Tag Archives: search-engine

How to Build a Website From Scratch

Posted on April 23, 2019 by Hosting

The post How to Build a Website From Scratch appeared first on HostGator Blog . You’re here because you want to build a website. Luckily, building a website is much easier than it used to be. What used to take months and months of work can now be done in a single afternoon. Even if you’ve never built a website before, you can quickly build a professional website, all with the help of a website builder. But, building a website requires more than just choosing the right website builder . There are a few foundational steps you’ll want to complete to help ensure the success of your site. Jumping in without a plan is a surefire way to get overwhelmed by the process. Below you’ll learn about the different types of sites you can build, how to plan your website, and finally, how to build a website from scratch without having to touch a single line of code. Why Build a Website? There are plenty of reasons to build a website. Whether you have an idea for a new personal website, want to showcase your passion, start a blog, highlight your portfolio, build an eCommerce website , or create a website for your existing business, it couldn’t be easier to start a new site. And best of all, you don’t have to be an experienced web designer to make one. Just a few years ago building a site was an intensive process. You either had to spend time learning to code yourself or hire a website developer to turn your vision into reality for you. But today, with the help of intuitive website builders the process is incredibly simple. Even if you’ve never built a website before, or even registered a domain name , you can have a website online in a single afternoon, if not sooner. Overall, the length of time it’ll take to build your website will depend upon the type of site you’re building. A simple 3-page website will be much faster to build than an eCommerce site that’s selling dozens of products. Step 1: Determining Your Niche The first step in website building is determining what kind of site you’re going to build. The approach you’re going to take to start a blog will be different than building a site for a physical storefront. Review the questions below to determine what kind of site you’re going to build. This will help you save time over the long run and ensure you’re building the right kind of site the first time around. Who’s Your Audience? Every successful website serves a specific audience. By taking the time to understand exactly who your audience is first you’ll improve your chances of creating a successful site. However, you won’t have to do this if you’re creating a simple website that you have no intention of building a business around. For example, maybe you’re creating a personal blog so you can practice writing in public, or you’re creating a simple one-page site for fun. But, if you want to grow and monetize your website, then you’ll want to place a focus on your target audience. Spend time browsing through other sites in your niche and attempt to infer the kind of audience they’re serving. Why do they like certain content types?  Why are some forms of content more popular than others? You can also head over to a tool called Buzzsumo to find the most shared content related to your niche. This can give you an idea of what your audience likes to consume and directions you can take with your site.   How Are You Serving Them? Once you know who you’re serving, it’s time to figure out the best way to do that. For example, maybe you’ve found that your niche loves video content. In that case, you’ll build a site that’s oriented towards videos. Or maybe you’ve uncovered a ton of related eCommerce products you can sell, in that case, you’ll want to build a site that has eCommerce capabilities. Spend time browsing through other sites in your niche to get an idea of certain site elements you’ll want to include. Maybe you’ve found a similar site that you love the layout of, or you like the type of messaging they use on their site. As you browse through competitor sites take note of the things you like and other elements you think you could improve upon. All of this will come in handy during the design phase. Step 2: Planning Your New Website Now that you know the type of site you’re going to build, let’s do some basic planning that’ll help to accelerate the site building process. Below you’ll get a basic feel for the elements that make up a professional website. Get these elements right and your site will stand head and shoulders above your competition. Site Structure Most websites look and function the same. It can be tempting to buck trends and create something wholly unique, but you’ll do yourself a disservice in doing so. Most users have certain expectations in mind when visiting a website. They expect certain website elements to be where they should be. The last thing you want is to confuse and overwhelm your visitors the moment they land on your website. Basic website elements include: An easy to use navigation bar, typically at the top of the site Homepage text and a sidebar, or no sidebar at all Logical site organization that lets users intuitively move from page to page The theme you choose should take care of your initial site organization. It can be tempting but try not to stray too far from the initial build. These templates are created by professional designers and developers and have web design best practices built in. Essential Website Pages The number of pages your site has will differ depending on the type of site you’re building. But generally, most sites will have the following website pages, no matter the niche: Homepage. This is the first page your visitors will see. It should be simple, concise, and immediately tell your visitor’s what your site is about. About page. Your about page is your chance to establish a relationship with your visitors. It’s commonly one of the most popular pages on your site, so you’ll want to spend time creating quality copy that draws your readers in, tells them what you’re about, and speaks directly to their needs and how you’re uniquely qualified to solve them. Services/product page. This will look different depending on what you’re selling and the niche you’re in. However, most sites (unless it’s purely for personal use) will have one of these pages, if not multiple. Contact page. Depending on the type of site you’re creating you’ll probably want to make it easy for your visitors to contact you. This can be through a contact form, an email address, or even your phone number or Skype address. Blog page. Most sites will be able to find some value in maintaining a regular blog. Some sites are purely content-based, while others will be able to use the blog as a means to provide value to your visitors and improve search engine rankings. Keep in mind that most website building software will take care of the basic website layout for you. Once you select a theme or a template, this will form the foundation for the rest of your site. However, by knowing what other pages you want to add, and what site elements you’ll want to include you’ll be able to speed up the process and avoid wasting time when creating your site. Step 3: Choosing Your Website Building Platform By now you’ve determined the type of site you’re going to build, and you have a plan of attack for the website elements and pages you’re going to create. Now, it’s time to choose the right tool to help you build your website. As a beginner you’ll have a ton of different options at your disposal, from website builders to content management systems , and more. One of the easiest ways to build your site will be using the GATOR website builder. Website builders in general greatly simplify the website building process. There are many things you can do with the Gator website builder. You’ll select a theme or template that will act as the foundation of your site, you’ll use the tool to make changes and customize your site, you’ll add content, and then publish your site online. The process is quite intuitive and you’ll be able to build a custom website without having to change, or even look at, any code. In time you can test out other website builders, tools, and content management systems, but when starting out you’ll want to give yourself the advantage of using one of the easiest tools out there. Once you’ve successfully built your first site you’ll have more confidence when it comes to customizing your site, or using different tools altogether. Building a Website with the GATOR Website Builder For the sake of this tutorial, we’ll show you how to build a website from scratch using the HostGator website builder. This website builder is packed with a vast selection of professional themes that span dozens of niches. Once you fire up the tool you’ll be amazed at just how easy it is to customize your template, add site elements, add pages, modify text, and more. Follow the steps below to build a website from scratch using Gator: 1. Select Your Template The first step when launching your website through HostGator’s website builder will be choosing your template. This template will act as the foundation for the rest of your site, so choose wisely. You’ll be able to filter the template selection based upon niche, or you can browse through all of the templates until you find the perfect fit. Most of the themes can fit into a variety of niches. But, you’ll notice that the preloaded content and general structure is more niche-oriented. If you want to build your site as fast as possible, then choose a template that’s within your niche. Once you’ve found a template you’d like to customize, just hover over the template and click ‘Select’. 2. Customize Your Template With your template selected it’s time to start customizing. You’ll probably want to spend a few minutes clicking around and getting used to the layout. It might seem a little confusing at first, but it will get easier. Almost every element of your theme can be customized by clicking. When you hover over and click any element of your site the tool will bring up a window to give you your customization options. If you like the existing layout of the site, then all you’ll have to do is edit and switch out the existing text, and upload your own images. On the left-hand menu you’ll be able to edit any additional pages, add new site elements and sections, along with changing out the overall color scheme. Once you’re satisfied with your site all you have to do is click ‘Publish’. However, it’s probably a good idea to preview your site to catch any last-minute errors before you publish your site online. Get Started Building with GATOR As you can see, building a website is much easier than it used to be. Today there are myriad tools that can help you build a website in a single afternoon, all without having to touch a single line of code. With the GATOR website builder, you can quickly and easily build a professional website completely from scratch. For beginners, it’s hard to beat the usefulness and simplicity of the GATOR website builder. Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading →

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What Is Responsive Web Design?

Posted on April 17, 2019 by Hosting

The post What Is Responsive Web Design? appeared first on HostGator Blog . Whether you’re building a new website or realize it’s time to do a proper redesign for a website you already have, one of the first concepts you’re likely to encounter in your research to get started is responsive web design. What Is Responsive Web Design? Responsive web design is a relatively new way of approaching website design that ensures that a website looks good on all devices. On responsive websites, the same information and page elements appear no matter what device you’re on, but the way they’re sized and organized will change based on your screen size.   The website adapts (or responds) to the smaller screen size of smartphones and tablets  to provide an intuitive experience, regardless of your device. An adaptive design and flexible layout provides a better user experience for your visitors and also helps to boost your search engine optimization value. With the growing use of mobile devices to access websites of all types— mobile use now surpasses desktop —website owners have to prioritize the mobile experience. In the early days of mobile, designers would often create a separate mobile website for smartphone visitors than the one that would load for desktop visitors. But as the number of device types and screen sizes available grows, that’s not a practical solution. In addition to the variety of screen sizes, you also have to deal with people’s ability to change the direction of how they hold their devices (landscape versus portrait) and the fact that people have varied preferences for how they size their web browser windows. In short, you could design a dozen completely unique websites to accommodate different screen sizes and still be missing out on a number of common use cases. Or you can design one responsive website that works on just about every device, screen, and web browser window—no matter the size. The Main Elements of Responsive Web Design You’ve likely encountered many examples of responsive web design without thinking about how it all works. In order to design a website that’s responsive, designers employ a few main tricks and techniques. Flexible grids Designers have always used grids to build websites, but for responsive websites they have to make sure the grid is flexible and can load differently based on the screen size. Flexible grids are therefore a core part of responsive website design. Breakpoints Related to flexible grids, breakpoints are the spots on the page you identify where the page can be cut off and the information to the side moved downward. Every website should have at least three breakpoints for the three main devices types people use, but most websites will have more than that. Flexible images and responsive media queries Text is pretty easy to move around based on screen size, but images and media features can be potentially trickier. There are a number of different options designers can employ to ensure images show up in the right size for the screen, without causing slow load times or looking strangely squashed. In most cases, it’s a matter of coding to determine how large the image will show up . In others, it could be changing the image itself (cutting unnecessary parts out, for instance) and telling the site which version to load based on the screen size. There are also coding commands designers can use to ensure any media included on a page loads in the right size. Responsive media queries allow you to set the maximum and minimum width for the media, as well as setting orientation for media on iPads. Visual hierarchy A big part of website design with a responsive layout is always considering which parts of a page are the highest priority. The images and messages it’s most important for your visitors to see should go higher up on the page, with any elements that are less important going further down. Visual hierarchy is a good web design practice in general, but it’s especially important in responsive design since visitors on smaller devices will be seeing less on the page at a time. You want to keep them on the page, so make sure the most valuable parts of the page are accessible higher up. Touchscreen and mouse friendly elements Another important consideration in mobile design is making sure everything on the page is just as intuitive and usable on a touchscreen as it is with a mouse . That means links that are big and obvious enough to select on a small screen and easy scrolling on all device types. Good responsive design includes user testing to make sure all elements of a page work just as well using a mouse as doing it all by touch.   5 Reasons You Should Use Responsive Web Design As a website owner, you know web design trends sometimes come and go. If you already have a website, committing to a professional website makeover  or redesign is a big deal, so even knowing what responsive website design is and how big of a buzzword it is, you may wonder if it really is important to build a responsive website. And for someone starting a new website, you may worry making it responsive could be more difficult or expensive. In either case, responsive web design really is the best choice for a few good reasons. 1. A majority of web users browse on mobile. Recent estimates put the number of people with mobile devices at over five billion . And as we already mentioned, more internet use now happens on mobile devices than on desktops. Mobile is clearly a trend that’s here to stay, and website owners need to adapt. You don’t want to alienate over half of your website visitors by delivering them a crummy user experience. For your website to work for everyone, you need to prioritize your mobile and desktop visitors equally. And responsive websites are the best way to make sure everyone that visits your website gets the experience you’re aiming for. 2. A mobile-friendly website is required for SEO. For several years now, Google has been telling SEO professionals that how well a website works on mobile is a factor in how they determine rankings. They’ve even gone so far as to develop a free tool to see how mobile friendly your website is. If you want people to find your website through the search engine, then making it mobile friendly is crucial. Not only has Google been upfront about mobile friendliness being an SEO ranking factor, but they’ve also said outright that they prefer responsive design. While expressing a preference isn’t quite the same thing as saying it will boost your SEO, if you care about where your website shows up in the rankings, following Google’s recommendations is just smart. 3.  It saves you time. Obviously you need a website that works on mobile, there’s no longer a debate on that point. But there are other options for making your website mobile friendly than going with responsive design. You can create a separate mobile version of your website, for instance. But having two websites comes with certain issues. Top of the list is that it takes more time to build two independent websites than it does to build a single responsive website. You’ll be doubling your efforts both when it comes to creating the websites and when it comes to updating them over time. And you’ll have to actively stay on top of the performance of each. There are more opportunities for broken links or pages that don’t load right when you have double the websites to monitor. 4. It provides consistent information across devices. The thinking behind building a unique mobile website is that you can figure out what people are looking for when they come to your website on a mobile device and build a site that answers those mobile-specific needs. Then, when building out your desktop website, you can build a fuller version of the site that includes everything you want to include, since you have more space to work with. The problem is that means your mobile visitors are missing out on some of the information your desktop visitors get to see. Either you’re padding your desktop website with information your visitors don’t really need, or you’re depriving your mobile visitors of stuff they might be interested in. Either way, you’re creating an unequal experience for your visitors based on the device they use. And you may be surprised by the way mobile behavior resembles desktop. An analysis found that people are willing to scroll on mobile devices almost as much as they do on desktop, and are, if anything, more engaged on mobile devices and more likely to click on links. If you kept all your longer pages and content to the desktop-only version of your website, you’re keeping them from mobile users who may well be more likely to read and engage with them. 5. It makes tracking analytics easier. This is just one more way having double the websites means having to do more work. You have to keep up with the analytics for both versions of your website, and analyze the results separately. In contrast, with responsive websites you can still see how your analytics differ based on the device people are using, but you’re able to make deductions about what’s working for your audience based on a consistent big picture view of your website. It’s just easier to track your analytics all in one place and make sense out of them when you’re dealing with a relatively consistent experience across devices. How to Create a Responsive Website As responsive web design has increasingly become the norm, website owners now have easier options for creating a responsive website. When trying to decide how to make your website responsive, you have two main choices. Option #1: Use a responsive template. Building a website today is much easier than it was in the early years of the internet. Even people with zero coding or design skills can pull together a good looking website in a matter of hours with the help of the right website builder . And because of how important responsive web design has become, the best website builders will include responsive templates you can use to make designing a mobile-friendly responsive website simple. If your priority is getting your website up in a way that’s quick, easy, and affordable, a website builder with mobile-friendly templates is the best tool for responsive web design . When trying to find the right website builder for your needs, make sure that it offers a number of well designed templates to choose from and that they’re all responsive. You won’t have to do any extra work to make sure your website works just as well for your mobile users as it does for your desktop visitors. Option #2: Hire a skilled designer. Your second option is more expensive, but it gives you more power to realize the specific vision you have of a website. While website builders with responsive templates make things a lot easier, you’re working from a design that already exists and that other websites start from as well. A good web designer can build you a website from scratch that directly matches what you have in mind. At this point, most professional web designers have the skill to build responsive websites, but do make sure to ask any designer you consider about their experience and make it clear from the outset that you want your website to be responsive. Ask to see other examples of websites that are responsive to make sure you like their work and trust them to create the website you want. One Last Step: Perform User Testing. Whichever option you choose for building your responsive website, in order to truly know that it works well on all types of devices, you need to test it out. Or more accurately, you need people in your target audience to test it out. User testing ensures you spot issues with your website’s usability in advance of when you release it. It’s better to know that your checkout process is difficult on a mobile device before you start losing sales because of it, and user testing provides you with that kind of valuable head’s up. User testing is a good idea for any website, but it can especially be useful with responsive websites so you can make sure your website looks the way you want it to on as many device types as possible. Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading →

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Responsive Web Design Examples

Posted on April 5, 2019 by Hosting

The post Responsive Web Design Examples appeared first on HostGator Blog . When building a new website or considering a new design for a site you already have, one of the best ways to clarify what you want and get some inspiration is to spend time looking at examples of other websites. For web designers, looking at the layout or design of other websites can spark ideas for how to approach the website you’re working on. And for business owners or amateur website owners who struggle to communicate what they want visually, it’s much easier to analyze what you like and don’t like about another website than it is to figure out what you want from scratch. For modern website design projects, it’s not enough to spend time perusing website examples on desktop alone. A majority of web users today do their searching, browsing, and shopping on mobile devices. When you’re building your website, you have to think about mobile. And that means when you’re searching for inspiration you should as well. What you need is to look for responsive web design examples. What is Responsive Web Design? Responsive web design is the dominant trend in web design today. Responsive websites are designed to look good on all possible screen sizes, while still providing the same information and page elements no matter the device. Designers pull this off by changing the way page layout elements are organized on the website, rather than changing what elements are included. For a simple example, a website that has text and and an image show up side by side on a desktop screen could have the text move below the image when the same page loads on a mobile device. In the coding, designers tell websites how to recognize the type of device or screen size the site is loading on, and change how it appears accordingly. Hence the name “responsive website design”—the website responds to the screen size it’s being viewed on. Responsive website design has become the norm because it’s Google’s preference, which makes it good for search engine optimization (SEO), and because it provides a straightforward way to ensure your mobile visitors get a good experience without having to design a separate mobile website. Having one responsive website versus different websites for different devices saves you the trouble of having to do twice as much work during the initial design phase and for ongoing maintenance. And it means your website will work on the growing range of device types and screen sizes that have now come onto the scene.   In short, whatever type of website you’re looking to build, responsive web design is widely considered the best choice. Why Look at Responsive Web Design Examples? Looking at examples of responsive web design with a flexible layout is a valuable way to come to your own website design project with clearer idea of how you want your website to look. In particular, reviewing examples will help you do a few things. 1. You can see different organization styles. One of the challenges of responsive web design is figuring out how to organize both your website in general and each individual page in particular in a way that remains intuitive and useful no matter the device type. You shouldn’t assume your own experiences and preferences are good enough for this. By looking at the choices other skilled designers have made, you’ll gain an understanding of the overall best practices in responsive website organization. 2. You’ll see how different types of websites approach responsive web design. Different types of websites have different goals. An eCommerce website has the goal of driving sales, while an entertainment site wants to you spend time on the site consuming content. When you view a lot of different responsive websites, you’ll start to see how the different design choices are influenced by a website’s particular goals. That’s good information to bring into your own website’s design. 3. You’ll get a feel for how a good website hierarchy works. Designing your website with a visual hierarchy means thinking through which parts of each page are most important and making sure the design centers them. A common website building mistake is not creating a mobile-responsive web design. It’s especially important for responsive web design, where many of the visitors viewing your website on smaller devices will see less of the page they’re on at a given time. You want to make sure that the most important parts of the page are placed higher up in the design, and that key features and links like your main menu and call to action (CTA) are easy to find. 4. You’ll gain insights into why designers organize things the way they did. As you browse different websites, think about why pages are organized the way they are. Analyze the design choices made in each case: consider how images are used, and where different links, buttons, and other features are placed. Think about the usability of the site and how the overall viewing experience is compared to others. Don’t just take in how the website looks on different devices, think about why. Asking those questions will reveal insights that help you make better design decisions for your own website. 5. You may see examples of design choices to avoid. You can learn a lot from good responsive web design examples, but you can learn just as much from those that don’t work for you. As you browse a website and click around to see different pages or take different actions, pay attention to anything that’s harder to do on a small screen than a desktop. Consider any page elements that don’t look quite right on some screen sizes, because they were clearly designed for others. Those insights will help you determine what not to do. How to Look at Responsive Web Design Examples You don’t have to go out and buy a multitude of device types to see how responsive websites look on all of them. A number of handy responsive design testing tools will let you see how websites look on different screen sizes all from the same device. If you have a computer, tablet, and smartphone you can use to supplement your research, it’s always good to get that more direct experience as well. But to see a larger number of examples in a more efficient way, a tool like Resizer (which we used for all the screenshots below) will make the process more efficient. 15 Responsive Web Design Examples Now that we’ve laid out a convincing argument for why you should pay attention to a variety of responsive web design examples, we’ll help you get right to it. We’ve compiled a list of responsive websites with a variety of website types and subjects covered. Business Responsive Design Examples Every business needs a website these days, and every business website should be responsive in order to reach prospective customers no matter how they come to your site. Here are a few examples of businesses that got the message and created responsive business websites. 1. CliftonLarsonAllen LLP Finance, outsourcing, and tax firm CliftonLarsonAllen is a good example of visual hierarchy in a website. You’ll notice all three of the main versions of their responsive website center the same image, message, and call to action (CTA) button. Can you tell what action they want visitors to take? Each website version also provides a number of clear links to learn more based the types of services the visitor is interested in, all of which are easy to spot as you scroll (or right there on the first screen in some cases). 2. The Living Well Women’s health and wellness company, The Living Well , has a simple image-focused website that provides the same information across device types. The initial logo, tagline, and menu items are visible on all versions and communicate what the business is all about. And prospective customers can learn more about the women behind the business and the specific services available by scrolling down, clicking on the relevant links obvious on the page, or following the social buttons that are visible on all screen sizes. 3. Yard Bar The dog park bar and restaurant Yard Bar also has a responsive website that centers images. The sliding images prominently feature the main things you need to know about the business: it’s all about food, drinks, and dogs. Across devices, scrolling down provides more information about those three main categories, plus happy hour times. Anyone visiting the site from any device can quickly learn what the business is about and the main information they need to know before heading over. 4. Bonsai Freelance business software company Bonsai has a clean and clear responsive website. Like CliftonLarsonAllen, they make the main message and CTA clear on the site across devices. The website offers a good example of moving or removing certain elements that are less important on the smaller screen. While for the most part, the page is the same across the devices, the larger screens have a form for providing your email right there on the page. To save space, the mobile version moves the form off the home page, but keeps the CTA there (once you click, you get to a form field). It makes the space look cleaner, while still providing the same basic information and options. 5. Salt Lick Cellars The winery Salt Lick Cellars is another business website that centers images, which makes sense for a business in an industry that often draws customers in with beautiful views. While the cut of the main image on the smartphone screen is smaller—you don’t see as expansive a view of the photo, you still get the main idea of it, along with intuitive access to the menu (a hamburger menu in the top right), and an image directing you to scroll down for more information. eCommerce Responsive Design Examples While business websites have an ultimate goal of trying to sell a product or service, eCommerce websites are trying to make the sale in a more direct fashion—right there on the website itself. It’s worth seeing some examples of how different eCommerce sites use their responsive design to do that across devices. When designing an eCommerce website , it’s especially important that you make your site mobile responsive and easy to use. 6. Paper & Ink Arts Paper & Ink Arts has all the same elements on its mobile homepage as on the desktop and tablet versions, but because of the way the same elements take up different amounts of space, the homepage has a bit of a different feel between devices. The image slideshow that dominates the screen on the larger devices, becomes a smaller banner on mobile in order to make room for other promotions. And the menu is squished into a hamburger menu in order to make space at the top for easy access to search, contact information, and the shopping cart. The choices make clear the company’s priority to make sales, and make it easy for visitors to get in touch. 7. Penzeys Penzeys looks like they designed their main menu with the mobile experience in mind. With four simple categories that take up a narrow amount of space on the larger screens, the menu fits perfectly on the smartphone-sized screen. All three screens make the checkout button in orange and free shipping offer in red in the top right corner obvious. While all versions let the central image that dominates the screen be the tasty-looking images of recipes you can make using the company’s spices (a compelling reason to buy). 8. Bon Bon Bon Like many of the business websites, chocolate shop Bon Bon Bon puts an image with an obvious CTA front and center. It has an image slider, so the image and CTA change, but the CTA is always in a bright red button. As with Paper & Ink though, Bon Bon Bon lets the main image get smaller so it’s more like a banner ad, in order to let some of the other page elements onto the screen on mobile. And the shopping cart and Information link to find contact information remain clear at the top on the mobile screen. 9. Chewy.com The online pet supply store Chewy.com looks very similar across the three devices, with the main difference being the common responsive choice to make the menu into a compressed hamburger menu. This is a rare example of a responsive website where the main image on mobile doesn’t load to fit the screen—you notice it’s cut off, but visitors have the option to scroll left to right to see the parts of the photo you can’t see here. All three versions prominently feature the search bar, to make it easy for visitors to find specific products. And all have the obvious 30% off offer in orange. 10. Pacha Soaps Pacha Soaps has a pretty similar look across devices. As is common in the other websites we’ve seen, they have sliding images that dominate the screen in all three versions. Unlike some of the other examples, the image takes up more screen real estate rather than less on the smartphone screen. While small, they keep the brown menu with their free shipping and social handle information present throughout screen sizes, while switching to a hamburger menu for their main menu on the smaller screen. Personal Website Responsive Design Examples Even if you’re building a personal website to share your passion, rather than sell products or promote a business, it’s worth making your website responsive. Here are a few responsive web design examples from personal websites people have built around their passions. 11. The April Blake April Blake’s blog is primarily focused on sharing recipes she cooks and occasional musings. Her website looks very similar across screen sizes, with just a couple of small differences. The social icons at the very top of the page on desktop are removed on the smaller screens, and the main menu is compressed to a hamburger menu. Otherwise it’s simply a matter of re-arranging the elements on the page to better fit the screen. 12. House of Hipsters Kyla Herbes home design blog, House of Hipsters , changes little between device types. The menu switches to a drop-down menu, the title banner at the top becomes smaller, and the right-side menu moves down the page on the smaller devices. But otherwise, the site’s essentially the same no matter where you’re coming from. 13. I Am Aileen Lifestyle and travel blogger I Am Aileen ’s responsive website centers a image slideshow on all device sizes, with an obvious search bar and social icons above it. The main menu becomes a hamburger menu on mobile, and the boxes of content and images below the main image become stacked on the smaller screen. 14. The Frugal Girl The Frugal Girl blog keeps the logo and tagline visible at the top across website types, and centers the top blog post in all three versions. The main menu becomes a hamburger menu on the smallest screen, and the information and images in the right-side menu get pushed to the bottom. 15. Budget Bytes Finally, the recipe site Budget Bytes centers the image and details of the most recent recipe on all device sizes, but moves the details and name below the image on the mobile device. The logo and website name show up at the top in all three versions. And, as is common in our examples, the main menu is replaced with a hamburger menu in the mobile version, along with a search icon to make more space at the top of the screen. While the images and names of additional recipes show up side by side below the main image on the two larger screens, they become stacked on the mobile device. Ready to Create a Responsive Website? As all these examples demonstrate, there are a number of ways to organize a responsive website that works equally well on all device types. And you don’t have to be a big business with a large budget to create a responsive website—many of these examples are of small businesses or individuals. If you want a simple, affordable way to create a responsive website, the Gator Website Builder has over 100 responsive templates that provide a headstart to putting together a website that looks good and works across device types. To get started with building your website, give our professionals a call at HostGator to find the right web hosting option for you. Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading →

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How to Optimize Content Before Publishing

Posted on March 11, 2019 by Hosting

The post How to Optimize Content Before Publishing appeared first on HostGator Blog . Even the most engaging content with all the right elements won’t serve the purpose if the search engines can’t find it . Before you hit that publish button, there are several steps you can take which will ensure that your content is properly optimized. If you are ready to invest your time and attention to optimization, the following tips will show you how to do that effectively. Create Content with Optimization in Mind In order to optimize your content, you need to add some important and relevant links, as well as some keywords, to catch the attention of search engines. Some writers make the mistake of creating the content and then placing the links and keywords where they think it fits. This is a BIG mistake! Why? Well, if you add search engine optimization elements after everything has already been composed, it will most probably stick out. Readers can’t overlook randomly added words and links that just don’t naturally fit into the flow of the content. Writers used to stuff articles with meaningless words just so they can add keywords and links to optimize the article. Then in 2011 everything changed because Google established Panda Penalties to make sure that people would be penalized for low-quality, keyword-stuffed content. If you want to write high-quality content with naturally embedded links, you need to know which optimization elements you want to add before you start with the writing process. First, you should know your topic and your target audience. This will help you to search for corresponding optimization elements. Find suitable keywords and valuable links and save them. Along the way, start brainstorming how you can form your content and which subtitles you can create by adding the keywords. During the whole process of research and writing, you will already have your links and keywords ready which will inspire you to write suitable content. By having the optimization elements in mind while you write, you will find a way to add them without sounding forced. Apply Reader-Friendly Formatting We live in the age of people with short attention span or skimmers, how they are popularly called. That is why you need to format your content so that they stay long enough to read through the article and hopefully click on some of the links. There are several elements that every content should have if you want to optimize it in the right way and keep the reader’s’ attention. For reader-friendly formatting, focus on the following: A headline with the main keyword Subtitles which consist of the main or relevant keywords Using H1, H2, H3 metatags for titles and subtitles The main keyword in the first paragraph (recommended) Images with ALT attribute (with main or relevant keywords) Placing keywords naturally and evenly in the text Remember that you’re not writing a book but a text for a website Pay Attention to Content-Length and Readability Focus on the length of the article because you need to write just enough so that the content doesn’t seem stuffed with optimization elements but not too much so that you lose the reader’s attention. The recommended length is at least 1,000 words when it comes to writing articles and having a readability score of 60-70 points. Keep in mind that these numbers depend on the niche, so don’t go to extremes. (Note: the HostGator blog team aims for minimum 2,000 words when we really want to rank!) It can be very helpful if you can ask someone to read your article, web post, or blog post before you publish it. Having a second pair of eyes looking at what you wrote from a different perspective can ensure you that you will give the audience what they want. The person who will read your content can tell you whether there is a natural flow or if some keywords or links pop out. This is a helpful way to find out whether you accomplished to create high-quality SEO content. If you want to improve the readability of your content, you can use some online writing tools such as Grammarly , EssaySupply.com , Readable , and GradeProof . Add Social Media Elements Social media is the perfect tool for raising awareness about your brand and what you represent. It is also a very important element when it comes to content optimization . If you want to optimize your content fully you need to be aware that the readers won’t spend their precious time trying to share your content with their friends and family. Considering that social media is the most common place for sharing interesting findings, your content needs to feature convenient social sharing elements. That means that you should add sharing buttons and locate them strategically on a visible place which doesn’t distract the reader such as the top or at the bottom of your page. You can also set it up so that it follows your readers on the left or right as they scroll. Adding social sharing buttons is good for SEO because it helps to generate more traffic, drive more links, and eventually increase SERPs. Include Comments Section Comments are a great way to connect with your readers, establish a certain relationship, and maybe give them some further insight into the subject you are writing about. But what may surprise you is that comment section can also serve as an optimization tool. How is that? Comments will keep your content fresh and updated and since they are part of the content that will matter to search engines especially if they consist of targeted keywords and high-quality links. Your readers can ask you about a different content piece which will attract shares and backlinks. Also, when answering questions you can also add some relevant links. In addition, you will signal Google that you care about providing value to your readers which is always a plus. Veronica Wright, CEO at Resumescentre has shared a valuable piece of advice concerning this topic, “A comment section is great for SEO! However, you need to pay extra attention to unrelated comments, spam, and low-quality links because they can harm the process of optimization. Don’t hesitate to delete those comments.” Final Thoughts The usual steps of optimization such as adding the links and using the right keywords have been discussed million times, but these steps will take you a step further and help you to create high-quality content with just the right amount of optimization. Dedicating your time to content optimization will certainly improve your ranking and provide you with some valuable clicks. That is why it is important to follow these guidelines and adapt them to the type of content you are creating. Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading →

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Do You Need Web Hosting for Your WordPress Site?

Posted on November 21, 2018 by Hosting

The post Do You Need Web Hosting for Your WordPress Site? appeared first on HostGator Blog . You’ve decided to use WordPress to launch your new website. That’s a great decision. WordPress is one of the top CMSes in the world, because it makes it very easy to create, build, and grow your website. In order to have a website online, you need to have a domain name and a web host. Without those two in place, you have no way for people to access your website, and you don’t have anywhere to store your website’s files. You might be wondering, do I need web hosting for WordPress sites ? Well…yes and no. WordPress actually has two different versions, WordPress.org and WordPress.com. With the second version, you can actually obtain a free domain and website, without the need to sign up for hosting on your own. But, this might not be the best course of action, as you’ll soon learn. Below we’ll highlight the differences between the two versions of WordPress, help you decide which one is best for your needs, and get into the variety of WordPress hosting options you have available. If you’re new to building a website, this article will show you how web hosting works and how it applies to your site . The Differences Between WordPress.org and WordPress.com Once you’ve decided upon using WordPress as your CMS of choice, your next decision is to choose which version of WordPress to use. Essentially, with WordPress.org you’ll be self-hosting your own WordPress site, while with WordPress.com your site will existing on WordPress.com and you’ll be using a sub-domain. Think of it like owning your own home, versus renting an apartment. By owning your home you have complete control over it. With renting you can only do as much as the homeowner or property manager allows.   What is WordPress.org? WordPress.org is probably what you’re most familiar with. You can download the self-hosted version of WordPress here . When you’re building a site using WordPress, this is probably the version that you’re going to use. When using this version you’ll need to install it on your own server, so you’ll need web hosting services. However, this will give you more freedom and control and you’ll be able to build any kind of site you desire.   Why is WordPress.com? WordPress.com is similar to a site like Typepad , or even Tumblr . Instead of having your site on your own domain, you’ll create a free site on a subdomain. So people will have to type in something like “yourname.wordpress.com” to access your site. With this, you don’t have to worry about a domain or hosting. Just sign up and start building your site with the selection of free themes . This might sound ideal, but it’s very difficult to grow a popular site or an online business using a subdomain. Plus, with WordPress.com you’ll have a very small selection of themes and plugins to choose from, even if you upgrade to the premium package .   Why You Should Self-Host Your WordPress Site Overall, if you’re going to be using WordPress you’ll want to be using the self-hosted version. Sure, using WordPress.com might let you build your site and get online faster, but you’ll be sacrificing a lot. Here’s a list of the benefits you can enjoy with the self-hosted version of WordPress:   1. Control Over Your Theme and Plugins When you’re building a site you want to build it exactly as you see fit. With WordPress.com your plugin and theme selection will be greatly limited and you’ll only be able to make certain customizations. By self-hosting WordPress, you open yourself up to the entire world of WordPress plugins and themes. You’ll have access to the library of free themes and plugins, as well as any premium theme or plugin you wish to purchase.   2. Improved Site Performance When you self-host WordPress you have the ability to choose the best host for your needs. That means you can find the host that’s going to help you get the most out of your WordPress site. You’ll also have control over any plugins that you install to help further optimize your loading speeds and overall site performance. Plus, self-hosted sites tend to perform better than sites that exist as a subdomain of a larger site, both in the search engine rankings and user experience overall.   3. Turn Your Site Into a Business With a self-hosted site, you can monetize however you want. There are certain advertising and monetization restrictions for WordPress that you’ll run into. For example, you can only use their integrated advertising platform, and you need a certain level of traffic to qualify. By self-hosting your site there’s no limit on how you choose to make money. You’ll have your choice of ad networks. You can install plugins to help you sell affiliate products, create your own courses, and more. You can even turn your WordPress site into a full-fledged eCommerce store. If you’re serious about growing your WordPress site, scaling your traffic, or turning your site into a full-fledged business, then you’ll want to self-host your WordPress site.   WordPress Hosting Requirements Luckily, WordPress doesn’t have that many hosting requirements. Overall, it’s very lightweight and compatible with almost every hosting company’s setup. The only two main requirements are: MySQL version 5.6 or higher PHP version 7 or higher That’s it. Most hosting companies also offer a very useful tool that’s called QuickInstall or One-Click install, depending on your hosting company. Using this tool makes installing WordPress incredibly simple. You just login to your control panel, select the app, choose WordPress, fill in some basic site details and the tool will install WordPress for you. Then, all that’s left to do is find your theme, customize it to your liking, and install plugins to add more features to your site.   Different Kinds of WordPress Hosting Available Since WordPress is so lightweight it can be installed on most hosting platforms. The biggest distinction you’ll find is the types of hosting available and the different feature sets they provide. Here are the three types of hosting most common to WordPress site owners and the benefits of web hosting services :   1. Shared Hosting No matter what kind of site you’re building you’ll probably start your journey with a shared host, and WordPress is no different. Shared hosting isn’t specialty WordPress hosting, but instead, you get a beginner friendly environment that can be used by a wide range of sites. The reason a shared hosting plan is so popular for beginners is its affordability. Plus, with the bundled one-click installer you can install WordPress in a few minutes. You probably don’t want to stay on a shared hosting plan forever, especially if your site is growing. But it’s a great place to start and will give you everything you need to create and grow your WordPress site.   2. Managed WordPress Hosting The next step up is WordPress managed hosting . With WordPress managed hosting only WordPress sites are allowed on the server. That allows the server to be incredibly well optimized for the WordPress platform. Plus, you literally don’t have to do anything that relates to your server. The “managed” portion of managed hosting means there’s a team of WordPress experts managing your server environment for you. Managed WordPress hosting is more expensive than shared hosting, but considering you don’t have to waste any time in technical tasks, and your site will perform at a very high level, these costs could be offset.   3. Dedicated Server Hosting Lastly, outside of shared and managed hosting you have the option of getting a dedicated server for your WordPress site. With a dedicated server, you’re renting an entire physical server for your website. You won’t share this space with any other users. Your server is completely up to you to customize. You’ll have your choice of hardware, software, operating system, and a lot more. This means it can be fully optimized to your website. However, using a dedicated server only makes sense once you’re receiving a significant amount of traffic. You’ll also want to have the ability to hire a system administrator who can maintain, upgrade, and troubleshoot your servers. Otherwise, you’re probably best off sticking with a managed hosting provider.   What to Look for in a WordPress Web Host Now that you understand the importance of hosting for your WordPress site, along with the kinds of hosting available, it’s time to dive into what you should look for when selecting a WordPress host.   1. In Your Price Range This is probably obvious, but you’ll want to choose a WordPress host that you can afford. Even if you have the budget for a more expensive host, it might not always be necessary. For example, if you have a small website with only a few pages, and a little traffic, but that traffic is worth a lot, you might not need to move away from shared hosting. Typically, people will only move their sites once they’ve reached the limits of their current hosting package.   2. Control Panel Access If you’re just getting started online, then this is a must-have. An easy to use control panel will make it incredibly easy to manage your server, and install WordPress. It will also help you do things like create a domain-specific email address, add domains to your account, and a lot more. The most commonly used control panel is cPanel, but your host of choice might be using something different. Regardless of the control panel that’s included with your hosting package, it needs to be easy to use.   3. Technical Compatibility Obviously, your host needs to be able to run WordPress. Luckily, it doesn’t take much to run WordPress; you just need PHP 7 and MySQL 5.6 compatibility. Still, you’ll want to make sure your host supports these. Since WordPress is so common the chances are high that they do, but it’s still worth double-checking before you spend money on a hosting package.   4. High Performance The performance of your host is incredibly important. Without a high-performing host behind you, your site will suffer, both in your user experience and search engine rankings. If you host your site on a managed WordPress server, or dedicated server then you will see improved levels of performance. But, for those just getting started with their WordPress sites, a shared server could work well until your traffic levels grow. You can always improve your speed and performance by utilizing a CDN. Or, installing a variety of plugins to help optimize your WordPress site for speed .   5. Solid Support Team The final thing you’ll want to look for is a great support staff. Your support team will be the liaison between your website and server and should be by your side if any issues arise. Beyond having your issues responded to quickly, you’ll also want a knowledgeable and helpful staff. After all, there’s no point in having support if they’re not going to be able to help fix your site issues. Take some time to research both the support channels and what kind of support the host offers for their hosting plans. For example, do they only offer support for issues that directly pertain to hosting? Or, are they more flexible and will help you through general site issues as well?   Closing Thoughts Hopefully, by now, you have a better understanding of why you’ll want to use the self-hosted version of WordPress, as well as the variety of hosting options that are available to you. Web hosting is important for your WordPress site to operate at its best. Your host provides the foundation for the success of your site, and you don’t want to leave this up to chance. If you’re looking to learn how to build out a website and don’t have any existing traffic channels, then a shared host would probably work for you. However, if you’re already established, or your site is getting a decent volume of traffic, then WordPress managed hosting is a solid fit. You will spend more, but you’ll have a team of WordPress experts behind you at all times. Finally, there’s dedicated hosting plans, which is probably only well-suited for a fraction of websites. You’ll not only need the revenue to justify a dedicated server, but you’ll need the technical staff as well.   Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading →

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