots of the site so you can restore quickly if the AI messes anything up.
Maintain an audit trail : Regulated clients and internal QA operations need to have records of who changes what, when, and why - including AI-assisted actions.
Portfolio safety net : For multi-site updates (like AI-assisted policy text or CMP changes), stage in a sandbox, sample across site types, then roll out with the ability to auto-rollback if monitors detect issues.

Optimize for time-to-safe-launch

With your standards and guardrails in place, you can make AI a contributing factor to your team’s productivity. To measure the impact, set a new KPI - time to safe launch.

This KPI should measure the period of time passed from kickoff to first live page with CWV baseline met, critical-path a11y checks passed, consent/privacy configured, metadata/redirects set, and security headers/forms validated. Adjust the process where you uncover bottlenecks, and share your progress with stakeholders.

Duda’s approach: AI inside a governed platform

AI should accelerate work, not add more work. When AI generates code without oversight and guardrails, everyone has a bad time on day two. This is why Duda’s AI stack generates sites without writing code, but instead uses the same human-engineered components as the visual editor. So what you publish gets versioning, governance (granular permissions and roles), client-safe controls, and record-setting performance .

Leverage the speed of AI for quick mockups and first drafts, while your day-two edits are hangover-free with granular and reversible changes. In Duda, AI features aim to remove real bottlenecks in processes, helping agencies scale rapidly without sacrificing control and product quality.

So what does building websites with Duda’s AI stack look like for agencies?

Maintainability & TCO for agencies

Duda’s AI stack runs inside a governed editor and content system, so drafts land as human-maintained components (themes, widgets, collections, sections) without raw generated code.

AI speed with under the hood flexibility : With Duda, AI accelerates content and layout creation, but the output lands in familiar and structured interfaces you control: the Content Library, Flex section, page layout, SEO fields, and the text editor. When you do need custom functionality, Duda’s Widget Builder creates reusable widgets without sprinkling ad-hoc code through your sites.
Fearless iteration : Every change you or a client make to a website (publish, republish, site reset or “develop mode” entries) automatically triggers backups that you can preview and restore. This means you can safely experiment with AI-recommended changes to sites as they are all always reversible.
Roles, permissions, and guardrails : Limiting what AI can do is not enough. Duda lets you decide who can use AI at all (team or client) and you can lock critical components to prevent their editing by clients or the AI stack. This can be especially helpful if your clients want to use AI for content tweaks, but you want to keep structure and legal texts (like consent snippets) uneditable. Duda’s AI Copilot is permissioned and scoped, with appropriate warnings when actions make changes to live sites (even though all changes can be rolled back).
Multi-site orchestration and scalability : Scale portfolio ops with Partner/Content Library APIs, global theme controls, reusable sections, and Dynamic Collections/Pages so rebrands and bulk updates happen once, not hundreds of times.

Accessibility & compliance

AI website builders often lack the training to enforce accessibility, privacy, security, and system integrity on the websites they generate. Because Duda’s AI runs inside governed, human-engineered components (rather than free-form code), sites inherit predictable structure, semantics, and consent patterns that make compliance practical and scalable from day zero.

Accessible-by-design building blocks : Headings, labels/ARIA, focus order, keyboard paths, and alt-text fields are drawn from the same component system that powers every Duda site. This means that AI-generated sites on Duda are built from stable and compliant foundations, which translates into zero manual remediation of ad-hoc AI-generated issues.
Baked-in Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) compliance : Common patterns (navigation, forms, dialogs, etc.) are engineered to meet WCAG standard targets, so all you need to do is ensure human review where automation falls short.
Hassle-free rebranding with contract-safe tokens : Color and typography tokens help preserve AA-level contrast when themes evolve, preventing regressions as you scale content and style variations across many client sites. The text color picker includes an AA/AAA contrast checker so teams can validate readable color combinations while they design.
Consent management you can standardize : Region-aware banners, preference management, and policy disclosures can be standardized across a portfolio, so you can comply with GDPR/CCPA-style standards without reinventing flows per site. You can use CMP apps from the Duda ecosystem (Termly, Usercentrics, Springtime, PieEye) to deploy region-aware banners, manage preferences, enable Google Consent Mode where needed, and retain records for compliance audits. In addition, EU-only hosting options and baked-in privacy features help regulated clients meet data-residency and consent expectations with ease.
Auditable and safe rollbacks : Duda’s platform automatically versions publishers, previews, and restores, so you have a verifiable and auditable trail for every change. This is especially important for internal QA and for clients in highly regulated sectors (like health and defense).
Operational transparency : Duda’s public status page includes uptime history and incident reporting that provides stakeholders with auditable service health data (which is important for client assurances and RFPs).

Security

AI scales delivery and cybersecurity risk at ( nearly ) the same speed. Moreover, vibe coding services have been shown time and again to be a risky place to store sensitive information. The safest way to ship fast is therefore to reduce the attack surface one layer above the AI by building it within a platform that enforces security controls and best-practices for you. Duda’s security posture focuses on infrastructure, identity management, and process transparency, so agencies get enterprise-grade protections without duct-taping plugins or pasting AI-generated code into production.

Hardened hosting & system protections : All Duda sites run on AWS with global CDN delivery, automated DDoS mitigation, strict access controls, and live system health reporting. This ensures that traffic volatility at the site of one client doesn’t impact performance across your portfolio.
Encryption & SSL by default : Duda uses HTTPS/TLS 1.2/1.3 for data in transit and AES-256 for data at rest, with automatic, no-cost SSL for every published site (including subdomains).
Secure SDLC & ongoing patching : Platform code is continuously scanned (SAST/DAST/SCA), pen-tested, and patched centrally, shrinking the window between new CVEs and remediation across Duda systems. This means zero manual upgrade per site acrobatics, and no need for third-party security website scans.
Granular identity management and least privilege enforcement : To protect user accounts from attackers, Duda supports MFA and SSO for accounts, as well as granular user permissions at the feature level, making sure that only the right people can make changes in the right places.
Vendor and integration governance : Sub-processors and marketplace apps undergo information-security and privacy review and documented APIs keep extensions predictable making the process far safer than unvetted, AI-invented code snippets (that can potentially lead to “ slopsquatting ” vulnerabilities).

Creativity with control

AI can accelerate, but agency creatives differentiate. To channel AI speed into distinct brand-specific outcomes, you need to govern creativity. With Duda’s AI stack, prompts generate output based on your brand tokens and bullet-proof component logic so your teams and clients can explore and play around without any danger of brand drift, or AI-produced sameness across your portfolio.

AI sites that inherit brand tokens : Site-level typography, color, spacing, and component rules apply to AI-generated website scaffolds from minute one. The result: rapid prototyping that still reads as your brand system, and not the AI model’s default style.
Section generation without layout drift : Duda’s “Create a Flex Section with AI” feature produces component-based sections (including content) directly in the editor, so teams can iterate structure and art direction without re-rolling code. So things like spacing and responsiveness are optimized and consistent, while design decisions remain distinctly human.
Discoverability and performance : Every site built on Duda is crawl-ready, logically structured with schemas and accessibility features enabled out of the box. When your teams are not chasing CWV scores, troubleshooting instance resource consumption, or trying to make sense of buggy AI-generated code, they are free to focus on the unique “human touch” they can bring to client sites and campaigns.
AI-generated human-tweaked copy : Just as critical as the website structure is the content. Duda’s AI Assistant provides an alternative to a blank page when building a site or a component, accelerating headlines, body copy, crawlable titles/meta, and alt text production at scale. Then, you can apply your style and polish the voice and nuance of the AI-generated copy.
Signature moments beyond stock UI : For website elements that define a brand, the AI-assisted Widget Builder helps you scaffold unique and customized components that behave like native widgets, match editor controls, and can be reused across accounts while maintaining distinctiveness without a single line of AI-generated code.

Tame AI for your agency needs with Duda

When it comes to building client sites at scale, the win isn’t squeezing another hour out of prompts. The real value is in making day-two edits safe, reversible, and cost effective. That’s exactly what a governed platform like Duda gives you: componentized layouts, versioning and rollback, permissioned controls, portfolio-level orchestration, and accessibility/privacy patterns that persist across accounts. On Duda, AI output is built from the same human-engineered components as the visual editor, so it inherits performance, compliance, and maintainability by default, and without vibe-coded surprises.

What this means for agencies:

Time-to-safe-launch drops while quality gates (a11y, consent, security hygiene) stay intact.
Day-two rework shrinks thanks to granular, reversible edits and locked critical elements.
Brand sameness is curbed by tokens and reusable patterns that stay cohesive, not identical.
ROI improves as multi-site updates, theming, and content ops scale smoothly.

Ready to see governed AI in practice? Explore Duda’s AI Stack and how it plugs directly into a versioned, permissioned editor. If you’d like a walkthrough tailored to your workflow (tokens, CMP setup, multi-site orchestration, rollback strategy), talk to us and we’ll map your current process to a faster, safer launch motion and a calmer, headache-free day two.

Book or bounce: The conversion power of booking-enabled websites

Tue, 11 Nov 2025 15:33:22 GMT

For small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), conversion isn’t just about generating leads. It’s about helping potential customers act in the exact moment they’re ready. Traditional “contact us” forms and phone calls create unnecessary friction: the customer must wait, the business must respond, and momentum often disappears.

A booking tool changes that dynamic. It lets customers confirm a time, get a confirmation, and move forward immediately. That single step, pivoting from inquiry to commitment, has a measurable effect. Research across multiple industries shows that websites offering real-time scheduling convert more visitors into paying customers.

As AI search and zero-click search eat away at the amount of organic traffic being sent to SMB websites, developing high-quality conversion experiences has never been more important.

From salons to consultants to local trades, every lost call or delayed email represents missed revenue. A booking tool captures intent before it fades.

How booking tools improve the SMB sales process

1. They remove friction from the customer journey

When people visit a business site, they’re often comparing options. The site that makes it easiest to book wins. A visible, well-designed scheduling button signals professionalism and convenience. Customers appreciate not having to chase responses or play phone tag and are, ultimately, more likely to act.

2. They reduce no-shows and increase efficiency

Automated confirmations and reminders keep schedules tight. SMBs spend less time managing calendars and more time serving customers. Integrations with existing calendars or video-meeting tools ensure appointments stay organized and accurate.

3. They build trust and drive credibility

Consumers expect convenience online. If they can book a ride, class, or doctor online, then they expect to book a haircut or consultation the same way. Offering that level of convenience shows that a business understands its customers and values their time.

4. They create data-driven opportunities

Every booking is data: which services attract interest, what times convert best, how marketing drives appointments. That data can inform pricing, promotions, and staffing decisions. SMBs that track bookings see clearer ROI from their marketing and website investments. This data is far more difficult to aggregate when using an email-based contact form.

Agencies should lead with booking tools

For digital agencies serving SMBs, the question isn’t whether to offer booking functionality, rather, it’s how to do so efficiently and at scale. Adding online booking transforms a website from a static brochure into a revenue-driving asset.

Elevating the agency value proposition

When an agency delivers booking-enabled sites, it positions itself as a growth partner rather than a design vendor. The conversation shifts from “we’ll build your website” to “we’ll help you generate customers.” That outcome-based value resonates with business owners who want measurable returns, not just visual polish.

Streamlining operations and speed to launch

A scalable, integrated booking solution means fewer plugins, fewer maintenance issues, and faster deployment. Agencies can replicate success across clients and spend their time optimizing marketing rather than troubleshooting technology.

Building recurring revenue

Bookings data unlocks opportunities for ongoing services: conversion analysis, remarketing to past customers, and optimisation of service offerings. Agencies can report back with concrete numbers — booked appointments, revenue, no-show rates — and use those insights to refine strategy.

How Duda Bookings fits this strategy

There are many scheduling tools, but few are designed with agencies and SMBs in mind. Duda’s native booking solution integrates directly with its website-building platform, allowing agencies to deploy booking-enabled sites without relying on third-party systems.

What makes this valuable is convenience and alignment. Agencies that already use Duda to build and manage client sites gain a seamless way to add booking functionality that matches the site’s design and scales across multiple clients—instantly. All they have to do is drag a booking widget onto a site, then watch as it instantly adopts the colors, fonts, and buttons defined by the Site Theme.

The broader point is strategic: agencies can offer an integrated conversion system inside the same environment they already manage, reducing overhead and increasing control. For the SMB, that translates to a site that doesn’t just look professional but consistently delivers leads and appointments.

When you put all of this together, the value is easy to see. Duda Bookings provides agencies with…

An intuitive solution for SMBs, built for ease-of-use without the need for agencies to hold hands or provide ongoing technical support.
A proven user experience, built upon the same tested, user-friendly interface as Duda’s native eCommerce solution.
Seamless design integration with the Duda platform, leveraging time saving capabilities like Site Themes.
A scalable solution that can be embedded within reusable templates or placed on sites via automation, all in service to minimizing manual work.

A consultative approach for agencies

Agencies that want to help clients succeed with booking tools should focus less on technical details and more on business outcomes. A few guiding steps can make all the difference:

Clarify goals early . Determine what “success” means for the client—number of new appointments, reduced admin time, improved show rates—then build the booking system around those metrics.
Prioritize user simplicity . Customers should reach the booking action within seconds of landing on the page. Keep forms short, options clear, and the call-to-action prominent.
Integrate with the client’s workflow . Sync calendars, automate reminders, and ensure notifications fit the client’s day-to-day process. Technology only works if it fits how people actually operate.
Measure and refine . Use booking data to identify trends: peak booking hours, high-demand services, or underperforming pages. Then adjust campaigns and copy accordingly.
Define a baseline, then communicate results . When an agency can say “your new booking system delivered 25% more appointments this quarter,” it builds lasting trust and retention.

The bottom line

SMBs thrive when customers can act instantly. A website that requires follow-up calls or back-and-forth emails is one that is no longer competitive in the market. Booking tools close that gap, capturing intent and turning curiosity into commitment. They enhance the customer experience, improve operational efficiency, and give both the business and its agency measurable data to refine performance.

For agencies, offering booking functionality is a direct path to delivering tangible ROI for clients. When done through a platform that simplifies deployment and scales across clients, it becomes a long-term differentiator.

That’s why solutions like Duda Bookings are essential for the modern web. They align with how agencies build, launch, and maintain SMB sites; providing the foundation for higher conversions and better client outcomes.

In short, SMBs don’t just need websites that look good. They need websites that work, and, in today’s market, that means letting customers book the moment they’re ready.

Building smarter, not harder: How one agency scales client websites with Duda

Thu, 06 Nov 2025 15:52:52 GMT

Jared Broussard often meets with prospects who own sites built on WordPress, the ubiquitous content management system that powers much of the web. It’s familiar, flexible, and, for many, often feels like the right choice. However, Broussard would be happy to tell you, maintaining the sites he does have on WordPress has been dramatically eroding his efficiency. “We were spending 75 percent of our time fixing WordPress problems,” Broussard recalled. “That’s time we could have been using to build content, run ads, or create something of value for our clients.”

Broussard’s agency, which manages about 70 to 80 websites today, has migrated almost all of his clients to Duda, a platform designed for agencies that need to build and manage client sites at scale. What began as a gradual shift born of frustration has evolved into a strategic overhaul of how his team works, and how they help their clients grow online.

The hidden costs of “free”

Like many marketers, Broussard’s journey with WordPress began in its promise of flexibility. But over time, that flexibility became a liability. No two sites were ever built the same. Plugins conflicted, themes broke, and a simple update could crash an entire site. “You could go outside and kick a tree three times, and who knows what will happen with a WordPress site,” he joked. “It’s like you never really know what you’re going to get.”

That unpredictability became more than just an annoyance—it was expensive. Broussard described one client incident where a security breach infiltrated a WordPress site with spam, requiring thirty hours of troubleshooting, cleanup, and reconfiguration. “I would have loved to spend those 30 hours on anything else,” he said. “I’m not a developer; I’m a marketer. That’s time that should’ve been spent on growth, not repairs.”

In contrast, his Duda sites rarely need that kind of intervention. After nearly eight years of using the platform, Broussard said he can “count on one hand” the number of maintenance issues they’ve encountered. “It’s night and day,” he said. “We can sleep at night knowing our clients’ sites are secure and running.”

What many clients fail to realize, he noted, is that the “free” nature of WordPress often comes with hidden costs. Plugin licenses, hosting, troubleshooting, and development time all add up. “We’ve calculated it,” Broussard explained. “Redesigning a WordPress site can cost two and a half times more than building a brand new one in Duda.” Once clients see the numbers, he added, “nine times out of ten, they’d rather start fresh on Duda.”

When every site is different, scale is impossible

The trouble, Broussard found, wasn’t just about bugs or security. It was about consistency, or, rather, the lack of it. “No two WordPress sites are built the same,” he said. “You have to get into the head of whoever developed it before you can even start working.” That means deciphering old code, figuring out theme structures, and hoping that the original developer didn’t leave behind a web of shortcuts and customizations.

By contrast, Duda’s uniformity has become one of its greatest advantages. “You can go into one Duda site and it’s going to look and behave the same as the next,” he said. “That consistency makes it so much easier to scale. My team can move from one project to another without losing hours just figuring out how something was built.”

That consistency also means predictable performance. Mobile optimization, plugin compatibility, and updates are no longer issues to manage. Broussard said his team can launch new pages or make edits in minutes; tasks that once took hours or required developer assistance. “With WordPress, adding a button to a mobile layout could take hours of custom coding,” he said. “In Duda, it takes five minutes.”

A more transparent pitch to clients

Shifting to Duda has transformed how Broussard sells websites. Most clients, he explained, come to his agency asking for a “redesign.” They’re accustomed to WordPress and assume that sticking with it will save money. That’s when he walks them through the math.

“I’ll show them two quotes side by side,” he said. “One for a WordPress redesign, and one for a brand-new Duda build. When they see that they’re saving a third of the hours—and getting a modern, easy-to-manage website—they almost always choose Duda.”

The key, he added, is helping clients understand what their money actually buys. “They’d rather invest in things that create value for their business—content, SEO, social media—than spend on troubleshooting and plugin updates,” he said. Once clients see how much time and cost goes into simply maintaining a WordPress site, they rarely look back.

Even clients deeply entrenched in the WordPress ecosystem are often surprised to learn how much of their frustration is avoidable. “A lot of them just think that’s how websites work,” Broussard said. “They’ve never experienced something different.”

From maintenance mode to growth mode

Broussard describes Duda as a future-facing platform, one that lets his agency focus on strategic growth rather than technical firefighting. “We want to build landing pages, run Google Ads, manage social media,” he said. “We want to do all the things that actually grow our clients’ businesses. Duda lets us do that without worrying about whether the site is going to crash.”

The result is a leaner, more profitable operation. Less time spent on maintenance means more time for value-creating work. For Broussard, it’s not just about the hours saved; it’s about what those hours can become. “If I can spend the same time building a campaign instead of fixing a broken plugin, my clients get more value, and we make more money,” he said.

He sees it as a strategic realignment. Agencies, he argues, shouldn’t be in the business of firefighting. “Our role is to grow our clients’ brands, not babysit websites,” he said. “Duda allows us to stay focused on that mission.”

The changing definition of customization

One of the biggest shifts Broussard has observed in recent years is how clients define a good website. “Years ago, everyone wanted something highly customized,” he said. “They wanted unique functionality, animations, integrations—the works.” But that approach, he believes, is becoming outdated.

“With AI and automation becoming mainstream, you just don’t need all of that anymore,” he said. “What you need is a site that works. A site that’s fast, modern, and always online.”

He often finds himself challenging clients’ assumptions. “They’ll say, ‘We need WordPress because it’s customizable,’ and I’ll ask, ‘Do you really need all that customization?’ Most of the time, the answer is no,” he said. “They just want a site that looks great and performs well.”

In that sense, Duda’s balance between flexibility and simplicity is its superpower. “It gives you everything you actually need, and nothing you don’t,” Broussard said. To him, It’s not about building the most complex website anymore. Rather, it’s about building the smartest one.

Educating clients through experience

For Broussard, one of the most effective ways to win clients over is to show, not tell. He’s developed a short presentation that compares WordPress and Duda side by side, highlighting not just features, but the real-world implications of each. “When I walk clients through it, I can see them nodding their heads,” he said. “They recognize their own frustrations in what I’m describing.”

The presentation outlines everything from plugin management to update risks to hidden development costs. But Broussard said the most compelling part is the math. “When we show them the number of hours they’ll save, and how much of their budget can go toward marketing instead of maintenance, it clicks,” he explained. “They get it.”

Once that realization happens, the conversation shifts from “What’s cheaper?” to “What’s smarter?” “It’s not even about selling Duda,” Broussard added. “It’s about helping them see what’s possible when their website just works.”

Putting results first

Broussard’s experience reflects a broader trend in the agency world. As technology advances and client expectations evolve, agencies are rethinking what they offer and how they deliver it. Speed, security, and scalability have become the new differentiators, and Duda’s model fits squarely into that shift.

“I think WordPress years ago was awesome because everyone wanted their websites customized, you know,” Broussard said. “But, in this day and age, you don't need that, right? You need something that works. That stays online.”

He believes this mindset will define the next generation of digital agencies. “Clients don’t care what CMS you use,” he said. “They care that their site works, that it loads when someone Googles them, and that it helps their business grow.”

Duda vs. Elementor: A side-by-side comparison for digital agencies

Tue, 04 Nov 2025 17:46:53 GMT

Albert Einstein once said , “What is right is not always popular and what is popular is not always right.” And though he probably didn’t have the world of web design platforms or digital agencies in his mind when he said it, the maxim holds true in this arena as well.

As of September 2025, WordPress is reported to power approximately 43.4% of all websites . This makes it far and away the most popular CMS on the web today. However, as Einstein so eloquently pointed out, this doesn’t mean it’s the right choice for digital agencies building websites at scale for a growing client base—and who are we to argue with Einstein?

Elementor is one of the most frequently used drag-and-drop website builder plugins available today in the WordPress Plugin Directory. With a wide variety of widgets, themes, bundled hosting options, and more, it can sometimes seem an appealing option for web design and digital marketing agencies. However, when measured against a platform like Duda, the premier white label website builder for web professionals, its shortcomings become apparent. After all, a WordPress plugin still runs on WordPress, and this means that many of the scalability and management issues that inherently come with the CMS remain.

Let’s now take an in-depth look at both the Duda and Elementor platforms to see how the two stack up against each other in the context of using them to build and deliver websites to clients.

Platform overviews

A good place to start when assessing any web design platform is to take a step back and get a good look at the big picture. So with that in mind, let’s quickly paint a portrait of both Duda and Elementor.

Duda

If you’re looking for white label tools designed from the ground up to support the growth of a digital agency, it’s hard to find a better option than Duda. The platform offers a flexible, world-class website builde r for creating beautiful sites with top-notch performance, and a range of unique components that support team collaboration and client management .

Duda has a long history of providing agencies and web professionals with access to the industry’s most cutting-edge web design innovations well ahead of its competitors.

These include:

Automatic optimization for the fastest pagespeed and best Google Core Web Vitals scores possible
The most advanced stack of AI-powered features of any site builder available today
Instant website creation based on a connection to your preferred third-party data source via a robust API
The ability to create your own custom widgets inside the site editor
And so much more!

Additionally, specialized roles and permissions for team members and clients may now be fairly common in website builders, but here too, Duda is one step ahead. Yes, the platform allows agencies to assign a wide variety of predefined roles that only give access to certain parts of the editor—but you also have the ability to create entirely custom roles with permissions assigned accordingly.

Obviously, all of these powerful features give Duda a clear advantage over other builders when it comes to website creation and management, but again, Duda isn’t just about the building—it’s also about the business.

What really sets the platform apart is its ability to work as the engine that drives the day-to-day operations of an agency. The entire platform can be placed under an agency’s own brand so clients will only ever know you’re using Duda if you want them to. And everything from email communications to client building and login screens are centralized under one roof, providing a cohesive experience for all of your customers.

Elementor

As stated earlier in this post, Elementor is one of the more popular website builders plugins included in the WordPress ecosystem. The platform is intended for a wide range of users. From beginners who are building their first ever website to professional designers and developers working in-house or at an agency, Elementor is meant to accommodate the needs and skill sets of them all.

Customers have a fair amount of flexibility when it comes to how their websites are set up, and can choose to either purchase hosting through Elementor as part of a package or use their own preferred hosting provider. eCommerce tools can also be included and Elementor makes a point of showing off its integration with WooCommerce.

One of the main advantages that Elementor claims is tied directly to the sheer size of its customer base. With millions of websites built on the platform, the company highlights that when you build on Elementor, you’re joining a huge community of peers that can share inspiration, learn from each other, provide mutual support and help each other grow.

Feature breakdowns for Duda & Elementor

Somewhat obviously, there are pretty significant differences in how Duda and Elementor approach the web design space. Duda is clearly more specialized towards agencies, while Elementor is trying to provide an option for everyone under the sun who could possibly be interested in building a website. However, both platforms are fairly feature-rich and have their own unique pros and cons. So, let’s now do some head-to-head comparisons to get a more precise view of what exactly those are.

Here is what we’ll be examining in both platforms:

Design Capabilities
Client Management Tools
AI Assistance
Pricing
Support Resources
eCommerce Options
Third-party App Integrations
Team Collaboration

1. Design capabilities

Duda’s development team created its site builder with two main objectives in mind. The first was to help agencies and web professionals speed up site production and delivery. The second was to provide all of the necessary tools to create even the most complex websites entirely within its own platform—without the need for third-party plugins, add-ons or extensive custom code (though the platform fully supports the ability to dig into the code and create something entirely unique if a designer or developer chooses to do so).

These platform tools and features include:

An extensive library of predesigned templates covering nearly every SMB & enterprise industry vertical that are fully optimized for both traditional and AI search out of the gate
Premade design sections/rows that can be easily dragged, dropped into place & edited as needed
Elements that snap into place to adhere with other design elements on a web page making the site creation process a… well, snap (come on, that was a good one)
Responsive breakpoints that ensure optimal viewing experiences for every user across desktop, tablet & mobile
Advanced background, header & navigation options: parallax & video backgrounds, shrinking headers & flexible navigation designs—these are all available in the Duda platform & help web professionals deliver modern experiences with minimal effort
Millions of free & premium images available on demand
The ability to save website/page designs & add them to an agency’s own customized library of templates

Elementor’s website builder offers some of the same components as Duda, such as an extensive theme (template) library and a drag-and-drop page builder interface, but still relies on many third-party integrations to achieve the same type of complicated designs that can be created natively within Duda’s website builder. Without extensive customizations, this often leads to a disjointed site design since the various plugins required for full functionality don’t inherently work together.

So, when it comes to which site builder has better capabilities for agencies, it’s fairly clear that Duda's site builder’s performance and layout behavior tend to be more predictable across devices and environments, and therefore a better choice.

2. Client management tools

Duda places a special emphasis on helping agencies streamline interactions with their clients. As noted earlier, the entire platform can be placed under an agency’s brand—the website editor, the support portal, login and preview screens, analytics report emails…basically everything—and integrated into essentially any workflow. This means clients can be empowered to take real ownership and control over their websites without an agency having to worry that Duda may unintentionally poach a customer, which can sometimes be an issue with other site builders.

And for clients that are interested in directly collaborating on their websites with an agency’s team, Duda has numerous tools and features to empower them as well. These include flexible roles and permissions that enable an agency to control the level of access a client has to their website. Want to just give a client access to manage their online store? There’s a role for that. Want to just hand over permission to use the blog? There’s a role for that too. And if the role you want to assign to a client isn’t pre-built into the platform, an agency can create entirely custom roles to tailor a client’s in-platform experience. Additionally, Duda provides inline commenting so clients and agency team members can leave feedback visually on a site’s design. This shortens revisions cycles and helps teams deliver pixel-perfect websites more quickly.

Lastly, the Duda platform allows you to deal with client billing under the same roof where you build their websites. Agencies can issue invoices directly through the platform, and use triggers to automatically publish a site after payment or unpublish a site if a payment is missed.

Here again, Elementor mirrors some of Duda’s client management functionality, but with more limitations. For example, an agency using Elementor can limit who can use its editor and restrict access so that only content can be edited (not designs). However, users can only be assigned the roles and permissions that come as standard with WordPress, unless additional plugins are added to the website. And with more plugins comes higher costs.

Also, while Elementor’s branding can be hidden in some ways, there currently is no way to white label the system end to end, and functions like commenting require additional plugins as well.

3. AI assistance

Nowadays, AI is at the forefront of everyone’s minds. Products like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Claude and more have drastically changed the way we work and use the web. So it’s little surprise that agencies and web professionals are clamouring for ways to incorporate powerful LLMs into their workflows and create beautiful, high-quality websites faster than ever.

Both Duda and Elementor have embraced the adoption of AI tools in their platforms, but the scale of their investments in this area are markedly different.

Duda offers a full AI feature stack that addresses a wide range of use cases for LLMs. From the process of collecting client content via a white label form to drafting website copy, refining designs, creating custom widgets and filling in crucial website metadata for SEO, Duda’s AI assistant is woven throughout nearly every aspect of its platform.

Additionally, Duda offers access to an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that enables agencies to connect external AI assistants—like ChatGPT—to the Duda platform directly. This means that (if you want to) you can incorporate your favorite LLM tool and use it to complete tasks inside Duda such as writing and publishing blog posts, updating products in an online store and much more.

Elementor, on the other hand, has an AI assistant that serves a narrower set of use cases. This includes copy and image generation, help with wireframes, and other tools focused on accelerating design and content iteration inside WordPress.

It should also be noted that Elementor sells AI as a subscription add-on, while Duda includes access to much of its AI Stack across its various pricing plans.

4. Pricing

Duda offers tiered pricing plans that are designed for digital agencies of all sizes. For smaller teams and freelance web professionals, there are Basic and Team plans, with Agency, White Label and Custom plans available for larger organizations. With each higher tier more features are unlocked, but all plans include hosting, rock-solid security, AI-powered site and SEO assistants, and client management tools.

Elementor operates on a freemium model. Once the free plugin is added to WordPress, Pro subscriptions can be purchased that offer design tools and there are also options to bundle Pro subscriptions with a hosting solution.

At first glance, Elementor may appear to be the less expensive of the two options—but this can be deceiving. Additional plugin purchases, ongoing maintenance costs, security and hosting costs can pile up quickly, making Duda the more cost-effective website builder at scale.

5. Support resources

Duda is routinely recognized for its excellent customer support and success team. At every pricing tier, professional support and a comprehensive self-help portal are included, along with educational resources and training via Duda University. Regular webinars are also held to showcase new marketing strategies, discuss the latest web design trends, provide sales advice and more. Notably, Duda is one of the few website builders that offers email, live chat and phone support options.

Elementor offers some professional support options with paid subscriptions; however, the main support resource it promotes is their vast community of designers and developers on the platform who help each other out. Additionally, third-party support is often available for any premium plugins that are purchased in the course of building a website—though not guaranteed.

6. eCommerce

As with many other aspects of the Duda and Elementor platforms, the two take very different approaches when it comes to online store implementation.

Duda provides an all-inclusive native eCommerce solution that can be added to any website built on the platform. A series of tiered pricing plans are available that provide a range of options to meet the needs of any business looking to sell online.

Features of Duda’s eCommerce solution include customizable product pages, checkout flows, inventory tracking, automated shipping and tax zones, the ability to sell subscriptions and digital products, fully integrated payment gateways like Square, Stripe and PayPal, built-in marketing emails and much more.

In contrast to Duda’s fully native approach, Elementor handles eCommerce primarily via integration with WooCommerce, which is one of the most popular plugins for creating online stores found in the WordPress ecosystem. This means that Elementor users have access to a wide range of powerful tools for selling online, but have to deal with ongoing maintenance and stay on top of the latest updates and product releases to ensure everything runs smoothly.

For agencies looking to spend more time working on new projects for clients and less on continuous maintenance work, Duda provides the more effective option.

7. Third-party app integrations

The web design and digital marketing industries never really stop evolving. Every single day, new technologies hit the market that are designed to help web professionals create better online experiences and run their agencies more efficiently. So a platform’s ability to incorporate and integrate with these new solutions should be given some pretty strict scrutiny if you’re going to use one to crank out websites for clientele.

Though Duda is a wholly managed system that eliminates the need for most ongoing site updates and oversight, the platform also offers the exact type of flexibility we are talking about here. A highly curated App Store is available to all Duda users no matter what your plan is that contains best-in-breed technology solutions in categories such as compliance, SEO, marketing automation and more. Each one of these apps has been put through rigorous testing and QA by the Duda team to ensure they fully deliver on the promises they make. This means that you can always rest assured that whatever you purchase from the marketplace will work perfectly with the site you’re adding it to.

Additionally, Duda maintains a robust API for easy integration with your ongoing tech stack and a custom widget builder that allows you to create whatever apps you need if you can’t find them for purchase in its store.

Elementor is a different story. The fact that its design tools sit on top of WordPress means that designers and developers have access to more than 70,000 plugins that can be found in the WP Plugin Directory . But of course, there’s a “but”. This third-party app marketplace is essentially the wild west and there is no guarantee on the quality of the technology solutions you’re purchasing. So yes, you have an incredible amount of flexibility with Elementor, but the reliance on a patchwork of apps that don’t necessarily play nice with each other means you can expect a lot of hands-on management post website launch.

8. Team collaboration

If you’re a solopreneur running an agency operation without anybody else’s help, you may not yet be thinking about the need for extensive team roles and permissions that allow staff members to collaborate effectively without stepping on each other’s toes. But as you scale up and grow your client base, you almost certainly will.

To address this need, Duda natively includes a variety of easily assignable roles that have preset permissions. These roles include Admin, Designer, Blogger, Store Manager and more, with each one allowing access and editing ability to specific parts of a website. You can even create entirely custom roles and permissions if the ones you need aren’t already baked into the editor. Each team member has access to every website under an agency’s account by default, which simplifies site management when handling a large number of clients.

However, team collaboration is about a lot more than just setting permissions. Duda also enables your various team members to play supporting roles that help a digital marketing agency scale over the long term. For example, Duda allows agencies to maintain a custom template library where you can save your favorite designs and re-use them later. Many agencies will have a member of their team dedicated to creating new templates that other designers can then use as a jumping off point for new client projects. And the same can be done for individual design sections that can then be used across all of the sites under an agency’s account.

And to top things off, Duda’s inline comment feature allows a team to share feedback amongst themselves visually on designs directly in the editor—no need for back and forth Slack messages or emails.

Elementor offers several ways for teams to collaborate, though most of its tools rely on WordPress’s default system. Roles and permissions are managed through WordPress itself, with Elementor’s Role Manager adding an extra layer of control. Teams can decide who gets access to the editor and what level of editing they can perform.

On higher-tier plans, Elementor’s Teams feature allows agencies to invite collaborators under one account, giving them access to shared projects and support resources. Within the editor, its Notes feature enables users to comment directly on elements, tag teammates, and track discussions as updates are made.

However, because these capabilities are distributed across WordPress roles, Elementor settings, and optional plugins, setup can become fragmented as teams grow. Duda’s system brings these functions together in a single platform, with unified permissions and built-in collaboration tools designed for scalability from day one.

Conclusion

Duda and Elementor are both viable options for web professionals and agencies that build sites for clients, but it’s clear that the similarities largely end there. While Elementor might be a good fit for agencies that specialize in complicated WordPress builds and freelance web designers working on one-off projects, an in-depth look at the two platforms reveals that Duda is clearly the better option for building and managing sites at scale. Its combination of client management and team collaboration tools, with a highly flexible site builder and comprehensive ecosystem that is regularly updated and maintained by Duda’s team make it an easy choice. And its unparalleled support and customer success resources ensure agencies have everything they could ever need to grow their businesses and skyrocket revenue.

Vibe coding websites: Security risks for marketing agencies

Thu, 30 Oct 2025 16:25:01 GMT

Being able to tell an AI to build you a website and actually get a website can seem like magic. For digital agencies, using AI to do a web developer’s job can reduce costs and expedite the production of digital deliverables. However, letting AI run the magic show unsupervised - a practice dubbed “vibe coding” - will have you pull a hat out of a rabbit in front of a live audience - unexpected, messy, and not what the audience signed up for.

In practice, this means that hiding behind the curtain of your vibe-coded websites could be severe security vulnerabilities. As much as 45% of the code generated by various AI tools fails security tests and introduces OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities.

Before we discuss the security risks and vulnerabilities that vibe coding can conjure, let’s talk about what vibe coding actually is, and how it differs from responsible AI-assisted development or mature no-code/low-code platforms.

Vibe coding for websites: Is it ready yet?

Vibe coding (or vibecoding) is a recently-coined term for the practice of writing code, producing web pages, or creating apps by telling an AI in your own words what you want, and accepting whatever the model generates with no developer oversight or interaction with code. To be a “vibe coder”, you don’t need to learn how to write or even read software code syntax. But unlike low-code/no-code website builders or application platforms, vibe-coded products are not built within existing guardrails or atop human-managed infrastructure.

Vibe coding trades traditional software processes for speed, and replaces coding skills with stylistic intent and “ shipping by prompt ”. For example, you can type in “Create an elegant landing page for a SaaS company with a signup flow, analytics, and pricing tiers,” and the model will write the HTML/CSS/JS, pick dependencies and third-party resources, and make guesses as it does.

The trouble with vibe-coded websites

For digital marketers, vibe coding can feel like a magical shortcut to faster and cheaper shipping of client websites, with instant iterations and no need to deal with all the technical stuff in the way of publishing multiple client sites fast. It can enable an account manager or design lead to prompt an AI website builder or chat-driven copilot to scaffold webpages, wire forms, integrate plugins, and publish to the web. And it all happens without the normal process of website development from requirements, through architecture, reviewing, testing, and publishing.

Part of the magic of vibe coding is in the fact that decisions related to information and infrastructure security, web performance, accessibility, and maintenance are handled fully by the AI model. That magic is also the reason vibe coding introduces multiple issues and hidden liabilities. When the “how” of website building is guessed by a statistical model, you’re going to get mismatched plugins and permissions, leaky forms, brittle auth, unexpected SEO issues, and unclear ownership of the code and the (many) fixes it needs after publishing.

Top 10 risks of vibe coding websites for marketing agencies

1. Code secrets & env leaks

Vibe-coded scaffolds often skip secret hygiene and over-share build artifacts. This is why we see API keys in client bundles, public .env, and unscoped third-party keys. These trends are echoed by “ one in every five ” sites built using popular vibe coding platforms (like Lovable, Bolt, Base44 and a dozen others) are leaking code secrets and the 45% insecure-code failure rate in GenAI pipelines.

2. Broken authentication & authorization

Prompts assemble routes and roles quickly but omit server-side checks, leaving “preview” and admin-ish paths exposed. This maps to OWASP’s top web risk and mirrors the access flaws researchers surfaced in Base44 , a vibe coding platform acquired by Wix. A critical access-bypass flaw in the system allowed unauthorized users to register for private apps using unprotected API endpoints, giving anyone with some technical skills access to private enterprise applications and their data.

3. Prompt injection & insecure output handling

Vibe coding tools work as a kind of “black box” that does things behind the scenes to achieve the goals specified in your prompt. However, it can also perform other actions that were prompted by malefactors unbeknownst to you. When the model behind the chatbot or AI copilot consumes untrusted pages or files, it can ingest hidden texts prompting it to perform behind the scenes actions like exfiltrate data, send spam, or change settings ( indirect prompt injection attacks).

This vulnerability persists across different types of code generation LLMs, with coding agents like Cursor IDE showcasing how poisoned prompts could weaponize an AI coding agent. The vulnerability enabled remote‑code execution triggered by a single externally‑hosted prompt‑injection that silently rewrites ~/.cursor/mcp.json and runs attacker‑controlled commands.

Another related issue is insecure output handling , when LLM output is rendered directly onto a page or passed to backend functions without proper validation/sanitization, opening the door to XSS/CSRF/SSRF attacks.

4. Classic web injection (XSS/SQLi/Template Injection)

Web vulnerabilities are typically introduced by careless developers, and are easily caught by code scanners in a proper CI/CD pipeline so they are never deployed to live environments. With vibe coding, there is no pipeline, so the classic web vulnerabilities infosec analysts have long forgotten are making a comeback. Shortcuts like “build me a login” or “render this comment” can quietly re-introduce 2005-era bugs because the AI model ships whatever works, not whatever’s secure.

5. CORS, headers, and storage misconfigurations

Vibe coding will leave the doors to your site wide open, with Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *, missing CSP/HSTS, and overly permissive S3/CDN settings. This can enable unauthorized parties to read your data, frame your pages, or scrape private files from your servers.

The perfect example of vibe coding gone wrong at scale was the Tea App data leak , where an exposed Firebase instance revealed approximately 72,000 images, including 13,000 government ID photos from user verification and 59,000 images from posts and messages. Some of the images contained EXIF data that made it possible to triangulate the location where they were taken. The fallout of this leak was immense, with the database of women’s profiles uploaded to the notorious image board 4chan .

6. Supply chain & “slopsquatting”

Software supply chain security is thrown to the wind with vibe coding, letting the AI choose libraries and dependencies via hallucinated packages, giving room to a new type of cybersquatting attack — slopsquatting. Slopsquatting is a supply-chain attack where attackers register made-up package names that AI tools hallucinate, so future AI-guided builds will install those malicious packages as if they were real.

Slopsquatting is a reliable attack vector for malefactors as, according to one study , 19.7% of all AI-recommended packages didn’t exist. What is more worrying is that those non -existent packages tended to re-appear in generated code. In fact, 58% of hallucinated packages were repeated more than once across ten runs. This means that a majority of package hallucinations are not just random noise, but repeatable artifacts that malefactors can abuse.

Moreover, when an AI picks the libraries and plugins to run on your vibe-coded websites, and sets them to auto-update by default, you inherit whatever ails those packages tomorrow. It might be malicious code, or quiet updates that break the sites you’ve just shipped.

7. Privacy & consent failures (GDPR/CCPA/DPAs)

Vibe coding and vibe coding platforms don’t pay much attention to user privacy, consent, or the laws that demand brands take responsibility for the data their users share with them. Vibe coding site builders will gladly build you a website, but if you’re looking to comply with GDPR and CCPA, you will need to bolt on a cookie banner manually , which may introduce issues of its own. So it’s not surprising that users of vibe coding platform Base44 have been asking for a native cookie popup in feedback and reviews.

8. Availability & abuse

Ungoverned and unmonitored websites are goldmines for spammers and fraudsters. A vibe-coded site that ships with a basic checkout page with no bot controls can be easily abused.

As Stripe described in one instance, automated “card testing” flooded the payment endpoint with thousands of $0–$1 authorization attempts as cybercriminals checked the validity of stolen credit card details. If your vibe-coded ecommerce site becomes such an abuse hub, the payment provider will quickly flag and block such accounts. The result: genuine clients can’t pay, and the hosting bills spike from the traffic.

9. Multi-tenant & environment mix-ups

Vibe-coded sites are troublesome for hosting services and multi-tenant environments. It’s very easy for a vibe-coded site to have indexing turned on by default, making Google index staging subdomains , and displacing production until a cleanup/deindex. In addition, the now patched platform-wide flaw on Base44 demonstrated how shared infrastructure can expose many projects and clients at once.

10. Third-party & tag manager risk

Malefactors are getting increasingly creative in finding ways into your website, and careless vibe-coding introduces plenty like over-permissive GTM containers, rogue scripts, unreviewed pixels and malicious widgets.

For example, Google Tag Manager has been used in multiple credit-card theft attacks on Magento stores . Malefactors encode JavaScript payloads with credit-card skimmers, and collect sensitive data entered by users during the checkout process to send to a remote server controlled by the attackers. In another case, WordPress sites were hijacked and redirected to spam sites. The attacker injected a seemingly legitimate Google Tag Manager (GTM) script into the WP database with a container ID they controlled and simply took over.

Vibe coded websites can easily include such code, same as they often include hallucinated malicious package dependencies.

When the vibe is off: the business and operational impacts of vibe coding websites

Client campaign disruptions

Prompt-generated markup that violates platform policies and third-party tag issues (like GTM skimmers) cause disapprovals, rollbacks, and delayed releases while paid budgets idle. This derails launch calendars and burns trust with acquisition teams.

Measurement chaos

Environment mix-ups and XSS/templating bugs split traffic and corrupt events, breaking attribution and A/B test validity. In the EEA, mis-wired Consent Mode v2 suppresses conversions and dulls smart bidding. Decisions drift because the data is no longer reliable.

Regulatory and contractual exposure

Pixels firing pre-consent and leaky forms create unlawful processing risk under GDPR/CCPA and show up in DPAs/MSAs as indemnity and remediation obligations. If skimmers or tags touch cardholder data, expect PCI-DSS scrutiny and payment-provider reviews even if you’re not the merchant of record. Legal teams escalate, fines hit the bottom line, scopes and costs expand, and all because of a single vibe-coded prototype gone live.

Direct financial losses

Leaked keys and permissive agents can rack up LLM, email, maps, and analytics overages, or exhaust rate limits mid-campaign. These hit margins immediately and often fall outside the original SOW.

Unauthorized changes & data exposure

Broken access controls, prompt-driven content injections, and third-party compromises translate into incident response and potential disclosure obligations. Your tech teams will spend nights/weekends on rollbacks and hotfixes, and paid work pauses while you fund triage.

Cross-client blast radius

Shared tokens, mis-scoped roles, or env bleed turn a single defect into a multi-account event. Ops will need to juggle parallel cleanups, stakeholder comms across clients, and combined legal exposure, all multiplying cost and stress.

Availability and performance degradation

Badly built pages with heavy/hostile tags and plugins slow the user experience, trigger mixed-content or “not secure” warnings, and destabilize forms/checkout. Then, Core Web Viral scores slide, and email/domain reputation and conversion drop. To make things worse, these issues often surface only after publishing and approval, hurting revenues and adding overhead to support and tech teams.

Brand, trust, SLA, and retention risk

Visible defacements, consent “theater” that unravels, or public incident notes bruise client and agency credibility. Uptime/response misses trigger SLA penalties and causes renewal friction and lost business. Even after remediation, reputational debt lingers and expands the scrutiny on every subsequent release.

How agencies can leverage AI safely

Vibe coding can often cause more trouble than its worth. That said, there are plenty of ways you can use AI-generated assets in your websites and workflows.

1. Prototype fast in low-risk sandboxes

Vibe coding is a quick and dirty way to spin up flows, sections, and even content on staging/preview sites. To do so safely:
Keep prototypes and AI-generated mockups isolated from live data and search engine bots.
Never upload untested vibe-coded pages onto live, public facing servers.
Block indexing with a robots noindex meta tag or an X-Robots-Tag header .
Password-protect staging, and remember that robots.txt is not by any means a method of access control.

2. Test with agents

Instead of vibe coding, try vibe testing websites instead. You can aim an AI tester at staging (or even live pages) to crawl in search for broken links, copy issues, accessibility glitches, and simple usability problems that can be found before human review. You can pair this with Lighthouse accessibility/SEO audits , the W3C alt-text decision tree , and a broken-link pass .

3. SEO & accessibility ops automation

AI is exceptionally good at generating content, and you don’t need to know code to use it for various tasks like generating page titles, meta descriptions, and bulk alt texts. With a human editor in the loop, this can help streamline content operations, especially if you instruct the bot to keep output aligned with Google’s SEO Starter Guide and WCAG basics like the W3C alt-text decision tree .

4. Scale content faster

Another way to leverage generative AI’s ability to create a lot of content quickly can be in expediting personalization and customization tasks. You can generate unique city/branch intros, FAQs, and GMB descriptions from a single template, draft localized pages and language variants, and then route to human editors for branding and accuracy validation. To make sure you don’t hurt SERPs or digital trust in the process, remember to think of the people first .

5. Insights & reporting drafts

In addition to generating large volumes of content, AI also excels at processing data and turning it into actionable insights. You can use AI to turn GA4 and Search Console data into plain-English “what changed / what to do next” summaries for your clients.

Start with GA4 BigQuery Export or the BigQuery transfer docs , and use the Search Console Performance report for query/page insights.

A more professional vibe: Why you should partner with a security-first, AI-enabled website building platform

Vibe coding means trusting AI to make all the calls in building a website, which often results in code secrets leakage, broken auth, prompt-injection, supply-chain drift, and consent/tag issues. In the world of cybersecurity, vibe coding is not regarded as magical at all, and as justifiably earned the description “vulnerability as a service”.

Building websites with AI can only work if security, access controls, privacy, compliance and reliability are baked in. For marketing agencies charged with building websites for multiple clients, Duda pairs integrated AI with enterprise guardrails so agencies can move fast without courting the failures we flagged.

Designed with marketing agency operations in mind, Duda features:

Access & change controls : Robust user permissions and MFA/SSO keep client/staff access scoped, reducing the chance of unauthorized edits and admin-route exposure.
Privacy & consent, by default : Built-in privacy pages, native cookie notifications, tracking toggles, and EU hosting options help you meet GDPR/CCPA expectations without bolt-on hacks.
Resilience you can prove : AWS hosting, 99.5% uptime, DDoS mitigation, SSL/TLS, AES-256 at rest, automatic backups, and a live status page keep launches stable and verifiable.
AI website builder that fits pro workflows : AI Copilot and MCP connectors for conversational site management, as well as a dedicated AI Assistant for bulk titles/meta/alt text, content generation, and page recommendations. All with per-client AI permissions for governance.
Unbreakable websites : Duda’s AI website building tools don’t generate code - so they don’t generate vulnerabilities. Instead, they employ the same production-ready components used in Duda’s visual website builder, enabling AI-accelerated creativity without the headaches of vibe coding.

If your agency is looking for the enchanted velocity of vibe coding with real-world client-safe controls and bulletproof security, schedule a demo with Duda.

Building SaaS on top of websites: How companies use embedded site builders to drive growth

Tue, 28 Oct 2025 13:58:49 GMT

You’ve probably noticed something quietly happening in the SaaS world.

Software products that once lived in their own bubbles are suddenly blending into the web itself—becoming part of a user’s daily ecosystem rather than another login screen to remember.

And at the center of this quiet revolution?

Embedded website builders.

These tools are transforming the way SaaS companies attract, engage, and retain users—without forcing them to leave the platform they already love.

What does "building SaaS on top of websites" really mean?

Let’s start simple.

Imagine you run a booking software for fitness studios. Instead of sending customers to an external website to create a landing page or manage their classes, you offer a built-in site builder—right inside your app.

The result?

Your users can design a beautiful, mobile-friendly site, sync their class schedules, and start taking payments—all without ever leaving your product.

That’s building SaaS on top of websites.

And it’s changing how software companies think about user experience, brand stickiness, and even revenue models.

It’s not just a convenience play. It’s a retention strategy disguised as a feature.

Why SaaS companies are embedding site builders

There’s a reason this approach is catching fire.

User retention goes through the roof.
Every SaaS founder knows the heartbreak of churn. When customers leave your app to “try something else,” you’ve lost them to distraction—or worse, a competitor.
An embedded website builder locks users in, but in a good way. It gives them everything they need in one ecosystem. Less switching = more loyalty.
The marketing engine becomes organic.
Think about it: when your customers publish websites powered by your SaaS, they’re also publishing your brand to the internet. Each customer website becomes a micro billboard—showing off your logo, your tech, your ecosystem.
Faster onboarding with fewer roadblocks.
Most users don't want to figure out integrations, subdomains, or HTML. An embedded builder reduces friction and lets them see value first. And, in SaaS, the faster users reach their "aha moment," the better your conversion and retention rates.
Monetization opportunities multiply.
Offering site-building as a premium feature—custom domains, analytics, or SEO add-ons—creates a new revenue stream without needing a separate product line.

Not only that, it helps SaaS brands look more complete. More polished. More “enterprise ready.”

The technical backbone: APIs and white-label infrastructure

Now, here’s where things get interesting.

Embedding a site builder isn’t just about slapping a drag-and-drop editor into your app. It’s about deep API-level integration.

Platforms like Duda have mastered this. Their white-label infrastructure lets SaaS products seamlessly integrate a full-featured website builder—complete with hosting, responsive design, and analytics—under their own brand.

Developers can tap into APIs to automatically create websites, sync user data, or even manage templates at scale. It’s the kind of invisible power that makes the SaaS product feel ten times more capable without bloating its own codebase.

And for users? It feels native. Natural. Like it was always supposed to be there.

Real-world examples: Where this model shines

Let’s zoom out and look at the kinds of SaaS companies making this work.

eCommerce platforms : Tools like Shopify and BigCommerce already integrate web creation, but smaller SaaS players are now embedding similar builders to let users sell, schedule, and showcase—all in one place.
Booking & scheduling apps : Fitness, beauty, and hospitality tools are adding website builders to give their users a front-end presence without hiring developers.
Marketing automation tools : SaaS platforms offering email, CRM, or ad management now include mini-site builders so users can launch campaigns faster.
Fintech & real estate apps : Even financial platforms are adopting embedded builders for clients to showcase portfolios, generate invoices, or share branded dashboards.

See the pattern?

Each of these use cases turns the SaaS product from a tool into a hub—a one-stop ecosystem.

How embedded builders drive business growth

Let’s break this down a bit more.

1. Reduced customer acquisition costs (CAC)

When your users create websites powered by your SaaS, every site becomes an organic distribution channel. Word-of-mouth, SEO, and backlinks all roll into one.

2. Increased lifetime value (LTV)

The deeper a customer builds within your platform, the harder it is to leave. Not because they’re trapped—but because the value they get is cumulative.

3. Upsell & cross-sell opportunities

Once users are managing a website through your SaaS, it’s easy to introduce higher-tier features like analytics, SEO audits, or team collaboration tools.

4. Better product feedback loops

Users who build websites inside your ecosystem provide real-world data on behavior, engagement, and content trends—fueling smarter product development.

The creative layer: Where design meets technology

Here’s a truth people don’t talk about enough:

You can’t just add a site builder and call it a day.

Aesthetics matter.

Layout matters.

And user experience? It’s the deal-breaker.

That’s where design-ops platforms like Superside quietly make a difference. Many SaaS teams use such creative-as-a-service partners to scale design production—so they can ship templates, graphics, and UI updates without bogging down internal resources.

No promotion, no pitch—just a practical fix.

Because when your team is trying to build and brand at the same time, outsourcing part of the creative workload can be the difference between launching in weeks or months.

Challenges no one likes to admit

It’s not all smooth sailing.

Some companies underestimate how complex it is to merge a visual website builder with their existing SaaS UI. There’s the issue of data synchronization, multi-tenant hosting , and ensuring the site builder feels native to each customer.

Others struggle with user education —teaching non-technical users how to get the most from a builder without overwhelming them.

And then there’s the ongoing debate: how much customization is too much?

Give users full freedom and they might break your UX consistency. Restrict them too much, and the builder feels rigid.

The best products walk that fine line—guiding creativity without handcuffing it.

What’s next for embedded site builders?

The next wave is already on the horizon: AI-powered builders.

Imagine this:

You type “Create a landing page for a new fintech app that helps freelancers manage taxes.”

Within seconds, the builder—powered by AI—pulls color palettes, generates on-brand copy, selects typography, and creates a fully responsive layout.

That’s not sci-fi anymore. It’s where tools like Duda are already heading.

But the real differentiator won’t be the tech itself. It’ll be how human the experience feels—how naturally the product anticipates user intent and adapts design accordingly.

Because no matter how advanced the automation, creativity still needs a soul.

So, what does this all mean?

If you’re a SaaS founder or product leader, embedding a website builder isn’t just about adding another feature.

It’s about transforming your product into an ecosystem —a self-contained world where users can build, grow, and stay.

The beauty of this approach?

It scales without shouting. Users don’t just use your product; they live inside it.

And somewhere between the code, the templates, and the quietly humming servers—you’ve built more than software. You’ve built a platform that builds itself.

Final thoughts

SaaS isn’t just moving into the cloud anymore—it’s moving onto the canvas, becoming both the paintbrush and the gallery.

But here’s the deeper shift: embedded website builders aren’t just another add-on. They turn users into creators, giving them the power to shape their own digital presence without leaving your ecosystem. That’s where real loyalty comes from—not features, but freedom.

And if your platform can deliver that feeling? You’re not just building software anymore. You’re building a space where creativity and business growth feed each other—quietly, continuously, beautifully.

Why Duda is one of the highest reviewed website builders on G2

Thu, 23 Oct 2025 14:57:57 GMT

Through the years, our team at Duda has received lots of awards and accolades celebrating our innovative tools and the contributions we’ve made to pushing the web design industry forward. And while we’re extremely proud of each one, honestly, nothing feels quite as good as when we get the results of G2’s quarterly Market Reports that inevitably list Duda as one of the top website builders reviewed on its platform.

For the better part of a decade now, we’ve had the honor of placing coveted G2 badges every winter, summer, spring and fall on our website that show Duda as a leader in categories like “Best Support”, “Easiest to Do Business With”, “Easiest Setup”, and “Best Results”.

What makes these awards so much more meaningful than all the others we receive is that they don’t come from industry experts and insiders. Nope. You only receive G2 badges based on reviews by real customers with real experiences using your products in the real world. So when we see that we’ve been recognized with a badge for “Best Usability” in the Summer 2025 Market Report, we know for a fact that it’s because we’re providing actual value to the digital marketing and web design agencies that use our platform.

With all of that said, we’d like to take a few moments to quickly explain what our individual badges mean and why Duda is one of the best website builders reviewed on G2’s platform.

Duda’s G2 badges and what they show to our customers

Duda’s G2 profile is full of fantastic feedback from our customers that provide comprehensive reviews for a wide range of Duda’s products and services that we provide to agencies.

From our website builder to our customer support, pricing and more, you’ll find hundreds of honest opinions from the people who use our platform day in and day out. It’s these vignettes of customer experiences that G2 then uses to create its Market Reports and assign badges accordingly.

Let’s now take a look at what some of those badges mean and the reasons customers gave for why Duda deserved them.

The Momentum Leader badge

G2’s Momentum Leader badge represents one of the top awards that the platform gives out. This badge is earned by companies that combine exceptional customer satisfaction with a strong and growing market presence. For Duda, this recognition underscores our commitment to creating the most dynamic and powerful web design tools that help agencies streamline workflows, create high quality websites faster and scale their businesses efficiently.

One reviewer captured that feeling perfectly:

“Even though I am new to building a website, Duda did a great job of making it easy for me. From their initial interface I was able to choose a template and immediately get to work.”

Another user shared:

“Duda gives you the tools you need to build professional, modern websites with confidence — without the steep learning curve you find on other platforms.”

Together, these experiences show that Duda is more than just a platform. It’s a partner in helping agencies and teams deliver excellent results as fast as possible.

The Best Usability badge

The Best Usability badge highlights products that users find easy to learn, intuitive to navigate, and simple to use in their day-to-day workflows. For web professionals juggling dozens of projects, usability isn’t just about convenience. It’s what enables agency teams to operate with maximum efficiency.

Duda’s editor, intuitive drag-and-drop functionality, client permissions, and flexible design system all contribute to a very usable experience. As one reviewer put it:

“The platform is generally intuitive and makes it easy to find where to change things. Customer support is excellent once you get in touch with a real person — replies are quick, clear, and helpful.”

Another customer emphasized:

“Duda is user friendly and the support is very responsive via chat or email. They’re quick and well trained to handle any issue!”

That combination of ease and dependability helps explain why Duda consistently ranks among the highest reviewed website builders on G2.

The Easiest Setup badge

The Easiest Setup badge recognizes products that allow users to get started quickly and without hassle. In web design, that means agencies can move from concept to live site faster, freeing up time for creativity and client engagement.

Duda’s curated website template library, out-of-the-box search engine optimizations, and rock solid hosting help users launch projects quickly and confidently. One customer said:

“It’s super easy to get started, and the implementation process is a breeze.”

Another shared:

“Duda is easy to use, SEO-friendly, and makes website setup quick. I can build and publish client sites in half the time it used to take me.”

When agencies can go to market quickly and deliver sites faster, everyone wins—clients, designers, and end users alike.

The Best Relationship badge

The Best Relationship badge is awarded to companies that provide exceptional customer experiences and build trust through responsiveness, transparency and reliability.

At Duda, we pride ourselves on building real partnerships with the agencies and web professionals we serve. Through our 24/7 customer support, abundant agency resources and Duda University and webinars, we’re dedicated to helping customers succeed. One reviewer summed it up simply:

“Customer support for agencies is top notch. 100% of my issues have been resolved in a timely manner.”

And another wrote:

“Every time I contact Duda support, they are kind, fast, and efficient. They genuinely care about helping us deliver better websites.”

When our customers succeed, we succeed, and we’re incredibly proud that our dedication to customer success has been reflected in our G2 reviews. .

The Best Results badge

The Best Results badge reflects what every web professional cares about most: outcomes. It measures how effectively a platform helps users achieve their goals. This includes everything from faster site performance and improved SEO to happier clients and higher ROI.

Duda’s platform includes built-in optimizations for performance, accessibility, and scalability, all designed to help agencies deliver better results for their customers.

One reviewer wrote:

“Duda provides me with a stable platform to design and launch my client websites. I don’t have to worry about plugin updates or security issues — I can focus on the work that matters.”

Another said:

“Duda’s platform makes it easy to deliver fast, modern websites that our clients love. We’ve seen measurable improvements in site performance and customer satisfaction.”

At the end of the day, results are what really matter, and it’s very rewarding to see that our customers truly believe that results they receive from Duda are the best in the industry.

The Most Implementable badge

The Most Implementable badge focuses on how seamlessly a product can be integrated into existing workflows and scaled across teams or organizations. For agencies, implementation speed and flexibility can be game changers.

Duda’s white-label features, client management tools, and efficient migration options make it easy to integrate into any agency’s operations. As one G2 reviewer noted:

“The implementation process is fast and straightforward. We were able to migrate multiple client sites to Duda with minimal downtime.”

And another shared:

“Duda has become our main website platform because it fits perfectly with our workflow. It’s easy to onboard new designers and scale our process.”

That flexibility is one of the biggest reasons Duda continues to stand out as the best website builder for agencies and teams.

Why these badges matter

These recognitions are more than decorative icons. They’re proof that Duda continues to deliver measurable value to real customers. Because every G2 badge is based on verified reviews, they reflect genuine experiences with our platform in the real world.

For our customers, these badges signal:

Trust and credibility: Our customers can rest assured that they are working with a platform consistently rated among the best.
Ongoing improvement & innovation: Each report cycle pushes us to keep refining usability, performance, and customer success.
Real results: Users know that Duda has helped thousands of agencies across the globe scale, serve clients better, and grow their businesses.

Conclusion

Duda’s continued recognition on G2 is more than just a mere point of pride. It’s a reflection of the partnership we share with our customers. Earning badges for Best Usability, Easiest Setup, Best Relationship, Best Results, Most Implementable, and more confirms that Duda remains one of the highest reviewed website builders available today.

We’re proud to see our customers’ feedback shape help us earn these badges, and even prouder that their success stories continue to drive ours. Every G2 badge we earn represents a promise kept to our customers, and motivates us to continue making web design faster, easier, and more collaborative for agencies and professionals everywhere.

Because when it’s all said and done, awards are great, but helping our users succeed is what truly defines us as the best website builder in the industry.

How to choose an AI website builder for your agency

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 14:08:24 GMT

It’s no secret that AI is top of mind for every agency owner. In fact, a staggering 89% of digital agency owners expect AI to help them scale and acquire new clients . The question is no longer if your agency should leverage AI, but how. For freelancers and solo entrepreneurs, many AI-powered builders are a dream come true, but if you’re running a digital agency, your needs are fundamentally different. Standard AI tools can get you started, but a professional-grade platform is what helps you scale. Choosing the right AI builder isn't just a technical decision—it's a strategic one that directly impacts your agency's efficiency, profitability, and future growth.

Basic AI features every builder needs in 2025

Before we talk about agency-specific needs, let's establish the baseline. In 2025, any AI website builder worth its salt should be able to handle these core tasks automatically. Consider this your minimum-requirements checklist.

Content generation : This is the most obvious one. Your builder should have a powerful AI assistant that can generate and refine text for any section of a site. It also needs to intelligently source images, offering both a high-quality stock library and the ability to generate unique AI images on the fly.
Site structure & layout : You shouldn't be starting from a blank page. A good AI should be able to take a simple prompt (e.g., "a modern plumbing business in Austin") and generate a complete, logical sitemap and a variety of page layouts that make sense for that industry.
Privacy and accessibility : An important, but underappreciated, aspect of any good website builder—even an AI-powered one, is legal compliance. The websites you create should respect privacy laws and user privacy preferences, and should be accessible to individuals with different abilities.
Design elements : Beyond just structure, the AI should propose cohesive design systems. This includes creating and applying site-wide themes, suggesting complementary color palettes and font pairings, and generating pre-designed sections (like testimonials or contact forms) that match the overall brand identity.
On-page SEO : SEO isn't an afterthought. The AI should automatically handle the fundamentals, like generating descriptive meta titles and descriptions, applying local business schema where appropriate, and writing relevant alt text for all images to improve accessibility and search rankings.
Code & customization : AI should be a launchpad, not a locked box. It needs to generate clean HTML/CSS and JavaScript for custom animations or functionalities. Crucially, it must also provide easy ways to integrate with external systems and APIs, so you're never limited by the platform's native features.
Secure & easy to maintain : There are plenty of AI-powered tools on the market that can generate code, and that code could certainly be a website—but would that website be secure? Would it be easy to maintain? A good AI bundles with human-friendly interfaces, like a drag-and-drop editor, and strict guardrails, to prevent disaster down the road.
eCommerce essentials : For online stores, the AI should be able to instantly generate compelling and SEO-friendly product descriptions, saving you hours of tedious and repetitive writing.

Agencies need more than the basics

Having a builder that ticks all those boxes is great. It means you can build a high-quality website faster than ever before. But an agency isn't just a website factory. You're a service provider managing complex projects, diverse client personalities, and critical business operations.

This is where direct-to-consumer (D2C) builders fall short. They're designed for a single user building a single site. They don't have the infrastructure to support an agency's workflow. Can your builder manage 30 clients with different permission levels? Can it import content from a client's old, messy site automatically? Can it automate your monthly billing and performance reports? If the answer is no, you're not using an AI platform made for agencies .

You need a platform that helps you skip to the good part; building strong client relationships, delivering more strategic value, and growing your business.

Duda’s AI Stack: AI built for agencies

This is where a professional platform like Duda's AI stack shines. It’s designed from the ground up to solve agency-specific challenges, moving beyond simple generation to intelligent automation and management. Here’s how.

AI-powered client management

Juggling client communications, feedback, and permissions is often the most time-consuming part of any project. Duda's platform treats client management as a core feature, not an add-on.

Instead of endless email chains, for example, you could ask Duda Copilot to give a client "comment-only" access to a draft site. Their feedback is collected directly on the page, tied to specific elements. You can use granular permissions to control their access to specific AI tools.
You can manage clients from Duda's Copilot in the client dashboard, integrate with your CRM or do it conversationally using Duda's MCP server connected to your preferred AI assistant.

Seamless integration with professional workflows

Agencies don't work in a vacuum. You have established processes for client intake, content collection, and project execution. Duda's AI integrates directly into these workflows.

Imagine sending a new client a personalized AI-powered content collection form. Once they fill it out, Duda's AI can take that information—or even the contents of an existing document—and generate a complete, on-brand draft site in minutes. This completely transforms the initial build process from a manual chore to an automated strategy session.

Automation of tedious tasks

The small, repetitive tasks are what kill an agency's profitability. Generating reports, sending invoices, and backing up sites are necessary evils that Duda’s AI helps eliminate.

Josh, founder of the award-winning agency Fix8 Media, uses Duda's AI to fully optimize the on-page SEO for a 10-15 page site in under an hour, a task that used to take hours manually. This efficiency allows him to deliver more value, regardless of a client's budget. “If I can give my clients value, even if they don’t have the budget, I will. Duda’s AI tools make that possible,” says Josh. This is how top agencies go from managing 10 clients to 100.

Duda’s agency-focused AI checklist

Here’s a quick summary of the key capabilities that set a professional platform like Duda apart:

AI-powers client management

Quickly create clients and update their details
Collect and implement feedback directly on the site
Control client access to content and AI tools with granular permissions

Supports professional workflows

Collect content with personalized forms
Import content directly from existing sites or other web properties
Generate a site from a brief or content document
Integrates with your AI assistants like Claude and ChatGPT via MCP

Automates tedious tasks

Generate reports on site performance
Sync content from an external database
Recurring billing and backups

Choosing an AI website builder for your agency is about looking past the flashy generative features. It's about finding a true partner in growth; a platform that automates the tedious, streamlines the complex, and frees you up to do the high-value work that only you can do.

How this agency is reimagining website creation through AI and automation

Tue, 21 Oct 2025 15:55:03 GMT

When Justin Sturges talks about web design, it sounds less like coding and more like orchestration. Every element, from client onboarding to SEO content, plays its part in a finely tuned system where automation and artificial intelligence do much of the heavy lifting. “Once we get everything in, that’s when we start automating and doing everything we can to make it efficient,” Sturges explains.

For the founder of a small but remarkably efficient digital agency , this evolution was a necessity. His clients, small and local businesses paying for high-touch retainers, expect polish and precision. Yet the industry’s traditional workflows, weighed down by manual edits and endless client revisions, made scale almost impossible. Instead of hiring a larger team, Sturges turned to AI and a network of tools to reinvent the way websites are built, maintained, and marketed.

A white-glove process for an automated world

Sturges’s approach begins with something seemingly counterintuitive: a deeply human onboarding call. “We go for higher-end retainers, so it just doesn’t make sense to hand clients a form and say ‘fill it out,’” he says. “We’re helping them as much as possible in that first meeting. It’s sort of a concierge, white-glove thing.”

That conversation sets the tone, and collects the raw materials necessary for automation. Clients describe their business, their market, and what makes them different. Sturges’s team then maps out services and service areas in priority order, a crucial step that drives every decision that follows. “Once we get that nailed down, onboarding is done and we can execute the website,” he says.

What follows looks almost magical from the outside. Data from the intake process flows into a network of systems; GoHighLevel for client information, Google Sheets as a dynamic prompt library, and Duda as the final publishing platform. The information moves between these tools through APIs and custom scripts, turning what once took days or weeks into hours.

Training AI for authentic brand voices

Automation, however, is only as good as the intelligence behind it. Sturges knew from experience that AI-generated text could sound flat, generic, and lifeless; the kind of content Google flags and audiences ignore. His solution is to train AI dynamically for each client by combining the nuances of human tone with structured data.

“For every prompt, we train the AI,” he says. “We pick an author that Google knows, one whose voice fits the company’s tone, and then mix that with emotional brand traits like ‘confident’ or ‘approachable.’”

He’s careful to clarify that this isn’t about impersonation or style mimicry. Instead, it’s a way of aligning the model’s natural rhythm with a recognizable human cadence. “If the author comes up in an author box in Google results, then the AI usually has enough information to model their voice,” he explains. The result is content that reads as distinctly human, tailored to the client’s brand and infused with personality.

This method also simplifies revisions. Instead of line-editing text or chasing commas, Sturges adjusts the underlying data. “If the client says something’s wrong, we tweak the bullet points about that service and regenerate it via API,” he says. “It’s faster and more accurate than editing by hand.”

Even small updates, like replacing photos or minor text changes, flow seamlessly through Duda’s comment boxes. “I love that feature,” he says. “WordPress still doesn’t have anything like it.”

Dynamic pages, smarter SEO

The heart of Sturges’s innovation lies in how he combines AI-driven content creation with structured SEO. Each client’s services and service areas are prioritized early in the onboarding phase, not just for site navigation but for search optimization. “We standardize on six core services,” he says. “Those become the backbone of the homepage and the rest of the site.”

During strategy sessions, Sturges and his clients analyze search behavior live, adjusting terminology to match how real users look for those services. “You might call it ‘roof restoration,’ but people in your area are searching for ‘roof repair,’” he explains. “We make sure they align with search intent and local demand.”

From there, AI prompts are automatically populated with the right keywords, tone, and metadata. The generated content is both readable and optimized. “Our prompts write the content and include all the SEO,” Sturges says. “We can pump it right into Duda’s backend fields, titles, meta descriptions, alt tags, everything connects.”

The structure also allows for strategic use of FAQs, a surprisingly effective SEO and UX element. “We use FAQs to add depth without overwhelming the page,” he says. “They’re expandable, so the layout stays clean, and we’ve seen them help our clients show up in AI search results too.”

Converting manual labor into AI symphonies

For Sturges, this efficiency drives measurable transformation. “Compared to WordPress with an overseas team? Oh my God,” he laughs. “We used to have 11 people. Now it’s just my wife, me, and a couple of part-timers handling support.”

The workflow that replaced those extra hands is a feat of engineering. When clients submit data through an intake form, it lands in GoHighLevel, where fields can be easily reviewed or updated. That data is then exported to a Google Sheet, the central hub of Sturges’s automation.

Each row represents a client, with fields for brand voice, target audience, services, colors, tone, and more. Those variables feed directly into complex prompts that guide AI writing tasks. “It’s like creating a custom GPT for every client, but instead of building a model, we’re building a highly detailed prompt,” he says.

Once generated, the content travels automatically into Duda, either through collections or business text fields, filling in entire websites in a fraction of the time. The system even handles press releases, blog posts, and social media updates. “Everything talks to either Duda or GoHighLevel,” Sturges explains. “That’s it. Two platforms. Simple, efficient, and fast.”

The dynamic master template

Perhaps Sturges’s most powerful invention is what he calls the “Dynamic Master Template.” In essence, it’s a single, modular Duda site that every client website connects to.

“Instead of using different templates all the time, we have one master template,” he says. “If we need to change the design, we do. But all the grunt work, the service pages, social links, calls to action, that’s automated.”

This master template houses an intricate system of connected data fields, standardized sections, and reusable modules. When new client data is uploaded, those fields populate automatically, generating a unique but structurally consistent website.

“We can literally build fifteen service pages in five minutes,” Sturges says. “They read differently, and they rank. It’s a massive time-saver.”

The template also makes updates trivial. “If I change a form in GoHighLevel, it updates across every page of the site,” he says. “No more clicking through hundreds of instances.”

For agencies using Duda, Sturges’s system offers a vision of what’s possible. “I call it agency efficiency,” he says. “You can get more done, faster, and stay focused on strategy instead of production.”

Human strategy with automated execution

Sturges’s method doesn’t eliminate creativity, rather, it amplifies it. By automating repetitive work, he frees himself to focus on brand positioning, conversion strategy, and messaging.

The process begins with what he calls a “conversion framework,” a page structure designed to highlight a client’s value proposition instantly. “We’ve tested it,” he says. “It converts, it ranks, and it generates quality leads.” Each new client site inherits that structure automatically, with the AI generating copy that fits into pre-set character limits and tone guidelines.

That alignment between design and content is the true innovation. “If you design your page ahead of time, you can structure the prompts to match,” he explains. “Then you never have to rewrite the layout for each client.”

Even the creative flourishes are handled efficiently. Sturges saves sections of sites, from hero images to testimonials, in a library that can be pulled into new designs instantly. “They’re connected,” he says. “When I reuse a section, it automatically populates the right images and text.”

Empowering clients and agencies alike

The ripple effects of this automation extend far beyond time savings. For clients, it means faster launches, consistent branding, and better long-term performance. For Sturges’s agency, it’s a complete repositioning.

“This isn’t just about standardizing a process,” he says. “It makes your clients stick around longer and positions you as a consultant instead of just a web designer.”

That shift has opened up new business opportunities. “When clients start seeing you as a consultant, they ask for your advice on everything,” he says. “It opens the door to retainers for SEO, press releases, content—all powered by the same onboarding data.”

Sturges’s philosophy blends high-touch client care with high-tech efficiency. The balance allows him to operate at a scale that once required a full team while maintaining a personal connection with every client. “It’s the best of both worlds,” he says. “Human relationships upfront, automation on the backend.”

A framework for the future of agencies

At its core, Sturges’s system is about rethinking what an agency can be. Many web designers, he says, still spend too much time clicking, copying, and formatting; all work that machines can handle. The real value lies in the strategic layer: understanding audiences, crafting messaging, and building trust.

“When you get out from under the crush of too much clicking and work,” he says, “you rise above it. Suddenly, you’re a consultant, not just a web designer.”

That shift also has personal meaning for him. Sturges’ deeper drive is a passion for systematizing creativity, finding ways to scale quality without sacrificing authenticity. “I like this work. I really do,” he says. “But, you know, after doing it for so many years, your hands start to wear out. So, what can I do to save the things that just take time and clicks.”

Sharing his knowledge

Sturges isn’t protective of his methods. In fact, he’s eager to share them. He mentors other designers informally, showing them how to combine AI tools, APIs, and Duda’s ecosystem into cohesive workflows. The response, he says, has been overwhelmingly positive. “Everyone I’ve shown the dynamic master template to says, ‘Oh my God, we’re doing that,’” he says. “It’s just such a lightbulb moment.”

As automation continues to transform creative industries, Sturges’s model points to a future where small agencies can operate with the sophistication of much larger ones, not by hiring more people, but by designing smarter systems.

“The tools are there,” he says. “You just have to connect them.”

Why digital marketing agencies are choosing Duda over Wix Studio and Wordpress

Thu, 16 Oct 2025 15:28:59 GMT

Small and midsize digital agencies win on speed, reliability, and client experience. Not on maintaining servers or wrangling plugin conflicts. Agencies don’t just “need a website builder.” You need a revenue engine. One that ships beautiful sites fast, scales across a multitude of clients, and doesn’t implode your margins when your operations expand.

Before we compare the top three contenders for digital marketing agency website builders, let’s review what website builders are, and how digital agencies use them.

Website builders - who needs them anyway?

At their core, website builders are online WYSIWYG editors. They are platforms originally designed to let anyone build and publish a website without writing HTML or JavaScript. Over time, website builders have grown beyond basic drag-and-drop tools into full digital ecosystems that offer extensions, integrations, hosting services, and collaboration features. The next leap came with multi-site website builders and cloud-based storage, which opened the door for small and mid-sized digital marketing agencies to scale their services.

For these agencies, the combination of multi-site scalability and low-code (or no-code) website production is vital for delivering digital marketing services. This is why many agencies regard website builders as revenue engines.

The goal of website builders in agency operations is to make it easier for digital marketing professionals to focus on what they do best - client-facing work that drives growth. Instead of hiring expensive engineering teams, a comprehensive website builder platform offloads most coding and maintenance tasks onto third-party service providers.

That said, website builders come in a variety of flavors with varying degrees of flexibility and overhead. WordPress is a prime example: when self-hosted, it offers near-total control but demands significant technical expertise and ongoing maintenance. This trade-off makes it powerful but resource-intensive, and better suited to agencies with in-house developers and infrastructure specialists.

Most agencies, however, don’t need to build complex custom web applications from scratch. And in a world where cloud-based platforms deliver higher reliability with far less overhead, self-hosting is increasingly impractical. For the majority of agencies, the smarter path is choosing a scalable, cost-effective platform that allows them to deliver polished websites quickly, manage them at scale, and free their teams from the complexity of servers, plugins, or security patches.

How to choose the right website builder for your agency

Website builders target different users. Some are designed for solo entrepreneurs, others for hobbyists, and only a handful truly fit the needs of digital marketing agencies. Picking the right website builder for your agency comes down to how well the platform aligns with your business model and growth goals.

When evaluating the options, focus on six key criteria:

Scalability & multi-site management

A website builder platform should make it easy to manage dozens or even hundreds of client websites from a single dashboard. Features like bulk updates, client account management, centralized permissions, and streamlined billing can save hours of overhead.

Hosting, speed, and security

Clients expect fast load times and reliable uptime. Agencies shouldn’t have to worry about patching servers or chasing down performance bottlenecks. Look for platforms that provide built-in hosting, global CDN coverage, SSL, code vitals, performance benchmarks, and automatic security updates.

Client collaboration & white labeling

Whose website is it anyway? Some clients want full control of the content and even some technical aspects, while others demand the agency handles everything. A strong website builder lets agencies brand the platform as their own, provide customized client dashboards, and set role-based permissions so clients can work on their site without breaking things.

Support & training resources

Access to responsive support and ongoing training is critical, especially for small and midsized agencies without full-time developers on staff. Moreover, training resources for customers that promote self-service and can be white-labled by the agency can save time your teams spend doing things the clients can do for themselves.

Cost structure & total ROI

Making a website builder a true revenue engine requires careful calculation to find the right platform that delivers predictable margins as you scale. Consider not only up-front costs and subscription fees, but also hidden costs like maintenance, third-party add-on licenses, and unexpected infrastructure costs when client websites get spikes in traffic.

Flexibility & integrations

A website builder doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It works with systems and platforms that agencies and their clients already use - from analytics and CRM to marketing automation and SEO tools. Choose a solution that works with your agency’s tech stack and integrates smoothly with your clients’ systems.

Website builders for digital marketing agencies: Comparing Duda vs Wix Studio vs Wordpress

Wix Studio: Best for unmanaged websites

Wix Studio is Wix’s answer to the agency market - a premium subscription tier designed to compete with platforms like Duda by offering collaborative design tools, flexible templates, and integrated hosting. Positioned as a creative suite for designers, Wix Studio emphasizes visual freedom and AI-powered tools.

Strengths

Creative flexibility : Wix Studio employs Wix’s hallmark drag-and-drop editor with advanced animation and responsive layout options, giving designers a high degree of creative flexibility with zero code.
Reliable hosting and performance : Platform and website hosting is included, along with CDN coverage and automatic scaling for traffic spikes.
AI-driven workflows : Automated design adjustment tools and genAI functionalities can help small teams deliver websites faster.

Limitations

Operational frictions at multi-site scale : Wix Studio grew out of a standalone builder designed for solo users. While it now offers some multi-site features, reviewers stress it falls short of what agencies need to manage dozens of sites efficiently. One of the issues is that Wix Classic and Studio are separate products, so moving work often means rebuilding or as users described it : “The same site can’t have a page on Wix and one on Studio.”
Support frustrations : Agencies often cite Wix’s customer support as slow or inconsistent. In addition to being frustrating, such lack of responsiveness can have a cascade effect, causing delays and lost revenues for clients. “Nobody is available for live chat… I managed to get a call after waiting nearly 50 minutes,” wrote one user .
Limited client self-service and collaboration : Reviewers note that while Wix Studio offers shared workspaces for agency-client collaboration, it lacks the client access controls and white-labeling options that agencies need to maintain brand consistency. Moreover, many users complain of editor stability, responsive scaling issues, and usability of the Wix Studio product.

Pricing

Wix Studio pricing is usage-based, with public tiers starting at $17/month (annual billing) for the most basic package, and scaling by bandwidth, storage, and features. For digital marketing agencies, anything below the Business tier would not suffice.

Users note that the pricing scheme is unsuitable for growing agencies or web app developers, stating that “Wix is charging web developers consumer RETAIL prices on hosting, which leaves absolutely no profit margin for web designers.”

If you choose Wix Studio as the website building platform for your agency, it is important to keep an eye on costs as they can balloon quickly with growing client bases, especially when add-ons or third-party apps are required.

Agency perspective

For agencies focused primarily on design and a small number of managed sites, Wix Studio can be an appealing option. But the recurring agency feedback (operational friction, support delays, editor instability, and pricing pressure) makes it harder to scale operations. As one long-time user summed it up : “Okay in reality for very simple basic websites.”

WordPress: Best for highly technical agencies

WordPress is a flexibility and customization powerhouse. Originally built as a blogging platform, WordPress is open-source, with an extensive plugin ecosystem and fully under your control - from hosting to code and everything in between. This sort of power suits developer-led agencies with clients that require extensive customization down to the smallest technical details of their website. It also means that you are responsible for updates, uptime, performance, security, and governance.

Strengths

Maximum control and ownership: Full access to code (PHP), themes, plugins, and freedom to choose any stack or host you prefer.
Extensive ecosystem : WordPress has been around long enough to grow a market for plugins, integrations, and themes designed for complex builds and unusual use cases.
Developer tooling support : Mature tooling and extensive integration and deployment options including ACF/blocks, WP-CLI, CI/CD, Bedrock and headless patterns.

Limitations

Maintenance risk : At portfolio scale, updates turn into an ongoing operational chore - staging, rollbacks, QA, regression checks, etc. If you skip the updates, you’ll be faced with security issues that will leave your WordPress websites vulnerable to hackers. That’s why abandoned WordPress sites are often hacked and used by malefactors to spread malware. Running the updates comes with its own issues as they can sometimes break websites . The maintenance challenge becomes even harder if you consider plugin sprawl, with users complaining that “Every plugin is a minefield… whatever I touch breaks the site.”
Performance/UI issues : Core Web Vitals and the user experience depend fully on your stack - the hosting, theme architecture, caching, and the number and strict plugin discipline. When it comes to using the platform, non-technical editors face a steeper learning curve and can inadvertently degrade performance or break layouts. This can be especially challenging with co-managed websites, where clients have admin access to their WP instance but lack the technical know-how to keep things working smoothly. As one user put it : “Installed 6 random plugins… changed the theme… now it’s chaos.” Another described building websites with WordPress as “a minefield of poorly built plugins and bloated page-builders.”
Weak multisite support : WP Multisite enables centralized updates and some hosting costs saving, but couples tenants in a way that makes it extraordinarily hard to manage at scale, especially with varying customer requirements. Moreover, multisite can expose all client websites by allowing attackers to move laterally in your servers, turning a malicious compromise into a full takeover. Many agencies admit to splitting away instances as “The headaches from varying customer demands weren’t worth the savings… it only had about 15 sites so I separated them.”

Pricing

Varying. WordPress is open source and the software itself is free, making it automatically attractive to those without a budget for a professional agency-centric website builder. However, the real costs of running multiple WP instances quickly add up. There’s managed hosting, premium themes and plugin licenses, as well as ongoing maintenance time for updates, backups, monitoring, incident response, and debugging. Margins can be improved with a standardized base stack, low plugin count, and maintenance retainers across your client base.

Agency perspective

WordPress is often the right tool for developer-led agencies building websites with bespoke functionality (like custom schemas, headless deployment, and complex integrations). However, if you’re looking for a design-led, multi-site service with minimal engineering overhead, the strengths of WordPress and the freedom it enables turn into heavy operational friction, and ballooning expenses.

Duda: Best for agency growth

Duda is designed from the base up to serve professionals in agencies, freelancers, and SaaS teams who launch, manage, and scale a large volume of client sites with low operational overhead. Duda’s platform features high-end multi-site management, white labeling, client collaboration, built-in cloud hosting, security, automation, and more - all in one user-friendly stack that lets your teams focus on creativity and revenue work instead of maintaining servers or wrangling plugin stacks..

Strengths

Agency-centric features : Duda lets you manage all client sites from a single dashboard, and invite users per client sites with granular, role-based permissions. In addition, your clients and their customers don’t need to ever know of Duda with full platform branding including custom platform domain, branded login, white-labeled editor, branded help, and custom email domain for all client communications. You can even bill your clients directly through the Duda platform. You can execute one-time billing or recurring subscriptions through Stripe. Duda doesn’t add transaction fees (Stripe’s own fees apply). Users say : “Duda is the best out there for building and providing clients access without major chances of breaking the site.”
Hosting, speed, and reliability baked-in : Duda’s plans include AWS hosting with 99.99% uptime SLA, and unlimited storage and bandwidth across tiers. This means performance and availability are not your headache. In addition, Duda is repeatedly praised by users for its 24/7 support, as well as stellar performance and speed. One user wrote : “We focus heavily on SEO, so site speeds and health matter - we experience better site metrics to that of WP sites we manage or others. Websites produced using Duda account are more sleek and less clunky, and take us less time to produce, less maintenance over time.”
Dynamic content and integrations : Create dynamic pages backed by Collections, connect your Google Sheets or Airtable directly, or import external datasets via API, updating flow to pages automatically. You can also leverage advanced automation and integration options with APIs and webhooks, and extend sites via the App Store and Connectors (to your favorite CRM, email, and analytics providers).
Scalability, flexibility and customization : User-friendly on the outside, Duda’s platform is just as developer-friendly with Developer Mode letting you edit HTML/CSS, build custom widgets with HTML/CSS/JS (with server-rendered HTML via Handlebars), and export your site code.

Limitations

SaaS guardrails vs. raw control : You can customize deeply with Developer Mode, custom widgets, HTML/CSS, and APIs, but Duda is not self-hosted. So if you’re looking for complete freedom and control - Duda might not be for you, as you don’t get root/server control or access to the breadth of WordPress-style plugins online. If your agency model demands low-level backend customization, a self-hosted CMS will offer more latitude.
Limited blogging features : Duda is not intended for the management of multiple media or publishing websites, and some users report that the blog module falls short when it comes to clients with complex content strategies, as well as deeper CMS relationships. There’s no native blog commenting in Duda, so you will need to add a third party plugin like Disqus per post, which is fine for some stacks but adds steps.
Specific economics model : Pricing is plan-based with included site credits and the ability to add more sites, with App Store add-ons priced per provider. With a somewhat complex pricing scheme, using Duda as a revenue engine means agencies should model margins across dozens or hundreds of sites (hosting is bundled, but per-site licenses still matter).

Pricing

Duda pricing starts at $19/month for a single website, and scales through Team, Agency, and White Label tiers. Custom tiers and plans are available.

Agency perspective

If your business growth depends on quick site production, frictionless client collaboration, and centralized agency-centric features (like billing and white-label UX), Duda is your one-stop-shop for what many agencies typically stitch together from multiple tools.

For designer-led teams or ops-lean agencies, that consolidation translates to focus and margin. If your agency model is developer-led with heavy backend customization, weigh Duda’s guardrails against the freedom (and maintenance burden) of a self-hosted website builder suite.

The Verdict: Why digital marketing agencies are choosing Duda over Wix Studio and Wordpress

For most small and mid-sized agencies aiming to grow without building a developer/infra org, Duda delivers the best balance of speed, control, and scalability. It lets your designers and account teams focus on client outcomes while the platform handles the unglamorous parts (that can quietly kill margins by adding unwanted overhead). This translates into fewer moving parts, fewer emergency tickets, and more billable marketer work.

If your agency is not looking to become a website design business with a full team of developers aboard, Duda is the best fit for at-scale management of clients without the chaos. Agency-first, Duda prides itself on multi-site management, client governance, white labeling, hosting, and collaboration features, and it also stands out as the top choice when it comes to service and technical support.

Duda vs. Brizy: Which is best for building sites at scale?

Tue, 14 Oct 2025 14:18:05 GMT

The ability to effectively scale up production without sacrificing quality or client experience is what separates a successful digital agency company from a stunted business endeavor. Unless you’re comfortable with only ever maintaining a few web design clients and being constantly bogged down with their every demand and problem, increasing the bandwidth of your agency is probably the single most important focus any digital marketing entrepreneur can have.

To accomplish this goal, it’s crucial to invest in the right type of tools that are designed from the ground up to support an expanding team and client base—which brings us to the topic at hand.

Duda and Brizy are both white label website builder solutions intended for users who design sites professionally and sell them to clients; but there are significant differences between the two platforms and the philosophies behind their feature sets.

In this post, we’ll take an in-depth look at each platform, examining everything from design capabilities to client-facing tools, AI assistance, pricing tiers, support resources, eCommerce options, third-party app integrations, and team roles and permissions are on the table.

By the end, you should come away with a solid idea of which platform is the right one to support your agency and clients.

Platform overviews

Before we break down each platform to get a good look at the nuts and bolts that make them tick, let’s check out what things look like from 30,000 feet.

Duda

Launched in 2009, Duda has been a favorite platform of digital marketers and web design professionals from the jump. Over the years, the company has consistently created innovative tools (e.g., AI Stack , Custom Widget Builder , Core Web Vitals optimization , etc.) that help web pros adhere to the latest and greatest web design trends and best practices, while also addressing the key needs of growing agencies with features designed to streamline day-to-day operations and client interactions.

Duda provides agencies with a vast amount of flexibility in both design and development, while ensuring that websites built on the platform are secure , optimized by default to rank as well as possible in both traditional (e.g., Google) and AI-generated searches (e.g., ChatGPT) , and have a guaranteed 99.5% uptime via hosting on AWS with no limit on bandwidth or storage.

Additionally, Duda places a special focus on site speed and performance, along with seamless integration with third-party solutions, to make sure every website built on the platform has the best chance possible of converting customers for an agency’s clients.

The platform can accommodate nearly every website-building workflow under the sun. From a full DIY experience under an agency’s brand that allows clients to create and manage their own sites to a bespoke offering in which a team of professionals build and administer everything on a client’s behalf, Duda is an ideal solution.

Brizy

Released in 2018, Brizy began as a page builder designed to lower the learning curve and increase ease of use for developers and designers working with WordPress. Since then, it has expanded its offering to include a dedicated app for building Shopify landing pages and a cloud-based system for building full sites hosted on AWS.

The platform’s big boast is that it allows web professionals to easily move client projects back and forth across WordPress and its cloud solution, which they refer to as a “multi platform” environment.

Brizy offers a white label option, integration with eCommerce solutions like WooCommerce, and integrations with marketing tools such as Hubspot and MailChimp.

Feature breakdowns for Duda & Brizy

Now that we’ve taken a look at the overarching highlights of each platform, let’s get a little more granular and check out how the various features and offerings of the two stack up.

Here is a quick reference list for what we’re looking at:

Design Capabilities
Client-facing Tools
AI Assistance
Pricing
Support Resources
eCommerce Option
Third-party App Integrations
Team Roles & Permissions

1. Design capabilities

Duda offers a wide range of design capabilities natively inside its platform. An intuitive WYSIWYG editor, dozens of drag-and-drop widgets, access to global design settings, animations, a content library, millions of free and premium images, and pre-designed site sections are all included with every pricing tier. Duda also provides a massive library of templates that provide excellent jumping-off points, or users can create designs entirely from scratch. Whether you choose to use a template or start from zero, Duda enables users to save their own site designs for duplication and reuse later.

Brizy offers two drastically different ways of designing websites, which means the platform’s capabilities heavily depend on which one you choose.

Brizy WordPress allows for fairly easy editing with a drag-and-drop website builder, but with fewer native widgets than can be found in the Duda platform. Users also have access to global fonts and colors. Beyond these fairly basic tools, web professionals using Brizy are free to purchase what they need from the WordPress Plugin Directory.

Brizy Cloud offers a similar experience, but is slightly more limited when editing elements such as headers and footers, and is more restrictive with dynamic content and custom fields.

2. Client-facing tools

When it comes to client management, Duda offers a far and away more comprehensive set of built-in tools tailored for agencies. The platform includes features like automated client billing with white-label invoices, granular permission settings down to widget-level access, and client-facing content collection forms that streamline onboarding. Duda also offers inline commenting for live site previews and automated analytics reporting. And to round things out, the platform offers full white-label branding options, so clients will only know an agency is using Duda if they want the clients to know. These tools give agencies complete control over client relationships .

Comparatively, Brizy is much more limited. In Brizy Cloud, agencies can create client workspaces, invite team members with defined roles (Viewer, Editor, Designer, Manager), and leverage white-label options at higher tiers. But Brizy lacks native billing tools, detailed onboarding workflows, and custom permission settings that can be found in Duda. For freelancers and small teams, this more restricted toolset may be sufficient, but lacks the scalability an agency would receive with the Duda platform.

3. AI assistance

Though there are obvious differences between Duda and Brizy, there may be no clearer area in which the two platforms are further apart than AI.

Duda provides a comprehensive stack of AI-powered tools that can be used as a complete system to transform the way agencies work.

From filling in site-wide meta data and alt text for images to creating copy and full-page designs, Duda’s AI Stack stands head and shoulders above not just Brizy, but most other website builders available today.

Duda even enables the creation of entirely new widgets using natural-language prompts and offers access to an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server. For those unfamiliar with MCPs, this incredibly powerful tool allows agencies to connect external AI assistants—like ChatGPT, Claude or any other LLM—to the Duda platform directly. This, in turn, means agencies can tell their favorite LLM to do things like “create a new product page with images and SEO text” or “update all service pages with fresh meta descriptions,” and it would execute those tasks through Duda eliminating untold amounts of grunt work. Wild, right?

Brizy Cloud does allow for AI-generated site creation based on minimal business info, but does not come even close to the broad range of capabilities Duda’s AI Stack provides. And these AI-powered tools are even more limited in Brizy WordPress.

4. Pricing

When it comes to pricing , Duda and Brizy take two very different approaches.

Duda’s model is subscription-based and designed specifically with agencies in mind, offering various tiers that scale as a client base grows. Plans start at $19/month for a single site and go up to $149/month for a white-label solution (when paid for annually). Each plan includes hosting, security, AI-powered site and SEO assistants, and client management tools, with additional features included in each higher tier. This makes it a great, cost-effective all-in-one option for professionals who want an advanced website platform that requires minimal maintenance.

Brizy Cloud starts at $19/month for one website and $69/month for up to 10, with additional eCommerce add-ons ranging from $14 to $70/month depending on product limits.

Brizy WordPress is licensed per site, starting around $60/year, which can be cost-effective for freelancers or small teams already managing their own hosting. However, this does not include the cost of purchasing necessary plugins, which can add up quickly.

So while Brizy may seem more budget-friendly upfront, the fact that Duda’s bundling of products and services means it can save agencies a lot of time and overhead costs as they grow.

5. Support resources

Duda is well-known in the web design industry for its award-winning customer support and success team . Support services and a self-help portal are available for every pricing tier, with additional levels of support unlocked with more advanced plans. In addition to basic email support, Duda also offers priority email, chat and phone support to customers on its Agency and White Label plans, and 24/7 VIP support to enterprise organizations on a Custom plan.

Brizy Cloud provides email support for Agency plans and above with chat support enabled for enterprise plans. Brizy WordPress provides email support to Freelance plans and above with a dedicated success manager added for those on the Enterprise plan.

6. eCommerce options

Duda’s native eCommerce solution provides agencies with a wide range of offerings for their clients looking to sell online. The platform supports product catalogs with advanced product variants, automated tax calculations, multiple payment gateways like Stripe, PayPal, and Square, and robust shipping integrations with delivery zones and pickup options. Powerful customization tools are also included, allowing full control over product pages, checkout flows, and SEO settings. eCommerce marketing features, like abandoned cart emails and discount codes, can also be provided. Lastly, Duda’s provides agencies with the option to give their clients access to the backend of their online store, so they can update product listings on the fly, without allowing them to touch any other part of the site.

Brizy Cloud, on the other hand, provides its eCommerce offering via an add-on powered by Ecwid. It provides easy store setup, customizable cart and checkout templates, and tiered pricing based on product limits, which may appeal to clients with small- to medium-sized businesses that want to start selling online quickly. While Brizy does offer PayPal integration and basic shipping/tax settings, it lacks advanced scalability that Duda delivers.

Brizy also offers WooCommerce and Shopify plugins for creating eCommerce sites and landing pages, but the trade off is you don’t get the full functionality for designing other types of pages that you otherwise would with the Brizy platform.

This makes Duda a stronger fit for both small- and medium-sized companies looking to grow their business through an online store, and larger operations that need more eCommerce functionality and flexibility.

7. Third-party app integrations

Duda provides a curated App Store that enables web professionals to easily integrate best-in-breed technologies into their clients’ websites. This marketplace model is highly beneficial for agencies because it allows them to offer a range of third-party solution options to clients, along with the added surety that what they are presenting has been thoroughly vetted by the Duda team. Agencies also benefit from connectors to CRMs and marketing automation platforms such as HubSpot, ActiveCampaign, and Mailchimp, as well as APIs for building custom integrations.

Brizy Cloud, however, has some significant limitations when it comes to third-party app integrations, with only a total of 25 across four categories (email marketing, WordPress tools, media and fonts.

Brizy WordPress does have the advantage of tapping into the wider WP plugin ecosystem for SEO, security, and other add-ons, but as many agency owners and digital marketing professionals know, the Plugin Directory is a bit of a wild west and plugins need to be paid for and managed on an individual basis.

8. Team roles & permissions

Last, but certainly not least, let’s take a good look at one of the most important feature sets that can impact the performance of any web design or digital marketing agency: team collaboration tools.

Duda delivers a robust set of features that are specifically designed to help agencies and larger teams streamline production and shorten revision cycles. This includes predefined roles like Admin, Designer, Blogger, and Store Manager, each with specific permissions that control who can edit, publish, or manage different areas of a site. Agencies using the platform can also create custom roles to fine-tune access, ensuring every member of a team has the right level of responsibility without overlap. All permissions span across every site in the account, simplifying management when handling multiple clients. On top of that, Duda offers inline commenting so team members can leave important feedback in a visual manner, helping streamline communication and speed up approvals.

Brizy keeps collaboration simple with unlimited team members at no extra cost in Brizy Cloud. Roles such as Owner, Designer, or Editor apply to all projects in a workspace. And in its WordPress version, Brizy relies on the platform’s native user roles. It’s a straightforward setup that works well for smaller teams, though it offers less flexibility and lacks the ability to customize permissions by role.

Conclusion

Though Duda and Brizy are both white label website builders with feature sets geared specifically towards supporting web design and digital marketing agencies, they have very different practical applications.

When an agency has a small team building relatively simple websites for just a few clients, Brizzy can be an excellent option. But the minute you look at scalability, Duda clearly pulls ahead. Its advanced team collaboration tools, customizable client permissions, robust eCommerce options and design capabilities, powerful AI Stack, competitive pricing and more, make it the ideal web design platform for agencies that are constantly taking on new clients and hyper-focused on pumping out quality websites as fast as possible.

This micro-agency has built a hundred sites across thousands of miles

Thu, 09 Oct 2025 12:44:33 GMT

For years, Robert Tickner lived a life that seemed successful by most measures; steady income, clear career progression, and solid performance in a corporate sales role. But underneath, frustration brewed. After more than two decades in the same industry, he began to feel an unfamiliar anxiety, one that made even walking into the office unbearable. “I was hitting all my KPIs,” he said, “but I just had to get out.” In 2018, he finally did.

That decision marked the start of a very different kind of career. What began as a sabbatical to clear his head became a long journey into digital entrepreneurship, one that would eventually take him from Australia to Bali, Thailand, and beyond. Today, Tickner describes himself as a “micro-agency of one,” managing around a hundred client websites from wherever he happens to be, sometimes a bamboo café in the rice fields outside Ubud, sometimes a coworking space in Chiang Mai.

It’s a story of reinvention, but also of intentional design: a life built to balance flexibility, stability, and creativity in equal measure.

From corporate routine to creative autonomy

Tickner’s path to web design wasn’t a straight line. After leaving his job in sales, he took nearly a year to travel, reflect, and figure out what he wanted to do next. Like many digital nomads, he started by searching online for ways to make a living remotely. “I went down the YouTube rabbit hole,” he recalled. “Everything I’ve learned since then has been from YouTube, no courses, no mentors, just a lot of late nights watching tutorials.”

He experimented with affiliate marketing and dropshipping, both popular entry points for online entrepreneurs, but quickly realized they didn’t suit him. “I came from sales,” he said, “and the last thing I wanted to do was sell more stuff.” Instead, it was the process of building that drew him in. To pursue affiliate marketing or eCommerce, he needed a website, so he began learning how to create one.

That exploration led to a series of trials and errors with different platforms. “I built one on Squarespace. It was terrible,” he said with a laugh. “Built one on Wix. It was worse. Then I tried WordPress, and it was just too complicated. I wanted something simple.” That search eventually led him to Duda, a platform that offered the mix of simplicity and control he was looking for. “That’s how I stumbled onto Duda, and I’ve stuck with it ever since.”

The business of productizing creativity

As Tickner learned the ropes of building websites, he drew on his corporate background to structure his fledgling business differently from the start. He decided not to bill by the hour or negotiate bespoke projects. Instead, he productized his services, creating fixed website packages with clear features, benefits, and monthly plans. “That was just my mindset,” he said. “I came from sales, so I understood the importance of packaging things.”

In the beginning, he even built some websites for free to attract his first clients and prove the model. Over time, as word spread, he began charging modest fees and gradually grew his base. Today, every client is on a monthly plan. It’s a model that prioritizes recurring revenue over one-off projects, providing both financial predictability and creative freedom.

“When you work as a traditional freelancer, it’s unstable,” Tickner explained. “You do a job, you get paid, and maybe you never see that client again. I didn’t want that.” Instead, he thinks of his business like a slow-growing structure: “I always say I’m building Lego, every month I add a couple more blocks, and it just keeps growing.”

This approach has made his income remarkably steady for a solo operator. Alongside website maintenance, Tickner offers productized SEO services, with transparent pricing and three simple plans. “Doing SEO hand-in-hand with Duda websites works really well,” he said. “It’s another recurring layer that adds stability.”

Managing clients while globe-trotting

Running a business from multiple time zones poses its own challenges, especially when most of your clients are back home. For Tickner, 95 percent of his customers are based in Australia, with a handful in the U.S. That makes Europe, where he often travels, a logistical puzzle. “Daylight savings can make it really tricky,” he said. “Sometimes I’ve got just a one-hour window to catch everyone.”

To handle the gap, he set up a live answering service. “A real person picks up the phone when someone calls me,” he said. “They say, ‘Hey, it’s Rob’s office, he’ll call you back. What’s the best time?’ They filter out the junk and schedule real appointments.” The system allows him to maintain professionalism without being tethered to his phone.

Even so, Tickner says his clients rarely demand much attention. He attributes that to how he builds his sites, what he calls “revisionless websites.” The term, popularized within the Duda community, describes sites built so thoroughly and cleanly from the start that they require almost no back-and-forth changes. “I just get it right the first time,” he said. “After that, it’s usually small things like fixing a word or swapping an image.”

When a project is complete, he creates personalized video tutorials showing clients how to edit their own content. “I hand over the keys and say, ‘Here’s how you do it,’” he said. “That way, I don’t get constant emails about how to update a photo or add a blog post.” The result is a business that’s almost self-sustaining, one that gives him time to focus on learning and creativity.

“I probably only work two or three hours in the mornings,” he said. “That’s when I do my focused work. The afternoons are for what I call ‘play work,’ research, learning about AI and SEO, watching videos, just staying curious.”

A life designed around freedom

For Tickner, the appeal of digital nomadism isn’t just about travel, it’s also about balance. After decades of rigid corporate schedules, he’s built a routine that prioritizes flexibility and personal development. “I don’t work hard,” he said, pausing before clarifying. “I mean, I don’t overwork. I’m not about the hustle culture, but I’m not lazy either. It’s about finding the middle.”

That balance extends to how he chooses his destinations. His favorite spots are not necessarily the flashiest or most remote, but those that blend comfort, affordability, and inspiration. “Ubud in Bali is incredible,” he said. “I’m not talking about the center, it’s better ten or fifteen minutes out, where you’re surrounded by rice fields. You can hop on a scooter, grab your laptop, and head to a bamboo café with great Wi-Fi and fresh juice. You look up from your laptop and realize, this is my view.”

Another favorite is Chiang Mai, Thailand, which he calls “the digital nomad capital of Asia.” He loves the sense of community there—the meetups, coworking spaces, and the vibrant coffee scene. “Thailand has become the new coffee destination,” he said. “Chiang Mai has hundreds of cafés, each more beautiful than the last. It’s like walking into an architecture magazine.”

He also values Chiang Mai for its professional ecosystem. “I go there for the SEO conferences,” he said. “It probably has the best SEO community in the world. I’ve gone twice already and I’m heading back for my third time this year. You learn, you get motivated, and you meet people who get it.”

Lessons from the road

After several years of working remotely across continents, Tickner has developed a clear perspective on what makes the lifestyle sustainable. The first rule, he says, is commitment. “Don’t treat it like something you just try out,” he said. “It’s not a two-month experiment, it’s a lifestyle. Give it two or three years, at least.”

He also emphasizes community. During the early years of his journey, much of the world was under lockdown, leaving him isolated. “When I started, I didn’t know about meetups or groups,” he said. “Then COVID hit, and I missed out on that whole experience. I’d do it differently now.”

Today, he’s a firm believer in connecting, both with peers and with other professionals in the digital ecosystem. “There are so many communities out there,” he said. “Even now I keep discovering new ones, like SEO meetups in Barcelona. And you can connect with other integrators in the Duda network, companies like Paperform, for example. These are real people you can meet on LinkedIn or at conferences. That’s where the magic happens.”

Building a stable business in an unstable world

The idea of a stable digital nomad life may sound paradoxical, but for Tickner it’s central to his philosophy. “When people think about digital nomads, they imagine instability, always moving, never settled,” he said. “But my business is actually very stable. I know what’s coming in each month. That’s the beauty of productizing.”

By turning websites and SEO services into predictable monthly plans, Tickner has effectively created his own form of remote employment, one where he’s both the boss and the employee. He describes it as a blend of creativity and discipline. “It’s not about chasing clients nonstop,” he said. “It’s about building systems that let you breathe.”

That structure also gives him room to explore new technologies. “Right now I’m really interested in AI and how it’s reshaping SEO,” he said. “I spend a lot of time researching things like algorithmic optimization, content generation, and how to integrate those tools into what I offer.”

Rather than specializing in a single niche, Tickner prefers variety. “Everyone says pick a niche; just do plumber websites or electrician websites,” he said. “But I don’t want that. I like working with different clients, different challenges. That keeps it interesting.”

A quiet revolution in work design

What makes Tickner’s story compelling isn’t just his success as a digital nomad. Rather, it’s how deliberately he’s engineered it. His approach to work, clients, and learning reflects a broader shift in how professionals define success. Instead of chasing constant growth or prestige, he’s prioritized freedom, balance, and meaningful engagement with his craft.

He rejects the glorification of nonstop work that often accompanies entrepreneurship. “I’ve read all those books about working less or working smarter,” he said. “For me, it’s simpler: I just want to enjoy what I do and not be chained to it.”

Even his travel choices follow that logic. Rather than hopping between destinations every few weeks, he tends to settle in one place for several months, building routines that support productivity. “It’s not about running away from something,” he said. “It’s about running toward a better version of how I want to live.”

That mindset, he believes, is what separates a sustainable nomadic life from burnout disguised as freedom. “People think working remotely automatically means more freedom,” he said. “But if you’re still glued to your laptop twelve hours a day, you’ve just moved your office to a different country. You have to build systems that support the life you want.”

Looking forward

After three years of full-time travel, Tickner shows no signs of slowing down. His next stop is once again Chiang Mai, for another SEO conference and a chance to reconnect with the community that helped shape his journey. Beyond that, he’s exploring new ways to expand his offerings through automation and AI, always with the same philosophy of balance and simplicity.

Asked whether he ever misses the stability of his old corporate life, he shakes his head. “Not for a second,” he said. “This lifestyle isn’t for everyone, but for me, it’s perfect. I get to build things that last, help small businesses grow, and do it all while living the way I want.”

What began as a break from burnout has become something deeper, a carefully crafted balance of work, travel, and self-determination. “Sometimes,” he said, “I look up from my laptop and think, this is my office now. And that’s all the motivation I need.”

Five ways to optimize your clients’ sites for AI search today

Tue, 07 Oct 2025 17:15:10 GMT

As AI-driven search reshapes how people find information online, digital marketing agencies need to adapt faster than ever. The shift from traditional keyword-based SEO to generative search experiences means websites must be not only visible to search engines, but also citable by large language models and answer engines such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, Bing Copilot, and Google’s AI Overviews. In this emerging landscape, your goal is no longer just to earn a spot on page one, rather, it’s to have your clients’ content become the trusted material AI systems quote, summarize, build upon, and, hopefully, recommend.

Optimizing for AI search requires a strategic mix of technical accessibility, structured content, credibility, conversational alignment, and continuous iteration. The following five approaches outline how agencies can help clients adapt right now, using tactics that are already proving effective.

1. Make sure AI systems can access, and understand, your content

The foundation of AI visibility begins with technical accessibility. If an AI crawler can’t reach, render, or interpret your client’s pages, no amount of content polish will matter. Start by confirming that essential files such as robots.txt and meta-robots tags allow known AI crawlers, like GPTBot, Claude-Web, and CCBot, to index relevant sections of the site. Some organizations are beginning to experiment with an emerging file called llms.txt , which works similarly to robots.txt but provides explicit instructions for large language models. Including such a file helps communicate which pages are suitable for training or citation.

Next, review canonicalization and redirect structures to ensure that AI systems can identify the preferred version of each URL. Misconfigured canonical tags or long redirect chains can obscure content from crawlers, particularly those used by AI systems. It’s also worth checking whether valuable resources sit behind login screens, JavaScript-only rendering, or paywalls. Many AI crawlers cannot execute JavaScript or navigate authenticated environments. Providing prerendered snapshots or server-rendered alternatives can solve this issue.

Finally, test visibility directly by entering target queries or page titles into AI search platforms. If the client’s content never appears as a cited or referenced source, start by diagnosing accessibility. This technical groundwork ensures that AI systems can actually evaluate and learn from the site’s information.

2. Structure your content to be AI-readable and human friendly

Once accessibility is handled, the next step is to make the content intelligible to AI. Large language models parse structure, hierarchy, and semantics to determine what information is reliable and relevant. Agencies should guide clients toward producing well-organized content that’s easy to parse at scale.

Strong heading hierarchies, clear introductions, and concise summaries all contribute to better comprehension. Placing a brief, direct answer near the top of each page or section helps AI identify definitive statements. According to Conductor , content following this “answer-first” model is more likely to be featured in generative summaries. Similarly, content broken into clear subheadings, short paragraphs, and semantic groupings gives AI the signals it needs to extract and reformat information confidently.

Structured data is another underused tool for AI optimization. Schema markup in JSON-LD , such as Article, FAQPage, or HowTo, tells both search engines and generative systems exactly what a page represents. Combined with semantic internal linking between related subtopics, schema reinforces topical authority. Agencies should also encourage clients to regularly refresh content with update dates or version labels; AI systems often prioritize newer or recently maintained information.

These changes don’t require rewriting entire websites. They involve tightening structure, clarifying hierarchy, and adding contextual signals that make it easier for AI models to cite a source confidently.

3. Strengthen credibility with transparent data and attribution

Generative engines prefer content that’s trustworthy and verifiable. As misinformation concerns rise, models increasingly favor material that cites reputable sources and demonstrates author expertise. For agencies, this means coaching clients to embed clear evidence of authority and transparency throughout their sites.

Whenever possible, content should include specific data points with visible attribution. Replace generic statements like “most marketers agree” with sourced facts such as, according to Semrush , “According to Litmus’s 2024 Email Benchmark Report, email marketing generates $42 in return for every $1 spent.” Data-backed claims are more likely to be cited by AI systems. Additionally, including author bios with professional credentials, especially in specialized industries such as finance, health, or law, adds signals of expertise and accountability.

Quoting or referencing established organizations, even when paraphrased, can also help contextualize authority. AI models tend to link such names and citations to existing knowledge graphs, improving discoverability. Beyond on-page optimization, offsite credibility remains crucial: guest posts, media mentions, and digital PR placements create external references that models recognize, even if they are not traditional backlinks.

Transparency about methodology and freshness also matters. Marking when data was last updated, outlining editorial review processes, or noting the sample size behind a study all contribute to the perception of reliability. In the AI-driven ecosystem, credibility and verifiability are the new currency of ranking power.

If this sounds familiar, that’s because it’s exceptionally similar to Google’s E-E-A-T guidelines (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) SEOs are long familiar with.

4. Align content with AI query patterns instead of traditional keywords

Generative search systems analyze language differently than conventional engines. They don’t just look for matching keywords, they interpret intent, context, and phrasing in natural language. Optimizing for AI search therefore requires aligning with how users ask questions conversationally, not just how they type them.

Agencies can begin by studying how people phrase questions within AI chat interfaces. Running prompt variations in tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Claude reveals which wording produces the most relevant citations or responses. These insights inform how to phrase headings, titles, and introductory sentences on clients’ sites. Instead of relying on rigid keyword lists, focus on the semantic field around key concepts.

Framing headings as direct questions, such as “How does AI search affect SEO strategy?,” helps AI systems recognize answer relationships. Including concise, well-formulated answers beneath each heading reinforces that link. Tests by 97th floor found that content built around natural-language questions tends to appear more often in AI answer sets.

Covering adjacent subtopics also pays dividends. Because AI models aim to synthesize complete responses, they favor pages that address a cluster of related queries. Expanding coverage to include common follow-ups (“What are the pros and cons?” or “How does it compare to traditional search?”) can help a single article serve multiple prompt variations .

Finally, use semantic keyword variations and related terms rather than repetitive phrasing. AI systems understand synonyms and context, so diversity of expression strengthens topical depth. Agencies that train writers to think conversationally, not mechanically, will see better results in generative visibility.

5. Measure AI visibility and iterate based on real feedback

Because AI search is evolving rapidly, optimization cannot be a one-off project. Agencies need a feedback loop to measure performance and adjust strategies quickly. Traditional SEO metrics such as rank position or click-through rate still matter, but they only tell part of the story.

Start by tracking when and where your clients’ content appears as a cited source in generative systems. New AI search tools, like Semrush’s suite of AI tools , can detect citations across platforms like Google’s AI Overviews, Bing Copilot, and Perplexity. Even without such tools, you can manually test queries and record which prompts lead to visible citations or source mentions—although, try to do so with memory features disabled. Over time, this builds a reference library of prompt phrasing that performs well.

It’s also useful to monitor shifts in branded search demand. When AI systems repeatedly reference a client’s brand, users often start including it in their own search queries. Increases in branded search traffic can be an indirect sign of improved AI visibility.

Engagement metrics provide another layer of insight. Even if AI search reduces overall organic clicks, those who do visit may be more qualified. Track dwell time, scroll depth, and conversion actions rather than raw traffic volume. Periodically refreshing older content, updating examples, refining structure, or clarifying data, can also help maintain AI relevance.

Agencies should treat this as an iterative process, much like conversion rate optimization: experiment, test, and refine. The goal is not perfection in a single update, but consistent improvement informed by observation.

A roadmap for agencies

For agencies managing multiple clients, these optimization principles can be scaled efficiently through process design. Begin by identifying the high-impact content that already performs well in search or serves as a key lead driver. Run an AI accessibility audit on those pages to detect any crawling or rendering barriers. Once resolved, layer on structural improvements such as concise summaries, schema markup, and internal linking that clarifies topic clusters.

Next, enrich each page with verifiable data and clear attribution, integrating updated research or statistics where possible. Follow this by testing prompt variations across AI platforms to see whether your clients’ content is cited. Document the successful phrasing, then replicate the format on similar pages. Over time, these insights form the basis of an internal playbook—a repeatable framework for AI visibility.

Finally, build regular performance reviews into client reporting. Even simple monthly tests across major AI search systems can provide valuable trend data. Sharing these insights with clients helps position your agency as a forward-looking partner prepared for the realities of generative search.

From ranking to referencing

AI search is already changing how people discover and trust information. According to Xponent21 , Google’s AI Overviews now appear in more than half of all search results, a number that continues to grow. Google is also continuing to invest in an AI-only version of its search engine interface, AI Mode , emphasizing summary responses over links. The shift toward zero-click , conversation-led discovery is well underway.

For digital marketing agencies, this means the line between SEO, content strategy, and data credibility has blurred. Traditional optimization for rank alone is no longer enough. The new objective is to make your clients’ content accessible, understandable, and authoritative enough to be used, not just found, by AI systems.

By focusing on five key areas—technical accessibility, structured content, verified credibility, conversational alignment, and adaptive iteration—agencies can help clients remain visible and trusted in this changing environment. Generative engine optimization is not a replacement for SEO; rather, it’s its next evolution. The agencies that master it first will define what digital visibility means in the AI era.

Duda retires the C and V keys - liberating web pros from the copy-paste grind

Tue, 09 Sep 2025 12:52:36 GMT

For decades, copy-paste has been breaking web designers’ flow

Jumping between tabs, breaking their creative rhythm, and wearing out their fingers on endless keystrokes—the web pros’ copy-paste nightmare is real. Rather than focusing on design, too much energy is wasted just transferring text onto a site.

We at Duda decided to take a stand, and Shift got real

We built two AI-powered products that bring content directly into the editor, allowing it to be easily dragged onto the canvas , freeing web pros from the copy-paste trap:

File-to-Site:
Designers can upload a text file of their site’s content and instantly see it organized in the Content Library on the left panel - ready to drag and drop directly onto the page.

Import Content from URL:
By simply pasting a website link into the editor, Duda pulls in the text, images, and business info straight into the Content Library and Media Manager—making it easy to drag and drop onto the canvas.

Today, C & V hang up their keys with a retirement party for the ages

Replaced with a smoother experience, C and V can finally step back and enjoy a well-earned retirement. Guests toasted to the iconic duo, watched a moving slideshow, and even enjoyed a dedicated AI-created song in their honor.

Limited-edition keyboard stickers were handed out so web pros could proudly mark their C and V keys as officially out of service.

We’re inviting web pros everywhere to join the movement—retire your C and V keys and embrace creative freedom!

How to talk to your clients about AI Search

Wed, 27 Aug 2025 14:31:08 GMT

Ever since ChatGPT was first unveiled to the world in November 2022 , the importance of visibility in AI-generated results has been a burning topic of discussion for all types of businesses—no matter their size—and the digital agencies, SEOs, and other web professionals that serve them.

Questions such as, “Will AI replace Google search?” and, “How will people find my website if AI just gives them the answer?” have become commonplace and caused bewilderment for essentially anyone who relies on a strong web presence to advertise their products and services.

And though these concerns are valid, and it’s true that the search landscape is quickly evolving with every new leap forward in AI’s abilities, there are some answers that can be confidently relied on for the foreseeable future.

Digital agencies and SEOs that can provide these answers in easily digestible forms will be seen as heroes to their all-important clients. Those who cannot… Well, let’s just say the trajectory of the dodo bird comes to mind.

In this post, we will walk you through exactly how to talk to your clients about AI-powered searches with practical strategies that will help turn uncertainty into opportunity.

What exactly is “AI search”?

When we use the term “AI search” it should be understood to mean any search or query made via an AI-powered interface or chatbot. Examples include Google Gemini, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and anything else that uses a multimodal large language model (LLM) to provide users with results to questions and prompts.

At this time, there are two common terms for the practice of optimizing web content to appear in the results from these AI tools that are essentially interchangeable: Answer Engine Optimization (AEO); and Generative Engine Optimization.

For comprehensive answers on how exactly to perform AEO/GEO, it would be wise to consult Duda’s blog post titled, “ AEO for agencies: What is answer engine optimization? ”

Explaining AI search to clients

Now that we’ve covered the basics of what AI search is, its importance, and the terminology used to describe how to optimize a website to appear in its results, it’s time to focus on how that conversation should go between an agency and both existing and prospective clients.

Step 1: Separate reality from the hype

When clients hear “AI search,” they may imagine an overnight replacement for traditional search engines. Simply put, that’s not the case and there is a lot more nuance to the situation.

It’s important to highlight to clients what’s changing and what’s not.

What’s changing

Search results increasingly feature AI-generated summaries before (or instead of) traditional blue links.
AI tools are pulling content directly from websites to answer questions in natural language.
Users are trying more conversational, long-tail queries.
Click-through rates from search may shift as answers are given on-page.

What’s not changing (yet)

Search engines and chatbots still rely on a vast index of websites—including your client’s—to generate answers.
Authoritative, well-structured content still matters.
Organic search traffic is still a major source of discovery and leads.
Search platforms are motivated to connect users to high-quality sources, not just keep them on the results page.

Framing the conversation this way keeps clients from feeling like they’re in a doomsday scenario where their web presence no longer has the importance in driving leads and converting customers that it once did. Things in the online search world are evolving; not ending.

Step 2: AI Is complex; how you explain it should be simple

Many clients won’t know what terms like “large language models” mean—and they don’t need to. Your explanation should be in plain, relatable language that is easy for them to grasp.

Here’s one way to explain it:

“Traditional search engines return a list of links that match your keywords. AI search still uses your content, but instead of showing just links, it summarizes the answer for the user in natural language. Think of it as a helpful librarian who not only points you to the right book but also gives you a quick summary of the chapter.”

This analogy helps clients understand two important points:

AI search still depends on content from websites.
Having clear, authoritative information on your site increases your chance of being included in AI answers.

Step 3: Address common concerns

It is more than likely that many of an agency’s clients will have similar concerns when it comes to optimizing for AI search.

Below are a few of the most frequently asked questions you may come across when explaining AI search, along with some proposed, calming responses.

Question #1 : “If AI gives people the answers they’re looking for, why will they visit my site?”

Response : “AI can sometimes satisfy a query without a click, but users often still want to explore the source for more depth, context, or credibility. AI-generated answers also include citations and links — meaning if your content is a trusted source, it can be highlighted as part of that answer. The goal isn’t just ranking in the old sense — it’s being the trusted source that AI tools reference.”

Question #2 : “Won’t this make all of our previous SEO efforts irrelevant?”

Response : “SEO is evolving, not disappearing. Instead of just optimizing with keywords, backlinks, pagespeed and Core Web Vitals, we also need to optimize for clarity, depth, and authority so AI models can understand and trust our content. Structured data, schema markup, and conversational phrasing are becoming even more important.”

Question #3 : “Do we have to start creating AI-specific content?”

Response : “You don’t need a completely new content strategy—but you do need to make sure your existing strategy is ready for AI. That means answering questions directly, breaking information into clear sections, and providing authoritative, trustworthy information. These steps help with both traditional search and AI search.”

Step 4: Be upfront about the unknowns

When talking to clients about a new technology like AI, it’s important to remember that your credibility is somewhat on the line. If you overpromise or or make it sound like you have a crystal ball into the future, you could end up harming the relationship with your client if things don’t turn out the way you described.

It’s perfectly acceptable to tell clients that AI search is still evolving and what works right now might not work as well next year. Letting clients know that the future is still unwritten is, in fact, providing them with important information.

Step 5: Show, don’t just tell

It can be quite useful to demonstrate a live example when explaining how AI search works and what steps you and your client need to take to optimize for it.

It’s a good idea to search a common query that is relevant to your client’s industry on Google and highlight the AI Overview that is generated. Then, point out how the AI pulls from multiple sources to form its answer and uses sources that are credited and linked.

This can help show clients that the content on their websites really is still worth investing in—now more than ever.

Step 6: Position AI search as a competitive advantage

If your client understands the shift in search strategy but sees it only as a threat, they might freeze up or resist investing in changes. Instead, position AI search as a chance to get ahead of slower-moving competitors—similar to how you have explained the advantages of past SEO updates that dealt with issues such as pagespeed and Core Web Vitals.

Step 7: Keep the conversation going & schedule check-ins

AI search isn’t a “one and done” adjustment. You should encourage your clients to treat it as an ongoing discussion—just like any other part of their marketing strategy.

Additionally, it’s a good idea to provide some fresh ideas and offer benchmarks. A few to consider include:

Quarterly reviews of AI search visibility with tools like Otterly.ai .
Test new content formats (like FAQs with schema markup or long-form explainer blog posts with relevant charts and imagery).
Share notable AI product updates from Google, ChatGPT and others.
This positions you as a proactive partner and builds trust that you’re staying ahead of the AI search curve.

How Duda prepares your agency for AI search

Duda has a long history of helping agencies using our platform provide their clients with the most visible online presence possible. In the past, this has meant ensuring sites built with Duda are optimized for pagespeed, Core Web Vitals and other SEO factors; today, we’ve expanded this effort to include methods for being successfully surfaced in the top AI-generated search results as well.

For example, Google has confirmed it won’t crawl, or use llms.txt files, and that appearing in AI Overviews simply requires sticking to standard SEO best practices—which means no new protocols are needed. Therefore, we've added a "no index" header to make sure llms.txt doesn’t get indexed unnecessarily.

However, other AI platforms ( like OpenAI ) are actively crawling llms.txt files—and in some cases as frequently as every 15 minutes. For those platforms, we are automatically generating llms.txt files to improve page discoverability in AI search.

Additionally, our team is exploring product enhancements that could include an AEO audit tool that checks your sites for AI search optimization opportunities, such as content readability, question & answer based content, and more.

Conclusion

AI search is changing the rules of the game, but it’s also opening new doors for content visibility and brand authority. By guiding your clients through these shifts with clarity, transparency, and practical strategies, you can position your agency as their go-to expert and a truly great partner. Agencies that adapt to the new AI-based search world early won’t just keep up—they’ll lead the way in the evolving search landscape, provide huge benefits to their clients and position themselves to capture more clients as the industry continues to change.

Connect Duda to your favorite AI tools with MCP

Thu, 21 Aug 2025 16:54:24 GMT

A study conducted last year by Forrester found that 91% of agencies in the United States are either currently using, or are actively exploring, ways to leverage artificial intelligence in their business processes; a number that has likely increased since then.

The 2024 State of Marketing AI Report from the Marketing AI Institute dived a little deeper, finding that the majority of these professionals are currently leveraging, or planning to leverage, AI to reduce the amount of time they spend on “repetitive, data-driven tasks.” The second largest cohort in that study claimed to be looking to gain more “actionable insights” from their marketing data.

In practice, agencies looking to utilize artificial intelligence tools for these purposes quickly realize that “automation” is a term easier said than done. Large language models require significant amounts of context before they’re useful in a business setting, context that can be time consuming to include in every prompt. OpenAI addressed this with their “ projects ” feature; workspaces designed to make context reusable. Google, on the other hand, released an entirely new product, NotebookLM , to address the same issue.

What if you didn’t need to collect mountains of context for your LLMs? What if they could gather marketing data themselves, at the exact moment you needed it? More importantly, what if, instead of just querying your systems, they could take action in your marketing tools as well?

That’s where the “Model Context Protocol” comes into play.

Introducing the Model Context Protocol

The Model Context Protocol , often abbreviated as “MCP” or referred to as an external “connector,” is an emerging industry-standard way for third-party tools to communicate with LLMs. Pioneered by Anthropic and later adopted by all major industry players including Google and OpenAI, the MCP standard acts as a sort-of “USB port” for LLMs. Tools that support the MCP standard, referred to as “MCP servers,” plug into the LLM to share data and instructions bi-directionally.

Take Duda, for example. Duda is a specialized, collaborative website building platform for agencies. Duda’s platform holds a lot of information such as website traffic information, user accounts, client accounts, permission data, form submissions, etc—not to mention the contents of the websites themselves. Professionals building on Duda can review and manipulate all of this data and now, thanks to MCP, LLMs can too.

If the way an MCP server works sounds similar to an API , or even Duda’s Zapier integration , that’s because, under the hood, it very much is. Duda’s MCP server, for instance, builds upon the same foundational technologies that power Duda’s REST API, and, consequently, Duda’s Zapier integration. That means non-technical designers, account managers, and agency owners can create exceptionally powerful automations without writing a single line of code.

LLMs can connect to multiple MCP servers simultaneously, as well. Imagine connecting Duda and your Google Drive account to your favorite AI tool, then instructing said tool to reference a specific Google Sheet document full of keywords and create draft blog posts based on those keywords. That’s entirely possible, and it’s possible today!

Leveraging Duda’s MCP server

Connecting Duda’s MCP server to your LLM of choice, such as Claude , Cursor , and the OpenAI Responses API , is simple and secure, with some slight variation depending on your account plan. Accounts subscribed to either Duda’s Agency or White Label plan may utilize a server URL to connect to Duda’s MCP server, while accounts subscribed to Duda’s Custom Plan may utilize an access token .

These are, generally speaking, similar forms of authentication, with the primary exception being that the access token exposes more tools than the server URL. Please refer to your LLM’s documentation for specific instructions on how to connect MCP servers, as each platform is different.

As you move through the connection process, you may be asked by Duda to permit your LLM to access certain amounts of information and/or perform certain actions on your behalf. Take this notification seriously—your LLM can make permanent changes to your Duda sites. Prompt responsibly!

To minimize the risk, Duda does not allow LLMs to perform certain highly destructive behaviors, like deleting sites. You’ll have to do that manually.

What Duda does allow, though, are a number of key actions including:

Accessing site data
Reading, creating, and modifying collections
Site management
Team and client management
Content creation
Store management

A list of all exposed tools are available within Duda’s developer documentation, as well as the plan levels associated with each tool.

How Duda’s MCP server can automate agency workflows

Duda’s MCP server gives agencies the ability to automate a wide variety of workflows, turning what were once multi-step, manual processes into seamless, AI-driven actions. Instead of logging into multiple platforms, copying information between systems, or manually publishing content, teams can trigger complex tasks with a single natural language request.

For example, an account manager might ask their AI assistant to create and publish seasonal blog posts, update store inventory across multiple client sites, and generate a performance report—all within the same session. By connecting Duda’s MCP server with other MCP-enabled tools such as HubSpot, Jira, or Monday, agencies can orchestrate entire cross-platform campaigns without breaking stride.

This shift not only shortens turnaround times but also allows agency staff to spend more energy on strategic initiatives that drive measurable client growth. Below are more concrete ways agencies can take advantage of Duda’s MCP server today to streamline their business processes.

Publishing blogs at scale

Agencies managing content marketing across multiple clients can use Duda’s MCP server to centralize and accelerate blog production. For example, a single natural language command such as “Research current home renovation trends, draft three 1,200-word blog posts with SEO-optimized titles, and publish them as drafts to my site Boulder Real Estate” can replace days of manual work. The AI assistant handles topic research, drafting, formatting, and uploading directly into the Duda CMS. Seasonal campaigns like “holiday gift guides” or “back-to-school specials” can be launched for dozens of clients at the same time, ensuring consistent quality and precise timing across all campaigns.

Automating client reports

Reporting often requires pulling data from multiple platforms and formatting it for presentation. With Duda’s MCP, an account manager can request, “Generate a monthly performance report for my client, Art Suite, including top-selling products, traffic by device, and conversion rates." The AI retrieves analytics, processes the information into visuals, and prepares the file for delivery. This reduces report preparation from hours to minutes and allows agencies to offer faster, more frequent reporting, enhancing client satisfaction.

Creating collections

Structured data collections such as product catalogs, service listings, or event calendars can be updated in bulk using MCP. An agency supporting a chain of boutique hotels could have the AI gather local tourism events, standardize the details, and push them into a “Local Events” collection on each hotel site. Similarly, an eCommerce agency could sync product data from a supplier database into multiple client stores, ensuring inventory details remain accurate without manual uploads.

Orchestrating cross-platform workflows

For agencies managing several tools, Duda’s MCP server can coordinate actions across platforms. A lead generated in HubSpot could trigger a Duda site update, create a task in Jira for a new landing page, and send a notification in Slack. For campaign launches, a single request such as “Create a seasonal landing page in Duda for my retail client, based on the campaign brief titled Seasonal Retail Campaign in my Google Drive” can flow through connected systems without switching between applications.

Accelerating onboarding and client setup

Onboarding new clients usually involves multiple steps: creating the site, adding initial content, assigning permissions, and updating business information. With MCP, agencies can condense this into a single request: “Create a new site using our retail template, set business info from the client’s intake form, add the client’s marketing manager as an editor, and publish the About and Contact pages”. This method shortens delivery time while ensuring the process follows a consistent standard for all clients.

Rapid store and product updates

For eCommerce clients, time-sensitive store updates such as flash sales or inventory changes can be completed instantly with MCP prompts. For instance: “Add three new product variations to the Summer Collection, update pricing for the August promotion, and publish to the store”. Agencies can also perform batch updates across multiple client stores, a capability that is especially valuable during peak retail seasons.

Much, much more

Hopefully by now you’re beginning to see the potential. Natural language commands can be chained together, leveraging the inherent skills LLMs possess like content writing and research, to create powerful, complex automations.

Below are a few specific prompt examples based on a fictitious website “Balloonatics.” Please do not actually add Amy as a client to your website, she’s far too busy writing emails for Duda to operate a balloon business.

“Add amy@duda.co as a client to my site Balloonatics.”
“How many form submissions did my website Balloonatics get last month?”
“Research interesting topics about balloons, then write three 1400-word blog articles in paragraph format. Then, add those articles as draft blogs to my site Balloonatics.”
“Create a detailed site performance report with charts for my site Balloonatics. Include site traffic by source and device, form submissions and top 10 visited pages.”
“Create a new collection on my website Balloonatics, then fill it with potential balloon animals. One column should be the name of the balloon animal, while the other should be a ranking of how difficult it is to make, rated either easy, medium, advanced, or expert.”
“Republish my site Balloonatics.”

A glimpse into the future of agency operations

AI tools, enabled by technologies like Duda’s MCP server, have the potential to fundamentally reshape how digital marketing agencies operate in the coming years. As LLMs become more capable and MCP adoption spreads across industry-standard tools, agencies will be able to manage an unprecedented volume of client activity with far fewer manual interventions.

Routine yet essential tasks—content publishing, reporting, data entry, and cross-platform updates—can be executed instantly, enabling agencies to scale their services without adding headcount. This level of operational elasticity could open the door for agencies to take on more clients, deliver faster turnaround times, and offer new service tiers that were previously unprofitable due to labor costs.

The ability to deliver higher-value results in shorter timeframes positions agencies not just as service providers, but as innovation partners capable of driving digital transformation for their clients.

Looking ahead, the real opportunity lies in how agencies leverage MCP to move from reactive service delivery to proactive, insight-driven campaigns. By connecting Duda’s MCP server with analytics platforms, CRMs, and advertising systems, agencies could create automated feedback loops where performance data directly informs new marketing actions.

Picture a scenario where a sudden spike in product sales triggers automatic creation of a targeted upsell campaign, complete with updated landing pages, personalized email flows, and social ads, all without requiring a human to initiate the process.

Such capabilities will allow agencies to anticipate client needs, respond to market changes in real time, and differentiate themselves in an increasingly competitive industry. Ultimately, MCP-powered automation could free agency teams to focus their expertise where it matters most: strategy, creativity, and building long-term client relationships.

This is a really exciting time to be building websites.

Duda MCP FAQ

The best social media management tools for agencies

Tue, 19 Aug 2025 21:19:16 GMT

For agencies managing multiple client accounts, social media management can feel like a high-wire act—juggling schedules, approvals, analytics, and platform algorithms that change without a warning. Each client expects consistent posting, timely engagement, and clear reporting, but without the right systems in place, even small teams can quickly feel overwhelmed.

The right social media management tool can turn that chaos into a streamlined, scalable process. From centralizing multi-account publishing to automating client reporting and approvals, these platforms give agencies the professional polish and operational efficiency they need to impress clients and grow their business.

In this article, we’ll compare ten leading tools designed with agency needs in mind, from budget-friendly options for smaller teams to feature-rich platforms built for scaling.

Evaluation criteria

To evaluate these tools fairly, we’ve focused on the features that matter most to agencies serving multiple clients.

Core functionality : Multi-account management, scheduling, content calendars, and creation tools.
Agency-specific features : Client approval workflows, white-label reporting, collaboration capabilities, and role-based permissions.
Analytics and reporting : Automated, branded reports; ROI metrics; and cross-platform performance tracking.
Practical considerations : Pricing for multi-client setups, platform integrations, ease of onboarding, training resources, customer support quality, and mobile access.

These criteria form the framework for our reviews, ensuring each tool is measured on its ability to save time, scale with team size, maintain professional client-facing outputs, and ultimately, improve client satisfaction and retention.

Top 10 agency-focused SMM tools

1. Cloud Campaign

Cloud Campaign is purpose-built for marketing agencies, offering a rare combination of scalability and branding flexibility. With its white-label client portals and fully branded reports, agencies can present a professional interface that reinforces their brand rather than the software’s. The platform supports multi-account management with unlimited scheduling, a visual content calendar, and integrations with Canva, Google Drive, and Zapier for streamlined asset creation.

Cloud Campaign stands out as a powerhouse of agency-focused workflow automation—including bulk scheduling, AI-content generation, and one-click client approvals—saves time for small teams juggling multiple brands. Built-in analytics track engagement, conversions, and ROI across platforms, with scheduled automatic report delivery.

Best for : Small to mid-sized agencies seeking scalable growth with branded client experiences and AI-powered automation.

Standout feature : Fully branded client portals and unlimited user seats

Advantages :

White-label branding capabilities
Efficient bulk scheduling and automation tools
Robust approval workflows for client sign-off
Tiered pricing that scales with your agency, with no limit to how many users you can add to the platform (at no additional cost)
Consistent high praise from customers for great customer support and account management

Limitations :

Smaller app marketplace compared to Hootsuite or Sprout Social
Fewer advanced listening tools than enterprise platforms

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2. Hootsuite

Hootsuite is one of the most recognized names in social media management, offering coverage of all major networks from a unified dashboard. Agencies can bulk schedule, preview posts, and assign tasks to team members. Its library of over 150 integrations expands functionality into CRM, ads, and analytics.

Best for : Agencies willing to spend more for wide platform coverage and third-party integrations.

Standout feature : Extensive app integration library.

Advantages :

Works with virtually every major social platform
Highly customizable with third-party integrations
Robust scheduling and monitoring capabilities

Limitations :

Pricing increases quickly with more team members/accounts
Approval workflows are functional but less client-friendly than Cloud Campaign or Sendible

3. Sprout Social

Sprout Social is known for advanced analytics, visual reporting, and social listening tools. Its shared inbox, role-based permissions, and collaboration features make it ideal for structured workflows. Reports are polished enough to be client-ready with minimal editing.

Best for : Agencies prioritizing deep analytics and brand monitoring.

Standout feature : Sentiment analysis and social listening.

Advantages :

Best-in-class reporting visuals
Strong listening and monitoring capabilities
Excellent collaboration features

Limitations :

High per-user cost
May offer more analytics depth than small agencies need

5. Agorapulse

Agorapulse merges scheduling, a unified inbox, and robust reporting. It offers shared calendars, assignable tasks, approval flows, and content requeuing for evergreen campaigns.

Best for : Agencies balancing client communication and publishing.

Standout feature : Unified inbox for all client messages and comments.

Advantages :

Combines engagement and scheduling in one place
Requeue feature extends post value
White-label reports available

Limitations :

Slightly higher learning curve for new users
Fewer integrations than Hootsuite or Sprout

6. Sendible

Sendible is tailored for agencies with client-facing needs, offering white-label dashboards, branded reports, and secure client logins. It includes a content library, bulk scheduling, and automated reporting.

Best for: Agencies that prioritize branded client collaboration.

Standout feature : Branded, client-facing dashboard.

Advantages :

Strong approval workflows
Dedicated client login options
White-labeling across platform touchpoints

Limitations :

Interface feels dated compared to newer tools
Fewer listening and sentiment features

7. SocialPilot

SocialPilot is a value-packed option with bulk scheduling, client grouping, and white-label reporting. It’s easy to learn, integrates with all major platforms, and is priced for smaller teams.

Best for : Budget-conscious agencies that need core features.

Standout feature : Low-cost white-label reports.

Advantages :

Affordable for multi-client use
Solid scheduling and analytics tools
Client grouping for streamlined management

Limitations :

Lacks high-end listening tools
User interface is functional but not as refined

8. Zoho Social

Zoho Social integrates with Zoho CRM and offers agency-specific plans with unlimited team members, branded reports, and approval workflows. It covers all major networks and scales easily.

Best for : Agencies already using Zoho’s ecosystem.

Standout feature : Seamless integration with Zoho CRM.

Advantages :

Unlimited team members on agency plans

Affordable scaling

Good for combining social with sales workflows

Limitations :

Less advanced analytics than Sprout or Agorapulse

Interface less modern than Loomly or Buffer

9. SocialBee

SocialBee focuses on automation, allowing agencies to categorize posts, automate publishing, and recycle evergreen content. Workspace switching makes client management straightforward.

Best for : Agencies that want to automate content publishing.

Standout feature : Evergreen content recycling.

Advantages :

Saves time through automation
Affordable pricing
Works across all major networks

Limitations :

Lacks deep analytics and advanced reporting
Approval workflows are minimal

10. Loomly

Loomly is a visual content planning and scheduling platform with built-in approval workflows, post ideas, and optimization suggestions. It’s designed for creative, collaborative teams.

Best for : Agencies needing visual planning tools.

Standout feature : Post ideas and optimization tips.

Advantages :

Intuitive, visually oriented interface
Helpful built-in content inspiration
Affordable for small teams

Limitations :

Basic analytics compared to Sprout or Agorapulse
Limited listening and engagement features

Final thoughts

For small agencies, the “best” social media management tool depends on the balance you need between features, branding, and cost. Cloud Campaign is ideal for agencies that want to present a fully branded client experience while scaling efficiently with AI-enabled tools and automation. SocialPilot and Buffer are excellent for budget-conscious teams that still need multi-account management. Sprout Social and Agorapulse excel in analytics and collaboration but come at a higher price.

Choosing the right tool is less about finding the most feature-packed option and more about matching your agency’s workflow, client expectations, and growth trajectory. With the right platform in place, agencies can turn social media management from a daily scramble into a streamlined, profitable service.

How to make your SaaS platform indispensable for SMBs

shawn.davis@duda.co (Shawn Davis) — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 15:23:37 GMT

Vertical SaaS companies are on a roll. As of the publication of Fractal’s 2023 “ State of Vertical SaaS ” report the total combined market valuation of all Vertical SaaS unicorns stands at $98.2B, compared to $97.4B the year before . These companies can weather uncertainty in the market, while continuing to grow, because they provide meaningful value to their customers. Even more than that, they provide indispensable value to their customers. But what does it even mean to be indispensable?

What does it mean to be “indispensable?”

Vertical SaaS hasn’t always been such a hot market. In the early days, investors were understandably concerned about the limited market available to these companies. Could there really be enough tech-savvy laundry operators for a niche product like Cents to survive and, perhaps, even thrive?

The answer turned out to be a resounding “Yes!” Businesses, particularly SMBs, love when their solutions are tailored to their exact needs. They especially love when their solutions meet all of their needs. According to a survey by Vcita , 79% of SMB owners are using two or more tools to manage their business yet, among those owners, 90% would prefer to combine those capabilities into just one tool.

This is a big deal. Money is not as easy to come by as it once was, especially for small businesses, and spending is tight. In a McKinsey study of 3,500 SMBs , one in four businesses reported that they intend to cut their technology spending by up to 25% in the next 12 to 24 months.

The path forward for SMBs, then, is fairly clear; technology consolidation. Replacing multiple tools—and multiple subscriptions—with one single product can reduce overhead, increase efficiency, and cut costs. All even higher priorities than before.

Start thinking like an SMB

Customers need to like your product before they adopt it. Then, they need to love it before they replace any other products with it. However, to create a product your customers love, you need to first understand how they like to work.

This is a pretty common failure point for many vertical SaaS companies. SMBs have operated for decades, some even centuries, without any verticalized software. They have expertise and, most importantly, preferences that your product needs to respect.

Alex Jekowsky, the CEO and co-founder of Cents, understands this concept very well. He argues that “Many vertical SaaS companies think they need to revolutionize an industry, [because] there is such a lack of technology. In reality, small businesses have always been able to run their businesses without technology. It’s not that we are saving them [or] enabling them to do something that they have never been able to do.”

Instead of forcing their customers to work in a certain way, vertical SaaS companies should work to mimic, and then streamline, the workflow they’re already used to.

Yosha Ulrich-Strumat, Director of Product Management at ZenBusiness , agrees. He thinks that it’s “important [to] just test and see what actually people want, [and] not what you think in an ivory tower they [might] want.”

Own more of their tech stack

By offering multiple, complimentary products, vertical SaaS companies can chip away at an SMB’s tech stack while further solidifying their position as truly indispensable software.

Consider a veterinarian who has purchased a piece of CMS software to manage patients. The CMS is a fairly load-bearing piece of software for an SMB, so switching would be somewhat difficult—but not impossible. However, add-on features like payment processing, scheduling, and even their website and suddenly the level of effort required to switch software providers just went from difficult to herculean.

Cents followed this strategy themselves. They identified opportunities to improve their customers' workflow in areas like timecard management, payroll, customer analytic insights, payments—the list goes on. Alex sums it up nicely by saying, “I said in the very beginning you don't you don't have to be insanely creative. You just have to be a good listener.”

Invest your time where it matters

Offering complimentary products that accelerate your customer’s entire workflow is undoubtedly the key to becoming their most useful piece of software. However, just because a product creates value for your customers doesn’t necessarily mean you need to develop it yourself.

Take payments, for example. The ability to process payments is an incredibly common and universally useful add-on feature for vertical SaaS companies. Almost every industry benefits from the ability to manage payments directly within their primary database software.

Unfortunately, payment processing isn’t very easy! It requires a unique set of development skills, legal knowledge, and financial know-how to implement that few vertical SaaS companies have within their team ready to go. That’s why so many companies chose to white label integrated payment processing, a fact that has helped companies like Stripe grow to become SaaS behemoths.

Websites are similar. These are highly specialized pieces of technology that are constantly evolving due to design trends, standard updates, and ever increasing regulations. Creating a website builder that your clients actually want to use is much easier said than done.

If you’re interested in learning more about the value of integrated software, take a look at a few other blogs we’ve written on the topic.

The recipe to success for vertical SaaS is simple. Get to know your customers, then meet their needs. Doing so may mean developing new features, or even removing complex ones that detract from the customer experience. You may want to partner with other technology providers, or just acquire them entirely. The exact path is different for every company, but the universal truth is the same: You need to meet your customers where they are, not where you want them to be.

Your agency should know about ARIA

shawn.davis@duda.co (Shawn Davis) — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 14:31:23 GMT

Digital marketing is an ever-evolving field, which means we're constantly on the lookout for the next big thing. The next algorithm update, or social media trend, or piece of tech that will give our clients an edge. But sometimes, the most impactful improvements aren't about chasing novelty; they're about refining the fundamentals and ensuring your digital presence is truly accessible to everyone. That's where ARIA comes into play.

You might be thinking, "ARIA? Is that some new SEO acronym I need to cram?" Not quite. ARIA stands for Accessible Rich Internet Applications. At its core, ARIA is a set of special attributes you can add to HTML elements on a website to make it more accessible to people with disabilities, particularly those who rely on assistive technologies like screen readers. Think of it as providing additional context and clarity to web content that might otherwise be ambiguous or difficult for these technologies to interpret.

Now, why should a digital marketing agency, focused on leads, conversions, and ROI, care about something that sounds like a developer's concern? The answer is multifaceted, touching upon user experience, search engine optimization, legal compliance, and ultimately, your agency's reputation and bottom line.

Improving the user experience for everyone

Let's start with the user experience. Imagine a user who is blind trying to navigate a complex website. They rely on a screen reader, a piece of software that reads out the content of the page. Now, if your website relies heavily on custom interactive elements, say, a beautifully designed accordion, a dynamic image carousel, or a sophisticated dropdown menu, without proper ARIA implementation, that screen reader might interpret these elements as nothing more than generic "divs" or "spans."

The user would be left without crucial information about what these elements are, how they function, or what state they're in. Is that dropdown menu expanded or collapsed? Is this "button" actually a button, or just a clickable image?

This is less of an issue when building websites on Duda, because Duda uses legible, semantic code, which works well with screen readers and other assistive technologies. Rather than using a generic <div> element for a menu, for instance, Duda websites leverage <nav>, a far clearer description of what’s happening. For websites built on other platforms, though, ARIA can prove essential.

ARIA provides the necessary semantic information. It can tell a screen reader, "Hey, this <div> isn't just a <div>, it's actually a button," or "This image is hidden because it's purely decorative and doesn't need to be read aloud." It can also communicate the state of elements – for example, aria-expanded="true" indicates that a collapsible section is currently open. This kind of contextual information is vital for users employing assistive technologies to understand and interact with your website effectively. It transforms a potentially confusing and frustrating experience into one that is coherent and navigable, truly embodying the principles of inclusive design.

The unseen hand of ARIA in SEO

While ARIA isn't a direct ranking factor in the same way that keywords or backlinks are, its impact on SEO is undeniable and increasingly important. Search engine algorithms, especially Google's, are constantly striving to understand web content in a more human-like way. This includes understanding the structure, purpose, and interactivity of your website.

When you implement ARIA correctly, you're essentially providing search engines with a richer, more accurate understanding of your website's elements and their relationships. By explicitly defining roles and states, you're making it easier for crawlers to parse your content, identify key interactive components, and grasp the overall functionality. This improved semantic understanding can lead to better indexing, more accurate snippets in search results, and ultimately, a more favorable ranking.

Think about it: if a search engine can more accurately determine that a section of your page is a navigation menu or that a specific area is for search results, it can better understand the context of the content within those areas. This clarity, while not a magic bullet, contributes to a more robust and understandable website from a programmatic perspective, which can indirectly boost your SEO performance. Furthermore, improved accessibility often leads to a better user experience for all users, which in turn can reduce bounce rates and increase time on site – metrics that Google does consider in its ranking algorithms.

Mitigating legal risk while enhancing your reputation

Accessibility isn't just a "nice-to-have" anymore; it's a legal imperative. Countries around the world have regulations requiring websites to be accessible to people with disabilities. Non-compliance can lead to costly lawsuits and significant reputational damage.

As a digital marketing agency, your clients trust you to create digital presences that are not only effective but also compliant. Integrating ARIA best practices into your development process demonstrates a proactive approach to legal risk mitigation. It shows that your agency is knowledgeable about evolving web standards and committed to delivering accessible solutions. This commitment can be a powerful differentiator in a competitive market, attracting clients who prioritize ethical and inclusive digital strategies.

Imagine the peace of mind your clients will have knowing that their website is built with accessibility in mind, reducing their exposure to potential legal challenges. This translates into stronger client relationships and a more trusted reputation for your agency.

Implementing ARIA smartly

Now, before you go telling your development team to sprinkle ARIA attributes everywhere, there's a crucial "golden rule" to remember: Use native HTML elements whenever possible. HTML5 has introduced many semantic elements (like <nav>, <header>, <main>, <button>) that are inherently accessible and convey meaning directly to browsers and assistive technologies. If a native HTML element already provides the functionality and semantics you need, use it. Don't try to replicate its behavior with a <div> and then apply an ARIA role. This can actually create more problems than it solves and make your code more complex than necessary.

That’s why Duda leverages semantic code first, with native HTML elements. These elements are more robustly supported by assistive technologies and, while you can replicate virtually all of their qualities using ARIA roles, why risk it?

ARIA is designed to supplement HTML, not replace it. It's particularly useful for dynamic content, Custom Widgets, or situations where native HTML doesn't yet offer the specific semantic meaning required. For example, if you build a custom tab interface using div elements, ARIA roles like role="tablist", role="tab", and role="tabpanel" become essential to convey the structure and functionality to assistive technologies.

Here are a few practical considerations for your agency:

Educate your team : Ensure your developers and designers understand ARIA's purpose and best practices. This isn't just about syntax; it's about understanding the user experience for people with disabilities.
Integrate accessibility into your workflow : Make accessibility, including ARIA implementation, a standard part of your development and quality assurance processes. Don't treat it as an afterthought.
Test with assistive technologies : The most effective way to ensure proper ARIA implementation is to test with actual screen readers (like NVDA , JAWS , or VoiceOver ) and keyboard navigation. Automated accessibility checkers are a good starting point, but they won't catch everything.
Leverage the WAI-ARIA authoring practices guide : This comprehensive resource from the W3C provides detailed guidance and examples for implementing common design patterns accessibly. It's an invaluable tool for your development team.

Looking ahead towards a more inclusive web

The digital landscape is constantly evolving, and the trend towards a more inclusive web is clear. Accessibility is no longer a niche concern; it's a fundamental aspect of good web development and smart digital marketing. By embracing ARIA, your agency can ensure that the websites you build are not only visually appealing and conversion-focused but also truly accessible to a wider audience.

This isn't just about compliance or ticking a box. It's about expanding your reach, improving user satisfaction, and demonstrating a genuine commitment to creating a more equitable online experience for everyone. As digital marketers, we have the power to shape how people interact with the internet. Let's make sure that interaction is meaningful and accessible for all. ARIA is a powerful tool in that endeavor, and it's one your agency should definitely care about.

How agencies can create memorable client engagements

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 16:39:38 GMT

Breaking into a new industry when you're a total newcomer can feel impossible, especially in a close-knit world where trust is the currency . That was the challenge Scorpion faced when they decided to scale their business from serving local attorneys and home service businesses to targeting the franchise market.

Want to break into a new industry as a total outsider and get noticed? Learn how Scorpion went from an invisible outsider to one of the fastest-growing agencies in the close-knit franchise industry, where trust is currency. It only takes 3 minutes, and you’ll get custom growth advice based on your results. Visit https://geni.us/I1WA

The deals in local businesses were good, but to scale, they needed to go "upstream" to multi-location businesses like franchises. The problem? Franchising is a highly connected community, and Scorpion was an outsider.

So, they pitched an "insane idea": give away a brand new Tesla at the International Franchise Association (IFA) conference. Why? Because attention is the first step to building trust, and trust is the step right before revenue.

At the conference entrance, they parked the Tesla with a giant sign inviting people to visit the Scorpion booth to win. The catch? You had to go to their booth, get your badge scanned, and physically be present at the drawing on day three.

The result was incredible. On day three, hundreds, if not thousands, of people crowded around the booth. They held a live drawing, announced the winner over a loudspeaker, and created a "huge gasp" and a magical, celebrated moment with confetti cannons and music. While only one person won, everyone was there to witness the excitement.

The buzz was electric. After that moment, they were no longer invisible; they were "the company that gave away the Tesla". This bold move worked so well that they went from zero franchise clients to over 100 franchise brands within 2 years. They even repeated the strategy in subsequent years with a Range Rover and a BMW M3.

The key takeaway? In a crowded world, you can't just do good work and hope people notice. You have to rise above the noise and do something bold, different, and memorable. Scaling revenue like this requires the right foundation: impeccable trust with your market, bankable marketing that generates leads, and a repeatable, scalable sales system.

What will be your "Tesla moment" to get noticed?

This agency is building Custom Widgets with a little help from AI

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 14:59:09 GMT

As an agency owner, Callum Wells is all about pushing creative boundaries. He started building websites on the side about five years ago, before taking the leap from marketing professional to full time agency owner at the beginning of 2024. Since then, he’s raced towards the limits of nearly every website builder he’s touched.

Callum deeply values thoughtful, innovative design. Frequently inspired by unique website elements like interactive elements and engaging content displays, he often finds himself asking, “Could I build something similar on Duda?” It’s precisely this curiosity that has led him to incorporate artificial intelligence into his workflow - particularly to solve the “final mile” challenge in web design.

No website builder can realistically support every conceivable design combination. There’s always a trade-off between customization and usability, too many options would overwhelm users. While many website builders aim to get designers “close enough,” his ambition is to bridge the gap completely.

An AI-powered widget factory

These days, Callum wears a few hats. He’s an agency owner, a marketing consultant , and a developer. Although, developer may not be the correct terminology. Rather, the way he toes the line between writing code and instructing AI is more akin to a conductor, orchestrating various artificial intelligence tools to create something great.

You see, it’s not enough to open up ChatGPT and ask for a widget. He frequently emphasizes the human skill behind AI tools.

"I like to compare the use of AI to chefs," he said. "Some chefs hold Michelin stars, others don’t. Generally, Michelin-star chefs produce superior dishes. Similarly, AI models produce the best results when used skillfully by someone who understands their nuances. Some people are better than others, but it is a learnt skill."

His agency, WebHero, actively uses multiple AI models, each chosen for their unique strengths. Claude, particularly following their upgrade to Claude 4 Opus , stands out to him as one of the market's top models for generating code. Alternatively, he prefers ChatGPT for tasks like copywriting, with numerous other models playing key roles as well in various aspects of his workflow.

With the right tool, and the right guardrails, all that’s left to do is prompt. This part, too, is not as easy as it sounds. Callum found the process of prompting new widgets into existence was one that involved a lot of trial and error, often requiring multiple iterations. Models cannot intuit what you mean—as lovely as that might be. Context is everything.

A great looking widget that functions well on desktop, for example, may not be responsive on mobile if you don’t specifically prompt for that functionality.

"Being explicit is key," Callum warns. He finds it helpful to explain to the model exactly how the code should function on Duda. In addition to his thorough prompting, he has Google Docs files filled with support and API documentation to provide the models with even more context.

Developing this context has been a labor of love. Over the past twelve months, Callum has invested hundreds of hours perfecting these prompts and refining his interactions with different models. He's found that explicitly instructions and detailed context significantly enhance the output of these models.

All of this context comes at a price, which he pays in the form of tokens. Adding platform documentation, dozens of guardrail prompts, and explicit descriptions per widget can chew through usage allotments fast—particularly on free plans, and especially when iterating through designs.

Of course, Callum is not using the free version of these tools. He invests significantly in his process, to the tune of nearly $600 per month. Some of those tools include:

Claude Max
Manus Pro
Super Grok
Perplexity Pro
ChatGPT

These tools are his orchestra.

Widgets, widgets, widgets

Callum likes to, in his own words, "think beyond what is possible," when it comes to website design. When Callum encounters an engaging or unique website element, his first instinct is always the same: take a screenshot, pop it into Claude, and quickly generate exactly what he envisioned using carefully refined prompts. Within seconds, AI produces functional, responsive components that traditionally required extensive custom coding.

Through this efficient workflow, Callum has accumulated a diverse collection of custom AI-generated components, including infinite scrollers, swipeable containers, draggable stickers, expandable cards, and scaling hamburger menus—to name a few.

Callum shared the generated code with us below.

Expandable cards

Callum's "Expanding Cards" widget adds click-to-expand card animations to your site. You can get the full code, alongside his write-up, at AgencyGenius.co .

Scaling hamburger menu

Callum's "Scaling hamburger menu" widget adds an elegant, animated menu to your site. You can get the full code, alongside his write-up, at AgencyGenius.co .

What does he do with all of these widgets?

The best part of working with AI is how conversational it is. You can take the embedded code and paste it into another AI model (Callum recommends Claude), then customize it to your liking through natural language prompts.

Again, the key is to provide clear, contextual instructions specific to each component. For example, with his Expandable cards widget, you are likely going to need some kind of image or video for each card. He recommends uploading these assets to Duda, copying the URL, then sharing it with Claude to modify his provided code.

Of course, a big risk of working with any AI model is hallucinations. He recommends concluding your prompt with some kind of guardrail, such as:

"Make no other changes beyond what’s specified, and ensure the output remains neatly contained within an HTML <div> class, with all CSS and JavaScript included inline."

Once you start to get a grasp of the finesse required to generate high-quality website elements, you might find the process a little addictive. So addictive, in fact, that before long you could become flush with widget after widget. At least, Callum did.

That's why he chose to share his work. AgencyGenius , Callum's repository for custom website elements, was born from Callum's direct experience and desire to empower others. Members gain access to a curated vault of pre-built, AI-ready components. They simply copy these components and prompt their own AI models with natural language to rapidly adapt and customize designs.

His work comes in the form of either copy-and-paste HTML, or more native Custom Widgets fully integrated into the Duda platform.

An example of how AgencyGenius distributes code to its members.

The finishing touch on AgencyGenius is his educational component, which includes clear demonstrations exploring how to build components from scratch, as well as a robust prompt library.

Callum describes AgencyGenius as a toolbox he would’ve liked to have had five years ago when he first started building websites on the side. In addition to website elements, he offers development resources, tools, inspiration, and a slack community to his members—all intended to help them grow.

The future of AI-powered agencies

More and more, agencies are exploring fulfilment and productization. TheCamel, a longtime Duda Expert , offers a similar, albeit more comprehensive, toolbox with their " All Access " program. CommonNinja , as well, offers many widgets, both free and paid, on their website as well as on Duda’s app store .

What makes AgencyGenius so remarkable is that the entire initiative is truly a one-man show. At Duda we talk a lot about the efficiency gains to be had with AI. We write about the power of AI, host webinars that discuss it, and develop new features based on it. Yet, Callum truly embodies it. He is living proof of what an “AI Agency” can be.

"I'm far too humble to say that I have truly done this on my own," he said. "The fact is that this wouldn't have been possible without a platform like Duda and their new Editor 2.0 is an incredible solution that, in my opinion, all agencies should be using. Not just because of its White Label benefits, but because it is truly the most reliable platform of all the ones I've used. WebHero is beginning the transition of all websites to Duda. I'm incredibly proud that AgencyGenius is 100% built on Duda… with a little bit of help from AI."

Two years ago, Duda’s CEO, Itai Sadan, penned an article for this blog titled “ Beyond the hype: What AI means for agencies. ” In that piece, Itai stated “Fortunately, I don’t believe that AI will replace agencies. While AI is indeed reshaping how SMBs run their businesses, the value of the agency is here to stay. However, agencies will need to restrategize the way they support their clients and create value.” During our interview, Callum made a similar statement, claiming that “AI won’t replace agencies, [but it will] push [them] forward. The most successful businesses will be leveraging AI in every aspect of their [workflows.]”

We’re finally starting to see what that next generation of agency might look like.

Ready to start building your own widgets?

Callum’s advice for agencies exploring widget creation with AI is straightforward: Stay informed. AI is evolving rapidly, with new models and approaches appearing frequently. Keep up with podcasts, newsletters, and industry thought leaders - some of Callum’s personal favorites being:

Most importantly, he encourages designers and agency owners to approach AI primarily as a creative amplifier. Focus first on design possibilities rather than purely functional concerns, and you’ll consistently produce better, more compelling results.

Have you experimented with AI-generated widgets? Share your experiences with the Duda Community on Facebook!

Everything we announced at DudaCon 2025

Wed, 09 Jul 2025 13:59:37 GMT

In the face of rapid technological change, we’re standing at a turning point—not just for Duda, but for every agency, every small business. The way people discover businesses, engage with services, and build digital experiences is evolving fast. AI, automation, and new search behaviors are redefining the web, and reshaping the expectations your clients bring to the table. For agencies and web professionals, this is more than just another shift. It’s a call to adapt, to lead, and to rethink what a website can be.

At Duda, we believe this transformation is an opportunity. Discoverability is no longer just about SEO. It’s about building a dynamic, intelligent presence across multiple channels. Automation isn’t just a time-saver; it’s a growth engine. And interactivity isn't a luxury; it's the baseline for engagement.

We’re building the tools that make this future not only accessible to professionals like yourself, but empowering. Exciting, even. From AI-assisted site creation to integrated marketing workflows and dynamic personalization, Duda is here to help you build smarter and faster, so that you can evolve alongside the web, and stay ahead of your clients' needs.

Productivity

We know there’s so much more to your business than just building websites. You have clients to care for, strategies to develop, creatives to ship—all activities that compete for limited time and resources. Marketing agencies are under increasing pressure to do more with less, a truth we are keenly aware of. That’s why we’ve continued to develop tools that make building websites easier, more efficient, more scalable, and more profitable. AI has supercharged these efforts.

In 2023, we released our first batch of AI Assistant capabilities focused on improving your copy and automating your SEO. We went further in 2024 with tools to fast-track your design process, from generating individual sections to entire websites. This year, we stepped outside of the editor with AI tools to streamline client onboarding and site creation. Today, 45% of all sites created on Duda are leveraging one or more of these capabilities.

Now, we’re excited to go even further, with tools that marry AI and automation into one so that you can continue to do more with even less.

MCP Server

We’re excited to introduce Duda’s Model Context Protocol (MCP) server , a powerful new way to interact with your sites using natural language and your favorite AI assistants, like Claude and Cursor. With MCP, you can securely perform real actions on your Duda account, like adding clients, publishing blogs, generating new collections, and checking form submissions—all without ever leaving the chat. It’s like giving your AI a direct line to your website tools; safe, streamlined, and built for efficiency.

MCP works like a universal connector between AI and your digital tools, unlocking everything from real-time reporting to bulk blog publishing and multi-step automations. Whether you're managing one site or hundreds, this new protocol opens the door to faster workflows and smarter automation, all from a simple prompt.

Duda Copilot

Get ready to meet your new Copilot. Duda’s AI Copilot is a conversational assistant built right into the platform, designed to help you work faster, smarter, and with less effort. Whether you’re creating sites, managing existing ones, or scaling your business—Copilot is there to understand what you need and guide you through it.

From your account or site dashboard, Copilot helps you create new sites, manage permissions, update content, and more; all through a simple chat interface. Copilot is context aware, meaning it understands what you’re looking at and which site you’re talking about. It’s designed to cut down on repetitive tasks and busywork, freeing up your team to focus on strategy, creativity, and delivering top-tier results for clients.

File-to-Site

When building a site, content often comes first; sometimes in the form of a client brief, other times a complete copy document. A short survey we conducted revealed that 35% of professionals building on Duda start with such a copy document, while our own internal data revealed that 65% of text edits are performed by copy-and-pasting content directly into the text widget.

We’re not surprised to see that. Many teams are investing time upfront to refine their content for SEO and conversion, using tools like Google Docs for collaboration, ChatGPT or Claude for writing, and platforms like SEMrush for keyword research. Content drives performance, and the design should support it.

Duda’s upcoming File-to-Site feature supports both of these flows, helping agencies save time by eliminating repetitive copy-and-paste tasks and centralizing their process into one unified space. Designers can generate sites based on the exact copy contained within the doc, or use AI to translate a client brief into a stunning, hyper-relevant website in seconds.

If you choose to use the verbatim content from your file, you can easily drag-and-drop that text into the editor; streamlining the design process while maintaining complete control over the design. No matter which option you choose to process your file, the AI Assistant is always available to automate your workflow.

Flexibility

Today’s small business websites are no longer just digital business cards. They’re central hubs for how these businesses operate online, serving as storefronts, booking engines, and lead generators—all simultaneously. Whether it’s capturing appointments, showcasing products, or collecting inquiries, the modern website needs to work hard behind the scenes to keep business flowing.

That’s why, for SMBs, websites are no longer just about having a presence, they’re about creating outcomes. A website should drive real ROI, converting visitors into customers and supporting business goals like revenue growth and retention. For agencies, that means building sites that don’t just look good, but deliver measurable results their clients can see and value.

We’re excited to share with you a few upcoming features that’ll make that task a little easier.

AI Widget Builder

Creating custom widgets in Duda just got easier with the help of AI. Duda's new AI-powered Widget Builder can dramatically speed up development, turning a design or idea into fully functional widget code using Duda’s JavaScript API, even if you already know how to code. Our AI Assistant understands Duda's developer documentation and is able to generate reusable, scalable widgets that are simple for your, or your clients, to use. Whether you’re building a list with complex button actions or integrating external services like weather or stock data, AI helps you get there faster and with fewer errors.

You can start with a visual design and quickly bring it to life as a functional widget tailored to your needs, or simply describe the widget of your dreams to the AI Assistant using your own natural language until that dream becomes reality.

Duda's Native Booking

Duda’s new Native Booking tool makes it simple for small businesses to accept and manage appointments directly from their websites. With an intuitive, proven user experience, built as a natural extension of the Duda platform, it’s easy for clients to handle bookings on their own. The tool integrates seamlessly with site themes for a polished, responsive design, and supports workflows and templates to help agencies create booking-enabled sites at scale with minimal manual effort.

The booking widget includes robust features like unlimited event types, paid appointments, automatic or manual confirmations, and support for multiple team members. It also integrates with calendars and sends reminders via email, helping businesses stay organized and reduce no-shows. Designed to grow with your clients’ needs, it brings advanced booking capabilities into one flexible, native solution.

Advanced Form

Arriving later this year, Duda’s new native multi-step form builder gives you the power to create highly customized forms that match your client’s exact needs. With support for multi-step flows, conditional logic, and advanced structure options, you can guide users through a personalized experience that improves both engagement and data quality.

Designed for flexibility, the form builder offers full control over layout, styling, and functionality—including support for payments and bookings. It’s also AI-ready, enabling future use cases like AI-generated form templates or submissions triggered from AI search engines.

Discoverability

The way people discover businesses online is changing, and it’s changing fast. Search isn’t limited to Google anymore. Consumers are increasingly turning to platforms like ChatGPT, Google’s AI Mode, and other conversational tools to do their research, resulting in a fragmentation of traditional traffic sources. While Google still dominates, driving nearly 373X more traffic to Duda-powered websites than ChatGPT last year, we continue to see traffic from chatbots grow almost exponentially.

This shift in discovery behavior matters. People are learning about products and services offsite, often before they ever reach a business’s website. This doesn’t mean the website is less important, rather, it means it needs to be ready to convert when visitors arrive. As intent becomes more refined by the time a visitor hits the site, the opportunity to convert is higher. Agencies and SMBs alike need to think beyond the traditional funnel. Discovery may happen elsewhere, but that makes the engagement and conversion experience on the site even more critical to get right.

That’s why we’ve invested in features to prepare your clients for today’s new discovery landscape, where more research is occurring offsite, as well as the discovery landscape of tomorrow, where AI drives more and more traffic to the open web.

LLMs.txt

The number of people turning towards AI tools to discover new businesses, products, and services is growing every day. Moreso, AI-referred traffic has been shown to convert at higher rates than traditional search traffic, often as much as 9X . We want to make it easier for you to attract this high value traffic.

Every time you publish a site on Duda, we now automatically generate an llms.txt file—no extra work required. This file acts like a cheat sheet for AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude, helping them understand and represent your site’s content more accurately. It’s similar to robots.txt for search engines, but built specifically for large language models.

By including clean, structured data like live URLs and meta descriptions (but skipping drafts and no-index pages), llms.txt improves how your clients’ businesses appear in AI search results. Most sites still don’t have this, giving your sites a head start in the AI-powered web. It’s a small upgrade with big potential for better visibility and more accurate representation.

CloudCampaign

CloudCampaign is now in the Duda app store, giving agencies a powerful way to manage social media across multiple clients. With tools for scheduling, AI-powered caption writing, client approvals, and reporting—all in one dashboard—it simplifies day-to-day workflows and saves valuable time, whether you're managing one brand or many.

A strong social media presence is paramount for building brand consistency, while also improving visibility across AI platforms like ChatGPT, helping drive more offsite discovery and traffic. With features like white-labeling, unlimited users, and deep analytics, CloudCampaign makes it easy to grow your clients' reach and results.

Putting it all together

We're not just adapting to the future of the web; we're actively building it, putting powerful, intuitive tools directly into the hands of agencies like yours. From leveraging AI for unprecedented productivity to transforming websites into dynamic conversion hubs and mastering the new landscape of online discovery, Duda is committed to empowering you to thrive. The transformation we see today is an invitation to lead, to innovate, and to redefine what's possible for your clients. Join us as we continue to shape a web where agencies don't just keep pace, but truly set the pace.

The truth about SMBs and AI: Practical insights for agencies and SaaS providers

Thu, 19 Jun 2025 11:10:17 GMT

AI is everywhere, but how do SMBs really feel about it? We partnered with Localogy to find out. Our new report, AI for SMBs: A Reality Check , explores how SMBs perceive AI, how it influences their purchasing decisions, and where the opportunities lie for agencies and SaaS providers serving this segment. Buckle up because it’s complicated!

Mixed sentiment

The buzz around AI can create the assumption that it’s embraced by everyone. And, to some extent, that’s true.

In fact, our survey found that more than half of SMBs (57%) have been offered AI services, and 69% have experimented with AI features, pointing to a shift toward more intelligent operations. But it’s not just about what’s happened in the past, it’s also about the future. Looking ahead, 40% of SMBs expect AI to bring significant changes to their industries, with half anticipating they’ll be using AI more extensively in the coming years.

However, there’s a flip side. While 60% of SMBs recognize the benefits of time and cost savings, as well as improved operational effectiveness, many remain hesitant due to concerns over AI’s accuracy and reliability. Others worry about the overhype surrounding the technology and struggle with trust issues.

Should SaaS providers and agencies say AI?

That’s the dilemma many of them face when discussing AI with SMBs.

AI is definitely making waves, but how much weight does it carry?

Around 30% of SMBs say that AI features influence their software purchasing decisions. While that may seem like a small percentage, it shows that AI still has an impact on the decision-making process.

For agencies, the picture becomes clearer: 70% of SMBs believe that marketing agencies should incorporate AI into their services.

However, one of the key takeaways from our survey is that SMBs seem more interested in automation than AI itself. While 86% of SMBs see the value in automation, only 62% feel the same way about AI. Why? Automation has a proven track record: 72% of SMBs cite time savings as one of its major benefits. In contrast, AI still feels uncertain for many, with 15% unsure of its advantages, compared to just 2% for automation.

For agencies and SaaS providers, this highlights a crucial distinction: AI is important, but automation is the feature that SMBs are actively seeking. They want something that works reliably and provides measurable results quickly. Automation, which has been in the market longer and has proven its worth, aligns more with the practical needs of SMBs.

When agencies and SaaS providers are thinking about whether to emphasize AI, these insights are important. Yes, AI is expected, but it’s also about how you talk about it and the approach you take. For SMBs, it’s not just about the technology; it’s about what it can do for them, and whether it can be trusted to deliver.

How do we talk about AI?

It’s all about the positioning and packaging.

When it comes to AI, it’s not just about what you say, it’s about how you say it. SMBs are looking for solutions that will make their lives easier, not more complicated. So, the key is to position AI as a tool that works in the background, quietly improving operations without overwhelming them with complexity.

Instead of presenting AI as the latest and greatest tech trend, try to focus on how it directly addresses SMBs' pain points. For example, highlight how AI can automate repetitive tasks, save time, and improve accuracy in ways that manual processes can’t. When you frame AI in terms of practicality and immediate benefits, it becomes a lot more accessible and appealing to SMBs.

Keep it simple. Many SMBs may not have a deep understanding of how AI works, and that’s okay. What matters most is how AI can make their day-to-day operations smoother. Avoid jargon and buzzwords that might sound impressive but will likely confuse or alienate SMB owners who are already juggling multiple tasks. Talking about AI in straightforward, relatable terms helps demystify the technology and makes it feel more approachable.

Focus on outcomes, not the technology itself. SMBs aren’t necessarily seeking out the "coolest" tech; they’re looking for results that impact their business. By emphasizing the real-world benefits, like faster processes, reduced costs, and greater efficiency, AI becomes something SMBs can relate to and see value in. At the end of the day, SMBs want tools that deliver measurable results that are easy to implement and use.

What about the long-term?

Even with all the buzz around AI, many SMBs still feel uncertain. This uncertainty is an opportunity for SaaS providers and agencies to step in and fill the gap. One of the key recommendations from our report is that agencies should take on a more active role in helping SMBs understand AI. Rather than just selling AI as a feature, agencies can provide educational resources, show real-world examples, and guide SMBs through the integration process.

At the end of the day, it’s about helping SMBs understand that AI doesn’t have to be a daunting, futuristic technology. When presented as a practical tool with clear, easy-to-understand benefits, it becomes a lot more likely that they’ll embrace it.

Want more Insights?

Our full report goes even deeper into what SMBs are asking for, how to frame AI conversations, and what roles agencies and SaaS platforms should play as AI adoption accelerates. Get the full picture , including the top 5 strategic recommendations to drive adoption and trust.

Fueling growth in travel and hospitality SaaS by selling websites

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 13:59:58 GMT

By 2034, the World Economic Forum anticipates that travel and tourism will contribute around $16 trillion in economic activity, nearly 11% of the entire global economy!

For players in the travel and hospitality SaaS space, more independent hoteliers, tour operators, or other service providers in the industry are in need of top-notch all-in-one solutions to manage the massive uptick in booking requests.

This presents a considerable opportunity for travel and hospitality SaaS platforms that are not already selling websites to their users to break into this space and become the ultimate advocate for small businesses in this industry.

This blog will detail the key challenges that travel and hospitality SMBs face, why SaaS companies going multi-product can address these challenges, why selling websites makes sense for these SaaS companies and how to offer membership websites as a great upsell opportunity. Let’s get started.

Why SaaS companies going multi-product address key challenges faced by travel and hospitality SMBs

SaaS companies can seize a valuable opportunity by expanding their solution offerings to address the challenges their travel and hospitality customers face.

With the ongoing global economic recovery post-pandemic, numerous workers have transitioned to different sectors, posing challenges in recruitment and retention. Moreover, escalating energy prices, labor expenses, and disruptions in the supply chain are driving up costs. In that sense, SaaS companies that embrace a multi-product strategy and provide customers with all-in-one products that improve operational efficiency have a significant advantage.

The increasing number of online booking platforms (OTAs) has also created a challenging environment for established travel and hospitality businesses. These platforms make it difficult to stand out and attract new customers. Additionally, the rise in competition from these platforms has led to pressure on these businesses to adjust their pricing, which can affect their overall profitability.

The rising operational expenses, coupled with growing competition , have fostered an environment in which innovation is no longer merely a solution but an indispensable necessity for SMBs in the travel and hospitality sphere. Naturally, this dynamic translates into the expectations of what SaaS companies should provide.

By developing integrated suites of solutions, SaaS companies can address the intricate needs of customers in the travel and hospitality sector. A multi-product approach allows SaaS companies to provide comprehensive solutions that not only automate tasks and enhance efficiency to answer the operational cost gap but also empower businesses to differentiate themselves in a crowded market.

Why should travel and hospitality SaaS companies offer websites?

A shift in consumer behavior

As the world becomes more and more digital, having a business website is no longer a nice to have but a necessity for small businesses that want to continue to be in business for the long haul.

Historically, many smaller service providers have had to rely on OTAs, also known as online travel agencies, to drive bookings since many do not have access to booking engines of their own or, in many cases, a digital presence. Some of these providers lack the technical skill sets needed to maintain or build their websites complete with booking capabilities. They depend entirely on large OTAs such as Expedia and Booking.com to stay in business.

While OTAs provide many benefits to hoteliers such as greater brand awareness through advertising and a centralized marketplace for end consumers to book complete travel packages, there has been a shift in consumer behavior to book directly with hoteliers, not through OTAs.

This shift has occurred mainly due to travelers seeking more personalized customer experiences when canceling or rescheduling trips during the pandemic.

Considering end consumers’ desires to book directly with hoteliers, adding a website offering can be extremely beneficial for increasing product adoption .

Technology adoption

Many travel and hospitality SaaS platforms rely on hoteliers and other service providers having a top-performing website of their own to maximize usage of their technology.

Business expansion

By diversifying into multiple products and introducing a website-building solution in addition to their core product, SaaS companies can seize a distinctive chance to excel in their specialized market and foster business expansion. This approach enables them to deliver added value to customers while broadening the reach and adoption of their platform.

And there’s more…

The addition of a website offering provides a unique opportunity for SaaS platforms in general, and particularly for those in the travel and hospitality sector, to establish a stronger foothold within their clients' businesses, and help their clients grow, without dependency on third-party tools .

Examining business outcomes reveals clear advantages, including heightened Customer Lifetime Value ( LTV ), expanded Total Addressable Market ( TAM ), and the ability to enter new markets and geographical locations .

Not all website builders are created equal

Travel and hospitality SaaS providers require very specific features in the website builder they choose to integrate with, in order to fully leverage the benefits mentioned above:

A white-label website builder - A fully branded experience serving as a seamless extension of the primary platform.
Integration of APIs to synchronize with the platform and retrieve data like property details and images.
Comprehensive app integrations tailored to specific industry requirements, and specific features.
A variety of templates for the travel and hospitality industry need
Multi-language capabilities
Advanced SEO functionalities and conversion tools to enhance efficiency and competitiveness in this highly saturated industry.
Full responsiveness across all device types, given the mobile-oriented nature of this industry's funnel.

For the puzzle pieces to fit perfectly, Travel and Hospitality SaaS providers require integration with a website builder that includes all these functionalities.

Exploring Duda's capabilities

Here at Duda website builder, we are well acquainted with the travel and hospitality SaaS world and offer a tailored experience, encompassing all the features and benefits we’ve discussed.

The Duda website builder provides a means for vertical SaaS platforms , particularly in the travel and hospitality sector, to seamlessly incorporate Duda into their core services. This opens up the potential for selling websites to emerge as a highly feasible option, creating a new revenue stream and boosting the adoption of existing offerings.

With Duda’s white-label capabilities, users receive a seamless experience without all the development work needed for the SaaS platform to build out this capability themselves.

Duda provides robust API integration for seamless synchronization with your SaaS platform, allowing the retrieval of data like property details and images. Additionally, it offers a diverse app store to incorporate industry-specific features such as reviews, ratings, and a Booking search box component. Duda also includes a variety of templates tailored for the travel and hospitality industry , offering extensive customization options. With multi-language capabilities and full responsiveness, Duda ensures a comprehensive solution for diverse needs.

Duda's cutting-edge SEO capabilities are the best in the market, ensuring that your customers' websites have everything necessary to thrive in competition.

Provide an even richer experience with membership

While travel and hospitality SaaS platforms will need to determine what types of website packages they want to sell to maximize their partnership with a website builder, one upsell opportunity that every travel and hospitality SaaS company should consider is membership capabilities.

Membership is an extremely hot feature for the hospitality industry due to the incredible value these types of sites bring to end consumers.

If you are unfamiliar with how membership works, the basic idea is to gate a portion or the entirety of a website to provide content, exclusive perks, or discounts that can’t be found anywhere else.

For travel and hospitality SaaS platforms selling these types of websites to hoteliers, the growth potential is huge. Some possible use cases include community forums for niche travel experiences, personalized content based on previous stays booked, discounts for repeat bookings, etc.

Luckily, website-building platforms like Duda can help make selling membership websites simple.

The benefits of creating membership sites on Duda include:

Full native integration with the Duda platform that can be added to any site
Ability to track, manage, and remove members easily for your users or ability to allow them to manage their own membership site
Design flexibility to fully customize signup and login pages for clients depending on their preference
Templates that are designed for membership, so there’s no need to start from scratch
Seamless integration with Custom Identity Management Providers, such as Azure, Okta, Auth0, allowing you to sync users between Duda sites and these platforms easily.
Paid membership capabilities

Key takeaways

Travel and hospitality SaaS platforms looking to take their business to the next level, selling websites is one of the best ways to get started. Adding a website offering can improve the overall adoption of core offerings, add a new revenue stream for the platform, and create a stickier product that users are less likely to churn from.

Contact a Duda expert today for more information on how to begin selling websites.

Our best color combinations for a website: Stunning website color schemes that will work in 2025

Tue, 03 Jun 2025 08:27:12 GMT

Choosing the right color scheme for a website isn’t just about aesthetics; it’s about impact. Colors evoke emotions, shape perceptions, and influence behavior, making them one of the most powerful tools in a designer’s toolkit. But where do these color trends come from? They don’t appear out of thin air.

Each year, industries like fashion, interior design, technology, and even food set the stage for emerging color palettes, dictating what feels modern, fresh, and relevant. From there, designers instinctively pull from these influences when creating digital experiences.

To go beyond just listing trendy color combinations, I teamed up with Efrat Riany, Marketing Design Lead, to bring to life the unique colors of each industry. Together, we’ve analyzed how the biggest players in design shape the palettes that will define websites in 2025.

But before we dive into industry-specific trends, let’s start with Pantone Color of the Year 2025 , a shade that will leave its mark across multiple industries.

Pantone color of the year 2025: Mocha Mousse

Each year, Pantone selects a color that reflects the cultural and emotional mood of the world. For 2025, that color is Mocha Mousse, a rich, earthy brown that exudes warmth, sophistication, and timeless appeal.

Why Mocha Mousse? People are craving stability, comfort, and connection to nature. This shade delivers just that. It blends the organic feel of natural landscapes with the elegance of vintage aesthetics.

Where we’ll see Mocha Mousse:

Fashion – In high-end collections, blending with warm terracottas and muted golds.
Interior Design – A key player in the growing Sahara design trend, paired with sandy neutrals and textured elements.
Technology – Used in UI/UX to bring a sense of grounded innovation, often paired with deep greens or sleek metallics.
Food – Inspired by coffee, chocolate, and baked goods, bringing warmth and richness to packaging and branding.
Automotive – Trending in luxury cars, especially in matte finishes and deep leather interiors.

But Mocha Mousse isn’t just a standalone trend. It pairs beautifully with complementary and contrasting colors based on the color wheel.

The Color Wheel & The psychology of color

To create color schemes that resonate with users, it’s essential to understand how colors interact and the emotions they evoke. The color wheel is the foundation of color theory, helping designers craft palettes that feel harmonious, vibrant, or intentionally striking.

Complementary Colors (opposites on the wheel) create high contrast and energy (e.g., Mocha Mousse & Teal).
Analogous Colors (side by side) create smooth, cohesive designs (e.g., Mocha Mousse, Rust, and Warm Beige).
Monochromatic Schemes use variations of the same hue for a minimalist and sophisticated look.

Beyond color relationships, color psychology plays a role in design. Each shade has an impact on users. Here are some examples:

Earthy Browns (like Mocha Mousse) evoke warmth, stability, and timeless sophistication.
Deep Greens represent growth, harmony, and balance, making them ideal for eco-conscious brands.
Soft Blues convey trust and calmness, often seen in tech and healthcare.
Vibrant Reds & Oranges stimulate energy, passion, and urgency—great for calls to action.

By applying these principles, you can create website color schemes that not only look good but also feel right.

But, as mentioned above, color trends don’t exist in a vacuum—designers, brands, and creatives pull inspiration from fashion, interior design, technology, and even food to shape the visual language of their industries.

Every year, key industries set the tone for the colors we see in branding, websites, and products. These trends are influenced by cultural shifts, technological advancements, and even economic factors. What feels "modern" in 2025 will be shaped by the collective aesthetic of these industries.

Let’s dive into each sector, exploring their signature color trends, the standout color of the year, and how these palettes translate into stunning website designs.

1. Fashion industry

Fashion trends often lead the way in shaping color direction across creative industries, and web design is no exception. Designers frequently look to seasonal collections, runway palettes, and the visual language of luxury brands to inform their choices. For 2025, Pantone’s Mocha Mousse, a warm, earthy brown, captures the fashion industry’s current embrace of grounded elegance and tactile comfort. This tone speaks to a desire for sustainability and understated richness, pairing well with timeless neutrals and soft pastels.

CHANEL ’s website is a masterclass in luxury branding through color. Anchored in a black-and-white foundation that evokes the brand’s iconic heritage, the site layers in warm neutrals and soft pastels to create depth and seasonal relevance. The Cruise 2025/26 collection is presented in ivory and beige tones that mirror sun-soaked Mediterranean backdrops, while the Spring-Summer eyewear campaign leans into rich charcoals and deep browns to convey edge and sophistication. Soft lavender featured in the fragrance section introduces a touch of playful femininity, seamlessly woven into the layout to reflect Chanel’s commitment to timeless elegance with a modern sensibility.

Palette:

Ebony Black — #000000
Ivory White — #FFFFFF
Soft Lavender — #D6B8EB
Warm Beige — #D8CBB8
Deep Mocha — #9E7A4D

2. Interior design and furniture

Interior design is once again embracing the organic, this time with a heightened focus on earthy minimalism and soulful materials. In 2025, we're seeing a growing alignment with the Sahara-inspired palette: soft ochres, dusty clays, olive-tinted neutrals, and layered beige tones that recall sun-baked landscapes and artisanal craftsmanship. These palettes convey stillness and warmth, while still allowing for subtle contrasts and moments of bold expression. Mocha Mousse fits beautifully into this aesthetic as a grounding anchor, complemented by natural textures and timeless tones.

A stunning example of this direction is the Amber Interiors project showcase . The website’s visual language is defined by a mix of creamy whites, putty tones, weathered woods, and deep clay-like accents. The neutral backdrop allows detailed photography to shine, but the color palette does more than support; it enhances the story of each space. Muted sage, soft browns, and chalky whites echo the materials used throughout the interiors: washed linen, tumbled stone, brushed brass. The effect is luxurious without being flashy, warm without being rustic. It’s a palette made for digital serenity.

Palette:

Chalk White — #F9F7F4
Putty Beige — #D7CEC7
Dusty Clay — #BC8A73
Muted Sage — #A9B2A3
Charcoal Wood — #5F5C57

3. Technology industry

The tech sector continues to drive sleek, high-performance design, but in 2025, we’re seeing a shift toward earth-meets-innovation palettes that blend grounded colors with digital polish. Instead of relying solely on electric blues and harsh contrasts, forward-looking tech brands are embracing more subdued, intelligent color choices that combine approachability with innovation. Think rich neutrals, clean whites, and deep greens used with restraint, supported by accents of chrome, copper, or soft gradients for a more natural digital experience.

Refire exemplifies this new approach. The site’s design speaks to clean energy innovation, combining warm metallic tones and rich green hues to reflect sustainability and technological leadership. Against a minimal background of soft beige and charcoal, pops of deep teal and copper elevate the brand’s credibility and focus. It’s an elegant, confident palette that signals forward-thinking design, without needing neon. The result? A futuristic yet grounded interface that reflects the evolution of design in the tech space.

Palette:

Primary Corporate Blue — #003F75
Secondary Tech Blue — #2884BD
Highlight Turquoise — #0FACB0
Soft Black — #1A1A1A
Graphite Gray — #696969

4. Food industry

Color choices in the food industry tend to center on freshness, warmth, and appetite appeal, but in 2025, we’re seeing a shift toward more refined, emotionally engaging palettes. Rather than relying solely on deep reds or rustic earth tones, modern food brands are embracing hues that convey trust and clarity. One standout is Blissful Blue, a color identified by WGSN as a key shade for 2025. Its soft, tranquil quality brings a sense of calm and sophistication to digital environments while still feeling fresh and contemporary.

A perfect example is Duda’s Chef Restaurant template , featuring a refined yet welcoming color palette. Periwinkle Blue sets a soft, serene foundation, while rich caramel and deep Bordeaux evoke the warmth and indulgence of fine dining. Accents of vibrant golden mustard introduce lively bursts of energy, perfectly balanced by creamy neutrals that invite comfort and relaxation. Together, these tones create a sophisticated, flavorful experience, ideal for restaurants and food brands that want to express creativity and culinary passion without compromising elegance.

Palette:

Periwinkle Blue — #C3CFE2 (Soft, calming foundation)
Warm Caramel — #C98B4B (Rich, indulgent warmth)
Deep Bordeaux — #3D1B1B (Elegant, luxurious depth)
Vibrant Golden Mustard — #FFD23F (Energetic and lively accent)
Soft Cream — #EAE1D7 (Neutral, inviting balance)

5. Automotive industry

Automotive brands often rely on strong, high-contrast palettes to communicate power, performance, and innovation. In 2025, color choices in this space continue to evolve, but instead of flashy hues, many brands are opting for minimalist schemes that emphasize control and sophistication. Monochromatic palettes, chrome-inspired finishes, and deep charcoals dominate, with subtle uses of color to differentiate models or draw attention to features.

Tesla exemplifies this restrained yet futuristic direction. Their website leans heavily on a clean white and deep charcoal background, allowing the vehicles, often showcased in bold reds, blacks, silvers, or pure whites, to take center stage. The red of the Tesla cars stands out vibrantly against the dark tones, drawing immediate attention and highlighting the brand's focus on power and performance. Sleek grays and metallic tones echo the polished look of their cars, reinforcing Tesla's identity as cutting-edge and luxurious. This simple design, with little color except for the cars, shows Tesla’s focus on modern luxury.

Palette:

Pure White — #FFFFFF
Deep Charcoal — #1E1E1E
Performance Red — #a11219
Gunmetal Silver — #B0B6BB
Graphite Gray — #4A4A4C

Other industries & final note

Beyond these core sectors, industries like Beauty, Healthcare & Wellness, Education, and Travel & Tourism are exploring their own distinct palettes in 2025. Beauty brands favor rosy metallics and skin‑tone neutrals to evoke radiance and inclusivity. Healthcare sites lean into calming blues and greens for trust and serenity. Educational platforms use energetic blues and oranges to inspire engagement, while travel and tourism embrace turquoise, sunny yellows, and palm greens to spark wanderlust.

No matter your industry, be sure to select colors that align with your brand story.

Here’s to a colorful 2025!

AEO for agencies: What is answer engine optimization?

shawn.davis@duda.co (Shawn Davis) — Mon, 19 May 2025 12:14:04 GMT

I have an orange HomePod Mini in my kitchen—their best color option, in my opinion—that I often use to play music and occasionally to set timers. Sometimes I’ll even ask it a question, to which, when the stars perfectly align, Siri will chime back with an enthusiastic “I found this on the web” before presenting its answer.

Behind the scenes, my smart speaker, like so many others on the market, is querying Google’s index and analyzing the results—much like I might do if I were conducting the search myself on my phone. However, unlike when I search, Siri isn’t returning that familiar page of ten blue links. Instead it’s giving me an answer directly.

Here’s a more concrete example. A few nights ago I, perhaps over-ambitiously, tackled a new recipe that I believed I had all of the ingredients for. However, as I started to move through the steps, I realized that I didn't have any shitake mushrooms. When I asked Siri for substitutions, it rattled off a few options like crimini mushrooms, baby portobellos, tofu, tempe, sundried tomatoes, and eggplant. However, what I found the most interesting was that, as it was wrapping up, it also made sure to cite its source; allrecipes.com.

What was it about allrecipes.com that made Apple’s assistant repeat their content, and, more importantly, did the team at allrecipes do anything to make that outcome more likely? Did they optimize their content?

Introducing answer engine optimization

All major voice assistants—like Siri, Alexa, and the Google Assistant—are capable of answering basic questions. In this function they act as a type of quasi-“answer engine.”

An answer engine is fundamentally similar to a search engine except, unlike search engines, answer engines attempt to solve your query rather than just pointing you in the right direction. They typically draw from information published across the open web, but may also know some answers intrinsically. The Google Assistant, for instance, doesn’t need help from the web to convert liters to cups—it can just answer the question.

These tools are far from new. Apple first released Siri in 2011 with the ability to query the web, however the technology existed even earlier as an offshoot of the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) CALO project , or “Cognitive Assistant that Learns and Organizes.”

A year later, Google would unveil their “ Knowledge Graph ” project, which laid the groundwork for a different type of query-answer mechanism; the Knowledge Panel . They expanded upon this idea in 2014 with even more direct answers called “ Featured Snippets. ”

Featured snippets, knowledge panels, local packs , and other direct responses to search queries are typically discussed in the context of “ zero-click ” experiences, a term that’s been gaining popularity in recent years. Understand that there is some nuance between these two topics. Not all zero-click experiences are answers, in the literal sense. When Google prioritizes a YouTube video within search, the user is not receiving a direct “answer” to their question, so to speak, but they’re also not navigating out into the open web. Instead, they’re having a zero-click experience.

Of course, none of these technologies are what modern day marketers associate with an “answer engine” anymore—although they all ostensibly are. With the dramatic release of ChatGPT in 2022 , a new, more pure, form of answer engine has appeared; the multimodal large language model (LLM).

Today, when you conduct a search using Google, you’re very likely to receive a response from their LLM, Gemini, first, in the form of what they call an “ AI Overview .” These overviews are one of many ways consumers can use AI to directly answer questions. ChatGPT offers search functionality as well, as does Claude , while Perplexity was purpose built around that functionality.

Answer engine optimization (AEO), then, is the process of optimizing your website for all of these experiences, to increase the likelihood that your content is returned as the answer to a user’s query.

How do LLMs search the web?

Before we dive any deeper into the world of AEO, we should take another look at how LLMs search the web. I referenced earlier that there are other iterations of the answer engine, like voice assistants and search features. While that’s largely true, the writing on the wall is that these will all eventually become AI powered in some form or another.

The Google Assistant is slowly being usurped by Gemini , while Alexa has deeply integrated Claude into their Alexa+ product. Even Siri is getting a gradient-packed Apple Intelligence upgrade, eventually .

In fact, let’s zoom into Siri for a moment. If their marketing materials are to be believed, Apple intends to enhance Siri’s ability to answer questions with their own proprietary language models, which they refer to as Apple Intelligence. How might this new Siri answer my question from earlier about shitake mushrooms?

Well, it may just know the answer. That’s because Apple trains their models using information gathered by Applebot , a webscraper. Applebot browses the web programmatically, clicking every link it can find and vacuuming up every piece of content it can read. This content combines to form a portion of Apple’s “training data,” the information used to create the large language model.

Most LLMs are generative pre-trained transformers (GPTs), a technology invented by OpenAI and first shared in 2018 as “GPT-1.” It would be unfair to discuss OpenAI’s contributions, though, without first citing Google’s landmark research paper titled “ Attention Is All You Need .” In it, eight scientists from Google propose “ transformers ,” a technology that has since become the underlying architecture for the majority of modern LLMs.

According to Datacamp , “[Transformers] are specifically designed to comprehend context and meaning by analyzing the relationship between different elements, and they rely almost entirely on a mathematical technique called attention to do so.”

Attention mechanisms give models the ability to “weigh” certain pieces of information, improving output quality. Transformers revolutionized attention mechanisms by enabling multi-head attention , or the ability to focus on different aspects of the input data simultaneously. Transformers are also capable of self-attention , the ability to weight the significance of different parts of the input independently of their position in the sequence.

These technologies today mostly come together in what’s called the “decoder” architecture. As the name implies, your input is read by the model and is then decoded into a response. There’s a little more that happens here, like tokenization , that we won’t get into. What’s important is that the decoder combines what we just learned about self-attention with something called a “position-wise feed-forward neural network” to generate a response.

The neural network identifies patterns and relationships between words—the fundamental way LLMs work—to create the output. To avoid wandering too much further into the weeds, this essentially means that, depending on what data was used to train the LLM, and the weights that were applied to that data, the neural network will combine words that are most likely to appear alongside one another to create a response based on what you shared with your input. This training data is often referred to as a “corpus.”

OpenAI shares a great example of this technology on their website. In it, they suggest that a user may ask one of their models to finish the sentence “instead of turning left, she turned ___.” They claim that “before training, the model will respond with random words, but as it reads and learns from many lines of text, it better understands this type of sentence and can predict the next word more accurately. It then repeats this process across a very large number of sentences.”

They further explain that because “there are many possible words that could come next in this sentence (e.g., instead of turning left, she turned “right,” “around,” or “back”), there is an element of randomness in the way a model can respond, and in many cases [OpenAI's] models will answer the same question in different ways.”

That explains how models, like Apple Intelligence in our example above, can have some type of “intrinsic knowledge.” However, just like me and you, models cannot possibly be trained on all information at all times. There is a limit to their corpus, particularly when it comes to current events, that needs to be augmented by some kind of external source. The open web, then, is a great resource for this.

These programs start by incorporating quite a bit of information into their training data, gathered either from their own web scrapers—like Applebot or GPTbot —or from publicly available crawl data, like Common Crawl . Often a combination of both. That data constitutes what the model inherently “knows.”

Then, they supplement their training data with real-time information collected from search indexes, commonly either Google or Bing’s. OpenAI has their own search crawler, OAI-SearchBot, that they use in addition to Bing’s index. Information from these search indexes are included in the model input, alongside some pre-determined “ system prompts .”

System prompts are typically secret, but, to be fair, so are search algorithms. They guide how the model should use the information gathered from the web when forming a response. Other parameters exist too, like how much data the model ingests from the web, which may be possible to manipulate. OpenAI is one company that allows the amount of website data used to be changed, but only when using their API .

To put all of this together, web-augmented LLMs are combining real-time information with pre-trained model data to form a cohesive, plain language response to user queries. Responses are influenced by the index the AI model uses, where websites rank within that model, the way the content on websites is written, the LLM’s training data, and the hidden system prompts that glue it all together.

Can websites be optimized for answer engines?

Answer engines, like ChatGPT, are referring increasingly more traffic to websites. Adobe Analytics saw a 1200% increase in referrals to retail sites from generative AI, for example. As marketers, seeing reports like this raises one obvious question: can we optimize our websites for answer engines?

The short answer is an absolute, resounding yes. A universal truth to takeaway is that if things can be ranked, they can be modified to rank higher. Unfortunately, the longer, more complex answer is that LLMs are a little bit of a black box .

I mentioned earlier that LLMs are trained on increasingly large corpuses of data. The raw training set for OpenAI’s GPT-3 was a whopping 570GB of compressed plain text data, refined from an initial 45TB of data. The training process uses that data to form trends, something we discussed earlier in the article. How those trends are determined, and the conclusions the model finds, and how it may answer a question, are exceptionally difficult for humans to determine given the overwhelming size of the data.

“It’s one of those weird things that you know, but you don’t know how you know it or where you learned it,” says University of Michigan Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Samir Rawashdeh, who specializes in artificial intelligence. “It’s not that you forgot. It’s that you’ve lost track of which inputs taught you what and all you’re left with is the judgments.”

OpenAI fine-tunes their models to make answers a bit more predictable using, what they call, Reinforcement Learning with Human Feedback (RLHF). However, this process isn’t perfect, and models can still respond in unpredictable ways .

So, if models are unpredictable, and if we don’t necessarily know “why” they answer the way they do, and if their answers can change each time they’re promtped—how can we optimize our content?

Well, a few researchers at Princeton had that exact question. They published a paper in August of 2024 titled “ GEO: Generative Engine Optimization ” that attempts to prove that content can be optimized for modern AI search experiences.

This is a phenomenal paper for marketers, one that I won’t force you to read. In it, they find that websites can be optimized, and that this optimization process is different from typically accepted SEO practices. There were limitations to their research, though, that are worth noting.

The first, and perhaps most important, limitation they note is that AI search experiences are continuing to evolve. On April 29th, 2025, OpenAI released a significant update to their search experience that embeds new inline shopping actions. That won’t be the last update. Of course, if you’ve been doing SEO long enough to see a few Core Updates shake up your rankings, you’ll find this miasma of uncertainty pretty familiar.

They also note that they were unable to determine if their so-called “GEO” efforts proved detrimental to traditional search engine performance. At the time of publication, there is no consensus on whether or not GEO/AEO and SEO compete. What we do know is that there is some overlap between the two, which we’ll discuss below. Whether they diverge or not is yet to be determined.

How can I optimize my site for answer engines?

Our advice is based on published findings from a team of researchers at Princeton in late August of 2024. AI search is in its infancy and accounts for less than 1% of all website traffic , on average—so don’t sweat all of this too much! If you’re doing any SEO, you’ll find much of this familiar, with a few key differences. Let’s dive right in!

Your website needs to be discoverable

This is the most fundamental piece of advice for SEO and AEO alike. Nothing else you do matters unless your website is discoverable. That means you do not have any “no-index” tags set for pages you’d like to see indexed, and you aren’t excluding any important crawlers in your “robots.txt” file.

If you’re building on Duda, all of this is true by default. In fact, we go above and beyond by employing the IndexNow protocol, which informs participating search engines of changes to your sitemap every time you hit publish.

IndexNow is just as much a crucial component of AEO as it is SEO because LLMs still rely on traditional search engine indexes to inform their answers. If your site isn’t indexed, it won’t show up.

Your content needs to be reachable

In the realm of search engines, this is called “technical SEO.” It’s the architectural decisions you make when building your website, both frontend and backend, that determine how easy it is for a program to “crawl” it.

As a refresher, crawlers work by scanning a page of a website, reading all of the content, then following all of the links. The process repeats until there are no more links left to follow. When you have a page on your website that isn’t accessible by any links, we call that an “orphaned page.” It cannot be crawled, which means it cannot be indexed, which means it will not appear in search or answer results.

Virtually all of the fundamentals of technical SEO apply to AEO since, again, these LLMs rely on traditional search indexes for their answers. If you’re building on Duda, we handle most technical SEO out-of-the-box , while offering a variety of tools, like the Link Checker , to make the final mile as easy as possible.

Your content needs to be written for AI

Here’s where things start to get LLM specific. Princeton’s research found that the way you write your content impacts how it appears in answer engines based on two key metrics: Position-Adjusted Word Count and Subjective Impression . These are your new performance metrics for the age of AEO.

Position-Adjusted Word Count, as it sounds, combines the total word count of the LLM’s output with your content’s position within the response to create something standardized and comparable across many responses. Subjective Impression is an, unfortunately, subjective measurement encompassing seven aspects:

Relevance of the cited sentence to the user query
Influence of the citation, assessing the extent to which the generated response relies on the citation
Uniqueness of the material presented by a citation
Subjective position, gauging the prominence of the positioning of source from the user’s viewpoint
Subjective count, measuring the amount of content presented from the citation as perceived by the user
Likelihood of the user clicking the citation
Diversity of the material presented.

According to the paper, “these submetrics assess diverse aspects that content creators can target to improve one or more areas effectively” and were evaluated using OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 “following a methodology akin to that described in G-Eval .”

In simpler terms, subject impressions are subjective in the sense that the LLM itself is the judge, not the researchers.

With all of this in mind, here were their content findings.

Let’s work through that table, step-by-step. Note that the most important columns here are the bolded “Overall” under Position-Adjusted Word Count and the bolded “Average” under Subjective Impression, with higher numbers meaning better performance.

We see that traditional “keyword stuffing” practices actually cause content to perform worse in LLMs. While this may imply that AEO and SEO best-practices compete with one another, it’s been known for quite some time that keyword stuffing is becoming less effective in search anyway. If you’ve been waiting for a sign to ditch that practice, let this be it.

Content that is easy-to-understand, authoritative in tone, technical in tone, fluent in style, ripe with citations, flush with quotes, and full of statistics does seem to perform better than content without, although not necessarily all-together.

The addition of quotations, citations, and statistics lead to the highest performance boost across a wide range of categories; 30-40% on the Position-Adjusted Word Count metric and 15-30% on the Subjective Impression metric.

The paper also notes that “stylistic changes such as improving fluency and readability of the source text (Fluency Optimization and Easy-to-Understand) also resulted in a significant visibility boost of 15-30%.”

Together, this confirms that it’s not just the content itself that matters, but how the content is written.

When combining optimization methods, Fluency Optimization and Statistics Addition performed the best, as shown in the graph below.

There’s an argument to be made that this is how we should be writing content anyway. While the paper does seek to create a technical framework for persuasive writing, it should come as no surprise that copy that flows well with meaningful citations and few cliches performs well.

For SEOs, this is the ultimate extension of Google’s E-E-A-T initiative. LLMs are seeking, and prioritizing, well written content, likely because their training data is professionally written as well.

In the paper, the researchers compare two pieces of written content. The first says:

“The Jaguars have never appeared in the Super Bowl. They have four division titles to their name.”

The second modifies this statement to make it more authoritative. It now reads:

“It is important to note that The Jaguars have never made an appearance in the Super Bowl. However, they have achieved an impressive feat by securing 4 divisional titles, a testament to their prowess and determination.”

When their LLM was asked “Did the Jacksonville Jaguars ever make it to the superbowl?,” the more authoritative phrase performed 89.1% better. A lovely byproduct is that this is a better sentence for human readers, too.

In another example, the researchers add a citation to the following sentence, increasing its performance for the query “What is the secret of Swiss chocolate” by 132.4%.

“With per capita annual consumption averaging between 11 and 12 kilos, Swiss people rank among the top chocolate lovers in the world (According to a survey conducted by The International Chocolate Consumption Research Group [1])”

Again, just like before, not only is this a better performing piece of content for AI ranking purposes, it’s a more persuasive piece of content for human readers as well. Distilling their advice, we’d recommend following a journalistic style when writing. Include, when appropriate:

Thoughtful, fluid transitions between ideas
Relevant citations
Quotes
Statistics
An active voice

The paper notes that their work “serves as a first step towards understanding the impact of generative engines on the digital space and the role of GEO in this new paradigm of search engines.” That’s to say, we’re only just beginning to see what AEO/GEO may become.

Today, though, all of those English teachers who got onto their students for using a passive voice must feel pretty vindicated right now.

5 tips for creating a more accessible eCommerce experience

Tue, 13 May 2025 15:30:20 GMT

In today's digital landscape, your online store is often the first, and sometimes the only, point of interaction for potential customers. As businesses increasingly rely on e-commerce, ensuring that your digital storefront is welcoming to everyone is not just the right thing to do, it's essential for growth and risk mitigation. With 1.3 billion people globally living with disabilities, creating an accessible online shopping experience means opening your doors to a massive market segment while simultaneously reducing potential legal risks.

AudioEye’s recent 2025 Digital Accessibility Index , which analyzed 15,000 websites across various industries in Q4 2024, revealed that the average webpage currently has 297 accessibility issues. These aren't just minor glitches; each represents a potential barrier that could prevent a user from browsing, adding items to their cart, or completing a purchase. Alarmingly, the retail sector emerged as having the highest number of accessibility issues per page compared to any other industry examined, averaging a staggering 350.1 issues. While retail faces significant challenges, it's important to note that every industry analyzed failed to consistently deliver accessible, compliant web experiences. This underscores a widespread need for improved digital accessibility practices.

Many of these issues stem from fundamental accessibility challenges, such as inadequate color contrast, missing or faulty image alternative text, and non-descriptive links. Addressing these core problems is key to creating a more inclusive online environment. Drawing on AudioEye’s findings and expertise, here are some crucial areas to focus on to enhance your e-commerce site's accessibility:

1. Mastering alt text for images

Visuals are paramount in online retail. The sources indicate that 75% of online shoppers depend heavily on product photos to make purchasing decisions. However, retail sites struggle significantly in this area, having the second-most inaccessible images per page (14.0) across all industries studied. When images lack proper alternative text (alt text), shoppers who are non-sighted and use screen readers cannot understand the content or context conveyed by the images. This makes it incredibly difficult for them to browse products effectively. AudioEye’s analysis found that 38% of images across the surveyed websites had faulty or missing image alt text.

To improve : Think of alt text as describing the image to someone over the phone. What details are essential for them to get a complete picture of the product or image content? Include these details concisely in the alt text. Making this a standard practice ensures that visual information is available to everyone.

2. Ensuring adequate color contrast

Color contrast is another fundamental accessibility issue where retail sites frequently fall short. The average retail page contains a significant number of elements – 73 unique page elements on average – that fail to meet the minimum requirements for color contrast set by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). This lack of contrast makes it extremely challenging for shoppers with low vision to navigate pages, read product descriptions, and interact with form fields.

To improve : According to WCAG standards, the contrast ratio between foreground elements (like text) and their background should be at least 4.5 to 1. This ensures sufficient contrast for readability. Utilize available color contrast checkers to test your site's color schemes and ensure compliance.

3. Eliminating keyboard navigation barriers

Many users, including those who are blind or have mobility impairments, rely solely on a keyboard or keyboard-like device to navigate websites. AudioEye’s data shows that retail websites have a high average of keyboard accessibility violations – 9.5 per page. These barriers prevent users from easily moving between pages, adding items to their shopping cart, or completing the checkout process.

To improve : A simple yet effective way to identify these issues is to navigate your website using only your keyboard. Can you reach and interact with all clickable elements? Can you fill out forms and complete transactions? Referencing specific WCAG criteria can provide detailed guidance on technical implementation.

4. Writing descriptive links

Links are the pathways of your website, guiding users from one page to another. However, when links are not descriptive, they create confusion. AudioEye’s analysis found an average of 8 inaccessible links per retail page. Furthermore, 80% of pages surveyed had links that did not adequately describe their purpose to screen reader users. Imagine a screen reader user encountering multiple links that just say "click here" – they have no way of knowing where each link will take them without clicking it, which disrupts their flow.

To improve : Make your links informative. There are two main approaches: Version 1 is to embed the link within descriptive text, for example, "Learn more about our accessibility initiatives". Version 2 is to use a shortened link that is itself descriptive of the destination, such as "Check your site's accessibility at [your-domain.com/accessibility]".

5. Creating usable form fields

Forms are critical for many e-commerce interactions, from signing up for an account to completing a purchase at checkout. Retail websites exhibited one of the highest rates of inaccessible forms and input fields, with an average of 11.5 inaccessible input elements per page. When form fields lack proper labels or instructions, users with visual disabilities who rely on assistive technology may not understand what information needs to be entered into each field. In fact, 35% of pages had forms that failed to provide clear labels or instructions.

To improve : Implementing accessible forms is often straightforward. Crucially, avoid using color as the sole indicator for conveying information, such as showing an error only in red without any accompanying text or symbol. Be cautious with CAPTCHA systems, which can be challenging for users with visual or cognitive disabilities, and provide accessible alternatives for user verification. Finally, reinforce keyboard accessibility specifically for forms, ensuring users can easily navigate and interact with all input fields using only a keyboard.

An extra layer of support: accessible customer service

While fixing digital barriers is the primary goal, providing accessible customer service acts as a vital safety net. When users encounter difficulties online, having an easy and accessible way to contact a human can resolve issues and prevent lost sales.

To improve: Offer support through multiple channels to allow customers to choose the method that works best for their needs, including phone, email, social media, and potentially in-person assistance. Alongside chatbots, maintain options for live chat or phone support. Human agents can offer more nuanced assistance and adapt their communication style to individual customer needs, making the interaction more personalized and accessible.

Moving forward

The data from AudioEye’s 2025 Digital Accessibility Index makes it clear that there is significant room for improvement in e-commerce accessibility. While the challenges may seem daunting, focusing on these key areas – alt text, color contrast, keyboard navigation, descriptive links, and usable forms – can dramatically improve the experience for potentially 1.3 billion people globally, while also reducing legal exposure. By prioritizing digital accessibility, you not only comply with standards but also build a more inclusive, user-friendly, and ultimately more successful online business.

We just broke our industry-leading Core Web Vitals record - 82%! Our latest technical improvements explained.

Tue, 13 May 2025 15:21:14 GMT

Warning: The following contains actual technical content. Side effects may include faster websites, happier users, and a sudden urge to explain bfcache at dinner parties.

Our latest round of optimizations helped nudge Core Web Vitals scores past the 80% mark across Duda sites, helping us maintain our position as the leading website building platform for CWV performance. This achievement was highlighted in the latest Core Web Vitals Technology Report (cwvtech.report) .

To be clear, this milestone isn’t the result of one or two tweaks, it reflects years of foundational work focused on performance, from smart lazy loading and optimized JavaScript to recent, strategic enhancements under the hood. These latest changes, focused on how browsers cache and restore pages have helped us push past our previous benchmarks of 80% and move the needle even further toward 82%!

Why do Core Web Vitals still matter?

As a refresher, Core Web Vitals are a set of key metrics Google uses to measure real-world user experience:

LCP (Largest Contentful Paint): How fast the main content loads
INP (Interaction to Next Paint): How quickly the site responds to user input
CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift): How visually stable the page is during loading

High CWV scores don’t just create smoother, faster experiences, they also contribute to stronger SEO performance and happier visitors who are more likely to stick around and convert.

Our latest Improvements that made a difference

Duda has recently implemented ETag headers and optimized its caching strategy by dropping the CCNS (Cache-Control: no-store) value, enabling the use of bfcache (back/forward cache). These changes have already proved to enhance website performance and user experience by reducing load times and improving page navigation.

What is CCNS and BFcache

Browsers use a helpful optimization called bfcache (back/forward cache). Bfcache stores a snapshot of a web page when you navigate away from it. This allows for instant navigation when you click the back or forward buttons in your browser, making browsing much faster.

In the past, Duda employed the `Cache-Control: no-store` directive (CCNS). This directive instructs the browser not to cache any version of the page to ensure sensitive or personalized information is not stored in browser caches. As a result, using `Cache-Control: no-store` also disabled the bfcache functionality.

Why the change?

Using BFCache (back/forward cache) is significantly better than a regular reload cache because with bfcache, the browser can restore the page from a stored snapshot. With BFCache the page doesn't need to be processed or have JavaScript executed again before rendering. In contrast, a regular reload cache (from http cache), while saving some bandwidth, still requires the browser to process the page and execute scripts. This processing takes time. Therefore, bfcache results in near-instantaneous page loads for back/forward navigation, while a regular cache still involves a loading delay, even if the resources are fetched from the cache.

Dropping CCNS now fully enables bfcache and users can expect significant improvements to navigation speed when navigating back or forward.

Protecting your data

`Cache-Control: no-store` was previously used to prevent caching of sensitive content, ensuring that browsers did not store copies. Simply dropping this header value can expose sensitive data if not handled carefully because the information may now be stored in caches, potentially leading to security vulnerabilities if those caches are compromised or accessed by unauthorized users. Duda now optimizes the use of the `no-store` value which will be retained for pages that require log-in or require on demand server computation like pages with personalization rules.

A Duda site getting more “back_forward_cache” navigation types once the header is removed:

Using BFCache correlates with improvements in all CWV metrics as pages do not need to be processed and javascript do not need to execute before rendering:

What are ETag Headers?

ETag (Entity Tag) headers are HTTP response headers that act as a unique identifier for a specific version of a resource. When a browser requests a resource, the server can include an ETag header. If the browser requests the same resource again, it can send the stored ETag value in an If-None-Match request header. If the ETag matches, the server can respond with a 304 Not Modified status, indicating that the cached version is still valid, and saving bandwidth and time.

The benefits of ETag Headers

ETag headers offer several benefits:

Efficient caching: They help browsers determine if a cached resource is still up-to-date, reducing the need to download the same resource repeatedly.
Reduced bandwidth usage: By returning 304 responses, servers send less data, saving bandwidth.
Faster load times: Utilizing cached resources leads to quicker page load times, improving the user experience.

Impact on Core Web Vitals

Duda's recent implementation of ETag headers and the strategic removal of CCNS (where possible) are expected to significantly improve Core Web Vitals (CWV), especially for returning users and those navigating via back/forward. By enabling bfcache, pages can be restored from a snapshot, eliminating the need for processing and script execution, leading to faster navigation and improved metrics across the board. Additionally, ETags enhance caching efficiency, reducing bandwidth usage and further accelerating load times. These optimizations directly translate to better LCP, INP, and CLS scores.

Since implementing these changes, we’ve seen significant improvements in all metrics, leading to Duda smashing our previous record and now having 82% sites passing all 3 CWV metrics:

Our recent changes to implement ETag headers and enable bfcache demonstrate a commitment to enhancing website performance and user experience. By optimizing caching mechanisms and browser behavior, users will benefit from faster page loads and smoother navigation, ultimately leading to increased user satisfaction.

It’s all part of the bigger picture

These aren’t standalone fixes. They’re part of a long-standing, performance-first strategy, including:

Improving and streamlining JavaScript performance
Optimizing font loading for faster render
Identifying and preloading LCP images
Lazy loading images and iframes only when they enter the viewport
Reducing CSS size and optimizing load order
Automatically compressing and converting webp images site-wide
Resizes images based on the device size for optimized loading
Working with app partners to optimize third-party tools for speed

All of this comes together in a platform that helps agencies, SaaS companies, and web professionals deliver better user experiences and stay ahead of the game when it comes to search performance.

What does it mean for you?

By building on Duda, your sites aren’t just meeting performance standards, they’re exceeding them. And as Google continues to evolve how it evaluates site experience, you can trust that we’re continuously pushing forward, so you don’t have to chase the next update.

With 82% of Duda sites passing CWV and even more improvements on the horizon, there’s never been a better time to build fast.

Want to experience the SEO benefits of high Core Web Vitals, for your clients? Start your Duda free trial today and build faster, smoother websites that help clients climb the search rankings and keep visitors engaged.

AI website builders reimagined for professionals

Mon, 12 May 2025 12:48:22 GMT

I just love AI. Don’t you? It’s incredible how it’s reshaped the way we work, create, and even think about possibilities. And when it comes to website building, AI has brought us faster options than ever before.

Whether you call them AI website builders, AI site creators, or AI site generators, these tools have been around since ChatGPT and gen-AI took the world by storm (can you even imagine a world without it?). At their core, they are tools designed to simplify website creation by taking a few basic inputs and generating a functional site. These builders excel at speed and simplicity, perfect for small businesses that need a quick online presence without diving into the complexities of web design.

However, their strength can also be their greatest limitation.

Most AI website builders follow a templated approach—asking a few basic questions and churning out a single-page site with a predictable layout. While this works for some businesses looking for basic functionality, professionals, on the other hand, agencies, SaaS companies, and others building at scale have far higher standards. Choosing the right AI website builder for professionals isn’t just about saving time; it’s about finding a tool that delivers creativity, complexity, and complete control.

That’s why Duda’s approach differs from other AI website builders: While other builders focus on “ready to go”, Duda delivers sites ready to evolve—kickstarting the build with pages, sections, and optimized content that professionals can refine and enhance at each stage.

Our strength comes from listening to agencies and truly understanding their needs. That’s what drives us to the drawing board. Agencies aren’t looking for a one-click magic solution—they want to play an active role in the site creation process. They know that real success lies in customization. That’s why we empower them at every stage, providing flexibility and control. Plus, we give them a solid starting point, saving valuable time without compromising creative freedom.

Why professionals need more

Our CEO, Itai Sadan, discussed our vision of AI for agencies back in 2023: “With the power of AI, agencies no longer need to look at scaling as a costly investment or a quantity vs. quality trade-off. AI integrated across the website build process empowers agencies with the tools they need to offer both quantity and quality at scale.”

This vision perfectly captures why professionals need more from their tools. Unlike most AI website builders that prioritize simplicity, professionals, like agencies and SaaS companies, operate in a space where creativity, precision, and control are non-negotiable. A professional’s standard isn’t “good enough”; it’s “uniquely tailored.” That’s where Duda’s approach to AI website building shines.

Our recent survey of 200 digital agency leaders revealed that 89% expect AI to help them scale faster , and 87% count on it to speed up workflows like content creation . But it’s not just about speed; professionals need AI tools that enable them to deliver custom, scalable solutions while maintaining the high standards their clients expect.

At Duda, we don’t just follow trends, we listen to the professionals who rely on our platform. The result? A reimagined AI-powered website builder, designed specifically to meet the unique demands of professionals. From scalability and creativity to accuracy and customization , Duda’s AI tools empower you to build not just faster, but smarter, without compromising on quality.

Here’s what makes our AI-powered site builder unique:

Customizable input control: Duda gives you the flexibility to customize the input process. You can edit prompts for each page and section, tailoring content to meet the specific needs of the site. Plus, you can regenerate images and text as many times as needed until it meets your exact expectations.
Design variation: Duda stands out by allowing you to choose from a variety of sections to customize the site’s layout. This ensures your design is unique, helping the site truly stand out.
Multi-page: While most AI website builders are limited to single-page sites, Duda’s AI website builder enables you to create comprehensive, multi-page site structures that support more complex site needs.
Complexity meets accuracy: With more detailed inputs, our AI website builder creates websites that reflect the specific needs of a business. The output isn’t a cookie-cutter layout—it’s a starting point ready for professional refinement.
A to Z approach: It’s not just about generating the site, it’s about planning, refining, and optimizing the content at every stage. At Duda, AI site generation is just the beginning. Once your site is generated, our AI Assistant helps you fine-tune the details, from content updates to SEO optimization, ensuring every aspect of the website meets the standards of your client’s needs, both now and in the future.

A full suite of AI tools tailored for professionals

Duda’s AI website builder is joined by a robust suite of AI tools , all crafted to meet the unique needs of professionals. These tools seamlessly integrate into your workflow, accelerating every stage of the website creation process while maintaining the quality and precision your clients expect.

Page recommendations: Get smarter site structures with AI-driven suggestions for pages based on your client’s business type and goals.
AI layouts and section design: Generate polished page layouts and sections instantly, tailored to the purpose of the site, whether it’s a service page or a testimonial showcase.
AI-powered content collection: Streamline your workflow by collecting client assets at the right stage of the project, seamlessly integrating the data into the site-building process. With advanced form customization, AI-driven personalized questions, and the ability to leverage collected content to generate tailored, multi-page websites, Duda ensures an efficient and accurate start to every project.
AI content editing and generation: Save time refining text with AI-powered tools that help you create compelling headlines, descriptions, and on-page content.
AI SEO tools: Optimize your websites for search engines with bulk tools for alt text generation and metadata creation. These features ensure every site you build is optimized without hours of manual work.

This suite of tools doesn’t just simplify the process—it speeds it up. Built to fit professional needs, Duda’s AI solutions give you the control, accuracy, and scalability to craft exceptional websites with efficiency. Together, they create an AI-powered ecosystem that professionals can trust to deliver high-quality results every time.

Empower your clients with AI

With Duda, you can provide your clients with a completely white-labeled AI website builder, customized to align with their needs and processes.

Every site is crafted to meet professional standards—accurate content, multi-page designs, and SEO-ready structures—all while saving your clients time and maintaining high quality. The control remains in your hands at every stage, whether you’re customizing the input questions, refining designs, or adding final touches, allowing you to empower your clients while ensuring their sites are built to last.

It’s not just AI, it’s AI reimagined for professionals.

Yes, Duda is in the AI game.

But Duda’s AI-powered tools go beyond basic automation to meet the unique demands of web design professionals, allowing them to work their way faster than ever. From building multi-page sites with precision to streamlining workflows through AI-driven content collection and bulk SEO optimization, every tool is crafted to elevate your professional capabilities, amplifying your expertise.

It’s AI built for professionals, redefining what’s possible in website building.

Want to try Duda’s AI website builder? Start a free trial .

Help your SMB clients adopt eCommerce: Tearing down the walls!

Mon, 05 May 2025 10:49:39 GMT

Not that long ago, eCommerce was considered a “nice-to-have” for many SMBs. Today, it’s becoming a must. Just look at the numbers: Global eCommerce revenue is projected to grow at 9.49% annually through 2029 . Customers expect to book, browse, and buy online, whether they’re shopping for products or scheduling a plumbing service. SMBs that don’t adapt will be left behind.

But here’s the catch: Many SMBs still hesitate to embrace eCommerce. They see it as expensive, complex, and hard to maintain, especially service-based businesses where “selling online” doesn’t feel like a natural fit.

Take a classic example: a local plumber. Their website probably acts more like a business card than a sales tool - a basic list of services, a phone number, and maybe a contact form. The idea of turning that into an “online storefront” can feel like a big leap. After all, they’re not selling products. But eCommerce for a plumber actually means offering service-based “products” and accepting payments in advance (or after the job is done). Many SMB owners don’t realize that these features still count as eCommerce, and that they can make a real difference in how smoothly and profitably their businesses run.

That’s where you come in. As the agency partner, you have the opportunity to tear down the perceived walls of eCommerce and show clients, plumbers, or else, how eCommerce can make their business more efficient, accessible, and profitable.

The agency angle

For digital agencies, this evolution isn’t just a shift; it’s a major opportunity. By helping SMBs adopt eCommerce, agencies can:

Enhance client value: eCommerce capabilities immediately level up your services. Helping a local plumber go from “call us” to “book online” creates real, measurable impact, not just for their operations, but for customer experience, too.
Increase client retention: Agencies that offer multiple services, including eCommerce, see higher client retention rates ( Vendasta's research ). Why? Because clients who rely on you for more than just design or SEO are more likely to stick around. A plumber who sees more consistent jobs thanks to online booking isn’t going to jump ship anytime soon.
Drive revenue growth: Expanding your service portfolio can lead to increased revenue streams.

Agencies are uniquely positioned to guide SMBs into their next phase of growth, but that means making a compelling case for eCommerce. Before tackling the barriers, it’s important to focus on the value. When clients understand what’s really at stake, the reach, the revenue potential, the competitive edge, eCommerce shifts from a scary upgrade to a necessary and strategic one.

Why eCommerce is a no-brainer for SMBs

The appeal of eCommerce goes far beyond just selling products online. It gives SMBs a way to reach more customers, operate beyond business hours, and respond to growing consumer expectations for convenience and speed. Whether it’s booking services, selling gift cards, or accepting online payments, eCommerce brings a new level of flexibility to how SMBs operate.

Take the local plumber example. They’re not shipping out products or managing inventory, but they are managing appointments, taking calls, and chasing down payments. With eCommerce, they can let customers book appointments online and pay upfront or after the service is provided. That’s not just more convenient for the customer, it also simplifies the plumber’s day and helps reduce no-shows. That’s eCommerce for you.

Yet despite the upside, many SMBs remain hesitant. The opportunity is there, but it’s not always an easy sell. For agencies, the next challenge is understanding what’s holding clients back and how to meet them where they are. That starts with identifying the real-world concerns that make eCommerce adoption feel out of reach.

Understanding SMBs’ hesitation

The hesitation often comes down to perception: that it’s too complicated, too expensive, or simply not a fit for how the business works.

Getting back to our plumber. They might assume that “going eCommerce” means turning their site into a full-blown online store with inventory, product listings, and a shopping cart, none of which feels relevant to their day-to-day. What they don’t see is how eCommerce can be adapted to support a service-based model. Things like online booking can make their operations smoother without adding complexity.

Here’s a breakdown of the most common concerns agencies will need to address:

Perceived complexity: Worries about the technical aspects of managing an online store, especially for non-tech-savvy business owners like plumbers.
Cost implications: Concern that implementing eCommerce features will require a significant financial investment and additional fees.
Relevance to the business model: Uncertainty about how eCommerce translates to services rather than products, particularly in industries like home repair, personal care, or consulting.

A lot to worry about, and it’s your job, as an agency, to address these concerns and present eCommerce as a flexible solution tailored to SMBs' workflows that aligns with their specific needs.

Addressing concerns with the right solution - Enter Duda eCommerce

Helping SMBs overcome their hesitation around eCommerce starts with reframing what eCommerce actually means for them. Most aren't looking to build an Amazon-style operation; they simply want to make it easier for customers to interact with their business. That’s where agencies come in: demystifying the process and delivering tailored solutions that are simple, scalable, and specific to each client.

Duda’s eCommerce solution for service-based businesses is designed to remove the friction points that often scare SMBs away from adopting eCommerce. Here are a few examples of features and benefits:

Offline Payments
Many service-based businesses, like our plumber, still operate on a cash-only basis or accept payments in person. With Duda’s Offline Payments option (also called Manual Payment ), businesses can accept payments through bank transfers, checks, cash on delivery, and even phone payments, offering clients flexibility while supporting a digital workflow.
In-Store Pickup
Not every SMB is ready to handle shipping logistics. With Duda’s In-Store Pickup, businesses can let customers browse and pay online, then collect their purchases in person, blending traditional operations with modern eCommerce expectations.
Multiple Product Types
From service appointments and event tickets to digital downloads and donations (‘ digital products ’), Duda supports a wide variety of product types. This makes it perfect for service providers and niche businesses that want to offer more than just physical products.
Built-in AI Assistant
Enables SMBs to go live faster by utilizing Duda’s AI Assistant to generate engaging product descriptions, images, suggested prices, SEO meta titles, and descriptions, as well as alt text tags for every image.
No transaction fees
As eCommerce is perceived as expensive and involving additional fees, which could be quite a burden on the cash flow of your classic SMB, no transaction fees are a great selling point.
Intuitive and easy to maintain
An intuitive store-building experience that allows agencies to transform existing brochure-style sites into 24/7 storefronts, all within a user-friendly interface that is a natural extension of the Duda platform. Also, Duda eCommerce empowers SMBs to operate these online stores in the same easy way they are used to operate their physical business or store.

For the plumber, it doesn’t make much sense to start with a full-blown online store (to be honest, I’m not sure if there’s a case for that at all). You can start by offering service appointments, seasonal plumbing checks, and annual maintenance plans, and implementing Duda’s Multiple Product Types feature.

Additionally, you can offer offline payment options, allowing customers to pay after the job is completed.

These aren't radical changes, they’re smart tweaks that align with how today’s consumers already expect to interact with businesses.

eCommerce? Yes, please!

Once clients understand that “eCommerce” can be as simple as turning their contact form into a booking system, they stop seeing it as a scary upgrade and start seeing it as a smart move. It’s all about meeting their customers where they are: on their smartphones, at their convenience, 24/7. And by doing so, you’re helping SMBs increase customer satisfaction, operational efficiency, and revenue, all without the complexity they fear.

The bottom line is that eCommerce isn't reserved for giant retailers or businesses with huge inventories. SMBs, from plumbers to yoga studios to local coffee shops, can harness the power of eCommerce to build stronger customer relationships and streamline their operations. The question isn’t whether or not eCommerce is right for your clients; it’s how you can help them get started in a way that feels natural, manageable, and profitable.

So, when the next client hesitates at the thought of eCommerce, remember: it’s not a huge leap. It’s a series of small, manageable steps that can completely transform the way they do business. And with your expertise, they’ll be ready to say, “eCommerce? Yes, please!”

Ready to bring eCommerce to your SMB clients?

Duda’s eCommerce solution is perfect for SMBs looking to grow their digital presence without the headache. Start transforming your client websites today with easy-to-use tools that empower them to accept online bookings, payments, and more.

Want to see Duda’s eCommerce in action? Start a free trial and choose the “Sell Online” option on the left panel.

How offering direct booking puts your SMB customers ahead

shawn.davis@duda.co (Shawn Davis) — Fri, 02 May 2025 20:04:44 GMT

You’ve heard the saying before, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” Retailers shouldn’t depend on marketplaces to sell their products, restaurants shouldn’t depend on social media websites to share their menus, and rental companies shouldn’t depend on third-party booking platforms to acquire new reservations.

Owning a little corner of the internet empowers a small business to curate their own narrative—without additional fees, distracting third-party branding, or egregious platform fees. However, creating a booking site is no easy task. Managing reservations can seem Herculean-enough as-is. Embedding that system into a responsive, high-conversion website? That’s quite the ask for an SMB.

That’s where vertical SaaS companies come in. These industry professionals offer all-in-one software tailor-made for businesses looking to manage their reservation-based business. From renting cars or booking vacation properties, these SaaS companies exist to streamline the back-office.

When they embed this software directly into a website, SaaS companies can unlock a world of benefits for their end customers - and drive adoption and stickiness for their own technology.

Lower distribution costs

Websites like Turo, Airbnb, and others provide an easy way to acquire new clients, but not for free. Platforms like these often charge businesses fees as high as 20% in commissions. Booking.com, for example, charges short term rental owners an average commission fee of 15% . Airbnb charges 17% by combining a 3% commission fee with a 14% surcharge

While listing on these platforms may be unavoidable, it isn’t an SMB's only option. When SaaS companies offer their SMB clients the ability to accept bookings directly from an owned website, they’re also offering them a way to dodge these exorbitant fees. That’s a direct value-add for your end customer.

Higher brand awareness

Owning a website is much like owning a retail location. Clients have the opportunity to decorate their space however they like to perfectly accentuate their brand. In contrast, listing on a booking website is more comparable to owning a stand within a mall. While they may be able to decorate a little, the space ultimately isn’t theirs.

For savvier clients, owning a domain unlocks a world of SEO and PPC marketing that can supercharge their brand. These clients could bid on keywords, run social media ads, or optimize their content for local queries—all cumbersome or impossible to do using third-party booking platforms.

These efforts are further improved with direct access to visitor data. Your SMB clients can see what content is working and what isn’t, and modify it to further refine their brand.

Better relationships with guests

Owning the website means owning the experience and, more importantly, the data. SMBs can combine information gathered from their website with booking data from your software to create tailored communications that excite and delight guests. Whether that’s personalized thank-you emails, coupons, or retargeting campaigns—the possibilities are endless.

This is a serious improvement over third-party booking platforms, where your clients may be limited to simple chat-based communication with their customers. These platforms may not share impression data, customer emails, or engagement metrics with your clients—leaving them in the dark when it comes to their own customers.

Longer bookings

VRM intel found that, compared to websites like Airbnb and Vrbo, customers often chose longer stays when booking direct. In fact, Airbnb bookings were 53% shorter than direct bookings on average. That means it would take more than two Airbnb reservations to equal one direct reservation.

For property rentals, fewer turnovers means less cleaning, reduced wear-and-tear, and, if your client is managing the property themselves, additional free time.

Why don’t more SMBs have direct booking websites?

So, you've seen the benefits. Your obvious next question might be, “If direct booking is so great, why isn’t everyone doing it?” The answer is simple—these businesses haven’t found the right partner yet.

Vanishingly few SMBs have any kind of software or IT-oriented employee on their team. For a brochure-style website, that really isn’t a big deal. However, for complex web applications like booking websites, this can prove to be a real hurdle.

Vertical SaaS companies can solve this problem by combining the technology they’ve already developed with an industry-leading, white-label website builder. This marriage of front-end and back-end technologies creates the perfect solution—a verticalized website builder.

Imagine, for instance, a small business renting water vehicles, like boats and jet skis, on the beach. The owner of this business is somewhat savvy but is by no means a developer. A SaaS company with an integrated website builder can offer a complete drag-and-drop experience, complete with booking-oriented templates and widgets that make it easy for their customers to assemble a gorgeous website in no time.

This is a dramatically improved workflow over how other direct-booking solutions work today. The watercraft rental operator didn’t need to install any plugins, interact with any front-end code, or navigate to a new platform. Everything was managed seamlessly within the verticalized SaaS company’s platform, creating a fluid and painless experience.

Talk to an expert today to learn more about how your SaaS company can begin offering direct booking websites to clients with our white label website builder.

How platform ecosystems drive revenue

Thu, 24 Apr 2025 19:47:56 GMT

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In today’s fast-paced SaaS landscape, staying competitive means not just offering a standalone product, but creating a platform ecosystem that drives long-term value for both your users and your business.

A platform ecosystem connects various products, tools, or services, allowing users to interact seamlessly within a unified environment. For SaaS product leaders, investing in a platform ecosystem is one of the most powerful strategies to accelerate revenue growth and strengthen customer loyalty.

In this post, we’ll explore how platform ecosystems drive revenue and why they are essential for the growth of SaaS businesses.

1. Increased Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

One of the biggest advantages of building a platform ecosystem is its potential to increase customer lifetime value (CLV). When users adopt multiple products or features within a unified ecosystem, they become more deeply embedded in your platform. This increases their dependency on your services, which means they’re less likely to churn.

As customers engage with more products, they find more value in your platform, and their overall usage increases. When they’re using multiple features in harmony, they’re not just paying for one service—they’re investing in the entire ecosystem. As a result, SaaS businesses that offer integrated product suites see higher CLV compared to those with isolated offerings.

2. Reduced churn rates

Platform ecosystems are also effective at reducing churn. When customers use several tools within your ecosystem, they are less likely to leave because they’ve built an intricate web of reliance on your services. For example, once a customer starts using one product, they may find it valuable enough to try another feature or tool that enhances their experience. The more products they adopt, the harder it becomes for them to switch to a competitor without significant disruption.

Studies show that when users adopt more than one product—especially when they integrate over four tools into their workflow—the likelihood of churn decreases dramatically. For SaaS companies, this creates a powerful opportunity to not only retain customers but also encourage upsells and cross-sells within the ecosystem.

3. Network effects that drive organic growth

A well-designed platform ecosystem can also foster network effects—where the value of the platform increases as more people use it. In a SaaS context, this means that as more customers adopt your product, the platform becomes more valuable for each individual user. This happens in several ways:

User-generated content: More customers using your platform means more content, feedback, and interaction, which adds value for everyone involved.
Marketplace expansion: If your ecosystem includes a marketplace for third-party integrations, more developers or businesses contributing to that marketplace increases the overall value of your platform.
Collaborative features: Platforms with collaborative tools (e.g., team-based features, shared resources) grow in value as more users join, creating a more dynamic, engaged community.

These network effects can lead to a snowball effect in which the value of your platform increases rapidly, attracting even more users and driving revenue.

4. Upsell and cross-sell opportunities

A platform ecosystem naturally creates more opportunities for upselling and cross-selling. Once a customer is using one product, it’s easier to introduce them to complementary tools within your ecosystem. Because these products are designed to work together seamlessly, the sales pitch becomes less about convincing the customer to adopt a new tool and more about showing them how it can enhance their existing experience.

For example, if your SaaS platform offers website-building tools, marketing automation, and analytics, you can easily upsell customers to premium features or cross-sell them on tools that will improve their website performance. This strategy encourages customers to purchase additional products, increasing their total spend and driving revenue growth.

5. Expand market reach with third-party integrations

Another major revenue driver within platform ecosystems is the ability to integrate with third-party tools and services. Many SaaS products today thrive on their ability to connect with other popular platforms—whether that’s CRM systems, social media platforms, or email marketing tools. These integrations help expand the reach of your ecosystem, drawing in customers who are already using those third-party tools and making it easier for them to adopt your product.

As the ecosystem expands, so does your customer base. By offering these integrations, you can tap into new markets and customer segments that might not have considered your product if it were a standalone offering.

6. Improve customer retention through personalization

In a platform ecosystem, the ability to provide personalized, customizable experiences is greatly enhanced. When a customer uses multiple products within your ecosystem, you can gather more data about their needs, preferences, and behavior. This data can be used to tailor the user experience and recommend specific products or features that would add the most value for them.

A personalized experience helps users feel that the platform is designed specifically for their needs, increasing their attachment to your ecosystem. As a result, customers are more likely to stay with your platform long-term, reducing churn and increasing revenue.

7. Subscription and usage-based revenue models

Platform ecosystems often leverage flexible pricing models—like subscription-based or usage-based models—to maximize revenue. With a range of interconnected tools and products, SaaS companies can offer tiered pricing that scales with customer needs.

For example, your platform could offer different pricing tiers depending on the number of products a user adopts. Alternatively, you could implement usage-based pricing for certain features, allowing customers to pay for what they use. This gives customers flexibility while ensuring that the more they engage with your ecosystem, the more they spend.

These revenue models ensure that as users continue to expand their use of your ecosystem, you’re continuously capturing revenue in line with their growing needs.

8. Strategic partnerships and alliances

As your platform ecosystem grows, it opens the door for strategic partnerships and alliances with other businesses. These partnerships might include co-marketing opportunities, joint product offerings, or integrations with complementary platforms.

Partnering with other businesses allows you to tap into new customer bases and create bundled offerings that increase your platform's value. These strategic alliances can also lead to new revenue streams, as they allow you to sell to a wider audience or offer additional services that complement your ecosystem.

Summary

Platform ecosystems are a game-changer for SaaS businesses looking to drive sustainable revenue growth. By offering an interconnected suite of tools and services, you create a sticky product that customers want to engage with more deeply over time. The benefits—higher CLV, reduced churn, network effects, upsell opportunities, and more—combine to create a revenue-driving machine that scales as your customers adopt more products.

For SaaS product leaders, building a robust platform ecosystem is no longer just an option—it’s a necessity for long-term success. Start by thinking beyond your core product and explore ways to create a comprehensive, interconnected experience that drives engagement, retention, and revenue. The future of SaaS lies in platform ecosystems, and those who build them wisely will reap the rewards.

How to make your SaaS platform stickier

Thu, 24 Apr 2025 17:33:21 GMT

One of the greatest challenges for SaaS platforms is keeping users engaged long-term. The term “stickiness” refers to a product's ability to retain users and make them want to return. In the context of SaaS platforms, creating a sticky product means that users consistently find value, experience seamless interactions, and continue using the product over time. The following are 7 practical strategies you can take to improve the stickiness of your SaaS solution.

1. Offer websites that help customers build their digital presence

One of the most effective ways to make your SaaS platform sticky is by offering websites to your users. Many businesses today need an online presence, and by providing a platform where your customers can easily build and manage their websites, you increase their reliance on your product.

When you offer users a website-building solution, you’re helping them create something foundational to their business. Websites, in this case, aren’t just a tool—they become a part of their identity and brand. This deepens their engagement with your platform, as they need your product to maintain and update their site, ultimately making them less likely to churn. Plus, websites naturally encourage frequent updates, content creation, and customer interactions, which means your users will return to your platform regularly.

When you can give your users the tools to create something so essential to their business, you make them more dependent on your platform. This creates a higher barrier to exit, as migrating a fully built website to another service is no small task. In fact, websites are some of the stickiest products you can sell, so adding them to your product portfolio can be one of the best decisions you can to keep your customers using your technology for the long haul.

2. Deliver continuous value through product innovation

The key to keeping users coming back to your SaaS platform is ensuring that they consistently see value in it. This means not only meeting their immediate needs but also evolving to address their growing demands. Constant product innovation is essential for keeping your users satisfied and invested in your platform.

One way to achieve this is through regular updates that add new features or improvements based on user feedback. A SaaS platform that evolves with its users will keep them engaged longer, making it harder for competitors to steal their attention. Encourage user feedback and prioritize updates that create tangible improvements. This creates an ongoing relationship with your users, which boosts stickiness.

3. Offer a multi-product solution

Another powerful way to increase your platform’s stickiness is by offering a suite of products or features that integrate well together. When your users adopt multiple products, they are more likely to stay because they become embedded in your ecosystem.

The benefits of this strategy are clear. Research shows that once users adopt more than one product, especially when they integrate >4 tools into their workflow, their likelihood of churn decreases significantly.

This happens because the more a user integrates into your suite of products, the harder it is for them to switch to a competitor. These users have invested time in learning your ecosystem and rely on it for their day-to-day operations, making it much harder for them to make the switch.

4. Create a personal connection with your users

Human connection is one of the most powerful drivers of user retention. People don’t want to feel like they’re using a cold, faceless platform. By offering exceptional customer support, personalized communication, and community engagement, you build a relationship with your users that goes beyond the product itself.

Make sure your support team is responsive, knowledgeable, and empathetic. You can also consider offering tailored onboarding experiences to ensure users understand how to make the most of your platform. When users feel like their success matters to you, they are more likely to remain loyal.

5. Leverage data to personalize the user experience

Using data to drive personalization is another strategy that can significantly increase the stickiness of your platform. By tracking user behavior and usage patterns, you can tailor the experience to each individual user’s needs. This could mean recommending features they haven’t yet explored or sending them reminders about tools they may not be fully utilizing.

Personalization gives users the feeling that the platform was designed specifically for them, making it harder to walk away from. By demonstrating that you understand their unique needs, you can build a stronger connection and ultimately increase retention rates.

6. Focus on seamless integrations and API capabilities

To further increase stickiness, consider expanding your product’s ability to integrate with other tools your users already rely on. Whether it’s email marketing software, CRM systems, or social media management tools, seamless integrations add tremendous value by making it easier for users to incorporate your platform into their existing workflows.

The more your product can work in tandem with other popular tools, the more indispensable it becomes. In fact, users who depend on integrations are less likely to churn since their entire ecosystem is tied to your platform’s functionality.

7. Encourage user advocacy and community building

User advocacy is another powerful tool in building a sticky product. When users feel a sense of community or even ownership over the platform, they become your most passionate promoters. Encourage your users to share their success stories, join community forums, or contribute to product development through beta testing or feedback loops.

A thriving user community not only increases user engagement but also creates a sense of loyalty. When users are part of something larger than themselves, they are more likely to remain committed to your platform, reducing churn and increasing lifetime value.

Create deep, lasting customer relationships

Making your SaaS platform sticky is all about creating a deep, lasting connection with your users. This requires building a platform that continuously delivers value, creating a seamless and personalized experience, and integrating features that keep users coming back. By focusing on product innovation, offering a multi-product ecosystem, and fostering strong user relationships, you’ll be well on your way to reducing churn and boosting user retention.

Stickiness isn’t just a nice-to-have; it’s essential for long-term success. Focus on creating a platform that users can’t imagine living without, and you’ll see them stick around for the long haul.

How to support a product you didn’t build

shawn.davis@duda.co (Shawn Davis) — Thu, 24 Apr 2025 15:37:36 GMT

Providing customer support for third-party products integrated within a SaaS platform presents both a unique set of challenges and opportunities. As SaaS companies increasingly expand their offerings through partnerships and integrations, ensuring seamless support for these external tools becomes crucial for maintaining customer satisfaction and fostering long-term loyalty. The core of this endeavor lies in recognizing that while the third-party product isn't directly developed by the SaaS provider, it's nonetheless a part of the customer's overall experience with the platform. This necessitates a proactive and collaborative approach, where the SaaS company acts as a central hub for resolving issues, even those originating from external sources.

One fundamental aspect of effective third-party product support is establishing clear communication channels and escalation procedures. Customers should know exactly where to turn for help, regardless of whether the issue stems from the SaaS platform itself or the integrated product. This requires creating a unified support portal or help desk that encompasses all aspects of the customer's workflow. Implementing a ticketing system that allows for easy categorization and tracking of issues is essential for efficient resolution. When a customer reports a problem, the support team should be equipped to quickly determine the root cause and direct the inquiry to the appropriate resource, whether it's an internal specialist or the third-party vendor's support team.

Developing robust knowledge bases and documentation is another critical component. These resources should cover common questions, troubleshooting guides, and best practices for both the SaaS platform and the integrated third-party products. Tutorials and videos can be particularly helpful for visually demonstrating complex workflows. Consistent updating of these materials is vital, as both the SaaS platform and the third-party products may undergo changes or updates. The goal is to empower customers to resolve many issues independently, reducing the burden on the support team and improving overall efficiency.

Collaboration with third-party vendors is paramount for providing effective support. Establishing clear service-level agreements (SLAs) with these partners is crucial, outlining response times, escalation procedures, and communication protocols. Regular meetings and communication channels should be maintained to ensure seamless information sharing and issue resolution. Joint training sessions for support teams can also be beneficial, allowing them to gain a deeper understanding of each other's products and processes. Building strong relationships with vendor support teams facilitates quicker troubleshooting and prevents customers from being bounced back and forth between different support channels.

Proactive monitoring and alerting systems can help identify potential issues before they impact customers. By tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) and error logs for both the SaaS platform and the integrated products, support teams can anticipate problems and take preemptive action. This approach not only minimizes downtime but also demonstrates a commitment to customer satisfaction. Automated alerts can notify support teams of critical issues, allowing them to address them promptly. Regular health checks and performance assessments of the integrated products are also essential to ensure they meet the required standards.

Providing tiered support options can cater to the diverse needs of customers. Some customers may require basic assistance, while others may need more in-depth technical support. Offering different support packages, such as standard, premium, or enterprise, allows customers to choose the level of support that best suits their needs. This approach also allows the SaaS company to allocate resources more efficiently, ensuring that customers with complex issues receive the necessary attention. Providing dedicated account managers for enterprise clients can further enhance the support experience, creating a single point of contact for all their needs.

Collecting and analyzing customer feedback is essential for continuous improvement. Surveys, feedback forms, and customer reviews can provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of the support process. Analyzing this data helps identify areas where improvements can be made, such as refining documentation, streamlining escalation procedures, or enhancing communication with third-party vendors. Implementing a feedback loop that allows customers to easily provide input and track the progress of their suggestions demonstrates a commitment to customer-centricity. Regularly reviewing support metrics, such as resolution times and customer satisfaction scores, can also highlight areas for improvement.

Training and empowering the support team is crucial for providing exceptional service. Support agents should possess in-depth knowledge of both the SaaS platform and the integrated third-party products. Regular training sessions, product updates, and access to internal knowledge bases are essential for keeping their skills up-to-date. Fostering a culture of empathy and problem-solving within the support team is also important. Empowering agents to make decisions and take ownership of customer issues can lead to faster resolutions and higher customer satisfaction. Creating a supportive and collaborative environment within the support team ensures that agents feel valued and motivated.

Building a community forum or online knowledge sharing platform can foster peer-to-peer support. Customers can share their experiences, ask questions, and provide solutions to common problems. This not only reduces the burden on the support team but also creates a sense of community among users. Moderating the forum and providing official responses to key questions can ensure that the information shared is accurate and helpful. Integrating the forum with the support portal can streamline the process of finding solutions and submitting support tickets.

Finally, transparent communication is vital for building trust with customers. When issues arise, it's important to be honest and upfront about the situation. Providing regular updates and setting realistic expectations can help manage customer frustrations. Acknowledging mistakes and taking responsibility for resolving them demonstrates a commitment to customer satisfaction. Communicating proactively about planned maintenance, updates, or potential disruptions can prevent surprises and minimize customer impact. By prioritizing clear and consistent communication, SaaS companies can build strong relationships with their customers and foster long-term loyalty.

Providing effective customer support for third-party products integrated within a SaaS platform requires a multifaceted approach. By establishing clear communication channels, collaborating with vendors, developing robust knowledge bases, and empowering the support team, SaaS companies can ensure a seamless and positive customer experience. Proactive monitoring, tiered support options, and continuous improvement through customer feedback are also essential for maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction. Ultimately, the goal is to create a unified and supportive ecosystem where customers feel confident that they can receive timely and effective assistance, regardless of the source of their issue.

How SaaS companies can put data to work for their customers

shawn.davis@duda.co (Shawn Davis) — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 14:00:23 GMT

For SaaS companies, continuous product improvement is necessary for survival. How, then, does a product manager determine which improvements to make and, more importantly, what separates improvement from bloat? The key lies in the vast trove of customer data that SaaS companies accumulate. This data, when analyzed and applied strategically, can transform product development from a guessing game into a precise, data-driven process. Leveraging customer data to create better products isn't just about adding features; it's about understanding the user's journey, anticipating their needs, and crafting solutions that resonate deeply.

The first step in this process is establishing a robust data collection infrastructure. SaaS companies need to capture a wide range of data points, from basic usage statistics and feature adoption rates to more nuanced information like user behavior patterns and feedback from surveys and support tickets. Tools like analytics platforms, heatmaps, and session recording software can provide valuable insights into how customers interact with the product. However, it’s crucial to prioritize data privacy and comply with regulations like GDPR and CCPA. Transparency about data collection and usage is paramount for building trust with customers.

Once the data is collected, the next step is to analyze it effectively. This involves identifying patterns, trends, and anomalies that can shed light on user behavior and pain points. Segmenting customers based on their usage patterns, demographics, or industry can reveal valuable insights into their specific needs and preferences. Data visualization tools can help make complex data sets more accessible and understandable, allowing product teams to quickly identify key trends and areas for improvement. This analysis should be an ongoing process, with regular reviews of data to identify emerging trends and adapt product development strategies accordingly.

One powerful application of customer data is to personalize the user experience. By understanding individual user preferences and usage patterns, SaaS companies can tailor the product interface, features, and content to meet their specific needs. This can involve dynamically adjusting the layout of the dashboard, recommending relevant features, or providing personalized onboarding experiences. Personalization not only enhances user engagement but also increases customer satisfaction and retention. Implementing A/B testing can help determine which personalized elements are most effective.

Customer feedback is another invaluable source of data. By actively soliciting feedback through surveys, in-app prompts, and user interviews, SaaS companies can gain a deeper understanding of customer pain points and feature requests. Analyzing this feedback can help prioritize feature development and identify areas where the product falls short . It’s important to create a feedback loop that allows customers to see how their input is being used to improve the product. Responding to feedback, even negative feedback, demonstrates a commitment to customer satisfaction and builds trust.

Usage data can reveal which features are most popular and which are underutilized. By focusing development efforts on the most popular features, SaaS companies can maximize their impact and ensure that resources are allocated effectively. Underutilized features may indicate that they are not meeting customer needs or that they are not being properly promoted. Understanding why certain features are not being used can provide valuable insights for product redesign or feature retirement. Understanding the customer journey is also key. Tracking user behavior across different stages of the customer lifecycle can reveal bottlenecks and areas where users are struggling. This information can be used to optimize the onboarding process, improve user flows, reduce churn, and even develop new products .

Predictive analytics can be used to anticipate customer needs and proactively address potential issues. By analyzing historical data, SaaS companies can identify patterns that indicate a high likelihood of churn or dissatisfaction. This allows them to take proactive steps to retain customers, such as offering personalized support or addressing specific pain points. Predictive analytics can also be used to anticipate future feature requests and trends, allowing SaaS companies to stay ahead of the competition.

Data-driven product development requires a collaborative approach. Product teams, data analysts, and customer success teams need to work closely together to ensure that data is being used effectively. Regular meetings and communication channels are essential for sharing insights and aligning on product priorities. Creating a data-driven culture within the organization is also crucial. This involves empowering employees at all levels to use data to inform their decisions and contribute to product improvement.

It's important to translate data insights into actionable product changes. This involves prioritizing feature development based on data analysis and customer feedback. Creating a product roadmap that reflects these priorities ensures that development efforts are aligned with customer needs and business goals. Regularly evaluating the impact of product changes and iterating based on results is essential for continuous improvement. A/B testing can be used to validate product changes and ensure that they are having the desired effect.

Unfortunately, there are likely going to be a few blind-spots in your reporting. This is an area where Vertical SaaS companies have a unique amount of leverage. By further embedding their platform into their customers’ businesses, these verticalized solutions can gather more and more data—creating a snowball effect that leads to a better and better product. A SaaS platform who provides a booking widget, for example, would strongly benefit from website analytics surrounding said widget. With that data, they can refine their end-user interface to create a higher-converting solution that creates more value for their customers.

Of course, data security and privacy are paramount when leveraging customer data. SaaS companies must implement robust security measures to protect customer data from unauthorized access and breaches. This includes encryption, access controls, and regular security audits. Transparency about data collection and usage is essential for building trust with customers. Providing clear and concise privacy policies and obtaining explicit consent for data collection ensures that customers are informed and in control of their data.

Leveraging customer data to create better products is an ongoing process that requires a commitment to continuous improvement. By establishing a robust data collection infrastructure, analyzing data effectively, and prioritizing customer feedback, SaaS companies can build products that are truly aligned with customer needs. This data-driven approach not only enhances customer satisfaction and retention but also drives business growth and innovation.

In essence, customer data is the compass that guides SaaS companies towards product excellence. By listening to their customers and leveraging data to understand their needs, SaaS companies can create products that resonate deeply and deliver exceptional value. This customer-centric approach is the key to success in the dynamic and competitive SaaS landscape.

New tariffs could raise your clients prices. Are you ready?

shawn.davis@duda.co (Shawn Davis) — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 14:26:51 GMT

The information provided within this article does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice; instead, all information, content, and materials available within this article are for general informational purposes only. The information herein should not be used upon in regard to any particular facts or circumstances without first consulting a lawyer. Any views expressed herein are those of the author, who is not a legal or tax professional.

On April 2nd, 2025, the United States announced blanket 10% tariffs on all imports, as well as additional tariffs on a wide range of nations and product categories, including a somewhat elusive tariff on Chinese imports ranging between 0% and 245% . This joins a previous executive order to axe the “de minimis” exemption , a carveout that allowed individual packages valued beneath $800 to enter the United States without paying tariffs or undergoing typical customs inspections, expected to take effect May 2nd . Together, these changes are a seismic shift for eCommerce stores .

At Duda, we’ve long held the belief that agencies are more than just website factories—they’re educated, professional consultants for the SMBs they serve. That means in times of uncertainty, such as these, clients should be turning to their agencies for guidance. Particularly, how can they minimize the impact of tariffs on their business?

Before reading any further, keep in mind that this is a constantly evolving situation. Please refer to the date of publication for this post at the top of the article to ensure that you’re getting the most up-to-date information. For specific guidance relative to your clients’ unique circumstances, consider working with an accountant or legal professional well versed in international trade.

What is a tariff?

Tariffs are not new. In fact, during the 19th-century tariffs accounted for about 95% of all of the United States' revenue. That’s to say that if your clients have been importing goods from abroad, they’ve likely already been paying tariffs . So wait, what even is a tariff?

A tariff is essentially a tax imposed on imported goods , levied by a government when a product crosses a country's border, before it enters the domestic economy.

Suppose, for instance, that your client is selling insulated mugs with their logo printed on them, and they’re purchasing those mugs wholesale from AliExpress, a Chinese-based marketplace that connects factories with international buyers. When that pallet of mugs enters the United States, the importer is required to pay a fee to the United States Treasury based on the value of those mugs.

Most importers bake this into the price of their goods, handling it themselves at the border. That means your clients are probably not cutting checks to the treasury for imports themselves. SMBs rarely form direct relationships with factories and handle imports themselves, after-all.

However, the United States isn’t the only country enacting tariffs—economic relationships work both ways. Many countries already have, and may even be expanding , tariffs against the United States. If your clients sell internationally, a practice that is pretty rare for SMBs , they may need to pay those tariffs themselves unless they’re working with an exporter.

Keep in mind that Duda does not calculate duties or tariffs within the platform. Instead, we strongly recommend that those clients consult a tax professional for specific guidance.

How will tariffs impact my clients?

How much impact tariffs will have on your client depends heavily on the distinct circumstances of their business. With new tariffs expected to impact about 90 nations , we can’t possibly touch on every possible combination of import and export situations. Instead, we’ll take a look at three client personas; those who ship domestic products or services domestically, those who sell foreign products domestically, and those who sell domestic products abroad.

My client sells domestic products domestically

Congratulations! You can take the rest of the day off. Tariffs exclusively apply to imports. If your client’s eCommerce store is purely domestic, like a restaurant selling reservations or gift cards online, then, from an eCommerce perspective, tariffs do not impact them.

Notice I said “from an eCommerce perspective.” That’s because very, very few businesses are truly insulated from the complex global supply chain . Sticking with the restaurant example, some of their business supplies, like chemical cleaning agents or raw ingredients, may, at some point, have been imported. Depending on from where, they could see increases to their wholesale prices, which, in turn, could trickle down to their own prices.

That’s a long-winded way of saying that if the price of coffee increases, cafes may need to increase the price of their lattes to maintain healthy margins. As an agency, you should recommend to these clients that they communicate the facts of their situation with their customers early and often .

My client sells foreign products domestically

A sizable number of your clients are going to fall into this bucket. The United States is the largest goods importer in the world, with $3.2 trillion worth of imports in 2022 . In this situation, your clients will undoubtedly need to raise their prices to account for changing market conditions. How much, though, depends on how they imported previously.

There are two major ways SMBs import products; in bulk or individually. The latter, individual imports, are increasingly popular among SMBs because they minimize risk and overhead. Colloquially, we call this practice “dropshipping” and it accounts for 23% of all sales in the eCommerce industry.

When an SMB dropships goods, they alleviate the need for storage and up-front payments. Rather than purchasing and warehousing 1,000 t-shirts, they could instead ship individual shirts printed abroad to domestic customers “ just-in-time. ” Until recently, this practice had another benefit too; no tariffs.

As mentioned earlier, the recently revoked “ de minimis ” exemption allowed for packages under $800 in value to enter the United States without undergoing formal customs procedures. That meant no paperwork and no import duties. Companies like Temu and Shein previously leveraged the de minimis exemption to export low-cost goods to U.S.-based customers without needing to pay tariffs. Dropshippers largely did the same.

If you have any clients who participated in direct-to-consumer dropshipping, they should expect a significant increase in their import costs. To maintain margins, these clients should expect to raise their prices in tandem. As an agency, you should recommend that they communicate the facts of their situation with their customers early and often .

My client sells domestic products abroad

This is the most unlikely scenario for an agency to face, and also the most complex. We strongly recommend that any clients in this situation work with an expert, third-party exporter. The foreign tariff situation is rapidly evolving . Our advice applies to non-US businesses selling domestically-produced goods to customers residing within the US as well. Some large companies, like Nintendo , have halted the sale of new products while they assess the impact of tariffs on their prices. If your SMB can afford to pause their exports, they should consider doing the same while the dust settles.

Will tariffs impact my agency?

It’s very hard to say. Agencies operating outside of the United States, but providing digital marketing services to businesses residing within the United States, are, as of the time of publication, not subject to any of the tariffs announced by the White House on April 2nd. These tariffs largely focus on goods, while, under international trade law, digital marketing is classified as a service.

That’s not to say that international agencies are immune. Some members of the European Union have begun instituting Digital Services Taxes (DSTs) that take aim at large corporations providing, well, digital services in the bloc. The United States has begun research into this as well .

It is unlikely that any digital marketing agencies are going to fall within the purview of any DSTs instituted by the United States government. However, it’s a development worth watching nonetheless.

What advice should I give my clients?

The million dollar question for agencies responding to tariffs; “What should I tell my clients?” If you read all of the entries in the impact section of this article, you’d notice a common theme—in every scenario, your clients may need to raise their prices.

Raising prices is not ideal. Customers are increasingly price sensitive , and your clients will likely not see any additional revenue after instituting a price hike. Together, this is a lose-lose situation that will undoubtedly garner some amount of negative business impact.

Thankfully, as a marketing agency, you’re in a unique position to minimize the blow. Positioning can go a long way! By communicating with your clients' customers early and often , you can increase trust and maintain positive sentiment.

If your clients have an email list, send something as soon as possible —even before your clients know if they need to raise prices. Let their customers know that you’re monitoring the situation and that you’re doing everything you can to minimize disruptions. Doing this lets your clients know that everyone is on the same team and underscores the reality of the situation, which is that any price increases are not your customers fault .

In fact, this should be your clients’ main message going forward; price increases are due to external factors beyond their control . Communicating this, however, is a delicate balance. While customers value transparency, they hate excuses. Aim for copy that comes across as level-headed and human, not desperate or confused. Instead of saying that you “don’t know” the impact of tariffs, say that you’re “exploring every avenue available to us” in regards to handling them. Prioritize action words, even if the meaning is fundamentally the same.

If prices do increase, communicate this on product pages directly. Take advantage of editor features like the Advanced Accordion with FAQ schema to explain as transparently as possible how tariffs contributed to increasing prices. You can either reference the tariffs directly, or you can use vague-er language such as “increases in wholesaler prices.”

That brings us to the final communication hurdle your agency is going to face; tariffs are a political issue in the United States. A subsection of your client’s customers may be in-favor of these new tariffs, and disparaging language may invoke a negative perception of your client’s brand. Similarly, language in favor of tariffs could elicit a similar reaction among a different subsection of your client’s customers. While opinionated marketing can, in times, lead to great results —this is such a variable situation that we’d recommend sticking to neutral language instead.

Takeaways

The international trade of goods is in a state of flux, your clients need to be prepared to raise their prices.
Communicate with your clients’ customers as soon as possible, letting them know you’re aware of the situation and are exploring your options.
Discuss the impact of tariffs in a consultative, level-headed, and neutral way. Deflect responsibility for price increases without seeming “victimized” by it.

For further reading, we’d recommend taking a look at some timeless articles about overcoming negative feedback to price increases.

How to Discuss a Price Increase With Clients by Nick Kane
Mastering a Price Increase: Five Effective Strategies and Tips by Angie Henson
How to Let Customers Know About a Price Increase (Without Losing Them), According to Pros Who've Done It by Swetha Amaresan

Our partner, Avalara , is producing a large number of quality resources for businesses more directly impacted by tariffs than your typical SMB, particularly those who import and/or export products themselves.

The ecosystem effect: Why multiple products drive retention

Tue, 15 Apr 2025 19:54:09 GMT

In the SaaS world, customer retention is a critical metric for long-term success. While many product leaders focus on attracting new customers, the true key to growth often lies in keeping the ones you already have. One of the most powerful strategies to drive retention is through an interconnected ecosystem of products. The "ecosystem effect" describes how offering multiple products that work seamlessly together creates value for customers, making them more likely to stick around and engage with your platform over time.

In this post, we’ll explore how multiple products within an ecosystem can dramatically improve customer retention and why building such a strategy should be a priority for SaaS companies.

1. Increased user dependency

One of the main reasons multiple products drive retention is that they increase a customer’s dependency on your platform. When users adopt more than one product, they start to integrate your tools into their daily workflows, making it more difficult to switch to a competitor.

For example, if a user is using a website builder alongside a CRM tool within your platform, they quickly become reliant on the seamless integration between those products. They no longer just use your platform for one specific purpose; they’ve built a multi-faceted workflow around it. As they continue to use more of your offerings, this dependency grows, making it harder for them to leave your ecosystem without significant disruption to their operations.

2. The power of network effects

Multiple products create network effects, where the value of your platform increases as more products are adopted. The more products your customers use, the more benefits they get from using them together. This could mean enhanced functionality, smoother user experiences, or deeper insights based on the integration of multiple tools.

For example, customers using your platform’s marketing, analytics, and automation tools might find that having all these tools connected in one ecosystem provides them with richer data, more efficient workflows, and less time spent on switching between tools. As they experience the compounded benefits of using multiple products together, they’ll become more invested in your ecosystem, which leads to increased retention.

3. Reduced churn through cross-selling and upselling

When you have a range of products, you can target customers with cross-sell and upsell opportunities that make sense within the context of their current usage. For instance, a customer using your basic toolset might find value in adopting additional premium features that enhance their experience or unlock new capabilities. If they’re already using one product regularly, introducing them to complementary products is a natural next step.

Moreover, the more products a user integrates into their workflow, the more “locked in” they become to your platform. Research shows that once users adopt more than one product, especially when they integrate multiple tools into their daily operations, their likelihood of churn drops significantly. By offering seamless upsells and cross-sells, you can keep users engaged while also increasing the value of each customer.

4. Seamless integration across products increases value

When your products are built to work together, customers gain a level of efficiency that single-product tools can’t match. For example, consider a SaaS platform offering project management, time tracking, and invoicing tools all within one ecosystem. By integrating these products, users don’t need to manually sync information between tools or waste time on cumbersome workarounds. They can track their time, manage projects, and create invoices, all without leaving your platform.

The more seamlessly your products integrate, the more indispensable your ecosystem becomes. Customers don’t just see individual tools; they see a cohesive, streamlined experience that simplifies their work. This integrated value makes customers more likely to stick around, as they don’t want to disrupt the efficiency they’ve built within your ecosystem.

5. Building long-term relationships

Multi-product customers are more likely to build long-term relationships with your company. The more touchpoints you have with a customer, the more opportunities you have to nurture the relationship, address their pain points, and provide additional value.

Customers who engage with several products within your platform are also more likely to provide feedback that can inform future product development. This feedback loop builds trust, as customers see their input reflected in your product roadmap. By maintaining an ongoing dialogue with multi-product users, you create a partnership dynamic that increases retention rates.

6. Predictable revenue streams

When users adopt multiple products, your revenue model becomes more predictable and sustainable. Rather than relying on a one-off purchase or single-product subscriptions, you have a broader and more consistent revenue stream as users continue to pay for several tools over time.

This can be especially beneficial for SaaS businesses that operate with a subscription-based model. As customers expand their use of your platform, they’re more likely to stay engaged with a recurring payment model that includes access to various products. Predictable, recurring revenue allows for better financial planning and long-term growth.

7. Easier onboarding and adoption of new products

Once a customer has adopted one product in your ecosystem, it becomes much easier to onboard them into other offerings. If their experience with your initial product is positive, they’re more likely to trust and try additional products that complement their needs. Plus, since they are already familiar with your platform’s interface and user experience, they’re more likely to adopt new products with minimal friction.

This ease of adoption increases retention by minimizing the barriers to trying new features. By offering clear value propositions for additional products and making the onboarding process as smooth as possible, you encourage customers to stay engaged and keep using your platform.

In conclusion

The ecosystem effect is a powerful tool for driving retention in SaaS businesses. Offering multiple products that work together not only increases customer dependency and engagement but also creates opportunities for upselling, cross-selling, and personalized experiences. By building an interconnected suite of tools, you create a platform that’s harder for customers to leave, fostering long-term loyalty and reducing churn.

For SaaS product leaders, investing in an ecosystem of products is no longer just a strategy for growth—it’s a strategy for retention. The more products your customers use, the more value they find, and the more likely they are to stay. The ecosystem effect ensures that your users remain embedded in your platform, and as they do, your revenue grows with them.

What is a subdomain and how to add one to your Duda website

Tue, 15 Apr 2025 14:07:56 GMT

The internet is full of hidden layers, and subdomains are one of them. You’ve probably visited subdomains countless times without even realizing it. Whether it's blog.example.com, or support.example.com, subdomains are everywhere, yet they remain one of the most misunderstood elements of website structure.

So, what exactly is a subdomain? Is it just another part of a website, or does it serve a bigger purpose? And more importantly, how do subdomains impact SEO, branding, and user experience?

In this guide, we’ll uncover the unknown world of subdomains, explaining:

What a subdomain is and how it works
The benefits of using a subdomain
Common use cases for subdomains
The difference between a subdomain and a subdirectory
How subdomains impact SEO (with insights from Google’s John Mueller)
Step-by-step instructions to add a subdomain to your Duda website - based on a video tutorial - to watch the video:

Let’s get started.

What is a subdomain?

A subdomain is a part of your website URL that comes before your main domain and helps organize content into separate sections.

For example:

Main domain: example.com
Subdomain: blog.example.com

Even though the subdomain is linked to the main domain, search engines and web browsers treat it as a distinct site with its own content and structure.

How do subdomains work?

Subdomains function as separate websites within a single domain. You can assign unique content, layouts, and functionalities to them while keeping them connected to the primary domain.

They are particularly useful when a website needs to host specialized content or services that don’t fit neatly into the main site’s structure.

Benefits of using a subdomain

Adding a subdomain to your website comes with several advantages, depending on your business needs. Here are some key benefits:

1. Better content organization

A subdomain allows you to separate different parts of your website, making it easier for users to navigate and find relevant content.

For example:

support.example.com for customer support
academy.example.com for educational courses

2. Customization & branding flexibility

Subdomains can have different designs, content structures, and even CMS platforms from your main site. This is useful for businesses with multiple brands or services under one umbrella.

For example:

A SaaS company might use app.example.com for its product dashboard.
A restaurant chain might use order.example.com for its online ordering system.

3. Improved website performance

Keeping resource-intensive sections (like learning platforms or large media libraries) on a subdomain can reduce the load on your main website, improving speed and reliability.

4. Enhanced user experience

Subdomains make it easier to provide a tailored experience for different user segments. For example:

us.example.com and uk.example.com can serve country-specific content.
members.example.com can provide exclusive access to subscribers.

5. Separate SEO & marketing strategies

A subdomain lets you target specific keywords, audiences, or regions without affecting your main website’s SEO strategy. You can also run different paid ad campaigns for the subdomain.

For example:

blog.example.com can focus on content marketing and SEO.
events.example.com can highlight upcoming company events and webinars.

6. Easier testing & development

Developers use subdomains to create staging environments where they can test new features before launching them on the main site.

For example:

beta.example.com for testing new product versions.
dev.example.com for internal development.

Subdomain vs. Subdirectory: What’s the difference?

Many wonder whether they should use a subdomain or a subdirectory for different sections of the site. While both options organize content, they serve distinct purposes. A subdomain is essentially a separate branch of your main website, functioning as an independent entity. For example, blog.example.com is a subdomain that can operate on different platforms or have a unique design while still being part of the main brand.

On the other hand, a subdirectory (or subfolder) is a section within your main domain, following the structure of example.com/blog or example.com/store. Unlike subdomains, subdirectories inherit the authority and SEO benefits of the main domain since all content remains under one roof. While subdomains are useful for separating different types of content or services, subdirectories are often preferred for maintaining strong SEO continuity across a site.

To sum it up:

Use a subdomain if you want a completely separate section with its own branding, structure, and content.
Use a subdirectory if you want your content to benefit from your main site’s SEO strength.

Now that we’ve explored the difference between subdomains and subdirectories, it’s time for the million-dollar question: How do subdomains impact SEO?

So, how do subdomains affect SEO anyway?

The impact of subdomains on SEO has been a long-standing debate in the digital marketing world, and even Google’s own experts have weighed in on the discussion. Rather than taking a definitive stance, Google has provided insights that suggest subdomains are neither inherently good nor bad for SEO—but they do require careful implementation.

Google’s John Mueller has addressed this topic multiple times. In one statement, he clarified that Google treats subdomains separately from the main domain , meaning they need to be crawled and indexed individually. He explained in Google Search Central :

This suggests that while Google does recognize subdomains as part of a larger site, they don’t automatically inherit authority from the main domain. Instead, each subdomain must build its own SEO strength over time.

Additionally, Google has repeatedly stated that using a subdomain vs. a subdirectory won’t make or break your rankings - it all depends on how the content is structured and whether it provides value to users. However, some SEO professionals argue that consolidating content under one domain (via subdirectories) helps maintain authority, while others successfully use subdomains to separate different types of content, such as blogs, eCommerce stores, or support portals.

Ultimately, Google’s view comes down to this: subdomains can rank just as well as subdirectories if optimized properly. However, they require separate SEO efforts, including link-building, keyword optimization, and tracking in Google Search Console.

If you use a subdomain, follow these best practices:

Verify your subdomain in Google Search Console.
Submit a sitemap for the subdomain.
Build backlinks to the subdomain for better authority.
Ensure internal linking between the main domain and subdomain.
Monitor performance separately in Google Analytics.

So, while subdomains aren’t inherently bad for SEO, they come with additional considerations. The key is to use them strategically and ensure they serve a clear purpose for your client’s site.

How to add a subdomain to your Duda website?

Adding a subdomain in Duda is simple. Follow these steps:

Step 1: Log into your Duda account

Go to your Duda dashboard and navigate to SEO Settings .

Step 2: Change your URL

Find Site Domains in the bottom-left menu.
Click Change URL and enter the desired subdomain (e.g., blog.yourwebsite.com).

Step 3: Update your DNS settings

Go to the DNS provider .
Add a CNAME record pointing the subdomain to the Duda site.
Unlike a main domain, a subdomain only requires a CNAME record .

Step 4: Save and verify

Once the DNS settings update (which can take a few hours), the subdomain will be live!

Final note

Subdomains can be a powerful tool for organizing a website, creating separate content experiences, and expanding the business. However, they require separate SEO efforts since Google treats them as independent websites.

Before deciding between a subdomain or subdirectory, consider your client’s goals:

If you want content to benefit from the main site’s SEO, use a subdirectory.
If you need a distinct website section, use a subdomain.

If you’re using Duda, setting up a subdomain is quick and easy. Just make sure to configure your DNS correctly, and you’ll be ready to go!

Your customers want an all-in-one software solution. So build it.

shawn.davis@duda.co (Shawn Davis) — Fri, 11 Apr 2025 12:10:32 GMT

Research by Gusto , a leader in HR technology, revealed that, while 94% of their SMB respondents are happy with their payroll and HR solution, a staggering 70% would still be open to switching to a verticalized piece of all-in-one software. This might sound contradictory at first, but it really isn’t. Our own research conducted earlier in 2024 uncovered a similar trend—SMBs want verticalized software.

When Gusto spoke to respondents using verticalized software, they largely echoed the same reasonings for their choices. One stated that “[Vertical Saas Companies] know the industry and know what my needs would be better,” while another claimed that “software that is created by people in my line of work will be most effective for my business.”

Customer spending matches these sentiments. Research by ICONIQ Capital found that the top quartile vertical SaaS companies are growing more than 200% year-over-year after reaching $10MM ARR. Compared to their horizontal counterparts, SaaS companies who produce software for broad audiences across many industries, vertical SaaS companies are 9% more profitable with a whopping 15% median EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) margin.

From a profitability standpoint, this seems counterintuitive, though. Vertical SaaS companies have an inherently smaller total accessible market (TAM), yet they’re growing faster than their more “generic” counterparts with a larger TAM. How can this be? The answer lies in precisely why vertical SaaS companies are so much more performant; they’re a better fit for their market.

Integration really is everything

Denver is one of the top coffee cities in the country . There are more than 20 coffee shops per 100,000 residents, which is 63% more coffee shops per capita than the average city. Walk into any one of them and you’re likely to encounter, in some way or another, Toast.

Toast, founded in 2012, is one of the original vertical SaaS companies. They create specialized software and hardware for the food industry. Cafés gravitate to their solutions because they’re integrated end-to-end in a way that really understands their business.

Let’s take a step back, for a second. Imagine you want to join Denver’s thriving coffee scene with a shop of your own. We’ll call it “Latte Larry’s.” Aside from sourcing some great beans , you’re also going to need software. In particular, you’ll need:

Inventory management
Employee management
Point-of-sale
Online ordering
Payment processing

That’s just to name a few. If your cafe offers baked goods (it should), you might want to consider investing in a kitchen display. What about a loyalty program too? Will your cafe cater or host events? Surely it’s going to need a website, too!

Every single one of these needs can be served by unique pieces of horizontal software, but what they lack, and what SMBs crave, is integration. Toast excels not because they offer so many of these solutions, but because they offer them as one, tightly integrated “out of the box” solution.

If your point-of-sale system immediately communicates with your payment processor, kitchen displays, loyalty program, and inventory management system—you’ve just streamlined a significant amount of work! This enables your cafe to offer hands-free solutions like kiosk ordering as well as online ordering. More importantly, though, it helps your baristas turn from the register to your fancy La Marzocco espresso machine faster—improving customer experience and team efficiency. That means a higher margin, more profitable coffee shop, and, for Toast, a satisfied, loyal customer.

In fact, loyalty is one of the most important advantages garnered by verticalized software solutions. A stat we love to cite , and for good reason, is that companies offering just one product retain, on average, 30% of their SMB customers year-over-year while companies offering two products retain 50%. That trend continues, with companies offering 4 or more products retaining, on average, 80% of their SMB customers year-over-year.

Vertical SaaS companies are uniquely positioned here because their core product often controls the most fundamental “back of the house” business data. For Toast, this is the point-of-sale system. AppFolio, another leading vertical SaaS company in the property management space, started with accounting software .

Property management accounting is rather complex, a problem AppFolio correctly identified. Often a variety of different owners are involved, pooling their money into the building as an investment vehicle. Various rules and regulations govern the management of that money, rules that are enforced via regular auditing.

By taking ownership of such a mission-critical piece of data, AppFolio was able to build an unshakable foundation in their customer’s business that paved the way for additional complimentary software. Their next solution, payment processing, was an incredibly obvious addition. Further additions weren’t as obvious, though. It took a little legwork to understand what their customers actually needed.

What does it even mean to be “all-in-one?”

If you told a plumber to imagine their perfect piece of software, a true “all-in-one” solution, what do you think it might look like? It’d probably include some kind of marketing technology, like a website, as well as payments and a customer relationship management component—those are gimmies. However, they’d likely also expect an estimate calculator, some sort of inventory management tool, and, depending on the size of their business, perhaps even a fleet management tool.

Now, imagine an entirely different business, like a swim school. They’d probably benefit from the websites, CRM, and payments portion of that software, but they absolutely would not find value in the other facets. Why would a swim school want fleet management? Are they expected to bring the pool with them?

The point of that example is to highlight how nebulous the phrase “all-in-one” can be, especially in the realm of B2B software.

What even is “all” in “all-in-one?” The answer to that question is what separates a start-up from a unicorn in the realm of Vertical SaaS.

Every industry employs unique business practices and, thus, faces unique business challenges. All-in-one software, when verticalized to these businesses and their challenges, can solve those problems.

Veeva Systems is an American cloud-computing company focused specifically on the pharmaceutical and life sciences industries. At the time of writing, their market cap was valued at a staggering $33.4B. What separates them from their horizontal competitors isn’t exclusively their products—there’s truly no shortage of cloud-based CRM and content management solutions. Rather, it’s their understanding of their customers’ needs, workflows, and industry regulations.

Conversely, when Vertical SaaS companies create solutions that don’t fit the needs of their customers, they can over-leverage their team and burn much needed capital. Imagine if that plumbing software from earlier had developed a payment solution, but didn’t make it available for mobile devices. Plumbing is an inherently mobile industry! This would be a non-starter for their customers and would demonstrate a complete lack of understanding on the part of the software provider.

Another pitfall Vertical SaaS companies face is when they attempt to funnel too many resources into these auxiliary products. I’ve used payments as an example a couple times throughout this article, and for good reason; it’s a popular add-on that many businesses need. However, it’s also a difficult product to develop. True payment processing requires negotiations with card networks, banks, and an absolute mountain of regulation.

Websites, another popular product extension, can overleverage engineering teams as well. However, unlike payments which may be difficult to even get off of the ground, websites can feel achievable. That is, of course, until it comes time to create something powerful enough that your customers would actually want to use it .

Meet your customers, then build what they want

Vertical SaaS companies striving for growth cannot ignore the opportunities becoming an “all-in-one” solution presents. When done well, these platforms can expect higher levels of customer retention, increased revenue per user, and a stronger competitive advantage.

However, if this was easy everyone would be doing it. Companies who fail to understand their customers’ workflows can expect low adoption, while those who choose to build products outside of their core expertise themselves can expect to face a wide-range of operational challenges.

Success, then, lies somewhere in between. What products do your customers need, and should you build them or partner with someone else ?

How to build a website instantly, and why you might want to

Thu, 03 Apr 2025 23:45:00 GMT

Great things can happen in an instant. Brilliant ideas can be hatched, championships can be won, and, shockingly, websites can be created. We’ve written before about how agencies can use Zapier to spin-up sites in seconds , but what about Duda’s unique REST API? Unsurprisingly, it’s even more powerful.

When professionals interact with Duda programmatically, they have the ability to use the platform as a form of “headless content management system (CMS).” What is a headless CMS? In essence, it’s a form of CMS that separates the design from the content.

This is fundamentally different from what most agencies are used to. When you build a site today from within the platform, you’re likely adding content to it directly via widgets. You may separate some of it using Connected Data and the Content Library , but the vast majority is typically very much part of the design.

When Duda is used as a headless CMS, Connected Data manages virtually all content on the website—or at the very least all of the important parts. Creating this degree of separation sounds like more work, and at first it certainly is, but there’s an undeniable reward for putting in that work; scalability.

Separating content from design

On the most basic level, an Instant Site is a new Duda website created from a template via the API. On its own, that isn’t very interesting. Surely you could do that from within the platform, right? That’s why we recommend taking advantage of two technologies somewhat unique to Duda to elevate this process; Connected Data and Connected Templates.

Connected Data, if you’re unfamiliar, is a “variable” or placeholder for future content. When you use Connected Data, you’re telling Duda that a certain piece of content that exists somewhere else, like business hours or the logo, will go in this location. Dynamic Pages , the Blog, and even eCommerce Stores are all powered by Connected Data to some degree.

Connected Templates embed multiple instances of Connected Data throughout a template of your choosing. This is a significantly more interesting way to use Instant Sites because it makes it possible to customize the website immediately upon creation.

You can transmit information to your website via the API to be used as Connected Data, or you can create a connection between your website and a third-party database—say, your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, for instance—for a more robust solution.

In fact, let’s explore that example. Suppose your agency has a CRM filled with client information. Each database entry may house some data like their business name, logo, hours of operation, and addresses. All of this can be transmitted to Duda at the same time you create the website, using the parameters available to you within the Instant Sites API. Are you starting to see what I meant by “scalability” now?

More enterprising agencies may develop multiple Connected Templates, then leverage additional APIs to modify the theme colors, add additional pages, or even publish them to domains. This exact workflow is one we’ve seen many agencies (and SaaS companies!) from around the world employ to great success. So, how do they do it?

Posting to the API

Developers who have worked with APIs before will feel right at home with Duda’s Instant Sites API. That’s because Duda uses an intuitive “ REST ” structure, commonplace these days amongst most APIs.

Agencies should prepare their Connected Templates in advance before asking their developers to write any API code. That’s because they’re going to need the “template ID,” one of the necessary parameters to use the Instant Sites API. The following code can be used to list all available templates alongside essential information about each one, such as their name and ID.

With the te mplate ID in hand, creating a site is easy. No other information is technically required to create an Instant Site, however, we’d recommend filling out a few of the optional parameters like:

Business name
Business phone number (if applicable)
Business email (if applicable)
Business address (if applicable)
Site domain
Site meta-title
Site meta-description
Google tracking IDs

Here’s an example of what the “ Create Site ” API call might look like:

If you have additional client information in your database, like logo images or custom text, you can use the “ Update Content Library ” API immediately after creating the site. This also allows you to initialize the AI Assistant with business data, making future in-platform changes even easier.

There are frankly dozens of unique APIs that you can chain together to create super custom Instant Site automations. You can:

Change the site’s global theme colors
Inject custom text into specific locations that aren’t using Connected Data
Inject custom code into sections
Create new, blank pages
Publish the site

That’s just to name a few. We’ve seen some really complex workflows designed to automate 80% of site creation, while other agencies prefer to kickstart the process with a simple, yet automated onboarding form.

Unfortunately, not every agency is ready for a solution like this. Some smaller shops may not have a developer on-hand, or the time and resources necessary to develop a scalable solution like this. If you feel like your business is straddling the line between Instant Sites being beneficial or overkill, a member of our sales team would be happy to discuss it further. Otherwise, for those confident that they need to bring on a few more clients first, there are ways to leverage this technology without code.

No code? No problem

Connected Templates are a powerful technology in their own right and, unlike the API, are available on every plan at or above the “Team” level. While the Instant Sites API is an elegant way to leverage the power of Connected Templates, there are other ways; namely, the Content Collection Form .

Duda’s Content Collection Form provides a professional and streamlined solution for agencies looking to gather client content. Their responses automatically populate the Content Library of a given website upon submission, making it a fantastic companion for Connected Templates.

If you choose to pair a Connected Template with the Content Collection Form, responses will automatically appear within the website in their predetermined locations. This is a great way to further streamline an already quick process. Although, if you’d prefer something more hands-off, there’s always AI .

How other agencies are using Instant Sites

Agencies who have chosen to leverage Duda’s APIs have developed some pretty unique solutions. From custom onboarding forms to programmatic landing page creation and everything in between, there’s no limit to what you can do.

Website upsells

Instant Websites make it easier than ever to bundle websites with other products and services you offer as well as upsell sites to current customers. With our flexible API, you can connect any structured data set of existing customer information to the Content Library and create sites for those accounts in just a few clicks. Your customers will love their new websites, and you’ll love your new source of revenue.

Simplified data management

Depending on your CRM of choice, it may be possible to spin-up a new website inside your Duda account the moment you create a contact. Developing that persistent connection between your CRM and your Duda account means you can rely on a single “source of truth” for all information. Client’s phone number changes? Update it in your CRM and watch it change automatically on their website—everywhere it’s listed.

Reduced customer churn

Connectable data and instant website creation can improve churn rates for both do-it-yourself (DIY, your clients build the websites) and do-it-for-me (DIFM, you build the websites for your clients) Duda partners.

For DIY partners, Instant Websites ensure your customers have a fully functional, published site – the moment they sign up for your service. Your team simply needs to add Duda’s content collection form to your customer conversion funnel, which will push their information into a brand new website. The created site can then be edited by your customer using the full capabilities of Duda’s site builder.

For DIFM Duda partners, the ability to create websites instantly means you’ll be able to offer regular redesigns without putting any additional strain on your team’s resources. All your designers need to do is quickly switch out site templates and/or sections and all of a customer’s existing data that is connected to the Content Library will be transferred over to the new design. This kills two birds with one stone — your team can say goodbye to manually re-creating content, and customers with updated sleek websites are much less likely to churn.

New customer acquisition

Instant Websites can improve client acquisition for your business in a number of different ways, but it’s particularly helpful for creating basic, completed websites your customers will want to buy right away. All it takes is a member of your sales team to plug a few pieces of key business information (business name, phone number, address, and logo) into a content collection form, create a site and send it to the potential customer with a quote. If your team already has a structured dataset with this information, you can skip the manual data entry and create large batches of potential customer websites in just a few clicks.

The list goes on

Agencies are using Duda in unbelievably creative ways. If you’re one of them, let us know how you’re using Instant Sites to scale your business by posting in our Duda Community on Facebook . If that doesn’t quite describe you yet, let us know! Our sales team would be more than happy to help you operationalize site creation in a way that makes sense for your business.

Accessible websites: Complete checklist for agencies

Mon, 31 Mar 2025 12:43:03 GMT

On June 28, 2025, the European Accessibility Act (EAA) will come into effect, requiring websites and digital services to meet accessibility standards across the EU. This means agencies working with European clients—or those with global audiences—need to ensure their sites comply. Non-compliance could result in legal penalties, financial losses, and reputational damage. To learn more about EAA compliance, check out our blog: " EAA is coming for your clients. Help them comply! " and this guide written by our partners, AudioEye.

But accessibility isn’t just a regulatory issue—it’s a fundamental human right. The United Nations has declared accessibility a human right . As such, web design agencies and designers must ensure that their creations are accessible to all. This is not only the right thing to do but also protects clients from lawsuits for failing to provide accessible online experiences.

And yes...that happens.

Between 2017 and 2024, over 4,000 lawsuits were filed annually against companies for ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) non-compliance, according to reports from Accessibility Works and Clockwork Design Group . In 2024 alone, more than 4,000 lawsuits were filed in state and federal courts, continuing a consistent trend of high litigation volumes.

While high-profile suits like those against Domino's , Fox News , Hasbro , Target , and even Beyoncé get all the attention in the media, 77% of the lawsuits in 2023 were actually filed against businesses doing less than $25 million in revenue. And, according to the Bureau of Internet Accessibility, the average settlement cost is roughly $25,000 .

As an agency, it's your responsibility to make sure your clients are aware of and meet these requirements. If a client has to pay $25,000 to settle an accessibility lawsuit, they're going to be looking for someone to blame. And guess who that's going to fall on?

In today's article, we'll give you a complete checklist to run through when handling web accessibility for your clients.

A deeper dive into web accessibility

We know YOU already know what web accessibility is. Otherwise, you wouldn't have made it this far as an agency owner.

That said, you have an additional responsibility to educate your clients on the importance of web accessibility and how it impacts their business .

Web accessibility = "the ability to access" for everyone. Having an accessible website is about providing equal access and opportunity to people with physical and situational disabilities. It also extends to those with socio-economic restrictions on speed and bandwidth and people who prefer mobile devices over desktops and vice-versa.
It doesn't just benefit people with disabilities. While features for auditory support or color contrast may be meant for users with disabilities, things like mobile optimization and clear navigation benefit everyone.
Your clients' sales are on the line. According to the World Health Organization, 1.3 billion people around the world experience a significant disability. Without an accessible website, as many as 1 in every 6 site visitors won't even have the opportunity to become customers.
Failing to meet accessibility requirements costs them dearly. Not only will your clients potentially face lawsuits and settlements, but they'll also lose credibility and trust from customers if their website is inaccessible. When you factor in lost sales, diminished public image, and potential lawsuits, you're looking at a six-figure loss.

Why is website accessibility so important for agencies?

As an agency, it's your responsibility to make sure your clients are aware of and meet W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.2) . In addition to showing you care about creating inclusive online experiences, building accessible websites for your clients ensures they aren't at risk of legal action per the ADA.

By extension, it shields your business from the potential legal consequences of delivering work that isn't in compliance with accessibility standards. If a client has to pay $25,000 to settle an accessibility lawsuit, they're going to be looking for someone to blame. And guess who that's going to fall on? (We’ll give you a hint, it’s you…)

By prioritizing web accessibility for your clients, you can:

Market your sites as "accessible" to future clients
Enhance the user experience and maximize conversions
Protect yourself and your clients from accessibility-based lawsuits
Improve SEO performance through accessibility features
Boost your agency's reputation and credibility

You'll also be able to create new revenue streams for your clients. By making websites accessible, agencies help their clients reach a broader audience, including the estimated 25% of the US population with disabilities, who hold significant spending power. In the US alone, this group has discretionary spending around $175 billion.

And for your agency, offering web accessibility services (e.g., accessibility audits, consulting, and remediation) allows you to diversify, differentiate, and provide additional value to clients. You can charge for these separately or bundled with other offerings.

Be prepared to answer clients' questions regarding accessibility.

Certainly, some of your current and future clients will ask about what you're doing to make sure their site is accessible.

They'll want to know things like:

The # of critical accessibility errors currently live on their site
The tools you use to assess the UX for accessibility errors
Which accessibility standard(s) your team evaluates against (A, AA, or AAA)
How you approach web accessibility when designing an eye-catching website
Your process for creating accessible content (alt text, captions, transcripts, etc.)
How do you monitor accessibility over time
How you collect and incorporate feedback from various user groups into future UX iterations

Clients want to know that accessibility isn't a one-time consideration for your team. Demonstrating an effective mechanism for incorporating user feedback and designing for diverse needs and personas will put you ahead of 90% of the web design agencies out there.

Be prepared to explain the importance of accessibility to clients who object.

Of course, creating an accessible website can sometimes be more expensive. And if you're selling an accessibility package on top of your standard services, they might not see the real value in spending the extra money.

They might say something like:

"Nobody's ever complained about our site before."
"People with disabilities don't buy what we sell."
"We don't have the resources for this right now."
"It's just going to make our site look boring."
"We already use an AI-powered overlay."

Clients who don't know the facts might make assumptions about their customers or how accessibility impacts their business.

In reality:

Most people aren't going to tell the site owner their site's inaccessible. They'll just leave. Or, the site could be so inaccessible nobody can even reach the "Contact Us" page or email form.
Blind people might not purchase flying lessons for themselves, but they might for a friend.
The potential loss from an accessibility lawsuit is significantly higher than the cost of creating an accessible site. And if they're an ecommerce client , they're disproportionately at risk.
You can make a site accessible without changing the core design.
According to UsableNet's abovementioned report, there were 414 lawsuits filed against companies using overlays or active widgets.

The legal aspect: accessibility guidelines, regulations, and standards

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) were first introduced by the World Wide Web Consortium's Web Accessibility Initiative in 1999 with WCAG 1.0. This early version provided 14 guidelines based on fundamental principles of accessible design, such as providing text alternatives for non-text content and using colors that do not rely on color alone for meaning.

Since then, WCAG has undergone several updates, and multiple other legal documents have been introduced to regulate website accessibility.

Let's dive in.

Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (1998)

Not long after WCAG 1.0 was released in 1999, the US government passed Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, which requires federal agencies to make their electronic and information technology (EIT) accessible. Section 508 standards were refreshed in 2017 to incorporate WCAG 2.0 Level AA criteria, aligning federal requirements with widely recognized web accessibility standards.

Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)

While HIPAA primarily addresses the privacy and security of health data, its implications for web accessibility center around ensuring that electronic healthcare records and other online health information services are accessible to individuals with disabilities, under broader non-discrimination policies.

WCAG levels: A, AA, AAA

WCAG 2.0 guidelines are categorized into three levels of conformance to help organizations meet the needs of different groups and situations:

Level A (minimum level): The most basic web accessibility features must be implemented. Failing to satisfy this level would make it difficult for many people with disabilities to access the content.
Level AA (mid-range): Addresses the biggest barriers for disabled users, and is generally aimed at improving accessibility for all. It is also the level most often referenced in legislation and policies.
Level AAA (highest level): The most complex level of web accessibility, level AAA improves the experience for users with a wider range of disabilities. This level is not required by most policies but is good practice to aim for if possible.

POUR principles

WCAG 2.0, released in 2008, introduced four key principles under which accessibility should operate: the POUR principles . This update expanded the guidelines to encompass all digital content and was structured around testable criteria, making it easier to implement and verify.

The POUR principles outline four essential criteria to consider for accessibility:

Perceivable: Information and user interface components must be presentable to users in ways they can easily see.
Operable: UI components and site navigation need to be functional and easy to operate.
Understandable: Information and the operation of the user interface must be understandable.
Robust: Content must be well-written and structured enough that a wide variety of users and assistive technologies can interpret it correctly.

WCAG 2.1 and 2.2

WCAG 2.1 and WCAG 2.2 each introduced specific improvements to the existing web accessibility guidelines to better address emerging needs, especially as digital technologies evolved.

WCAG 2.1 enhancements

Released in June 2018, WCAG 2.1 added 17 additional success criteria to WCAG 2.0.

Key enhancements included:

Mobile accessibility: New guidelines were introduced to improve access for mobile and touch-screen device users. This includes making functions accessible from a keyboard and ensuring that users can use devices in any orientation (portrait or landscape).
Low-vision support: Improvements were made to support users with low vision, such as requirements for text spacing and non-text contrast, which help ensure legibility and readability.
Cognitive disabilities: New criteria aimed to help users with cognitive, learning, and neurological disabilities, offering more ways to find content and making it easier to use inputs other than keyboard.

WCAG 2.2 additions

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) or WCAG 2.2 were officially published as a W3C Recommendation on October 5, 2023. This update fine-tuned user interactions and contexts that were not fully addressed by WCAG 2.1. It added nine more success criteria to further support users with cognitive and learning disabilities, as well as users with low vision.

Key introductions included:

Findable help: This criterion requires that help be available on a website, such as human contact information, self-help options, and automated help, which is especially beneficial for users who may struggle with navigation or complex information.
Consistent help: Ensuring that help options are available consistently across different web pages.
Accessibility of personal information: Guidelines that help users with cognitive disabilities by simplifying the process of entering personal information and correcting mistakes.

ADA compliance

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) mandates that all public entities and businesses that serve the public must be accessible, including online resources. This act covers a wide range of disabilities, including physical, sensory, and cognitive disabilities. Websites must be designed to provide equal access and equal opportunity for people with these disabilities.

European Accessibility Act (EAA)

As mentioned earlier in this article, the EAA will come into effect on June 28, 2025, and requires websites and digital services to meet accessibility standards across the EU, representing a significant milestone in digital accessibility legislation across the European Union.

This comprehensive directive requires websites, mobile applications, eCommerce platforms, and digital services to meet specific accessibility standards. The EAA mandates that digital products and services be designed to be more accessible to people with disabilities, covering a wide range of digital technologies. Organizations must ensure their digital offerings are perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust, aligning closely with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA standards. Non-compliance can result in significant financial penalties and legal consequences, making it crucial for businesses operating in or serving EU markets to prioritize digital accessibility.

The complete website accessibility checklist for agencies

1. Ensure color contrast ratios.

Color contrast ratio refers to the difference in light between text (or graphical elements like icons) and its background. High contrast makes content more readable for those with visual impairments, including people with color blindness or deteriorating vision conditions.

To meet WCAG AA, the contrast ratio should be at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text, graphics, and UI components (like form input borders).

Duda has recently introduced a built-in Color Contrast Ratio checker within the website builder. Located in the color picker of text elements, this feature provides instant feedback with a failed (red X) or passing score of AA or AAA, allowing agencies to verify color contrast without leaving the editor, and design with color contrast in mind from the start.

Tips:

When designing elements like buttons or graphical controls, test the foreground/background on those elements before implementing them on the website.
Ensure that contrast remains sufficient even in dark mode or high-contrast settings, as some users may rely on these for better visibility.

2. Make sure your client’s website is keyboard accessible.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) emphasize keyboard accessibility as part of the "Operable" principle, which mandates that all web functionalities must be accessible by keyboard alone.

This allows anyone who can't use a mouse — due to physical disabilities, visual impairments, simply not having one, or personal preference — to navigate and interact with site content.

Users should be able to navigate menus, activate links and buttons, fill out forms, and use custom interactive widgets without a mouse.

Source

To implement keyboard accessibility:

Make all interactive elements, including links, buttons, and form inputs, able to be selected, focused, and activated using the keyboard, typically with the Tab, Enter, and Space keys.
Avoid keyboard traps where a keyboard user cannot move focus away from an interactive element without using a mouse. Users should be able to navigate through all page elements using standard keyboard commands and exit any focused element.
Provide visual indicators such as outlines or highlights when interactive elements gain focus to help users identify their location on the page.
Make all windows closable using the Esc key; for example, when using modal windows or lightboxes.
Include scrolling functionality using the arrow keys.

3. Avoid flashy designs.

For those with impairments, fast-moving website animations , strobe-like effects, and sudden movements can be disorienting (and, in serious cases, cause seizures or nausea). According to Success Criterion 2.3.1, web content must not flash more than three times per second to meet the minimum compliance (Level A).

To fix issues with overly-flashy or moving design elements:

Use tools like the Photosensitive Epilepsy Analysis Tool (PEAT) to test content for seizure risks.
Avoid elements that flash or flicker faster than three times per second.
Ensure that any flashing content does not exceed the general flash and red flash thresholds, which are particularly triggering.
Provide mechanisms for users to stop, pause, or hide flashing or blinking content, especially for auto-playing videos or animations.
For emergency alerts, use a gentle fade-in effect instead of flashing, adhering to the threshold guidelines.

Figma’s website is a great example of how to use animations to your advantage without compromising accessibility.

Throughout the site, animations demonstrate the product’s features in real time, as you scroll.

But users have the option to show the controls if they’d like. And the light color palette and slower movements make it easier on the eyes.

4. Provide unique page titles.

Page titles are crucial for web accessibility as they help users (particularly those using assistive technologies like screen readers) understand what a webpage is about without needing to read the entire content. These titles appear in browser tabs, search engine results, and are read aloud by screen readers when a page is accessed, making them vital for navigation and orientation.

According to WCAG Success Criterion 2.4.2 "Page Titled", each page should have a title that describes its topic or purpose clearly and distinctly to facilitate user navigation and orientation.

To create compliant page titles:

Ensure each page title describes the main content or purpose of the page. This helps users navigate through tabs and understand the page content at a glance.
Each title should be unique within the website to avoid confusion and help users distinguish between different pages when multiple tabs are open or when using history navigation.
Titles should be concise and prioritize the most important information. Placing unique and relevant information first in the title (front-loading) can be more helpful, especially for users who rely on screen readers.
Avoid generic titles like "Products" or "Services," which do not provide specific information about your client’s page content.

5. Organize your content.

Using HTML5 semantic elements like <header>, <footer>, <nav>, <article>, and <section> significantly enhances web accessibility. In addition to helping with SEO, they provide a clear structure to your client's webpage, which is crucial for users who rely on assistive technologies like screen readers.

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To properly implement these elements:

Use <header> for introductory content or navigational links and <footer> for information about the author, related documents, and copyrights.
Use <nav> for major navigation blocks, such as primary site links, which can be easily located by screen readers.
Use <article> for self-contained compositions that can be independently distributed or reused, such as blog posts or news articles.
Use <section> to define sections within a document, like chapters, headers, footers, or any other sections of the document.

For example, a blog post page could have a <header> for the site name and main navigation, an <article> for the blog post content, <section> tags to delineate different parts of the article, and a <footer> with copyright and other site-wide information.

An ecommerce site might use <nav> for the site’s main shopping categories, each product detail could be wrapped in an <article>, and user comments in separate <section> tags within the article.

6. Provide captions and transcripts for videos.

Captions and transcripts make video content accessible to people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, those who have difficulty processing auditory information, and non-native speakers. Since they make so anyone who cannot hear the audio to follow along with the video, they also cater to those in quiet or noisy environments or who prefer reading to listening.

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Under the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), captions are mandatory for all prerecorded audio content in synchronized media (such as videos) at Level A, and for all live audio content at Level AA.

For pre-recorded content, provide closed captions that can be toggled on and off. Ensure captions include not only dialogue but also other audio cues like sound effects and music when they are essential for understanding the content.
For live content, use real-time captioning services.
Transcripts should include detailed descriptions of all significant audio and visual content, not just dialogue. This might include descriptions of actions, facial expressions, background noises, and scene changes.

7. Include labels for form elements and inputs.

Labels are crucial for form elements and inputs as they provide clear descriptions of what information users need to input. They also help users who struggle with reading or understanding the form fields.

Under WCAG 2.1, labels or instructions are required for user input when content requires user interaction. Specifically, WCAG 2.1 under Success Criterion 3.3.2 (Labels or Instructions) mandates that labels or instructions be provided when content requires user input for Level A compliance.

For repeat customers, it's best to include an autofill attribute on these forms to allow browsers and assistive technologies to recognize and autocomplete form fields based on the user's past input. And for entries with only a selection of options, opt for a dropdown menu instead of an input field to ensure users can select from a list of choices instead of typing them out.

Technical execution involves the following:

Proper labeling: Every input in a form should have a corresponding label element that defines the purpose of the input field. This is achieved by ensuring the for attribute of the label matches the id attribute of the input element, creating a programmatically determinable relationship between the label and the specific input.
Visual design and CSS: While CSS can be used to visually enhance or hide labels for aesthetic purposes, it's crucial that the labels remain functionally accessible to all users, including those using assistive technologies. Techniques like "screen reader only" classes can be used to hide labels visually while keeping them accessible to screen readers.
Placeholder text vs. labels: It's a common misconception that placeholder text can replace labels. However, placeholders disappear when the user starts typing, which can confuse users who might forget what information belongs in the field. Placeholders should be used to provide an example of the type of input required, not as a substitute for labels.
Semantic HTML: Use semantic HTML5 elements like <label>, <input>, <textarea>, and <button> correctly to ensure they provide the necessary accessibility features inherently supported by browsers and assistive technologies.

8. Give additional options when users make mistakes.

When users make an error on your client's site, they should be guided clearly on how to correct it. This support is especially important for users who rely on assistive technologies, as they may not perceive visual cues that indicate errors.

WCAG 2.1 includes specific guidelines for error identification (SC 3.3.1) and error suggestion (SC 3.3.3), which require that errors be described to the user in text, and that more than mere identification of errors is provided—suggestions for correction should also be given.

Follow these best practices to create a more inclusive error-handling experience for users:

Errors should be immediately noticeable and clearly explained. Positioning error messages at the top of the form and providing in-page links directly to the erroneous fields can help users quickly understand and rectify issues.
Include clear descriptions of what the error is and how to fix it. For example, instead of simply saying "Invalid entry," specify "The Date field is in the wrong format; it should be DD/MM/YYYY."
Use visual cues like color changes alongside programmatic changes such as ARIA labels to indicate errors. However, ensure these cues are not solely visual as this does not accommodate all users.
Provide real-time validation that alerts users to errors as they occur. This approach helps prevent errors before form submission, enhancing the user experience by reducing the need for error correction post-submission.
Use JavaScript and ARIA. Utilize JavaScript for dynamic error handling and ARIA properties to link error messages directly with the form inputs they relate to, improving accessibility for screen reader users.

A simple one is a "go back to home" option for a 404 error.

You could take it to the next level by implementing a chatbot for your client's website, too.

This can provide immediate assistance to users who encounter errors and need help fixing them. The chatbot could ask the user for more information about the error or point them in the right direction.

9. Provide easy-to-identify links.

Making links easy to identify involves ensuring they're distinguishable from standard text without relying solely on color. This helps users with visual impairments or color blindness.

Additionally, the purpose of each link should be clear from its text or context, aiding those who use screen readers and those with cognitive limitations.

To effectively label links, you should:

Use styles that differentiate links from regular text (underlining works best because most people know an underline indicates a link). Ensure that these styles are consistent throughout the site.
Use descriptive text that provides clear information about the destination of the link. Avoid vague text like "click here" or "more", which does not provide information about the link’s purpose.
Color should not be the sole method of identifying links; instead, it should be used alongside other indicators. For users who are color blind, relying on color differences alone to distinguish text can lead to usability issues.
For links that contain icons or images, use ARIA labels or alt text to clearly describe the action or destination of the link.

10. Provide options for navigation.

Proper navigation structures are essential for web accessibility, allowing users with different needs and preferences to interact with the site effectively. This includes people using assistive technologies, those with motor disabilities who rely on keyboard navigation, and users with cognitive impairments who benefit from straightforward and predictable navigation paths.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines emphasize the need for accessible navigation, which includes providing mechanisms to bypass blocks of content that are repeated on multiple pages, ensuring that navigation sequences are logical and operable through keyboard and assistive technologies, and making the focus visible on all interactive elements.

Use the following best practices to ensure your client's site offers accessible navigation options:

Include multiple ways to navigate the site, such as menus, search functions, site maps, and tables of contents. This variety helps cater to different user preferences and accessibility needs.
Use semantic HTML elements like <nav> for navigation sections, and properly mark up lists within navigation menus using <ul> or <ol> depending on whether order is relevant. This structure aids assistive technologies in understanding and interacting with the site layout.
Provide "skip to main content" links at the beginning of pages to allow users to bypass repetitive navigation links. This feature is especially useful for those using screen readers or keyboard navigation.
For dropdowns and fly-out menus, ensure that all users, including those who navigate by keyboard, can access all items. Menus should be operable with both mouse and keyboard interfaces, and should not require specific timings for mouseovers, which can be challenging for users with motor impairments.
Use methods like ARIA labels or visual cues to indicate the current page or section within navigation menus. This helps users understand their current location within the site structure, which is crucial for orientation.

11. Provide feedback and write useful error messages.

There's nothing more frustrating than running into an error on a website and not being able to figure out what went wrong or how to fix it. Providing clear and concise feedback to users when they encounter errors is essential for a positive user experience.

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) cover error identification (SC 3.3.1), providing suggestions for correction (SC 3.3.3), and preventing errors (SC 3.3.4), especially in legal and financial contexts where mistakes may have serious consequences.

To improve your client's website error handling, consider implementing these best practices:

Use live regions in your HTML to alert screen reader users immediately when errors occur. This method informs them about errors without needing to change the focus or reload the page.
Include specific instructions on how to fix the errors. For example, if a required field is empty, the error message should state which field is affected and what is expected (e.g., "The Date field is required and must be in the format DD/MM/YYYY").
Ensure that error messages are accompanied by both visual cues (like icons or different text colors) and programmatically determined markers (such as using aria-describedby) that assistive technologies can convey to users.
Use inline validation to provide immediate feedback as users fill out forms. This helps prevent errors by confirming correct entries as soon as they are made and providing tips or corrections before the user moves on to the next field.
Position error messages right near the form fields they relate to, or list all errors at the top of the form with links that take users directly to the erroneous fields. This helps users identify and correct multiple issues more efficiently.

12. Build responsive sites.

A responsive website is one that adapts to different screen sizes, resolutions, and orientations so that the content is displayed correctly on any device. It's probably something you're already familiar with, as aesthetic flexibility, user convenience, and mobile-first design are becoming increasingly popular.

Now, plenty of modern websites are designed to be responsive out of the box (including every site built with Duda's website builder for agencies ). Disability or not, everyone will need to use a device with a different screen size and input method to access your website at any given time.

We have lots of tips on this topic:

Use fluid grids that use relative units like percentages rather than fixed units like pixels. This flexibility allows the content to expand or shrink to fit the screen size.
Ensure images and other media content resize within their containing elements. The use of CSS techniques such as max-width: 100% can keep images from extending past the screen width.
Use media queries to apply different styling rules based on the device characteristics, such as its width, height, and orientation. This allows for precise control over how content is displayed on various devices.
Use the viewport meta tag to control layout on mobile browsers, setting parameters for width and initial scale to enhance user experience.
Ensure navigation menus are accessible, with adequate tap targets and keyboard navigability, to accommodate touch and non-touch users alike. Also make interactive elements like buttons and links large enough to be easily tapped on a touchscreen device.
Avoid fixed positioning. Fixed UI components can interfere with zooming and scaling on small screens, so it’s better to use static or relative positioning.

13. Include headings and spacing.

Headings structure the content by defining a clear hierarchy. Well-placed headings allow users to easily skim the content, and they play a crucial role in enhancing the accessibility of a website.

To implement them, follow these basic guidelines:

Use headings hierarchically from <h1> to <h6>. The <h1> should always be the main title of the page, and subsequent headings (<h2>, <h3>, etc.) should denote sub-sections within the document in descending order of importance.
Ensure that headings are descriptive and provide a clear indication of the content that follows them. This assists in making the content more navigable and comprehensible, particularly for users who rely on assistive technology.
Avoid skipping heading levels (e.g., going from <h1> straight to <h3>). This can confuse both users and assistive technologies. Maintaining a logical order helps in creating a coherent flow of content.

There's a second half to the readability equation, though: spacing.

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Proper text spacing entails adequate line height, word spacing, and letter spacing, all of which make the text legible for anyone reading your client's content, even if they adjust text settings on their browsers.

Follow WCAG guidelines which recommend a line height (line spacing) of at least 1.5 times the font size, and spacing following paragraphs of at least 2 times the font size. Letter spacing (tracking) should be at least 0.12 times the font size, and word spacing at least 0.16 times the font size.
Make sure these spacing settings allow for content to be readable even when text size is increased by up to 200%.

14. Add alt text to images.

Alt text is a textual description of an image that is displayed if the image cannot be loaded, or for users who use screen readers to access your website. In addition to being a cornerstone of web accessibility, it's an important part of your SEO checklist , as it provides context and meaning to images on your website.

When writing alt text:

Avoid unnecessary words like "image of" or "picture of." The description should be informative and context-relevant without being overly detailed, aiming to keep under about 125 characters to avoid being cut off by some screen readers.
Tailor the alt text to reflect the image's role within its accompanying content. For example, the description for an image used in a technical article would differ from that of the same image used in a casual blog post.
Avoid decorative text for purely decorative images. If an image is only part of the site for show, use an empty alt attribute (alt="") to avoid cluttering screen reader output with unnecessary descriptions.
Include keywords for SEO. Incorporate relevant keywords in the alt text to enhance the image's visibility in search engine results. However, ensure these keywords are naturally integrated and relevant to the image.
Maintain a neutral and objective tone. Refrain from subjective interpretations of the image unless it directly relates to the content's message.
For complex images like charts or graphs, consider using a brief alt text combined with a more detailed description close to the image or in a linked detailed description page.

Pro tip: With Duda, you can instantly generate alt text for all your client's site images at once.

15. Provide accessibility audits for clients.

The same way you'd audit a client's site for Core Web Vitals or SEO performance , you should also consider auditing the site's accessibility. For newly onboarded clients, this can be a great way to showcase your agency's value. For existing clients, accessibility audits present an opportunity for upselling services or adding more value to your package.

A few things to cover:

Check color contrast. Use a contrast checker tool to ensure that the foreground and background colors have sufficient contrast for readability.
Test keyboard accessibility. Use only the tab key to navigate through elements on the page, and make sure all interactive elements can be reached with the keyboard alone.
Review alt text for all images. Ensure that descriptive and relevant alt text is provided for all images in the site.
Check for proper headings structure. Inspect each page to make sure headings are used hierarchically, and they accurately reflect the content on the page.
Test with a screen reader. Pay attention to any issues that may arise and make necessary fixes.

From there, provide a detailed report with recommendations for improvement. Include screenshots and detailed explanations of any accessibility issues found, along with steps to remedy them.

16. Provide controls for auto-playing content.

Auto-playing media, such as videos, animations, or audio, can create accessibility barriers for those using screen readers or those who are sensitive to certain types of content. Even if you follow the above mentioned rules and avoid using content that's too flashy, some viewers will simply find the animations overwhelming.

Specifically, WCAG success criterion 2.2.2 (Pause, Stop, Hide) mandates that moving, blinking, scrolling, or auto-updating information can be paused, stopped, or hidden by the user unless it's essential to the functionality or the information being conveyed.

To implement this:

Ensure all media controls for auto-playing content are visible and accessible to all users, including those who rely on keyboard navigation and screen readers.
Avoid auto-playing significant audio content, and consider the implications for users with different needs. If auto-play cannot be avoided (e.g., for a SaaS website demoing a product), make the "pause" and "stop playback" controls immediately available.
Regularly test these controls to ensure they work correctly across different devices and browsers. This includes checking their functionality with assistive technologies like screen readers.

Testing and quality assurance

In addition to implementing the accessibility best practices outlined above, it's crucial to test your clients' websites for accessibility before they go live. Throughout the design and development process, you should continuously evaluate every element, so you can address accessibility issues early on.

Here are a few things you can do to test for accessibility:

Use automated tools. There are many online tools available that can scan your clients' websites and identify any potential issues with accessibility. Some popular options include the WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool , Lighthouse (in Chrome DevTools), and Axe Testing Tools .
Test with a screen reader. Using a screen reader allows you to experience the website as someone with visual or cognitive impairments would. Common screen readers include NVDA and VoiceOver .
Conduct manual checks. While automated tools and screen readers can catch many accessibility issues, it's also important to do manual checks for common problems like color contrast, keyboard accessibility, and heading structure.
Include users with disabilities in testing. Invite individuals with disabilities to test the website and provide feedback on different elements.
Gather feedback from diverse user groups. When assessing site accessibility for your clients on an ongoing basis, it's important to gather feedback from diverse groups of users. This could include individuals with different types of disabilities, individuals with varying levels of technical expertise, and individuals using different assistive technologies.

As an agency owner, it's important to remember that digital environments have frequent updates and changes. Continuous monitoring and improvement are essential to maintaining accessibility standards over time. Regular audits, user feedback mechanisms, and updates in response to regulatory changes are necessary to ensure ongoing compliance and user satisfaction.

Choose a website builder that sets accessibility as a priority.

Ahem...that would be us. We're 100% committed to accessibility !

The Duda website builder includes several built-in tools to help you design more accessible websites for your clients. We leverage semantic HTML5 for optimal content structure, options for adding alt text to images, and ensure keyboard navigability across sites.

Duda also supports automatic setting of the site's language based on user settings, which aids screen readers in providing the correct linguistic support. Plus, we integrate with accessibility tools like AudioEye , which offer automated help to meet compliance standards more effectively.

Using Duda, $8.13 billion AppFolio was able to make 7,000+ real estate websites more accessible . If they can do it, so can you.

Haven’t tried Duda yet? Start your Duda free trial now.

EAA is coming for your clients. Help them comply!

Mon, 31 Mar 2025 09:16:47 GMT

Tick tock, tick tock…

Can you hear that?

The clock is ticking for businesses operating in the EU.

As an agency serving these businesses and building their websites, you play a key role in their compliance journey. With the European Accessibility Act (EAA) deadline set for June 28, 2025, your clients must meet strict accessibility requirements (with few exceptions), or risk penalties, lost opportunities, and a damaged reputation.

If they don’t comply, guess who they'll blame? Your agency. And frankly, they wouldn’t be wrong.

But no pressure, right?

Panic aside, there’s a lot you can do to prepare, and with the right approach, you can turn accessibility into a growth opportunity for your agency, positioning yourself as a leader in the space.

So… What does EAA mean for your clients, really?

The European Accessibility Act (EAA) is designed to make digital spaces more inclusive for individuals with disabilities. To comply with the EAA, businesses operating within the EU, or those serving EU customers, must meet the requirements outlined in EN 301 549, which focuses on the principles of accessibility: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust—also known as the POUR principles. While Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA guidelines aren’t mandated by the EAA, they are a helpful framework to ensure compliance with the POUR principles. This impacts a wide variety of digital platforms, from websites and mobile apps to eCommerce sites, online banking services, and even self-service kiosks, all of which must be accessible by June 28, 2025.

However, there are some exceptions to keep in mind:

Small businesses with fewer than 10 employees or under €2 million in annual turnover are exempt.
Private internal networks or intranets that are not accessible to the public are not subject to compliance.
Legacy websites that haven’t been significantly updated since before 2025 may not need to comply immediately, but any future updates must meet accessibility standards.
Certain private services not available to the public may also be excluded.

For most businesses, however, the EAA represents a strict legal requirement. Non-compliance can lead to serious consequences, including fines of up to €500,000 or 2% of annual global turnover, whichever is greater. Beyond these financial penalties, businesses may face legal action from individuals or organizations unable to access their services due to accessibility barriers. There is also a significant reputational risk, as customers increasingly expect brands to be inclusive and socially responsible.

But… there’s an opportunity in there to expand your client’s reach, improve user experience, and future-proof their brand.

And there is also the issue of SEO: Making accessibility improvements now is basically a win-win for both users and search engines; here are a few examples of how:

Improved crawlability: Accessibility improvements, such as adding alt text for images, properly structured headers, and clearer navigation, make it easier for search engine bots to crawl and index the site. This helps improve organic search visibility and ranking.
Better user experience: Accessibility enhances the overall user experience (UX). Clearer text, simpler navigation, and better usability lead to lower bounce rates and higher engagement. Google and other search engines prioritize websites with better user engagement, which can translate into improved rankings.
Faster load times: Accessible sites often have optimized media, better structured code, and faster load times. Google has confirmed that page speed is a ranking factor, so websites that load faster and function more smoothly tend to rank higher in search results.

It’s a lot to take in, right?

But here’s the thing: While the June 2025 deadline might seem far off, the reality is— the time to act was yesterday.

What does this mean for your agency?

As an agency building websites for businesses operating in the EU, or serving EU customers, you are in a unique position. The EAA is not just a compliance requirement for your clients; it's an opportunity for your agency to step up and lead the charge in accessibility.

True, if your clients don’t meet the June 28, 2025 deadline, there are consequences, which might be an incentive enough for your agency to act. The fact that your agency may be held responsible is scary. Not to mention the reputational damage. Beyond that, there’s the risk of losing clients altogether. As more businesses realize the importance of accessibility, they’ll turn to agencies that can help them navigate these new regulations. If your agency doesn’t offer accessibility as part of your services, you risk falling behind competitors who do.

But many agencies hesitate to handle accessibility for various reasons. Some simply lack knowledge, not fully understanding the complexities of web accessibility or the regulations involved. Others think it will be okay and underestimate the potential consequences, including legal action or reputation damage. Some are hesitant to take ownership of such a large project, perceiving it as too complicated and time-consuming. However, with the right website builder and accessibility audit tools, this process becomes much easier, allowing agencies to offer accessibility without adding significant complexity to their workflow.

In a market that’s becoming more aware of inclusivity, web accessibility is a critical differentiator. By incorporating accessibility into your service offerings, you’re not only ensuring that your clients comply with regulations, but you’re also positioning yourself as a leader in this increasingly important field. The ability to offer a full range of accessibility services can set you apart from competitors, helping you attract more clients and build stronger, long-term relationships.

The bottom line is that agencies that can confidently help with accessibility compliance will find themselves in high demand.

Who doesn’t want that?

So, how should your agency prepare?

The following steps will help your agency lead this space:

1. Understand the requirements

Get familiar with the European Accessibility Act (EAA) and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA. These guidelines provide the framework for accessibility compliance. Additionally, resources like AudioEye’s EAA checklist and our Accessibility checklist , will give you a clear roadmap of what needs to be done to ensure compliance.

2. Make sure your website builder prioritizes accessibility

Every website starts with a website builder. Make sure your chosen platform does everything within its power to make accessibility a priority. Duda’s platform is built with accessibility in mind , offering built-in features like AI-powered alt text in bulk, a color contrast checker, and other accessibility tools to ensure compliance and enhance the user experience. Verify that your website builder supports these features and integrates easily with accessibility guidelines.

3. Offer your clients an accessibility audit

Start by conducting an accessibility audit of your clients' websites to identify areas that need improvement. Visit AudioEye a trusted Duda partner, in our app store, to integrate a comprehensive accessibility solution, which includes an automated scanner that detects over 30 WCAG violations, expert audits, and more. See AppFolio’s success story detailed in the next section to understand the immense value of AudiEye and Duda combined.

4. Educate your clients on accessibility

Many businesses are unaware of the EAA’s requirements and what they need to do to comply. As their agency, you have an opportunity to guide them through this transition. Help your clients understand the legal implications, the benefits of accessibility, and the risks of non-compliance. Communicate why accessibility matters—not just to avoid fines, but to create a better, more inclusive experience for all users.

By taking the lead in accessibility education, you’re positioning your agency as a trusted expert. Clients will look to you for guidance, and in turn, you’ll strengthen your reputation and grow your business.

Real-world example: AppFolio’s commitment to accessibility

AppFolio, a real estate and property management software company, partnered with Duda and AudioEye to enhance web accessibility for its clients. They successfully migrated over 7,000 client websites from WordPress to Duda without any downtime, all while integrating accessibility solutions to ensure compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In response to growing demand and legal concerns, AppFolio added AudioEye's accessibility platform to its platform, which automatically identifies and addresses accessibility issues on websites. This integration not only improved the websites’ accessibility but also provided valuable assurance to clients through comprehensive audit reports. With this partnership, AppFolio has seen increased traffic and client satisfaction, highlighting how accessibility can benefit both users and businesses.

Don’t wait until the last minute

Don’t let the June 2025 deadline catch you off guard. The time to act is now.

By incorporating accessibility into your service offering today, you can ensure your clients stay ahead of the curve and avoid any last-minute scrambling. This proactive approach will not only help your clients meet the EAA requirements but also enhance their digital presence, leading to higher engagement and more conversions.

With Duda's platform, you’ll have the tools you need to streamline the accessibility process. From AI-powered alt text generation to integrated color contrast checking, Duda simplifies the task of ensuring compliance. When combined with AudioEye's accessibility audit capabilities, your agency can confidently tackle any accessibility challenges, offering solutions that keep clients compliant without adding complexity to your workflow.

Ready to give Duda a try?

Start your 14-day free trial today and explore how Duda's accessibility tools can give your agency a competitive edge.

What does it actually mean for a website to be HIPAA compliant?

shawn.davis@duda.co (Shawn Davis) — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 15:52:29 GMT

If you or your clients are working with patient information in the United States, you are likely already familiar with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

HIPAA strictly regulates the transmission of Protected Health Information (PHI). PHI is similar to Protected Personal Information (PPI), a topic we discuss often in relation to global privacy laws like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe or local laws like the Colorado Privacy Act in our own home state. However, unlike PPI, PHI is regulated federally in the United States and includes more topics like plan numbers, dates, and, of course, medical diagnoses or other related health information.

The University of Colorado in Denver shares 18 common identifiers that may constitute PHI, but understand that this list isn’t comprehensive. A good rule of thumb is that if the data can be traced back to a particular patient , it’s PHI. Their list includes, verbatim:

Names;
All geographical subdivisions smaller than a State, including street address, city, county, precinct, zip code, and their equivalent geocodes, except for the initial three digits of a zip code, if according to the current publicly available data from the Bureau of the Census: (1) The geographic unit formed by combining all zip codes with the same three initial digits contains more than 20,000 people; and (2) The initial three digits of a zip code for all such geographic units containing 20,000 or fewer people is changed to 000;
All elements of dates (except year) for dates directly related to an individual, including birth date, admission date, discharge date, date of death; and all ages over 89 and all elements of dates (including year) indicative of such age, except that such ages and elements may be aggregated into a single category of age 90 or older;
Telephone numbers;
Fax numbers;
E-mail addresses;
Social Security numbers;
Medical records numbers;
Health plan beneficiary numbers;
Account numbers;
Certificate/license numbers;
Vehicle identifiers and serial numbers, including license plates;
Device identifiers and serial numbers;
Web Universal Resource Locators (URLs);
Internet Protocol (IP) address numbers;
Biometric identifiers (including finger and voice prints);
Full face photographic images and any comparable images; and,
Any other unique identifying number, characteristic, or code (with some exceptions and requirements).

HIPAA compliance can be a major source of anxiety for web professionals. So much so that many agencies in particular won’t even bother taking any medical clients out of an over-abundance of caution. If that sounds like you, I’ve got some good news—you are more than capable of creating great websites for medical practitioners. That’s because, and I may be getting ahead of myself a little here, there really is no such thing as a “HIPAA compliant website.”

What HIPAA is, and what it isn’t

At its core, HIPAA is a form of privacy regulation . However, unlike generalized regulations like the Colorado Privacy Act or the European Union’s GDPR , HIPAA is narrowly tailored towards protecting patient data. Whether or not HIPAA applies to you, then, depends upon where you lie on the “ chain of liability .”

The chain of liability is a metaphor that describes how compliance requirements flow through the various actors interacting with patient data. Doctors, medical systems, and insurers all exist on the chain—for obvious reasons. They interact with that data directly, and may even originate it. Under HIPAA, these links on the chain are known as “ covered entities ,” because they’re directly covered by HIPAA.

However, doctors aren’t the only ones who may interact with patient data. Intermediates, like cloud storage providers, IT contractors, and billing networks, may, in some capacity or another, find themselves exposed to patient data. These entities are referred to as “ business associates ." Unlike covered entities, business associates are tangential to the administration of care, yet they still interact with PHI.

Agencies are not inherently business associates—although, if they aren’t careful, they certainly could be.

Imagine that an agency has contracted with a dermatologist in Boulder, CO to create a beautiful new patient-facing website advertising their services. This agency creates a brochure-style website full of interesting copy, stock photos, and contact information, but no interactive elements. Since this website doesn’t, in any way, collect or store PHI, the agency who created it would not be classified as a business associate under HIPAA.

Now, what if a competing agency in Denver, CO contracted with a different dermatologist to create a more interactive website. Theirs is in many ways similar to the website the Boulder agency created, except it includes one small addition; a contact form. The inclusion of this form exposes the agency to PHI, linking them to the chain of liability. It also links their form processor to the chain, a serious liability if the form isn’t explicitly HIPAA compliant.

This singular focus on healthcare information is what separates HIPAA from other privacy laws. The Boulder agency may use analytic software on their website, or may employ a website builder that includes embedded analytic tools, but that doesn’t matter. Current HHS guidance differentiates between “authenticated” and “unathenticated” traffic; meaning an IP address alone isn’t identifiable enough to fall under HIPAA purview. The data needs to connect a person to their PHI.

That’s why websites themselves shouldn’t be a concern when considering HIPAA compliance. It’s the interactive elements, and the processors behind those elements, who may or may not be compliant. Think forms, questionnaires, payment processors, scheduling tools, etc. The website itself? Not so much.

That doesn’t mean you’re in the clear, though. Customers, including patients, expect interactivity from their websites . SMBs do too. In a survey we conducted last year , 88% of SMBs desired some kind of direct integration between their website and backend software. So, how can you offer the experiences your customers, and their customers, expect without linking yourself to the chain of liability?

Oh iframes, my beloved

One of the most popular, and underrated, technologies in the world of compliance is the iframe . This is a technology you’re undoubtedly familiar with. If you’ve ever embedded anything, from a Youtube video to a Google Maps element , you’ve used an iframe.

What makes this technology so popular in the world of compliance is their ability to sandbox data. Without getting too technical, essentially a website cannot view, modify, or manipulate the contents of an iframe. Stripe, a leading payment processor, uses this to create a PCI compliant environment within a website without the entire webserver needing to be PCI compliant. This works because the card information entered into the iframe isn’t accessible to the website in any capacity.

Many third-party software providers offer HIPAA compliant solutions using the same fundamental technology. Jotform , for instance, offers HIPAA compliant forms that can be embedded onto websites via an iframe. So long as the website itself isn’t collecting any PHI, then the coast is clear.

Other website owners simply link off from the marketing front-end to a back-end technology, like Epic’s ever-so-popular MyChart portal.

SaaS companies integrating Duda into their solution can leverage this flow as well by creating custom widgets that use iframes to deliver their technology to client websites. However, those clients should not use Duda’s first-party forms, as the backend is not HIPAA compliant .

Do I need to worry about HIPAA compliance?

If you’re an agency building websites for medical professionals, you should be aware of HIPAA but you shouldn’t worry about it. It’s easy to avoid exposure to PHI by simply refusing to accept it. Include specific language in your client contract that you are not responsible for PHI, and communicate clearly with your clients that they are responsible for the management of any patient data. You can recommend HIPAA compliant software, but do not retain any login information for that software.

SaaS companies should absolutely concern themselves with HIPAA, but not in regards to their clients' websites. They should instead embed their own HIPAA compliant technologies into the website builder via custom widgets, ensuring a seamless, low-stress experience for their customers.

Remember, PHI needs to be both safe and secure. The easiest way for an agency to ensure that is by not collecting that data at all.

How to keep things fresh and alive and avoid zombification

shawn.davis@duda.co (Shawn Davis) — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 14:15:59 GMT

This article is an adaptation of a session hosted by Cindy Krum and Dana DiTomaso during our “5 Hours of SEO and Content” mega-webinar. The complete session is available on-demand at duda.co/webinars .

AI, as well as the evolving business model of search engines, has ushered in a new era of challenges for SEOs, one that Cindy Krum of MobileMoxie vividly describes as the "2025 SEO zombie apocalypse.” Krum paints a concerning picture where websites, despite clinging to their rankings, find themselves starved of organic traffic and meaningful conversions, resembling the undead – technically present but functionally inert. This potential "zombification" stems from Google's increasing prioritization of direct answers , featured snippets, and AI overviews within search results, effectively keeping users on Google's properties and reducing the need to click through to individual websites.

As Google shifts its focus towards monetization through advertising and the development of advanced AI capabilities, organic search, once the lifeblood of many online businesses, lies in a precarious situation. Traditional SEO strategies focused solely on achieving high rankings for broad keywords, once a staple of many agencies’ growth strategies, might soon leave businesses in a state of digital decay.

Krum's analysis doesn't dwell solely on the doom and gloom; rather, it serves as a wake-up call and a blueprint for survival in this evolving environment. Her seven-step plan offers actionable strategies for businesses to adapt and thrive amidst the encroaching horde of digital zombification. The first crucial step is to thoroughly understand the signs of zombification. It's no longer enough to simply track keyword rankings. The critical indicators of a website succumbing to this fate include a noticeable decline in organic traffic despite seemingly stable or even improving keyword positions, coupled with a significant drop in conversion rates and meaningful engagement. You might still see impressions and even some clicks in your analytics, but if these aren't translating into actual business outcomes, your site could be slowly turning into a digital zombie. This necessitates a shift in focus from vanity metrics like rankings to more substantive measures of user engagement and business impact.

The second survival tip emphasizes the importance of building a strong and recognizable brand. In a world where search results are dominated by direct answers and AI-generated summaries, users are less likely to browse aimlessly for information. Instead, they will gravitate towards brands they know and trust. Therefore, relying solely on ranking for generic keywords will become increasingly ill-advised. Businesses must actively cultivate brand awareness and loyalty, encouraging users to specifically search for their brand name when seeking products or services. This involves more than just having a catchy logo; it requires building a legitimate brand presence across the web, complete with comprehensive "about us" and "contact us" pages, transparent company information, and genuine customer testimonials. As Krum notes, mirroring the elements that Google associates with established entities, such as a physical address and founding date often displayed in knowledge panels, can further solidify your brand's legitimacy in the eyes of both users and search engines. A strong brand acts as an anchor in the turbulent seas of AI-driven search.

The third piece of advice is to remain vigilant and closely monitor Google's actions and communications, even the seemingly indirect ones. The search engine giant's algorithms and search features are in constant evolution, and understanding these changes is paramount to avoiding zombification. Krum advises paying attention not only to official announcements regarding core algorithm updates and new structured data guidelines but also to subtle shifts in search results pages and even developments in Google's paid advertising platform. Insights gleaned from the paid side can often foreshadow changes coming to organic search, offering valuable lead time for adaptation. Furthermore, actively engaging with the SEO community and analyzing industry trends can help decipher Google's often "obtuse" communications, while simultaneously identifying emerging threats and opportunities. Ignoring these signals is akin to ignoring the groans of the approaching zombie horde.

Her fourth survival strategy underscores the necessity to diversify traffic sources beyond Google. While organic search has long been a primary focus for many businesses, the rise of AI and the fragmentation of the digital landscape necessitate a broader approach to traffic acquisition. Users are turning to a variety of platforms for information and discovery, including social media networks like TikTok, community forums like Reddit, niche-specific search engines, and even direct engagement through email and messaging apps. Krum highlights that Google itself is experimenting with integrations with platforms like WhatsApp, suggesting that these alternative channels are becoming more important than before. By actively engaging on these platforms and building a presence where your target audience spends its time, you can mitigate the risk of relying solely on Google and tap into valuable, albeit sometimes less traditional, sources of traffic.

The fifth step in Krum's survival plan involves proactively building entity networks to "set a trap" for Google's AI. Search engines and large language models rely on understanding relationships between different entities (people, places, things, and concepts) to provide relevant and comprehensive information. By clearly defining your brand's entity and its connections to related topics, products, and services through structured data markup, internal linking strategies, and the creation of content that mirrors the format of AI overviews and featured snippets, you make it easier for Google to understand your expertise and authority within your niche. This increases the likelihood of your brand being referenced and cited as a reliable source, effectively "baiting" Google to recognize your website as a valuable repository of knowledge.

Her sixth element for survival is to eliminate all barriers to user engagement by ensuring your website's technology is sound. Friction in the user experience, such as intrusive pop-ups, required logins, or slow loading times, can deter visitors and negatively impact engagement metrics, which Krum believes Google is increasingly using to inform rankings. Optimizing for engagement involves creating clear and meaningful tables of contents, utilizing interactive elements like carousels and expanders, and ensuring your website loads quickly and is accessible across all devices. By making it easy for users to find the information they need and interact with your content, you signal to Google that your website provides a valuable and satisfying experience.

Finally, Krum offers a somewhat unconventional but pragmatic last resort: if survival within traditional SEO becomes untenable, businesses might need to "accept their fate and become a zombie" by focusing on Google Discover . This content feed, driven by AI and user engagement rather than keyword rankings, presents a different avenue for traffic generation. While it requires a distinct skill set and often favors visually rich, high-resolution content with fresh URLs and consistent publishing cadences, Google Discover can offer a significant source of traffic for those willing to adapt to its unique demands.

Cindy Krum's session paints a compelling picture of an evolving SEO landscape where the old rules of engagement are rapidly changing. The threat of the "2025 SEO zombie apocalypse" underscores the need for businesses to move beyond traditional ranking-focused strategies and embrace a more holistic approach that prioritizes brand building, traffic diversification, entity optimization, user experience, and a deep understanding of how both humans and AI consume information. By heeding Krum's survival tips, websites can arm themselves against the encroaching tide of zombification and ensure they remain vibrant and relevant in the years to come.

AI and SMBs: Survey report with Duda x Localogy

Sun, 23 Mar 2025 13:19:28 GMT

In launching this survey of 754 SMBs, Localogy and Duda’s goals were to define and delineate small and medium-sized businesses’ (SMBs’) sentiments on AI’s use in their business operations.

Key questions we sought to answer include:

Who is adopting AI? What factors and benefits drive them towards it?
Is it the buzz around AI or its benefits, such as automation and time savings?
When is using the term “AI” to market SMB SaaS tools strategically relevant, and when is it extraneous or even counterproductive?

Knowing answers to these questions can help SMB SaaS vendors and agencies position their products accordingly.

How to connect and convert audiences in a fast-evolving digital world

shawn.davis@duda.co (Shawn Davis) — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 14:46:48 GMT

This article is an adaptation of a session hosted by Cari O’Brien and Dana DiTomaso during our “5 Hours of SEO and Content” mega-webinar. The complete session is available on-demand at duda.co/webinars .

The digital landscape is, and I know you’ve heard this before, rapidly evolving. While algorithms shift and new technologies emerge at an unprecedented pace, one fundamental principle remains the cornerstone of effective marketing: creating human-first content. As Cari O'Brien eloquently shared in her session on "Human-first content: How to connect and convert audiences in a fast-evolving digital world," the key to truly connecting with and converting your ideal audience lies not in chasing the latest trends or exploiting algorithmic loopholes, but in understanding and serving the real people behind the screens. While the tools and platforms we use may change, the core objective remains the same: to deliver value to the humans who are seeking it.

To embark on the journey of creating truly human-first content, the first crucial step is to dive deep to better understand the people we are serving. As Walt Whitman famously said, " I am large, I contain multitudes ," and the same holds true for our audience. They are not one-dimensional beings defined solely by their professional roles or purchasing power; they are complex individuals with diverse interests, motivations, and pain points. To truly connect with them, we need to move beyond surface-level demographics and develop a comprehensive understanding of who they are at their core. This is where the concept of the Ideal Customer Avatar (ICA) comes into play. Whether you call it a buyer persona, a dream client profile, or a target audience, the essence remains the same: creating a summary personification of someone real who you are ideally suited to serve. This avatar should not be a fictitious creation but rather based on real humans you want to work with.

Developing a detailed ICA involves exploring five core areas: demographics, geographics, psychographics, behaviors, and personalization. While demographics provide basic information such as age, gender, and income, and geographics tell us where they are located, psychographics delve into their mindset, including their interests, hobbies, the brands they follow, the events they attend, their typical day, their personality, values, and beliefs. Understanding these aspects allows you to connect on a deeper level by tapping into what truly resonates with them. Furthermore, analyzing their behaviors, including their current stage in their journey, the objections they might have, their price sensitivity, and their motivations, helps you tailor your content to address their specific needs at each touchpoint. Finally, personalizing your avatar by giving them a name, pronouns, and even a picture makes them feel real, enabling you to create content as if you were having an authentic conversation with them.

Once you have a clear picture of your ideal customer, the next step is to reach them where they are. This involves identifying the online spaces where they spend their time. These might include niche communities on platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn, discussions on Reddit and Quora, and chat groups on Slack and Discord. The key here is not to focus on the communities you prefer but rather on those where your audience actively participates. Once you've identified these spaces, the initial approach should be to lurk and listen. Pay attention to the questions they ask, the frustrations they express, their interests beyond your immediate niche, and what truly excites them. This passive observation provides invaluable insights into their needs and desires.

Beyond observing communities, tapping into analytics is crucial. Search analytics, social media analytics, email analytics, CRM data, and user behavior analytics from tools like Microsoft Clarity or Hotjar can reveal valuable information about how your audience interacts with your existing content and online presence. Pay attention to visibility, engagement, and conversions to understand what resonates and what doesn't. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, take the time to talk directly to the people you want to serve. Conduct interviews with clients and prospects, ask key questions during onboarding, and gather feedback from current and past customers through surveys. Focus on understanding their pain points, fears, needs, and aspirations, as well as their experience working with you and the outcomes they achieved. These direct conversations provide the richest insights into their motivations and the language that resonates with them.

With a deep understanding of your audience and where to find them, the focus shifts to creating content that connects. According to Cari O'Brien, content that truly resonates exhibits four key qualities: helpfulness, usability, accessibility, and personability. Helpful content provides genuine value and answers the questions your audience has. Usable content is easy to find and consume, with clear navigation and a logical structure. Accessible content ensures that everyone can engage with it, regardless of their abilities, which includes aspects like proper formatting, clear language, and transcripts or captions for multimedia. Finally, personable content is likable and easy to connect with, showcasing empathy and authenticity. By demonstrating that you understand their challenges and by being genuine in your communication, you build trust and foster stronger relationships.

Ultimately, the goal of human-first content is not just to connect but also to convert. To encourage your engaged audience to take the next step, you need to offer specific types of content that demonstrate your value and build trust. Success stories are powerful tools for this. By showcasing the positive outcomes achieved by your past clients, you allow potential customers to see themselves in those stories and envision the possibilities of working with you. These stories build credibility and demonstrate the tangible benefits of your offerings. Furthermore, offering value upfront is crucial. This could take various forms, such as free webinars, product walkthroughs, free audits, or software trials, providing a glimpse of what you have to offer and allowing potential customers to experience your expertise firsthand.

In conclusion, as Cari O'Brien emphasized, while the digital world will continue to evolve, the fundamental principles of understanding and serving your audience remain constant. By investing the time and effort to truly know your ideal customer, meeting them where they are online, and creating content that is helpful, usable, accessible, and personable, you can build genuine connections and ultimately convert them into loyal customers. Remember, you can design and create the most wonderful online presence, but it takes understanding and connecting with people to make your dreams a reality.

Ask any agency what their biggest website building challenge is, and you'll get the same answer!

Tue, 18 Mar 2025 13:50:15 GMT

Yep, that’s right: Client content collection.

Sound familiar?

Endless back-and-forth.
Follow-up emails piling up.
Client onboarding turning into a complete nightmare.

And the worst part? It’s not just about the delays. Missing details and low-quality content can jeopardize website performance and extend your agency’s time to dollar.

In a recent survey of 120 agencies, we found that clients cause 87% of content collection delays —and it’s not hard to see why. Because when humans are involved, that’s where the process gets messy. Clients are busy running their businesses, and gathering website content is rarely their top priority. A plumber’s main focus is fixing leaks, not figuring out what content to provide for their website.

The problem: why content collection is such a headache

As an agency, content collection is a critical step impacting your entire workflow, from project kickoff to delivery. Getting the right content from clients is often a slow, frustrating process due to a few key challenges:

Delays, unresponsiveness, and timing issues: Clients fail to respond in a timely manner, leaving you waiting for the content you need.
Clients not providing content or lacking clarity: Clients don’t always know what content they need to provide or fail to give enough detail.
Submitting poor-quality text or media: Submitting low-quality images or poorly written text means more revisions later.
Clients being too busy or overwhelmed: Clients have other priorities and sometimes struggle to focus on website content collection.
Moving the information to the site: Even once you’ve collected the content, the process doesn’t end. Agencies often need to manually transfer the content into the site, which adds yet another step to the process. This additional task can cause further delays and errors, adding to the overall complexity of content collection.

The problem is universal and affects agencies of all sizes. Whether you’re a small or large agency, these delays are a constant frustration, causing bottlenecks that impact your revenue cycle and client satisfaction.

How long does it take to collect all client content?

The time it takes to collect client content is a major issue for agencies. Only 2.68% of agencies collect all content in just one day. Most agencies aren’t so lucky. Here’s the breakdown from our survey:

36.61% of agencies get all the content within 2-5 days
37.5% take 6-10 days
23.21% report delays of 11+ days

That’s a huge delay before a project even gets started.

Enter Duda’s AI-powered Content Collection solution

We’ve created an embedded, intelligent solution to streamline content collection - helping agencies gather what they need, when they need it - working their way, faster than ever.

By integrating this solution directly into the website-building process, we make it easier for agencies to focus on what they do best: building exceptional websites. With Duda, you don’t just collect content; you do it smarter and faster .

Let’s spend some time on the ‘smarter’ aspect, as this is where things get really interesting.

What makes Duda’s content collection smarter? The answer lies in personalization and intelligence. While traditional forms or external tools might offer basic templates, Duda’s AI-powered solution goes beyond that. It tailors the content collection process based on the client’s business type and unique needs. This means that your clients' questions are customized to fit their specific business, whether they’re running a plumbing service, an eCommerce store, or a local restaurant.

Rather than asking generic questions that might lead to confusion, Duda’s platform suggests the most relevant questions, helping clients provide more accurate and complete content from the start. No more vague, one-size-fits-all content requests - just streamlined, relevant questions that ensure you get high-quality content.

It comes down to this: When you ask the right questions, tailored specifically to the client’s business, the likelihood of receiving complete and relevant answers increases significantly.

Integrated directly into the website builder

Another key aspect of Duda’s solution is the seamless integration. Because the content collection tool is embedded directly into the website-building process, it is optimized for the use case of website building. While there are other AI content collection tools out there, these tools focus on a broad range of use cases, often making the questions too generic. This can lead to vague, incomplete, or irrelevant content submissions that can delay the process. Duda’s AI-powered solution is specifically designed with agencies building websites in mind.

Another aspect of the integration is the convenience of having the content located within the website builder, where it should be. Agencies don’t need to worry about transferring information from one tool to another. Whether your client fills out the form on their own or you fill it out on their behalf, the content is automatically imported into your Duda platform - ready to be used on the site without any additional steps.

This means you’re not wasting time manually transferring content from email threads, external forms, or Google Docs into your website’s CMS. The process is automated, cutting down on human error and ensuring content is placed exactly where it needs to be, without the extra hassle.

The natural next step: Generate a site with AI

What would be more convenient than having all that info collected and then simply, with a click of a button, generating a site with AI, tailored to the information gathered?

That’s what we call A to Z.

Once your client has provided their content, the next logical step is transforming it into a fully designed, structured website - without the manual work. With Duda’s AI-powered site generation, agencies can instantly turn collected information into a site that aligns with the client’s business, industry, and goals.

The AI takes the information, applies intelligent structuring, and builds a site that makes sense for the business - complete with relevant sections, layout suggestions, and optimized content.

This means agencies can go from content collection to a fully functional (multi page) site in record time, making the entire website-building process smoother, faster, and more scalable than ever before.

Let’s cut to the chase: How does it work?

It’s as easy as pie.

The content collection form is fully branded, creating a seamless experience, and is already populated with basic questions such as the business name, business type, and other essential information.

But here’s where the magic lies: you can click the “Add Custom Questions” button and then the “Suggest Questions with AI” option—and voila: AI Content Collection will generate personalized, intelligent questions that help you gather the exact answers you need to generate high-quality content exceptionally fast, ensuring that the site’s content is relevant, complete, and tailored to the client’s business right from the start.

Of course, you can tweak everything as needed, including the branding of the form.

Clients can complete the form themselves on any device, at their own pace—or you can fill it out on their behalf. Once submitted, client information and assets are automatically available inside the Duda platform—ready to use immediately for AI site generation.

Bear in mind that AI site generation is not the only option. You can also use the content collected to build websites using your custom templates or Duda templates .

Collect content from clients at the speed of AI

The key to building websites that stand out and deliver results lies in the quality of content you gather from your clients—and the speed at which you collect it. By asking the right questions, personalizing the process, and integrating everything seamlessly into the website-building workflow, you eliminate the headaches of delays, missed details, and poor-quality content.

And when it’s time to generate the site? One click and the content you’ve gathered is transformed into a multi-page, professional website that reflects your client’s needs—fast.

From content collection to a complete site, Duda takes the complexity out of the equation and lets you focus on what you do best: delivering exceptional websites at scale.

Want to give Duda’s AI content collection a spin? Start your 14-day free trial today !

Duda revolutionizes client content collection with an embedded AI-powered solution

Tue, 18 Mar 2025 13:45:31 GMT

With 87% of content delays caused by clients, Duda introduces a unique solution that streamlines one of the most challenging and time-consuming steps in an agency’s web building process.

Duda , the leading white label website building platform for agencies and web professionals serving small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), today announced the launch of its AI-powered Content Collection solution, giving web professionals a quick, easy and personalized way to collect business information and site assets from their SMB clients. Agencies can now use the website building platform to gather the content they need from clients – and have it immediately ready to use directly within the platform – before starting to design and build a website.

“As part of our ongoing innovation and development of powerful, agency-first AI tools within the Duda platform, our team has created a solution to eliminate one of the biggest headaches for agencies and web pros in the web building process,” says Itai Sadan, co-founder and CEO of Duda.

“Using AI, agencies can now easily collect and instantly use the assets and information to bring their clients' sites to life, faster than ever. No need to download, upload, reformat. No need to search for files across different email chains, shared drives, and chats. And they can do all that under their own brand.”

With Duda’s AI Content Collection, agencies can create AI-powered forms tailored to each client’s unique business. The forms are designed to be intuitive for small business owners — such as plumbers, restaurant owners, and local service providers — allowing them to provide critical information at their own pace, on any device, and in any format. This personalized approach ensures faster and more accurate content collection.

Submitted data is uploaded directly into Duda’s website editor, ready for use with pre-built templates or for AI site generation. This integration not only reduces website delivery time but also allows agencies to enhance AI-generated websites with richer, more personalized inputs. By automating these processes, agencies can scale their operations while maintaining a personal touch for each client.

According to a recent Duda survey of 120 digital marketing agencies, client delays and unresponsiveness are the leading obstacles in the content collection process. The survey revealed that 87% of these challenges are client-related, including clients failing to provide content, submitting poor-quality materials, or lacking clarity on their needs. The Content Collection tool directly addresses these issues by streamlining client communication and asset management.

“This launch is part of Duda’s ongoing rollout of AI-powered features and tools designed to help agencies and web professionals work their way—faster than ever,” said Amir Glatt, Co-Founder and CTO at Duda, “From generating entire sites to simplifying content collection, Duda continues to push the boundaries of efficiency and automation.”

For more details on Duda’s Content Collection tool, visit here .

Crafting multi-channel stories that search engines and humans love

shawn.davis@duda.co (Shawn Davis) — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 14:28:02 GMT

This article is an adaptation of a session hosted by Casie Gillette, Santi Clarke, and Purna Virji during our “5 Hours of SEO and Content” mega-webinar. The complete session is available on-demand at duda.co/webinars .

The third session of Duda's mega webinar, " Crafting multi-channel stories that search engines and humans love ," featured insights from industry veteran Casie Gillette and Duda's Director of Content and Communications, Santi Clarke . Their discussion centered on the evolving landscape of content creation in the face of increasing AI influence and the importance of developing a multi-faceted approach that resonates with both search algorithms and human audiences. Gillette began by illustrating the limitations of traditional SEO-focused content strategies, sharing an example of a blog post that once ranked well and garnered significant traffic but was completely overshadowed by an AI overview in search results. This highlighted a crucial point: relying solely on a single blog post optimized for a specific keyword may no longer be sufficient in a search environment increasingly populated by AI-generated answers.

In response to this shift, Gillette advocated for a paradigm shift towards a multi-channel content strategy. Instead of creating a singular asset and hoping it captures all relevant traffic, the focus should be on developing a core piece of content, such as comprehensive guides, and then strategically repurposing and adapting its information across various formats and platforms. She provided a compelling example of transforming an email capture guide into dedicated blog posts targeting longer-tail keywords, a short and engaging video for platforms like Reels and TikTok (remarkably featuring an AI-generated avatar), and social media updates designed to increase visibility. While the original guide might not achieve top rankings due to AI overviews, the combined efforts of these diverse assets led to increased keyword visibility, traffic from multiple channels, and, most importantly, demo requests from organic sources. This underscored the power of a cohesive content ecosystem where different formats support and amplify each other.

A significant aspect of this new approach is the strategic utilization of AI tools to streamline content creation and repurposing . Gillette emphasized that it has never been easier to produce content in various formats, thanks to advancements in AI. She showcased how tools like GPT can be used to quickly generate new blog post ideas and outlines from existing long-form content like ebooks. Furthermore, AI image generation tools like GPT , Grok , and Meta AI can rapidly produce visuals for blog posts and social media, significantly reducing the time and resources traditionally required. The session also highlighted the power of AI-driven video repurposing tools such as Opus Clip , which can automatically extract key moments and create short, engaging video clips optimized for different social platforms from longer recordings like webinars . Gillette even shared a surprising example of a blog post being autonomously transformed into a podcast using AI audio generation tools like Monica , demonstrating the expanding possibilities for reaching audiences through different mediums.

Clarke contributed valuable insights on evolving content strategy beyond simple keyword targeting. She emphasized the need to move away from solely focusing on high-volume keywords and instead adopt a more holistic strategy aligned with business outcomes. This involves understanding user intent and creating valuable content that truly meets their needs, rather than just trying to rank for specific terms. She echoed the importance of being present in relevant online communities, not just for promotion, but for genuine engagement and understanding audience pain points and interests. By actively participating in platforms like Reddit, content creators can identify unmet needs and tailor their content accordingly, potentially uncovering new avenues for visibility and engagement within the changing search landscape.

The discussion also touched upon the enduring importance of topical authority in conjunction with a "search everywhere" optimization strategy. Building a comprehensive body of content around core topics remains crucial for demonstrating expertise to both search engines and AI models. This involves creating a network of interconnected content that delves deeply into various facets of a subject, catering to different levels of user understanding and intent. Furthermore, both Gillette and Clarke stressed the significance of understanding where your audience spends their time online and meeting them on their preferred platforms, even if those platforms are not traditionally considered primary SEO channels. Testing different platforms and content formats is essential to discover what resonates best with your target audience.

In her concluding remarks, Gillette reiterated that the fundamental principles of good marketing remain vital. This is advice you’ll hear countless times throughout the full webinar, from nearly every speaker. While AI provides powerful tools and necessitates strategic adaptation, the core goal remains to create valuable, engaging content that connects with human audiences. By embracing a multi-channel approach, leveraging AI for efficiency and creativity, and focusing on understanding and serving user needs across various platforms, content creators can navigate the evolving digital landscape and continue to thrive in the age of AI-enhanced search. The session served as a powerful reminder that while the tactics of SEO and content marketing may change, the underlying principles of providing value to human beings remain constant and are more critical than ever in building sustainable success.

What we can learn from SEO pioneers to move forward in 2025

shawn.davis@duda.co (Shawn Davis) — Tue, 11 Mar 2025 14:16:28 GMT

This article is an adaptation of a session hosted by Shelley Walsh and Purna Virji during our “5 Hours of SEO and Content” mega-webinar. The complete session is available on-demand at duda.co/webinars .

The second session of Duda's SEO and Content Mega Webinar shifted our focus from the immediate future of AI-driven search to the foundational principles that have guided successful SEO strategies throughout history. Hosted by the insightful Purna Virji , this segment featured Shelley Walsh, SEO Content Strategist at Search Engine Journal and a seasoned veteran with over 15 years in online marketing. Walsh took a slightly contrarian yet ultimately grounding approach, suggesting that while the digital landscape is undeniably evolving, the core tenets of effective SEO remain remarkably consistent. Her presentation, " What we can learn from SEO pioneers to move forward in 2025 ," served as a powerful reminder to look to the past for guidance in navigating the uncertainties of the present and future.

Walsh began by acknowledging the current industry perception that generative AI is a massive disruptor, and while she agreed with its disruptive nature, she cautioned against panic. She humorously noted the cyclical nature of the industry, highlighting the constant evolution of the SERPs and the ongoing battle against spam. However, amidst this flux, Walsh emphasized the critical importance of returning to the fundamental elements of marketing and SEO. She urged the audience to "stop obsessing about what Google thinks" and instead focus on the common sense that underpins successful online visibility. In her view, SEO, at its heart, is about understanding your audience and providing them with value.

To illustrate this point, Walsh took us back to the early days of search engines, recounting the story of the SEO pioneers who had no rulebook to follow. These individuals succeeded through curiosity, experimentation, and creativity. They connected and collaborated through early online forums and conferences, fostering a spirit of shared learning that has defined the SEO community. Walsh highlighted that despite the technological advancements, the fundamental principles of marketing – find out where your audience hangs out, speak to them in a language they understand, and use words that make them act – remain unchanged and applicable across all channels, including emerging AI-driven platforms.

Drawing on her series " SEO Pioneers ," Walsh shared key learnings from interviews with influential figures in the history of SEO. One significant takeaway was that these pioneers came from diverse backgrounds, bringing a wealth of analytical, problem-solving, and creative skills to the nascent industry. She emphasized that fundamental concepts in SEO are cyclical and do not change, even as tactics evolve. Walsh then outlined two contrasting approaches to SEO: the short-term, "make money anyway you can" approach, often involving aggressive optimization, and the sustainable brand-building marketing approach. She advocated strongly for the latter, which focuses on understanding how algorithms work, applying common sense, and considering user psychology.

Walsh introduced Jill Whalen as an early advocate for white-hat SEO who understood the importance of a common-sense approach. Whalen’s consistent focus on user value ultimately led to long-term success. This segued into a crucial point about standing out in an increasingly content-saturated world. With millions of blog posts published daily, Walsh stressed the need to combine research with expertise and strive for a unique approach. She recommended creating unique data research and expert thought leadership to become a cited authority, particularly in the context of generative AI. Being seen as a primary source of information is integral for gaining visibility when AI cannot replicate originality. Walsh provided examples of unique content strategies such as offline and online events combined with digital PR and social media, industry surveys, and expert interview series. She highlighted the success of Search Engine Journal in creating expert columns and conducting industry surveys that garnered attention and established them as thought leaders.

The discussion then shifted to the balance between value and visibility, featuring the story of Greg Boser, an early SEO who navigated the limitations of early search engines. Boser’s experience highlighted the need to understand both what users are searching for and how search engines interpret intent. Walsh emphasized the importance of finding keywords with clear "visit website intent" – queries for which AI overviews cannot provide a complete answer, such as those requiring calculators or template downloads. You may recognize that term from Andy’s session prior. While acknowledging the rise of AI overviews, she believes they will primarily dominate information queries requiring quick answers, not necessarily the traffic of high value. She advised tracking referral traffic from generative AI to gain insights into which content attracts AI recommendations.

Pedro Dias, an ex-Googler, reinforced this idea by suggesting a focus on building content for users who want to consume in-depth information, not just quick summaries. Walsh reiterated that keywords still matter as indicators of user intent, but a more selective and psychologically informed approach is necessary. She stressed the importance of aligning content with user needs to create information-qualified leads. The ultimate goal should be a holistic strategy based on business outcomes, moving away from simply chasing keyword rankings and towards achieving tangible business growth.

Finally, Walsh underscored the critical skill of problem-solving, drawing on the experience of Dave Naylor, often regarded as one of the world's best SEOs. Naylor's approach of deconstructing problems, experimenting, and persistently seeking solutions is a valuable lesson for navigating the complexities of modern SEO. Walsh concluded by reiterating the importance of community and networking, echoing the collaborative spirit of the early SEO pioneers. Investing in your network and actively participating in communities remains a crucial element of success.

In essence, Shelley Walsh's session provided a comforting and empowering message: while the tools and platforms of SEO may evolve rapidly, the underlying principles of understanding your audience, creating valuable and unique content, and adapting with a problem-solving mindset remain timeless. By learning from the experiences of those who laid the foundation of the industry, we can confidently navigate the changes of 2025 and beyond, ensuring that our efforts are grounded in enduring strategies rather than fleeting tactics. Her message was clear: focus on the humans, embrace fundamental marketing truths, and the future of SEO, even with the rise of AI, holds immense opportunity.

What are your thoughts about SEO going into 2025? Are you planning to follow Shelley’s advice, prioritizing the fundamentals, or do you have new ideas you’d rather experiment with. Let us know in the Duda Community .

Women at Duda: The reality, the work, the future

Thu, 06 Mar 2025 14:59:00 GMT

In recognition of International Women's Day 2025, we’re amplifying the voices of women at Duda. We believe in acknowledging progress while actively pushing for more. True equality, equity, and inclusion require sustained effort. These conversations must continue, and we must all become advocates for change to Accelerate Action .

Anjuli Shukla, Head of Legal at Duda

“Try to define success for yourself. So don’t let our culture’s bias towards more - like more money, more stuff, more work taint your definition of success. You have to ask yourself every day what does success look like for you? And what you can do to get there. For me, of course, I want to learn and grow and challenge myself and just be a boss at work. But, I also want to be able to pick up my kids from school every day at 3 o'clock. And I want to be able to make a healthy meal for us. And I want to be able to work out. That’s also success.

I am lucky enough to work for one of the most successful women in this organization. She’s someone who presents herself as unapologetic, she’s data-driven, she’s a hard worker. And not only have I seen her exude those qualities, I’ve seen her team, the executive team and the finance team both - their interpretation of that is what allows for progress of women.”

Caitlyn Davidson Senior Account Executive at Duda

“In my personal journey, I have been the only female at a tech startup. I’ve been the only female within the sales organization. And there have been people, unfortunately, that have doubted my abilities. But, blocking that negativity, staying focused on my own career path is really progress for me. ”

Therry Willis, Enterprise Account Manager at Duda

“ Progress for women in my opinion is breaking through barriers. Barriers of self-doubt. Barriers of pay disparity. Barriers of having to be a certain way. I want to help foster a supportive environment where people can feel confident taking risks and lifting each other up. And that’s what I strive for in this journey.”

Marlene Lopez, Technical Support Engineer at Duda

“Progress for women is about showing up fully, unapologetically, and refusing to shrink ourselves. For me, progress has meant stepping into spaces where I feel I didn’t belong and learning how to take ownership of those moments. I feel like it’s been a journey about finding my voice and claiming my place in every room.”

Santi Clarke, Director of Content & Communications at Duda

“ Early on in my career, I very rarely spoke up. And I realize now that I missed out on a lot of opportunities to grow and to learn and to build deeper relationships. At the time, I was very fortunate to have amazing mentors and colleagues who stepped in to advocate for me without me even asking. But I could have avoided a lot of frustration by speaking up for myself earlier.

My advice to other women is two-fold. First, seek out the people who uplift you. They’re out there, they genuinely want to help you - and no, you’re not asking for too much . Second, advocating for yourself is never easy - but don’t let that stop you. Take up space.”

Mel Kozun, Head of Ecosystem Partnerships at Duda

“We had our own barriers to knock down and I’m so proud of the cheerleaders in my life and the growth we’ve mutually experienced. At Duda, 40% of our executives identify as women and are given equal opportunities to play with impact . I’m so proud to say I belong to a company where everyone is valued.”

We extend our deepest gratitude to the incredible women at Duda, whose authenticity and leadership inspire us all. Let's honor their contributions by actively #AccelerateAction , not just today, but every day, to build a more equitable and inclusive future.

How to get AI to mention your client’s brand

shawn.davis@duda.co (Shawn Davis) — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 03:45:54 GMT

This article is an adaptation of a session hosted by Andy Crestodina and Purna Virji during our “5 Hours of SEO and Content” mega-webinar. The complete session is available on-demand at duda.co/webinars .

As SEO evolves, marketers need to adapt to new challenges and opportunities presented by artificial intelligence. In a world where AI-driven platforms and chatbots are increasingly providing answers directly to users, it's more important than ever before that agencies understand how to optimize their content for these systems. That’s precisely the topic that guest speaker Andy Crestodina dove into during our “5 Hours of SEO and Content” mega-webinar.

Organic search has long been a valuable source of traffic for many businesses. However, search engine results pages (SERPs) are now filled with various features, including AI overviews, that reduce click-through rates to organic listings, particularly for informational content like blog posts. While commercial intent pages have been less affected, the rise of AI necessitates a shift in SEO strategy.

In particular, agencies need to think more than ever about user intent. That means focusing less-so on “what” someone is searching for and rather, more specifically, “why” they’ve decided to search. Some SEOs may already be familiar with the concept of search intent. We often separate informational intent, where someone is planning to learn about something, from commercial intent, where someone plans to purchase something.

Thanks to the ever-changing search landscape, we now need to think about intent a little differently than before. What if the user doesn’t particularly intend to visit any website at all? In a previous article discussing the rise of zero-click searches , I shared an anecdote about how I was able to find out when street sweeping ended in the City of Denver without ever visiting a website. This was extremely predictable behavior, and is, in fact, a behavior that many searchers have grown to expect.

Dates, ages, and even restaurant recommendations have largely become examples of search topics where users don’t actually intend on visiting a website. If you’re out of town, for example, and know that you want to visit a local coffee shop, you’re very likely to interact exclusively with the results that appear within the SERP. This is a search with no “visit website intent.”

AI Overviews are poised to exacerbate this. Today, they run the risk of intercepting users, discouraging them from visiting you or your client’s site. In the future, users may grow to expect these results, similar to how users have grown to expect other rich search experiences. In that scenario, we need to be prepared for an “AI overview intent,” where the user expects an answer from AI with no desire to ever navigate to a website.

This all begs the question; how do we market for this?

Optimizing for AI mentions: A new marketing category

The need to optimize for AI mentions has created a new marketing category that requires a new skill set and new tools. While the name for this new field is yet to be determined, the goal is to increase the likelihood of AI recommending your brand.

To effectively optimize for AI mentions, it’s essential to understand your target audience and how they use AI platforms. Here's a step-by-step approach:

Turn off personalization : In AI platforms like ChatGPT, disable memory or personalization settings to see unbiased results.
Use commercial intent prompts : Enter prompts or queries that your target audience would use when searching for your products or services.
Competitive analysis : Analyze the sources that the AI uses to generate its recommendations. This will help you identify your competitors in the AI space and understand how they are being mentioned.

Next, you’ll want to put in a little effort to optimize your website for AI. These platforms use crawlers, not unlike search engines, so this advice may seem a little familiar.

Ensure that your website can be crawled : This is very likely already the case unless your or a team-member specifically disallowed access to these crawlers. If you aren’t administering your own website, check with your team!
Optimize your content for expertise : Identify the main entities, sub-entities, and modifiers related to your brand, then create content that establishes your expertise in these areas.
Get listed in relevant directories and review sites : Being mentioned on other websites improves your credibility and increases the likelihood that you’ll be mentioned by AI.

Measuring your performance is a little less straightforward. Andy recommends using tools like Otterly to track AI mentions of your brand, or working within GA4 to create dashboards that track traffic from AI sources. This will help you understand which AI models are sending traffic to your site, as well a hich pages are attracting AI traffic.

Everything is changing—expect marketing

Despite the changes brought about by AI, many of the fundamental marketing principles you know and love remain the same. As always, the needs of your audience comes first. Understand them and prioritize initiatives that help them in key moments. Additionally, brand building continues to play an important role in any marketing strategy, as does classic word-of-mouth. Consumers rely on social proof, testimonials, and name recognition to drive their decisions. AI won’t be changing that any time soon.

More importantly, for web professionals, is that content is still king. AI cannot conduct research, and AI cannot form opinions. These weaknesses are your opportunities. Create content that is original, citing new data that you’ve sourced yourself. Form strong opinions on topics, then write about those opinions. Not only will this kind of content stand out, it is, and always has been, significantly more shareable and interesting. Your audience will love it!

In summary

The rise of AI presents both challenges and opportunities for marketers. By understanding how AI platforms work and optimizing your content and digital footprint accordingly, you can increase the likelihood of AI mentioning your brand and drive valuable traffic to your website. While the landscape is constantly evolving, by staying informed and adaptable, and by focusing on creating high-quality, human-first content, you can ensure that your brand thrives in the age of AI.

5 ways to add a parallax scrolling effect to your website

shawn.davis@duda.co (Shawn Davis) — Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:00:03 GMT

Thomas Deininger , a Rhode Island based artist, has garnered over half a million followers on Instagram with his captivating sculptures. Each piece uses non-recyclable, non-biodegradable materials to create beautiful renditions of living creatures—mostly birds. When you look at his work from straight on, they appear to be a hyper-realistic recreation of a particular animal. However, from the side they look entirely different. They look like bundled trash.

What you’re witnessing in the video above is a manipulation of “parallax.” According to the Cambridge Dictionary , parallax, a byproduct of human stereo vision, is the effect by which the position of an object seems to change when it is looked at from different positions.

That’s not a very intuitive definition. Instead, if you can, hold out your thumb at arm's length, close one eye, line it up with a distant object, then quickly switch to the other eye while keeping your thumb still. You should be able to see your thumb “shift” positions relative to the background object. It may be slight, but what you’re witnessing is an example of parallax.

Deininger uses parallax artistically to highlight the relationship between our natural world and the trash we release into it. While maybe not as thought provoking, websites often attempt to create a form of “parallax effect” as well—typically to great artistic effect.

In the physical world, parallax depends on a couple factors, the main being a three dimensional space. Unless you’re creating some pretty new-age websites for devices like Meta’s Quest or the Vision Pro, your visitors are probably bound to two dimensions. That means, to achieve this effect, you’ll need to get creative.

What does parallax look like online?

Designers have been playing with the concept of depth in user interfaces for decades. If you’ve ever added a drop shadow to an image or a button, then you’ve attempted to recreate depth as well. Parallax is a natural extension of this.

Imagine a background image that moves slower than the foreground when scrolling, or an element that shifts position slightly in relation to your mouse. These are both different ways to recreate parallax on the web, with the former using scroll as the reference for position and the latter using the mouse.

We do this ourselves, both on our website as well as in our templates. Our “ Chef Restaurant ” template, created for a fictional restaurant named Baillotte, uses a parallax effect to tailor a more engaging experience for visitors.

Before we dive into all of the different ways you can recreate parallax online, it’s worth taking a moment to discuss an under-appreciated element of great design; moderation. Too many scroll animations or moving elements can be jarring and disruptive, not to mention an accessibility nightmare.

Visitors with motion sensitivity, vestibular disorders, or other neurological conditions certainly won’t appreciate a website with elements moving everywhere from all directions. To offer the best experience to the widest audience, consider:

Keeping parallax effects to a minimum. Don’t disorient your users or distract them from meaningful information. Keep it decorative!
Restrict movements to small areas of the screen. An element shouldn’t move dramatically across the screen, that would be disorienting.
Don’t go too fast. Quick motion, particularly with mouse-based parallax effects, can look jerky and unattractive. Subtlety is key.

With that out of the way, let’s take a look at five different ways to achieve a parallax effect on your website.

Fixed background

A fixed background is what most designers would imagine when asked to describe a “parallax effect.” Essentially, the background image doesn’t move while all other elements do. You can see this in action in the Chef Restaurant template mentioned earlier, or via the image below.

One reason why this effect is so ubiquitous is that it’s incredibly easy to implement. Using CSS, all you really need to do is apply the code background-position: fixed; . Drag-and-drop website builders make it even easier. In Duda’s Editor 2.0, this effect can be achieved by selecting “Static” in the design panel via the “Image position type” portion of the “Background” section.

Vertical scrolling

Vertical scrolling is a little different, and a little more authentic. In this scenario, the background and foreground move at varying speeds. This is much more difficult to implement using code, but is exceptionally easy in Duda.

Using the exact same design panel as before, we can apply a background image then select the aptly named “Parallax” option within the “image position type” portion of the “Background” section. The effect, shown below, is a background image that moves slightly slower than the elements placed on top of it.

Note that you won’t be able to achieve a parallax scrolling effect by using a solid colored background, and for good reason. If you remember our thumb example from earlier, an important part of the parallax effect is the relationship between the foreground and the background. If the background lacked an image, then there’d be no way to create that much needed relationship.

Horizontal scrolling

Horizontal scrolling is similar to, but far less common than, vertical scrolling. In this instance, elements may slowly move from one side to the other as a user scrolls vertically. The United Nations uses this effect heavily on their 2022 Sustainable Development Plan microsite .

If you’re an agency who builds websites for SMBs, this effect is probably overkill. However, a subtler version is very achievable.

In Duda, select any element you’d like to animate then choose, unsurprisingly, “Animations” from the design panel. Choose “Scroll” as the trigger, then “Slide” as the animation. You can play around with the exact parameters of this animation yourself, but so long as you’ve selected either “right” or “left” as the direction what you’re left with is a lovely parallax effect.

The best way to implement this, though, is to have another element that can act as a reference. To do that, follow the exact same steps as above on another nearby element, but ensure that the second element is set up to perform the animation at a slightly different speed than the first. You can see how that looks via the elements below.

Scroll-trigger animations

By now you should be picking up how parallax animations work. Two identifiable objects are moving at different speeds based on some trigger, like scrolling. While we’ve primarily used the background to achieve this, foreground objects can move at different speeds relative to each other as well via “scroll-trigger animations.”

We used an effect like this on the 2024 Dudacon website. As users scrolled towards the agenda summary, different columns rose at different speeds.

To do this in Duda, select the element you’d like to animate, then choose “Animations” from the design panel. Select “Scroll” as the trigger and “Slide” as the animation, then play around with different properties until you’re happy with the speed and distance that the animation occurs. This is very similar to how we achieved the horizontal scrolling parallax effect, but in this scenario we are operating in any direction, not just left and right.

Mouse-based parallax

In every example we’d used up until this point, the user’s point of reference is determined by their scroll position. However, the mouse is another great way to achieve this effect. Keep in mind, though, that dramatic movements in relation to the mouse can create a poor user experience. As always, work in moderation.

Consider the example code above written by Clément Gaudinière . Orbs in the background move in relation to the mouse. Unlike earlier examples where elements moved in relationship to each other to create a parallax effect, this example uses the cursor itself as the focal point.

Duda doesn’t support cursor-based animations out-of-the-box, so you’ll need to put on your developer hat to achieve this effect. Luckily, with tools like Custom Widgets, HTML blocks, and Dev Mode, implementing really bespoke experiences like this are pretty easy.

However, if you do decide to go this route, consider offering a way for users to turn it off. Unlike other parallax effects, this method has the greatest potential for accessibility issues. HTML standardized media queries like “ prefers reduce motion ” make respecting user preferences around animations super easy.

What’s next?

Now that you’ve seen a few ways to add parallax effects to your website, the next step is to actually do it. Many of our newer templates use parallax effects, and plenty of websites on our inspiration page do too. If that’s not cutting it, our Facebook Community is a great place to connect with other website building professionals. Take a peak at what they’ve built, and don’t be afraid to ask how they did it! Once you’ve made something you’re proud of, be sure to share it too. The next generation of designers will thank you.

5 game-changing web design statistics for 2025: Actionable insights for agencies serving SMBs

Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:42:00 GMT

If you've ever Googled "web design stats," you know there are about a million of those floating around. You'll find things like "small businesses with websites have a 53% greater chance of success" or "conversion rates can jump by more than 100% after adding a call-to-action"—who didn’t see that one coming?

But this post isn’t about serving up the same obvious facts. We’re here to dig into the juicy insights from Duda's latest survey report that can actually help agencies. We're talking about stats that tell you what potential clients really want and the trends you can hop on before they blow up. You see, these stats are not just nice to have. To succeed, you must understand SMBs’ unique preferences and unmet needs and tailor your services, marketing efforts, and commercial approaches accordingly - so these stats are a must!

Ready? Let's go!

1. 98.7% of SMB owners estimate that their website will contribute to their revenue in the coming year

Moreover, 42.5% of SMB owners expect more than half of their total revenue to be generated through their business websites.

The question is how.

Well, we’ve got answers;

Lead generation (38%): SMB owners are aware that websites are essential for capturing and nurturing potential customers. Through contact forms, downloadable resources, and targeted landing pages, many small businesses are already generating valuable leads that can be nurtured into customers.
Providing information (37%): SMB websites are an essential source of information about products, services, and the business itself. Well-crafted content, detailed product descriptions, FAQs, and informative blog posts help build trust and educate potential customers, leading to informed purchasing decisions.
Selling services online (36%): despite the current misconception that eCommerce is solely for retail, many SMBs already use their websites to sell services.

The opportunity for you: SMBs are counting on their websites to make serious money in 2025, and you can help them level up by offering transactional websites that allow them to sell services online, not just display them. From booking appointments to offering subscriptions or digital products, a site that actually facilitates sales—not just leads—can completely transform their revenue streams. These sites are simpler to create and manage since service pricing is usually stable, and there's no need for inventory management or complex operations.

Show SMBs how an eCommerce or service-selling platform integrated into their website can turn it into a 24/7 revenue machine. You’re not just building a website—you’re helping build their business.

2. For 43% of SMBs, the ability to easily update and maintain their website is the top factor when choosing software for building their site

Nearly 31% of SMB owners say "more visibility on search engines" is their top wish for their sites, followed closely by "better lead generation" and "more brand awareness."

An interesting data point is that cost-effectiveness is another big deal, with 41% of SMBs emphasizing its importance. Given tight budgets, SMBs look for affordable yet effective solutions.

Lastly, customer support, ease of use, variety of templates, and features tailored to their needs are all key for 40% of SMB owners.

The opportunity for you: Your clients don’t just want a shiny new site—they need something they can manage without pulling their hair out. And, if you can make that site rank higher on Google and boost lead generation, you're basically their hero. Build websites that are easy to maintain and optimize for SEO, and you’ll create long-lasting client relationships. As for cost-effectiveness, agencies can think about offering various pricing models or packages that cater to different budget levels. To dive deeper here, check out our How to effectively price your agency’s services for growth blog post.

In short, digital marketing agencies should prioritize simplicity, affordability, great support, and customization in their offerings to meet what small business owners want most.

3. 26% of SMBs are still building their sites with custom code

Many SMBs are still building their sites using custom code (26%), which can be technically demanding and harder to maintain. In contrast, only 23% use user-friendly website building platforms.

The opportunity for you: As we noted, the ability to easily update and maintain is the top factor for SMB owners when choosing software for building their website. Agencies can emphasize the benefits of website building platforms, such as Duda, which allow them to build professional sites while offering easier updates and better long-term maintenance than custom code.

Agencies can also highlight how these platforms may help with SEO efforts and lead generation strategies. According to our survey, more visibility on search engines is the top improvement SMBs would like to implement on their business website in 2025. And lead generation was pointed out by SMB owners as the top way their website contributes to their business.

Offering services that include building on these platforms and providing ongoing support can set agencies apart, attracting SMBs seeking both ease of use and improved online visibility.

4. 43% of SMBs say training and implementation are their top challenges in maximizing website performance and value

The opportunity for you: Most SMB owners don’t want to fumble around trying to figure out how to use their new website. Offering training, clear documentation and education tailored specifically for SMBs, and ongoing comprehensive support can set your agency apart. Be sure to shout about these services in your marketing.

For example, Fix8 Media, one of Duda’s valued customers and a successful agency, holds dedicated bi-weekly training sessions for clients on the Duda platform.

5. 22% say their top priority for enhancing CX is integrating social media sharing and engagement features

At the same time, SMBs want their website to play nice with other software tools they’re using. A whopping 88% stress that integration is crucial, while 37% report facing major issues with it.

The opportunity for you: This is your chance to step in and offer seamless integrations with popular social media and business tools; you’re not just giving SMBs a website—you’re giving them a full-fledged business hub. Tackle the tech headaches for them, and they’ll never think about switching agencies again.

Crowd Digital Marketing , for example, uses Duda’s connection with popular apps like HubSpot and Salesforce to offer greater value to their clients and help them save time.

That’s a wrap on our 2025 web design statistics

These insights aren’t just numbers; they’re your secret weapon for connecting with SMBs and giving them what they really need! Want to dive deeper? Check out Duda’s latest survey report for more great insights that can help you stay ahead of the game.

How to uncover friction points in your SaaS platform

Tue, 11 Feb 2025 10:43:21 GMT

SaaS leaders are constantly innovating, building features, and refining our products to meet the needs of customers. But no matter how forward-thinking or feature-rich your product is, if customers struggle to use it effectively, its value is significantly diminished.

Identifying and resolving customer friction points—the moments where customers feel confused, frustrated, or blocked in achieving their goals—is absolutely essential to delivering a truly exceptional user experience.

Uncovering these friction points takes more than intuition. It requires a combination of targeted strategies and tools that allow you to observe, understand, and ultimately fix the obstacles standing in the way of your customers.

In this post, we’ll walk through some of the most effective methods for identifying friction points and how we use them at Duda.

1. Do a click test for a simple–but effective–gut check

One of the simplest yet most revealing methods for identifying friction is the click test. The click test asks: how many clicks does it take to complete a basic task in the platform?

Your absolute core functions, like adding a new prospect to a relationship management system, should be front and center. Ideally, this requires one or two clicks. Other basic functions should follow a similar philosophy and require as few clicks as possible.

You can do this test with customers, recruit members of your team that aren’t in the product every day, or try it for yourself.

First, take a few minutes and write down what are the most important actions a person using your product needs to take. The goal here isn’t to come up with a lot of functions, but to really focus on the most fundamental and important tasks your customers will need to do each and every day.

Let’s take a look at an example: Duda is a website building platform, so these are a few core actions our customers need to be able to take quickly with as little friction as possible:

Start a new site from scratch
Start a new site with AI
Start a new site with an existing template
Add a client
Add a team member

Great! Now we have a list of core functions.

What we’re going to do now is take it for a spin. From the first screen when a person logs in to the platform, how many clicks does it take to perform each one of these functions?

Here’s our score:

Start a new site from scratch - 1 click
Start a new site with AI - 1 click
Start a new site with an existing template - 1 click
Add a client - 2 clicks
Add a team member - 2 clicks

If you need to click >3 times to do any basic function, you’re losing people.

Now you know exactly where your biggest friction points are. Prioritize those first.

If it takes 1 or 2 clicks for each basic function, you’re doing great!

Now you can dig a little bit deeper. Make a list of your more advanced functions and repeat the click test again.

It’s deceptively simple, but the click test is a great gut check to help you quickly find and resolve glaring friction points, but there are many more strategies you can employ to dig deeper into how people use your product and what’s holding them back from wholeheartedly adopting your platform.

Let’s take a look at some additional strategies…

2. Observe your entire customer journey with usability testing

Usability testing involves observing people completing full workflows within your product. This method gives you a broader view of your in-product customer behavior and uncovers deeper friction points that might not be visible in a single interaction.

In a usability test, you might ask customers to complete a task that involves multiple steps—like building a website from start to finish using your platform. Observing them step by step through this journey allows you to identify pain points that affect the overall process, such as confusing instructions, difficult navigation, or overly complex steps.

3. Interview your customers about their in-product experience

While tests and analytics provide valuable insights, nothing beats direct feedback from your customers. Customer interviews allow you to dive deep into the experiences, frustrations, and needs of your customers in their own words. These conversations can reveal pain points that wouldn’t be apparent through testing alone.

Focus on open-ended, but specific questions like:

"Can you walk me through a recent experience with [specific feature]?"
"What, if anything, felt more difficult than you expected?"
"What would make this feature easier for you to use?"

By listening to the specific challenges they face, you can prioritize product changes that will have the greatest impact. For example, you might learn that customers find your integrations hard to navigate, even though they are technically functional.

4. Use behavioral analysis to understand user actions at scale

In addition to qualitative feedback, behavioral analytics provides a quantitative layer that helps you understand how customers interact with your product on a broader scale.

Tools like heatmaps, session recordings, and funnel analysis offer insights into how users navigate your product and where they face obstacles.

Heatmaps can show where customers are clicking the most, and where they’re not interacting at all. If a key call-to-action is being ignored, it may indicate that the placement, design, or copy isn’t effective.
Session recordings allow you to watch real-time customer interactions, showing you exactly where they get stuck.
Funnel analysis helps you track where customers are dropping off in their journeys, helping you identify bottlenecks that cause friction, like during sign-up or task completion.

5. Mine your support tickets for pain points

Your customer support team is often the first to hear about struggles and issues, so it's crucial to mine this resource regularly. Review support tickets, chat transcripts, and feedback forms to spot recurring themes and patterns. This will give you valuable insight into friction points and allows you to prioritize issues that impact a large number of customers.

6. Create multiple avenues for customers to share feedback

At Duda, we’ve also developed tools like our Idea Board , where customers can submit requests for specific features or improvements and our community can vote on these ideas. This helps us gauge which features or issues are most important to our community, and which suggestions would be the most impactful.

Additionally, our Facebook Community is another great source of real-time feedback. We actively monitor discussions to identify pain points and gather suggestions on how we can make our platform easier to use and prioritize the features our customers care about most.

7. Use AI to discover patterns and prioritize improvements

With the volume of feedback and data coming in from all these sources, it can be overwhelming to track and prioritize improvements. That’s where AI comes in.

Use AI-powered tools to analyze large datasets, including feedback from your support tickets, usability tests, and customer interviews. AI can help you quickly identify patterns in the data, highlighting recurring issues or feature requests that require attention.

For example, AI can quickly identify if a specific feature is mentioned repeatedly in support tickets or feedback forms. It can rank these issues based on sentiment, frequency, and potential impact, allowing us to prioritize which friction points to address first.

Final thoughts

The key to building a successful product isn’t just about adding more features—it’s about ensuring those features are easy and enjoyable for your customers to use. By actively seeking out friction points and addressing them, you’ll create a product that your customers truly love.

At Duda, we’ve built a strong feedback loop by combining qualitative insights, behavioral data, and AI to drive continuous improvement. The result is a product that’s more intuitive, customer-friendly, and effective—ultimately leading to a more loyal, engaged user base.

Leveling the playing field: How AI empowers small businesses in the digital age

shawn.davis@duda.co (Shawn Davis) — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 15:00:03 GMT

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) have faced a barrage of challenges in recent years. From the pandemic to inflation, maintaining a strong online presence is both increasingly important as well as increasingly challenging.

Unfortunately, many SMBs struggle to find the time and expertise required to compete in the digital marketplace. However, a new tool has emerged as a potential solution, one you may have heard of already: Artificial Intelligence (AI). Together, we’re going to explore how AI is helping SMBs survive and thrive in the digital landscape, drawing insights from a study conducted by our friends at Siinda .

The challenges SMBs face

SMBs have been navigating a difficult economic climate, with the need to maintain an active and engaging online presence adding to the burden. Many business owners find it difficult to consistently update their websites with fresh, compelling content. This lack of engagement can hinder their ability to attract new customers and grow their business, especially as search engines like Google begin to seek higher-and-higher quality content from business owners.

How AI and SMBs can work together

Many SMBs are optimistic about AI's potential to solve the challenges they face daily. Nearly 47% of small business owners believe AI can be a valuable asset. This sentiment is even stronger among Gen Z entrepreneurs, with 71% expressing strong belief in AI. The Siinda Study found that almost 60% of SMBs in Europe now update their websites within 30 days, a significant increase from 48% in 20233. This shift can be attributed to the introduction of AI tools which enable business owners to create and update content quickly and more frequently.

How SMBs are utilizing AI

SMBs are using AI for a variety of tasks, including:

Automating routine back-office tasks
Implementing chatbots in customer service
Creating new content for websites, blogs, marketing emails, and ad campaigns

We see this growth in utilization reflected by our own metrics, as well. In 2023 we shared that agencies performed 684,000 AI actions, many of which to accomplish the tasks listed above. In 2024, that number exploded to a shocking 5,587,301 AI actions !

The impact of AI on website engagement

The ability to generate fresh content is essential for maintaining an active online presence. Businesses often rely on a combination of websites and social media to get their message out. AI tools can produce blog posts and condense them into social media updates, saving time and keeping content fresh. This is particularly important as search engines favor "fresh content," which can improve search engine rankings.

However, it’s important to remember that the content must be meaningful, as mass-produced content can be penalized by search engines. Many website builders are also incorporating AI features for content and SEO, further facilitating content updates.

Revolutionizing customer service with AI

AI is transforming customer service, especially with the rise of automated chatbots. Many consumers don't have a preference whether they are helped by an AI or human as long as their questions are resolved efficiently. In fact, 62% of customers would rather interact with a chatbot than wait for a human agent.

AI tools can translate open-ended questions and direct customers to the right information or department, improving efficiency. The Siinda study has shown a significant increase in the use of live chat by SMBs, increasing from 2% in 2021 to 7% in 2024. In the US, 10% of websites had live chat enabled, suggesting that AI-driven live chat is gaining traction.

Moreover, AI can do much more than just answer questions. It can analyze chat conversations to improve products and services and prioritize tasks based on customer queries. Those analysis, depending on the software, can be seen in-bulk to inform everything from product direction to support allocation.

AI and content creation are a double-edged sword

AI greatly simplifies content generation for SMBs, allowing them to create blogs, videos, and social media updates more efficiently. In 2023, 7% of European SMBs adopted AI for content tasks. Businesses using AI for content creation have reported improved performance, with 65% seeing better search rankings and increased traffic.

However, it’s important to use AI tools responsibly. Google does not penalize AI-generated content per se, but has guidelines for evaluating the quality of content, regardless of how it was created. Low-quality or auto-generated content that adds no value to users can be penalized. Therefore, businesses must ensure that AI-generated content is high-quality and not used to manipulate search results.

AI in analytics

Over 55% of businesses believe that AI will improve efficiency, especially in areas of customer data trends and automating repetitive tasks. However, Siinda’s data also indicates that 50% of European SMB websites do not have an analytics tool installed, limiting their ability to understand website visitors, even with the assistance of AI.

While AI may not be able to help analyze website visits, it could be used to look for prospect and customer data trends in CRMs. The main challenge will be creating the correct dataset to analyze and giving AI proper directions. “Garbage in, Garbage out” is something business owners will need to be aware of when trying to do more complex analysis with AI.

Leveling the playing field

AI is helping smaller and micro enterprises compete more effectively against larger companies. AI tools allow SMBs to maintain a strong online presence, engage with customers, and grow in a digital-first marketplace. By automating routine tasks and generating high-quality content, SMBs can compete without needing large marketing teams.

AI-driven customer service tools also provide real-time support, improving customer satisfaction. These combined benefits give SMBs a competitive edge without requiring significant resources.

Conclusion

AI is a transformative technology that is empowering SMBs to overcome their challenges and thrive in the digital age. From automating tasks and generating content to enhancing customer service and analyzing data, AI tools are leveling the playing field, allowing smaller businesses to compete with larger organizations.

By embracing AI, SMBs can enhance their online presence, engage with customers, and drive sustainable growth. As AI continues to evolve, it will undoubtedly play an even greater role in the success of small businesses.

How I built a dynamic video gallery with custom widgets

Tue, 04 Feb 2025 15:00:04 GMT

Recently, we wrapped up a year-long project to give the Duda University website a complete and total makeover. If you haven’t seen it yet, you really should check it out. We transformed the entire experience to not only fall in-line more seamlessly with our overall brand, but to also improve the experience for new and returning learners. A big part of that experience improvement is the new video gallery .

I’m not actually part of the education team. Rather, I work with support to help solve challenges customers face every day. You may even have worked with me before! However, when I saw the opportunity to collaborate with the education team I was more than happy to jump in.

We had worked together before, during Duda’s annual hack-a-thon, to create a unique client onboarding experience that leveraged Duda’s own technologies like the Instant Sites API. While that project didn’t win, it did open the doors to a more collaborative future between our two departments. That’s when the video gallery was born.

Understanding collections

Internal collections are an extremely powerful tool within Duda. Developers can create their own custom database, then leverage the information within that data throughout their website. Want to create dozens of pages for different business locations? Internal collections make that easy, by injecting content from the database into a templatized webpage. Want to dynamically add staff members to a list? Connected data works with a collection of employees to make that task a cinch.

Custom widgets, though, are where internal collections can really shine. With the collections API, there is really no limit to what you can do with your database. A great example, of course, is our video gallery widget.

Internally, we store information like the video’s URL, thumbnail image, title, and description, then we populate that data into the widget. We also tag these videos based on type and topic to improve the experience for users.

Together, this data powers an attractive, filter-able, and searchable interface for educational videos that users can easily and intuitively navigate.

So how did I build it?

Dive into the Collections API

Custom Widgets are shockingly powerful. Beyond classic HTML and JavaScript, you can leverage a variety of Duda APIs and handlebars to create really unique experiences. For our video gallery widget, we used as many technologies as we could.

Let’s start with a quick look at the Collections API.

The code you see above is an example of how one might initiate that API. Where it says “collectionName” you would put the name of your internal collection. Going forward, you can reference the collection variable to access every item within your internal collection. Pretty cool, huh?

Of course, an unrestricted list of database items isn’t super helpful. Thankfully, there are a variety of organized ways you can query collection data. We use this within our widget to power features like filtering and searching.

Let’s take a look at search, to start.

Above, you can see the simplest way to perform a search using internal collection data. We take a variable, titled “query,” and check to see if the text within that variable appears in any collection items—specifically the field titled “name.”

The “IN” operator means that data appears, well, “in” the collection data. For example, if you were to search for a video titled “How to restore a deleted site via API” by searching for “deleted site,” you could. That’s because “deleted site” appears within the database title.

In that code, we also sort the results by date and we limit the number of returned results to 10. That ensures a predictable, quick experience for users. The most relevant data comes first, and it comes in a digestible amount.

Filtering works the exact same way.

Exactly like the search function I shared earlier, this filtering function uses the “where” operator to compare values. Here, we compare a “type” mentioned in the sidebar with an internal collection value named “type.” However, unlike the search function, we want these values to exactly match, so we use the “EQ” operator.

You can explore all of this in the developer documents, but that’s the gist of how it all works.

Making something beautiful

We know how to get data from the API, but how do we make something that looks fantastic? The first step, like any good project, is to plan ahead.

I worked with Duda’s rockstar design team to create something in figma that would guide my code. Then, once we settled on a look, I used handlebars, built into the custom widget by default, to bring it all to life.

In short, the data that is returned from the collections API is “injected” into the website via the handlebars. For the video gallery widget, that looks something like this.

We can use handlebars, the “{{“ symbols, to place content dynamically into the widget. The special handlebar, “#each”, repeats the code for every item returned in the collection. Collection data is then shared with the widget using connected data. The HTML itself is styled using classes and CSS.

Putting it all together

In the editor, this all comes together to create a drag-and-drop video gallery widget that can be easily updated from a simple spreadsheet interface. This makes it easy for the education team to update their site without any help from developers.

Have you created anything using the Collections API? Share what you’ve built in our community on Facebook , we’d love to see it.

Here’s how leading agencies are automating key workflows in 2025

shawn.davis@duda.co (Shawn Davis) — Mon, 03 Feb 2025 15:00:03 GMT

We work with a lot of agencies , more than 26,000 as of this writing. We also talk a lot about “ increasing operational efficiency ” and “ accelerating growth .” These phrases, and phrases like them, are all over our website and our ads. We use them for good reason, though! We see countless agencies who truly are operating more efficiently in unique ways, and are growing faster because of it.

If you caught DudaCon earlier this year, you may have seen one of these strategies in action. Ruan Marinho of Develomark is a bona fide savant when it comes to this, and he put that knowledge on full display during his “AI and Automation” session. He shared really clever ways to utilize tools like Zapier and ChatGPT to do everything from analyze form submissions to strategize content. If you haven’t watched it yet, I’d recommend you do.

For so many agencies, that level of automation can seem, frankly, a bit overwhelming. Complex routines that chain together multiple tools are not the right place to start if you’re just dipping your toes into the exciting world of automation. Thankfully, there are a lot of much simpler ways to free up employee hours that even large agencies could benefit from.

Quickly connect client domains

Unless your client has approached you for their first ever website, odds are they already own a domain that they’d like to use. Transferring an existing domain to Duda introduces quite a bit of complexity, especially on the SEO-side of things, but for many agencies one of the biggest challenges is just connecting that domain in the first place.

Clients may not remember who their registrar is, or may be unfamiliar with terms like “CNAME.” There are ways around this, like whois searches, that agencies can employ to guide their clients through the connection process, but doing so takes time.

Thankfully, it doesn’t have to be that way. Duda offers a seamless way for clients to automatically connect their domains without having to even know who their registrar is. All they need to do is enter their URL, like “duda.co,” then log into their account.

Embedded chatbots

If your agency provides client access to the editor, then you’ve probably noticed how difficult supporting that experience can be. Clients may struggle to navigate the editing experience, and may be drowning your inbox as a result with short, simple questions.

Chatbots are a great way to field these simple questions, while simultaneously providing a better experience for clients. Agencies can integrate custom HTML into the editor to embed a persistent chatbot for clients. Depending on the software you choose, you can leverage AI or decision trees to answer the most common questions, saving your team even more time.

Install apps in bulk

Digital compliance is becoming increasingly important for businesses of all sizes. Accessibility, privacy—these are difficult things to implement without specialized legal expertise. Thankfully, third-party experts have built apps on Duda that provide these exact services. Platforms like Termly , Termaggedon , and AudioEye make compliance easy, and Duda makes providing that compliance to clients even easier.

Take Olive Street Design , for example. They worked with their account manager to deploy AudioEye to all of their clients simultaneously and in-bulk. This is a very easy way to increase product value, boost revenue, and ensure compliance. After all, offering accessibility compliance by default is a great way to shield your agency from any potential liability.

Stay on top of site comments with webhooks

Let’s explore something slightly more advanced; webhooks . If you’ve been working with the web for a while, you’ve likely encountered the term “API” before. APIs provide a structured way for applications to communicate with one another. Our own API, for instance, empowers agencies to create websites, update templates, add sections, and more all programmatically by sending some code, often referred to as a request, over the internet to a specific web address.

Webhooks are the opposite of this. Instead of you, or your application, communicating with Duda, a webhook is Duda communicating with you. Agencies can leverage this power to receive notifications related to site and account activity. This is a great way to stay on top of client activity within your websites.

You can combine Duda’s powerful site comment webhooks with applications like Slack or WhatsApp to receive instant notifications whenever a new comment is posted.

Other webhooks include when a site is published, when a purchase is made, when a domain is purchased, and more.

Trigger zaps with webhooks

Notifications are great, but to be honest emails can do that too. Where webhooks really shine is when you combine them with other routines, like Zaps. Want to send your clients an email every time their site is republished? Webhooks and Zapier can do that. What about custom routines based around eCommerce purchases? Webhooks and Zapier can do that too.

Combining these two tools is a great way for agencies who aren’t comfortable fiddling with Duda’s API to create powerful, complex business automations. Here at Duda, we’ve combined Webhooks with Zapier to notify employees via Slack whenever a new blog article is published.

Imagine, for instance, a client who is selling products online for in-store pickup. You can combine Duda’s Webhooks with a smart lightbulb via Zapier to create an in-store notification for the staff. This’ll ensure they don’t miss an upcoming order pickup, and is exceptionally easy to implement.

Dynamic pages for local SEO

Local SEO is one of the best ways for small businesses to attract new customers—but what if they have multiple locations? Creating content for various cities, counties, or neighborhoods can be excessively time consuming, especially when all of that content is bound to be fairly similar.

Dynamic pages, one of my personal favorite features, makes this task extremely easy. All you need to do is create a single “template”-style page, perhaps one that represents a location, then connect that page to a collection database. This collection may contain location specific information like an image of the storefront, address, and phone number. Dynamic pages will combine that database with your template to create dozens of website pages automatically.

How are you automating your workflow?

Some of the most successful agencies building on Duda use these techniques to grow their agency, but they’re all just the tip of the iceberg. Advanced automations, especially those that leverage Duda’s REST API, can eliminate repetitive tasks entirely. How is your agency using automation? Have you dabbled yet? Let us know in our Facebook Community !

Landing page optimization: Key insights to drive conversions

Thu, 30 Jan 2025 13:56:35 GMT

Are you looking to maximize the effectiveness of your PPC campaigns or the ones you run for clients?

In a recent webinar hosted by Duda, Brad Smith, founder of AutomationLinks, and Navah Hopkins, renowned PPC expert, shared actionable strategies to help you craft high-performing landing pages. These experts highlighted practical approaches to improve campaign results, boost conversions, and even reduce ad spend by designing landing pages that resonate with target audiences.

In this post, we’ll explore their insights and examine best practices for creating optimized landing pages tailored to your or your client's goals.

What is one of the biggest misconceptions in digital marketing?

That would be that a homepage is an ideal destination for paid ad traffic. Brad Smith addressed this common misstep by emphasizing, “The homepage is too broad; it lacks the targeted messaging needed to keep users engaged.” Sending users to a generic homepage often results in confusion and high bounce rates because users are forced to navigate through various sections to find what they need. Instead, Brad suggests directing ad traffic to specialized landing pages that deliver a focused experience aligned with the ad’s promise. This approach yields significantly higher conversion rates by speaking directly to the user’s intent.

Navah Hopkins added that optimized landing pages maintain a "message match," ensuring a smooth and relevant journey from the ad click to the landing page content. “When users feel that they’ve landed in the right place and see the exact solution they were promised, they’re much more likely to convert,” she said. By crafting pages that speak directly to user needs, agencies can also improve their quality scores on PPC platforms, ultimately reducing CPC.

Essential elements for landing page optimization

To achieve optimal results, Brad and Navah emphasized that landing pages should be built with specific elements designed to capture and keep user attention. Here are essential elements based on the webinar insights to enhance your landing page optimization efforts:

Compelling, relevant headline: The headline is the first element visitors see, and it must reflect the promise of the ad. “If your ad headline and landing page title don’t align, users will bounce,” Brad explained. Matching ad and page headlines not only reassures users but also helps improve ad quality scores on platforms like Google and Facebook, which reward message relevance with lower CPCs.
Clear and visible CTAs: Placing CTAs at the top and bottom of the page ensures that visitors can take action at any point in their journey. Brad shared that his e-commerce client saw a substantial increase in conversions after placing CTAs at critical points on the page, giving users multiple chances to act. “You want to make it as easy as possible for users to convert, whether they’re ready immediately or after reading more,” he said. For service-based agencies, adding CTAs like "Request a Quote" or "Schedule a Call" also works well.
Fast loading speed: Page speed is crucial for an optimized landing page, as it impacts both user experience and ad performance. Brad highlighted that slow-loading pages not only frustrate visitors but can also drive up costs for advertisers. “If your page takes more than two or three seconds to load, you’re losing conversions and increasing your CPC,” he advised. To achieve faster load times, avoid heavy visuals and keep media to a minimum. Brad also recommended using Google Tag Manager to handle tracking codes more efficiently, reducing the load on the page.
* Related: How performance really impacts website conversion rate
Mobile optimization: Mobile traffic accounts for a large percentage of visits, and optimizing for mobile is essential. “Think about where people are when they see your ad—they’re often on their phones, maybe at a red light, with seconds to decide,” Brad explained. Ensure your landing page is mobile-friendly with a streamlined layout, minimal scrolling, and an accessible CTA right at the top.
Pain point-centric copy: Crafting copy that speaks directly to the visitor’s pain points increases engagement and trust. Brad stressed that landing page copy should prioritize the user’s problem and offer a solution. “If you lead with why you’re great, it doesn’t connect with users as much as when you lead with why they need you,” he explained. By empathizing with user challenges and presenting your service as the ideal solution, you create a page that resonates and converts.

Optimized layouts that drive results

Brad shared two landing page layouts that have consistently driven impressive results. Agencies can apply these layouts to meet the unique needs of different clients:

Single product landing pages: For eCommerce businesses, showcasing one main product with relevant add-ons has been shown to drive higher order values. Brad shared a client example: “We placed a CTA at the top to capture emails, and included add-on products further down. By the time they got to checkout, average order value increased by 133%.”
Service-based landing pages: For B2B clients, Brad recommended placing a lead form at both the top and bottom of the page. This structure keeps the page action-focused and maximizes lead capture. “For agencies, this approach is especially effective, as it allows prospects to convert as soon as they’re convinced,” he noted.

Both layouts focus on minimal distractions, clear CTAs, and maintaining relevance to user needs. As Brad emphasized, “Simplicity is key. Give users what they’re looking for and make it easy for them to convert.”

Testing and fine-tuning for optimal performance

To achieve maximum results, Brad and Navah advised regularly testing elements such as headlines, offers, and page layout. “Testing is essential,” Navah stated. “With tools like heatmaps, you can understand where users are dropping off and make adjustments accordingly.” Consider running A/B tests on the following:

Form placement and length: Experiment with shorter forms at the top of the page versus only at the bottom. “A shorter form reduces friction and boosts submission rates, especially for users on mobile devices,” Brad shared.
Offers and incentives: Try different incentives, such as free shipping, percentage discounts, or exclusive add-ons, to see which resonates best with your audience. “The right incentive can dramatically increase conversions,” Navah noted.

For further reading on optimizing landing pages, check out this detailed guide on landing page strategies for agencies .

Advanced landing page optimization tips

In addition to these foundational elements, Brad offered some advanced tips for refining your landing page performance:

Use targeted follow-up on thank you pages: Brad noted that a thank you page can be a valuable tool for follow-up. “When users fill out a form, show them a video introducing your brand or offer a next step, like following you on social media or scheduling a call,” he suggested. Brad found that clients using video on thank you pages saw increased user engagement and repeat visits.
Personalize content based on PPC campaigns: Navah highlighted the benefit of creating multiple landing pages for different ad campaigns or keywords. “If someone searches for ‘personal trainer near me,’ make sure that’s exactly what the headline says on the landing page,” she advised. This approach strengthens the message match, reduces bounce rates, and builds user trust.
Avoid stock photos and generic Imagery: Use real images that reflect your brand and service to build authenticity. “Users see through generic stock photos,” Brad said. Authentic visuals that showcase your product or service in action can go a long way in building credibility and trust.

Final thoughts on landing page optimization

Optimizing your landing pages can transform your PPC campaigns, reducing ad spend while increasing conversions. As Brad emphasized, “You don’t have to spend more to get better results—you just need a well-optimized landing page.” By implementing these expert-backed strategies and focusing on user-centered design, your agency can unlock significant ROI gains.

For more in-depth tips and examples, watch the full webinar with Brad Smith and Navah Hopkins to see how landing page optimization can take your campaigns to the next level.

Future outlook for data privacy

Mon, 27 Jan 2025 16:10:26 GMT

This guest blog is published in honor of Data Privacy Week, sharing valuable insights from our partner on data privacy.

For website owners, data privacy represents one of the most crucial challenges, but it’s also an opportunity.

Prioritizing data privacy proves to your users that you respect their privacy and value their choice and control over their personal information, which builds loyalty and trust.

But it's difficult to keep up with this complex industry unless you’re deeply immersed in the world of information security and data protection. It’s constantly impacted by new technologies, shifting global regulations, and increasing customer awareness.

As a certified Data Protection Officer who is immersed in it, I recognize the hurdles but also see exciting possibilities ahead. To help equip website owners with the necessary insights for success, I explore the future outlook of data privacy, including the significant trends shaping the industry and the technological innovations impacting it.

The data privacy landscape constantly evolves

A constant trend in the data privacy industry is the ongoing evolution of the legal privacy landscape.

The first comprehensive consumer privacy law passed in 2018 was the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR ). We’ve seen a growing number of privacy legislation introduced and amended ever since.

For example, the GDPR inspired federal laws in countries across the globe, like Brazil’s General Data Protection Law and South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act .

Even though there’s no federal legislation, several U.S. states have enacted comprehensive consumer privacy protection laws, and increasing calls for overarching privacy protections from American consumers are reflected in data privacy statistics .

Moving forward, I predict we’ll see even more convergence in data privacy frameworks.

Setting up standard privacy best practices on your website today will make it easier to adapt when more privacy regulations occur in the future.

Stricter enforcement and larger penalties

I also expect regulators to be more active and aggressive in enforcing privacy laws.

The consequences for noncompliance were proven very real in 2023 when a €1.2 billion fine was imposed on Meta for violating the GDPR.

As new technologies like AI and other data-driven processing systems continue to evolve, I expect legal enforcement to ramp up quickly. If you’re not already prioritizing data privacy, I encourage you to rethink your approach.

AI regulations impact on data privacy

Now that the EU AI Act is in effect, I expect to see a trend of legislation being introduced regulating artificial intelligence.

The EU AI Act may serve as a global template, similar to the GDPR. But because website owners now rely on AI for different purposes and functions, paying attention to this trend is important for your future success.

Privacy-enhancing technology innovations

An industry trend that should assist website owners is an increase in privacy-enhancing tools and technologies specifically meant to allow entities to process information without exposing sensitive personal data, for example:

Homomorphic encryption
Differential privacy
Multi-party computation

I expect to see more of these features integrated into platforms so they’re more accessible to smaller businesses.

Prioritizing privacy will give websites a competitive edge

Your website visitors know their personal information gets collected, tracked, and used online.

Websites that prioritize data privacy and are transparent about their data processing activities will have an easier time building trust and loyalty with users.

I predict that in 2025, websites that don’t catch up and use essential data privacy solutions like a privacy policy, consent banner, and cookie policy will be considered insecure by the average consumer. They will be more likely to spend their time and clicks on websites with honest, updated privacy policies and a consent preference center.

You can use a privacy policy generator to make your policy and a consent management platform to handle consent on your website.

Shifting how websites handle sensitive data

I predict websites handling sensitive data will have to shift how they obtain the information and manage user consent preferences.

With the increase in data breaches and leaks, I expect to see more ‘zero-trust’ architectures. In other words, requests must all be authenticated, authorized, and encrypted.

The intention of this shift will likely be to prevent and mitigate cybercrimes and lead to more secure data storage systems.

More reliance on privacy automation

Because personal data is used in nearly every industry and by businesses large and small, I predict there will be a heavier reliance on privacy automation tools.

Manual compliance is often too time-consuming, costly, and difficult for many businesses and website owners.

Comprehensive, reliable privacy compliance solutions, like Termly’s Consent Management Platform, for example, will become more integral for websites wanting to integrate data privacy best practices and make compliance seamless.

More emphasis on privacy education and ethics

As we move through the new year, I expect to see more emphasis on educating website owners, businesses, and entire teams about ethical data privacy practices.

This will likely include more investments in ongoing employee training, awareness campaigns, and an increase in attaining various privacy certifications.

By adding privacy education into the culture of our various workforces, we’re participating in a pivotal role in ensuring data privacy doesn’t take a backseat to innovation.

Actionable steps to prioritize data privacy

Keeping these trends and predictions in mind, here are some practical steps to prepare your website for the future of data privacy.

Conduct regular privacy audits: Review your data collection, storage, and processing practices to ensure compliance with the latest regulations and proactively identify and fill security gaps.
Invest in privacy-first website software: Look for tools prioritizing user privacy, like built-in PETs, automated compliance features, and secure data storage.
Be transparent in your data processing activities: Communicate how you collect, use, and protect user data in a transparent privacy policy and obtain legal consent from your consumers.
Stay educated and informed: Data privacy laws and technologies are constantly evolving, so stay updated by subscribing to industry newsletters, attending webinars, and consulting with privacy professionals.
Use data ethically: Adopt ethical guidelines for data use and build it into the culture of your website and team. For example, only collect the necessary data and respect your users' consent preferences.

Prepare your website for the future of data privacy

As we navigate the data privacy challenges of 2025, it’s clear that the future belongs to those who adapt and innovate. For website owners, this means staying ahead of regulatory changes, embracing innovative technologies, and prioritizing user trust.

Despite the complexities of this journey, it opens an opportunity for you to differentiate your brand by contributing to a more privacy-literate ecosystem, so your website users feel confident visiting, engaging with, and trusting your site.

Let’s embrace the future together, with transparency, accountability, and innovation leading the way.

Modern website designs: Trends and actionable tips for 2025

Thu, 23 Jan 2025 09:44:13 GMT

When you search for “modern website designs,” you'll definitely find some cool examples. But all those lists have one thing in common: they stop short of delivering the practical, hands-on guidance agency owners really need.

While the phrase “modern website design” might seem straightforward to seasoned web professionals, it's a lot more than just pictures, colors, and buttons on a page. Its nuances profoundly shape user expectations, brand perception, and a site’s long-term viability. In fact, web design is responsible for 94% of a visitor’s first impression of your clients’ businesses.

In today's post, we’ll take a forward-looking approach to 2025’s most important design trends. And we'll give you actionable steps to take so you can confidently integrate them into your agency’s web design process.

Our top 11 website design trends for 2025

1. Maximalist typography

Source: Sundae Creative

They say, "A picture is worth a thousand words." With maximalist typography, where large, layered text is used to make a bold visual statement, the words are part of the picture. In fact, they're the focal point.

Expressive fonts bring out the personality of a brand and convey its message (and they're attention-grabbing).
Layering different fonts within images adds depth to a design, making it more visually interesting.
Bold titles establish a clear visual hierarchy, making the rest of the site’s content easy to scroll.
Best of all, they can actually simplify the web design process (since the text replaces at least some complex images or illustrations).

Keep in mind that if you're going to go this route, you need to use high-contrast colors and font pairings for maximum impact.

Best for: Promotional landing pages, creative websites (e.g., photography, fashion brands), hero images, and specific brand messaging.

Related:

The 10 best fonts for websites

35 essential font generator tools for agencies

2. Playful and interactive websites

Source: Verkada

One of our favorite trends over the last year has been the increasing use of website animations and interactive design elements.

Parallax scrolling, where the background of a website moves slower than the foreground creates a 3D effect.
Interactive menus and buttons that change color or shape when hovered over.
Microinteractions, like small animations or sounds that respond to user actions (e.g., a loading animation, a progress completion bar, a click animation).
Loading animations that include progress, fun facts, or a playful image to entertain users while they wait.

You can use these to make the site experience more engaging, which is especially important in the case of an interactive loading screen. Users will abandon a website that takes longer than three seconds to load, but the issue could be with their WiFi connection or a slow server, not your client’s site. By keeping their site visitors entertained, you can use this to reduce their bounce rate.

For instance, Expedia shows a plane flying through clouds, and updates visitors on what the site is doing in the background (in this case, searching through flights in their database).

Source: Expedia

You can also use them to drive conversions for your clients. See this coffee cup? The animation makes it more fun to click, so more users are likely to do so.

You can also use interactivity to demo a product or help customers get to know it right from the home screen. VR Game Developer Enver Studio uses their home page to show users what it's like to play their popular game, MotoX.

Source: Enver Studio

Best for: Ecommerce websites , entertainment and media sites, creative portfolios, educational websites.

3. White space, negative space, and minimalism

Source: Sonos

"Less is more." Although lots of designers are going maximalist with their text content, there's still a big trend towards minimalism and the use of white space. In fact, that's how they make their maximalist text pop.

White space (or negative space) refers to the empty or unmarked area of a design, and it's as important as the elements on the page. It helps to create balance, contrast, and visual hierarchy. It also reduces cognitive load and makes the important elements on the page stand out.

Minimalism is also a way to reinforce your clients’ branding. If the product already prioritizes sleek design, minimalist packaging, a luxurious feel, and easy-to-use features, reflecting that in the website design is an absolute MUST!

Best for: Brands that exemplify minimalism in their values and aesthetics, such as Apple, Muji, or Zara.

4. Bright, bold, and vibrant colors

Source: Figma

Whether you realize it or not, every color you choose will have a profound impact on how people feel when they visit your clients' websites. Just like grayscale colors can demonstrate sleekness and luxury, bright and bold colors can convey confidence, energy, excitement, and enthusiasm.

Gumroad uses bold, bright colors to make an emotional connection with their visitors. They want to make their brand feel lively and engaging, just like starting an online business should be.

Source: Gumroad

Vibrant colors are also great for grabbing attention and making important elements stand out.

On Neil Patel's homepage, he uses white space to create a clean and minimalist design, but uses his classic bright orange branding to highlight the most important word (revenue) and the CTA button, to draw users' attention toward the free website analysis he's offering.

Source: Neil Patel

Best for: Brands with colorful branding, important UI elements, and a playful or energetic tone.

5. Mobile-first, responsive design

Google's mobile-first indexing requirements mean search engine crawlers will prioritize the mobile version of your clients' website content, rather than the desktop version. And, in January 2024, mobile site visits (excluding tablets) accounted for more than 60% of all web traffic .

This makes responsive design among the most important considerations for modern website design. It guarantees the website can be easily viewed and navigated on any device, from smartphones to tablets and desktop computers.

The mobile version of the site should have:

The hero, main copy, and CTA before scrolling
Bigger font sizes and clickable icons, buttons, and links for touchscreen usage
No horizontal scrolling — text and images should fit within the screen width
Simple, app-like navigation that's suited for touchscreen usage

Duda's website builder puts responsiveness at the forefront. This makes it easy for agency owners to implement and maintain responsive websites, with minimal input on their end.

Best for: ALL websites — this is a basic requirement for modern website design, and all your clients should have a responsive website to ensure optimal user experience and search engine ranking.

6. Hi-res and big images

Source: Zara

All over, we're seeing images take the forefront on websites. High-quality, large images can grab attention and give a visual break to text-heavy pages.

You can use images to:

Showcase a product you want to highlight
Convey a certain type of "vibe" or emotion that aligns with your client’s brand or website
Break up text-heavy pages and make content more digestible

It’s also an integral part of SaaS website design — our current Duda homepage uses a near-full-screen image to show how our site builder functions and give viewers a taste of the features.

The important thing to remember is to not mix text-heavy and image-heavy designs. When the two overlap, it makes the image hard to see and the text hard to read — it's all cluttered together.

Best for: Websites that want to showcase their products or services through visually appealing images, such as eComm stores, real estate sites , portfolios, and photography websites.

7. Personalized images generated by AI

Some brands use AI to generate their images, rather than creating one on their own. There are plenty of tools you can use to instantly generate images for a client’s website, from landscapes and portraits to abstract illustrations. Just enter a prompt and it'll do the heavy lifting for you.

Source: ChatGPT

There are a lot of considerations when using AI-generated images (like licensing and originality), but when done right, the results are astounding. Take Pentagram Agency's recent work (which agency Partner Paula Scher vehemently defended ) on Performance.gov, a U.S. government website.

All these images were created using MidJourney:

Source: FastCompany

You can also use AI image generator tools as a starting point if your team is having a bit of designer's block.

Best for: Websites that need high-quality, original images quickly and easily.

8. Anti-design

Anti-design is a concept where all the elements of a design are intentionally made to be unconventional and visually jarring. It goes against traditional aesthetics and rules, resulting in a unique, attention-grabbing, and, in its own way, beautiful design.

Take Kitchen 154, a restaurant in Madrid. Its website features tons of scribbles and is made to look like it was made in a drawing program. In the upper left corner, you can actually click and add your own illustrations.

Source: Kitchen 154

Or Advisory Board Crystals, a clothing brand from Los Angeles. The opening page of the website features two buttons: a giant padlocked door and a glowing, colorful stone. Neither has any indication what they're supposed to do (and the padlock doesn't even open).

Source: Advisory Board Crystals

What you'll notice about every "anti-design" concept is that they're all completely different. If you're going to go this route for one of your clients, make sure it's aligned with their branding and personality, and no one else's.

Keep in mind that the one design principle you should never sacrifice is usability. Things like navigation clarity, readability, and accessibility should always be kept in mind, no matter how unconventional the design may be. Make the important elements visible and clickable, and don't hide or obscure important information.

Best for: Creative industries, art-based portfolios, and brands with edgy or rebellious identities.

9. Dark mode

"Dark mode" is the mode you switch on your smartphone when you're reading in bed and want to minimize screen glare. But it's also an increasingly popular trend in design for its energy efficiency, eye-friendliness, and ability to enhance certain brand aesthetics.

It involves using a color scheme that is the opposite of traditional light-colored design. Instead of white backgrounds throughout the website, dark mode uses black as the primary background color.

For instance, AI photo generator Lummi uses dark mode on its blog posts:

Source: Lummi

What you have to remember is that dark screens are hard to read when it's bright outside. So, to maximize usaility, you should always display a toggle button that allows users to switch between light and dark modes. And use neutral hues and maintain sufficient contrast for legibility.

Best for: Brands in tech, gaming, consumer electronics, and entertainment industries, as well as brands that want to convey a sleek and modern image.

10. Custom illustrations

There's also been quite a big shift away from generic stock visuals (boooring!) and toward hand-drawn illustrations. The Kitchen 154 example we showed you above is one extreme example, but there are ways to do this while abiding by traditional design principles.

Custom illustrations can add personality, charm, and a unique touch to the brand's visual identity. They're also great for visually communicating complex or abstract concepts.

There are two ways you can go about them:

Hire an artist to create original illustrations from scratch.
Use a tool like Procreate.

Design agency Designjoy uses custom illustrations throughout its single-page website (and has a pack of vectorized illustrations available for free).

Source: Designjoy

Jamm uses playful caricatures of PB&J to lean into their brand name and come off as more personable.

Source: Jamm

Best for: Any client project that needs a touch of whimsy.

11. Sustainable, inclusive, and accessible web design

There are two parts to this.

Sustainability is exactly what it sounds like: reducing the environmental impact of a client's website. It means decreasing the page's load time through simplicity and creating timeless designs that don't require enormous amounts of resources to constantly update.

If your client is in an industry that values eco-friendliness, you can also add elements of sustainability into the design itself, such as using backgrounds that look like recycled materials, adding leaves, or incorporating green colors.

Inclusive design is all about designing for everyone, regardless of their abilities. There are actual guidelines for this (WCAG 2.2, if you're interested , and we've written about the latest updates here ), but the main idea is making sure designs are:

Perceivable: Can users access all the information on your client's site, regardless of their abilities?
Operable: Can they navigate and interact with it easily?
Understanable: Is its content clear and easy to understand for all users?
Robust: Does it work on different devices and assistive technologies?

Best for: ALL websites — accessibility is one of the most important factors for both users and search engines.

Practical example: A Duda template

Here's a restaurant template created with the Duda website builder :

What makes it modern, you ask?

It shows consistency. Throughout the entire site, the fonts, branding, color scheme, and images speak the same language and convey the same message. This creates a cohesive and professional look.
Visuals are high-quality. Every image is high-res, so there won't be any pixelated or blurry images. (Hint: We generated all the photos using MidJourney!)
It incorporates negative space. Notice how there is ample white space between the elements on each section of the scroll? We made sure important details like hours of operation and buttons to reserve a table or view a menu have plenty of room to breathe.
It's responsive. The template is designed to look great on any device, whether it's a desktop, tablet, or smartphone.
It's accessible. The font size is large enough to be easily read by those with visual impairments, and the colors provide a high contrast for easy viewing.
There are just the right amount of interactive elements. Entrance animation, scrolling animation, and hover effects make the site more dynamic and engaging, without being overbearing.
Typography is bold and visible. For titles, value propositions, and important information (e.g., Christmas hours), the words on the page are large and bold enough to naturally guide site visitors’ eyes to them.

Best practices for implementing modern website design

Now...trends are only as good as the concept that they are applied to. And they're only as good as the execution.

And what's the key differentiator when it comes to this?

Functionality. The reason we're seeing these trends is that, in addition to looking nice, they help create a more user-friendly experience that drives conversions, user retention, and operational scalability.

Here are our best practices for truly functional modern website design:

1. Prioritize user-centricity.

Of all the things that can increase a site’s bounce rate, poor usability is probably the most frequent offender. After the first impression, the average time on site across all industries is 54 seconds . You have a window of less than a minute to get everything across, meaning important info has to be readily digestible, menus need to be intuitive to navigate, and the CTA areas should be obvious within each page.

For this to work, you need to incorporate principles of minimalism into every design (give important elements room to breathe!). And you have to use contrasting colors to accentuate what you want users to interact with.

2. Make sure the site loads fast, but don't compromise on design.

Elaborate visuals are heavy on bandwidth and processing power, which can slow down a website’s loading time. Implementing optimization techniques like caching and compressing images is a must if you want to maintain user attention and reduce bounce rates.

That said, you should never sacrifice design for speed. While performance is critical, a visually engaging website that captures the essence of a brand will always be more memorable and impactful.

Start by looking at the website’s Core Web Vitals report (mobile, specifically). According to Russ Jeffrey , Director of Platform Strategy at Duda:

"Mobile page speed is more critical for several reasons. First, it's generally harder to score well for mobile due to the slower internet and less powerful devices. Second, over 50% of web traffic comes from mobile devices. Third, Google uses the mobile version of a website for indexing and ranking."

To monitor this, use Google's PageSpeed Insights as a starting point, and check out our guide to measuring and optimizing website performance for a more comprehensive look.

And to execute it well, use Duda. At an 80% pass rate , we're the Core Web Vitals kings!

3. Adopt scalable and responsive frameworks.

73.1% of users abandon sites because they aren't responsive. To avoid this and make your client’s website accessible across all devices, use a responsive framework like Duda's website builder that will do do the heavy lifting for you.

In addition to making the site appear like it's supposed to on every device, scalable frameworks will enable trends like playful interactivity across platforms.

Before you launch each client's site, test its responsiveness across devices using live browser tools.

4. Balance accessibility with uniqueness and innovation.

Even anti-design principles don't go against the ideas of inclusivity and accessibility . While it's important to stand out, don't eliminate the functional aspects of a good user experience for the sake of "standing out."

We've already created an agency checklist for accessible websites , but we'll go over the basics here:

Understand WCAG's three levels of conformance , and which one applies to your client.
Make sure every site meets the "POUR principles" — Perceivable, Operable, Understandable and Robust.
Don't forget about alternative text for images and multimedia that can be read by screen readers.
Color contrast should be at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text.
Avoid designs that are too flashy or have elements that may trigger seizures.
Use headings and labels properly to ensure easy navigation for users with disabilities.
Make everything keyboard-accessible.

5. Maintain consistent branding across all pages.

Branding is about consistency. If a site visitor heads to a different page and doesn't see any familiar logos or colors, they may think they've been redirected to a completely different site. Or, at the very least, they won't really understand the vibe you're trying to give off. And they won't be able to connect with it.

Make sure all elements of the design — from the hero images to fonts to button styles — are consistent throughout the entire website. This goes for all sites, no matter whether you're implementing bold typography, custom illustrations, or are considering a dark mode aspect to the site.

Ideally, work with your client to develop a style guide that outlines all of the branding elements to be used on the website. This can include logo usage guidelines, color palettes, typography choices, and everything else that drives brand consistency.

6. Optimize the site visuals for search engines.

Design and search visibility go hand-in-hand. High-res images, animations, and vibrant designs should not hurt SEO.

What does this mean? You need to add ALT tags and title attributes to multimedia elements so they can be easily read by search engine crawlers.

Structured data is another key component of optimizing your clients’ site visuals. This code, which is placed on a page to help search engines understand the content better, can be used to improve how images are displayed in search engine results pages (SERPs). Consider using structured data for things like product images or video thumbnails.

7. Structure the content for search engines as well.

Structuring your clients’ content means organizing it in a way that is easy for search engines to understand and index. This includes using headings (H1, H2, H3) to separate sections of content, incorporating keywords naturally throughout the text, and utilizing bullet points or numbered lists when it's appropriate.

You'll also include metadata, such as title tags and meta descriptions, for each page on every client’s website. These are the snippets of information that appear in search engine results pages and can greatly impact click-through rates.

Our AI SEO assistant can auto-generate metadata and alt text , saving your team hours of manual work.

8. Monitor your clients’ sites’ performance analytics.

From a design standpoint, you need to know how a site's performing because you want to validate which design elements actually resonate with users. You can do this through the site's dashboard. And you can access other insights by integrating tools like Google Analytics (for tracking website traffic and user behavior) and Hotjar (for heatmapping and user session recording).

9. Use a CMS to manage your clients’ content.

The right CMS can enable design flexibility. By separating website content from the design, you can easily make updates to the layout and design without affecting the content itself. Ideally, you want one with enough native features that you can minimize your use of plugins — plugin overload hinders maintenance and performance.

Duda's Editor 2.0 streamlines large-scale updates without extra plugins. And it works seamlessly with Duda’s AI Assistant, ecommerce solutions, Site Membership, Site Comments, widgets, and apps, ensuring a comprehensive site-building toolkit.

10. Conduct user tests to gather feedback.

The ultimate way to validate a client's design is by conducting user tests to gather feedback. You can do so through moderated or unmoderated testing and surveys that ask targeted questions (like, “What made you want to click on this page?”). When you have solid data, that’s when you can refine and validate the design decisions you make for your clients.

Final thoughts

While no one knows what the future holds for specific trends in web design, the key is to stay updated and informed about industry changes and user preferences. And most importantly, keep yourself in the know about new website technology, because the two things that'll never be off the trends list are accessibility and functionality. And there will always be new ways to improve both.

A few tools to help you streamline your team's process:

AI-powered design tools
Drag-and-drop site editors
Collaborative design platforms with commenting, co-creating, and versioning
Prototyping tools that allow you to experiment with design iterations without affecting your live site
Wireframing software that lets you sketch out designs before committing to code
Heatmapping and analytics tools that show you where users are clicking and how you can drive conversions

There aren't many site builders that can handle it all, and even fewer that can do it at an agency's scale. Duda can — start a free trial to see it in action.

From freemium to premium: How to upgrade your free users

shawn.davis@duda.co (Shawn Davis) — Tue, 21 Jan 2025 19:56:39 GMT

Free trials have long been a cornerstone of SaaS marketing strategies, offering potential customers a risk-free opportunity to experience the product. Some companies go even further with entirely free tiers available for a limitless amount of time. Unfortunately, actually converting these free users into paying customers isn’t as straightforward as it might seem. Harvard researchers have found that free trial users largely don’t convert and, when they do, they’re not very valuable .

So, how do we overcome this? SaaS companies must deploy thoughtful strategies to engage, educate, and incentivize users to make the leap from free to paid. More so, they need to do it in a way that attracts high-value, great-fit customers. Spoiler alert: that may involve offering free trials to existing users instead of new ones. With that in mind, here are a few actionable ideas to convert free customers into paying ones.

Optimize your onboarding process for quick wins

The onboarding experience sets the tone for a user's trial period. A well-designed onboarding process ensures users understand the product’s value and can achieve meaningful results quickly.

Start with a focus on first impressions. Simplify account setup and provide clear guidance. Don’t leave customers guessing what to do first, or intimidate them with an empty dashboard. Include a welcome email or video to outline key features and next steps.

Another approach is to help users achieve tangible outcomes early in their trial. For instance, if your SaaS tool is a project management platform, guide them to successfully set up their first project. To-do list apps, like Clear , often employ this strategy, by initiating with a curated selection of tasks designed to introduce the user to the app.

Instead of hinting at what to do, you may instead decide to use in-app tutorials or guided tours to highlight essential features and demonstrate how they address user pain points. In-app tool-tips are a great example of this. We use this strategy extensively throughout Duda to highlight useful, related features that users may otherwise have missed.

Segment and personalize the experience

Not all trial users have the same needs or goals. Segmenting users based on their behavior, demographics, or industry can help you tailor the trial experience.

Start by using analytics to identify how users interact with your product. Focus on features they explore most and guide them toward deeper engagement.

As they dive deeper into your platform, try to customize any email campaigns or in-app notifications based on the user's progress and interests. For example, if a user hasn’t completed onboarding, send them helpful resources.

If possible, provide content tailored to different user personas, such as marketers, developers, or managers, emphasizing features most relevant to their roles. This may be an opportunity for your sales team to step in.

Demonstrate value throughout the trial

Trial users must clearly see how your product solves their problems or improves their workflows. Continuously highlight the value of your SaaS offering. There are a lot of proven techniques to accomplish this.

Case studies and success stories are a popular choice. Try sharing stories from similar customers who achieved significant results using your product. Our own success stories page uses a combination of written and visual interviews to demonstrate how users have grown with our platform.

If your product tracks performance, showcase improvements through personalized dashboards or reports. This is a convenient, quantitative way to demonstrate value to customers.

Communicate proactively

Regular communication during the trial period keeps your product top-of-mind and helps users overcome potential hurdles.

Despite what you may have heard, email continues to be an incredibly important tool for marketing teams. A well-designed drip campaign can do wonders for your free trial conversion rates. Websites like Really Good Emails highlight some of the very best nurture campaigns for free trials. Something you’ll see in common amongst most of their examples is that these campaigns are, above everything, helpful. They give trial users gentle guidance and the tools they need to succeed.

For higher value customers, in-person check-ins may be more appropriate than an automated email campaign. Your sales team should reach out during the trial to get a feel for what their prospects are thinking.

Regardless of their potential “value,” you should always be collecting feedback during and after the trial phase. Learnings from this feedback can further improve your communication strategy.

Create a sense of urgency

To motivate users to convert before their trial ends, it’s essential to create a compelling reason to act. Limited-time offers can be effective, such as providing discounts or exclusive features for users who upgrade during their trial.

Additionally, countdown reminders can help, sending timely notifications as the trial period nears its end while emphasizing the benefits of upgrading. Scarcity tactics, such as highlighting limited spots for premium features or live onboarding sessions, can further encourage action.

Making the transition to paid plans as smooth as possible is another key strategy. The easier it is for users to convert, the more likely they’ll follow through. Transparent pricing is critical—clearly communicate your pricing structure and any additional costs before the trial ends.

Offering flexible payment options can also reduce friction, ensuring users have multiple ways to complete their purchase. Lastly, enabling in-app upgrades allows users to seamlessly transition from a trial to a paid plan without unnecessary steps.

Offer must-have upgrades

Not all free customers are on a “free trial.” Some SaaS companies choose to offer free tiers without arbitrary time limits. A hallmark of these tiers is a limited set of features, with the hopes that power users, or “whales,” will upgrade in great enough quantities to support the platform for everyone else. An example of this that you may be familiar with is Notion, who offers a generous free tier that is supported by paying Enterprise-grade accounts.

The clear solution to this, then, is to offer compelling features at higher tiers. That may mean removing usage limits, eliminating advertisements, or providing a greater level of customization.

Another avenue, however, is to offer add-ons outside of your traditional product tiers. A restaurant reservation platform, for example, may offer a free tier that includes a limited number of reservations and a branded widget. For smaller restaurants, this may be plenty! To entice those customers to spend more money on our imaginary reservation platform, we can offer websites with our software built in, or managed payment processing. Those add-ons create value even for small platforms who may not benefit from a higher tier version of the core product.

Measure and iterate

To optimize your trial-to-paid conversion process, it’s crucial to analyze conversion data to identify what’s working and where users drop off. Start by tracking key metrics such as conversion rates, feature usage, and trial-to-paid timelines. This data provides valuable insights into user behavior and highlights areas for improvement.

Implement A/B testing to experiment with different approaches, including onboarding flows, email campaigns, and pricing strategies, to determine which methods drive better results. Additionally, establish customer feedback loops to continuously collect and act on user input. This ongoing feedback allows you to refine your trial process and better align it with user needs and expectations.

Conclusion

Turning free users into paying customers is both an art and a science. By focusing on user experience, personalizing interactions, and showcasing value, SaaS companies can significantly boost their conversion rates. Remember that the trial period is your opportunity to not only demonstrate your product’s capabilities but also build trust and confidence in your brand. With these strategies in place, you’ll be well on your way to growing your customer base and increasing revenue.

What is the “Deep Specialization Maturity Model?”

Fri, 17 Jan 2025 15:58:21 GMT

Have you found yourself, or your agency, stuck in a position of stagnating growth. Are you trapped in a cycle of bad business practices; competing on price, chasing any client you can get, and relying entirely on the founder for sales? According to Corey Quinn , you might be at the bottom of what he calls the Deep Specialization Maturity Model . This model outlines four levels of agency growth, and understanding them is key to breaking free and achieving sustainable success.

The four levels of agency growth

Think of this model as a pyramid; most agencies find themselves at the base but, as you progress higher, you achieve greater market trust, more effective marketing and higher profits. Let's break down each level:

Level 1: The red zone - generalist agencies

Agencies at this level are essentially invisible in the marketplace and often unknown to potential clients.
They are 100% reliant on the founder for referrals through networking and for closing all new deals.
These are generalist agencies that are often stuck because the founder is overextended, helping too many different types of clients.
They often fall below the "fear and ignorance line," believing that focusing on a single vertical will limit their growth potential.

Level 2: The vertical vendor

Agencies at this level claim to specialize in one or multiple verticals but only at the surface level.
They still compete heavily on price, and buyers are often skeptical.
They begin to see the emergence of word-of-mouth opportunities and some structure in their sales process, perhaps even a junior seller.
The key to progressing beyond this level is focusing on a single vertical market.

Level 3: The vertical specialist

Agencies at this level have some market recognition as functional experts, but they still face skepticism and comparison shopping.
They are often indistinguishable from other agencies specializing in the same vertical.
They often acquire expensive leads through paid media to supplement referrals and word-of-mouth.
Their sales systems are often too complex and chaotic.
Agencies at this level may hit the "good enough line" and become complacent.

Level 4: The vertical market maven

Agencies at this level have earned absolute trust and are seen as industry insiders and the safe option.
Clients often comment that these agencies truly understand their business.
They have a full sales pipeline overflowing with opportunities, and their sales process is a core competitive advantage.
Agencies at this level never settle, constantly seeking to improve and become the best in the world.

Breaking free from the trap

The key to moving up the Deep Specialization Maturity Model is to challenge the myth that limiting your target market limits your growth potential. Specializing in a vertical market can actually lead to 50% faster and more sustainable growth. Furthermore, it is critical to push beyond the "good enough line". Remember, "good is the enemy of great". Aim to become a trusted source of reliable results and guidance in your chosen vertical.

What’s your next step

Consider where your agency currently sits in this model. Is it time to take a step to move to the next level? What is the one step you can take this week to elevate your agency? Just like Apple didn't stop at the iPod, good enough is never enough in today's competitive landscape. Your agency's future depends on pushing beyond the comfortable and familiar. Here are a few key takeaways to leave with:

Deep specialization is the key to moving beyond the red zone and generalist agency status.
Focus on a single vertical to make a significant impact and move up the levels.
Don't settle for "good enough." Strive for excellence and constantly push for improvement.
Become a master by being the best in the world in your chosen vertical.

Why your agency should be selling website refreshes

shawn.davis@duda.co (Shawn Davis) — Mon, 13 Jan 2025 14:09:16 GMT

Digital marketing agencies are constantly seeking new ways to provide more value to their clients, while simultaneously developing sustainable revenue streams. One often-overlooked opportunity lies in the websites these agencies have already sold.

To skip to the point, agencies should be selling design refreshes to their clients periodically. This is a service that benefits both the agency and their clients in profound ways. Let’s explore exactly why that is, and why design refreshes deserve a permanent place in your service catalog.

The evolution of consumer expectations

Today's digital landscape evolves at an unprecedented pace. What looked modern and engaging just two years ago might appear dated and uninspiring today. This rapid evolution isn't merely aesthetic – it reflects fundamental shifts in user behavior and expectations. Consider how mobile-first design has transformed from a nice-to-have feature to an absolute necessity, or how the rise of voice search has influenced navigation patterns and content organization.

New, AI-first internet browsers like The Browser Company’s “Dia” project, currently in development, hint at even greater transformations for web designs down the road.

The business case for regular refreshes

Website refreshes aren't just about keeping up with design trends – they're about maintaining competitive advantage. Research shows that 94% of first impressions are design-related , and 75% of users judge a company's credibility based on their website's design. When a website begins to show its age, it doesn't just look outdated – it actively erodes trust and diminishes conversion rates.

Think of website design like retail store maintenance. Just as brick-and-mortar stores regularly update their layouts, lighting, and displays to remain attractive and functional, websites need periodic rejuvenation to stay effective. This isn't about change for change's sake – it's about maintaining optimal performance in a dynamic digital marketplace.

The technical imperative

Beyond aesthetics, regular website refreshes provide crucial technical benefits. Each refresh presents an opportunity to:

Implement performance optimizations that improve loading speeds and user experience
Update security measures to protect against evolving cyber threats
Ensure compatibility with the latest browsers and devices
Incorporate new technologies that can enhance functionality and user engagement

These technical improvements directly impact key performance metrics like bounce rates, time on site, and conversion rates – metrics that directly affect your clients' bottom line.

Some platforms, like Duda, do handle infrastructure in a centralized way—meaning there’s no need to worry about security or performance optimizations. Those happen automatically. However, even platforms like that evolve. We continue to release new widgets, for instance, that could enhance the performance and/or appearance of your client’s sites.

Create a predictable revenue stream

From an agency perspective, website refreshes offer an excellent opportunity to create predictable, recurring revenue. Instead of relying solely on new client acquisition or project-based work, you can build a stable foundation of scheduled refreshes that provide consistent income throughout the year.

This approach also deepens client relationships. Regular refreshes require ongoing communication and strategy discussions, positioning your agency as a long-term partner rather than a one-time vendor. This enhanced relationship often leads to additional service opportunities and stronger client retention.

A compelling ROI for clients

When presenting website refreshes to clients, focus on the return on investment. A well-executed refresh can:

Increase conversion rates by aligning with current user expectations
Improve search engine rankings through better technical performance
Reduce bounce rates by providing a more engaging user experience
Strengthen brand perception through modern, professional design
Generate renewed interest from existing customers
Provide opportunities for improved functionality and features

By quantifying these benefits and tracking improvements after each refresh, you can build a compelling case for making website updates a regular part of your clients' digital strategy.

Some agencies may stick their nose up at the second point, that a design refresh can improve search performance. However, it’s worth taking a look back at how aggressive Google’s Core updates have been in recent years. In the rapidly transforming search landscape we currently operate within, sometimes the best thing you can do for your clients is to totally overhaul their site. After all, Google themselves claims to want the freshest , highest quality content possible.

Structuring your service

Consider offering website refreshes as part of a tiered service model. This might include:

Annual comprehensive redesigns that address major structural and strategic changes
Quarterly updates focusing on specific sections or features
Monthly maintenance that includes minor design tweaks and content updates

This tiered approach allows clients to choose a level of service that matches their needs and budget while providing your agency with various entry points for the service.

If you’re already charging for maintenance, this will fit right into your pricing scheme. Consider an entirely different industry for a moment; gyms. Planet Fitness sells their product via a monthly subscription and an annual “maintenance fee.” Translating that to the web, that would be a monthly hosting fee and an occasional maintenance fee.

Implementation best practices

To successfully integrate website refreshes into your service offerings, consider these key practices:

Develop a systematic approach to evaluating websites and identifying improvement opportunities. This might include regular audits of user behavior, performance metrics, and competitive analysis.

Create a clear process for gathering client feedback and incorporating it into the refresh strategy. This ensures that updates align with business objectives and maintain brand consistency.

Build a portfolio of successful refreshes that demonstrate concrete improvements in key metrics. This evidence-based approach makes it easier to sell the service to new and existing clients.

Maintain detailed documentation of each refresh, including the rationale behind changes and their impact on business outcomes. This creates a valuable resource for future updates and helps justify the ongoing investment.

Looking forward

As digital technology continues to evolve, the importance of regular website updates will only increase. New technologies like artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and advanced personalization are already changing how users interact with websites. Regular refreshes ensure your clients stay ahead of these trends and maintain their competitive edge.

The key to success lies in positioning website refreshes not as an optional expense but as a crucial investment in digital presence and business growth. By demonstrating the clear connection between regular updates and business performance, you can make website refreshes an integral part of your agency's service offering and your clients' digital strategy.

Remember, in the digital world, standing still means falling behind. By offering regular website refreshes, you're not just selling a service – you're providing your clients with a pathway to sustained digital success while building a more stable and profitable agency business model.

Duda among the 100 best startups and tech companies to work for in the U.S.

Wed, 08 Jan 2025 18:58:10 GMT

Built In today announced that Duda , the leading white label website building platform for agencies and web professionals serving small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), was honored in its 2025 Best Places To Work Awards. Duda earned a place on the following lists:

The annual awards program includes companies of all sizes, from startups to those in the enterprise, and honors both remote-first employers as well as companies in large tech markets across the U.S.

“We're thrilled to be named one of the best places to work in the U.S. by Built In,” says Itai Sadan, co-founder and CEO of Duda. “By promoting company values such as openness, care and growth, and providing employees with opportunities to work on cutting-edge innovation, including AI for digital web presence generation, we cultivate a strong work culture and environment where employees feel constantly challenged, inspired, and able to grow their careers."

Built In determines the winners of Best Places to Work based on an algorithm, using company data about compensation and benefits. To reflect the benefits candidates are searching for more frequently on Built In, the program also weighs criteria like remote and flexible work opportunities, programs for DEI and other people-first cultural offerings.

As a global company with teams in the U.S., Israel, Canada, UK, Brazil, and the Philippines, Duda strives to provide an encouraging, collaborative, and fulfilling culture for all team members. Employees thrive in a hybrid environment that combines remote and on-site work and promotes connection, teamwork, and personal growth. “At Duda, our team members are empowered to make a meaningful impact by working closely with customers, solving complex challenges, and driving innovation. This meaningful work, coupled with our commitment to career development, enables our people to excel while maintaining a healthy work-life balance and overall wellbeing,” says Steven Carroll, VP of People & Talent at Duda.

“Being recognized as a Best Place to Work is a testament to these companies' commitment to building a workplace where individuals and innovation thrive," says Built In CEO and Founder, Maria Christopoulos Katris. “At Built In, we understand that great companies are powered by great teams, and this achievement showcases their dedication to fostering a culture of growth, inclusivity, and excellence. Congratulations on this well-deserved honor.”

About Duda

Duda is a leading white label web building platform for digital agencies, SaaS platforms, and web professionals offering web design services to SMBs. From its industry-leading AI Assistant to advanced API-driven automation workflows, Duda offers web professionals a comprehensive suite of tools to build pixel-perfect, feature-rich websites efficiently and at scale–all on a flexible platform that can be fully customized to match their go-to-market strategy and ideal customer experience. As the top platform for Core Web Vitals, a critical metric for SEO performance, Duda makes it easy for web professionals to deliver a superior digital presence and outstanding performance to their customers under their own brand. More than 20,000 organizations have trusted Duda to build 1 million active websites. For more information, visit www.duda.co .

About Built In

About Built In’s Best Places to Work

The future of content marketing and SEO: 10 predictions for 2025

Tue, 07 Jan 2025 11:11:40 GMT

After almost 15 years of working in content and SEO, I’ve seen a lot of trends come and go. But no matter what the fad of the day was, the one thing that’s always been true—the thing that actually worked—was creating great content that genuinely helped people.

Early in my career, my boss handed me a little blue hardcover with a simple illustration of a wrench and the word Youtility across the front.

It was Jay Baer ’s 2013 New York Times best seller, and my first assignment as a newly-minted Content Marketing Manager was to read it cover to cover.

It was a career-defining moment–and it’s hard to believe it was more than a decade ago.

Baer’s argument that smart marketing is about help, not hype quickly became one of my own personal mantras.

The best part is it worked!

When my team and I prioritized providing real value, the results spoke for themselves.

Audience trust grew, engagement went up, and high-quality traffic and leads followed naturally.

In 2025, this principle will be more important than ever, especially with the rise of zero-click searches and a flood of undifferentiated content being churned out with AI.

Algorithms are constantly evolving, but the brands that truly succeed will be the ones that prioritize their audience’s needs over flashy tactics.

Keep reading for my top 10 predictions for where SEO and content are headed next and what to do about it, whether you’re an in-house marketer or an agency helping your clients navigate what’s to come…

1. Prediction: Algorithms will change quickly, and short-term tactics won’t keep up

Search algorithms will continue their furious rate of change. And make no mistake, chasing their every whim will be futile.

Now is the time to get back to the fundamentals and refocus on your audience.

Is your content written primarily to rank for a keyword? Start over. Write something your audience will read.

Are you posting on Reddit just to get your content to rank in Google results? Figure out if that’s where your audience is actually spending their time, then decide if it’s the right channel.

What to do

Prioritize content and channels based on where your audience spends their time. Be brutally honest—does your strategy align with your audience’s true needs and behaviors?

Bottom line

Stop chasing the algorithm. Start building genuine human connections.

Not sure where to start?

Try Sparktoro ’s audience research tool to understand where your or client’s customers spend time online.

2. Prediction: Hyper-personalized content will be achievable for all brands and budgets

In 2025, your audience expects deeply personalized experiences. They don’t want messaging and content rife with generic claims and crammed with every feature you offer.

They want to understand what you can do for them–specifically–and they won’t waste time trying to figure it out for themselves.

Today, AI-powered tools make it easier for brands of all sizes to deliver tailored content and interactions focused on each customer’s unique challenges and priorities.

What to do
Get granular with audience segmentation. Create content mapped to their unique pains and journey, and use AI and dynamic content to create 1-to-1 campaigns at scale.

Bottom line
Deep personalization is no longer optional—it’s expected.

Not sure where to start?
Start with one high-impact channel, like personalized email campaigns or landing pages, and iterate from there.

3. Prediction: Short-form content will drive big engagement

Short-form content like bite-sized videos, carousel posts, and memes will be key to capturing your audience’s attention across platforms and making your brand memorable.

But leave the click-bait in 2024. Focus on creating short-form content that delivers value directly within the feed.

What to do
Repurpose longer content into short formats optimized for platforms like TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, or YouTube Shorts. Keep your message concise and visually captivating.

Bottom line
Master the art of saying more with less to capture your audience in seconds.

Not sure where to start?
Use a tool like Canva to transform blog posts into engaging carousel slides or short videos.

4. Prediction: Communities will be the new followers

I expect that savvy brands will shift away from focusing on large social followings and instead prioritize smaller, highly-focused, and deeply-engaged communities.

Building relationships in niche groups–and sharing valuable insights within those groups–will create more meaningful connections and foster brand loyalty.

What to do

Find where your audience is already engaging and meet them there. You can also create your own community through discussion forums, private social groups, or exclusive events.

Bottom line

Prioritize genuine engagement over vanity metrics.

Not sure where to start?

Contribute to existing communities where your customers are already active.

5. Prediction: Content teams will need to think like journalists

People connect with stories and people, not products and faceless brands. Brands that share authentic stories and showcase the human side behind their products will create emotional connections that stand out.

What to do

So say goodbye to me-too content, and make storytelling a central pillar of your content strategy. Take a page from PR: ask better questions, uncover untapped stories, and always have a point of view.

Bottom line

Stories make your brand unforgettable.

Not sure where to start?

Look at your customer testimonials to identify themes and storylines.

6. Prediction: Business leaders will be powerful influencers

Audiences today are skeptical of overly-polished, corporate messaging and paid sponsorships that don’t feel genuine. They crave transparency and insights from real people’s lived experiences. Brands that stay true to their values and lean into their business leaders’ stories will build lasting trust.

What to do

Share a behind-the-scenes look at your founder’s journey, and don’t shy away from mistakes: how did you build your business, how did you learn and grow from failures, what are you still learning?

Bottom line

People connect with people, not businesses.

Not sure where to start?

If you're an agency founder or business leader, start posting regularly on your personal LinkedIn account.

7. Prediction: Measurement and attribution will become more challenging

As privacy regulations tighten, third-party data becomes less reliable, and fewer searches result in a click, tracking customer journeys with precision will become more difficult. Traditional measurement and attribution models that rely on cookies and clicks will struggle to provide the full picture.

What to do

Shift your focus to gathering and analyzing first-party data wherever possible. Use surveys, customer feedback, and direct interactions to fill in data gaps while respecting privacy.

Bottom line

Build a holistic understanding of your audience by going straight to the source. Get creative and focus on what you can measure, while being mindful of the limitations.

Not sure where to start?

Stay focused on business outcomes, not vanity metrics.

8. Prediction: Zero-click searches will make brand-building a key SEO investment

According to a June 2024 study by Sparktoro and Datos , 60% of searches now result in zero clicks. And as zero-click searches grow, more people are finding answers to their top-of-funnel questions directly on search results pages instead of clicking through to websites. This means your TOFU content might not get the traffic it once did.

Instead, customers are engaging with your brand across a wide variety of platforms–from social media platforms like LinkedIn to private Slack groups and substacks to traditional media outlets.

Be where they are, and give them a reason to search for you when they’re getting ready to buy.

What to do

Build a strong, recognizable brand that stands out wherever your audience finds you. Then make sure you’re creating platform-native content that adds unique value without requiring a click. The branded searches (and clicks) will follow.

Bottom line

Customers meet your brand long before they visit your website. Make every touchpoint count.

Not sure where to start?

Nail down your brand identity and core messaging pillars. Make sure everyone on your team knows it inside and out.

9. Prediction: Brands that use AI to scale production, while maintaining a human connection, will stand out from the noise

AI has already changed marketing forever. What marketer can remember a life before ChatGPT? But it’s important to use it wisely. Brands that effectively balance the power of AI to scale their operations without losing that genuine human connection will be the ultimate winners.

What to do

Use AI to handle repetitive tasks like metadata generation, drafting, and editing, but always ensure your messaging remains authentic and human.

Bottom line

AI Assistants can speed things up, but can’t replace the emotional connection humans crave.

Not sure where to start?

Use AI to generate draft copy quickly, then refine and infuse your unique voice before sharing.

10. Prediction: Websites will remain the primary source of truth and conversion driver for brands

While maintaining a presence across multiple platforms is important, your website remains the most powerful asset for creating a positive brand experience and driving conversions. It also remains an important source of truth for your brand.

Building websites with well-structured data and high-quality content will be key to being found in traditional search engines like Google and Bing, as well as AI search engines like SearchGPT and Perplexity .

Once visitors land on your site, crystal clear messaging and a great user experience will help drive them to convert.

What to do

Ensure your website is fast, well-structured, and reflects your brand accurately. Focus on creating a seamless user experience that encourages conversions.

Bottom line

Your website is your ultimate brand asset and conversion engine. Make sure it’s done right!

Not sure where to start?

Choose a web building platform that prioritizes performance and ease-of-use to build high-performing websites.

In 2025, be human and play the long game

As we move into 2025, the marketing landscape will continue to evolve. To succeed, brands need to prioritize authenticity, build genuine connections, and embrace technologies that enhance personalization and efficiency.

Focus on long-term strategies that foster trust, engagement, and brand loyalty, and you’ll build a foundation strong enough to weather anything—even an SEO zombie apocalypse! ��

Want to hear more insights? Join me and 7 other leaders on January 23 for 5 Hours of SEO and Content Strategy for 2025.

Turning 404 pages into lead-generating goldmines: Strategies for web design agencies

Thu, 02 Jan 2025 14:12:00 GMT

When users land on a 404 page, it might seem like a failure—a lost connection between the website and its visitor. For your clients, this can be a frustrating moment that risks damaging their brand's credibility. However, as a web design agency, you know every pixel counts, and even a 404 page can be transformed from a failure into an opportunity.

A well-designed 404 page can do more than just say, “Oops, something went wrong.” It can showcase your client’s brand personality, guide users back to the right path, or even turn a lost visitor into a loyal customer. By approaching these pages strategically, you can enhance your service offering and prove to clients that even their “error pages” are thoughtfully designed to delight and engage.

In this blog, we’ll explore how you, as a web design agency, can turn 404 pages into a secret weapon for your clients, offering both functionality and style while driving results.

What is a 404 page?

I just had to explain this industry term before diving in, however obvious it may be. As web professionals, we’re all familiar with 404 pages—but so that we’re all aligned - these are error pages that appear when a user tries to access a non-existent or broken link on a website, a standard part of the web experience (although I wish it weren’t).

The most common common scenarios are:

Mistyped URLs: A simple typo in the URL can send users to a non-existent page.
Broken links: Clicking on a link that points to a page that no longer exists or has been moved without a proper redirect.
Outdated content: Following outdated links from search engines, social media, or external websites that no longer lead to valid pages.
Moved or deleted pages: Pages that have been relocated or removed without proper redirects in place, causing users to hit a dead end.

Now that we’re all on the same page about what a 404 page is, let’s dive into the good part: how to turn it into a winner that actually converts.

404 pages: Make an impression

Before we get to the various tactics and components, let’s reflect for a second on user expectations. Once landing on a 404 page, the user’s default response is typically to hit the back button or leave the site altogether. It’s an instinctive move to retreat from a dead end. However, by designing an engaging 404 page, you can surprise them into doing something unexpected. Instead of just hitting "back," a well-crafted 404 page can encourage users to stay and explore other parts of the site, whether it's through a helpful call-to-action, search functionality, or links to relevant content. This shift from passive frustration to active engagement can help prevent bounce rates and keep users on the path to conversion.

Funny, and other types of 404 pages

If you can be funny and original, by all means, do that. A little humor goes a long way in turning a frustrating or indifferent moment into something memorable. A clever or witty 404 page can immediately lighten the mood and make the user feel like they’re interacting with a brand that doesn’t take itself too seriously. This approach works especially well for brands with a playful, casual tone. Puns, funny images, or quirky copy can help users remember the brand in a positive way and encourage them to stick around.

That said, humor isn’t the only route. Depending on the brand and its audience, you might opt for a different tone. The web is filled with examples of types of 404 pages, among which you might consider:

Minimalist 404 pages: Clean, simple designs that focus on functionality over flair. These pages usually have a straightforward message like "Page not found" along with navigation links or a search bar.
Interactive 404 pages: Some brands go the extra mile by making the 404 page interactive—offering users games, quizzes, or other playful elements that engage them rather than frustrate them.
Helpful 404 pages: These pages provide a useful, supportive tone, offering clear paths back to relevant content. They may include search bars, suggested pages, or contact info to help users get back on track quickly.
Visually striking 404 pages: Sometimes, a bold design can speak volumes. These 404 pages use vibrant graphics, animations, or large visuals to catch attention while gently guiding users back to the correct content.

Whatever direction you choose, ensure the 404 page reflects the brand’s identity.

Turn your client’s 404 page into a lead capture machine

It’s easier than you think.

All it takes is a little thought and effort. Many of us overlook 404 pages, but if you put just half the effort you invest in your client's landing pages into their 404 pages, you'll be on the right track. The components we’ll discuss are quite intuitive, and you’ll likely have those “why didn’t I think of that?” moments along the way.

So here are some helpful ways to transform 404 pages:

Include a clear CTA
Encourage visitors to take the next step with a strong CTA, like exploring popular products or scheduling a consultation. Many 404 pages miss this opportunity, but a well-placed CTA can drive engagement even from frustrated users. For service-based businesses, and only if it make sense capacity-wise, it might be a good idea to put their contact details - you’ll be amazed how many customers will want to pick up the phone at that stage.

Mailchimp's 404 page is minimalistic and effective. It combines witty copy with a clear call-to-action button that encourages visitors to return to the homepage or explore its features.

Add search functionality
Include a search bar to help users find what they’re looking for quickly. This simple tool can keep them engaged with the site and prevent them from leaving due to frustration.
Add a chatbot
Add a chatbot to guide visitors back on track. It can answer questions, provide product recommendations, or even help users find the page they were originally looking for.
Highlight relevant content
Link to popular services, or products, for example, to give users valuable alternatives. This not only helps keep visitors on the site but also directs them to high-performing content.
Consider interactive elements
Add fun animations to keep users engaged. Interactive features can entertain visitors and encourage them to stay longer.

Spotify uses animated visuals on their 404 page to engage users. The animations are quirky and fun, which helps to distract from the frustration of hitting a dead-end page.

Show user reviews
Displaying positive customer reviews on the 404 page can build trust and encourage users to stay. This subtle social proof can reassure visitors that they’re on the right website.
Use exit intent popups
Implement exit-intent popups offering discounts or valuable content to users about to leave. These can capture potential leads and reduce the chances of visitors abandoning the site after landing on a 404 page.

Or you can just turn your 404 page into a landing page

Why not go all-in and turn your 404 page into a mini landing page? You've already invested in graphics, so why not add a form and transform a lost opportunity into a potential lead or sale? Just be sure not to make it too cluttered—simplicity and clarity still apply.

Maximize every page, even the mistakes

As a web design agency, 404 pages are your chance to shine by showing your clients that no page is too small to make an impact.

Created an awesome 404 page? Do share in our community !

Why your agency’s website builder should double as an SEO tool

Mon, 30 Dec 2024 15:25:31 GMT

There is a centuries-old philosophical question: 'If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?’ In today’s digital world, the modern equivalent might be: “If you build a website and it doesn’t rank on Google, is it actually on the internet?”

This question highlights why the global SEO market reached $68.27 billion in 2022, according to Emergen Research, with no signs of slowing down. With the ever-growing number of tools promising to boost rankings and drive traffic, agencies have access to powerful features like keyword research, competitor analysis, and rank tracking through third-party SEO platforms.

Third-party tools excel at tasks such as:

Discovering which search terms, keywords, and topics a business can rank for, using platforms like SEMrush or Ahrefs.
Creating content targeted at these terms
Monitoring rankings and iterating strategies through rank tracking and platforms like Google Search Console.

These are robust capabilities, but they rest on one crucial foundation: the website itself.

The case for built-in SEO

Modern website builders increasingly include built-in SEO features, providing agencies with the tools to manage optimization without leaving the platform. This is especially relevant for self-service platforms, where users need intuitive tools to manage optimization directly within the website builder. However, not all website builders are created equal. Some offer only basic features, leaving a gap in depth and support that agencies need to ensure long-term performance.

This is where Duda steps in.

How Duda doubles as an SEO tool

Duda doesn’t just help you build stunning websites; it equips agencies with integrated tools to build, monitor, and optimize sites for SMB clients. Duda prioritizes built-in SEO alerts, and seamlessly integrates optimization processes into the design workflow.

With Duda, SEO isn’t a separate task—it’s part of the website-building process. Here’s what that means:

1. Effective optimization

Duda provides built-in tools to identify key SEO elements like metadata, indexing settings, and broken links during the design process. By catching these issues before publishing, Duda helps ensure that every site is optimized to perform well in search rankings from the outset.

2. Streamlined workflow for time savings

Integrated SEO features simplify the optimization process by keeping everything within the same platform. Duda’s AI SEO assistant , for instance, generates metadata and alt text instantly based on page content. This integration keeps your workflow efficient, eliminating the need for extra steps or external solutions.

3. Proactive error prevention

Duda’s tools detect potential SEO errors during the site-building process, ensuring they’re resolved before launch. This proactive approach prevents avoidable issues from affecting site performance or damaging client trust, as every page is ready for search engines the moment it goes live.

4. Lower costs

With Duda, essential SEO tools are part of the platform, allowing agencies to manage optimization for SMB clients without additional expenses. This bundled approach helps agencies allocate resources more effectively while maintaining high-quality results.

So, what SEO alerts does Duda include?

Duda monitors several critical SEO elements and alerts you when issues arise:

Missing meta tags - You will be notified when important meta tags are absent from your pages as they're crucial for search engine understanding of your content.
Meta tags too long - Alerts when your meta descriptions or titles exceed recommended character limits, which could lead to truncation in search results.
Missing alt text - Notifications for images lacking alternative text descriptions, which are essential for accessibility and SEO.
Alt text too long - Warnings when image alt text becomes too lengthy and needs optimization.
Google My Business profile not connected - Alerts if the Google My Business profile isn't properly linked to the website.
Schema not enabled - Notifications about missing schema markup, which helps search engines better understand the content.
What pages are indexed - Alerts about which pages are currently indexed by search engines and which aren't.
Open Graph is missing - Warnings when Open Graph tags are absent, affecting how the content appears when shared on social media.
Favicon is missing - Alerts about missing favicon, which contributes to the site's professional appearance and branding.
Broken links - Notifications about any broken links to your site that need to be fixed.

Having these alerts built into your website builder helps maintain good SEO health and ensures you're alerted to issues before they significantly impact your client’s search engine rankings. The key is to have a system that not only identifies these issues but also provides clear guidance on how to resolve them.

And of course, the infrastructure itself needs to be SEO-optimized!

Duda’s SEO-optimized infrastructure

Duda’s infrastructure is designed with SEO at its core, ensuring that every website built on the platform is primed for search engine visibility and performance. From fast loading speeds to mobile-friendly, Duda provides an environment that enhances SEO across the board. Here’s how:

Built for speed : Duda’s infrastructure prioritizes page load times, ensuring that websites load quickly and perform optimally. Faster sites are favored by search engines, helping you achieve better rankings.
Mobile optimization : With mobile-first indexing becoming the norm, Duda’s websites are responsive, ensuring they look great on all devices. This mobile optimization plays a crucial role in SEO, as Google ranks mobile-friendly sites higher in search results.
Structured data and schema markup : Duda allows you to easily implement structured data, providing search engines with more detailed information about your content. This can result in rich snippets in search results, enhancing visibility and CTR.
Core Web Vitals optimization : Duda’s infrastructure is optimized for Google’s Core Web Vitals, ensuring that websites meet the performance benchmarks that influence rankings. This includes metrics like loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability, all of which contribute to a positive user experience. Moreover, Duda has become the first CMS to achieve an impressive 80% Core Web Vitals (CWV) pass rate.
HTTPS and security : Duda automatically provides SSL certificates for secure HTTPS connections. Security is a ranking factor, and Duda ensures that every site is protected from the start, giving search engines confidence in the website’s safety.

Click here to learn more about Duda’s complete SEO toolkit .

Third-party SEO tools: Still valuable

While Duda provides an all-in-one solution for building and managing sites, including site optimization for SEO, third-party tools remain valuable for advanced strategies like competitor research and keyword-driven content creation. Platforms like SEMrush, Ahrefs, or Moz excel at delivering granular insights, making them essential for agencies running advanced SEO strategies at scale.

Final note

Let’s be clear: Website builders do not replace traditional SEO tools for most use cases. These tools, like SEMrush, Ahrefs, and others, play a critical role in advanced SEO strategies, offering in-depth analysis, competitor research, and rank tracking that go far beyond what any website builder provides. In fact, Duda itself relies on these tools, demonstrating their importance in crafting a comprehensive SEO strategy.

However, when it comes to building and managing websites for SMB clients, agencies often need a more direct, streamlined approach to site optimization. This is where Duda excels—by integrating essential optimization features directly into the website creation process. With built-in tools for monitoring and enhancing SEO, Duda allows agencies to efficiently deliver results while staying focused on what matters most in the web design context: creating high-performing websites that drive value for their clients.

Good support is the key to a great SaaS partnership

shawn.davis@duda.co (Shawn Davis) — Tue, 24 Dec 2024 00:59:56 GMT

In the dynamic and rapidly evolving landscape of Software as a Service (SaaS), partnerships have become an increasingly vital strategy for growth, innovation, and market penetration. When two SaaS companies join forces, they often aim to create a synergistic relationship, leveraging each other's strengths to offer more comprehensive solutions and reach wider audiences. However, the success of such a partnership hinges on numerous factors, and often overlooked yet fundamentally crucial among them is the quality and effectiveness of customer support. Good support isn't merely a reactive function; it's the bedrock upon which a strong and enduring SaaS partnership is built.

Consider the intricate dance that unfolds when two distinct SaaS platforms integrate their services. Users, accustomed to the functionalities and support systems of their primary platform, now encounter a combined offering. This introduces a layer of complexity, where issues might arise not just within one system but at the intersection of both. When a user experiences a problem, they don't necessarily discern where the fault lies – they simply encounter a disruption in their workflow. This is where the quality of customer support becomes paramount.

Imagine a scenario where a marketing automation platform partners with a CRM system. A user attempting to synchronize lead data between the two platforms encounters an error. Frustration mounts as they struggle to identify the source of the problem. If the support teams of both companies operate in silos, pointing fingers or lacking a comprehensive understanding of the integrated system, the user experience deteriorates rapidly. This negative experience doesn't just reflect poorly on one company; it tarnishes the reputation of the entire partnership. Conversely, if both support teams are well-informed, collaborative, and empowered to address issues that span both platforms, the user feels supported and valued, strengthening their trust in the combined offering.

The importance of good support extends beyond simply resolving technical glitches. It encompasses the entire customer journey, from initial onboarding and training to ongoing assistance and proactive communication. In a SaaS partnership, this journey becomes intertwined. Users need clear and concise guidance on how to utilize the integrated features, and this often requires collaboration between the support teams of both partners. Jointly developed knowledge bases, cross-trained support agents, and streamlined escalation processes can significantly enhance the user experience. When users feel that both companies are invested in their success and provide seamless support, the perceived value of the partnership increases exponentially.

Furthermore, effective customer support plays a critical role in fostering trust and transparency between the two partnering SaaS companies. When support teams communicate openly and efficiently, sharing insights into user issues and feedback, it creates a stronger sense of collaboration at all levels of the partnership. This shared understanding can inform product development roadmaps, identify areas for improvement in the integration, and ultimately lead to a more robust and user-centric combined offering. Conversely, a lack of communication or a siloed approach to support can breed mistrust and hinder the partnership's potential.

Think about the impact of a poorly handled support interaction. A frustrated user might not only churn from the combined service but also develop a negative perception of both individual platforms. In the interconnected world of online reviews and social media, such negative experiences can spread rapidly, damaging the reputation and hindering the growth prospects of both companies. On the other hand, a positive support experience can turn a potentially negative situation into an opportunity to build customer loyalty and advocacy. When users feel heard, understood, and efficiently helped, they are more likely to remain customers and even recommend the integrated solution to others.

The proactive aspect of good support is particularly crucial in a SaaS partnership. This involves anticipating potential issues, providing clear documentation and tutorials, and offering proactive guidance on best practices for utilizing the integrated features. Regular communication about updates, maintenance schedules, and potential disruptions is also essential for managing user expectations and minimizing frustration. When both support teams work together to provide this proactive support, it demonstrates a commitment to the user's success and strengthens the overall value proposition of the partnership.

Moreover, good support can serve as a valuable feedback loop for both SaaS companies. Support interactions often reveal pain points, usability issues, and feature requests that might not surface through other channels. By actively listening to users and sharing these insights with their respective product and development teams, both partners can continuously improve their individual platforms and the integration itself. This iterative process, fueled by customer feedback gleaned through support interactions, ensures that the partnership remains aligned with user needs and market demands.

Consider the scenario where a data analytics platform partners with an e-commerce platform. Users might struggle with understanding how to effectively leverage the integrated data to optimize their online sales. A well-trained and collaborative support team can provide guidance on interpreting the data, setting up relevant reports, and implementing actionable strategies. This level of support not only helps users achieve their goals but also showcases the power and value of the integrated solution, solidifying the partnership's success.

Investing in robust customer support for a SaaS partnership is not merely a cost center; it's a strategic investment that yields significant returns. It enhances customer satisfaction, reduces churn, fosters loyalty, and generates valuable feedback for product development. Furthermore, it strengthens the bond between the two partnering companies, fostering a culture of collaboration and shared success. When both partners prioritize and invest in providing exceptional support for their integrated offering, they create a powerful competitive advantage in the market.

The alignment of support philosophies and processes between the two partnering companies is also critical. If one company prides itself on rapid response times and personalized support, while the other has a more transactional approach, it can create inconsistencies in the user experience and undermine the perceived value of the partnership. Establishing clear service level agreements (SLAs), defining joint support protocols, and ensuring that both teams are aligned on their commitment to customer success are essential for a seamless and positive user experience.

In conclusion, good customer support is not just a component of a successful SaaS partnership; it is the very foundation upon which such a partnership thrives. It bridges the gap between two distinct platforms, guides users through the complexities of integration, resolves issues efficiently, and fosters trust and loyalty. By prioritizing collaboration, communication, and a shared commitment to customer success within their support organizations, partnering SaaS companies can unlock the full potential of their alliance, delivering exceptional value to their users and achieving sustainable growth in the competitive SaaS landscape. The key to a truly great SaaS partnership lies not just in the synergy of the technologies but in the unwavering commitment to providing exceptional support every step of the way.