Lottie animations are hands down one of the coolest things to happen in digital design.

If you’ve ever used an app with a slick little loading animation, tapped a button that subtly morphs, or seen a website with a super clean animated text or icon, chances are you’ve already encountered a Lottie animation. 

What you'll learn in this article

In this article, we'll take you through all things Lottie animations. You'll learn what they are, why they're so good, and how you can create your own Lottie animation, even as a total beginner. Topics we cover will include:

If you like dotted patterns, this tutorial is perfect for you because I'll show you exactly how to create a polka dot pattern in Photoshop. This is also a great opportunity to learn how to make patterns in Photoshop in general—with a nice, non-intimidating example!

How to create a polka dot pattern in Photoshop

Step 1

Create a New File with 250 x 250 px dimensions.

Step 2

Go to Layer > New Fill Layer > Solid Color. Use #f7c92a for the color—this will be the background for our polka pattern.

Step 3

Take the Ellipse Tool (U) and set Fill to white. This will be the color of the polka dots.

Step 4

Click somewhere in the canvas and set the dimensions to 100 px for both Width and Height. Click OK, and press Enter when the circle appears.

Step 5

Take the Move Tool (V) and click the three dots button in the upper bar. Set Align to Canvas, then click Align horizontal centers and Align vertical centers. This will center the circle inside the canvas.

Step 6

Press Control-J to duplicate the ellipse. Then press Control-T and add 125 to both X and Y in the upper bar.

Step 7

Do this again (duplicate and transform), but this time subtract 125 from both values.

Step 8

Repeat the same step, this time adding 125 to X, and subtracting 125 from Y.

Step 9

And one more time—do this the opposite way, subtracting 125 from X and adding 125 to Y.

Step 10

You can now go to View > Pattern Preview to see what your pattern looks like. This lets you change something and see the effects in real time. For example, you can double-click the Color Fill layer and experiment with other color backgrounds. This will allow you to create a red polka dot pattern, the kind you'd see on a classic red polka dot dress. You can also resize the pattern now with Image > Image Size without losing quality.

When you're happy with your pattern, go to Edit > Define Pattern and name your pattern, for example Yellow Polka Dot.

Step 11

You can now add this pattern to any file by going to Layer > New Fill Layer > Pattern and selecting your polka pattern from the list.

What are polka dots?

Now you know how to create a pattern in Photoshop—specifically, a yellow polka dot pattern. By the way, you may recognize this print, but what are polka dots, actually?

Polka dot pattern description

A polka dot pattern, or simply polka pattern, is based on a series of repetitive dots placed on a contrasting background (for example, a black and white polka dot pattern is very popular). In the classic version they're identical, but they may also have various sizes. Polka dot patterns have been widely used in fashion for decades, and they're often associated with a playful, retro vibe.

Famous examples of polka dots

The most famous example of this print is the red polka dot dress of Disney's Minnie Mouse. Polka dot dresses were a also staple of 50s fashion, worn by icons like Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepburn. Today, Kate Middleton proves the timelessness of the polka dot pattern with her polka dot dresses. This pattern has also been immortalized in Brian Hyland’s Song "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" from 1960.

And now you can use this queen of dotted patterns in your own designs, too!

Recommended tutorials

If you want to learn more about creating Photoshop patterns, check out these tutorials:

• 

  How to Make a Leather Texture in Photoshop

  

  Mohammad Jeprie

  15 Mar 2021
• 

  How to Create a Terrazzo Pattern in Photoshop

  

  Marko Kožokar

  26 Apr 2023
• 

  How to Design Your Own Camouflage Pattern

  

  Monika Zagrobelna

  30 Apr 2024
• 

  Quick Tip: How to Create a Denim Pattern in Adobe Photoshop

  

  Melody Nieves

  27 Nov 2017
• 

  How to Create a 90s Geometric Pattern Using Basic Shapes in Adobe Photoshop

  

  Mohammad Jeprie

  23 Aug 2017

The seamless repetition of shapes in geometric patterns can deliver memorable designs. You'll find geometric design patterns on a variety of items, such as cards, textiles, and website backgrounds.

Join us as we explore the world of geometric shape patterns in graphic design.

Simple Geometric Patterns from Envato.

What is a geometric pattern?

In graphic design, there are two forms: organic and geometric.

• Organic forms represent irregular shapes that occur in the natural world. These are usually asymmetrical and freeform. 
• Geometric forms, on the other hand, are rooted in geometry and are mathematically consistent. Common geometric shapes include circles, squares, rectangles, and triangles.

In graphic design, a pattern is defined as a "repeated decorative design". A geometric pattern is one that uses mathematically consistent shapes repeatedly. Such shapes include circles, squares, rectangles, and triangles.

• 

  What Is Geometric Design?

  

  Melody Nieves

  19 Jul 2021

Most common shapes in geometric pattern design

Principles of geometric pattern design

Geometric design is shaped by a few fundamental principles. These provide a pattern with structure, unity, and dynamism.

• The grid. Whether you're creating simple or complex geometric patterns, grids provide a foundational structure. This allows designers to maintain both precision and consistency when building patterns.
• Repetition. Repetition is at the heart of designing geometric shape patterns. Designers use the repetition of shape, colour, tone, texture, accents, and direction to create a unified whole.
• Layering. Layering is an essential technique in graphic design because it enables designers to create interesting and engaging compositions. By layering shapes, colours, and textures, you can create a sense of depth and complexity in your work.
• Rhythm. Rhythm is the sister of repetition. It refers to the way positive and negative space are used when repeating visual elements. As the visual rhythm of a geometric pattern design is predictable, it unites its disparate elements.
• Symmetry. Symmetry is fundamental to geometric pattern design. It creates balance and harmony, two qualities on which the success of a pattern relies.

15 most popular geometric patterns in graphic design

Let's move on and take a look at the most popular geometric patterns in graphic design.

All the designs we feature here can be found on Envato. For one low monthly fee, you get unlimited downloads of graphic design templates, fonts, add-ons, and more.

1. Geometric circle patterns

The circle is often regarded as a symbol of infinity as it has no beginning or end. It's also a symbol of unity.

2. Triangle geometric patterns

Depending on its orientation, a triangle can have two meanings.

• When pointing up, it represents stability and power.
• When pointing down, it can indicate instability.

3. Rhombus patterns

A rhombus is a 2D shape with four straight and equal sides. Both pairs of opposite sides are parallel. This shape inspires sharing and exchange. 

There's one great thing about using a rhombus repeatedly in geometric shape patterns. The positive space creates a negative space of the same shape.

4. Zig-zag patterns

Ah, the wonderful zig-zag geometric pattern design. It teaches us to appreciate the unexpected turns life can take. This dynamic geometric shape pattern comes to life by adding repeated zig-zags of different weights and/or colours. 

5. Geometric square patterns

A popular example can be found in plaid patterns. Or see the wonderful geometric square patterns below for more ideas.

6. Hexagon patterns

7. Stripe patterns

You can vary the negative space between the stripes. Or you can take stripes of varying weights and colours and play with them. Arrange them horizontally, vertically, or diagonally to increase the complexity of the pattern.

Colour theory can help you design more eye-catching stripe patterns. You can see some good examples of these geometric shape designs below.

8. Chevron patterns

What is a chevron pattern, and how is it different from the zig-zag pattern? A chevron is an inverted V-shaped pattern that repeats to form a shape similar to the zig-zag.

9. Honeycomb patterns

A honeycomb pattern is created with repeated hexagonal shapes. The pattern is so named because it resembles... you guessed it, a honeycomb.

Check out the variety in these awesome geometric patterns in black and white. 

10. Arabic geometric patterns

Create your own stunning Arabic geometric patterns with this terrific tutorial:

• 

  How to Make a Moroccan Pattern in Illustrator

  

  MissChatz

  18 Aug 2022

11. Houndstooth patterns

Houndstooth is a two-colour pattern—usually black and white—made up of a broken check. This repeated pattern consists of an abstract four-sided shape reminiscent of a tooth.

12. Low poly patterns

13. Herringbone patterns

Zig-zag vs. chevron vs. herringbone patterns! What's the difference, and how do you choose?

Here's the difference: instead of the ends lining up with one another as they do in chevrons, in herringbone patterns one end overlaps the edge of the other. This results in a somewhat different pattern and effect.

14.  Isometric patterns

An isometric view of a cube differs from the perspective view.

15. Kaleidoscope patterns

Who isn't completely charmed and hypnotised by the incredible patterns created by kaleidoscopes?

These dizzying patterns from our childhood memories resemble abstract geometric shapes. They also have inspired a major creative pattern trend.

Choose your favourite geometric design patterns

Now you know how to identify geometric design patterns. Find the best geometric patterns on Envato and download your favourites today.

Here are more top resources and tutorials to try from Envato Tuts+:

• 

  How to Create Geometric Vector Patterns

  

  Andrei Marius

  07 Sep 2023
• 

  100+ Beautiful Geometric Patterns and Designs (Vector, SVG, PNG, etc.)

  

  Nona Blackman

  19 Sep 2022
• 

  How to Create a Pattern in Illustrator

  

  Andrei Stefan

  23 Jul 2023
• 

  What Is Geometric Design?

  

  Melody Nieves

  19 Jul 2021
• 

  How to Create an Islamic Art Pattern Brush in Illustrator

  

  MissChatz

  06 Apr 2020
• 

  How to Create an Art Deco Pattern in Illustrator

  

  MissChatz

  29 Sep 2023

DaVinci Resolve is a top-notch video editing software. Used by both pros and beginners, it offers many features. One of them is the ability to change the resolution of the video project.

Sometimes you'll have a video that doesn't quite fill up the entire the screen. As a result, you'll find yourself having awkward black bars on either the top, and/or sides of the video.

To fix this, changing the resolution is the way to go. This article will show you two different yet effective methods to do that.

Import your video

Start by importing your video into DaVinci Resolve by dragging it into the media pool. To do this, right click on the media area. Choose 'Import Media...' or press the 'Ctrl+I' keys on your keyboard.

In the subsequent 'Import Media' window, choose the video you want to import and click 'Open'.

Now, drag your video to the timeline.

Method 1: Changing the resolution in DaVinci Resolve

So, how do I change the resolution of a video?

Import the video file that doesn't fit in the DaVinci Resolve aspect ratio. You'll notice this because of the resulting black bars on either side.

Click on 'File'. Here, you can see your current video resolution.

Select your video on the timeline, then go to 'File' → 'Project Settings'.

Under Master Settings, you'll see an option for Timeline resolution. This is where you can change the resolution of your project.

You can choose from a list of preset resolutions or enter a custom resolution.

You can also set up your video's preview window resolution for the project.

Click 'Save' to apply the changes.

Method 2: Changing the resolution in DaVinci Resolve 

Again, import the video file that doesn't fit within the DaVinci Resolve aspect ratio.

Go to the bottom right corner and click on 'Project Settings'.

Under Master Settings, you'll see an option for Timeline resolution. Here, you can input a custom resolution that fits your video file. 

Input the height and width of your video file. You can use the drop down menu as shown above, or put a custom setting in, as shown below.

For example, if your video file is 2880 by 1800, input 2880 in the width field and 1800 in the height field.

Finally, click Save to apply the changes in the DaVinci Resolve resolution. The black bars on either side of your video should now be gone.

Tips for changing the resolution in DaVinci Resolve

• Always check the resolution requirements of your final output before starting your project. This will help you avoid having to change the resolution later on.
• Keep in mind that changing the resolution can affect the quality of your video. If you're reducing the resolution, your video might lose some detail. If you're increasing the resolution, your video might appear pixelated.
• If your device has limited processing power, consider reducing the preview window resolution. This can help improve the performance of DaVinci Resolve during editing.

Happy editing!

Changing the resolution in DaVinci Resolve is a simple process. With these two methods, you can easily adapt your project to different formats. You'll also be able to improve the performance of DaVinci Resolve on devices with limited processing power. 

You can also enhance your DaVinci Resolve projects with Envato's professional digital content. A subscription grants you access to unlimited downloads of high-quality assets. Get premium stock footage, music, DaVinci Resolve templates, and more!

Remember, practice makes perfect. Start exploring the features and tools DaVinci Resolve has to offer. Master every aspect of this editing software with the tutorials available on Tuts+:

• 

  30+ Best DaVinci Resolve Keyboard Shortcuts for 2025

  

  Eddie Boscana

  25 Mar 2024
• 

  Best DaVinci Resolve 18 training courses to learn online 2025

  

  Jonathan Lam

  28 Aug 2024
• 

  DaVinci Resolve vs. DaVinci Resolve Studio: Which Should I Choose?

  

  Andrew Childress

  05 Aug 2024
• 

  How to Use DaVinci Resolve’s New Film Look Creator

  

  Andrew Childress

  02 Jul 2024
• 

  DaVinci Resolve Beginner Tutorial | Free Video Editing

  

  Tom Graham

  14 Jun 2024
• 

  Effortless Audio Transcription in DaVinci Resolve: A Step-by-Step Guide

  

  Andrew Childress

  11 Jun 2024

Cropping in Adobe Photoshop is something that you'll need to use often. From resizing images to stripping excess space in a photo, this is a fundamental skill you'll use in just about any design project.

1. How to crop in Photoshop using the Crop Tool

Step 1

The Crop Tool is a great tool if you need to learn how to crop an image in Photoshop. First, open the image you want to crop.

Now, from the toolbar, select the Crop Tool.

Image source: Envato

Step 2

Now you'll see markers appear along the edges of the document. We can use these to adjust the cropping of the image. The markers act a little differently depending on where they are.

To start, let’s use the bottom middle marker. Click the bottom marker and hold. Then drag this up to crop the image from the bottom.

Step 3

Once you release the marker in the Crop Tool in Photoshop, the area outside of the cropped area will turn dark. This is a handy way of previewing what your cropped image will look like. Keep adjusting this marker until it is cropped to an area to your liking.

Step 4

Once you're satisfied with your crop area, you can select the Checkmark to apply your crop. If you aren’t satisfied, you can click the Cancel button located right next to it.

Step 5

Now that we've cropped the image, the excess parts of the image have been completely removed. Even if you attempt to move the image on the canvas, the parts of the image which were outside the crop are not present.

In order to get the old version of the image back, you will need to undo the action. You can also uncheck the Delete Uncropped Pixels option before you finalize your crop if you wish to preserve them.

Step 6

Let’s continue cropping this image to isolate a particular element. This time, we’ll use the corner markers to crop around this hot air balloon. By using all of the markers in conjunction, you can isolate the object you wish to crop. Then select the checkmark to accept the crop.

Step 7

Now, you have an individual element cropped from the original image. As you can see, the Crop Tool in Photoshop is a really practical tool that has a lot of uses.

2. What else can the Crop Tool do?

Step 1

The Crop Tool also has some extra features we can take advantage of. Let’s take a look at the Content-Aware feature! Create a crop area, but this time extend the crop area outside the area of the photo. Notice that the background area will match your current Background Color. In this case, it’s white.

Step 2

Before clicking the Accept button to confirm the crop, check the Content Aware checkmark. Now you will see that the outside area of the image will fill in the space based on the image. This is a quick way to extend the background in Photoshop.

This can have some mixed results, but as you can see, this works well for adding some extra sky to our image.

Step 3

We can also change the grid type of the Crop Tool. You may need a smaller grid rather than the default rule-of-thirds grid. If you are working on your compositions, there are even Golden Ratio and Golden Spiral grid types!

3. How to crop a picture in Photoshop using the Selection Tools

Step 1

Another method we can use when learning how to crop an image in Photoshop is to use the selection tools. Since much of the work you do every day in Photoshop involves selections, this can be a great time-saver and allows for precise cropping.

To start, open up the image you wish to crop and then select one of the Selection Tools. We’ll use the Rectangle Marquee Tool in particular.

Image source: Envato

Step 2

To make our crop with the Selection Tool, we’ll make a selection of the area we want to crop. Drag and pull the rectangle over the area you want to crop.

Step 3

Now, with the selection made, go to Image > Crop.

Step 4

Now you have cropped the image to the dimensions of your selection area.

Step 5

As an added tip, if you need the features of the Crop Tool with your selection, simply select the Crop Tool after making a selection.

You learned how to crop an image in Photoshop and more

There are a lot of options when it comes to cropping your images. Whether it is simple or complex, you can do it in Photoshop or using AI. 

When you're in a rush or you don’t have access to your favorite image-editing software, Envato's new AI features can help in your creative projects. These AI features are included in your subscription, and you don't need to create new accounts, write complicated prompts, or use any type of credits. 

To edit an image with AI, just go to Envato's ImageEdit, upload an image, and you'll be able to crop it in a few clicks. And that's not all—you can easily remove the background, erase an object, expand the image, and more.

Another AI photo cropping alternative that's very easy to use is Placeit's tool for cropping images, so do give it a try as well!

For more details about how to crop in Photoshop, don't forget to watch this video from the Envato Tuts+ YouTube channel to learn more. And if you're a fan of AI photo cropping tools, explore Envato's new feature, ImageEdit!

• 

  How to Make Gradients in Photoshop (And More!)

  

  Jonathan Lam

  04 Dec 2019
• 

  How to Make a Photoshop Vignette Effect Action

  

  Daisy E.

  05 Oct 2019
• 

  How to Create a Cyberpunk Photoshop Effect Action

  

  Marko Kožokar

  15 May 2023
• 

  How to Create a 3D Text Effect Action in Photoshop

  

  Melody Nieves

  26 Mar 2024
• 

  How to Create a Cloud Effect in Photoshop

  

  John Negoita

  05 Oct 2023
• 

  How to Remove a Person From a Photo in Photoshop Using Content Aware Fill

  

  Abbey Esparza

  30 Sep 2023

To help you out with this, here’s a list with the top Mailchimp email newsletter design templates that provide simple, drag-and-drop functionality without sacrificing style. Find free Mailchimp templates, and a bunch of premium Mailchimp design templates!

Mailee Responsive Multipurpose Email Template

The Best Source of Mailchimp Templates (With Unlimited Use)

Envato Elements is the perfect place to find the best Mailchimp examples. For a low monthly fee, you can unlock unlimited downloads of Mailchimp templates, website themes, email templates, photos, videos, fonts, and other creative resources to use in your next project. 

Envato Elements is truly one of the best value subscriptions out there for creatives today. And with unlimited downloads, you have the freedom to try out a variety of options as you build out your new Mailchimp newsletter template. Get all the inspiration you need from this huge library of Mailchimp email layouts.

Browse through the best Mailchimp templates available on Envato Elements.

Best Mailchimp Templates On Envato Elements for 2024

Here’s the full list of our favorite updated and new Mailchimp template examples from Envato Elements. Check out the different Mailchimp email layouts you can use for your business. Find one that will help your business marketing in 2024!

1. Webber - Fashion, Shop & Store Mailchimp Newsletter Template

Simple style is what the Webber email newsletter design is all about. You can create a cool email newsletter for your fashion brand quickly with this template. There are many color variations and drag and drop modules you can choose from to make a unique layout. Preview your work as your editing, and enjoy this Mailchimp email template’s compatibility and responsive design.

Get started with Webber

Webber - Fashion, Shop & Store Email + Builder

2. Mase Mail - Responsive Mailchimp Email Template

Looking for cool email templates for Mailchimp? Mase Mail is a simple email template for your Mailchimp newsletter or campaign. It’s modern and clean design can be edited to fit your content. Mase Mail has several modules to choose from and design with on the fly, which many free Mailchimp templates lack. Plus the included documentations means working with this custom email newsletter design won’t be tough.

Get started with Mase Mail

Mase Mail - Responsive E-mail Template

3. Cinderella - E-commerce Responsive Custom Mailchimp Template

The stunning style of Cinderella is almost fairy-tale like. There are 36 unique modules you can customize to suit your needs. The included files are also compatible with Mailchimp, Stamp Ready, and a whole lot more, so you can use the service of your choosing. Cinderella makes for a fully-responsive alternative to free Mailchimp templates found elsewhere online.

Get started with Cinderella

Cinderella - E-commerce Responsive Email Template

4. Travel - Multipurpose Responsive Mailchimp Newsletter Example

Whether you run a travel agency or travel blog, you can make use of this Mailchimp design newsletter template. It has an interesting visual layout with lots of white space. There are also more than 20 modules you can use to customize your email newsletter designs. And because it’s multipurpose, you can make Mailchimp examples for a number of industries.

Get started with Travel

Travel - Multipurpose Responsive Email Template

5. Supra 22x - Mailchimp Example Pack - Builder Access

Do you like having options? How about 22 of them? The Supra email pack includes a wide array of Mailchimp newsletter designs that are easy to use. The included templates are tested in Litmus for maximum compatibility, and an email builder is included in this bundle. In a matter of clicks, you can create the best email newsletters that will engage your audience.

Get started with Supra 22x

Supra 22x - Email Templates Pack - Builder Access

6. Avalan - Responsive Mailchimp Design Template + StampReady Builder

Avalan kicks off our list of the best Mailchimp templates from Envato Elements. This template includes the StampReady Builder, making it easy for you to drag and drop modules for a custom layout. Not only is Avalan compatible with Android and iOS, but this email newsletter design works with many popular email clients like Gmail, Outlook, and more.

Get started with Avalan

Avalan - Responsive Email + StampReady Builder

7. Gravity - Responsive Creative Email + Builder

Gravity is one of the best Mailchimp templates on Envato Elements; it’s compatible with Campaign Monitor and Mailchimp (as well as others), and includes the PSD design files should you need them.

With its online builder you can drag and drop whichever modules your Mailchimp newsletter template needs, preview it at various screen sizes to check its responsiveness, then download and deploy your email newsletter design to Mailchimp when you’re ready.

Get started with Gravity

Gravity - Responsive Creative Email + Builder

8. Sentinel - Responsive Email + StampReady Builder

Sentinel is another of the most downloaded Mailchimp templates on Envato Elements, largely because of its versatility and clean design. Choose from modules in the StampReady template builder, design the email you want, then deploy to Mailchimp or one of the many other top email platforms. Sentinel has all you need to build the best email newsletters.

Get started with Sentinel

Sentinel - Responsive Email + StampReady Builder

9. Jaynix Email Newsletter Design

Jaynix is an email newsletter design built by DynamicXX, email specialists, and makers of 20 more email templates on Envato Elements. Like all their Mailchimp design templates, Jaynix has a huge range of modules to choose from and customize. It’s a great option for people looking for versatility in their templates.

Tested with Litmus, Jaynix is compatible with Mailchimp and Campaign Monitor, as well as iContact, Constant Contact, and Aweber. It’s a great choice if you’re looking for the best email newsletters for Mailchimp.

Get started with Jaynix

Jaynix Email Newsletter Design

10. Retro Mailchimp Newsletter Example

Retro is something a little bit different–at least nowadays. It’s a hark back to the days of texture and detail in design, though its clean lines and whitespace give it just enough of a modern feel. Retro also features some neat CSS animation, which isn’t something seen in many free Mailchimp templates.

If orange isn’t your thing, you can easily change the email newsletter design (along with all the other colors) using the controls in Themebuilder. Creating different Mailchimp newsletter examples is a fun process with the Retro template.

Get started with Retro

Retro Mailchimp Newsletter Example

11. Announce Mailchimp Newsletter Template

Announce is one of the best newsletter templates that does what you might expect: it announces your presence. It’s perfect as a way to introduce yourself, market a product or service, or send out a CV of some kind. 

The online builder (as with all these demos) makes constructing the exact email you want straightforward, and you can edit the colors and styling to suit your brand too. It’s a very functional choice with features many free Mailchimp templates don’t offer.

Get started with Announce

Announce Mailchimp Newsletter Template

12. Maixe Mail- Responsive Mailchimp Design Template

Easy to use and responsive, Maixe Mail is one of the best newsletter templates you can find online today. Its design is minimal and attractive to the modern reader. The included files aren’t only Mailchimp ready, but are ready to use with Campaign Monitor, iContact, and StampReady. Reach desktop and mobile readers with Maixe Mail with its wide range of email client compatibility. Maixe Mail is one of the best Mailchimp newsletter examples available.

Get started with Maixe Mail

Maixe Mail- Responsive E-mail Template

13. Dido - Responsive Mailchimp Email Template

Responsive and highly customizable, Dido is an ideal choice if you’ve been hunting for Mailchimp newsletter examples. Dido is one of those Mailchimp design templates you should check out for inspiration. It features a drag-and-drop editor that’s very easy to use. You’ll also enjoy the included documentation in case you get stuck. As far as custom Mailchimp templates go, Dido is a top option for most email marketers.

Get started with Dido

Dido - Responsive Email Template

14. Cromo Corporate Email Newsletter Template

Have you been looking for an email newsletter design that’s perfect for a corporate setting? Then get to know Cromo. It’s compatible with multiple services like Mailchimp, Stamp Ready, and Campaign Monitor. There are also multiple design elements that you can edit and rearrange to make your ideal email. Try out Cromo instead of free Mailchimp templates for an effective campaign.

Get started with Cromo

Cromo Corporate Email Newsletter Template

15. Simplicity Responsive Mailchimp Email Template | Version 2

Why make things harder than they need to be? Get exactly what you want and need from a email template with this premium Simplicity option. It’s compatible with Mailchimp, CampaignMonitor, and other email marketing services, meaning you can do whatever you can make it your own in a comfortable way.

Get started with Simplicity

Simplicity Responsive Email Template | Version 2

More Spectacular Custom Mailchimp Templates From ThemeForest

The Mailchimp examples from Envato Elements are all premium. But if you don’t think you can take advantage of the monthly subscription service, you can buy an email newsletter design template individually from ThemeForest.

You can find awesome Mailchimp examples to buy one at a time from ThemeForest.

We’ve rounded up even more custom Mailchimp newsletter templates from ThemeForest that you can purchase without a subscription. You’ll also find a variety of Mailchimp design templates for inspiration. 

1. Vespro | Responsive Multipurpose Mailchimp Design Template With Builder

If you’re after something that can work for multiple email campaigns, this is one of the best Mailchimp newsletter templates for the job. It comes with templates for feedback, subscriptions, and a whole lot more.

Since its 2018 release, Vespro continues to add new features and stability improvements with each update so you know your email newsletter design will still be top of the line.

Vespro Demo

Vespro | Responsive Multipurpose Notification + Transnational Email Template With Builder

2. Melvin Agency - Multipurpose Mailchimp Email Template

A list of the best Mailchimp email templates isn’t complete without Melvin Agency. This email newsletter design example has a strong aesthetic, with bold type and impactful graphics. It’s compatible with many email clients and Mailchimp, StampReady, and Campaign Monitor. Try it out and make the best email newsletters with Melvin Agency.

Melvin Agency Demo

Melvin Agency - Multipurpose Responsive Email Template

3. Spirit Agency - Multipurpose Responsive Mailchimp Design Template

Spirit Agency landed on ThemeForest late 2024 as a fresh and stylish email newsletter design. Its stylish look makes it one of the best newsletter templates online. Spirit Agency comes with multiple design modules that can be dragged and dropped. This ease of editing makes Spirit one of the best Mailchimp examples.

Spirit Agency Demo

Spirit Agency - Multipurpose Responsive Email Template

4. Corporate - Responsive Email Newsletter Templates

Corporate is a modern and clean template set that’s very easy to use. The Mailchimp design newsletter makes for a very simple, elegant email with lots of white space (for those who love minimal designs). It also includes eight premade Mailchimp newsletter templates that you can tweak or use as inspiration. This is a great choice if you’re looking for professional email templates for Mailchimp.

Corporate Demo

Corporate - Responsive Email Newsletter Templates

5. Modulo | Responsive Email Newsletter Design

Modulo is a contemporary Mailchimp newsletter templates design compatible with the StampReady Builder for painless editing. It’s a tool that allows you to make the best email newsletters quickly.

Perfect for agencies and other technology companies, Modulo features 37 unique module designs including feature sections and blog posts. Play around with different Mailchimp newsletter examples and layouts until you create the ideal look for your organization.

Modulo Demo

Modulo | Responsive Email

6. Switch | Business Newsletter Mailchimp Example

Switch is a responsive email newsletter design made up of more than 20 different modules. It includes clean, documented HTML code as well as PSD files for Adobe Photoshop. Like other popular Mailchimp design templates, you can edit this template in StampReady. Switch also works with the latest versions of Outlook, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and more. Mailchimp email templates don’t come much better than Switch.

Switch Demo

Switch | Business Newsletter

7. Webwall - Multipurpose Responsive Email Template

With a creative, minimal design, Webwall is a perfect choice if you’ve been looking for the best Mailchimp newsletter templates for your campaign. This all-in-one option includes 99 Mailchimp email templates that are well documented and responsive. With unlimited color options and drag and drop layout building, creating your email newsletter design with Webwall is a breeze.

Webwall Demo

Webwall - Multipurpose Responsive Email Template

8. Matah | Responsive Mailchimp Newsletter Example Set

Keep it simple with the Matah Mailchimp email template. It includes more than 20 uniquely designed Mailchimp newsletter examples that you can edit. Matah is also compatible with Campaign Monitor, StampReady, Mailster, and other email service providers. With more than 2,000 happy customers, there’s no doubt Matah is one of the best Mailchimp examples available. 

Matah Demo

Matah | Responsive Email Set

9. Koble | Business Mailchimp Newsletter Example Set

A stylish multipurpose email collection, Koble offers solid default style across all 28 of the included custom Mailchimp templates, whilst allowing plenty of opportunity to edit and customize each design. Compatible with Mailchimp, Campaign Monitor, FreshMail, ActiveCampaign, Mailster, StampReady, iContact, and with a plain ol’ HTML template included to boot, Koble is ready to go. Try it out if you’ve been looking for Mailchimp email templates online.

Koble Demo

Koble | Business Email Set

10. Carol Custom Mailchimp Templates

Carol is a multipurpose email template and comes packaged with a whopping 100+ sections for you to build with. Like many Mailchimp newsletter examples on offer through ThemeForest, Carol can be edited and built using StampReady. With the wide array of elements, picking up Carol is just like having multiple custom Mailchimp templates at your disposal.

Carol Demo

Carol Mailchimp Email Template

11. Multimail Responsive Mailchimp Email Templates Set

Looking for the best Mailchimp templates to work with? Multimail is one of the best selling Mailchimp newsletter templates over the last year for a reason: it comes standard with over ten multi-purpose email templates for a variety of uses. It’s compatible with Mailchimp and a number of additional popular email marketing providers. 

But if that’s not enough, it also contains over 179 modules so you can make the best email newsletters around. Multimail is sure to help your email newsletter design stand out from the crowd. Definitely one of the best Mailchimp email templates you’ll find. 

Multimail Demo

Multimail Responsive Mailchimp Email Template Set

12. Fashionistas - Responsive Mailchimp Email Template

Very chic dah-ling. If you’re looking to sell your products and services with a mature, classy aesthetic, look no further. This template boasts, not only 59 different modules to build your campaign, but subscribe to the author’s email list and receive an additional free template every month. It’s one of the top Mailchimp examples for fashion brands.

Fashionistas Demo

Fashionistas - Responsive Email with Mailchimp Editor

13. Christmas and New Year Responsive Email Template With Builder

Here’s one of the top Mailchimp newsletter examples from ThemeForest that are for the winter holidays. It provides businesses with minimal yet modern email designs that work for sending fun emails for Christmas and New Year’s promotions. 

These custom Mailchimp newsletter templates include multiple files that you can tweak in Photoshop, StampReady, and more. It’s also been tested for compatibility for multiple email clients.

Christmas and New Year Demo

Christmas and New Year Responsive Email Template With Builder

14. Madeline - E-commerce Custom Mailchimp Template for Responsive Email 

Your marketing campaign will get a stylish boost with the Madeline custom Mailchimp template. There are multiple modules across different categories that you can edit. With Madeline, you can enjoy these features:

• responsive design for mobile devices
• clean and commented HTML code
• Mailchimp, FreshMail, and StampReady compatible 

This is a contemporary, easy-to-use alternative to free Mailchimp templates. If you want to work with one of the best newsletter templates, try out Madeline.

Madeline Demo

Madeline - E-commerce Responsive Email Template

15. Entity - Responsive Email + Themebuilder Access

With this theme builder, you will have a ton of options to put together your email. This means you’ll be able to reach your audience in a more effective way. You can customize this Mailchimp template, change colors, images and text, test it out, rearrange modules, and plenty more. You can do it all with this one, which is why it’s one of the best newsletter templates to have for your business marketing.

Entity Demo

Entity - Responsive Email + Themebuilder Access

Free Mailchimp Templates You Can Use in 2024

While premium themes are always the way to go, free Mailchimp templates can fit every budget. We’ve gathered a few free choices you can use for your email newsletter design. 

1. Summer Email Newsletter Campaign

Share the latest summer news with this free Mailchimp template. It’s perfect for the summer and can be tweaked for other times of the year.

2. Free Html Email Template – Photographer

Looking for free Mailchimp templates for your photography studio? Try out this option. It’s editable and has been tested on more than 30 email clients.

3. Salted Responsive Email Template

The free Salted Mailchimp template features a fresh, modern design for a campaign. You’ll also like how the HTML code is clean and commented for easy editing.

4. Narrative Free Email Template

Narrative is one of the best free Mailchimp templates you can find. Its design is simple and straightforward, and you’ll have no trouble adding your branding to its layout.

5. Architect – Free HTML Email Template

Last on our list of free Mailchimp templates is Architect. It features a dark theme that’s organized and easy on the eye.

3 Emails You Should be Sending (In Addition to Your Regular Newsletter)

3.8 billion people start their day by checking their email. Of that 3 billion, 60% prefer to receive marketing materials via email than Facebook or Twitter. After all this time, email marketing produce a better ROI than social media (and almost any other channel).

Chances are, you’re already familiar with email marketing and sending out a standard email newsletter. A semi-frequent round-up sent weekly (or monthly) to a general audience. According to Mailchimp, you should focus your email marketing content on relevant, engaging messages about useful stuff to your audience.

Black includes personalized email notifications.

Add event-related messages into your regular email marketing workflow. This can give you tremendous leverage with a tiny amount of effort by automating these messages. Just create and set them up once, and then set them on autopilot.

Here are three quick examples that most companies can (and should) begin sending this week:

1. Welcome Emails

These are simple introductory emails to welcome new people and begin building trust. Try to dig deeper to segment users within your audience to send them personalized emails. This will help increase engagement and generate greater ROI. Start building familiarity as soon as possible with a welcome email sent immediately to new subscribers or contacts.

2. Post-Purchase Emails

Sending emails to new customers and clients is a smart move to confirm their order and expand on what comes next. But they’re also a powerful way to continue earning trust, moving quickly to squash any potential buyers remorse before it strikes.

Following up after purchases also presents a new opportunity to capitalize on their interest to upsell, cross-sell, or encourage referrals to friends, family, and colleagues.

3. Past Customer Emails

We’re all going to lose customers or clients at a certain point in time. Unfortunately, that’s a given.

The good news is that you don’t have to completely abandon the relationship. Instead, you can send out emails to win back or recover lost customers and clients by highlighting new or different offerings.

Keep learning on the different types of effective marketing emails. Check out this tutorial:

• 

  10 different types of the most effective marketing emails

  

  Celine (CX) Roque

  10 Feb 2025

Tips for Excellent Marketing Email Newsletters From the Mailchimp Style Guide

Mailchimp is more than just a popular email marketing company. They’re also a brand that’s recognized by marketers around the world. That level of popularity and success is due to many factors, but one of those factors includes how they create their emails.

Make email newsletter designs that are worth reading. (Stock photo from Envato Elements)

If you’re looking to get the most out of the best email newsletters, check out some of these tips straight from Mailchimp’s very own content style guide:

1. Focus on your subject line. Your subject line is the first interaction recipients have with your brand. The quality of this line can make or break your email newsletter open rates.
2. Have clear calls to action. When your leads open up your eNewsletter, they shouldn’t wonder what you want from them. Follow Mailchimp’s example and add a button or link to the closing paragraph of your campaign.
3. Keep your writing tight. Concise writing should be the best friend of every marketer developing their email newsletter design. Having a clear purpose for every email you send out is a great way to focus your writing and ideas.
4. Have a structured hierarchy. The Mailchimp style guide makes a point of saying that modern readers scan content. To make the best email newsletters, create a hierarchy of content in the layout that’s easy to scan.
5. Use alt text. Alt text is a cornerstone of accessibility. Every Mailchimp email newsletter design you write that includes images must have alt text. This also works in your favor as many email clients disable images and leave the option to see them up to the reader.

Learn About Web Design From Envato Tuts+ on YouTube

Are you looking to learn outside of the world of custom Mailchimp templates? Then check out the Envato Tuts+ YouTube channel. There are hundreds of free video tutorials for illustration, video production, and web design!

Our web design video tutorial playlist will help you develop an online home for your organization. From sharing the best WordPress templates to building Shopify stores, you’ll be able to learn what you want at your own pace. Get started with the video below:

Find More Mailchimp Templates

We regularly publish roundups of the best Mailchimp newsletter templates for all kinds of situations–check out these posts if this one didn’t give you what you’re looking for!

• 

  15+ MailChimp Templates for Every Purpose and Occasion

  

  Paula Borowska

  14 Jun 2022
• 

  17 Great Campaign Monitor Templates for Email and Newsletters

  

  Brittany Jezouit

  14 May 2019
• 

  Mastering MailChimp: Best Templates and Email Tips for MailChimp Newsletters

  

  Brittany Jezouit

  10 Sep 2018

Grab a Mailchimp Email Template Now! 

Mailchimp is one of the simplest email marketing services to use. But when you try to upload pre-built Mailchimp newsletter examples that’s not built specifically for them, problems occur.

Difficulty going back to edit images and copy are routine. Compatibility with other email service providers like Gmail or Outlook can be a nightmare. And don’t even bring up responsive for mobile.

Fortunately, the best selling Mailchimp email templates listed here are all perfectly compatible with Mailchimp, simplifying your life with easy-to-use, drag-and-drop modules. Browse them today to find one that’s perfect for your business. 

And the custom Mailchimp templates do it without sacrificing beauty or aesthetic. so your email newsletter will look as good when published as it does when you originally edited it. 

Start browsing them today to find one that’s perfect for your business.

Editorial Note: This post has been updated with contributions from Nathan Umoh, Janila Castañeda and Dacia Egurrola. Nathan is a freelance instructor for Envato Tuts+. Janila is the Associate Editor of the Tuts+ Business channel. Dacia is a staff writer with Envato Tuts+.

Want to transform your content marketing from scattershot to strategic? You're not alone. While 88% of B2B marketers use content marketing, only 29% say their content strategy is very effective, according to the Content Marketing Institute.

But here's the good news: creating a solid content marketing plan doesn't have to be complicated. Whether you're just starting out or looking to level up your existing strategy, this guide will walk you through building a content marketing plan that actually works.

Let's cut through the complexity and create a plan that turns your content efforts into real business results. Ready to get started?

7 steps to create your content marketing plan

A successful content marketing plan isn't just a document. It's your roadmap to reaching and engaging your target audience. Whether you're creating your first content marketing strategy plan or refreshing an existing one, these seven steps will guide you through the process.

• 

  What is content marketing?

  

  Andrew Blackman

  19 Feb 2025

We'll walk through each step with practical examples, plus real-world case studies that show these principles in action. By the end, you'll have all the tools you need to create a content marketing plan template that drives real results.

1. Set your content marketing strategy

The foundation of effective content marketing isn't just creating content—it's creating content with a clear purpose. Without defined goals, you risk wasting resources on content that doesn't serve your business objectives.

Start by identifying your primary content marketing goal. While you may have multiple objectives, focusing on one core goal helps ensure your strategy stays focused and measurable. Here are the five most impactful goals to consider:

Brand awareness and reinforcement

This is the most popular reason people advertise. They’re trying to get more eyeballs and broader awareness. Brand awareness can be difficult to measure, but is a crucial part of growing your business.

Brand awareness starts with a blank canvas. While traditional advertising focuses on interruption, content marketing builds lasting awareness. (Image: Envato.)

Content marketing through blogging and social strategies is the best route for this because it’s organic and authentic, meaning people will trust your brand more and feel more loyal to you. However, it's not an overnight investment. 

Lead conversion and nurturing

Once someone subscribes to your emails, they’ve given you “permission” to market to them (of course, not in a spammy, salesy way).

Depending on what their conversion goal is, businesses may want to convert visitors into signing up for a webinar or downloading an ebook. You can keep using content to move them through the buying cycle on their customer journey.

Customer conversion

In this stage, the goal is to convert a subscriber into a customer. At this point, the subscriber is now a marketing qualified lead (MQL) so you start to send them content about your product or service.

• 

  10 different types of the most effective marketing emails

  

  Celine (CX) Roque

  10 Feb 2025

You could send them case studies of how your product or service worked for other clients. They need to know, in this stage, why your offering is best for their needs.

Customer service

Good customer service content helps your customers succeed with your products. Make how-to guides and tips that teach them to use what they bought. When you help customers learn early, you'll get fewer support tickets and build better relationships.

• 

  How to Deal With Angry Difficult Customers Effectively

  

  Sarah Joy

  12 Oct 2022

Pay attention to what your customers ask about most often. If many people have the same question, create content that answers it. You can make videos, guides, or updates that help new customers become comfortable using your product.

Customer loyalty and retention

You have customers—now, it’s time to keep those customers. You could do something like create a customer newsletter or host an event or create a webinar series.

The more engaging, high-quality content you create, the better you drive customer loyalty and retention.

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2. Research and define your audience

It's all about sending the right message to the right person at the right time.

But here's the thing: you need to know exactly who that "right person" is before you can create content they'll care about. Many content marketing plan templates fail because teams skip the research and rely on guesses about their audience.

Finding your ideal audience is like spotting the orange hard hat—it's about quality over quantity. (Image: Envato.)

Don't fall into the trap of chasing bigger numbers. More email subscribers or social media followers won't help if they're not the right fit for your business. Focus on understanding and reaching the people who really need what you offer. Quality always beats quantity when it comes to building an audience.

Action item 1: Gather information

Start by learning everything you can about your target audience. Talk to current customers, watch what people say online, and study your competition. This research helps you create better content marketing plan templates that really connect with readers.

Ask yourself key questions about your audience:

• What other products or services do they use now?
• Which websites, social media, or online groups do they visit most?
• Who's already serving these customers well?
• What common traits do your best customers share?

Look for patterns in the answers. These insights will help shape your content marketing strategy. The better you understand your audience, the more likely they'll pay attention to what you create.

Action item 2: Make lists

Once you understand who your audience is, it's time to find where they spend their time online. Your future customers are already out there—you just need to know where to look.

Professional networks like LinkedIn and industry-specific forums are often goldmines for B2B audiences. For consumer brands, focus on social platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook groups. Don't forget about specialty marketplaces either—places like Etsy for crafters or Product Hunt for tech enthusiasts.

• 

  How to Use LinkedIn Effectively (Beginner Quickstart Guide)

  

  Alexis (Lexi) Rodrigo

  24 Nov 2023

Industry events and conferences can also point you toward active online communities. Whether they're posting on LinkedIn or sharing on Discord, most professional groups now have a strong digital presence. Look for places where your audience already talks about problems you can solve.

Pro tip: Start with 2-3 platforms where your audience is most active rather than trying to be everywhere at once. This helps you build real connections instead of spreading yourself too thin.

Action item 3: Target

Now that you've gathered information and found where your audience spends time online, it's time to get strategic about reaching them. This is where your content marketing plan starts taking shape.

Different platforms need different approaches. LinkedIn users might want industry insights and professional tips, while Instagram followers often connect better with behind-the-scenes content and quick how-to guides. Match your content style to how people use each platform.

Start by focusing on one main channel where most of your potential customers hang out. Test different types of content to see what they like best. Once you know what works, you can adapt those winning ideas for other platforms.

Want to dig deeper into understanding your customers? Check out our complete guide to crafting customer personas that actually work.

• 

  How to Get to Know Your Customers

  

  David Masters

  05 May 2022

3. Do keyword research 

Think about the last time you needed an answer to something. You probably went straight to Google, right? That's exactly what your potential customers do too. They type in questions and look for helpful answers.

This is where keyword research becomes a crucial part of your content marketing plan. It helps you understand exactly what your audience is searching for online. When you know their search terms, you can create content that answers their questions.

Good sample content marketing plans aren't just about writing what you think is important—they're about matching your content to what people actually want to know. Start by listing questions your customers often ask. Then use tools like Google's Keyword Planner to find related terms that lots of people search for.

Google's Keyword Planner is a powerful tool to calibrate your content marketing efforts.

Focus on topics where you can offer real help. If you sell garden tools, for example, you might write guides about "how to start a vegetable garden" or "best tools for new gardeners." Your content marketing strategy should connect what you know with what people want to learn.

4. Plan your content map

Every strong content marketing plan needs main topics that anchor your strategy. These big topics, called content pillars, are like the foundation of a building—everything else connects back to them.

Like planning a journey, creating your content map means plotting the best routes to reach your audience. (Image: Envato.)

Think of content pillars as your core topics. If you sell camping gear, your pillars might be "Beginner's Guide to Camping," "Camping Safety," and "Family Camping Tips." These big topics give you plenty of room to create related content. From each pillar, you can create many smaller pieces of content:

• blog posts that dig into specific details
• quick social media tips
• how-to videos
• helpful email newsletters

Start by choosing three or four main topics that matter most to your customers. Make sure each topic:

• connects to your business goals
• answers important customer questions
• gives you room to create lots of related content
• helps establish you as an expert

This approach helps organize your content marketing strategy and makes it easier to plan what to create next. Plus, when you link related content together, you help readers find more of what they need—and keep them coming back to your site.

5. Create your content calendar

Planning beats winging it every time. A content calendar helps you stay organized, maintain a steady publishing schedule, and keep your content marketing plan on track. Here's how to build one that works for you.

Pick your planning tool

Tools help bring sanity to the creative process. While you can use a content management system like WordPress to draft and publish content, a separate tool for planning is highly recommended.

Many creatives choose Notion for this because of its flexibility. In my own workspace, I can pivot between a spreadsheet-style view, Kanban board, and individual cards with notes and briefs. I tag each piece I'm producing with due date, content intent, and focused keywords.

Choose a tool that fits how you work. You can view your calendar as a list, board, or timeline. Trello and Asana are also popular choices, especially when working with teams. Even a simple Google Sheet can work well if you prefer spreadsheets!

Set your schedule

Decide how often you'll publish new content. It's better to post less often but consistently than to start strong and fade out. Look at your resources and be realistic about what you can maintain:

• Weekly blog posts?
• Monthly in-depth guides?
• Daily social media updates?

Whatever schedule you choose, stick to it. Your audience will come to expect and look forward to your content.

Plan your content pieces

For each piece of content, outline these key details:

• Main topic and angle
• Target audience
• Key points to cover
• SEO keywords to include
• Type of content (blog post, video, etc.)
• Call to action

Pro tip: Use your content pillars from the previous step to guide what you create. Each piece should connect back to one of your main topics while helping reach your overall content marketing goals.

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  18 brainstorming rules to inspire more creative ideas

  

  Lisa Jo Rudy

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6. Design your content distribution strategy

Creating great content is only half the battle. Your content marketing plan needs a solid strategy for getting your work in front of the right people. Think about distribution as building bridges between your content and your audience.

Social media continues to lead content distribution, but with a twist. While platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn remain strong, TikTok and YouTube Shorts now drive significant engagement. Choose platforms where your target audience spends their time. Community engagement also matters more than ever. Look for:

• industry-specific Discord servers
• professional Slack communities
• Reddit communities in your field
• niche forums where your audience gathers

The key is to share your content where it adds value to existing conversations. Don't just drop links—instead, join discussions, answer questions, and become a trusted voice in these spaces. Your content marketing strategy should focus on building relationships, not just driving traffic.

• 

  30 budget-friendly marketing ideas for your new small business

  

  Julia Melymbrose

  21 Mar 2025

7. Measure your results

Every good content marketing plan needs clear ways to track success. Instead of just hoping your content works, set up specific goals you can measure. This helps you know what's working and what needs to change.

Pick numbers that matter

Focus on measurements that connect to your business goals. For example:

• If you want more website visitors, track your monthly traffic.
• If you're building an email list, watch your subscription rate.
• If you're after sales, monitor how many readers become customers.

Make your goals SMART

The best goals are:

• Specific: "Grow our email list" becomes "Add 100 new subscribers."
• Measurable: Use real numbers you can track.
• Attainable: Set goals you can actually reach.
• Relevant: Choose goals that help your business grow.
• Time-bound: Set clear deadlines for each goal.

Check and adjust

Look at your numbers at least once a month. Ask yourself:

• Which content pieces performed best?
• Where did most of your visitors come from?
• What made some content work better than others?

Use what you learn to make your content marketing strategy better. Sometimes you'll need to change your goals, and that's okay. The point is to keep improving based on real results.

• 

  Content Marketing Metrics: How to Measure Your ROI

  

  Andrew Blackman

  23 Jun 2023

You're ready to launch your content marketing plan

Creating a winning content marketing strategy is a marathon, not a sprint. Look for early wins, but remember that the real impact comes from consistent execution.

Even the most successful content marketers regularly evaluate and adjust their strategies. Approach content marketing with the scientific method in mind: hypothesize, test, measure, and iterate. Use the metrics you defined earlier to track progress, identify what's working, and optimize your plan as you grow.

Ready to bring your content marketing plan to life? Explore Envato's collection of professional assets. From website templates to social media graphics, you can create great posts with less effort than ever.

Advertising is the first thing that comes to mind when trying to monetize a blog.

Trouble is, there's no money in it.

Affiliate marketing process (illustration).

Well there is, but only if you write on popular topics with millions of pageviews. The atrociously low Cost Per Thousand-Impressions (CPM) model that's common in most display or banner advertisements means you're only making a few dollars each month unless you can get astronomically high traffic numbers. That's a deal breaker for niche topics, or ones with relatively low audience numbers.

It's also not a very effective model if you have a small, but dedicated following. It doesn't take into account your unique strengths, or appropriately value the worth of your loyal following.

Fortunately, there's another passive (or indirect) way to bring in revenue which does, and that is affiliate marketing. 

In this article, we cover what affiliate marketing is, how to use it, and how to make money with this strategy. That way, you can add a much needed income stream to your blog!

How Affiliate Marketing Works

What is affiliate marketing? 

Affiliate marketing presents an easy way for publishers to monetize their blogs and bring in extra revenue. Making it a perfect option for small or micro businesses getting their enterprise off the ground. 

It's essentially a revenue split, or share in the profits when something (typically a product) is sold. For example, you can get a cut of each sale made by simply sharing your latest favorite skin care mask with your health blog. That means you can find and represent products that you love (and may use) anyway, enthusiastically endorse them to your audience, and receive a percentage of each sale in the process.

Not a bad model, right? That's an affiliate marketing definition we can get behind!

Online affiliate marketing can also be a lucrative, 'passive' revenue stream because your links and endorsements can exist forever on your site, bringing in money each month from traffic that continues to come in through SEO and referrals from other sites or social media. 

Most affiliate programs (or networks, which we'll dive into in a second), will provide unique tracking URL's that will register each time someone clicks on that link and goes on to purchase one of their products. These unique links automatically take care of all the tracking and reporting for you, again reducing the headache or overhead needed on your side.

While affiliate marketing sounds too good to be true so far, there's a bit more work involved in getting everything up and running to a point where you'll see significant results. Let's learn how to become an affiliate marketer and cover some of the basics in the next section. 

How to Get Started with Affiliate Marketing

The key to affiliate marketing effectively starts by finding and endorsing products you truly enjoy. Not only is this good ethically, but the results (i.e. the revenue!) will also be much better because you'll invest more time into promoting higher quality products. And ultimately people are buying based on value, not empty, thinly veiled attempts to sell whatever possible.

So it makes sense, the best way to get started with online affiliate marketing is to begin looking for products you already love, and see if they have a program in place already.

Independent Brands

Many large independent brands will have their own affiliate network. For example, we here at Envato even have one. Our Envato Market affiliate program pays out more than $3 million dollars annually. That means if one of the readers of your site clicks on a referral link and purchases an item from our extensive network, you'll get 30% of that deposit or sale. Not bad! 

But we also regularly run large contests where you can walk away with part of $20,000 if you're in the lucky winning group. And the best part is that we provide referral banners, logos, and other helpful resources to save you time and improve your results.

Envato Market affiliate resources.

Affiliate Networks

There are also a number of popular affiliate networks that contain hundreds (if not thousands) of products that you can browse through and select. Here are some of the most popular:

1. CJ

CJ (formerly Commission Junction)

CJ (formerly Commission Junction) is one of the biggest affiliate networks around, with over 1,000 e-retailers to choose from. They also work with some of the biggest brands, which might make it easier to recommend and incorporate these products into your site. 

2. ClickBank

ClickBank

ClickBank focuses exclusively on digital products, which means you tend to get a lot of software and information products on this affiliate site. 

3. ShareASale

ShareASale

ShareASale has been in the business for over 16 years and provides a range of physical products, from Home & Garden to Fashion, Green, Business, and more.

Get Setup With an Affiliate Network

Once you've found products that are a perfect fit, the next step is to figure out how you're going to get these up-and-running on your site. Fortunately, each network will commonly provide a few different ways, so you can experiment with what's best. For example, ShareASale provides 'deep' links directly to products, coupons or deals, banner and text links, and even video creatives if vlogging is more your style.

ShareASale tools.

These provided links will take care of all tracking information, and sometimes commonly include a 'grace' period of 30 days for example, just in case the visitor doesn't purchase on their first visit. 

Each service will automatically split the payment and deliver it into your 'account', before paying out by check or direct deposit. The good news is that most networks typically work across many countries as well, meaning they can pay in pretty much any currency (as evidenced by CJ's direct deposit account below).

CJ direct deposit list.

There are also services like Skimlinks that after setup on your site can automatically affiliate your commercial content, transforming outbound links to products into affiliate links which you earn an income on.

Operate Within FTC Regulations

While everything sounds pretty simple and straightforward up until now, there is one critical topic to cover before getting started: regulations. The FTC has weighed in on this topic, requiring any endorsement with links on your site where you earn a profit, must be disclosed. And it has to be clear or unambiguous. 

Trying to bury these disclosures in random places like your Terms or on an About page doesn't cut it. A lawsuit surely isn't worth the headache, so be sure to always clearly explain that you will earn a share in the revenue made if someone makes a purchase.

Tips and Tricks to Increase Your Affiliate Revenue

We've covered the basics of getting started. Now it's time for the fun stuff. Let's look at how to start highlighting these products on your site.

The most obvious place to start is placing banners and other Calls To Action (CTAs) in your sidebar. These are a pretty standard place among all sites, which means their effectiveness is also diminished due to 'banner blindness'. So while it's a great place to start, you'll want to explore a few other areas as well.

1. Resources Page

Next up, is a basic 'Resources' page, where you simply list all of the resources you care about, use frequently, and would recommend to your audience to solve their common problems or needs. The good news about these pages is that you don't need to reinvent the wheel. You can simply list off the products, feature an image, and include a short explanation behind why you endorse the product and why it's useful. 

2. 'Extension' Page

After a basic 'Resource' page, you can also use additional pages to go into a bit more depth on a particular affiliate product. For example, Patt Flynn from Smart Passive Income calls these 'extension pages', and uses them on his LEED exam site with a detailed page on Practice Exams:

Example Extension page.

3. Blog Posts

The best place to authentically sell affiliate products is right in your content itself. Admittedly, this is a delicate balancing act, but if done correctly, will also provide the biggest opportunities for making affiliate money.

The trick, is storytelling.

Instead of going for the hard sale and focusing exclusively on the product, you should focus on 'why'. What is the compelling problem or pain point in someone's life, that would lead them to need this solution you're selling? 

Storytelling comes in by weaving a narrative around that primary pain point or topic, then slowly and methodically working your way down to the ultimate 'punchline' containing your affiliate product as the recommended solution. 

Many times, sharing your personal experience with the product (or more importantly, why you decided on using the product in the first place) is one of the easiest ways to provide a candid 'sales' message—without feeling like you're selling at all! 

And like all of the best movies or novels out there, there should be a clear difference between the before and after. Storytelling is all about highlighting the difference, and showing how the transformation happened while emphasizing the enviable after example.

You can even just use a basic call to action (CTA) at the end of a post, like this one from SugarRae.com (who we'll introduce in a minute):

Blog post CTA example.

Discover great Wordpress Themes on Envato Elements or ThemeForest.

4. Advanced Strategies

Once you've taken care of your sidebar, the Resource page, added Extension pages, and you've begun weaving the product(s) into your content, it's time to get a little more advanced.

There are two methods that will probably make up the bulk of your sales: SEO and email marketing.

Forrester Research analyzed over 77,000 online orders and concluded that search engines (both organic and paid) resulted in the most sales for new customers while email marketing was the best for repeat ones. 

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

While the full scope of SEO is beyond this article, there are a few tips you can use to get started. 

One of the biggest factors in determining your affiliate SEO success is choosing the right keywords in the first place. Fortunately, SEO guru Rae Hoffman (or 'Sugar Rae') has a detailed blog post that walks you through finding the best opportunities. 

Once you've found those keyphrase opportunities, it's time to strategically place them on your site. Look no further than Brian Dean's visual guide on the topic.

Affiliate Email Marketing

Chances are, you already understand how email marketing works. The real power though is using it to (a) automatically follow up with visitors, allowing you to (b) increase the frequency of messages.

That's a fancy way of saying: find a good reason to send people more messages about the product(s) you're endorsing! 

For example, a free 'email course' does just that. It provides valuable content and storytelling on a particular topic, while also featuring the product as a solution. 

The real advantages here are the fact that you can do the work once and set these up on autopilot to run forever. And they give you a convenient excuse to mention the same product over and over and over again, in a relatively short amount of time (while not annoying your normal readers who didn't sign up for this offer).

One of the best places to start learning more about email marketing is to sign up for a popular blogger's email list in your industry. Study the content they send to you to learn the ropes. You can deconstruct their approaches and see what resonates with you firsthand. 

We also have a comprehensive jumpstart guide to email marketing, here are three tutorials to get started with: 

• 

  How to create an email marketing plan

  

  David Masters

  31 Mar 2025
• 

  Which Email Type Is Best for Your Business?

  

  David Masters

  03 Jun 2022

You can purchase Email Marketing Templates on our Envato Market, which will give you a quality email design to work with at an affordable price. They are quick to set up and customize. We have templates for all the major email marketing systems, such as MailChimp, CampaignMonitor, Aweber and more.

Get Started With Affiliate Marketing!

The chances of making any substantial revenue through advertising on your blog are extremely low.

The good news is that affiliate marketing carries much of the same positives (such as providing a 'passive' way to increase revenue without having to offer services or create your own product), and avoiding the negatives (like minuscule profits).

Getting started with online affiliate marketing is easy if you can think of a product you love, and they offer a program already. But if not, you can start with one of the large networks that will provide hundreds of options to choose from and take care of the 'heavy lifting' like tracking or creative elements to help you sell.

Work these products into your site. Add a few simple dedicated pages like a Resource or 'extension' page. And insert them into your blog posts by carefully crafting a compelling narrative. 

Once that's all setup, pay extra attention to your on-site SEO and use email marketing to bring back repeat visitors and drive more sales on a regular basis.

This process might take some time to get up-and-running successfully, but the results will be worth it when you have a steady stream of income coming in on a regular basis.  

Editorial Note: This content was originally published in 2016. We're sharing it again because our editors have determined that this information is still accurate and relevant.

Results are what differentiate a landing page from every other page on your site.

They’re laser-focused web pages on specific topics that help to (a) bring in more visitors or (b) convert visitors into leads and sales.

Learn how to create successful landing pages in this tutorial. Image source: Envato Elements

The trick is moving beyond the visual aesthetic or design to make sure all the proper elements appear correctly on each page. We’ll cover these important pieces, and then dive into explaining what you should consider testing (and why), to increase your return on investment (ROI).  

If you want a quick project starting point, take a look through our Landing Page Themes on Envato Market. Otherwise, let's make sure we start this article by more fully answering the question: what is a landing page?

A Landing Page Defined

By it’s widest definition a landing page is any web page that someone can "land" on. That's a bit too broad to be helpful to us though. But, in the context of your small business marketing campaigns we can narrow this definition down considerably. 

Within your campaign, a landing page is a single website page that is designed with a narrow purpose. The goal is to limit the options a visitor to your landing page has and direct them to a clear objective. Landing pages have their navigation and other distractions removed. They appear as standalone pages on your site. 

The purpose of a landing page is to further your marketing or sales goals. Example are: 

• Click-through landing pages - that engage your users, warm them up, and then direct them to your eCommerce products to make purchase from you. 
• Lead generation landing pages - which have the goal of directing users to sign up for a newsletter or fill in a form, usually in exchange for a free ebook, consultation, or trial. 

A landing page is where you point your online ads and marketing links to. It's where you direct your potential customers. Landing pages are optimized for conversions, meaning the leads you send to these pages give you a better return. Higher conversions means more signups and more sales for your business. 

Landing pages are an important part of your online marketing strategy. Are you eager to add landing pages to your site? Or, if you already have a few landing pages, you may want to consider expanding on the strategy by adding more?

Why Your Website Needs (More) Landing Pages

Companies who increase landing pages from 10 to just 15 see a 55% increase in lead generation, according to a HubSpot report that analyzed the effectiveness of marketing benchmarks for 7,000 small businesses. 

So, more landing pages leads to larger results. It's a scalable strategy. But keep in mind, these landing pages shouldn't exist by themselves. They are part of a system that works together.

How Landing Pages Work

Each landing page is one component of a larger sequence of pages, where a visitor sees a Call to Action (CTA) or message (from your website, email or ad) and arrives for a specific reason.

Here, information is delivered according to the same CTA that generated the initial interest (known as ‘message match’), and provides some way to exchange information for the offer. The end of the sequence is a simple ‘Thank You’ page, letting visitors know that you’ve successfully received their information and alerts them to where or when they can expect the offer.

Benefits of Landing Pages

Landing pages provide the opportunity to increase 'content specificity', which can also help increase your organic search (or SEO) performance, becoming a highly sought after resource for niche or ‘long-tail’ topics. 

Pay Per Click (PPC) performance can also improve because you’re able to accurately match an ad’s value proposition and messaging directly with what visitors are seeing on your page.

Sales-focused pages get the added luxury of being able to expand on concepts, using storytelling that’s critical to persuasion. Typically that includes expanding on a value proposition or unique selling proposition. Also, providing supporting material like images or video, which can show the product or service in use. Then following up with credibility indicators like testimonials, seals of approval, and more.  

Last but not least, dedicated landing pages also give you the ability for experimentation. You can test messaging to see which performs best with your audience. Or you can test product demos or ways to position your services against competitors. 

The best part about this type of experimentation is that it allows you to test on a small scale, discover what works and what doesn’t, and then bring that information to the rest of your site or marketing materials.

Landing page effectiveness is best summed up by the top marketers in the business: 

With 50 links on your homepage, your attention ratio is 2%, compared to 100% with a single CTA.

Now that we know what landing pages are and why they are so effect, let's review how you can get started putting them together. 

5 Ingredients of a Good Landing Page

Whether we’re talking about a lead generation page for your consulting agency, or an eCommerce product, it all starts with getting the ‘essential ingredients’ together to give your landing page the best chance at success.

1. Page Design

First and foremost, is distraction-free design. As previously discussed, people are visiting this page for a reason. So keep it at that! Have one primary goal, and one primary message on the page, without a lot of extra elements that distract people from signing up on your form or hitting the Purchase button.

Removing menu links and navigation help to focus the user on the most important page elements by reducing the options they can take. The principle is driven home in the classic usability book Don’t Make Me Think, which proves time and again that the best usability tips for website visitors is to reduce confusion in favor of simplicity. While in some cases it’s fine to add another link or two, the point is to try and keep things as straightforward as possible by limiting available options.

We have a full video course on Landing Page Design Principles, or learn more in the following post: 

• 

  Fundamentals of Effective Landing Page Design

  

  David Masters

  24 Jul 2013

2. Headlines and Value Propositions

Headlines are really concise value propositions in disguise. The idea is to boil down what your product or service offers with a simple, straightforward message—one that focuses your main benefits or differentiates your selling points.

Another way to create this is to think about what people get from your product or service. That means the outcomes or end-results, which can be perfectly summarized with a case study or testimonial where a happy customer helps prove your case for you.

3. Images and Video

Your ‘hero’ image or video is just that: it expands on the value proposition by showing what the visitor could get or look like with your product or solution.

Think about some of the best commercials, like a Nike one, where the person is running up flights of stairs and seemingly conquering all evil. Incorporating compelling images and inspirational videos also help make the intangible concrete for your visitors. It’s not always easy to explain, in written text alone, how your services benefit people. But a simple story (similar to many explainer videos) can help crystalize exactly what you do, and why your solution is so valuable.

The Launch - Startup Landing Page Theme has full screen hero image and video options built in:

Hero video example from, Startup Landing Page Theme on ThemeForest.

4. Calls-to-Action

Calls-to-Action should be big, obvious, and compelling. Sticking with the theme of reducing cognitive stress, it should be immediately obvious to everyone what they’re supposed to fill out or where they’re supposed to click.

One of the important, yet often overlooked, aspects here is how you use design to help differentiate between multiple CTA’s on a page. For example, the ‘primary’ action you want someone to take should be more noticeable and emphasized on a page, while a ‘secondary’ action can be deemphasized with placement or maybe a text link (as opposed to a big button).

5. Credibility Indicators

You know that what you offer has value. But how do other people know that?

The best way is to use third party validation, so that you’re not just making the same baseless claims as the rest of your competition.

That means incorporating customer testimonials that illustrate the benefits customers have seen, logos of prestigious clients you've worked with, awards that you’ve won or press that has lauded your work, or case studies that show a certain percentage improvement other clients have gained. You can even use the corporate locations and number of customers you have as a way to demonstrate that your operation is first class.

The example below, from the Flatpack Landing Page Theme has a space set aside for showcasing logos from your best clients and quotes form your top testimonials:

Testimonial example from Flatpack Landing Page Theme Builder on ThemeForest.

What to Test? And Why?

Now you’ve got a beautiful landing page setup, and are ready to start A/B testing... right?

Unfortunately, not so fast.

Testing is all about context. That means before running off to test button colors, you first need to figure out:

1. Who’s coming to this landing page?
2. Where are they coming from?

Believe it or not, the promotional channel or source of a visit has a huge bearing on what you’re going to want on that page.

Considering this information outside of the landing page you’re working on will help provide some extra insight to know how a landing page should look, feel or sound.

Here are a few elements that you can test based on this new found understanding.

1. Layout

Knowing ‘who’ and ‘where’ helps guide structural decisions like the actual layout of each landing page.

For example, let’s say someone is relatively brand aware. You know that, because they’ve been on your email newsletter for some time now and have some familiarity or trust with you.

That means your best bet is a really short page that cuts to the chase. You don’t have to be overly clever with copywriting to try and beat them over the head with a sales offer. They know you, they trust you already, and they understand you. Just a simple direct question or offer will get the job done. The Flare Landing Page Theme is a great example of getting directly to the point. The text is minimal, and the landing page is driven more by images, elegant interactions, and direct calls to action.

Flare - HTML Startup Landing Page Template on ThemeForest.

Now compare that with somebody from an AdWords campaign, who’s not brand aware and has no idea who you are. They don’t know if your products are any good.

These people probably need a very long landing page. They might be more interested in additional videos and more customer testimonials and really strong supporting documentation or supporting evidence to show that you can do what you say you can do.

2. Messaging

Figuring out who you’re talking to is critical if you’re going to begin testing messaging and copy. That’s because different people—even within the same organization—might have vastly different motivations or messaging preferences.

For example, in one complex B2B transaction, you might be dealing with:

• the engineering lead
• a marketing or sales lead
• a CEO

The engineering lead is focused on specs and features. Marketing and sales might be more interested in hearing about website traffic or leads generated. While the CEO only cares about how much revenue was generated. They don’t care about technical specs. They don’t care about traffic figures.

The messaging and copy for these landing pages will differ and change drastically based on who is seeing this page. Learn more about how to write effective landing page copy in the following tutorial:

• 

  How to Write Landing Page Copy That Converts

  

  David Masters

  28 Aug 2013

3. Tone

Headlines are vastly important. But don’t neglect the tone behind your headlines.

Building on the last point, generally the more brand aware someone is (or the more trust they have with you), the more you can focus on what someone stands to gain, from your solution. Companies are generally pretty good at incorporating positive messaging.

However negative messaging tends to be more impactful, especially at the beginning of a relationship with a prospect or a website visitor who’s less brand aware. Typically this means helping people protect themselves from an external threat in their lives. Or helping them uncover the internal mistakes they’re already making.

Focusing more on what people might be missing out on or what people might be losing, as a fundamental primal motivator, tends to help you cut through the clutter and get more attention with people who aren’t as aware of who you are, or what you do.

4. Visuals

The visuals you’re using (or not using) on a landing page can have a huge bearing on the overall conversions.

Start by ditching dated stock photography—the kind that obviously looks like stock photography that shows up on every other site in your industry. Spend a few minutes browsing Envato Elements for authentic photo options. Or jump over to GraphicRiver and you’ll quickly find unique graphics that will help you emphasize the end result or outcome your solution delivers.

Videos are worth their weight in gold, but be careful. Video requires a careful coordination of a good script, delivery of your message, lighting, sound, and at least some basic production values.

In other words, it’s difficult to pull off if you don’t know what you’re doing. Fortunately, VideoHive has tons of great video project files to help you get started, from transitions and product promotions, to motion graphics and stock opener footage.

5. Calls To Action

Last but not least, analyze the types of calls to action you’re using.

For example, if you’re using a form, how many fields do you absolutely need in that form? Generally speaking, shorter forms with less fields have higher conversions. But if you’re trying to generate a sales lead, then intentionally making them longer so you can better qualify each lead is a smart choice.

If you’re using simple text links or buttons, focus on the language you’re using. Words like ‘submit’ tend to have a negative connotation (stemming from the word ‘submission’). And instead of a basic word or two, try incorporating something that’s action-oriented. Here, verbs like ‘get’ or ‘download’ help tell the reader what to do. Or, as in the example below from the Getleads Landing Page Theme, 'start' is used for an inviting call to action button: 

Getleads Landing Page Theme on ThemeForest.

Here is a thorough guide to landing page conversion, if you need to dig into the subject deeper: 

• 

  A Smart Guide to Landing Page Optimization

  

  Eddie Earnest

Create Landing Pages With Purpose

Today’s websites aren’t static, information brochures. They exist for some purpose, and typically that’s to help you generate awareness, pull in potential leads, or engage new customers.

Landing pages are an essential ingredient of your marketing, helping to provide a very specific offer to a very specific person. They can inform, persuade, motivate, and satisfy visitors by delivering a useful solution to a painful problem.

Want better results? Start by creating more landing pages. Incorporate the basic elements and other best practices listed here.

Then to optimize, try to take a step back and understand the bigger picture by analyzing who’s coming to your site, and where they’re coming from. Seeing the entire customer journey from beginning to end will ultimately help you make better decisions of what to create, or test, on each page.

That way, instead of obsessing over how your landing pages look. You’ll focus more on how effective they are.

What Next? 

If you’re new to planning and designing landing pages, then read through this small business series on creating landing pages that convert or one of these tutorials on niche landing page design, designing an app landing page in Photoshop, or using Instapage to create a landing page. 

If you want a quick start to do it yourself, take a look through our Landing Page Themes on Envato Market.

Editorial Note: This content was originally published in 2016. We're sharing it again because our editors have determined that this information is still accurate and relevant.

If you’re starting a business, one thing you’ll need to do early on is to write a business plan. 

Using a business plan template can help you write a great business plan.

But it can be hard to know where to start. You can find plenty of business plan templates online, but filling them out can still be tough. What information should you include? How much detail should you go into? What are the essential ingredients for a successful business plan?

In this tutorial, I’ll answer all those questions for you. I’ll take you through what a business plan is and why you should write one, and then we’ll look in detail at each of the sections of a business plan.

Whether you’re working from a template or staring at a blank sheet of paper, by the end of this tutorial you’ll know exactly how to proceed and will feel confident in your ability to create an effective business plan.

1. What Is a Business Plan?

Let’s start with the basics and settle on a basic definition of a business plan.

The U.S. Small Business Administration gives a pretty good description:

A business plan is an essential roadmap for business success. This living document generally projects 3-5 years ahead and outlines the route a company intends to take to grow revenues.

Notice that the definition doesn’t include anything about the format of the business plan, the length, the detailed contents, or the intended audience. All of those things can vary widely, so although we’ll look at some common approaches in this tutorial, there’s always scope for you to do it differently.

The important thing is that you create a “roadmap for business success”, looking into the future and planning how your company will grow.

Also notice that it’s a “living document”, so don’t feel pressured into thinking that you need to have all the answers right now. It’s designed to grow and change with your business, so this is not a single, perfect document, but the first draft of many. I’ll cover updating your business plan in the final section.

2. Why Write a Business Plan?

You may be reading this tutorial because you’ve been told to create a business plan. If you’re trying to raise funds for your business or to attract investors, a business plan is often a requirement.

A bank, for example, won’t want to lend you money without first getting a detailed understanding of how your business works, how it fits into the competitive landscape, and how you plan to generate the profits that will enable you to pay that money back in future.

The same goes for angel investors, venture capitalists, or other people who may be thinking of investing in your business.

So a business plan is often a key component of a package you put together when you’re seeking funding. For more on this process, see the following tutorials:

• 

  How to Craft a VC-Ready Pitch Deck

  

  Eddie Earnest

  29 Jan 2014
• 

  Borrowing Money to Fund a Business

  

  Andrew Blackman

  18 Feb 2014
• 

  How Angel Investors Can Fund Your Business

  

  Andrew Blackman

  05 Apr 2022
• 

  How to Raise Money From Venture Capitalists

  

  Andrew Blackman

But that’s not the only reason to write a business plan. Even if there’s no external requirement to write one, it’s still an essential component of starting a company with solid foundations.

In a previous tutorial, I went through a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to starting a business, and writing a business plan came early on, as step 3. To me, it just makes sense.

As Benjamin Franklin said:

“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.”

Making a plan is a basic step that you should take before any major activity. Writing a business plan may be a painful process, but it forces you to think through your strategy and get clear about key things like your value proposition, your target customers, your financial plan, and so on. Better to struggle with those things now than to have your business suffer from lack of clarity.

You’ll find some articles suggesting that business plans are outdated, particularly in today’s fast-moving, ever-changing world. But remember the SBA’s definition of a business plan as a “roadmap for success”. Having a map doesn’t commit you to following one particular route. In your business journey, you’ll probably end up getting diverted, taking shortcuts, trying to dodge traffic, and maybe even making the odd U-turn. In a world of change, having a map becomes even more important.

So be ready to change your business plan as you go, and certainly don’t feel constrained by it. But having a plan, even a provisional one, will help you to make sure that your business idea makes sense, that you have thought through all the problems you could face, and that you are ready to make the significant investment of time and money that a business entails.

Bottom line: You plan your vacation, so you should definitely plan something as important as your business.

3. What Makes a Good Business Plan?

So what makes for an effective business plan? It depends on your audience: whether you’re writing it for yourself, or for potential investors, lenders or business partners.

External Audience

If you’re writing a plan to convince people to lend money or invest in your business, then your plan will need to accomplish a few things:

1. Have a compelling executive summary that clearly explains your business idea and gets people hooked on its potential.
2. Include enough detail to enable the reader to understand your products/services and what makes them special.
3. Show what’s different about your company and what advantage it has over competitors.
4. Demonstrate a clear strategy for winning new customers and increasing revenue each year.
5. Include a solid financial plan with realistic growth projections.

For an external audience, presentation is also very important. You’ll be judged primarily on the content, of course, but we’re all affected by how something looks, aren’t we? If you visit a website and it has an amateurish, 1990s design, you’re less likely to click around than you are when you find a polished, attractive site.

It’s just the same with business plans. Focus on the content, but don’t neglect the design. If you use a professional-looking business plan template, you create a positive first impression, help your reader to find the crucial information quickly, and make reading your plan a pleasant experience.

Business Plan template from Envato Market

There’s no prescribed length for a business plan—it depends on how complex your business is and how much detail you need to go into. As a general guide, if you aim for 15 to 20 pages you’ll be on the right track. But if you’ve communicated all the important points in five pages, please don’t feel any need to pad it out; conversely, if you need more space, that’s fine too.

Internal Audience

If you’re writing a business plan for your own benefit, then of course the format is less important. It’s more about capturing the essential information you need to understand your business and how it will grow.

For example, the founders of My Possibilities, an organization providing continuing education for adults with disabilities, wrote their initial business plan on a Starbucks napkin.

As we’ll discover later, a good business plan is a living document anyway, so you can (and should) go back to it later and enhance it. So it may start on a napkin or in a simple Word document, and then evolve from there later on.

Most of the points I described above still apply for an internal business plan. It’s just that the purpose changes; it’s not about convincing other people that your business has a bright future, but about getting clear for yourself on what that future looks like and how you’ll get there.

So it’s still good practice to include an executive summary, for example. You may think you don’t need one, but you’ll find that the exercise of boiling your business idea down to a brief “elevator pitch” gives you much greater clarity. It will also help you talk about your business and promote it when you come across networking opportunities.

Likewise, you’ll still want to describe your products/services, your competitive advantage, and your strategy for winning new customers. And a solid financial plan showing how you plan to grow is an absolute must.

In the following section, I’ll go through the key components of a business plan. These sections are important to include if you’re creating a formal plan for an external audience, but if you’re writing it just for yourself, you have some more flexibility.

I’d still recommend going through all of them and including them in some form, but you can adapt the document to your own needs. As long as you answer the most important questions, like what’s unique about your business and how it will attract customers, you can follow whichever format makes the most sense for your company.

For more on creating flexible business plans like this, see the following tutorials:

• 

  A Fluid Business Plan Template for Your Microbusiness

  

  Skellie

  19 Sep 2013
• 

  Business Plans for Freelance Consultants

  

  Will Kenny

  09 Oct 2012

4. Key Components of a Business Plan

So we’ve looked at why you should write a business plan and what makes a good business plan. Now it’s time to get more specific about the contents.

So now I’ll list the main sections you should include, and tell you how to approach each section. These are the seven sections recommended by the National Federation of Independent Business, but you’ll also find other sources, such as the U.S. Small Business Administration, making very similar suggestions.

Of course, you can vary this depending on your own situation. For example, if you’re running a tech firm and presenting your plan to a technically-literate audience, you may want to include a section providing more detail on the technology and how it works. But the following general guide will work for most businesses.

Executive Summary

If you’re looking for funding, this could be the only section that potential lenders or investors read. If this section convinces them that your company has potential, they’ll read more; if not, your beautifully printed plan with all its glossy charts and images is destined for the recycle bin.

By the way, I’m listing the Executive Summary first because it appears at the beginning of the document, but you may want to write it after completing the rest of the plan, or at least come back to it then and modify it. As you’ll see, a lot of the content draws from what you’ve written in other sections of the plan.

Your executive summary should start with an ultra-short description of your company. In a single sentence, or at most a short paragraph, describe what you do and why you do it. Keep it simple, and avoid jargon.

This can be a surprisingly difficult thing to do. As an entrepreneur you’re probably full of enthusiasm about all the different things your company does, and condensing it all into a single sentence is tricky.

Here’s a useful trick: go to a search engine and type in the names of some of your favourite companies. Then look at the snippet of text that appears underneath the company’s name in the search results. It serves a slightly different purpose, but it can be a good, quick way to see how companies self-identify in a very limited space.

If you go to Google.com and search for “New York Times”, for example, the text snippet is:

Live news, investigations, opinion, photos and video by the journalists of The New York Times from more than 150 countries around the world.

For Envato, the company that runs this site, the text is:

Join millions and bring your ideas and projects to life with Envato - the world's leading marketplace and community for creative assets and creative people.

After you’ve crafted a good, pithy description, the rest of the executive summary should be dedicated to summarizing what you cover in the rest of the document. So you’ll want to go through the rest of the sections and pull out the highlights.

And I mean the real highlights—aim to keep this section to a single page. Remember that the purpose of the executive summary is to get people hooked on your company and convince them to read more. Don’t include details—they’ll find those later on.

Be specific, by all means, about the big-picture things like the problem you solve, the strategy you follow, your target customers and your top-level financial information. But keep strictly to the big picture, and leave everything else for later.

If you’re writing the plan for a particular purpose, for example to secure funding, then you should also use the executive summary to tell people exactly what you want from them and why.

Company Description

This section is a high-level overview of your company.

Wait, didn’t we just do that in the executive summary? Yes, but this section is a little different. The executive summary was like an initial elevator pitch for your company. The company description gives information that is useful to your reader, but doesn’t fall into the “attention-grabbing” category.

For example, this section often gives a brief history of the company—when it was founded, where it’s located, and some of the major milestones it’s reached so far. This wouldn’t be appropriate for the executive summary, because it’s not going to convince anyone to read further. But it is something that an investor or lender would want to know about once they’ve decided to read on.

Similarly, you should mention the legal structure of your business—whether you’re a sole proprietor, a limited partnership, a corporation, or another form. For more on this, see the following tutorial:

• 

  Which Legal Structure Is Right for Your Business?

  

  Andrew Blackman

  15 Apr 2014

If your business has shops, offices or other physical locations, mention those here too. And you can also give more information on your products/services, who your customers are, and what your goals are for attracting more customers in future.

Remember that some of this information will appear in the following sections, so don’t go into too much detail or duplicate too much information—it’s fine to keep this section quite short.

Products/Services

No matter what kind of business you run, the bottom line is that you’re selling something. This section is designed to give a clear description of exactly what you’re selling.

It’s a good idea to approach this, however, from the point of view of a potential customer, rather than from your own point of view as the producer. You may have packed all sorts of cool features into your product, but what matters is how those features help your customers solve a problem or have a great experience.

For example, if you run a software company and your main product is a fitness app, don’t just list the features of the app or the code you used to build it. Instead, pinpoint how your app is different from the hundreds of other fitness apps on the market. What new approach does it take? How will it improve the lives of the people who buy it? What problem does it solve in a way your competitors don’t?

Whether you’re selling products, services, or a mix of both, the same rule applies. Try to step outside your company and see what matters to your customers. That, ultimately, is what any investors or lenders will care about—and it’s what you should care about too. Customers are the lifeblood of your business.

So if the company you run is a design studio, think about how it’s different from all the others. Maybe you serve a particular niche market, maybe you and your staff bring a unique set of skills, or maybe you offer a broader range of add-on services.

Also think about where your product fits in the product lifecycle. This is not a new concept, as you can see from this 1965 Harvard Business Review article, but it’s remained remarkably unchanged as other business fads have come and gone. Here are the four stages that products go through:

1. Market development
2. Growth
3. Maturity
4. Decline

For some products, like hi-tech gadgets, that lifecycle can be very fast; for more traditional products, it can be much slower. Describe what stage your product is in and how long you expect it to take to progress through the various stages.

And that leads on naturally to the next question: When your current main product goes through its natural lifecycle into decline and ultimately death, what else have you got in the pipeline? Or what research are you doing to come up with those follow-up products?

If you’re stuck for ideas, try this tutorial:

• 

  How to Create a Product Roadmap

  

  Thursday Bram

One final thing: If you hold any patents or other intellectual property, you should also mention them in this section.

Market Analysis

Now that you’ve described what you’re selling, you need to focus on who you’re selling it to.

The idea of the market analysis is to describe your customers. Who are they, how many of them are there, and how many can you expect to get?

That starts with the big picture: what industry are you in, how big is that industry, and how fast is it growing?

Then define your target market: a smaller segment of the overall customer base within your industry, to whom you plan to sell your products or services.

You’ll need to do some market research for this section, if you haven’t already. Try to get figures on how much money your target market spends on your kinds of products and services. Run surveys to find out what they’re looking for and whether your competitors’ offerings are meeting their needs.

There’s a lot to do here, so for more detail, see these tutorials:

• 

  How to Get to Know Your Customers

  

  David Masters

  05 May 2022
• 

  How to Identify Profitable Clients: A Step-by-Step Guide

  

  Celine (CX) Roque

  12 May 2022
• 

  How to Find Out Exactly What Your Target Clients Want—Then Sell It to Them

  

  Celine (CX) Roque

  24 Aug 2015
• 

  How to Put 'The Business Model Canvas' to Good Use

  

  Sven Lenaerts

  31 Jul 2013

Then think about how much market share you can expect to gain. This involves a lot of estimating, so be clear about the assumptions you’re using and their justification.

Also describe your pricing strategy, and how you fit into the competitive landscape. No matter how good your products or services are, it’s likely that your competitors will have at least some advantages over you, so be honest about those. List your strengths and weaknesses, any problems you face, and how you will overcome them.

Strategy and Implementation

So we now know what you’re selling and who you’re selling it to. The next step is to define how you’re going to build your products, and how you’re going to reach all those potential clients.

In other words, what’s your strategy for sales, marketing and operations?

For example, do you have a dedicated sales force, or do you plan to hire one? How will you identify prospects, and how will you approach them?

What’s your marketing plan? How do you plan to position your products or services to convince people to buy them? How will you advertise? Do you plan to use social media as a marketing channel? If so, how?

This is another huge area, but fortunately we have dozens of tutorials in our Marketing category to help you, such as:

• 

  A Brief Introduction to Bootstrapping Your Marketing

  

  David Masters

  22 Feb 2021
• 

  How to Systematize Your Online Marketing

  

  David Masters

  07 Jul 2022
• 

  How to create an email marketing plan

  

  David Masters

  31 Mar 2025

For the operations side, you don’t need to go into a huge amount of detail on the behind-the-scenes workings of your business. Just give an overview of how you’ll operate the business.

For products, this could be a description of where you acquire supplies, how you build the products, and how you distribute or deliver them. For services, you could describe the process of delivering that service, from client acquisition through to project definition, delivery and completion.

Organization and Management Team

This section is just what it sounds like. Describe your company's organizational structure. Who owns it, who manages it, and who are the key employees?

A simple organization chart is useful here. But the most important thing is not really the names of the departments or the people in charge. What matters is who those people are. What skills and experience do they bring to the company?

That, after all, is a key factor in the success of any business. Having the right people will help you navigate the difficult road ahead. So take the time to profile each of your key employees. Even if there aren’t many of them—or even if it’s just you—it’s important to show that your team is qualified and competent. Focus particularly on experience that’s relevant to the company, rather than just general background.

Financial Plan and Projections

This final section gets down to the dollars and cents. (Or insert the currency of your choice here!)

If you’re already in business, how much money have you been making, and how do you expect that to change? If it’s a new business, what are your forecasts for the next few years?

The information here needs to be quite detailed. For the historical part, you’ll need to produce income statements, balance sheets and cash flow statements year by year for the past five years (or however long you’ve been in business).

For the projections, you’ll need to produce the same statements based on your estimates for the next three years. You’ll also need to justify those estimates by showing what they’re based on. Feel free to use an appendix if it’s a lot of information.

You may need to hire an accountant to help you prepare these statements, especially if the financial stuff doesn’t come easily to you. But if you want to do it yourself, the following tutorials will help you:

• 

  From Idea to Break-Even: How to Create a Financial Model for Your Business

  

  Andrew Blackman

  03 May 2022
• 

  Bookkeeping 101: What You Need to Know to Run Your Business

  

  Andrew Blackman

  08 Sep 2014
• 

  How to Read an Income Statement

  

  Andrew Blackman

  29 Mar 2022
• 

  How to Read a Balance Sheet

  

  Andrew Blackman

  08 Aug 2022
• 

  How to Read a Cash Flow Statement

  

  Andrew Blackman

  30 Mar 2022

5. How to Use Your Business Plan

Whether you’ve created your business plan for an external audience or for your own purposes, it’s important that you remember what we established right at the beginning: it’s a living document.

So even if you created it to apply for a particular type of funding, don’t just discard it after your application has been accepted or rejected. You’ve taken the time to create a comprehensive strategic view of your business, so why not put it to good use?

Your business plan can be central to your goal-setting and decision-making within the company for years to come. So update it regularly, using whatever schedule makes most sense, but at a minimum every year.

Your goals will change, and so will your strategies and probably your products and services too, and that’s OK. It’s the nature of being in business. Nothing stays the same for very long.

For more information, check out our planning tutorials on Envato Tuts+, in particular the series David Masters wrote on Strategic Planning for Your Microbusiness.

Conclusion

As you’ve seen in this tutorial, a business plan is an essential document for any company. A well-written plan can give you new insights and clarity on your business strategy—and if you’re applying for loans or investment, it can help you secure the funds that will fuel your growth.

You now know exactly what’s involved in writing an effective business plan. You’ve seen the purpose of the plan and how it can be used, and we’ve gone through the key components, section by section, explaining how you should approach each one and what you should include.

Some of the sections, such as analyzing your target market and coming up with a sales and marketing strategy, require quite a bit of extra research. If you haven’t already done that work, I’d suggest that you follow some of the links I included in those sections, so that you can get more information on how to gather the necessary data.

Finally, if you want to see how the business plan fits into the bigger picture of launching your new company, have a look at my tutorial on How to Start a Business.

Editorial Note: This content was originally published in 2016. We're sharing it again because our editors have determined that this information is still accurate and relevant.