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5 Ways Your Website Could Be Better

Posted on October 11, 2013 by Hosting

The post 5 Ways Your Website Could Be Better appeared first on HostGator Web Hosting Blog | Gator Crossing . If you’re looking for ideas on how to increase traffic, gain more online customers, and improve your brand reputation online, look no further. We’ve put together a helpful list that outlines ten ways your website could be better. If you’re just not getting what you’ve been hoping to get out of your website, consider the following:   It could be responsive. Responsive websites use flexible and fluid layouts that adapt to almost any screen. According to a recent Forbes article , responsive web design is a “design approach that enables Web designers and developers to build and maintain a single website to serve to all kinds of devices: smartphones, tablets, laptops and more.” As more and more consumers continue to use their smartphones as the primary way they shop, read their news, interact with friends, and document their lives, it’s even more important than ever for businesses to make their websites as mobile-friendly as possible. For many businesses in recent years, the movement toward mobile meant they had to design and launch a completely separate mobile site for their business. Responsive design offers a way for businesses to build one website that consumers can view from a variety of different devices (iPad, laptop, desktop, iPhone) and browsers (Firefox, Chrome, Safari). If you aren’t using a responsive design for your website, consider doing so. With a responsive design, you can feel confident that your consumers are able to visit your website throughout the entire buying process. In the same Forbes artilce, an expert explains how the buying process can work for a business that uses a responsive website: “With a responsive website, businesses can be in front of consumers at every step of their online journey. People who search for a business’ site, begin reading content and viewing videos from their desktop computers at work, and then look for the same business on their smartphones during lunch are able to continue their research into products and services uninterrupted.”   It could be more social. If you haven’t already, you need to integrate social media into your website. At the very least this means adding links and buttons that direct visitors to the social media sites your business has an active presence on (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, etc). If you really want to impress your customers and prospective clients however, spend time making your site more social across the board. To get started, embed your Facebook and Twitter feeds onto your homepage or blog sidebar. Next, add social share buttons to your pages and blog posts. You can do this easily by using the service AddThis provides. Finally, add the ability for visitors to comment or log into your website using their Facebook account.   It could include more visuals. According to HubSpot , 40% of people will respond better to visual information than plain text. If the only visuals you’re using on your website are stock photos and clipart, it’s time for an upgrade. It shouldn’t be too hard to recognize that consumers prefer visual content. Sites like Facebook and Twitter have invested heavily in the last few years into making updates to their sites that have made for a much more visual experience for users. Your website should include original photos and videos that help your customers understand who you are, what you sell, and why they should buy. Your visuals should also help educate your prospective customers and leverage you as an influencer—someone who can help solve their problems.  To start adding more visual content to your site, experiment with a few of the tools listed here .   It could include enticing Call-To-Actions. If the high traffic to your website isn’t converting into sales, it might be because your site lacks effective call-to-actions (CTAs). According to Hubspot, “CTAs are what motivate and direct your visitors to take a desired action. They bridge the gap between anonymous website visitors and marketable leads.” CTAs are what help move your prospects down your sales funnel. With them, you can transform passive website visitors into loyal customers. To start creating and using effective call-to-actions, follow the tips we outlined in this blog post .   It could feature testimonials or case studies from clients and partners. As competition online continues to intensify, you need to be going out of your way to prove to consumers that they should be interacting with your business and purchasing your products or services. One way to do this is by highlighting real and true success stories from your clients and partners. Consumers online will appreciate how passionate you are about your products and services, but they’ll give more weight to genuine statements from other people who have benefited from working with you. If you currently are not featuring any testimonials (text or video) or case studies on your website, make a goal of collecting and publishing at least three on your website before the end of the calendar year. Reach out to your most loyal customers and ask them if they would be willing to participate.   Your website should be more than just a static billboard on the internet. Thanks to the popularity of the internet, it’s never been easier to connect with new prospects. But it takes work. If you truly are interested in increasing traffic, gaining more online customers, and improving your brand reputation online, start working to implement some of the recommendations outlined above. Continue reading →

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5 Ways To Create The Perfect Landing Page For Your Website

Posted on October 10, 2013 by Hosting

The post 5 Ways To Create The Perfect Landing Page For Your Website appeared first on HostGator Web Hosting Blog | Gator Crossing . A great landing page is essential for anyone who uses their website to sell products and/or services online.  The landing page sets the pace for your entire user experience.  It can mean the difference between a visitor clicking away from your website, or sticking around to see what you have to say. No pressure, right? Marketers and advertisers have spent quite a bit of time breaking down and analyzing what makes for a perfect landing page. Take a look at the 5 recommendations below:   Attention-Grabbing, Concise Headlines Your headline is the first thing your visitors will notice, so you have to make it count. Just a few tweaks to a website headline can make a huge difference in the page’s performance. Much has been said about creating the perfect headline. Remember that headlines should be concise, and answer the question “What’s in it for me?” Copyblogger covers this topic quite well in their popular post entitled How to Write Headlines That Work . It’s a good idea to split test your own headlines to see which ones perform best for you.   Building Trust The anonymity of the internet makes trust a bit hard to come by. However, people and organizations have created ways to establish trust, including guarantee seals, third party verifications (Verisign, Better Business Bureau, etc.), reviews, and testimonials. According to a study conducted by the Wall Street Journal last year, 92% of respondents said that they have more confidence in user-generated information found online than they do in information from a salesclerk or other source. As such, testimonials a very powerful tool for building your landing page’s trust.   Call-to-Action A call-to-action is the answer to the question “What is the point of this?” A strong call-to-action will give your visitor a clear idea of the action they should take next. A call-to-action can take on different forms, including offering a free ebook for download, asking visitors to sign up for a webinar, asking for a petition signature, or offering a free trial. Just keep a few guidelines in mind when writing your call to action: Make an effective case for why users should answer your call. Skype does this quite simply with their homepage, which says, “Wherever you are, wherever they are — Skype keeps you together.” You then see a picture of two people happily and expressively having a Skype chat on a laptop. Incentives are a great way to get people to answer a call-to-action. You could say, “sign up for our newsletter,” but why not, “Sign up for our newsletter and receive a 10% discount on your next order?” Make sure that your call is clearly tied to the overall purpose of your website. Make the call to action button clear and distinct, and never put it in a place where the user must search for it.   Use Relevant Multimedia Pictures, slideshows, and video that are relevant to your landing page are good for driving user engagement. There is actually some psychology behind this. When it comes to pictures, our minds are wired for processing visual images. In fact about 50% of the human brain is involved in visual processing. Just think of all the pictures you see every day whether it be via social media, billboard ads, blogs, or magazine spreads. Video is a great communication tool because we’re designed to connect with other humans. The sound of a human voice, facial expressions, and body language all convey a message better than written words alone. When creating a video you don’t have to make a Hollywood production, but a short clip introducing your products or services can establish a sense of familiarity and put a visitor at ease.   Above the Fold The most important elements of your page, such as a headline or registration form, should always be at the topmost part of the page where the user doesn’t have to scroll down to see. However, this doesn’t mean that you should try to stick a half dozen links, article previews, and lots of images above the fold. Prioritize what you want to appear at the top of the page that would make the user want to read on.   Building a great landing page is neither a mystery nor rocket science, but it does require some planning ahead. Start planning for your next successful landing page by following the recommendations outlined in this article. Continue reading →

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PRISM and Changes To Google Search

Posted on October 5, 2013 by Hosting

The post PRISM and Changes To Google Search appeared first on HostGator Web Hosting Blog | Gator Crossing . Google has always valued the privacy of its users, and privacy has long been a platform on which it has operated. In 2011, the search giant began protecting logged-in searches with SSL encryption, so as to keep unauthorized third parties from seeing what search terms were being used. If a search term was deemed too private, it would show up as “not provided” in Google Analytics. Last month, Google began encrypting all searches, both logged-in and not logged-in. This change was performed without any announcement, though the update was later confirmed by the company. They told the Washington Post last month: “We added SSL encryption for our signed-in search users in 2011, as well as searches from the Chrome omnibox earlier this year. We’re now working to bring this extra protection to more users who are not signed in.”   Why Now? Though it’s not entirely clear why Google started ramping up these efforts just last month, it’s apparent that the overall campaign is in response to the NSA and PRISM. After it was revealed that the national security administration had been secretly collecting data on U.S citizens (as well as other countries) via their PRISM program, accusations were leveled against Google that they’d been participating with the NSA in collecting said data. Seeking to maintain its pro-privacy reputation, Google has since strongly denied any involvement with PRISM. In response they also began a campaign of transparency when it comes to the number of disclosure requests it receives from the government. They also planned to increasingly encrypt data being transmitted between their data centers. Though the program was initially approved in June, they began quickly implementing in December. According to Not Provided Count, a website provided by internet marketing agency ClickConsult, the number of “not provided” search terms across the 60 websites they monitor has increased more than 80% since last March. The number began to spike in the last week of August.   Does This Hurt Search Marketing? A large number of search marketers depend on Google Analytics to collect data on what their audiences are searching for and when. A big part of that is the referrer string, which is a sort of identifier that your web browser records of the last web page you visited before arriving at your current web page. The previous page is known as the referrer page, and your web browser sends a record of it to Google as soon as you arrive on your destination page. When a user uses Google search as a referrer page, the string URL also includes the keywords they searched. Now that Google is encrypting its searches, getting referrer page data won’t be so straightforward for all searches. Search marketers will see more of the “not provided” message when a user uses Google as a referrer page. It’s worth noting that not all search terms will be encrypted, only ones that Google deems “too private” to be shared. It’s not clear at this point as to what extent this will affect search marketing (what countries will be affected, what “too private” means, etc.).  Hopefully Google will offer more clarification in the days and weeks to come. Although some search data will be restricted because of the new privacy measures, “private” search data isn’t withheld completely. Data encryption only keeps the data traveling between data centers from being transmitted for everyone to “hear.” Webmasters and search marketers can see these terms by accessing Google Webmaster Tools, though they can only see the top 2,000 per day for the past 90 days. Webmaster Tools users must archive the information to access it again in the future, or else it’s lost. However, the company made a change in August that will allow users to access the data easily, but only if they’re also Google Adwords customers. Advertisers can also still access data sent when a user clicks on an ad, regardless of the search terms they used to arrive at the ad. Although Google has essentially taken these encryption measures to make it more difficult for the NSA to spy on their data, it won’t make search results completely immune to spying. Google must also still comply with any order of cooperation that the government may give. However, experts say that the increased use of encryption makes mass surveillance more difficult for third parties. Google is a company that prides itself on being a responsible keeper of private information, and rightfully so. Privacy is a major concern among internet users today. This may or may not be a setback for search marketing on the whole since only Adwords customers can access full search information for now. On the other hand, the changes won’t affect all search data. Again, hopefully Google will offer more clarification in the weeks to come. Continue reading →

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cPanel Conference 2013

Posted on October 4, 2013 by Hosting

The post cPanel Conference 2013 appeared first on HostGator Web Hosting Blog | Gator Crossing . If you happened to read our blog post about cPanel’s 2012 conference , then you already know that cPanel throws a conference like no other.  This year’s conference was September 30 to October 2 in New Orleans, Louisiana.  The meals were top-notch, the exhibitor floor packed with exhibitors and attendees, and the nightly outings and events were all quite memorable (for those who remember them).   Just like we said last year: cPanel does it right! Everything kicked off with a gathering of attendees in front of the hotel for a New Orleans tradition, a Second Line , which is basically a giant group of folks following a marching brass band.  We were unhampered by the slight rain due to orange cPanel umbrellas having been supplied to the group: While we waited on the dock prior to boarding the boat, Creole Queen , we were treated to several more tunes from the band.  From our vantage point here, you can just barely see the top of the tuba, but trust us the band was there and they were amazing: As soon as we stepped on board, we headed down to the dining hall where we were treated to some delicious Cajun food: And the band played on: After dinner, our cruise on the might Mississippi river officially began. The view of New Orleans from the water was truly impressive: The night concluded with a party at the Masquerade Bar inside of Harrah’s casino. It might be worth noting that at this point in our tale, the actual exhibit floor of the conference had not yet opened: The next morning, we awoke to find a little surprise. Apparently, WHMCS ninjas had deposited their custom product into each of our rooms whilst were we all out the night before. Presenting the WHMCS Complete Hangover Solution: water, Tylenol, stain remover, band-aids, Pepto, Tic-Tacs, and 5-Hour Energy: It was then time for the exhibit floor to officially open.  We spent the day chatting with customers and other industry providers, making new friends and handing out tons of HostGator merch, all from the comfort of our own booth: We had some interesting visitors stop by and see us as well, they took a particular shine to the Snappy dolls: Throughout the course of the conference, our displays took many different shapes and forms: Unlike last night when we floated on a boat, tonight we rode on floats. We were accompanied by a marching band and and given a police escort through the streets of New Orleans.  As  you can see in the following image, the floats were stocked with plenty of beads to toss to the revelers on the streets: We ultimately arrived at the venue and were treated to a high energy set by New Orleans’s own Bag of Donuts, who play an impressive mix of music from the 50′s up through current hits.  We will say it here for posterity: that singer plays a mean cowbell! We had certainly come to expect the unexpected, as interesting characters seemed to appear out of the woodwork in New orleans, but we had never quite encountered the likes of this individual, who prowled about the venue all night: As day two of the conference began, the exhibit floor again had its own surprise cast of characters, including this very tall gentleman: It was another day or talking with customers and colleagues and handing out copious amount of HostGator t-shirts and stuff Snappys.  Once the convention floor wrapped up, we found ourselves at the House of Blues for the closing ceremonies. The food was amazing and the drinks flowed into the night: As morning arrived, it was the time to say our goodbyes and call it a wrap on the 2013 cPanel conference.  We then saw this sign, reminding us that we’ll be doing it all again next year, back in the hometown shared by HostGator and cPanel: Thanks again to our friends at cPanel ! We’ll see you next year! To see more behind-the-scenes pictures, please visit our Instagram page . Continue reading →

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Why Backing Up Your Website Is So Important

Posted on October 3, 2013 by Hosting

The post Why Backing Up Your Website Is So Important appeared first on HostGator Web Hosting Blog | Gator Crossing . You’ve heard a lot of talk about the importance of backing up your hard drive just in case something should happen to your computer. There are few things more painful than knowing that all of your precious files have been lost forever. The same holds true for websites. It seems like every day there is a new headline about the latest high profile website crash. Unfortunately, website threats are very real. Backing up your website helps you to safeguard against those threats.   Website Hackers Unfortunately, hackers have become commonplace on the web. While the aim of a hacker may be to steal credit card numbers and other sensitive information, often people hack websites merely to prove themselves or cause trouble. If your website is online, there is always the chance that it may become compromised.   Computer Catastrophes Storing a copy of your files on your computer is a good idea, but should your machine crash, get lost, or fall off a cliff, then your files will be gone with it. Backing up your files remotely is a more practical option in the event that something happens to your machine.   Updates Gone Wrong Regular updates refer to updated features and increased security, but they don’t always go as planned. This is why WordPress always tells you to perform a backup before updating. Websites have multiple components, including plugins, themes, software, and back-end programming. An awry update to any of these can take an entire website offline for any amount of time.   Malware and Viruses Viruses, trojan horses, and other malware can find their way into your website even via third parties that are normally safe. You can download them unknowingly with a theme or plugin, or they can slip in through a chink in your firewall’s armor. Having backup files means that you’ll be prepared just in case your site starts acting mysteriously weird.   Employee Errors The truth is that people make mistakes. It’s perfectly possible that an employee or contractor might click a wrong button or delete a necessary file by accident. When you backup your files, there’s less chance that human error will mess up your operations.   Minimize the Damage Say you log onto your website one day, only to be greeted with an unfamiliar error page. You try again and again, but it still doesn’t come up. You get a sinking feeling in your stomach as you realize that something has gone wrong. You could either a) Go into an all out panic as you try to figure out what went wrong, and whether or not you’ve lost all of your precious content, or b) Become a bit annoyed that you may have to spend some time reloading your website, but you won’t have reason to go into an anxious tailspin.   How to Backup Your site If by now you’re convinced that backing up your website is the right thing to do, there are a few ways you can go about it. Find out if your web host provides website backups as a service. Contact the person who designed your website and ask them to do it for you. They should have enough knowledge of how content management systems work that they would be able to manually backup your files. Use an additional “just in case” backup service. Many of these services exist, so do your research. Some are more cost effective than others, while others have software that’s more or less user friendly. Install a backup plugin on your site. Some plugins allow you to schedule backups, as well as send your files to cloud services like Dropbox. If you have a smaller website, you might just choose to compress your files in a ZIP folder and email them to yourself. Again, this works best for small websites. So if the size of your files is bigger than your email provider allows you to send, or if you expect that the size of your site will expand, then look into one of the other backup options. It’s a good idea to also save a copy of your files on your computer, though you should also do this in addition to one of the other techniques. Having two copies of your files isn’t a bad idea. As the old adage goes, better safe than sorry.   Backing up your site doesn’t take a lot of time or money, and it it’s a worthwhile investment considering all of the threats that exist online. Backup your website today, and avoid becoming one of those anxiety-ridden business owners who must reluctantly restart their website from scratch. Continue reading →

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