Tag Archives: tutorial

7 Ways to Improve Your Site Speed in WordPress

Posted on August 14, 2019 by Hosting

The post 7 Ways to Improve Your Site Speed in WordPress appeared first on HostGator Blog . For the past several years, Google has been emphasizing site speed as a ranking factor in their algorithms. Given that, it’s amazing to see the number of under-optimized WordPress sites that exist. People spend so much time on “SEO” and content generation, and they forget to do the one thing that will increase the ranking of all their pages. Well, it’s never too late to get started. Here are seven ways to improve your site speed in WordPress. These will make Google sit up and take notice! These are listed in order of importance. Method 1: Use a Datacenter Closest to Your Clients The location of your server plays a big role in your site speed. For example, if your clients are based in the US, then HostGator is an ideal web host, since we have two data centers in the country – one in Texas, and one in Utah. You can view the speed with which your site is fetched by the Googlebot in your search console. Ideally, this should be just a few hundred milliseconds. When I switched my server to a local host, you can see how fast my site fetch speed went down: So don’t ignore this aspect of site speed. It’s crucial! Method 2: Implement Dynamic Caching WordPress generates its pages afresh each time a visitor comes to your site. This is quite a costly process and puts a strain on your database as well as your CPU. In addition, page generation takes time, so there’s a small delay for each visitor. The solution to this is dynamic caching. What is Dynamic Caching? The idea behind dynamic caching is to save a copy of the generated page and serve that copy to the next visitor. This way, each page is generated just once instead of over and over again. Not only is this faster, it reduces the resource load on your server, which means other parts of your site will work faster. It also means that your site can handle many, many more visitors! How to Implement Dynamic Caching on HostGator Dynamic caching can be implemented either with a 3rd party plugin or on the server. Having it enabled on the server is much faster. Not many web hosts allow this, but HostGator offers server caching on their WordPress plans as shown here on the product page: So if you use managed WordPress hosting with HostGator, just turn on the feature and you’re good to go! Here’s a complete review of HostGator WordPress , including all the special features! But even if you don’t have WordPress optimized hosting, you can implement dynamic caching with a plugin. I personally recommend WP Super Cache, which is an extremely popular WordPress plugin, is easy to use, and will get the job done without hassles. Method 3: Use a CDN A CDN is a “Content Distribution Network”. Apart from dynamic pages, there are lots of things on your site that never change. Images, Javascript, and CSS. Well… almost never change. Because of this, it’s best to deliver these resources from a server closest to your client. A CDN looks at the IP address of your visitor and chooses to send static content from a server closest to that location. Which means that people on opposite ends of the earth will receive the content equally fast. It’s really quite a magical technology. As before if you have WordPress hosting with HostGator, a CDN is available by default. But even without such a plan, you can use Cloudflare as your CDN. Despite it being free, I think Cloudflare is one of the best CDNs on the market. HostGator has a tie-up with Cloudflare, which allows for easy integration. You can even do cool stuff like changing your nameservers for faster access. But that’s beyond the scope of this tutorial. Method 4: Deferring or Asyncing JavaScript This one can be a bit tricky. Almost all websites use JavaScript. It’s an essential part of the web, but this adds to the page load time. The key is to wait until the page has fully loaded and is visible before loading JavaScript. It’s easier said than done, and each website works differently. Which is why we need a plugin. The one I recommend is Autoptimize . It’s open source and is almost universally recommended by WordPress gurus. After downloading and installing the plugin on WordPress, you can click the button to aggregate and asynchronously load JavaScript as shown here: The plugin has many options. Make sure to test them all so that your website’s features work properly. Stuff like resizing tables etc are all enabled by Javascript. Method 5: Inlining and Deferring CSS The CSS counterpart to method 4, this refers to delaying the loading of CSS files until the page has downloaded and displayed. However, there’s a catch. If we delay the loading of CSS, our page will look horrible and unstyled, since the CSS files are missing! The solution is called “Inlining” above-the-fold CSS. What this means is that you need to isolate the CSS rules that apply to all visible elements when your page first loads. And then paste those rules directly into every page so that they’re loaded instantly. Once your page has rendered, you can then load the CSS files at your leisure. So how do we do this? Get the Critical CSS This is pretty hard to do manually. So we’re lucky that automatic online tools exist to do it for us! For example, here’s an online tool from SiteLocity that’s quite popular. Simply type in your URL, and it’ll generate the critical above-the-fold CSS for you. Copy the rules that it gives you and use it in the next step. Insert the CSS Inline In method 4, we used the tool “Autoptimize”. Just like before, there is a section in the main settings area to enter your critical CSS as shown here: As shown above, paste the CSS into the box and save your changes. Now when you load your page, all the important CSS will be downloaded immediately, but the external files will be served later when the page has fully loaded. This makes your site blazing fast! Method 6: Lazy Load your Images Images constitute the bulk of a web page’s size. And not surprising, since a single image can be hundreds of MB. So it’s important to only load those images when necessary. “Lazy Loading” is the practice of downloading images only when the user has scrolled far enough to view them. Otherwise, if you have an image way down the article, and the user leaves the page before that, it’s wasted bandwidth both for you as well as the visitor. And it means your site slowed down unnecessarily. Lazy loading is yet another feature that’s difficult to implement manually. Luckily for us, WordPress themselves have released a plugin called Jetpack . I highly recommend using it, since it has a ton of useful features that you can play around with, and lazy loading of images is one of them as shown here: It’s just a single setting! Enable it and you’re done. Now when you visit your page, the images won’t be downloaded until you’re far enough down to see them. In which case, they’ll appear by magic as your user scrolls. Neat right? Method 7: Removing Unnecessary Emoji Code I didn’t notice this myself until I combed through my HTML code. WordPress adds a whole lot of junk useless emoji code to every page in order to render smiley faces and emojis. It’s a useful feature, but it’s a lot of wasted code, and it’s loaded every single time. Luckily, the Autoptimize plugin that we saw earlier has a way to remove them in the “Extra” tab as shown here: Click this option, save your changes, and you’re done! No more emoji code. The idea is to keep your WordPress installation neat and clean, without any unnecessary junk. These seven methods outlined here are a mix of server level and page level optimizations. Together, they should put your site on a fast track to higher rankings, and better experiences for your visitors. Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading →

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How to Build Your WordPress Website [Step by Step Guide]

Posted on May 31, 2019 by Hosting

The post How to Build Your WordPress Website [Step by Step Guide] appeared first on HostGator Blog . You’ve decided to build a website. Whether you’re building a site for your physical business, a personal project or you’re gearing up to launch your own online business, then this post is for you. Luckily, you’re reading this today and not ten years ago. Technology and the internet move so fast, that once impossible or laborious tasks can be done in a single afternoon. The same can be said for building your website. Back in the old days of the web, before content management systems, and beginner-friendly website builders existed you’d have to code every aspect of your website yourself. If you didn’t possess the ability to code or didn’t want to learn, then you’d be out of luck. Unless you had the budget to pay a professional of course. But, today’s web is much different. Anyone with the desire to build a website can go from no website to a published website in a single day. Below you’ll learn everything that you’ll need in order to build your first website, including a variety of website building tools you can consider using. The most difficult thing you’ll face isn’t actually building your site but choosing which approach to take. 1. Choose the Right Platform Like we just mentioned you have a ton of different options for actually building your website. Choosing the right approach is important and might be one of the most time-intensive parts of the process. For example, you can build your site entirely from scratch, using languages like HTML, CSS, and more. You can use a website builder to drag and drop your way towards creating a basic website. Or, you can rely upon a CMS to provide you with a customizable framework to build your site from. The best options for beginners are using a website builder or an intuitive CMS like WordPress. If your plan is to build out a fairly basic website, then using a website builder will be the easiest course of action. Website builders are designed with complete beginners in mind. With these the process is simple: You pick a website builder Choose a payment plan for your site and traffic needs Add your domain Select a theme or template Customize your site Publish it live on the internet! If you’re going to take this approach, then consider using the HostGator website builder. If you’re already a HostGator customer and want to create a simple site, then this is a no-brainer. For those with more complex site requirements, then WordPress is the way to go. With WordPress, your customization options are nearly unlimited. Plus, it’s built to help you create content and get the most out of your site. Nearly every single host will let you quickly install WordPress in a couple of clicks. And even though it’s a more complex platform the learning curve is very small, making WordPress an ideal choice for beginners. For the sake of this walkthrough, we’re going to assume you went with WordPress as the CMS you’re going to use to build your site.   2. Secure Your Domain Name and Host In order to have any site live on the Internet, you’re going to need a domain name and host. Without a domain name there’s no way for people to access your site, and without a host, there’s no place to store the files that make up your website. There are ways to get a free domain name and hosting, like using a subdomain of a larger site, like “yoursite.wordpress.com”. However, this doesn’t look very professional, and you’ll have a hard time building a following without a professional domain name. Same goes for purchasing your own hosting. There are a ton of different options to choose from, but for those building their first sites, a basic shared hosting plan will suit you just fine. In time you may want to upgrade your package, but there’s no need to complicate things from the start. With shared hosting, you’re sharing server resources with other sites using the same server. This effectively spits costs between a ton of different users, so your monthly bill will be very low. Like anything online, there are multiple ways you can secure your domain name and hosting. You can spend time researching all your available options, or to keep things simple, just follow the process below. Here’s how you can purchase a shared hosting plan from HostGator. First, head over to this page and select your plan. On the next screen you’ll be asked to enter more information, and even have the option to add a domain name . Complete the steps, enter your payment information, and you’re all set. If you have an existing domain name, then you’ll have to point it towards your new host. You also have the option to purchase your domain name from another provider entirely. However, if you’re already purchasing hosting from HostGator it’s much easier to add a domain to your order.   3. Install Your CMS on Your Host With your hosting and domain name taken care of, it’s time to install WordPress. Most beginner hosts make this easy by including software that lets you install your CMS of choice with a few clicks. Instead of having to download your CMS yourself and upload it to yourself, this software will automate all of those technical tasks. To do this we’re going to need to access your server. If you went with a host like HostGator, then we’ll be doing this with a tool called cPanel. This software is installed on your server and makes it incredibly easy to manage your server environment. Here’s how to do it: First, log in to your server via your control panel. You should have been provided your login link, along with your username and password when you signed up. Next, locate a tool called ‘QuickInstall’. You’ll see that there are numerous other content management systems you can install, but for this tutorial, we’re going to be using WordPress. So, select ‘WordPress’, enter your relevant site details and click ‘Install’. Once the installer is finished WordPress will be installed on your site. Just a few more steps and your site will be ready for the world.   4. Choose Your Theme WordPress will form the foundation of your site. But, in order to make any customizations to how your site looks you’re going to need to install a WordPress theme. Essentially, a theme is a collection of files that determine how your site looks and functions. You can think of WordPress as the foundation and scaffolding for your house—it’s basic structure. While your theme is the color your home, your wood floors—what it looks like. Since the WordPress ecosystem is so large you’ll have thousands of different themes to choose from (and that’s just including the free themes). There are also premium themes that provide you with even greater functionality, features, support, and a lot more. Premium themes generally look and function better than paid themes, have higher-quality code, and have dedicated support teams behind them. The cool thing about WordPress is that you can switch up themes at any time. It won’t have any effect on your existing blog posts, pages, and other media. If you’ve done a lot of customizing it might not display properly, but your content isn’t going anywhere. Here’s how you can select and install a theme on your site: From the backend of your WordPress dashboard navigate to Appearance> Themes . Then click the button that says ‘Add New’. Here you’ll be able to browse the massive selection of free WordPress themes or even search for a theme. Once you’ve found a theme that you like hover over it and click ‘Install’, then ‘Activate’. Now you’ll be able to customize your theme to your liking. If you want to use a Premium theme, then the installation process will be a little different. First, you’ll need to purchase and download a theme. There are dozens of places you can purchase high-quality themes online, including: Elegant Themes StudioPress ThemeForest Once you purchase and download your theme you’ll have a .zip file that contains all of the theme’s files. Now, you’re going to upload this file to WordPress. Navigate to Appearance> Themes , then select ‘Add New’. On the next screen select ‘Upload Theme’, then either drag and drop or locate the .zip file on your computer. WordPress will then upload and install your theme, just click ‘Activate’ and you’re all set.   If you want to more features to your site, then you’ll be relying on the nearly endless library of WordPress plugins . There’s a wide variety of both free and premium plugins that can help you add whatever features you desire to your site. To install any plugins navigate to Plugins> Add New . Here you can browse by popular plugins, recommended plugins, or search for a plugin you’ve found online.   5. Customize Your Site By now you’ve gotten your domain name and hosting, installed WordPress, selected your theme, and maybe even installed a few plugins. Now is where the fun really begins—it’s time to customize your site. The first thing you’ll want to do is create a few necessary pages. Home page Contact page About page Blog page Depending on your site there are probably additional pages you’ll want to create as well, like a services page, resource page, or anything else really. Adding pages to your WordPress site is very easy. Once you’re in the backend of your site navigate to Pages> Add New . This will open up a screen where you can add a page to your site. Just add your title, text, any images, or media, then click ‘Publish’. If you want to add any blogs to your site, then you’ll be following a similar process. Click on Posts> Add New , and you’ll be taken to a screen that looks nearly identical to the page editor. Write your blog post and click ‘Publish’. The approach you take to customize your theme depends upon what theme you’re using. For example, your theme might have its own customization options which you’ll control from a different tab. If you’ve purchased a premium theme, then check the documentation that came with your theme to see how to make customizations. However, you’ll also be able to make general customizations by navigating to Appearance> Customize . On this screen, you’ll be able to do things like change your site’s color scheme, header elements, menus, general theme settings and a lot more.   6. Launch! Once you’re satisfied with how your site looks and functions it’s time to launch your site. If you’ve done everything above then your site should already be online! Just type in your URL to the browser and you should see your site live. If you want to build out your site without people being able to see it in an unfinished state, then you might want to use a coming soon, or maintenance mode plugin. To do this you can install a plugin like ‘Coming Soon Page & Maintenance Mode by SeedProd’. Head over to Plugins> Add New , then search for ‘coming soon seedpod’. Then, install a plugin that looks like the one below: Once you’ve activated the plugin head over to Settings> Coming Soon Page & Maintenance Mode , here you’ll be able to customize the appearance of your coming soon page. Then, when you’re ready to launch just make sure to disable the plugin.   Closing Thoughts Building your website isn’t as difficult as it once was. If you followed the steps above you’ll be on your way towards having a fully functional website live on the web. Note that there are multiple approaches you can take, some are easier than others. For example, if you’re already using HostGator hosting, then one of the simplest options will be using the bundled website builder. This tool is very straightforward and intuitive to use and is equipped with a variety of templates to suit your needs. For those looking to create a more robust website, then consider using WordPress. This widely used CMS is the foundation for a lot of the largest and highly-trafficked sites on the entire Internet. With its flexibility and ease of use, you can create whatever style of site you desire. The route you choose is up to you. Just make sure you take stock of your needs, current skills, and overall goals of your site before you choose the best approach for building out your site. Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading →

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How to Transfer a Domain

Posted on March 26, 2019 by Hosting

The post How to Transfer a Domain appeared first on HostGator Blog . There are a multitude of reasons you’ll want to transfer your domain. Maybe you’ve sold a domain, or bought one for a gift? Or, you could be unsatisfied with your current registrar and are looking to migrate? Whether you’re transferring ownership of your domain or migrating to a new registrar, there are certain steps you’ll need to follow. Although it might seem fairly technical, this process exists for a reason—to help ensure that your domain remains in the right hands. Below we look at the things to look for in a new domain name registrar, as well as the processes you need to follow to transfer a domain name to a new registrar, or another party entirely. Why Transfer a Domain? As you learned in the introduction, there are plenty of reasons you might want to transfer a domain name. The most common is because you’re frustrated with your current registrar. Maybe the yearly renewal rate is too expensive? Or, you’re looking for a registrar with more features? For example, by using a domain name registrar like HostGator you can group your domain name and hosting all under one roof. This simplifies the technical steps of setting up your website, as well as the number of invoices you’ll have to remember to renew. There’s nothing worse than letting an important domain lapse because you forget to check in and missed the renewal date. Or, you could have sold a domain , or bought a domain for a friend. In this scenario, you’ll be switching the ownership of the domain along with transferring the domain to their registrar of choice. Whatever your reason we’ll walk you through both processes in the final section below. If you’re not in the market for a new registrar yourself, then feel free to skip to the final section of this post. What to Look for in a New Domain Registrar If you’re transferring your domain because you’re dissatisfied with your current domain name registrar, then you’ll want to make sure you’re not going to make the same mistake twice. Which means you’ll want to make sure your new registrar is high-quality and won’t lead to the same headaches you’re currently experiencing. Here are a few key things to look for as you search for the perfect domain name registrar: 1. Total Feature Set Every registrar will have different features. Some registrars will only offer domain name purchase and management, while others will provide an entire suite of different services. Common features include domain name management , renewal, transfer, and domain privacy protection via WHOIS. However, other registrars will also offer bundled website hosting, website builders, email management and a lot more. If you want your hosting and domain name management all under one roof, then you’ll need a registrar that also offers hosting. Plus, you’ll need to make sure that the host is also very high quality. Make a list of what non-negotiable features you need in a registrar and compare this with the feature set of the registrar you want to switch to. 2. User Friendliness There’s no point in transferring registrars if it’s going to be very difficult to use. You’ll want it to be very easy to manage your domain names, purchase a new domain name , switch over the nameservers to your host, add privacy protection, and a lot more. The last thing you want is to have to spend hours setting up your domain names, just because the platform isn’t easy to use. For this reason, it can be helpful to look for a domain registrar that’s oriented towards beginners, as generally it’ll be much easier to navigate and will use less confusing terminology. Also, look out for tutorials, blog posts, and other helpful information that’ll help save you time and set up your domains the right way. 3. Customer Support You might not need to use customer support all the time, but when you do, you’ll want them to be responsive and helpful. When you’re having issues with your domain name, or any of the associated services, you’ll want a support team that can help you out as fast as possible. For example, if your domain is currently offline for some reason, you’ll want support to be able to quickly resolve this issue. It can be helpful to get in touch with customer support before you decide to move registrars. This will help you get a feel for the quality and responsiveness of the support team before you migrate. Also, make sure they provide the support channels that you prefer to use, whether that’s live chat or phone. At HostGator, we offer 24/7 Live Chat and phone support every day of the year. 4. Domain Protection When using a registrar you’ll want to make sure that your domains are secure and there are features in place to help protect your purchase. For example, is WHOIS privacy protection included free of charge? Will you be notified before your domain name expires ? Are there additional privacy and protection services you can purchase? Beyond protecting your purchase and ensuring that your domain will always remain in your possession (as long as you want it), you’ll want to make sure there are features that allow for the safe transfer of your domain name. Here are a few domain transfer features to look for: Authorization codes. These codes help to ensure that whoever is transferring your domain has permission to do so. Transfer locks. These help to ensure that your domain name can never be transferred to another party without your permission. Transfer confirmation emails. These emails will require authentication to make sure that you’re transferring the domain to the right party. 5. Overall Price Finally, you’ll want to consider the price of the new registrar. Price is important, but it shouldn’t be the main factor in deciding to pick a new registrar. Choosing based upon price alone can leave you with a low-quality registrar that’ll end up being detrimental to your website as a whole. When examining the price of a new registrar make sure you consider any additional fees. Some registrars will include services for free that others will charge an add-on fee for. Some registrars will have very low introductory rates but jump up tremendously when it’s time to renew. Find a domain registrar within your budget, but don’t let price be the sole determining factor in your selection. How to Transfer a Domain The general process for transferring a domain will be similar no matter what registrar you’re using. Below we’ll show you how to transfer a domain, whether you’re migrating to a new registrar, or you’re moving your domain to another party. 1. Transfer a Domain to Another Registrar Moving your domain to a new registrar isn’t difficult, but there’s a series of steps you’ll have to complete. These steps exist in order to protect the domain that you own. But, if you don’t mind getting your hands dirty, then here’s how you can transfer your domain to a new registrar. For the sake of this tutorial, we’re going to assume you’re moving your domain over to HostGator. Before we dive in there’s an important point to cover. You can only transfer a domain if it’s been in your possession for 60 days. If you’ve owned your domain for more than 60 days, then you’re good to go. If not, then bookmark this post and come back in 60 days. 1. Prepare for the Transfer The first thing you’ll need to do is disable the existing protection protocols and prepare your domain name for a transfer. If you want a smooth transfer process, then make sure you do the following: Update your nameservers to reflect your new host (if you’re also migrating your hosting ) Disable your WHOIS privacy protection, if it’s currently enabled Make sure that your domain contact information is up to date Unlock your domain name at your current registrar Obtain your EPP authorization code, you might have to reach out to your current registrar to obtain this Now, your domain is successfully prepared and ready for transfer. 2. Start the Domain Transfer Initiating the transfer process with HostGator is easy. Head over to the HostGator Transfer page and enter the domain name you want to transfer. This tool will then run through the pre-transfer checklist to make sure that you’ve satisfied all of the requirements. If there are any issues with the domain you want to transfer then these will be displayed in the pop-up box. If everything is good to go, then you’ll be able to complete the transfer. To finalize the transfer you’ll need to pay for a yearly registration at your new registrar. Since you’re using HostGator, just click the ‘Continue to Checkout’ button. Here you’ll enter your billing information and complete your purchase. Once you’ve submitted payment the transfer process will begin. 3. Verify the Domain Transfer To complete the domain transfer you’ll need to go through the email verification process to ensure you’re transferring the domain to the right person. Navigate to the email inbox for the email address that’s associated with the current domain. You should see a verification email. Here you’ll need to enter your EPP key or your authorization code. Once this has been verified the transfer process will be done. Now you just have to wait for the transfer process to finish. 2. Transfer a Domain to Another Party If you’re currently using HostGator for your domains and you want to transfer your domain to another third party, then following the steps below: 1. Unlock Your Domain and Prepare for Transfer In order to transfer your domain, you’ll need to prepare your domain for transfer. To do this navigate to your control panel and head over to the ‘Domains’ tab. Then, select the domain name you want to transfer and unlock the domain. Then, turn off privacy protection, if you have it enabled. If the person you’re transferring the domain to has another host enabled, then you’ll need to point the nameservers to the new host. But, if not, then you can leave the nameservers alone. Finally, you’ll need to obtain the EPP/Authorization Code from the ‘Transfer EPP’ tab. With all of this, you’re now ready to initiate the transfer. 2. Confirm the Third-Party Transfer The transfer will need to be initiated by the third party who’s accepting the domain name. This will be done from their own account on their registrar of choice. Once the transfer has been initiated you’ll need to log back into your Domain Manager and accept the transfer. To finalize the transfer you should receive a confirmation email that deals with identity confirmation and your EPP codes. Domain Transfer FAQ Hopefully, the above information covered the process in depth, but you still might have a few questions. Here are some of the most commonly asked questions related to a domain transfer. How long will the domain transfer process take? In total, the transfer should be completed in 5-7 days. This is the standard allotment, but usually, the domain will be switched over prior to that. But, if you have any issues, then it might take a bit longer to resolve everything. How long does it take to initiate a domain transfer? Preparing the domain and initiating the transfer shouldn’t take long at all. At most, it should take an hour or two. You should set aside some time to do the transfer without any interference. If you wait too long the security codes might expire, so you’ll want to everything at the same time. Can domain information be altered during a transfer? No. That’s why you’ll need to make sure all of the contact information, especially the contact email, is correct before you initiate the transfer. You can only change the domain contact information once the transfer is complete. If you need to change any domain information while the transfer is taking place you’ll need to get in touch with customer support. Ready to Transfer Your Domain? Hopefully, you have a better understanding of the domain transfer process and everything it takes to properly migrate a domain name. If you’re switching to a new domain registrar, then the information above should help point you in the right direction. Transfer your domain to HostGator today. Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading →

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How to Sell Products Online in 6 Easy Steps

Posted on September 21, 2018 by Hosting

The post How to Sell Products Online in 6 Easy Steps appeared first on HostGator Blog . Deciding to start an online business and begin selling products online can be an exciting experience. However, this excitement can soon be replaced with overwhelm if the proper process isn’t followed. There are a lot of considerations and research to be done if you want to learn to sell products online the right way. Below you’ll learn the proper steps to take before you launch, during launch, and how to set your online store up for long-term success.   1. Decide What to Sell Choosing the right products to sell will make or break your success online. As a result, you should spend a lot of time during the research phase. It can be helpful to choose a product or market that you actually care about. With more and more competition every single day, choosing a market you have passion about will give you a leg up, as you’ll be willing to go the extra mile. Ask yourself: What kind of products would I love to sell? What would be my dream niche to serve? What industries do I have experience and knowledge in? What pain points currently exist in the market? Do my products provide a practical solution? This should give you a list of products or markets that you’d love to serve. With this in mind it’s time to get a better picture of the existing market, so you can decide how to compete and position yourself.   2. Research Your Market You probably already have an idea of some of the competitors in your space, but now it’s time to take a deeper dive. You’ll be looking for companies that sell similar products, what makes their approach unique, the methods they use to market themselves, and how they speak to your target market. Find your top competitors and make a list with the above elements in mind. This will not only help you better understand how to market and sell your products, but you might be able to uncover an underserved portion of the market hungry for your products. Beyond having a deep understanding of your market, you’ll also want to thoroughly understand your customers . This will make the sales and marketing process much easier. Ask yourself the following questions: How old is my customer? Where do they live? What’s their gender? How much money do they make? What’s their occupation? What other interests do they have? How do they spend their time? What are their beliefs about the world? Why do they buy products like yours?   3. Decide How to Ship Your Products With an idea of what you’re going to sell, the existing market, and your buyer preferences, it’s time to think about how you’re going to ship your products to them. The first is hiring a manufacturer to create your products for you. This can lead to a more custom product, higher quality control, and less cost per unit. But, you’ll have to spend more time creating your product, working out manufacturing issues, and figuring out shipping. The second approach is relying on dropshipping . With this approach, you’ll be purchasing other people’s products and selling them through your online store. The drop shipper will also fulfill and ship orders on your behalf. This approach will have lower overhead costs, and less work overall. However, you may have to operate on slimmer margins and will have less quality control over the final product.   4. Build Your Online Store Now it’s time to start building your online store. You’ll have a few different approaches to take. You can build your own online store through WordPress and a tool like WooCommerce. You can sell products through an existing platform like Etsy, or Amazon. Or you can use an eCommerce website builder to easily build your store and manage your products. For the sake of this tutorial, we’re going to assume you’re using a website builder. This approach will give you the freedom of customizing your own site while helping manage all of the technical details for you. With an eCommerce website builder all you have to do is select a theme, customize it to your liking with the drag and drop builder, upload your products, and press publish. You’ll also be able to manage your inventory, handle tax, and shipping rates, and even integrate a payment processor.   5. Craft a Marketing Strategy Simply publishing your site online isn’t enough; you need to craft a marketing strategy to help get the word out. It would be impossible to cover every single aspect of marketing your online store in this post, but here are a few questions and considerations to get you moving in the right direction: What marketing approaches will you take? Social media? Content marketing? Paid advertising? Influencer outreach? Guest blogging? How will you get customers to buy from you again? A royalty program? Subscriber discounts? How will you convert traffic to buyers? Regular promotions? Product and upsell suggestions? What will make your strategy successful? Rising traffic? Conversions? Email list growth? As you can see you have a lot to think about when it comes to marketing your store and ensuring it’s success over the long run.   6. Launch and Execute The day has come to finally launch your online store and start sharing your products with the world. Even though it probably feels like your work is finished it’s actually only just begun. All of the preparation work, research, and website building has been leading you up to this point. Continue to execute and experiment with your marketing strategy and optimize your site based on user feedback, analytics data, and the kinds of products they’re actually buying. Selling products online is a journey and you’ve just taken your first steps. Hopefully, you’re now better equipped to create and launch a successful online store. Get your store up and running quickly with the GATOR website builder. Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading →

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How to Install a WordPress SEO Plugin

Posted on September 12, 2018 by Hosting

The post How to Install a WordPress SEO Plugin appeared first on HostGator Blog . Ranking in the search engines can be a powerful way to grow your site. By using a WordPress hosting plan you’re already giving yourself a head start, as it’s pretty well optimized. However, if you want to take your onsite search engine optimization even further, then you’ll want to use an SEO plugin for WordPress. Part of on-page SEO success is adhering to best practices to help your WordPress website rank. This includes optimizing your pages and other content the right way. The other aspect is offsite SEO, which involves things like building strong and relevant backlinks to your site . This post will focus on the first part of that equation, optimizing your site’s content for relevant keywords to help you rank. Luckily, this process can be simplified by using a WordPress SEO plugin. Below you’ll learn why you’ll want to use a WordPress SEO plugin, which plugins for WordPress are worth using, and finally, how to install a WordPress SEO plugin on your site. Why You Need a WordPress SEO Plugin As we mentioned, choosing WordPress as your CMS already puts you ahead in the SEO game. But, optimizing your WordPress site the right way still takes time and skill. So, if you don’t want to spend months learning the ins and outs of on-page SEO, you can rely on an SEO plugin for WordPress to guide the way . There are dozens of little tweaks you’ll need to make to properly optimize your site .  By using an SEO plugin you’ll save time and make your life a lot easier. Plus, if you want to rank in the search engines, then there are a lot of other, offsite SEO tasks you’ll need to be doing . Spending all your time on onsite SEO just doesn’t make sense. With the help of an SEO plugin you’ll be able to quickly optimize your content, so you can focus on the quality of your content, and other offsite factors that’ll really help your WordPress website rank.   Which WordPress SEO Plugin Should You Choose? Hopefully, by now, you understand why using a WordPress SEO plugin is essential. Now, it’s time to choose the best SEO plugin for your site . There are dozens of different SEO plugins for WordPress you can use. However, instead of diving into every plugin here, we’ll focus on the best one you can use: Yoast SEO. Yoast SEO is one of the most useful and comprehensive SEO plugins for WordPress on the market. Plus, it’s entirely free. With Yoast, you’ll get access to features like: Post title and meta optimization Keyword analysis and expert SEO recommendations XML sitemap creation and integration Taxonomy creation Google Webmaster Tools validation And more! It’s a feature-packed free plugin that will actually educate you about SEO-friendly practices as you spend time optimizing your site and your content.   How to Install a WordPress SEO Plugin Below you’ll learn how to install and configure Yoast SEO on your WordPress blog or site. For the sake of this tutorial, we’re assuming you already have WordPress installed on your site. If you don’t then follow this tutorial and do that first. For those who are already rocking WordPress, let’s dive in!   1. Install and Activate the Plugin First, you’ll need to install and activate the Yoast plugin to make your site more SEO friendly . To do this navigate to Plugins> Add New on your sidebar. Next, search for Yoast SEO and install the free plugin that looks like the one below. Now, click ‘Activate’ and the Yoast plugin will be installed on your site. With the plugin installed it’s time to start configuring the settings. You’ll probably notice that there are a ton of different settings you can play around with. Instead of focusing on every aspect of the tool, we’ll only focus on tweaking the settings that are most relevant towards improving your rankings. With that being said, click on the new ‘SEO’ tab on the left-hand sidebar of your WordPress dashboard. This will open up Yoast SEO.   2. Using the Configuration Wizard The easiest way to set up WordPress Yoast SEO is by using the configuration wizard. Click on the link that looks like the picture below to get started. Select Your Environment. The first step is easy. Click the box that says ‘Option A’. Unless you’re building a site that isn’t quite ready to launch to the world. Select Your Site Type Next, you’ll select the type of site that best matches your site. Choose Company or Person. Next, you’ll choose whether this site will represent a person or a company. This will help when ranking and displaying your site in the Google Knowledge Graph. If you choose ‘Company’ you can also add your logo during this step. Add Your Social Profiles. If you have any existing social media profiles, then you’ll want to enter those URLs now. This will help the WordPress Yoast SEO plugin provide more details about your site to Google. You don’t have to enter every single profile you have, just the ones you use most often and are actually related to your website. Select How You Want Your Site to Appear in the Search Engines. Now, you’ll decide if you want both your posts and pages to show up in the search engines. You’ll probably want to leave these default settings and allow the search engines to index your entire site. Determine Authorship. If you’re going to be the only author for your blog, then you’ll want to select ‘No’. This will help you avoid any duplicate content issues that can reflect negatively on your rankings. However, if you will have multiple authors on your site then choose ’Yes’. This will create individual archive pages, so people can access posts written solely by that author. Integrate Google Search Console. Google Search Tool is a valuable tool that will provide you with relevant search information about your site. To configure this you’ll need to have an existing Google Search Console profile. If you don’t have it set up already, then this post will show you how to do it . You can always set this up later if you don’t want to go through the process at this time. It isn’t necessary for the proper functioning of Yoast SEO. Choose Your Title Settings. Your title is the main headline that will appear in the search results. Here you’ll choose your website name and the separator you want to use. There are a few more sections to click through, which will ask you to sign up for their newsletter and upgrade to the premium version of Yoast. However, you don’t have to do either of these if you don’t want to. Just keep clicking through until you get to the ‘Success!’ page. Congratulations! Y ou’ve now properly configured the Yoast WordPress plugin for your site.   Optimizing Your Pages and Posts One of the coolest features of the Yoast plugin is how easy it is to optimize your pages and posts. To do this open up one of your existing posts or pages. Towards the bottom of the page (underneath your content), you’ll see a box labeled Yoast SEO. Here you can change your title , meta description , URL, and enter your focus keyword.  Then, you’ll get a score and recommendations for how you can improve that score based on search engine optimization best practices. For every page and post on your site, you should aim for ‘Green’, which means that your content is properly optimized for your chosen keyword. If for some reason Yoast WordPress SEO plugin isn’t the right one for you, then spend some time finding an SEO plugin that works better for you. The installation process will be the same as the first few steps above.   Start Optimizing Your On-Site SEO Hopefully, you have a better understanding of how to install a WordPress SEO plugin on your site and set it up the right way. Finally, it’s important to note that your host can actually have an influence on your rankings, so make sure you choose a quality hosting environment . If you have any more questions about how to install a WordPress SEO plugin , please contact us at HostGator today! Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading →

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