15 Questions About the New Gator Website Builder

The post 15 Questions About the New Gator Website Builder appeared first on HostGator Blog . Gator Website Builder is a drag-and-drop website builder created by HostGator. Gator was created for anyone who has an idea for a website and wants a frustration-free solution to get a website online with ease. It even has eCommerce functionality! The HostGator team hosted a webinar announcing the Gator Website Builder, complete with a live demo. If you missed the webinar, watch the replay here . Attendees had quite a few great questions about how to use Gator for their needs. Here are the top 15 questions we received about Gator Website Builder during the webinar. 1. Will the Gator Website Builder be available for reseller accounts? A reseller account allows individuals to run their own hosting business and sell hosting accounts to their web design clients. At this time, Gator Website Builder is not available to resellers since Gator does involve a different billing system and platform. 2. I tried working with WordPress and it’s pretty difficult. Can I transfer my WordPress site into Gator? There are certainly many pros and cons to weigh when considering if you should choose between WordPress or a website builder . WordPress is popular and very robust, but does require some configuration involved when you are first setting up your website. We created Gator Website Builder to be a robust tool to create your website with minimal configuration from the beginning. If you want a frustration-free solution to get a website up with ease, Gator Website Builder could be exactly what you need! Watch the webinar to see a live demo or read this article for 10 reasons we think you’ll love Gator . Currently, we don’t have an import or migration capability that allows us to automatically migrate your content from WordPress or other website builders. However, you could manually move your content to Gator Website Builder by copying and pasting your text into the Gator editor. 3. I already have a HostGator account. Do I have access to the Gator Website Builder? If you already have a HostGator website, there is a drag-and-drop editor available in the customer portal. However, in order to access all of the features of the Gator Website Builder, such as the Gator control panel, professionally-designed templates, and the eCommerce functionality, you will need to create an account with Gator Website Builder. 4. What types of design templates come with Gator Website Builder? Gator Website Builder comes with more than 200 professionally-designed themes at no additional cost. The themes are even sorted by category so you can easily find a design that fits your website or business. We had questions about what types of designs are available. Here’s the full list of design categories. This is the full list of design categories available in the Gator: architecture & real estate beauty & fashion blog business & consultant computers & technology construction & trade design & creative hotels & travel lifestyle music & entertainment night life one pagers online store pets & animals photography portfolio professional services restaurants & eateries sport & leisure wedding 5. Can you add SEO elements such as meta tags and alt tags? Yes, Gator Website Builder comes with the ability to change SEO elements without needing an additional plugin! You can change the page title and metadescriptions for each page in the settings tab of each page. To add alt tags to an image, simply click on the image when you upload it, and change the SEO characteristics under the settings section. 6. What packages and features do you recommend for a nonprofit? If you are running a nonprofit website and want to be able to accept donations online, we have a “PayPal donate” element that can be added to the website. The PayPal donate element can be added to any of the Gator plans – even the starter plan – to accept donations. You only need an eCommerce plan if you want to sell physical or digital goods on your website. While there isn’t a specific category for nonprofit websites, all of the themes can be customized with your own photos so any design could easily be appropriate for your nonprofit website. There’s even a category called “one pagers” for websites that don’t need a lot of pages. Need to feature events? Calendar functionality is on our roadmap for future features. In the meantime, you could add HTML to embed Google calendar or something similar. 7. Can I import products into the eCommerce plan instead of entering them manually? The eCommerce store has a product import feature that accepts excel, google sheets, or CSV format. We also have a handy .xls template you can download! 8. Can specific HTML coding be added easily? Yes! Gator Website Builder has an element that allows you to add a block of HTML code anywhere you want on a page. 9. Can you add Venmo as a payment option? Currently, Gator Website Builder integrates with paypal, stripe, and cash on delivery is also an option for local businesses. Venmo is a great idea! We will add this to our roadmap for future development. 10. How many eCommerce sites can I have with the eCommerce package? You can create multiple websites under one account in Gator. Each websites counts as a subscription, and you would be charged for each website. 11. If I start a blog, can I upgrade to eCommerce later? Absolutely! You do need an eCommerce plan to start an online store, but you don’t have to do that right away. Within the dashboard, there is a ‘store’ button. Click this button and you’ll see the option to upgrade to an eCommerce plan and create your store. 12. Can I use my own domain name? Can I have more than one domain name redirect to the site? Yes! If you sign up for one year or more, you will receive a free domain for the first year. If you already have your own domain, you can easily connect it to your Gator website. You can transfer your domain to HostGator with a few steps. Or you can link an existing domain to your Gator account if you would rather keep your domain with your current host. If you would like to link more than one domain to your site, you can do that too! DNS changes would need to be made if the site is registered outside of Gator. Within Gator, you can simply point the domain to the your site in the control panel. 13. Can I edit from my mobile? Unfortunately, at this time, you can only edit your Gator website from a desktop. To fully utilize the functionality of the drag-and-drop editor, it’s really best on a desktop experience. 14. Can I add product categories in the eCommerce store? Yes, the Gator eCommerce store has product category functionality already built in. You can manually create category pages in the main editor and add more categories in the store app.   To add relevant subcategories that will show up in the dropdown for your main menu pages, add a new page for each subcategory and drag it underneath the page you’ve added to the main menu. You can use this page to highlight all the relevant products that fall into the category, and to optimize your site for the relevant SEO keyword. Click to read more about how to create your eCommerce store with a website builder. 15. When I enter products for the store, can I add weight and package size to calculate shipping rates? Your Gator store comes with integrated shipping options thanks to our partnership with Shippo! Shippo is an integrated software company incorporates shipping with multiple carriers through an API and web application. You can use weight-based shipping with priorities like, “Next Day, 2 Day, or Standard Shipping.” You can create your Shippo account from your Gator dashboard and create all the necessary details about your shipments. So what about you? Do you have any questions about the Gator Website Builder that we didn’t cover? Comment with your question below! Gator Website Builder is an affordable option for how to get your website online with ease. Check it out today! Find the post on the HostGator Blog