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Tag Archives: events
T-Shirt Giveaway & 60% Off, Today Only!
The post T-Shirt Giveaway & 60% Off, Today Only! appeared first on HostGator Blog | Gator Crossing . We’ve decided to do a good, ol’ fashioned t-shirt giveaway! Today only, we will randomly choose a handful of new signups that use the coupon code SWAGGY to receive a free HostGator t-shirt. Not only does each signup have a chance to win a t-shirt, but all uses of the coupon code SWAGGY will receive 60% off the hosting package. Winners will be chosen at random and emailed a link to the primary email address on their hosting account that can then be used to redeem their free t-shirt. This offer is valid today only: March 31st, 2015. We will also be choosing some additional winners who share this offer out via their personal networks using the hashtag #SWAGGY …everyone has a chance to win one of these fashionable and comfortable HostGator t-shirts! Good luck!! Sign Up Now! web hosting Continue reading
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Tagged advertising, comedy, dedicated-servers, events, gator-crossing, hostgator, hosting, php, promotions, reseller-hosting, web hosting
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Determining When To Enact Change
The post Determining When To Enact Change appeared first on HostGator Blog | Gator Crossing . Nothing stays the same forever, and neither should your website. It’s important to constantly work to improve the content and quality of your website, but how do you determine when change is necessary? What changes should you make? These are both valid questions, and while we cannot provide you with all the answers, as some of that will depend on your client base, profit margins, and the like, we can offer you some tips as to when you should start looking to change things up. Updates This is huge. When you receive a notification that your site or any of the different programs, applications, widgets, templates, etc. that you use has an update available, do it. These updates are typically designed to address vulnerabilities. Your site needs to stay up to date. Make the change. Update your site. Your customers, your tech support, your staff, and your pocketbook will all thank you. It can be disastrous to fail to do this one simple step. Granted, these changes will likely not bear any visible changes to your site, but they will keep the back-end safe which is just as important. What About The Rest of It? If you’re blogging, try to update at least two to three times per week. More if you like, but at least weekly updates are ideal. Keep new content coming and you will have repeat readers. If you have an e-commerce site, keep it constantly flowing – add new products or services. Change product descriptions to make them sound catchier if you notice a particular item isn’t selling. You can even poll your customers regarding changes that they would like to see on your site and then determine how you would like to go from there. Not all the ideas are going to be ones that you will implement, but if half a dozen people tell you that they want the search options updated, there’s a good chance you should get on that. If you have no suggestions, go look at your site from a customer’s point of view. See the site as they would see it, try to see it as if you are seeing it for the first time. See where it looks cumbersome, see what you did well. Try to remove the clunky and the cumbersome and try to work to ensure that what you did well is done well everywhere. If you really like the way one item page looks and flows, try to replicate it on the others. It’s Natural It’s natural to not want to update your site (the “set it and forget it” mentality), and you don’t have to update everything. If you like your background color or the template you’re using, keep it. If you’re using a black background and neon pink text, you may want to consider changing it to something easier to read, however. The Internet is constantly evolving, and your site should be as well. In working to determine the different things you like about other sites, you may find things you want to change about your own site. Inspiration can come from anywhere. Change is not a bad thing. Keep things fresh and your content up to date and attention grabbing and your website will flourish! Image Source: Jelly Ranger. (2014). Future Self. Retrieved from http://jellyranger.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/futureself.jpg web hosting Continue reading
Uncover The Best Domain Name For Your Business
The post Uncover The Best Domain Name For Your Business appeared first on HostGator Blog | Gator Crossing . Picking the right domain name isn’t a decision you want to rush. In the online space the domain is the first thing people have to remember when they want to work with you or visit your business. If you want your online presence and website to thrive you need a domain name that’s going to keep up. A lot of business owners make the mistake of choosing a domain name that’s too long, too hard to spell, or doesn’t relate to their business. Some domains names are only a few letters long, but can still have a huge impact on your business. Most Common Domain Name Mistakes To Avoid As we alluded to above, a lot of business owners make mistakes when choosing their domain names. Of course, you can change your domain name if you already have one that isn’t really doing much for your business, but it’s much less of a hassle to just get it right on the first go. Below you’ll find some of the most common mistakes. 1. Using Too Many Words If you’re trying to stuff a bunch of keywords into your domain name and it’s getting very long and hard to remember it’s important that you shorten it. People won’t remember a long domain name. Or, you may have a very long business name and you want to use the whole thing. This can also be a mistake, as you’ll want your domain to be memorable. Often, you can shorten or abbreviate and still get the same result. 2. Using A Spammy Extension If the .com extension isn’t available for your domain it can be tempting to go with another, less standard extension. Using one of these can potentially be a burden to your business. Although, some other domain extensions are becoming more widely accepted they can still carry a slightly spammy connotation. If other businesses in your niche are using other extensions then they may be safe to use, but just take caution. This isn’t really an area where you want to be a trendsetter. 3. Following Trends Or Buzzwords We’ve seen some businesses try to get creative with their domain names by incorporating certain buzzwords or trendy words. For a while a lot of businesses were using the letter ‘i’ in front of their domains to mimic Apple. Or, we’ve seen businesses using the letter ‘z’ to make them seem more youthful and hip. Whatever the case make sure you don’t ascribe to any trends when you’re choosing your domain name. Domain names should be timeless, and when you’re relying on a trend it will only be memorable for a few years at the most, after which it will seem outdated. How To Find The Perfect Domain Name Now that you know what not to do it’s time to start moving forward with positive steps you can take to truly find a hidden gem of a domain. 1. Keep It Simple When finding the perfect domain, simplicity is going to be your friend. Try your best not to include any unnecessary words or phrases, hyphens, or anything else that’s going to make your domain difficult to remember. Keep it as simple as possible, but no simpler. You don’t want your users to have a hard time associating your business with the domain. 2. Be Unique There are millions upon millions of domains out there. To truly stand out from the rest you’ll need to be unique. Try to be catchy, but don’t be too creative where people are confused or can’t remember your domain. When you think you’ve come up with the perfect domain you can try it out on your friends and family as well to see what their initial reaction is. 3. Do Your Research Before you buy your domain you’ll need to make sure you aren’t violating any copyrights, or ending up with any weird foreign translations, or have a name too close to a competitor. Spend some time making sure your domain checks out across these three categories and you’ll be ready to click buy. Crafting the ultimate domain name for your business doesn’t have to take weeks, but you should spend more than the few minutes most people spend on the decision. Your domain name defines your business in the online realm, make it count. Image source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/35935652@N00/3845418669/ web hosting Continue reading
Taking Steps Towards Achieving A Paperless Office
The post Taking Steps Towards Achieving A Paperless Office appeared first on HostGator Blog | Gator Crossing . As I write this I’m making several observations on the disheveled desk in front of me: unopened bank statements, old and useless receipts, and worst of all offers from credit cards I’m never going to apply for. I’m not unorganized, I just have a lot of paper coming my way, still. The trend over the last decade has steadily pushed towards cutting paper from our overhead and trying to reduce the carbon footprint every business accounts for. According to Matt Peterson of eFilecabinet , by switching from paper to electronic documents you can lower your overhead by 30 to 40 percent. If you’re truly ready to make the transition into digitizing documents here’s how to get started and keep it that way. Everyone Has To Buy In For so long paper has been an integral part of how an office functions and communicates. Faxing, copying, and mailing were and still are routine tasks executed by employees that may not yet know about the alternative ways businesses are operating. In order to make paperless a reality your entire staff will have to adapt to the gradual transition into a permanent way of doing business. It won’t be easy. Many people have a strong affection for holding a physical document in their hand. The same is true for those who prefer to read a book, rather than reading their laptop screen. These people will have to learn new routines their comfortable with, some may even have to become skilled at software requiring weeks or months of professional training. But the challenges are worth it. Worth it for your company’s overhead, and worth it for the critical threats our environment is facing. The key to getting everyone to buy in is patience. Where To Start Start easy with recurring mail – The easiest place to start is where we already have simple options in place. Most banks have realized the advantages of not having to send out statements to those who are set up with online banking. Go ahead and start the transition by stopping the statements, letters and bills you could be receiving through your e-mail. Most can be done with the push of a button! What’s great is most of these letters are coming from places that already store and backup your data online as well. Emphasize document management – This is more than just having enough disc space. Managing files requires a layout and the ability to search for individual documents in order for the operation to run smoothly. We recommend choosing a file organization software with the ability to index and search by keywords. Get into the scanning rhythm – Most offices have the initial challenge of turning all of their physical files into digital ones, this will be the majority of the work in the transition. Also, start indexing all new files and emails as they come in the door. Once a document is scanned and you’re set up with a secure backup shred the documents! One of the best feelings in this process will be the satisfaction of having space freed up in the office where all the file cabinets once existed. Secure multiple backups – One backup typically won’t be enough of a guarantee when it comes to irreplaceable documents and records. Using two, one hard drive and one cloud storage service, should cover all your bases. There are several companies worth comparing for all your storage needs. The Best Apps To Assist In The Paperless Process It turns out scanning and storing aren’t the only avenues for making your paperless venture successful. Third party app developers have also chipped in to streamline file sharing and storage. Here are some of our favorites: Dropbox – Free up to 18GB with referrals, Dropbox is quickly becoming the most preferred file sharing platform out there. Access from anywhere with the new smartphone and tablet application. Evernote – Store documents, photos, receipts and almost anything else you can think of. It’s customizable Interface lets you organize and find files in a way that will work for you. SignMyPad – Available for iOS and Android. Allwos you to sign and date PDF documents which can then save right to Dropbox. MyFax – If you deal with clients who still use fax machines, MyFax’s mobile app allows you to send and receive fax from your smart phone and email account through a ‘MyFax’ number. Square – One of the hottest trends in stores looking to cut back on receipt paper is getting on board with Square. You can easily send receipts to a customers via e-mail or text message. Image Source: http://joinspringerrealtygroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Simplify.jpg web hosting Continue reading
National Entrepreneurship Week
The post National Entrepreneurship Week appeared first on HostGator Blog | Gator Crossing . The entrepreneurial spirit is something that we hold near and dear at HostGator. After all, if not for the aspirations of a young entrepreneur in a Florida dorm room, HostGator would not exist. In recognition of National Entrepreneurship Week , we are offering 50% off all new hosting packages. Our hope is that this opportunity will be seized by those with the entrepreneurial spirit and used to get their business up and running online. Whether your business idea is something destined to revolutionize an existing industry, or springboard humanity into an entirely new era, or even just make the world a slightly better or more convenient place, we would be honored to host your website and help bring your entrepreneurial dream into reality. This offer will expire very soon. Simply click the button below to get started, be sure to enter the coupon code SMALLBIZ at checkout in order to receive 50% off your new hosting package! Get Started Now! web hosting Continue reading