Tag Archives: publishing

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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WP Gutenberg as a Site Builder: Is It the Right Choice for Building Your Site?

Posted on May 7, 2018 by Hosting

The post WP Gutenberg as a Site Builder: Is It the Right Choice for Building Your Site? appeared first on HostGator Blog . WordPress Gutenberg as a Site Builder: Is It the Right Choice for Your Site? The WordPress Gutenberg update will change how pages and posts are created within WordPress. Gutenberg will add page-builder functionality to the backend of every WordPress site. The overarching goal is to simplify and improve the content creation experience. The current rollout has been slow, and Gutenberg currently exists in plugin form , but one thing is for sure: The release of Gutenberg will change how we build sites and create content within WordPress. Below we look at the role that Gutenberg will play in building out your website, so you can decide if going with WP Gutenberg is going to be the right choice for your new project. What is Gutenberg? The purpose of the Gutenberg rollout is to make adding rich content to WordPress a simple and enjoyable process. Think of it as a way to quickly build page layouts and media-rich pages, instead of just creating your standard blog post. Instead of using custom HTML within the visual editor you’ll be using content blocks to create more advanced layouts. Overall, the Gutenberg editor makes writing much simpler and distraction free (which is a huge plus). You can then rearrange and add various content blocks to either change the style and layout of the page or include embeds like YouTube videos or songs from Soundcloud. Essentially, with Gutenberg, you’ll get access to more features and a more powerful editor that’ll give you more control over the end result of your content.   How Will Gutenberg Help Me Build My Site? The current process for building out a WordPress site is installing the core WordPress CMS, and then customizing that setup with themes, plugins, and custom HTML. There’s a lot of talk that the Gutenberg update will make certain themes, plugins, and integrated WordPress page builders obsolete. After all, a lot of the problems these tools solve will now be incorporated directly into the WordPress core. Gutenberg will allow you to customize your posts and pages with a dark and drop editor. You’ll be using content blocks to build media-rich pages, instead of just writing a wall of text and customizing your pages with shortcodes and HTML. The overarching goal is to make rich content creation fun and easy. As it currently stands, existing themes and plugins will need to adapt and integrate with the new WP Gutenberg setup. It’s a bit too early to tell just how much the Gutenberg release will affect themes and plugins, but they will need to evolve or become obsolete. Overall, this release will make creating, publishing, and building your site much easier. Think along the lines of creating a site with a drag-and-drop builder , or seamlessly creating rich content on Medium.   Is WordPress With Gutenberg the Right Choice for My Site? Instead of asking if Gutenberg will act as a solid site builder for my site, you should be asking: is WordPress going to be the right platform for building my site? The Gutenberg release marks a shift in how WordPress will change into the future. Instead of the standard core updates, the WordPress team will now focus on adding additional features to the WordPress core. This will make customizing your site and creating content a much more seamless process overall. If you’re looking to build a content heavy website then it’s hard to find a better solution than WordPress. This will especially be true with the introduction of the Gutenberg editor, which will make the publishing experience similar to Medium (which is stellar). If you’re just trying to build a very simple website with a handful of pages, then you can probably get away with using a simple site builder that doesn’t place such a heavy focus on content creation. WordPress still continues to power 30% of the web , so it’s not going anywhere soon. WordPress still remains a flexible and powerful CMS that allows you to create a content-rich site with ease. The Gutenberg release will make content publishing easier, especially once the kinks have been worked out. While WordPress will continue to remain a great CMS that’s continually focused on creating a backend CMS that makes site building and content creation easier. Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading →

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10 Awesome Link Building Ideas for Blogs

Posted on May 7, 2018 by Hosting

The post 10 Awesome Link Building Ideas for Blogs appeared first on HostGator Blog . Link Building Ideas for Bloggers Whether your blog is a marketing tool for your brand or a personal blog you started to share your passion, you want people to see it. For all the work you put into writing and editing regular posts and finding just the right images to put alongside them to pay off, you need people to find those posts. And the main way people go looking for content like yours online is by searching Google or other search engines. For most blogs, showing up in the search results requires doing some link building. Link building is one of the most important and hardest parts of SEO.  Google sees links back to your blog as an indication that people like and respect your work. Each external link from a quality website is a signal to the search engines that your website is quality too. It’s largely because link building is the hardest part of SEO to do well that it’s so important. Everyone can do the easy stuff; building high-quality links is how you become more competitive. Here are ten link-building strategies you can use to help boost your blog’s authority and make headway in the search engines. 1. Do a Quote Roundup Post. You’ve seen posts like this. They’re the ones that include quotes from a bunch of different experts on the same general subject. They’re popular for end-of-year posts (The Top Trends of 2018) or just any post that’s trying to pack a lot of different tips and insights into one place. We’ve even done a few of these here at HostGator. Influencers in your industry are often willing to contribute to these because they get a link back to their site and a chance to show their expertise on the subject in question. That benefits you because they’re that much more likely to share the post with their networks and/or link back to it in future posts on their own website. Quote roundup posts won’t guarantee you new links, but they’re a good way to get other influencers to help promote a post on your blog, thus bringing your content to a new audience. Those extra eyes on your blog may translate to more followers and new relationships, both of which are things that tend to correlate with more links.   2. Write Guest Posts. A guest post is a blog post you write for someone else’s blog that’s valuable to their audience. As long as the other blog covers topics that are relevant to your blog and target audience, it’s a good opportunity to reach new people and include a link or two back to your blog. Guest posting takes a lot of work – you have to identify the right blogs to pitch, convince them to publish your work, and write a really good post that appeals to their followers – and do all this for free. But if your post is good and the other blog is a good fit for the people you’re trying to reach, you could gain new followers and more traffic in addition to the links you build back to your blog. One thing that’s really important to remember here is to be careful how much you self-promote or link back to your blog in a guest post. A lot of blogs won’t bother publishing your post if it’s seems promotional or spammy. Stick with one or two relevant links tops, and only mention your brand if or when it makes natural sense to do so.   3. Accept Guest Posts. Hear me out  – I know it sounds like this is the best way to let other people build links on your site, but each of those people is likely to then promote your blog. As with quote roundup posts, this may not immediately earn you a bunch of new links, but it will help you build relationships with people who are more likely to promote your blog and link back to your posts over time.   4. Look for Resource Pages. A lot of blogs and businesses will put together pages or posts that collect helpful resources their readers might appreciate. Any pages that do this for websites that are like yours could be an opportunity for a link. To identify pages like this , think of the main keywords that describe what your website does and get to searching.  If your blog is full of healthy vegan recipes, search for terms like vegan blog resources, vegan blog links and other variations on those terms. For every relevant resource page you find, see if you can find contact information for the site webmaster and craft a pitch for why your website deserves to be added. You should expect for a lot of your emails to be ignored. You’re essentially reaching out to a stranger and asking them to do work as a favor to you. But if you send out 100 emails and get two new links on high authority websites, the effort will be worth it.   5. Find Broken Links. Broken links are annoying for website visitors and owners alike. Every time someone clicks on one on your website, it’s a bad experience for them that reflects badly on you (unless you follow these tips to make your 404 experience a positive one ). Broken link building is based on the idea that by alerting a website owner to a broken link on their website and suggesting a good replacement, you’re helping them out. Where most link building strategies amount to asking other website owners to do you a favor, in this case the favor’s more reciprocal. Finding examples of relevant broken links around the web can be difficult, but there are a number of broken link tools that help you find any broken links on a particular website, as well as SEO tools that deliver reports of broken links based on keywords or topic areas. For each relevant broken link you find, you can either contact the webmaster to recommend a piece of content you already have that makes a good replacement, or create a new piece of content if you don’t already have one.   6. Create a Statistics Roundup. Writers love statistics. They’re a good, solid way to back up any point they make in an article or blog post. As such, original research and data are some of the best types of content for earning new links.  If you have the resources to create original research, definitely do that. But it does require a lot of work and the right tools and some bloggers aren’t up to the task. In that case, the next best thing is to try to collect existing statistics your audience is likely to be looking for all in one place. By bringing a large number of statistics together into one place in an easily accessible format, you’re providing value to the people (including writers) out there looking for that information. If writers find the stat they’re looking for on your website – even if you’re not the one that originated it – you may be the one to earn that link. Note: a lot of writers will follow the link you include back to the original source to check its authenticity and will prefer to use that link instead in their post. But don’t let that keep you from including that link back to the source –  a stat that doesn’t point back to its source is less trustworthy (and less likely to attract links). In some cases though, that stat will be behind a form or shared in a format that’s less user-friendly than your post, which will make linking back to your blog post the better choice for their readers. This is especially true if you find a way to add value, such as with the helpful graphics HelpScout included in their statistics roundup. 7. Create and Give Out Awards. You know what happens when a person or company receives notice that they’ve won an award? In most cases at least, they want to publicize it. They may write about it on their blog, send out a press release, or promote their win on all their social media channels – in short, send a bunch of links and promotion back to the source. To be clear, well known brands or awards are more likely to get that response, but even little known brands or blogs that create awards can get a similar reaction, simply because people like getting awards. It gives them something to brag about and point to as evidence that they’re doing well. Why not create your own award? Give it a snazzy name (possibly one that sounds something like your blog) and start looking for other blogs, influencers, companies, or people in your niche that you think should be winners. Create a logo (or hire a graphic designer to do so) and encourage them to post it on their websites. It’ll earn you both links and general goodwill in the community.   8. Write Reviews or Product Comparisons. Whatever topic you cover on your blog, there are probably some products that your readers consider relevant. And product reviews and comparisons are very useful to readers who want to make sure they’re making the right choice when deciding which product to buy. They can always see what the brands behind the products have to say on their own website, but that’s worth less to them than unbiased information from a third party. Somebody with a photography blog will have readers interested in information to help them buy the right camera. Pointing them toward a specific camera you’ve used and know is great, and explaining everything about it that works well and all the little (or not so little) things about it that don’t work well is exactly what they need to hear before buying. Even better, if you’ve tried out three similar cameras and can explain how they’re different and their relative strengths and weaknesses, you’re providing triple the information to help people make a decision. Not only will your reviews or product comparison posts provide value to people in your target audience, but they’ll be likely to attract links as well. The brands selling those products have an interest in linking to any positive reviews of their products. And any writer working on content where they know that information will be valuable to their readers, such as say, a blog post on how to get started as a photographer , will have good reason to link back to your detailed post.   9. Use the Skyscraper Technique. The search rankings are a competition and some keywords are much more competitive than others. If you can identify keywords that are relevant to your topic, but currently only have lackluster or mildly good content in those top spots, that’s a keyword you can easily compete with. The skyscraper technique is about finding those top ranking blog posts that aren’t as good as your content, then creating a truly awesome blog post that’s obviously better. Once you’ve got your awesome blog post done and published, you can reach out to the websites that linked to the mediocre content that’s currently ranking and recommend that they consider replacing that link with your more thorough and helpful content.  If the original post has obvious errors or is outdated, make sure to include that in your case.   10. Connect with Other Bloggers. You’ll notice that a couple of the earlier recommendations on this list prioritize building relationships . That’s because relationships are a huge part of link building. People are less likely to link to a stranger from a blog they’ve never heard of than they are to someone they’ve interacted with and know is legit. If you re-tweet other bloggers in your space, share their content, leave comments on their blog, or find ways to collaborate with them – then you’ll get on their radar. Once they know you, they’ll be more likely to pay attention to your content and share it or link to it anytime they’re impressed by what you wrote or know the link will add something valuable to their post. This is a long game. You can’t introduce yourself to a blogger in your space today and expect a link tomorrow, but starting to build relationships now and become a part of the larger community will pay off over time.   Conclusion None of these strategies are particularly easy. All of them will require a time commitment and some significant work. But if you want your potential readers to find your awesome blog posts, this type of work is the difference between only being found by those who already know you, and showing up in the search engines for the topics you cover. Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading →

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No Motivation to Blog? These 4 Habits Will Keep You On Track

Posted on August 16, 2016 by Hosting

The post No Motivation to Blog? These 4 Habits Will Keep You On Track appeared first on HostGator Blog . Blogging can be incredibly valuable, whether you’re writing for yourself, or trying to bring additional traffic to your business. However, it’s easy for the initial burst of inspiration to die off, and you’re left with the long work of building a popular blog all on your own. It can be very hard to stay motivated, […] Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading →

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6 Easy Steps to Securing Your WordPress Blog

Posted on February 4, 2016 by Hosting

The post 6 Easy Steps to Securing Your WordPress Blog appeared first on HostGator Blog . Today, WordPress powers over 25 percent of websites, and for many site owners, working with this content management system (CMS) is a no-brainer. It’s free, there’s a huge community eager to help you out, and there are tons of awesome plugins that will help expand your site’s functions. It’s perfect for web developers and do-it-yourselfers […] Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading →

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