Tag Archives: politics

How To Start Planning For Your Website’s 2014 Facelift

Posted on October 17, 2013 by Hosting

The post How To Start Planning For Your Website’s 2014 Facelift appeared first on HostGator Web Hosting Blog | Gator Crossing . With only a few months left in 2013, it’s time to start thinking about how your website can be better next year. We’ll outline here a number of recommendations that you can follow in order to start planning for your website’s 2014 facelift.   Start developing more original content. You’ve heard it before: when it comes to digital marketing, content is king. According to reports , “61% of consumers say they feel better about, and are more likely to buy from, a company that delivers custom content.” If you neglected to create original content for your website in 2013, take the last few months of this year to develop and queue up content (blog posts, videos, ebooks, presentations) that you can begin using on your website in 2014. These days, online consumers are spending more time than ever getting to know companies before they make purchasing decisions. Creating original content for your website can help you: Create brand awareness Provide value to your prospective customers Leverage your company as an industry leader Differentiate from competition   Your website is often the first impression online consumers will have of you. To help them understand who you are, what you do, why it matters, and why they should care, start developing new content for your website.   Start engaging with more people on social media. Now more than ever, it’s essential that companies develop effective social media engagement strategies that will allow them to better connect with prospective customers. If you didn’t see the traffic and sales numbers you would have liked to see in 2013, it might be because you failed to truly connect with online users. In the last few months of the year, spend time being more intentional about engaging with users on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. Help them understand who you are, what solutions or services you offer, and why you do what you do. It’s important that you create the perception that your company is open, transparent, and interested in communicating with current and prospective customers. Social media is a tool that will allow you to strengthen your company’s online reputation.   Study the numbers and make plans to change accordingly. You probably set up or installed analytics on your website for a reason, but when was the last time you actually spent time looking through and interpreting the data? If you’ve been implementing the same website strategies over and over again and you’re not seeing any increases in sales or traffic, it’s time to make plans to change or update your strategies. Before entering the New Year, dedicate an afternoon or two diving into the numbers. If you need help understanding how to use Google Analytics, read through this blog post from us . In it, we cover all of the different things you can do with Google Analytics, and provide a number of additional resources that you can use to get more information on the specific topics that interest you.   Discuss specific goals with your team. Now is a great time to sit down with your team to discuss what your goals are in relation to your website. As you prepare for 2014, you should consider asking yourself (and your team) the following questions: What is the purpose of our website? What are the top three goals we should always be keeping in mind when it comes to our website? Is what we’re doing on our website helping us achieve or work toward these and other goals we have (better customer service, more sales, etc.)?   Bringing other team members into the discussion will help you get a better idea of what everyone thinks the purpose and goals of your website are—and can ultimately help you plan for an even better website in 2014.   Compile a list of other websites you like and make a note of why you like them. If you’ve been unhappy with the design or functionality of your website, start making a list of other websites you do like in order to help you decide what updates to make in 2014. Find out what other companies in your industry are doing. Make notes about what features you like about their sites. Pay attention to things like design, usability, content, and anything else that stands out. Doing so will help you understand what it is about your website you don’t like, and will put you on the right path when it comes to making any desired changes.   Get out the calendar and start setting realistic deadlines. One of the most important steps you can take toward updating your website for 2014 is to get out a calendar and actually set some deadlines for any and all changes you would like to make to your website. Without deadlines and plans in place to help you reach your website goals, you’ll find that making any progress is fairly difficult. To avoid becoming overwhelmed with plans or frustrated with lack of progress, work on coming up with a timeline to gradually make changes to your site. When developing your 2014 website facelift calendar, you should try to include the following: Description of the update or change Purpose of the update or change Person in charge of managing the update or change Actual deadlines (first review of changes, second revisions, final completion)   Extra It’s also worth mentioning in this post that if you do not yet have a website for your business, now is the perfect time to set it up! To get started, the first step is to purchase a domain for your business. What changes would you like to make to your website in 2014? Leave a comment below! Continue reading →

Posted in HostGator, Hosting, php, VodaHost, vps | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

CodeGuard (Cloud Backup)

Posted on October 16, 2013 by Hosting

The post CodeGuard (Cloud Backup) appeared first on HostGator Web Hosting Blog | Gator Crossing . For many of us, our websites are our lifeblood.  They are how we make our living, and how we support our families.  They are our businesses and our passions.  The interesting thing about how important our websites are to us is that precious few of us actually take regular backups of our data.  Why is this?  No one knows, really.  Likely it’s that each of us figures it’ll always be someone else who loses their data in some catastrophic event. Enter CodeGuard.  For anyone who’s familiar with Apple’s Time Machine functionality, CodeGuard is very similar except it’s for your hosting server rather than your home computer.  When you sign up with CodeGuard, you provide it the necessary credentials in order to access your data and take a complete backup.  After that point, it regularly monitors your server for any changes.  Any time CodeGuard detects a change (files being added, removed, or modified), it then takes an incremental backup and sends you an email to inform you of the fact. It’s the next feature that really sets CodeGuard apart: it allows you to restore back to any prior version of your website.  All backups are stored in the cloud and you have multiple options for retrieving that data.  You can, at any time, download a full .zip of your backup, choose an automatic full restore, or simply restore a single file or folder that you may have accidentally nuked.  Basically, you have total control over your files with full accessibility at all times.  CodeGuard protects your data from catastrophic potentialities, and it can certainly protect you from yourself in some instances. You can sign up for CodeGuard from right within your HostGator cPanel, simply click the CodeGuard icon within the Special Offers section.  For more information, please see the related article from our KnowledgeBase: http://support.hostgator.com/articles/offers-bonuses/what-is-codeguard Continue reading →

Posted in HostGator, Hosting, php, VodaHost, vps | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Should You Launch A Website For Your Personal Brand

Posted on October 14, 2013 by Hosting

The post Should You Launch A Website For Your Personal Brand appeared first on HostGator Web Hosting Blog | Gator Crossing . As more and more people continue to use laptops, smartphones, and other mobile devices to stay constantly connected to the web, it’s becoming equally important for businesses to spend time developing a strong presence online in order to effectively connect with potential customers. In this day and age, it’s not uncommon for consumers to spend a good amount of time researching a company on Facebook, Google, Yelp, and other social media before making any final purchasing decisions. Most businesses and brands understand this truth and have taken the time to invest in strategies that can help them strengthen their online presence and brand reputation in order to connect with more prospects and customers. In addition, a growing number of CEOs, business owners, and other professionals have started actively developing their own personal brand online as a way to connect with more prospects and customers. So what is a personal brand?   What Is a Personal Brand? Author and marketing expert Dan Schawbel defines personal branding as: “The process by which individuals and entrepreneurs differentiate themselves and stand out from a crowd by identifying and articulating their unique value proposition, whether professional or personal, and then leveraging it across platforms with a consistent message and image to achieve a specific goal. In this way, individuals can enhance their recognition as experts in their field, establish reputation and credibility, advance their careers, and build self-confidence.”   Who Has a Personal Brand? You might not realize it or want to admit it, but you have a personal brand. We all do. Have you ever Googled yourself or someone else? If the answer is yes, then you already support the idea of personal brands. We all use the Internet as a tool to find out more information about the people we meet and interact with in daily life. As a result, online reputation management is becoming increasingly important for individuals trying to get a job, get a promotion, sell a product, land a new customer, etc. Do you know what information people are finding about you when they Google your name? Will the information they find about you have a positive or negative impact on your sales, business, or career goals? Each day more and more businesses are creating Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, YouTube channels, Yelp profiles, blogs, etc. in order to interact with their target audience and current base of customers. This trend has fundamentally changed the way consumers interact with and learn more about businesses. Online consumers now expect companies online to be transparent, helpful, genuine, and invested in top-notch customer service. Many also expect the same from CEOs, salespeople, and other business professionals. If you’re interested in differentiating from competition and connecting with more prospects online, it might be time to consider implementing some basic personal branding strategies.   Why You Should Purchase YourName.com One simple way you can start strengthening your personal brand online is to purchase a domain name and launch a website and/or blog for yourself. We recommend searching to find out if YourName.com is available. If it is available, purchase the domain and start thinking about what you want people to find when they visit the site. It’s likely that it won’t take long for your new domain to start showing up on the first page of results when people Google your name. What information do you want to present to people when they land on your site? Do you want them to find contact information for you? A short biography or explanation of what you do? Links to your business website or products? A blog that offers helpful industry-related information? These are questions that you should think about when developing your personal brand website.   The Benefits of Having a Personal Brand Website There are a number of benefits associated with having a website for your personal brand. First and foremost, it gives you the ability to actively maintain and strengthen your online reputation. You might not have complete control of what people have said or are saying about you on Facebook, Twitter, or other websites, but you do have complete control when it comes to your own website. You can use your personal brand website to proactively manage the information that exists online about you. Your personal brand website can help you become more transparent, helpful, and genuine. It can show consumers that you’re a real person that they can reach out to if they have questions, concerns, or praise about your products or business. As mentioned above, online consumers expect top-notch customer service. They need to know that you—not just your business—are genuinely interested in helping them. Your personal brand website can also help you establish credibility in your industry. By taking time to write about industry-related topics and trends, share stories about yourself and your business, and offer other free valuable information on your blog, you can start effectively leveraging yourself as an influencer in your industry.   What Should You Include on Your Personal Brand Website? The possibilities are seemingly endless, but we do have a few recommendations to help get you started. Your personal brand website should have a blog. Blogging is a great way to help prospective customers understand who you are, what you do, what you know, how you can help, and why they should care. Your personal brand website should also have links to your personal social accounts. If you’re not comfortable including them just yet, consider at least linking to your business social accounts. Your site should also include a lot of visuals (photo and video). It can also have links to your business website or product pages—but don’t present this in a way that might appear too spammy to visitors. The point of your personal brand website is not to sell products. The point is to help people get to know you better. Finally, your personal brand website should include an About page, or at the very least, a short bio for yourself.   Do you have a website for your personal brand? If so, leave a comment below explaining why you decided to launch it. Continue reading →

Posted in HostGator, Hosting, php, VodaHost, vps | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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 →

Posted in HostGator, Hosting, php, VodaHost, vps | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Protect Your Brand Online

Posted on October 8, 2013 by Hosting

The post Protect Your Brand Online appeared first on HostGator Web Hosting Blog | Gator Crossing . One of the blessings and curses of the Internet is the utter simplicity involved in registering a domain and putting a website online; anyone can do it.  It’s amazing how simple the process is, but in the same breath it’s amazing how simple the process is .  There are also very few restrictions involved in how an individual exercises this freedom.  What we’re getting at is one of the back-alley facts of life online these days: anyone can register any available domain and put virtually any content they choose on that domain. Now through Octorber 31st, we are offering $9 .com /.net /.org domains using coupon code Domain9 at http://register.hostgator.com . The best way to protect your brand is to ensure you own all the popular Top Level Domains (TLDs) for the brand.  In other words, you want the .com / .net / .org for any domain related to your business.  Who do you think owns hostgator.org, or google.net?  Ever notice how amazon.net loads straight to amazon.com?  It is incredibly easy to forward multiple domains to your primary domain within cPanel.   That way whatever TLD iteration someone types into a browser, they will arrive your same website.  And it prevents a competitor from doing as they choose with any available TLD related to your brand. This logic can be applied in other ways as well.  For example, a quick WHOIS search for amazonsucks.com shows the domain is pointed to amazon.com nameservers, thus preventing any potential angry individuals from utilizing that domain for any nefarious purposes that might then show up in google searches for amazon.com.  It also forces any “haters” to have to scoot further off the beaten path before stepping up onto their virtual soapbox. One more example regarding the wisdom of owning multiple domains to protect your brand.  Type fcaebook.com into your browser and see what happens.  Clearly FaceBook registered that mis-spelling of their domain and pointed it to their primary domain. Whether to protect your brand from frontal attacks, or prevent others from attacking from the flanks, you best defense is to simply own any domains that could be used against you.  Be they alternate TLDs, or any alternate spellings or even “ sucks.com” as Amazon taught us. From now through October 31st, HostGator is offering all .com / .net / .org domains for just $9 per year, Domain9 is the coupon code.  Now is the time to scoop up those alternate TLDs and alternate spelling domains.  Choose your domains wisely, think through what domains you should own from a strategic standpoint, then head on over to http://register.hostgator.com (don’t forget to use coupon code: Domain9) and protect your brand! Continue reading →

Posted in HostGator, Hosting, php, VodaHost, vps | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment