Tag Archives: investment

Do I Need Web Hosting?

Posted on January 3, 2019 by Hosting

The post Do I Need Web Hosting? appeared first on HostGator Blog . If you’re thinking about starting a website, then you may have come across the term “web hosting” without entirely understanding what that means. When you see that web hosting usually comes at a cost, you may start to wonder, “ Do I need web hosting? ” The short answer is: yes. If you want to have a website, you need web hosting . But you may feel better about the expense involved if you understand what website hosting is all about. What is Web Hosting? We talk about the web like it’s something that exists outside of physical space. Terms like “cyberspace” and “the cloud” reinforce the idea that the many sites we access on our devices don’t live anywhere physical – they’re floating out there somewhere, as if on the air. In fact, every website that exists on the internet takes up physical space on a web server somewhere. But those web servers are out of sight for most of us—kept in storage facilities around the world that few web users have cause to visit. Even though we don’t see or think about those servers much, they’re a necessary part of our internet experience. And the service they provide for websites—storing them and making the  the site’s content accessible to people around the world online—is what we call web hosting. In a nutshell, that’s how web hosting works .   Why Do Websites Need Web Hosting? When you learn how to build a website on a specific device (or a couple), it lives on those devices. When you’re ready to publish it for the larger world to see, it has to move beyond the specific devices you own that only you have access to. But it still needs to live somewhere. Web hosting servers are the space where your website can live and be stored while being accessible on the larger web. If you want your website to be live online—in other words, if you want anyone other than you to see it—then a website hosting package is a necessary part of the equation.   Do I Need a Web Hosting Service? For most websites, web hosting is provided by a web hosting company that owns and maintains many servers and allows customers to essentially rent space on them. You pay the web hosting provider either monthly or annually for that space and, in return, they keep your website up and running. If the idea of spending money on a continual basis for your website is frustrating, you may wonder if there’s a way to get around having to pay someone else for web hosting services. While it’s technically possible for a business or individual to purchase and maintain their own private web server, it’s expensive and impractical for the vast majority of website owners. Servers require maintenance, proper climate control, and advanced skills to manage. Plus, the amount of bandwidth required to host your own website on a server launches you far beyond what most internet plans will allow for an individual or SMB business. Since bandwidth relates directly to speed and uptime, having enough of it is an important part of keeping your website accessible to visitors. A web hosting company has already made the investment in: The servers themselves The space required to store them The precautions necessary to protect the servers from overheating or inclement weather The amount of bandwidth required to keep the servers functioning consistently and speedily The skilled professionals needed to provide proper maintenance as needs arise The cost of replacing and upgrading servers as needed Because this is their business, covering all those bases is just part of the job for them, while it would involve considerable expense and inconvenience for you. This hardware is just one of the many benefits of using web hosting .   What About Free Web Hosting? You know by now that you need web hosting, but do you really have to pay for it? Some searches online may reveal free platforms you can build your website on that come with hosting or free web hosting providers. Why not just go with one of them? There may be cases where it makes sense to choose a free web hosting package—if you’re just starting a website for fun and aren’t too concerned about building it into something long lasting or profitable, for instance. But for anyone with big goals or hopes for your website, it’s a choice that comes with serious risks. Free hosting has more limitations. Free platforms and hosting plans tend to offer fewer customization and branding options. If you want to be able to design and build a website to your own preferences and specifications, you won’t have much leeway to do so with these. That’s especially true with free platforms like Tumblr or Blogger where you’re working within a set structure. You can’t change much more than the colors, backgrounds, and the content on the page. If your website will be for a business or a personal brand you want to grow an audience for, then those limitations will cause a real issue with branding. You’ll have to work that much harder to differentiate your website from the platform in the eyes of your visitors. And there are limitations beyond design. Free hosting means less storage than paid hosting options. You’ll be limited in the number of files you can add to the site, especially when it comes to media that tends toward larger file sizes like video and audio. You’ll also lose out on some of the functionality websites often need, like setting up URL redirects or creating custom error pages. You won’t have the same options for keeping backups of your site or keeping it secure. While the features and options available with different free hosting options will vary, there’s a good chance some or all of these limitations will apply. Make sure you know what you’re getting (and not) before you sign up.   It may not really be free. Some web hosting services use a “free” offer to get you signed up, but once you get started, you realize you can’t actually do much of anything with the free web hosting plan. To actually launch your site and have access to the features you need, you have to upgrade to one of their paid plans.   Since they’ve already got you hooked, you could end feeling stuck with them, even if it’s not the best deal or they’re not the most reliable web hosting provider out there. In many cases, they won’t even allow you to take what you’ve built and transfer it to a new provider. If you do decide to switch, you could be stuck building a new site from scratch.   It’s not really your website. When your website lives on another platform, you’re bound to the platform’s rules and way of doing things. In most cases, that means you won’t have your own domain. A good example of this is with free WordPress.org hosting. Instead of www.yourdomain.com , your url will look something like www.yourdomain.platformname.com . This is one reason why many people opt to get web hosting for WordPress sites —so they can have a branded domain name while still enjoying the functionality of WordPress. It also usually means you won’t be able to use branded email addresses specific to your domain name, something that makes your brand look more professional and established. Often it can even mean your provider serves up ads on your website, which makes it look more cluttered and less legitimate.  And if the platform decides to change its features or rules, you’re at their mercy. You may lose out on some functionality you took for granted. When you’re not paying for hosting, you just don’t own the site in quite the same way. You have less control and more risk. You could lose everything. If your platform or provider decides they don’t want your site there anymore – whether it’s because you’ve broken one of their rules or they’ve just changed the way they do things — there’s not a lot you can do. Your website can be wiped out completely and you’ll have to start from scratch. Even if that kind of worst-case scenario doesn’t happen, free hosting providers won’t generally provide tech support. If you start having trouble with your website due to run-of-the-mill tech problems, or worse, hackers, you don’t have anyone to turn to. Your options will be limited and you may find you need to start from scratch with a paid service after all. It’s better to start with a service you can continue using in the long haul (and that makes it possible to take your website with you if you do leave) to begin with.   What Does Web Hosting Cost? So you’ve accepted you need web hosting from a legitimate web hosting provider.  Now you need to figure out how to budget it for it. The question of how much web hosting costs is a bit complicated, because there are a wide variety of plans and options. What you spend will depend on what provider you go with, the type of plan you determine you need, and the features you want included. To give you a general idea though, here are the main types of hosting options you have and the price ranges you should have in mind for each. Shared Hosting This is the most affordable option and the most common choice for new websites. Shared hosting plans start at around $2-3 a month for the most basic plans. But you can expect the price to go up to around $5-10 if you want to access additional features like: The ability to host multiple domains Additional bandwidth or storage space Unlimited email addresses An SSL certificate for security Automated backups A website builder Some web hosting providers, like HostGator, include these extra features for free with your shared hosting plan, saving you money and providing you with a better deal. You can enjoy branded email addresses and secure SSL certificates , all as part of your shared hosting plan. With a shared hosting plan, you rent space on a server that will be shared with a number of other websites that use the same web hosting provider. That works just fine for many websites, but some will find they need a hosting plan that can offer more storage or bandwidth. eCommerce Hosting If you’re planning to sell products through your website, then you need to make sure your web hosting plan will provide all the features you need to do so securely. eCommerce hosting plans tend to start at around $5-20 a month for more basic plans and can go up to over $250 a month depending on the features you want to include. Any eCommerce plan needs to either include or be compatible with eCommerce software that provides: Shopping cart functionality Checkout functionality A way to accept secure payments You’ll also definitely need an SSL certificate, and will probably want to invest in additional security software such as Sitelock , too.   Cloud Hosting Cloud hosting plans typically cost in the range of $5-50 and can be a good choice for website owners that expect more traffic or need more storage space than shared hosting provides. Cloud hosting promises faster load times, fewer storage limitations, and easier scalability than shared hosting. If you’re expecting (or hoping) that your website will grow in traffic soon after you launch, then it may be a better option than shared hosting plans.   VPS Hosting VPS plans are the next step up. They’re in the range of $20-$100 a month. With these plans, your website is still sharing a server with other websites, but with far fewer than on a shared plan, so you get access to a larger share of the server. For websites that get too much traffic or need more storage than shared or cloud hosting plans provide, a VPS is the next step. Dedicated Server When you invest in a dedicated server for your website, you no longer have to share with any other websites. You get all the resources, bandwidth, and storage the server provides for yourself (but you still get to outsource the maintenance work and costs to your web hosting provider). When your website grows to the point that you need the level of power that a dedicated server provides, you can expect to pay anywhere from $80 a month to over $1,000. Don’t worry. Most website don’t have to worry about spending that kind of money on web hosting, but for especially popular sites or established brands, it may be the best option. Yes, You Need Web Hosting In summary, if you’ve asked yourself, “do I need web hosting?” then you know now that the answer is a clear yes. If you’re going to learn how to start a website , then know that web hosting is needed and a part of the whole process of creating a site. If you have goals for your website beyond having a little fun with it, then you need to take some time to identify and invest in the right web hosting plan for what you need. It’s a small cost for the security and control you’ll get out of the deal (especially if your website will be helping you make money). If you’re finding all the options a little overwhelming (and we don’t blame you), we can help. HostGator has knowledgeable customer support staff available 24/7 who can answer any questions you have about web hosting. We can guide you toward the best plan and feature options for your needs and budget. Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading →

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How to Set Up Online Reviews on WordPress

Posted on October 25, 2018 by Hosting

The post How to Set Up Online Reviews on WordPress appeared first on HostGator Blog . There are multiple ways to incorporate reviews into your WordPress site . Whether you’re looking to create a review-based website, or you run a site for your small business and you’d like to add reviews to your site, this post is for you. Like most things WordPress there are a dozen ways for you to accomplish any kind of task. Adding reviews to your site is no different. Below you’ll learn what WordPress review sites are and how you can build one and the best themes and plugins to use. Plus, we’ll show you how to incorporate reviews into your existing WordPress website. First, we’ll cover how to create an affiliate review site. If you’re looking to add reviews to your small business site , you can click here to hop straight to that section.   What is a Review Website? A review website is one that’s geared towards writing product reviews. You’ll find these kinds of sites scattered across almost every niche. One of the most well known of these sites is the WireCutter . The main goal of these sites are to generate revenue via affiliate marketing . The process is simple: you find a niche that’s being underserved with low quality content, and then you create higher quality product reviews. As your site builds traffic, you’ll generate revenue whenever someone purchases a product through your link. Essentially, it’s a content driven website that’s focused on providing visitors with accurate and helpful information related to products they’re thinking about purchasing. This style of site can be pretty lucrative, but you need to do it the right way. This not only means that you need to create affiliate review content that’s better than what’s currently ranking, but you also need to lay a solid foundation for your site. We’ll get into that below.   How to Start a WordPress Review Website If you’ve been wanting to start your own review-style website, then there are a few things that you’ll need. Review sites are mostly content-driven sites, but you’ll need a stable website base to work from before you write your first word of content. Here’s how you do just that:   1. Choose Your Domain Name, and Host The first things you’ll need when starting a new WordPress review website are a reliable host and domain name. There’s a nearly endless supply of hosting and domain name providers to choose from. But, if you’re looking for a high-quality and high-performing WordPress host, then look no further than HostGator. You can even register a domain name through HostGator as well. This will not only save you time, but you’ll be working with a provider you can trust.   2. Choose a WordPress Review Theme With your hosting and domain name squared away you’ll need to install WordPress. WordPress is a free CMS, so there’s no upfront cost. However, as your site grows, eventually you’ll want to invest in premium themes and plugins (which we’ll cover below). Let’s start by choosing your WordPress theme. Here are some of the best paid and free WordPress review themes.   1. REHub REHub is designed with review-style WordPress sites in mind. It allows you to create simple review-style blogs, all the way up to magazine style sites. With a variety of page templates and custom widget areas to choose from, this theme is incredibly flexible.   2. InReview InReview was developed by the team at Elegant Themes. Beyond its beautiful layout, this WordPress review theme has built-in review features that not only let the author create a starred review, but also the readers as well. This can help build trust among your readers, as the content appears peer-validated.   3. Huber Huber is a really cool WordPress review theme that takes style cues from the video game industry. However, just because the sample theme is geared towards gaming doesn’t mean it can’t be used across any niche. It’s very versatile and its unique review structure and layout can help you stand out in your niche.   3. Install the Best WordPress Review Plugins Beyond choosing a review-oriented theme there are some additional plugins you might want to install as well. These WordPress review plugins will help to transform any site into an in-depth review monster.   1. WP Customer Reviews If you want to have the ability to let your readers post reviews, then you’ll want the WP Customer Reviews plugin. You can either create a dedicated page for customers to add reviews, or you can add reviews to individual posts. Finally, this WordPress review plugin has anti-spam protection built-in, along with admin approval features, so you can ensure that all the reviews on your WordPress site are actually authentic.   2. WP Review WP Review is a free plugin that’s easy to use and will help you create rock-solid review posts, just by following a few simple steps. You can customize the appearance of this WordPress review plugin via CSS, and you can use the included shortcodes to display reviews anywhere across your site. You’ll also be able to create star, rating, and percentage reviews. Plus, it’s fully compatible with Google Rich Snippets. If you want to upgrade this plugin there’s a premium version available through MyThemeShop .   3. WP Product Review The WP Product Review plugin has both a lite and premium version. Overall, it allows you to easily add reviews to your WordPress site. When you’re writing a blog post, just select the product review option and you’ll get a menu of available settings for you to fill in. There are also additional features like the ability to add user reviews, or add reviews to your sidebar. It’s also integrated with Schema rich snippets for better search engine display.   4. Start Publishing Great Review Content Now that your site’s scaffolding is in place it’s time to start creating your review content. The content you create will make or break the success of your site, so make sure you’re creating in-depth reviews on WordPress that add real value for your readers. If you want to take your review site to the next level, consider actually purchasing the products or software you’re reviewing. This will give you a huge leg up on a lot of other sites out there that haven’t actually spent serious time with the products being reviewed.   Best WordPress Plugins to Optimize Your Reviews Beyond the basic plugins we’ve outlined above, there are a few more that will enhance the readability of your content. Remember, review-based content is all about conversions. So, the more informative and higher quality your content is, the better chances it has of converting readers into buyers—and earning you that affiliate check! Here are three additional WordPress plugins that can help elevate your review content:   1. Pretty Link Pretty Link is a useful plugin that helps you manage your affiliate links, while cloaking them so they don’t look spammy. Plus, you can do cool things like setup URL redirects and track your links to see if people are actually clicking.   2. Easy Azon If you plan on promoting and reviewing products from Amazon, then Easy Azon is an invaluable WordPress plugin. It makes it very easy to select and create Amazon affiliate links. You can do it all from your WordPress dashboard. This is a huge timesaver if you’re creating a lot of content.   3. Thrive Architect The Thrive Architect plugin might only be useful to more experienced website builders, but it’s worth mentioning. With this plugin you can create highly structured content with visual elements in place that encourage your readers to keep reading. Plus, it’s all drag and drop, so you can easily create professional looking content.   How to Add Reviews to Your Existing Website If your goal isn’t to create a review-oriented website, but instead to add reviews to your existing site, then you’re going to have a bunch of options at your disposal. Maybe you want to add product reviews to your e-commerce site? Or, you may want to embed customer testimonial reviews to build trust for your solopreneur business . When they’re positive, user-generated reviews can be a wonderful addition to your site. However, even negative reviews, when handled in the right way , can be a valuable opportunity to show customers how you respond to customer service feedback. Here’s how you can add reviews to your existing WordPress site.   1. Install Your Plugin Of Choice The basic process for adding review capabilities to your site will be similar no matter what plugin you’re using. Below you’ll find a list of some of the most useful plugins. But for the sake of example we’ll assume you want to integrate existing Yelp reviews into your site. To do this navigate to your WordPress dashboard and click on Plugins> Add New . Then search for the plugin called ‘Yelp Widget Pro’ and click install. It should look like the plugin below: 2. Configure the Plugin With the plugin installed you’ll have a new menu option of the left-hand side called Yelp Reviews. To open this click on Settings> Yelp Reviews . Then, follow the directions on the page. You’ll need your Yelp API in order to link your account to WordPress. 3. Add the Widget With the plugin setup navigate to Appearance> Widgets , and you’ll notice a widget called ‘Yelp Widget Pro’. Drag this to your desired section and your Yelp reviews will now display on your site. What to Look for in a WordPress Review Plugin When you’re looking for a good WordPress review plugin there are some key features that you’ll want to look out for. You don’t want to have to install a handful of plugins, when one could do the trick just fine on its own.   1. Built-in Spam Filter The last thing you want is to have to go through every review yourself to guarantee if it’s real or not. But, you also don’t want your website to be filled with spam reviews. The sweet spot in between these is finding a plugin that has a built-in spam filter.   2. Rating and Review System Instead of just a blank comment box, you’ll want a review system that lets your users leave consistent reviews. Whether that’s a starred rating system, or a numbered rating system. Having a consistent review system will allow people reading reviews to get a more accurate picture of how your products and services stack up.   3. Integrated Schema Markup By adding schema markup to your site you’ll be able to improve your search engine rankings and appearance. Schema markup helps to better organize and present your website’s data so it can be more readily understood by the search engines. When you install a WordPress review plugin make sure that it has integrated schema markup.   Best WordPress Review Plugins There are tons of different WordPress review plugins that you can use to add reviews to your WordPress  site. Here are three of the most useful, especially if you’re trying to bolster social proof and improve conversions site wide.   1. Yelp Widget Pro If you’re a local business owner, then you probably have a Yelp page that’s populated with reviews. The Yelp Widget Pro plugin will let you integrate your existing Yelp reviews and other useful information into your website’s sidebar. This will help to display any existing reviews on WordPress and give readers access to your Yelp page for further verification.   2. Google Places Reviews If you have a Google Places page with reviews, then you can integrate these into your site as well with the Google Places Reviews plugin. You can display your customer reviews, business name, and Google+ page. There’s also a Pro version of this plugin , which will give you access to additional features.   3. Pixlee Pixlee is a premium WordPress review plugin, but the investment can be well worth it. Pixlee will allow you to integrate visual reviews into your site. By displaying real customer photos on your product pages, or using them with your testimonials you’ll greatly help to improve conversions.   Closing Thoughts As you can see there are tons of ways you can integrate reviews into your WordPress site. Whether you’re looking to build a brand new WordPress review site from scratch, or simply add reviews to your existing business website, WordPress makes it easy. Now, you don’t have to use every plugin highlighted above. Instead, choose the one or two that suit your needs and budget the best. Overall, it’s better to use fewer plugins whenever possible, so if you find a single plugin that does everything you need it to do, then use that one. Now that you’re ready to set up reviews on your WordPress site, it’s time to learn how you can put those reviews to work! Check out our blog post on how to repurpose online reviews for additional marketing content that converts your site visitors. Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading →

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Beginner’s Guide to Google Ads

Posted on September 14, 2018 by Hosting

The post Beginner’s Guide to Google Ads appeared first on HostGator Blog . The web is crowded and getting people to visit your website – out of all the other options available to them – is an ongoing challenge that all website owners are familiar with. One useful tool for getting your website in front of more people is Google Ads (formerly called Google AdWords).   Why to Use Google Ads You only have so much money to spend promoting your website, so what makes Google Ads worth the investment? Google’s advertising platform provides a few main benefits that make it worth considering: 1. Your ad can reach a huge audience. Google Ads doesn’t just control the ads that show up on the search engine (which billions of people use each day), it’s also behind the ads on all Google properties (including YouTube and Gmail) and a huge number of other websites included in the Google Display Network. All told, the Google Ads platform reaches over 90% of all internet users, making it the best tool for reaching a large audience online. 2. Google offers targeting options.   For a lot of businesses, reaching a lot of people is less important than reaching the right people. Google Ads allows you to target which search terms your ads show up for, what people see your ads based on demographic information, and the types of sites they show up on in the display network. All of that helps you to more efficiently reach the people most likely to care about your website. 3. You only pay when people visit your website.   With a lot of advertising, you pay for the exposure the ads bring you. Google Ads uses a pay-per-click model, so you only pay for the times people actually click on an ad and visit your website. 4. It’s faster than most online marketing tactics . While tactics like SEO and content marketing are valuable, they’re slow. Google Ads gets your website in front of more people faster. If your online marketing efforts could use an extra boost, PPC marketing with Google Ads can provide it.   How to Set Up Your Google Ads Account Setting up an account in Google Ads is pretty easy. When you’re on the Google Ads website . You’ll see a big green button that says Start Now. After you click, you’ll encounter a form that asks you to provide your email address and the website you’ll be promoting. You’ll need to use an email here that’s already associated with a Google account, so if you already use Gmail and Google Analytics , use the same account you use there. If not, you can set up a new account here. You’ll be asked to log into your Google account, then you’ll be in.   6 Best Practices for Google Ads While you could theoretically dive right in and start creating ads today, in order to get the most out of the money you spend on Google Ads, you need to take some time to learn the ropes. Google has a series of videos that can offer a good start to understanding the platform and how to use it. Going through them all can take some time, but for most website owners it’s worth it. Until then, here’s a shorter summary of best practices to keep in mind.   1. Determine your goals. What is it you want from your Google Ads? Are you at the point with your website where the most important thing is getting those initial leads to learn you exist, or do you want visitors to convert to customers right away? Your Google Ads campaigns should be designed around the main goals you want to achieve.   2. Do keyword research. This is one of the most important steps in PPC marketing. Your keyword lists will be a big part of the campaigns you set up for search. You want your ads to show up specifically when people are looking for what you have to say or sell. The way to learn what terms people are using (and how competitive different terms are) is to take time to do the research.   3. Prioritize relevance. One of the best things about online marketing is that you can more effectively reach the specific people most likely to be interested in your website in the context where they’re looking for or thinking about what you have to sell. Your ads will perform much better if you can make them relevant to the person at the moment they see them. Good keyword research is a big part of this, but you should also do ad targeting based on demographic information and user interests to better get your ads in front of the right people. And relevance has to go beyond what shows up on the ad: your ad content should always match what people will see when they click through.   4. Test out your ads. It will probably take you a few tries to figure out what gets people to respond to your ads. Try out different ads with different wording, different images, and different targeting to collect data on which ones work best. If you just do one thing, you won’t ever know if it could be working better.   5. Use retargeting. Getting a visitor to your website once is nice, but getting them to come back again is much more valuable. Google Ads provides retargeting so you can target your ads to the people who have already viewed your website and even use it to show them ads for the items they viewed while they were there.   6. Refine as you go. Google Ads provides useful analytics that will help you gain a greater understanding of what your audience responds to based on your ad performance over time. And the platform even factors your ad success into how much you pay for each click through the Quality Score. You Quality Score is determined based on how well your ads perform, and can affect your pricing.   For best results, Google Ads requires a time commitment. If you don’t have a lot of time to spend on running your Google Ads campaigns, you may benefit from hiring a PPC specialist or agency who can bring their expertise to your campaigns and help get you better results while saving you time. If you stick with doing it yourself, actively monitor your campaigns. Pay attention to the data they provide and use it to improve your campaigns over time. If you manage your ads well, you can expect to see better results the longer you use the platform.   How to Create a Campaign in 6 Steps Google Ads makes it pretty easy to get started by walking you through the steps to create a campaign. A note here: Google Ads just recently rolled out an all new interface, so if you have any past experience with it or have done research into it from resources created before this summer (2018), then you’ll notice that the platform looks different that you probably expected.   To get started in the new interface, look for Campaigns in the menu on the left side of the page. Then click either the plus sign in the big blue dot on the left side of the page, or where it says New Campaign toward the bottom. Select New Campaign. 1. Choose Your Campaign Type You’ll see a page that includes the five main types ads you can create in Google Ads: Search ads – Ads that show up on the search engine results page, usually above the natural results Display ads – Ads that show up on websites across the web Shopping ads – Ads that show up on the search engine results page for product-related searches that often include images and information like price and availability. Video – Ads that show up before or on the bottom of YouTube videos. Universal app – Ads that show up on mobile apps. Make your selection for which type of ad you want to use in your first campaign. You can run multiple campaigns, so choosing one now won’t keep you from creating the other types of ads as well.   2. Select Your Goal Now the platform will ask you to choose your goal for the campaign. It will fill in different suggestions here based on the campaign type you choose, but the most common options are:      Sales      Leads      Traffic      Brand awareness      Product and brand consideration You can also choose to create your campaign without choosing a specific goal. Choosing your goal allows Google Ads to better determine how to track your campaign’s success and provide you with the most important analytics.   3. Define Your Settings On the next page, you’ll do a few important things. First, give your campaign a name. This is for internal use only, so you just need to make sure it’s something that makes sense to you and any other marketers who will be accessing the PPC account, and that it will differentiate this campaign from any others you create. Next, choose whether you want your ads to show up in the search network, the display network, or both. Ads in the search network will show up on the Google search engine results page, as well as on other Google properties. Those in the display network will show up on websites all across the web.   Select Your Language and Geographic Targeting Next choose your location and language targeting. If your business is local, then you don’t want to waste money on clicks from people in other states or countries. And if you only have a staff that speaks one language, then you’ll want to stick with reaching customers you can communicate with. Set Your Budget Now we get to the money side of things. Set your maximum daily budget, as well as the maximum amount of money you’re willing to pay for each click. As you’d expect, the higher you go, the more times your ads will show up and the more visitors you can expect to come to your website. You can either choose to do the bidding for your ads manually, or you can let Google choose bids for you automatically. The latter option is recommended for everyone but the most experienced of Google Ads users. The Google Ads automated option is programmed to get you the best possible results for the amount you spend, so it’s usually a good choice. Provide start and end dates for your campaign, or select None if you’d like the campaign to run indefinitely.   Audience and Extensions At the bottom of the page, you’ll see a few optional sections. The most important of these are:   1. Audience Targeting This is where you can define who will see your ad in terms of their general search habits and interests. It’s also the section where you can set up remarketing to show ads to people who have already visited your website. 2. Extension options You’ll see a few different extension options . These all give you the chance to add some extra information to your ad, whether it’s including links to additional web pages on your site, adding your phone number, or providing extra details like price or discount offers.  These are a good way to provide important information in a way that stands out and gets the viewer’s attention. Once you’re done with this page, click Save and Continue. 4. Add Your Keywords The next page is where you bring in the keyword research you’ve done. You can set up a number of Ad Groups for each campaign. In each group, you only want to include ads that are focused on a particular product or service so that you can use a specific set of keywords that will be relevant to those ads. 5. Create Your Ads This is the part where you’ll need to bring your creatives in (or bring your own creative skills to the process). Load the images and copy you want to use for each ad that’s relevant for the keywords in this ad group. 6. Pay and Launch When you’ve got everything else set up, you’ll see a red banner over the top of the Google Ads interface letting you know to add your payment information to make your campaigns active.  Click on Fix It and enter your payment information where prompted. Follow Your Campaigns and Improve The hard part of getting started is now done, but you still have work to do. Make sure you pay attention to your campaigns and track the analytics Google Ads provides. Use the data available to make changes to your ads, your budget, and your targeting to get more relevant clicks and better conversions over time. While Google Ads is notable for getting faster results than some other types of online marketing, it’s still true that you’ll get more out of it the longer you do it, as long as you do the work of learning from your campaigns and improving them as you go. When done well, Google Ads can provide a healthy ROI and bring a lot of new relevant traffic to your website. Get expert help managing your Google Ads campaigns. Learn more about HostGator’s PPC Advertising services . Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading →

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How to Build a Warp Speed Website

Posted on August 8, 2018 by Hosting

The post How to Build a Warp Speed Website appeared first on HostGator Blog . How to Build a Warp Speed Website Perhaps you’ve already built your website, or maybe you’re just setting out to learn as much as you can before you hire a web design expert or marketing firm to build it for you. Either way, considering the investment of time and money you’ll put into your site, you want to make sure that it converts your visitors. You want those leads and prospects to visit your site, engage with your content, and become your new customers, but there’s one issue: your site loads way too slowly.  Why do I need a warp speed website? According to Google Speed Insights industry benchmarks report, as page load times increases, the chance of someone leaving your site increases substantially: If visitors bounce from your site – meaning they do not interact with any element on your website and “press back” or close the tab – there is a slim chance they will return. That site bounce translates into lost business for you. In order to prevent those visitors from bouncing, your website needs to load fast. In essence, you need to build a warp speed website, which is no easy task. Slow site speed could be due to a number of variables including clunky code, unoptimized images, or oversized page elements and plugins. To narrow down the culprits, you’ll want to use a site like Google’s TestMySite tool to diagnose what’s going on under the hood.  Using the Google TestMySite Tool The TestMySite tool is easy to use gives you a great deal of helpful information and suggestions to improve your site speed. You start by typing in your website URL, and the tool analyzes your site, running a series of speed tests to explore your website performance across mobile network speeds like 3G. Take a look at the suggestions and click on each to see what they mean: Avoid Landing Page Redirects Eliminate Render-blocking JavaScript and CSS Leverage browser caching Prioritize visible content Reduce server response time Enable compression Minify resources Optimize images Depending on how your site was built and on what platform, you’ll see some of these suggestions in your report. If you hire a web designer, then be sure to send them the report to investigate and explore on your behalf. If you still have questions, Google also offers an FAQ page to answer some of the common questions received by website owners.  How can I build a warp speed website? So you’ve watched the video, clicked on the links above, but you’re still somewhat perplexed as to how you can build a warp speed website. Have no fear, here are some best practices to help you: Optimize your images Use a free tool like Optimizilla to compress your images and reduce their file size. By compressing your image files, you’ll decrease the overall weight of your website, decreasing your load time. Reduce clutter on your site You may feel compelled to include a slew of images and tons of written content on your website, but that’s not necessarily going to help you. Instead keep your website copy and images on point. Think about your buyer persona   –  what do they want to know in order to make a buying decision? Is that content easy to find?  Minify your HTML, CSS, and JavaScript resources By minifying, you remove redundant data without affecting how the browser processes the different resources on your site: To minify HTML,  try HTMLMinifier To minify CSS,  try CSSNano To minify JavaScript,  try UglifyJS Test, Test, Test All the tools in the world can’t replace an actual consumer. Choose a small group of friends, family, and valued customers to test your site. Ask them to take notes on the experience and let you know what works and what doesn’t. You may just find that you have sections or resources on the site that you don’t need – which means dead weight you can remove.  Putting it together  At the end of the day, you build a website because you want to attract, engage, and convert customers. If your site loads too slowly, you’ll miss the mark and lose valuable visitors. Building a warp speed website can be overwhelming, but follow the tips and tricks above to strive for a speedy site that plays to potential customers on both desktop and mobile devices.  Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading →

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How Your Online Store Can Reach Millennial Shoppers By Reviewing Your Pricing

Posted on May 22, 2018 by Hosting

The post How Your Online Store Can Reach Millennial Shoppers By Reviewing Your Pricing appeared first on HostGator Blog . Why Now Is a Good Time to Review Your Online Store’s Product Mix and Pricing Millennials are upgrading their lifestyles. Is your store ready to help them do it? Shoppers age 20-36, as we mentioned in our future of e-commerce post, are driving growth in luxury online retail sales . In the US, Europe, and China , young consumers are spending more freely than before on luxe items—and are expected to do so for years to come. This means that if you’ve been holding off on adding more expensive products to your shop, this could be the time to go for it, to keep your customers from leaving you and to see better profit margins. But before you invest in new products, you’ll want to do a market analysis, find your break-even point for those products, come up with a plan to market your luxury items to young adult shoppers, and create an online shopping experience they’ll enjoy and want to experience again. How Can You Analyze the Market for Your Luxury Items? In general, interest in luxury goods is high among young adults. Consultancy Deloitte found that 55% of US Millennials are “very interested” in “high-end fashion or luxury items .” The percentage is even higher in Italy, the UK, and China. But you’ll want more details before you decide whether to invest in high-end products for retail or develop your own brand of luxe goods. Let’s say you sell handmade leather wallets but you’d like to add handmade shoes, which are a much costlier product. Through a combination of surveying your existing customers, studying demographic data, and online marketing research tools , you’ll want to answer these questions: Who are the target customers for your product? Do they need and/or want what you’re planning to offer? Do you have (or expect to attract) enough of these customers to make your investment in the new product profitable? How is the competition presenting these products or similar ones? How can you set your shop apart from competitors selling the same product? (Remember, competing on price is usually a losing proposition .)   What’s Your Break-Even Point? Once you know that there are customers who will buy your handmade shoes, you’ll need to fine-tune how to price them and figure out how many you’ll have to sell before you break even and start turning a profit. To find your break-even point for different retail prices, you can use this clever break-even analysis tool from Harvard Business Review . You’ll need to know, or have a good estimate of, your: Fixed costs , which are the expenses you’ll rack up in developing your shoes, like design software, shoemaking equipment, and the money you’re budgeting for general promotions. (If you’re buying finished products from a supplier, you can substitute the wholesale cost of your initial goods purchase for product development costs). Let’s say setting up your workshop costs you $10,000. Variable costs per product unit , which include the cost of materials and your time to make each pair. Variable costs can also include pay-per-impression digital marketing campaigns. Let’s put your materials, labor, and digital marketing costs at $200 per pair. Revenue per unit , which is your retail price. Small-brand handmade shoes are typically priced around $300 per pair. Unit margin , or how much money you’ll get to keep after each pair sells.  In this case, it’s $100 per pair. Plugging these numbers into HBR’s calculator (or using their equation) yields a break-even point of 100 pairs of shoes sold at $300 per pair. Raise your retail price to $350, and your unit margin rises to $150 while your break-even point drops to 67 pairs, although it may take you longer to reach your break-even point at the higher retail price.   How Can You Market Your Luxury Items to Millennials? With your shoes ready to go, your price set, and your break-even point calculated, it’s time to let luxury shoppers know you’ve got the goods. How can you do that? Start with your email list and social media followers. (If your shop doesn’t have an Instagram , know that it’s a popular channel for major luxury brands trying to reach Millennials. ) In your messaging, you’ll want to include great, share-worthy photos and text that emphasize the “quality and uniqueness” of your items. That’s because Deloitte found those two things matter more to the under-35 luxury shopper than legacy brand names do. Promote your company’s ethics and sustainable practices, too—89% of US Millennial luxury shoppers in Deloitte’s study said they always or sometimes make sure a luxury brand is ethical and sustainable before buying.   How Can You Create a Luxury Customer Experience? There are two basic elements that can take a basic online shopping experience to luxurious new heights: product details and excellent customer service. Deloitte found that a slight majority of young luxury shoppers in the US prefer shopping online to buying in-store. However, these Millennials also said that being able to try products and get a sense of how they feel are important benefits to in-store shopping. If you’re selling your handmade shoes online only, how can you give customers a clear sense of what your goods are like? Invest in high quality product photography , add product videos, and write brief but detailed descriptions of each luxury item you sell. To further encourage new customers to try your products, you’ll want to highlight your fair and reasonable return policies, free shipping and expedited shipping options, and guarantees on what you sell. If you’re doing double duty as chief shoemaker and customer service rep, remember to make each interaction with your customers as positive as possible. Answer questions about products as quickly as you can, and when people do buy from you, make sure the packaging is impressive, too. If your first foray into upscale products goes well, you may want to expand your offerings to include more high-end, high-margin items. In each case, remember to do your market research first so you can get the most return on your luxury-goods efforts. Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading →

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