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Blogging 101: How to Be a Better Blogger

Posted on September 12, 2013 by Hosting

The post Blogging 101: How to Be a Better Blogger appeared first on HostGator Web Hosting Blog | Gator Crossing . There is no shortage of advice out there on how to be a better blogger. It seems everyone has their own take on what it means to succeed in the blogosphere. That’s because successful blogging is a multifaceted accomplishment, requiring you to be more than just a good writer. Blogging requires an amazing amount of focus, determination, and (overall) passion about the topics that you’re blogging about. Read on to see what it takes to make your blog successful.   Get Direction What is the purpose of your blog? You should be able to answer this question before you ever start writing. For this reason, it’s a good idea to have a mission statement. You don’t have to define your blog too narrowly, or publish your mission statement for all to see, but having one written down will help to guide you with each new piece of content you write. Next, establish three to five topic buckets. As blogger Mark Collier puts it, topic buckets fold under the larger umbrella of your website’s purpose. For example, if the focus of your blog is to help people with personal development, you might choose motivation, productivity, wealth management, and relationships as your topic buckets. All of your categories would fall under one of these buckets, and every one of your blog posts would fall under one of your categories.   Be Consistent A blogger who only publishes when he feels like it isn’t very likely to have an audience. The truth is, you won’t feel like writing most of the time. However, if you want to create an audience, you will need to blog consistently, whether it be a few times a week or a couple times a month. The important thing is to let your readers know what to expect from you. Keeping an editorial calendar is a great way to stay on track with your blogging. You might also consider writing blog posts in batches instead of one at a time, and publishing each one when the time comes. When you plan ahead, you’re more likely to succeed in staying consistent with your blog.   Appearance Matters Human beings are very driven by visual appearance, so you can bet that a user’s first impression of your blog will include the appearance of your website. Your website appearance should reflect your personal style, your business brand, and/or the aim of your blog. Keep this in mind if choosing a theme for your blog. It’s also important to keep your pages clean and clutter-free. If you have distracting pictures, animations, old content, or banners that don’t contribute to the overall look of your site, then it is time to clean them up. If you have a lot of pictures on your website, consider using a photo gallery theme to keep things in order.   Be Creative Coming up with content ideas is probably the most difficult part of blogging, so mastering the art of idea generation is one of the best things you can do. First off, you should keep a running list of blog post ideas that you can refer back to. From there you can come up with ideas in a number of ways. Spend an hour or two each week brainstorming topic ideas. Just write down everything that comes to you, no matter how unpolished the idea seems at first. Sometimes they just need some time to marinate. Set Google Alerts for your chosen topics and see what news items you can write on. Visit sites like Yahoo Answers and Quora to see what people are asking about in different categories. Create blog posts around reader emails. Ask readers directly what topics they’d like you to address.   Stay on Task If you have trouble staying on task, then there are a number of tools that can help. Ommwriter is a free tool that creates a writing space within your desktop, and even provides ambient music and appealing keyboard sound effects. Time Doctor is another great tool. Not only does it track the amount of time you spend on a task, but it also checks up on you, should you drift off to Facebook or YouTube. A lot of bloggers have had great success with Focus Booster . This little program uses the Pomodoro technique of working for a set amount of time followed by a short break. Which ever tool you use, the most important thing is that you choose something that works for you and follow through with it.   Get Out More As much as productivity and focus matter in blogging, unplugging and living your life is just as important. Neglecting your other hobbies and passions in favor of blogging can not only drain you, but it can also hurt your writing. As Vincent Van Gogh once said, “Whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is well done.”   Though blogging can sometimes be a challenge, it can also be a great joy when your audience appreciates what you do. Remember that no great blogger became that way overnight, not even Seth Godin or Brian Clark. Use these tips to improve on your blogging life, and watch your efforts blossom as a result. Continue reading →

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12 Simple Mistakes You Might Be Making on Your Website

Posted on September 5, 2013 by Hosting

When creating a website, it’s quite easy to get swept up in the trap of putting creativity before the end user’s needs. Practicality can be understandably boring. However, an unusable website is about as much good as a car with no engine. See if you’re making any of these common website mistakes, then go fix them!   Unscannable Content The average person comes online to find what they want, and find it quickly. If your content isn’t easily scannable, it will lose you readers and fast. The fix: Use headings, bullet lists, and numbered lists whenever possible. You should also use images to break up the monotony of a long read.   No Search Box This is especially important if you have a large website with lots of content. The internet is a big place, and people have come to depend on search engines to find what they need. The fix: Add a search box to the top right corner of your website, since that’s where people are used to finding the search option.   Not Using Analytics Analytics is the tool that keeps your finger on the pulse of your website. If you don’t know what people are doing on your site, then you can’t truly know how it is performing, or what is working for your company. The fix: Stop putting it off. Go to Google Webmaster Tools and install Google Analytics on your website for free. If you need help, visit Google Analytics Getting Started page .   Cluttered Pages Cluttered websites are universally unappealing. When faced with sidebars stuffed with ads, an abundance of images, and unorganized text, most people will simply leave the website. The fix: Simplify the layout of your website by getting rid of what you don’t really need. Be sure you’re utilizing the space above the fold with your header, sign up form, and the welcome text of your page.   No Clear Direction Every page of your website should work toward a common goal. Is the purpose of your website to promote your product? To showcase your talents? To raise money for an organization? The fix: Establish the aim of your website, and make sure all of your content is in alignment with that aim.   Poor Readability Text that is too large, too small, or made up of difficult-to-read fonts and glaring colors can easily put off your visitors. The fix: For the body of your text, use 12-point font, and colors that contrast with the background. Also, stick with fonts you can read easily yourself. It helps to have a second pair of eyes. Hard to Navigate Your navigation is the window to the rest of your website. If it’s difficult to find, ambiguous, or gives no cues to the user, then they could easily get frustrated. The fix: Put your navigation bar in a visible place on your website. Use simple, easily recognizable words like “About,” “Services,” and “Contact.” The navigation should also give the user cues as to which page they’re on, such as the color of the current page turning color. Bad Screen Resolution Your users shouldn’t have to scroll horizontally to see the full contents of your website. That was okay back in 1996, but not anymore. The fix: You can fix this problem by using relative width to make the page fit any screen. Use the tag in your HTML to set relative width, or use the body{width:100%;}tag in the style sheet.   Non-Cohesive Pages If your layout, color scheme, and overall theme vary from one page to another, it makes your website seem disjointed. The fix: Treat your website like a book. The pages should look like they’re all somehow related.   Music or Video Loads with Page Video that automatically plays on page load can be annoying and even startling. Music that loads with the page is just as bad. The fix: Disable the automatic play feature for all of your site’s content. Give your visitors a choice as to what they want to watch or listen to.   Browser and Device Incompatibility This is one simple yet important aspect of web design that too often gets overlooked. Just because your website looks flawless in Firefox doesn’t mean it also looks great in Safari. The fix: Test your website across all browsers and devices. Mobile emulators are good for testing, but use the actual device whenever you can.   No List A huge mistake a lot of website owners make is not having a way to keep in touch with the people who visit their website. The fix: Sign up for an email list service like Mail Chimp or Aweber , then add a simple sign up form to your website. An even more effective approach is to offer an incentive for signing up, such as a free ebook or report.   Every website has something it can improve on. A user friendly website is a great asset to an organization, so be sure that yours is as mistake-free as possible. Continue reading →

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7 Steps to Proper New Website SEO

Posted on August 29, 2013 by Hosting

If you’ve recently launched a new website, or if you’re on the cusp of launching one, congrats! You’ve done the hard work of setting the whole thing up, or have paid good money to get it done. Now it’s up to you to make it stand out from the oodles of other websites on the web. If that sound daunting, it’s because it is. According to World Wide Web Size , at least 3.76 billion web pages have been indexed as of August 19th 2013. The good news is that not all of these web pages are your competition. Many of them lack proper SEO, and worse, interesting or helpful content. If you’ve already got the helpful content part handled, follow these steps to help jettison your website upward through the SERPs.   Step 1: Perform Keyword Research This should be done as early on as possible, even before work on the website begins. This is because you need to know what your website should be ranking for. Remember to base your keywords on more than what people are searching for in Google. Erin Everhart said it best in her Search Engine Watch article How to Make Your Keywords Fit Your Marketing Message : “When you have those uncomfortable ‘So, what do you do?’ conversations with the person next to you on an airplane, a keyword is one of the first things out of your mouth.” Your keywords should encompass your brand. You need to integrate keywords throughout your website, including in your page content, blog posts titles, alt tags, and even in your video. However, make your keyword usage as natural as possible. Going overboard can make your website looks spammy.   Step 2: Optimize Content Not only should you incorporate keywords into your titles, tags, and text body, but you should also make your content shareable. By now you’ve noticed that just about all blog posts have social share buttons either at the top or the bottom of the post (though best practices say that  it’s best to have them at the top). Not only do search engines use keywords in evaluating SEO, but they also use social signals like Facebook shares and Twitter tweets to evaluate the popularity of your content.   Step 3: Watch Your Links The SEO ways of old dictate a certain approach to linking. It involves distributing articles with optimized keyword anchor text to other sites, and gaining backlinks from any old website with a high enough PageRank. Those days are no more. Google has cracked down on articles and press releases with keyword optimized text , so you could  get your website penalized for it. Also, search algorithms have gotten smart enough to recognize whether the website linking to you is relevant or not. Only get your backlinks from websites it makes sense to be connected to, and add the rel=nofollow attribute to keyword optimized text so that it doesn’t pass for PageRank.   Step 4: Install Plugins If you’re using WordPress then you have no shortage of plugins to choose from for your site. However, you should know that SEO plugins aren’t exactly a cure-all. Rather, they optimize your website’s code for search engines to pick up on. Some popular options include All in One SEO Pack , Yoast , and Scribe . Each SEO plugin has its own offerings, so investigate which one is best for your site.   Step 5:  Install Analytics Analytics software helps you to keep your fingers on the pulse of your website. If you’re new to analytics, Google’s free analytics program is a great place to start. Open a Google Analytics account if you haven’t already, and add it to your site. Google Analytics allows you to monitor vital traffic stats including unique visits, bounce rate, and conversion rates. It even lets you do cool things like split testing and analyzing your traffic in excruciating detail.   Step 6: Redirect Traffic If you’re changing your URL, then you’ll need to redirect your traffic. You want to make this as painless to your visitors as possible. As suggested by Google , use 301 redirects to channel traffic from your old site to your new one. Instead of redirecting an old web page to the new site’s root, direct it to the corresponding page. This is for permanent changes only. If the redirect is temporary, use a 302  redirect.   Step 7: Keep the Momentum Stay consistent with your website. Consistently post to and update your social media outlets. Listen to feedback, watch for bugs, and otherwise make adjustments where necessary. Keep updating, tweaking, and improving your website. Make it a dynamic, thriving web entity that people will be attracted to because of its valuable offerings, whether paid or free.   You should also remember that SEO isn’t a magic bullet, but a way for valuable websites to get the exposure they deserve. The higher the value of your website to your visitors, the better SEO will work for you. Continue reading →

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7 Content Curation Resources to Use Now

Posted on August 27, 2013 by Hosting

Content curation is the process of cherry-picking the best pieces of content surrounding a specific theme. According to an infographic published by Mashable, 571 websites are created, 347 WordPress blog posts are published, and 3,600 Instagram pictures are uploaded in any given minute. With the millions – and perhaps billions – of gigabytes of information floating around on the web these days, content curation can be a very powerful tool when building an audience. Marketing firm and software developer Curata conducted a survey last year which found that companies that use curated content on average get 30% more page views than companies that don’t. Websites like Mashable have built huge followings by publishing curated material. After all, readers appreciate not having to sift through throngs of websites to find the best information. If you’re planning on using content curation as a part of your own content marketing strategy, here are some tools to help get you started:   Google By now, you’ve probably realized that Google is more than just a search engine. While performing a simple Google search will yield helpful results, you can also use of some of Google’s other tools in your content curation efforts. Set up Google Alerts for specific topics, and have a list of relevant links delivered to your inbox as often as you want. You can also customize Google News to deliver news relevant to your industry. You can also use Google’s Blog Search function to find interesting articles and discussions on your chosen topics.   Industry Associations Top industry associations tend to be good about keeping track of top news in their fields. Subscribe to their newsletters or follow them on social media to stay abreast of what people are talking about in your industry. You should also subscribe to conference newsletters, even if you don’t plan on attending the conference. It helps to know what topics and keynote speakers who are making a splash in your industry.   RSS Feeds RSS feeds are a great way to keep up with your industry’s best blogs and to stay on top of trends. Just sign up for an account with an RSS reader like Feedly or Newsblur, and subscribe to the top blogs in your field. If you’re not sure which blogs to follow, just look up a list of top blogs in your industry. Coincidentally, many blogs have their own curated lists of top blogs which you can find with a simple Google search. If a blog you’re interested in doesn’t have an RSS feed, sign up for the site’s newsletter instead.   Ask Your Audience Crowdsource good nuggets of content by asking your audience to give you a heads up whenever they come across interesting articles. You can even set up a special email inbox for this, like tips@yourcompany.com.   Social Media Social media is a great way to keep up with curated content. After all, social media users curate content every day by sharing and retweeting. Keep track of your chosen hashtags on Facebook and Twitter to see what your followers are talking about.   Delicious Though it started out as a simple social bookmarking site, Delicious has grown into one of the best content curation tools on the web. This program allows you to easily “capture the web you’ve been missing” by saving and organizing interesting links you find online. You can also discover the specific content pieces that others have tagged by clicking the “discover” tab.   Curate Your Own Content Companies often have loads of helpful content stashed in old blog posts, videos, slide show presentations, articles, and other sources online. If this is the case with your company, find ways to curate your own past content. Some ideas include: Creating a new list blog post that includes past blog posts around a certain theme (e.g., “Our Most Popular Blog Posts of 2012”). Creating an ebook out of popular pieces of content written on the same topic. Create a video series based on your past written content. Create a resource section of your website where you categorize your most helpful blog posts and articles. You can also term it as a “Best of ___” page. Create a video or slide show presentation to publish online. Create infographics of stats pulled from your content.   With more content than ever before being created and shared every day, content curation allows your brand to select the best examples and to create the context in which you present them. This also gives you a chance to connect with those whose content you’re curating and to stay in the know when it comes to industry trends and thought leaders. This works both ways, as your company extends its reach whenever its content is curated. In essence, everyone involved has something to gain from curated content. Continue reading →

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Global Blacklisting Results in Undeliverable Email

Posted on August 23, 2013 by Hosting

Yesterday (August 22nd, 2013) a massive number of IP addresses used for email gateways on virtually every webhost in the world became blacklisted on multiple networks.  This resulted in a global inability for email to be received (any time the email originated from one of the blacklisted IPs and was “received” on one of the blacklisting networks). The issue is on-going at the time of this writing, and some customers are still being affected at this moment, however HostGator was one of the first companies to successfully mitigate the situation and we have since been assisting other companies with this issue.  As it stands, we are presently working to now get our IPs removed from the blacklists and restore full worldwide email deliverability from our network. This situation resulted from a combination of multiple factors stretching back a few months.  Before we explain the circumstances, we want to once again stress the importance of keeping all scripts on all hosting accounts updated.  Failure to update scripts, as well as  not exercising basic security practices, is what allows situations like this to continue to occur.  An out-dated script on a hosting account is akin to an unlocked car left in a parking lot… it’s an invitation for maliciousness by unscrupulous individuals. Unlike the situation back in April that affected WordPress , this time the target was Joomla.  Back in May, there was a string of exploits against known vulnerabilities in Joomla.  These vulnerabilities, related to a component called JCE, had been previously addressed via certain mod_sec rules.  However, a workaround was discovered that allowed malware to be installed, and later activated, to allow the uploading and execution of mailing scripts. These mailing scripts were activated en masse yesterday, beginning a massive spamming campaign resulting in the blacklisting of email gateway IPs worldwide.  One of the largest networks with users reporting issues initially was AOL, resulting in us creating this forum post . As with all issues of this nature, there are lessons to be learned.  The most important lesson here is to (again) keep all scripts on your hosting account up-to-date.  Most scripts have a one-click feature to update them anytime a new version is released.  Keeping scripts up-to-date is paramount in ensuring a secure hosting account. HostGator has now added additional monitoring capability to our systems which will alert us to situations like this even faster than yesterday.  Our work in on-going, though we should have the majority of the blocks resolved by tomorrow (spam lists move slow, with good reason).  But remember, there is no better way to keep your car safe than to lock it.  Please take this moment to log into your hosting script back-ends and ensure they are up-to-date.  Don’t give the bad guys an open door to walk through. Continue reading →

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