How Job Crafting Can Make Your Job More Meaningful

Welcome to The Science Behind Success-- a new blog series that explores the best ways to help our brains perform better at work. With psychological research and interviews with leaders in the field, we're showing you how psychology can help you overcome workplace obstacles and excel in your career. Because a little mindset change could go a long way.

Writer Annie Dillard once said, “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”

Most of us will spend a huge portion of our days, and thus our lives, at work -- in fact, the average American spends 90,000 hours at work over their lifetime.

And yet, so many of us aren't passionate about our jobs. A Gallup poll found only 15% of the world's full-time employees are engaged at work.

 We recognize this lack of career enjoyment all around us -- in the cousin who complains over Thanksgiving break about his boring work environment, or in the friend who has been seeking out new jobs for the past year but still says, "What's the point? No one really likes to work, do they?"

Ultimately, we can all agree on the importance of enjoying our work. Doing something you don't like every day can be both exhausting and demoralizing. But finding a new job can seem equally frustrating, and sometimes even impossible.

Fortunately, there's an alternative solution to finding meaning and passion in your current role. Amy Wrzesniewski, professor of organizational behavior at the Yale School of Management, has conducted research on something she calls "Job crafting". Here, we'll explore how you can use her research to start enjoying your job more, immediately.

Job Crafting -- Reimagining Your Job to Find Purpose

A few years ago, Amy Wrzesniewski interviewed the cleaning staff at a hospital and noticed something interesting -- even though all 28 members of the staff were doing relatively the same job, they each described it differently. And the way they described it (or "crafted it"), made a significant difference as to whether they enjoyed it.

For instance, the first group, when asked about their work, said they didn't like their jobs, that they didn't feel particularly satisfied, and that the skill-level required of the role was low. Then, when asked to describe the tasks of the work involved, they described exactly what the job description listed.

By comparison, the second group Amy spoke with found the job both meaningful and rewarding, and felt the work required a high skill-level.

So, what was it about this second group -- were they naturally happier? Were they willing to settle for less?

Actually, the answer is neither.

When Amy asked the second group to describe the tasks of the work involved, this group altered and stretched the boundaries of their job description to include additional tasks, like interacting with patients and visitors.

For instance, one cleaner regularly changed the pictures on the walls in each of the patients' rooms on a long-term rehabilitation floor where patients were unconscious or comatose, believing the change of atmosphere could potentially help revive the patients.

Another cleaner liked to double back after her shift to speak with patients who hadn't had visitors, or looked particularly lonely.

Additionally, many of the cleaners in the second group gave themselves different job titles. When asked what they did, they'd say "I'm an ambassador" or even, "I'm a healer." They were doing the same work as the first group, but cognitively, they'd reimagined their title to fit what they found meaningful. And they weren't lying to themselves -- they then sought out activities to match that new job description. For instance, the "healer" would look for tasks that she believed could help patients heal.

Apart from how they crafted their jobs, these two groups had no other differences -- they worked in the same units, interacted with the same people, and had the same shifts. The second group simply used "job crafting" to find meaning, and enjoyment, in their work.

Amy Wrzesniewski and her co-authors describe job crafting as, "the process of employees redefining and reimagining their job designs in personally meaningful ways."

There are three types of job crafting -- task crafting, relational crafting, and cognitive crafting.

Let's dive into those, now:

• Task crafting: Adding, dropping, changing, or altering the tasks required of you in your job description. Alternatively, you might put more or less time and effort into certain tasks, depending on your interests and skills. For instance, perhaps you're particularly skilled at design, but you're a customer service representative. As a freelance project, you begin designing templates for you, and your colleagues, to use in the customer service department.
• Relational crafting: Changing with whom you regularly interact when performing your job duties. For instance, maybe you are passionate about social media but you're a marketing analyst. You might form a friendship with the social media manager, and set up meetings with her to discuss future potential collaborations, even though this isn't technically in your job description.
• Cognitive crafting: Altering how you perceive your tasks and the meaning behind them. For instance, perhaps you're an administrative assistant who sees her job as an opportunity to help people and make other people's lives easier, not just to fulfill organizational duties.

If you're unsure how to craft your role to make it more meaningful, begin by thinking of something of deep value to you. Is it music? Fashion? Travel? Then, consider how you might integrate it, through tasks, relationships, or cognition, into your job.

Let's say you're a content creator with a passion for travel. Rather than wishing for a job with more travel opportunities, like a travel blogger, consider how you might use one of Amy's three crafting methods to introduce this passion into your daily life.

For instance, you might put more effort into finding opportunities to write or edit content about places around the world (task crafting).

Alternatively, maybe you seek out the Marketing Director for Latin America to discuss how you might collaborate on content in the future (relational crafting).

Lastly, maybe you recognize that many of the same things you enjoy about travel (the novelty of visiting new places, meeting new people), are similar to aspects you find in your daily interaction with clients (cognitive crafting). In other words, maybe you recognize there are parallels between the aspects of travel you enjoy, and your work's purpose.

You Might Not Need a New Job to Find Your Calling

When you aren't happy with your job, it's easy to believe it's because it's the wrong job. Oftentimes, it's tempting to peruse alternative job descriptions and think, "Huh. Maybe those are the tasks I'd enjoy doing. Maybe that's what I'm 'meant' to do."

Interestingly, Amy's research takes an alternative approach -- and it's an approach that just might save you from missing out on enjoying your life more, today.

On NPR's Hidden Brain podcast, Amy said, "I do think that there are two different schools of thought in play around callings. And one is that it's out there. You have to find it. It's a matter of moving into the right role, or the right position in the right organization, and so on. And then, suddenly, this will be unlocked, and your work will be this sort of joyful end in and of itself … Versus, how is it that I can craft the boundaries of this job, and the way that I think about its role sort of in the world in such a way that I can come to experience it, perhaps, as something that is meaningful in a way that potentially a calling could be?"

She recognizes that believing your calling is "out there", and feeling you need to magically stumble upon it, can be both anxiety-producing, and limiting.

The alternative -- that you might reshape and reimagine how you can make your current role work for you, inspire you, and excite you -- is something both unique and potentially liberating.

At the hospital, Amy asked the woman who moved pictures around on the rehabilitation floor, "Is this part of your role?"

"No that's not part of my job," the woman replied. "But that's part of me."

It's important to note, job crafting is a continuous and fluid process. You won't always have the flexibility to add or subtract tasks from your daily list. Wrzesniewski recognizes this. To combat roadblocks employees might face, she advises managers and directors to enable space for employees to customize their jobs to their individual skills and interests, whenever possible.

For instance, she says managers might help "[define] for employees how their work is interconnected with others' work … [which] may help provide them with raw materials for cultivating meaningfulness through cognitive and relational crafting".

Alternatively, she suggests offering one-on-one coaching sessions or group workshops related to job crafting, or simply working with your employees to strategize on how your employees might implement crafting into their daily routine.

For instance, if your employee, a marketing blogger, mentions she feels most motivated when she believes her writing is helping people, you might allow her to set up monthly phone calls in which she is able to hear feedback directly from customers -- even if this is not in her job description. As a result, she might work harder on the job, perform better, and even brainstorm ways to make her writing more appealing to those with whom she's speaking.

If you're wary of the benefits of job crafting, consider this -- one study found fundraising callers who were given stories about how their job could make a difference in other people's' lives more than doubled their weekly pledges earned, and the amount of donation money raised, for the entire month after they were given told stories. This suggests your employees' performance could increase with something as simple as a reminder that what they're doing is significant to the greater organization.

Ultimately, it's critical for both employees and managers to consider how they might re-align or change job descriptions to fit someone's unique skills and interests. By deliberately stretching the boundaries of your tasks, you just might find happiness and meaning in your job, today.

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What is a Metaphor? A 2-Minute Rundown

What do the lines “You ain’t nothin’ but a hound dog, cryin’ all the time”, “Baby, you’re a firework”, and “Life is a highway, I want to ride it all night long” all have in common?

The obvious answer is that they’re lyrics from famous songs. The not so obvious answer is that they’re also metaphors.

Most of our favorite artists use metaphors to figuratively describe their thoughts and emotions, making them more vivid and easy to understand. But metaphors aren’t only commonplace in music -- they’re widespread in everyday conversation. In fact, since metaphors are so effective at clarifying abstract ideas, our brains practically think in them to grasp reality, prompting some researchers to suggest we use metaphors every 25 words.

However, metaphors are deeply seeded in our language, so we barely notice them. A lot of times, we even forget what they are and their ability to clarify things and persuade people. So to help you understand the true power of a metaphor, let’s go over what exactly it is and the impact the literary device can have on an audience.

What Is a Metaphor?

A metaphor describes something in a way that’s figuratively true, but not literally true. By stating one thing is another thing, metaphors compare abstract ideas with concrete pictures, breathing life into words and helping readers grasp broad concepts and ideas.

Since metaphors help us reference what is simple and familiar (like an adventure) to understand what is complex and distant (like love) the literary device can sculpt people’s emotions, thoughts, and opinions toward almost any subject.

For instance, in a study conducted at Purchase College, researchers tested the effect that certain metaphors have on people’s urgency to reduce carbon emissions. When they framed the campaign against climate change as a “war” instead of a “race”, researchers noticed people expressed more willingness to end global warming.

Metaphor Examples

Along with our favorite musical artists, some of the greatest minds in the world have crafted poetic and insightful metaphors that have seared themselves into our memories and given us refreshing ways to reflect on ordinary concepts and ideas. Here are a few examples:

“Conscience is a man’s compass.” - Vincent Van Gogh

“Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket.” - George Orwell

“A hospital bed is a parked taxi with the meter running.” - Groucho Marx

“America has tossed its cap over the wall of space.” - John F. Kennedy

“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” - Pablo Picasso

“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” - Marcel Proust

“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances.” - William Shakespeare

Metaphors are one of the most powerful tools in a writer’s arsenal. Not only can they clarify complex and broad concepts, but they can also influence people’s emotions and opinions. And if you learn how to effectively leverage metaphors in your writing, you could impact your readers just like our favorite artists, thinkers, and writers do.

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How to Create an Ebook From Start to Finish [Free Ebook Templates]

At age 11, I dreamed of being an editor at a major magazine. I even put together my first publication, Teen Scene Magazine, using colored construction paper, yarn, and in-depth feature interviews with ... my dad.

Flash forward to today. I've swapped my colored construction paper and yarn for PowerPoint and InDesign. I've replaced my dad with marketing experts and influencers (in the office, that is). And week after week, I have the satisfaction of being an ebook creator.

What Is an Ebook?

Ebook is short for "electronic book," and uses either a computer, mobile device, or ebook reader to display long-form texts in book form. Ebooks have multiple digital "pages" that people can navigate through, and are often packaged as a PDF document so they can easily be sent from one user to another.

How Is an Ebook Structured?

There's no set rule for organizing your content into an ebook. It generally mimics the structure of a novel or textbook (depending on what it is you're writing about). But, there are some aspects of an ebook you should be sure to adhere to.

Ebooks have some system of chapters and supporting images. Similar to a blog post, they also do well when further segmenting their text with subheaders that break down the discussion into specific sections. If you're writing about professional sports, for example, and one of your chapters is about Major League Baseball (MLB) in the U.S., you might want to establish subchapters about the various teams belonging to the MLB.

What Can an Ebook Be About?

Anything. Well, within reason. Ebooks are simply a marketer's way of delivering lots of critical information in a form their potential customers are most willing to read it. An environmental company might write an ebook all about water conservation. They also might focus an ebook entirely on how their water-saving product is used, or how it helped a customer solve a problem. Discover more ebook ideas at the end of this article.

No matter what subject your ebook takes on, research is a significant part of ebook creation. Unlike short-form content like articles and videos, the content of an ebook is predicated on trust and evidence. A user who obtains (or requests access to) your ebook wants the full story, not just the bullet points. That includes all the content and testing you went through to produce the ebook.

In What File Formats Can You Save an Ebook?

Ebooks can be saved in one of several formats. Depending on your end user, though, you might find a use for any of the following file types:

PDF

PDFs are likely the most well-known file type. The "PDF" extension stands for "Portable Document Format," and is best for ebooks that are meant to be read on a computer (digital marketers, you'll want to remember this one). We'll talk more about how to save your ebook as a PDF later in this article.

EPUB

This file type stands for "Electronic Publication," and is the more flexible ebook formats. By that, I mean EPUB ebooks can "reflow" their text to adapt to various mobile devices and tablets, allowing the ebook's text to move on and off different pages based on the size of the device on which a user is reading the ebook. They're particularly helpful for viewing on smaller screens, such as smartphones as well as the Nook from Barnes and Noble.

AZW

This is an ebook file type designed for the Kindle, an e-reader device by Amazon. However, users can also open this file format on smartphones, tablets, and computers.

ODF 

ODF stands for OpenDocument Format, a file type meant primarily for OpenOffice, a series of open-source content creation programs similar to Microsoft Office.

Can You Edit an Ebook?

Nope. An ebook can't be edited once it's been saved in one of the file formats described above, so it's best to ensure you have an editable version saved in a program like Microsoft Word.

But why would you want your ebook to be uneditable? Making ebooks uneditable ensures the content remains unchanged -- both the format and the information -- as it's shared between multiple uses.

You can edit ebooks if they're saved using an editable PDF, a feature that is specific to Adobe Acrobat -- the founding program of the PDF file type. Learn how to edit PDFs in this blog post.

How Do You Read an Ebook?

You can read an ebook on many different devices: iPhone, Android smartphones, a Macbook, PC, and e-readers such as the Nook and Kindle. The latter two devices are typically used to read novels in digital form. Nook and Kindle owners can store thousands of books (literally) on a single Nook or Kindle.

But making an ebook can be overwhelming. Not only do you have to write the content, but you also need to design and format it into a professional-looking document that people will want to download and read. With lead generation being the top goal for content marketing, however, ebooks are an essential part of an successful inbound marketing program.

In this post, we'll walk you through the ins and outs of creating an ebook by, well, creating an ebook. And if you're worried about your lacking design skills, fret not ...

Got your free ebook templates? Ready to make an ebook? Great -- let's get to it.

How to Write an Ebook

1. Choose a topic that matches your audience's needs.
2. Outline each chapter of your ebook.
3. Break down each chapter as you write.
4. Design your ebook.
5. Use the right colors.
6. Incorporate visuals.
7. Highlight quotes or stats.
8. Place appropriate calls-to-action within your ebook.
9. Convert it into a PDF.
10. Create a dedicated landing page for your ebook.
11. Promote your ebook and track its success.

1. Choose a topic that Matches your audience's needs

Remember: The goal of your ebook is to generate leads for your sales team, so pick a topic that will make it easy for a prospect to go from downloading your ebook to having a conversation with your sales team.

This means your ebook shouldn't deviate much from the topics you cover in your other content marketing channels. Rather, it's your opportunity to do a deep dive into a subject you've only lightly covered until now, but something your audience knows they need to learn more about.

For example, in listening to sales and customer calls here at HubSpot, I've learned ebooks for use in content marketing is a huge obstacle for our audience, who are marketers themselves. So if I can provide not only this blog post, but resources to make ebook creation easier, I'm focusing on the right topic for opening up a sales conversation.

To get your creative juices flowing, here are some example ebook titles to consider. (Note: Replace "x" with an appropriate number.) You can also use our free Blog Topic Generator tool to come up with more ideas. Most blog topics can be made comprehensive enough to serve as longer form ebook topics.

• X Best Practices for [Insert Industry/Topic]
• An Introduction to [Insert Industry/Topic]
• X Common Questions About [Insert Industry/Topic] Answered
• X [Insert Industry/Topic] Statistics For Better Decision Making
• Learn From The Best: X [Insert Industry/Topic] Experts Share Insights

For this blog post, I'm going to use the PowerPoint version of template two from our collection of five free ebook templates. Through each section of this post, I'll provide a side-by-side of the template slide and how I customized it.

Below, you'll see my customized cover with my sales-relevant ebook topic. For help with writing compelling titles for your ebooks, check out the tips in this blog post.

2. Outline each chapter of your ebook.

The introduction to your ebook should both set the stage for the contents of your ebook and draw the reader in. What will you cover in your ebook? How will the reader benefit from reading it? For tips on how to write an effective introduction, check out this post.

Some ebook creators say that an ebook is simply a series of blog posts stitched together. While I agree you should treat each chapter like an individual blog post, the chapters of your ebook should also flow fluidly from one to the other.

The best way to outline your ebook is by thinking of it as a crash course on the sales-relevant topic you selected. In my example of creating an ebook, I know I need to cover how to:

1. write effective copy
2. design an ebook
3. optimize ebooks for lead generation and promotion

While my example has a few chapters, keep in mind that your ebook does not need to be lengthy. I have one golden rule for ebook length: Write what is needed to effectively educate your audience about your selected topic. If that requires five pages, great! If that requires 30 pages, so be it. Just don't waste words thinking you need to write a long ebook.

With that, let's move on to the actual copy you're writing.

3. Break down each chapter as you write.

Get writing! Here, you can approach each chapter the way you might write a long blog post -- by compartmentalizing each chapter into smaller sections or bullet points, as shown in the picture below. This helps you write simply and clearly, rather than trying to use sophisticated language to convey each point. It's the most effective way to educate readers and help them understand the new material you’re providing.

Be sure to maintain a consistent structure across each chapter, as well. This helps you establish natural transitions between each chapter so there's a clear progression from one chapter to the next (simply stiching blog posts together can rob you of this quality).

These practices should hold true for all your other marketing efforts, such as email marketing, call-to-action creation, and landing page development. “Clarity trumps persuasion,” as Dr. Flint McGlaughlin of MECLABS often likes to say.

Want to make sure you're keeping your ebook exciting for readers? Here are some key tips to keep in mind:

• Use keywords in the title that emphasize the value of your offer. Examples include adjectives like “amazing,” “awesome,” or “ultimate.”
• Keep your format consistent so you create a mental model for readers and enhance their understanding of the material.
• When appropriate, make use of formatting -- like bulleted lists, bold text, italics, and font size changes -- to draw people’s eyes to your most important content or emphasize certain points you want readers to remember.

4. Design your ebook.

Our downloadable ebook templates are offered in both PowerPoint and InDesign. For this example, we'll show you how to do it in PowerPoint, since more people have access to that software.

You'll notice we only have one "chapter page" in the template (slide three). To create additional chapter pages, or any pages really, simply right click the slide and choose Duplicate Slide. This will make a copy of your slide and allow you to drag it to its proper place in your ebook via the sidebar or Slide Sorter section of PowerPoint. You can then customize it for any subsequent chapters.

5. Use the right colors.

Ideally, our free ebook templates would magically match your brand colors. But, they probably don't; this is where you get to truly personalize your work. However, because ebooks offer more real estate for color than your logo or website, it's a good idea to consider secondary colors within your brand's color palate. Ebooks are where this color scheme can truly shine.

To learn how to add your brand's colors to PowerPoint, check out this blog post. That way, you can customize the color scheme in our ebook templates to match your brand!

6. Incorporate visuals.

Images and graphics in ebooks are hard to get right. The key to making them fit well is to think of them as complementary to your writing. Whether you add them during or after you’ve finished writing your ebook’s copy, your visuals should serve to highlight an important point you’re making or deconstruct the meaning of a concept in an easy-to-understand, visual way.

Images shouldn’t just be there to make the ebook easy on the eyes. Rather, they should be used to enhance the reader’s understanding of the material you’re covering. If you need help gathering visuals, we have three sets of free stock photos that might help you along the way:

• 75 Standard Stock Photos
• 160 Business-Themed Stock Photos
• 250 Holiday Stock Photos

And if you're compiling a data-heavy ebook, you might want to download our free data visualization ebook for tips about designing compelling charts and graphs for your content.

7. Highlight quotes or stats.

Another way to enhance your ebook is by highlighting quotes or stats within your design. Just be sure the quote or stat you're using genuinely adds value to the content.

Whether you're emphasizing a quote or adding a visual, keep all your content within the same margins. If your copy is consistently 1-inch indented on your page from both the left and right side, keep your designed elements aligned using that same spacing.

8. Place appropriate calls-to-action within your ebook.

Now that your content is written and designed, it's time to optimize it for lead generation, reconversion, and promotion.

Think about how you got here -- you clicked on a call-to-action (CTA) in an email, on a social media post, or somewhere else. A CTA is a link or visual object that entices the visitor to click and arrive on a landing page that will get them further engaged with your company. Since your ebook readers have probably converted into leads in order to get their hands on your ebook to begin with (more on this in Step 2 below), use the CTAs within your ebook to reconvert your readers and propel them further down your marketing funnel.

For instance, a CTA can lead to another offer, your annual conference's registration page, or even a product page. Depending on what this next action is, CTAs can be an in-line rectangle or a full page teasing the next offer (see both images below).

To hyperlink the CTA in your ebook (or any image or text in your ebook) to your destination URL, simply go to Insert >> Hyperlink in PowerPoint.

We've even designed 50 customizable calls-to-action in PowerPoint you can download and use in your ebooks. You can grab them here.

Now, we don't have a dedicated CTA template slide in the PowerPoint ebook templates for you to customize ... but it's still simple! All you have to do is duplicate slide four (the Header/Subheader slide) and customize copy or add images as needed. You can also go to Insert >> New Slide and work from there.

9. Convert it into a PDF.

Once you've finished writing your ebook -- CTAs and all -- it's time to convert it to the right file type so it's transferrable from you to your recipient.

To convert your ebook to a PDF, click File >> Save As in the ebook template you have open. Under File Format, select PDF and select a destination on your computer for this new file.

Why can't you just attach what you have to a landing page and be done with it? Word documents, PowerPoints, and similar templates are perfect for creating your ebook, but not for delivering it. Because these templates are editable, the contents of your ebook are too easily corrupted, distorted, or even lost when moving from your computer to the hands of your future leads. That's where PDFs come in.

You've seen these letters at the end of files before. Short for Portable Document Format, the .PDF file type essentially freezes your ebook so it can be displayed clearly on any device. A popular alternative to PDFs is the .EPUB file type. See a comparison of EPUB to PDF here.

10. Create a dedicated landing page for your ebook.

Your ebook should be available for download through a landing page on your site. A landing page is a web page that promotes/describes your offer and provides a form that visitors need to fill out with their contact information in order to access your ebook. This is how you are able to convert your visitors into business leads that your sales team can ultimately follow up with.

For instance, you went through this landing page in order to access this ebook template. To learn more about how to optimize your landing pages for conversion, download this free ebook.

11. Promote your ebook and track its success.

Once your landing page is all set, you can use that destination URL to promote your ebook across your marketing channels. Here are five ways you can do this:

• Advertise your new ebook on your website. For example, feature a CTA or link to your offer’s landing page on your resources page or even your homepage.
• Promote your ebook through your blog. For instance, consider publishing an excerpt of your ebook as a blog post. Or write a separate blog article on the same topic as your ebook, and link to it at the end of your post using a call-to-action to encourage readers to keep learning. (Note: This very blog post is the perfect example of how to promote an offer you created with a blog post.)
• Send a segmented email to contacts who have indicated an interest in receiving offers from your company.
• Leverage paid advertising and co-marketing partnerships that will help you promote your ebook to a new audience.
• Publish posts to social media with a link to your ebook. You can also increase social shares by creating social media share buttons within your ebook, such as the ones at the bottom right of this ebook. Here’s a blog post that shows how to hyperlink them.

After your content is launched and promoted across your marketing channels, you’ll also want marketing analytics in place to measure the success of your live product.

For instance, you should have landing page analytics that give you insight into how many people downloaded your ebook and converted into leads, and closed-loop analytics that show how many of those people ultimately converted into opportunities and customers for your business. Learn more through HubSpot's Landing Pages App.

And with that, we've built an ebook, folks! You can check out the packaged version of the example I built through this post here:

After your content is launched and promoted across your marketing channels, you’ll need to have marketing analytics in place that measure the success of your ebooks. For instance, having landing page analytics that give you insight into how many people downloaded your ebook, or show how many of those downloaders converted into opportunities and customers for your business.

Ebook Ideas

So, what should you write about in your ebook? I'll answer that question with another question: What do you want your readers to get out of this ebook? To identify an ebook idea that suits your audience, consider the type of ebook you're trying to create. Here are a few ideas.

New Research

Conducting an experiment or business survey? This is a great way to develop proprietary knowledge and become a thought leader in your industry. But how will you share your findings with the people who care about it? Create an ebook that describes the experiment, what you intended to find out, what the results of the experiment were, and what these findings mean for your readers and the market at large.

Case Study

People love success stories, especially if these people are on the fence about purchasing something from you. If you have a client whose business you're particularly proud to have, why not tell their story in an ebook?

Ebook case studies show your buyers that other people trust you and have benefited from your product or service. In your ebook, describe what your client's challenge was, how you connected with them, and how you were able to help your client solve their challenge and become successful.

Product Demo

The more complex your product is, the more information your customers will need to use it correctly. If your product or service can be used in multiple ways, or it's hard to set up alone, dedicate a brief ebook to showing people how it's done. In the first section of your ebook, for example, explain how to launch your product or service. In the second section, break down the individual features and purposes your product is best used for.

Interview

Interested in interviewing a well-known person in your market? Perhaps you've already sat down with an influencer to pick their brain about the future of the industry. Package this interview into an ebook, making it easy for your customers to read and share your inside scoop.

Playbook

A "playbook" is a document people can use when taking on a new project or concept that is foreign to them. Think of it like a cheat sheet, full of tips and tricks that help your customers get better at what they do.

When done right, a playbook equips your customers with information they would need to excel when using your product. For example, a software vendor for IT professionals might create a "virus protection playbook" that makes support teams better at preventing viruses at their respective companies.

Blog Post Series

Sometimes, the best ebook for your business is already strewn across a series of blog posts. If you've spent the last month writing articles all on the same subject for your business, imagine how these posts would look stitched together?

Each article can begin a new chapter. Then, once this ebook is created, you can promote it on a landing page, link to this landing page from each individual blog post, and generate leads from readers who want to download the entire blog series in one convenient ebook.

Ebook Creation Resources

• 5 Free Ebook Templates in PowerPoint and InDesign [Free Download]
• 13 More Customizable Ebook Templates in PowerPoint [Free Download]
• Data Visualization 101: How to Design Charts and Graphs [Free Download]
• How to Easily Turn Blog Posts Into an Ebook [Blog Post]
• A Simple Guide to Creating Social Sharing Links for Your Ebooks [Blog Post]

Do you have any other tips or resources for making ebook creation easier? Apply them to your content marketing strategy. I'd be remiss not to admit every company's ebook will come to fruition differently. It all depends on the needs of your brand.

 

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What Does a World With Zero Search Results Looks Like? [New Data]

Imagine a world with zero search results. As it turns out, Google is moving toward making that world a reality.

Google has been experimenting with a 'zero search results' page -- where the search engine provides a single answer to queries about local time and mathematical conversions or calculations -- e.g., "8 tbsp in tsp" -- without displaying any other search results.

 

As reported by SEO Roundtable, this is not the first time users have reported seeing the zero search results landscape. The feature was first tested in March, received poor reviews, then briefly appeared again in September due to what Google called "a glitch."

But now, Google has confirmed that it has rolled out the zero search results feature on mobile, telling SEO Roundtable that it contributes to quicker load times, among other user experience improvements.

So, where exactly do users weigh in on the world of zero search results -- and what does it mean for the work that marketers do? We did some research to find out.

How Do Users Feel About a Zero Search Results World?

We asked over 4,200 people across the U.S., UK, and Canada for their reactions to Google's new zero search results feature. First, we explained what it is -- "the search engine will provide a single answer to queries -- such as, 'What time is it in New York?' -- without displaying any other search results."

Then, we asked them to measure how this would impact their search experience in a few areas -- such as their ability to find information, the accuracy of the single answers they might receive, and others.

Here's what we found out.

Even Exposure

We wanted to gauge how many users had actually come across this feature -- so we began by asking how many of them had seen it.

There was a somewhat even split between those who said they had come across a zero search results page and those who hadn't. However, most respondents -- nearly 60% -- said they hadn't yet seen it. 

Data collected with Lucid

Ease of Finding Information

Then, we wanted to know if users thought a zero search results feature would make it easier -- or more difficult -- to find information.

Data collected with Lucid

The impression of a zero results world seems to be generally positive, with about half of respondents indicating that they think it would make finding information on Google easier.

The Accuracy Element

Next, we wanted to find out how users think the zero search results feature would impact the accuracy of the information they might receive in response to a query. 

We phrased this question two ways. First, we asked users, "How do you think this will impact the accuracy of the search results?"

Data collected with Lucid

When the question was phrased this way, the response was generally positive, with most people (close to 80%) indicating that they believe a zero search results page would generally make the information more accurate -- or equally accurate to a traditional search results page.

Then, we asked how much users would trust the information they received on a zero search results page.

Data collected with Lucid

Interestingly, the positive sentiment here was sightly lower -- with 20% fewer respondents indicating that they would be more or equally likely to trust the accuracy of information received on a zero search results page.

Still, the positive response outweighed the negative, with less than a quarter of participants saying they would trust a zero search results page less.

Time Spent on Google

Finally, we wanted to know if a zero search results page would impact the amount of time users spend on Google.

Data collected with Lucid

Overall, the prospect of a zero-search-results-driven world doesn't appear to have much impact on how much time people will spend on Google, with half of respondents indicating they would continue use the search engine as much as they would otherwise.

It's worth noting that one of the reasons Google provided for introducing a zero search results page is quicker access to answers. Over a third of users said they might actually use Google more with the onset of this feature -- suggesting that people would respond positively to the ability to perform more searches in a smaller amount of time.

What a Zero Search Results World Looks Like for Marketers

But even if a zero search results feature solves for the user, what impact could it have on marketers and content creators -- especially those behind sites that specialized in unit or time conversations?

"Zero search results is the new extreme in search," says HubSpot Head of SEO Victor Pan. "Remember when it used to be just 10 search results? Then it sometimes became just seven, then folks started seeing three-to-five search results on the first page, and now we're at the point where zero could happen."

It's that evolution of what search results look like, Pan says, that points to a need for marketers to look at search results from a multi-dimensional perspective.

"What this means for marketers in the future is that, if you prioritize by just one piece of search -- like volume or rankings," he explains, "you could be getting an extremely inaccurate picture of a target search term or keyword."

So instead of looking at search terms and keywords through a narrow scope, Pan advises marketers to prepare for a more widespread presence of zero results by focusing on intent.

First, Pan says to consider the users who might be searching for these target terms or keywords, and what they're hoping to accomplish by searching for them -- their intent. Does the intent behind that search actually present an opportunity for your SEO-related goals, like visitors, rankings, or brand awareness?

In other words, Pan asks:

"What's the total opportunity for that intent?"

A follow-up question, then, concerns whether or not multiple search results would actually serve the user's intent and goals in searching for a particular term or keyword. 

"You need to know ... whether it's helpful for users to have more than one source tell them the answer," Pan says, or if the results for those terms and keywords are best served via a single result.

Finally, Pan suggests researching what the results for these target terms and keywords look like, perhaps by way of searching for them yourself before optimizing for them.

"How many search results and features -- like featured snippets or 'people also ask' -- show up for specific keywords?" Pan challenges marketers to ask. "These are clues to what Google thinks the user's intent is."

And by learning how Google interprets a user's intent, you can begin to understand that of the audience you're trying to draw to your content -- and, therefore, if certain terms and keywords aren't worth pursuing, especially in a zero search results world.

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5 Guaranteed Ways to Boost Job Satisfaction on Your Team

To improve your team's productivity, reduce turnover rates, and drive increased revenue for your company, it's critical you take the time to focus on your employees' job satisfaction.

If you're wary about the tangible benefits of job satisfaction, consider this -- happiness has shown to increase employee productivity by at least 12%. Undoubtedly, your company will grow faster if you invest in your employees' happiness.

Additionally, happy employees means lower turnover rates, and a better workplace culture. If you want to keep your top talent and nurture them for the long-term, it's critical you find ways to ensure they're satisfied with their jobs.

Fortunately, there are plenty of free and relatively easy strategies to boost your team's satisfaction -- so why not try to make your employees happier? Here, we'll explore five guaranteed ways to boost job satisfaction to ensure more success in the long-run.

But first, let's explore what job satisfaction means for employees today.

The Definition of Job Satisfaction

While we know what job satisfaction is -- essentially, being happy with one's job -- it's difficult to discern where and how satisfaction in the workplace arises. Do people who feel satisfied in their careers just get lucky? Are they naturally happy? Is it their paycheck, their sense of purpose, or both?

The Cambridge English Dictionary defines Job Satisfaction as, "The feeling of pleasure and achievement that you experience in your job when you know that your work is worth doing."

This definition is supported by a global survey run by LinkedIn and Imperative, which found that 74% of job candidates want a job where they feel their work matters.

Besides purpose, there are other elements that lead to job satisfaction, including autonomy, flexibility, recognition, a sense of belonging, and a good relationship with one's manager.

Ultimately, job satisfaction means how much an employee likes her job, and how willing she is to stay with her company. While it might be impossible to make every employee happy, it's critical you work hard to boost job satisfaction for as many employees as possible. This will help lower turnover and decrease money spent on recruitment and new hire training. Additionally, happy employees will be more successful, which is critical for your company's bottom line. 

Now that we've defined job satisfaction, let's take a look at some strategies you can implement to improve employee happiness immediately.

How to Boost Job Satisfaction

1. Give consistent praise, and focus on impact.

Office Vibe's State of Employee Engagement research report found 63% of employees don't feel they get enough praise. By consistently telling your employees when they've done a good job, you'll make them feel more proud of their work, and provide them with incentive to work harder in the future.

Additionally, as previously stated, employees need to feel like their work matters. Rather than simply saying, "Good job on that Facebook campaign," consider explaining to your employee how her work makes a difference for your team, and the company, as a whole. Your employees will feel more indispensable if you focus on how their work relates to long-term company goals.

For instance, you might say, "I'd like to take the time to thank you for the effort you put into your last Facebook campaign. The campaign helped attract an audience of over 17,000, and 12% of that audience turned out to be quality leads, which is incredible. Additionally, your leadership and input helped shape the direction of our brand's voice on Facebook, both for this campaign and for future campaigns down the road."

With this praise, you've demonstrated to your employee that her work matters to the company's bottom line, and to the future success of your team. This positive reinforcement could go a long way towards increasing her job satisfaction.

2. Offer career development, training, or education opportunities.

Nowadays, career development is no longer just a nice perk. In fact, a LinkedIn Workplace Learning report found 94% of employees would stay at a company longer if it invested in their career. By offering career development and actively seeking out opportunities to help your employees grow, you're signaling you care about their long-term success.

Additionally, training your employees and allowing them to expand their skillset will help your team become more successful long-term, as well. For instance, HubSpot offers master classes, which are classes in which employees teach other employees skills such as video production or SEO. As employees gain these skills they can apply them to their role, making them more well-rounded and innovative.

A Leadership Training program is also a chance for you to prepare your employees to become managers and team leaders down-the-road. This can reduce turnover and enable your employees to grow with the company.

3. Show you care about your employee's mental and physical well-being.

Your employees can't be satisfied in the workplace if they feel they're sacrificing physical or mental well-being. To boost job satisfaction, it's critical you make an effort to show employees' that their health matters. Plus, if your employees' take the time to recharge throughout the day, they'll be more productive on the job, as well.

To show you care about your employees' physical well-being, consider how you might incorporate physical activity into the workplace. It's okay if you don't have the budget to install a gym -- simply creating a culture in which it's okay to leave early to catch a workout class, or do yoga during lunch, can help. Ultimately, it's about showing your employees that you understand physical activity should be a priority.

Additionally, it's important you create opportunities to reduce stress and promote mental well-being. For instance, perhaps you offer flexible hours, so employees can avoid a stressful commute in the morning. Alternatively, you might create lunchtime mindfulness sessions, like Google, Nike, and Apple.

At the very least, take the time to check-in with employees and ask them how they're feeling about their workload. If they seem exceptionally stressed, consider how you might help delegate tasks to help them get back on-track.

4. Foster an environment in which coworkers can bond and develop friendships.

Most people spend more time at work than they do with any of the most important people in their lives, including spouses, children, and friends. To boost job satisfaction, it's critical you find ways to help your employees connect with one another and form genuine friendships.

To foster workplace connections, consider adding games or activities to your shared space -- for instance, you might purchase a ping-pong table or wii to encourage employees to engage with one another. Alternatively, you might plan weekly "breaks" from work, like Friday happy hour or Monday team lunches.

It's also important you plan regular team outings to get outside the office. Your employees are more likely to form authentic friendships outside the office, when they don't feel they need to act as strictly professional. For instance, you might take them to an arcade, or baseball game. A new environment could help employees' bond on a deeper level.

Additionally, it will help employees feel appreciated if you take the time to celebrate major milestones in their lives. For instance, you could gather a group for a coworker's birthday, or another coworker's engagement.

5. Conduct a job satisfaction survey.

Ultimately, you'll never know if your strategies are working if you don't regularly conduct surveys to see how happy and satisfied your employees are. Conducting job satisfaction surveys will help you see areas of improvement you might've otherwise missed.

Additionally, job satisfaction surveys show your employees that you care about how they feel. By allowing them to voice their opinion, you're showing them they are important to the company.

Ensure your survey is anonymous, so employees feel comfortable voicing their concerns. The eNPS (employee Net Promoter Score) is a good tool to measure employee engagement. Alternatively, you might create your own company survey using SurveyMonkey or Google Forms.

Job Satisfaction Statistics

To truly understand the measurable difference job satisfaction can make for your company, take a look at the following statistics.

• Organizations with engaged employees outperform those with low employee engagement by 202% (Business2Community).
• 83% of employees who are offered opportunities to take on new challenges are more likely to stay with their organization (ReportLinker).
• 42% of millennials say learning and development is the most important benefit when deciding where to work (Udemy).
• 15% of employees worldwide are engaged in their jobs (Gallup).
• Over 80% of full-time workers are actively seeking or passively open to new job opportunities (Ajilon).
• In a survey of 2,000 employees, 43% said corporate culture is the main reason they are looking for a new job (Hays).
• 92% of employees said that would be more likely to stay with their job, if their bosses would show more empathy (Businesssolver).
• Employees who feel they get to use the best strengths and abilities and work are 15% less likely to quit their job (Gallup). 

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Trois centres communautaires ciblés

Lors d’un point de presse tenu le dimanche 18 novembre au Centre communautaire Charles-Auguste-Savard, le maire a indiqué que ce centre sera le premier à être rénové. Le bâtiment, situé au 2155 boul. Bastien, gagnera 850 m2 en superficie. Ce nouvel espace servira à l’ajout d’une grande salle divisible et de quatre à cinq locaux pour des cours et des réunions.

Les travaux couvriront également la rénovation d’une cuisine communautaire. De plus, ils permettront de mettre à niveau le bâtiment selon les normes d’accessibilité universelle, en plus de comprendre des travaux pour la rénovation de la bibliothèque Saint-André de même que l’actuel gymnase.

Quant à la possibilité de construire un nouveau gymnase plus grand sur ce site, le maire juge que l’emplacement actuel, une fois rénové, suffira à la demande puisque l’on compte plusieurs autres grands gymnases à proximité, dont l’Académie Saint-Louis, l’École des Écrivains, le Centre communautaire Lebourgneuf, l’École secondaire Roger-Comtois ou encore l’École secondaire Neufchâtel.

Notons qu’en mars 2014, Loisirs et Sports Neufchâtel souhaitait déjà l'agrandissement du Centre communautaire Charles-Auguste-Savard dans l’arrondissement des Rivières, un projet discuté depuis une dizaine d’années. On notait à ce moment que l’attente avait assez duré et que les intervenants du milieu espéraient voir le bâtiment municipal parmi la liste des futurs investissements en infrastructure de la Ville à moyen terme.

Lors de l’assemblée publique de la Ville de Québec du lundi 19 novembre, les conseillers municipaux Jean-François Gosselin et Stevens Mélançon ont proposé que soit inscrit le projet d’agrandissement du Centre communautaire Charles-Auguste-Savard au programme triennal d’immobilisations 2019-2020-2021 qui sera déposé en décembre au conseil de Ville.

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Appui majoritaire au laissez-passer universitaire

Les trois partenaires ont convenu de poursuivre leurs démarches respectives en vue de l’implantation de ce nouveau titre en transport interurbain, avec comme objectif une mise en œuvre à l’automne 2019. Ils entendent accompagner l’Association des étudiantes et des étudiants de Laval inscrits aux études supérieures (AELIÉS) et la Confédération des associations d’étudiants et étudiantes de l’Université Laval (CADEUL) dans cette mise en œuvre.

Rappelons que le LPU offrira la possibilité aux étudiants de l’Université Laval inscrits à temps complet, d’utiliser de façon illimitée, durant les sessions d’hiver et d’automne, les services du RTC et de la STLévis. Le tarif préférentiel serait fixé à 120$ par session pour profiter du laissez-passer universitaire. Les frais seront ajoutés chaque session au coût d'inscription des 44 000 étudiants qui fréquentent le campus.

Métro Média

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