Tag Archives: website-builder

How to A/B Test Your Website [Step-by-Step Guide]

Posted on August 5, 2019 by Hosting

The post How to A/B Test Your Website [Step-by-Step Guide] appeared first on HostGator Blog . With over 181 million active websites on the internet, it may seem impossible to build a website that stands out in the crowd. But don’t let that big, generic number scare you off from taking your website seriously and giving it your all. Not only is it possible to run a successful website in a sea of other websites, but it’s possible to design your website in a way that pleases your target audience, increases conversions, and edges out your competitors. Does this like a secret you want in on? The big secret is simply A/B testing your website instead of making decisions based on a “feeling” or your own preferences. A/B testing is a powerful way to learn exactly what appeals to your customers and what small decisions boost conversions. Don’t believe it? Studies show that simple decisions (e.g. where to place your CTA button, what colors to use, what copy to include, etc.) can increase conversions significantly. For example, remember when a red CTA button beat a green one with a 21% increase in conversions ? A/B testing is the perfect way to build a high-performing website, and this guide will give you all the ins and outs of how to get started. What Is A/B Testing And How Does It Work? A/B testing is a randomized experiment that tests two variables, A and B. In plain English, and as it relates to websites, A/B testing is when you test two versions of your website to determine which one performs better.  This testing process takes the guesswork out of website creation and optimization. Rather than relying on your own preferences or your gut feeling, you can make data-based website decisions that generate winning results. So, how does A/B testing work? With A/B testing, you modify one element on your website and create a second version. Then, you randomly show the original version to 50 percent of your audience, and the modified version to the other 50 percent of your website visitors.  Once you’ve run your test long enough to determine statistical significance, you measure engagement results. Whichever version performs better provides you with your data-informed answer. Keep in mind, you should only change one element of your website at a time during an A/B test. For example, you may be interested in learning which call-to-action (CTA) button drives more conversions. Variations could include color, copy, and size.  If you tested color, copy, and button size all at the same time, you would have no clue as to which change is influencing engagement. When you test only one element at a time, you know exactly what had an effect on visitors’ engagement.  Why A/B Test Your Website? It’s kind of like this. Your dad is 100 percent sure it’s a good idea to go out wearing crew socks and open-toed sandals. When he walks out of his closet and asks the rest of the family if he looks okay, you do something he thinks is unfathomable. You tell him to march right around and put on some close-toed shoes, so he’s not the next subject of ridicule on the nearest teen’s SnapChat account. It’s similar with A/B testing a website. You may be absolutely sure you know what works best on your website, but chances are, you’re wrong. Similarly, what works well for you might not resonate well with your target audience, especially if there is a demographic difference between you and your website visitors. When you A/B test, you get the inside scoop from your audience to find out if your website is wearing metaphorical mom jeans and needs some adjustments. In short, A/B testing is a data-driven way to collect insightful feedback on your website. With this information, you can implement careful changes to your website all while collecting data on the results. And, here’s the best part. Not only does A/B testing help you make better design and messaging decisions, but it ensures you’re making business decisions that align properly with customer preferences from the get-go.  This is solid for business since 79% of US consumers say they only consider brands that show they understand and care about “me.” Not to mention, 56% of US consumers say they feel more loyal to brands that show a deep understanding of their priorities and preferences.  A/B testing your website is a surefire way to lean into audience preferences and show your visitors that you “get” them. What Should a Novice A/B Test? While it’s true that nearly everything on a website can be A/B tested, it doesn’t mean you have to, or even should, A/B test everything. After all, you want to get your website up and running sooner rather than later. A good rule of thumb is to test anything that can influence visitor behavior or directly affect conversion. For example, you could A/B test whether the “About” section should come before or after your “Services” section on the navigation menu. Since this element of your website doesn’t carry much weight over how your visitors interact with your site, it probably doesn’t matter too much, and you can stick with the standard. Here’s what to test instead. 1. Copy Did you know that compelling copy draws 7.8 times more site traffic and produces brand recall, which leads to higher engagement rates? Top-notch copy is key to the success of your website, so it’s smart to find out what copy your target audience likes most. Here are some copy elements you should be A/B testing: Headlines and Subheadlines. Your headlines and subheadlines are what your visitors will see first. Test to find out which headlines are leading your visitors down the conversion funnel. Copy Length. Do your website visitors prefer short and snappy quips or do they need more information to help them engage? There is only one way to find out. You guessed it: A/B testing. Tone. Your copywriter can take several approaches when it comes to tone, but only your audience can tell you what tone works best. A/B testing will give you insight into what tonal direction your website needs. 2. Images & Videos If pictures are worth a thousand words, then you need to choose the right images and videos for your website. With the perfect imagery on your website, your visitors will only need a quick glance to understand what you’re trying to convey. And, A/B testing will tell you which images get the job done best. To give you a better idea of how image and video A/B testing works, let’s look at a recent split test from Zagg. Zagg wanted to know what type of images led to higher conversion rates, so they conducted A/B testing for a static image, a 360º product image, and a video on their product page, and the results were astounding. Zagg first tested the static image against the video. They found that the video yielded a 27% increase in revenue per visitor. This told the team that video yielded better results than a static default image. But, remember how they also wanted to test 360º product images? In a second A/B test, the team tested the video against the 360º image on their product pages . The results were interesting. They found the 360º image produced an additional 12% increase in revenue per visitor. Video Version of Zagg’s Image A/B Test 360º Variation of Zagg’s A/B Image Test Simple A/B testing of a static image, a 360º image, and a video provided Zagg with valuable insight into how to boost revenue based on customer preferences.  You can do the same. 3. Call To Action (CTA) The call to action button is arguably the most important thing to A/B test on your website. Your call to action button can make the difference between a conversion and a user clicking out of your site. When it comes to A/B testing your CTA, here are some things you can test: Copy length Copy phrasing Copy length Size of button Color of button Placement of button To give you an idea of how testing a CTA can work wonders, here are some interesting results from experts: Helzberg Diamonds saw a 26% increase in clicks by adding an arrow icon to their CTA buttons, according to Marketing Tech Blog . ContentVerve saw a 90% increase in click-through rate by using first-person phrasing: “Start my free 30 day trial” as opposed to “Start your free 30 day trial.” SAP found that orange CTAs boosted their conversion rate over 32.5%, according to QuickSprout . As you can see, A/B testing your CTA button makes a difference, and it’s a great place for beginners to start. What Is the A/B Testing Process? Now that you know what to test, let’s talk about the process of setting up your first A/B test. The first thing to remember is you don’t have to go it alone. There are several tools on the market that will guide you through the A/B testing process. Tools like Optimizely, VWO, and Omniconvert provide intuitive tools that help you create variations of your pages. The best part? You don’t need to know how to code. You just point-and-click. Once you have settled on an A/B testing tool, here is a basic framework that will guide you through the process. 1. Identify Conversion Goals.  Before you start testing, it’s imperative that you know what you want your website users to do. Subscribe to an email list? Sign up for a seminar? Buy a product? Your conversion goals will help you determine what you need to test. 2. Write Down Your Hypothesis. Congratulations! You officially have conversion goals. Now it’s time to generate A/B testing hypotheses for why you think specific changes will be better than what you already have on your website. Again, these ideas will help you know what modifications to make before you start your testing. 3. Create Your Variations. Now it’s time to make the desired changes to your website and get ready for testing. Remember, you don’t have to do this alone or strain yourself too hard to create your variations. There are several A/B testing software tools on the market with visual editors that will help you create changes and run your test. You can even use the drag and drop features in your website builder to help you easily modify your site. 4. Run Your Test. This is the exciting part. Once you initiate your test, website visitors will start to participate. A/B testing works at random, so you won’t know which website visitors will see which variation. All you need to know is 50 percent of your visitors will see one variation and 50 percent will see the other.  5. Keep Your Test Running Long Enough. There is no magic set number for how long you should run your A/B test. The general rule of thumb is to run your test long enough to determine statistical significance. This will vary from website to website depending on how much traffic you get. Thankfully, most A/B testing software has a built-in calculator that will determine this time frame for you. 6. Analyze Your Results. Once the time frame is up, take a look at your results and see where there is statistical significance. Again, this process is automated with the help of an A/B testing software tool. All you’ll have to do is login to your dashboard and look at the results. Your dashboard will show you whether your control (option A) or your variant (option B) has greater statistical significance. And, that’s it. Rinse and repeat until you have a solid idea of what website design, copy, and engagement elements to implement. Make A/B Testing Work For You It’s true that A/B testing requires hard work and patience. However, when done correctly, it always pays off in the end. When you have a strong understanding of what your website visitors like, you’re one step closer to accomplishing your goals. For more information about starting your website, check the Gator Website Builder . The website builder makes it easy to drag and drop elements, so A/B testing is a cinch. Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading →

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Website Builder Packages: Everything You Need to Know

Posted on April 15, 2019 by Hosting

The post Website Builder Packages: Everything You Need to Know appeared first on HostGator Blog . The time has come to take the plunge and learn how to build a new website . You’ve already decided that using a website builder is the right choice for you— a web designer is too expensive, and you don’t have the skills to build it from scratch. Now you just need to decide on the best website builder package for you. What’s Included in Website Builder Packages? Website builder brands generally offer a number of different website builder plans that each package together different features, customization tools, website templates, and services. Since every plan is different, what’s included in a website builder package depends on the particular company you go with and plan you choose. There are some common features and services you can expect to find in the website builder packages you consider. Common Features Included in Basic Website Builder Plans Most website builder packages you encounter will include most, if not all of these basic plan features. They’re some of the most essential things to look for in a website builder plan. Web Templates Part of what makes creating a beautiful website with a website builder so easy is the option to start with a design template. The web design template provides a basic structure for you to start with so you don’t have to build anything from scratch—you make changes to what’s there already. Any good website builder package you consider should offer a number of templates for you to choose from. Drag-and-drop functionality Good website builders provide an intuitive website editor that allows you to move items around on the page easily with the drag and drop function. When you want to move a button or image a little to the left, simply click on it and drag it to where it should go. It makes turning the template you choose into the website you imagine a simple process. Ability to change colors and add original images In addition to moving elements on the page around, you also need to be able to change out the color scheme to your preferences and include images that are unique to your site. A good website builder should let you select your color and fill in spaces on the page with a simple click. And it should make loading and positioning your original photographs or illustrations an easy process as well. Some storage All the different elements of your website will take up some space. Each image and word requires some bit of storage, and bigger files like videos or audio will require more. Even the most basic website builder plans should provide some storage for you, although for free or cheap plans, it might not be much. Customer service Even for website builders that are easy to use and generally work well, you may come up against an issue where you need help from a human. Any website builder package worth considering—particularly any that comes at a cost—needs to include access to customer service staff you can reach out to when you need help. Educational resources Often it’s more convenient to find your own answers though, and website builder plans should also include a library of educational resources such as tutorials, articles, or videos that explain how to use the website builder and all the different features included. Premium Features Included in Some Website Builder Plans While for some people, a simple website builder that includes little more than the features above will work just fine, for a lot of website owners, especially for those making a business website who want to run an ecommerce store, you’ll need a website builder package that provides more advanced features. Here are some of the features included in premium website builder packages. Ad free With free website builder plans, the company often makes money by displaying ads on your website. You have limited control over what ad shows up where and must accept a website that looks more cluttered and  not as professional because of the cost of choosing that plan. One of the main benefits of paying for a better website builder package is getting that control back and knowing your website will be ad free (or only include ads that you profit from directly). Domain name Once you register a domain name , that will be the main address people will find you with on the web. Choosing the perfect domain name that’s memorable is important for any website to have. Some website builders may come with a free domain name included—either one that’s a subdomain of the website builder’s domain (e.g. something like websitebuildername.yourname.com), or a unique domain (yourname.com). There are branding and SEO (search engine optimization) benefits to having your own unique domain name. Website builder packages that don’t come with a domain name included in the cost may still make it easy for you to find and register one from within the platform. Web hosting Web hosting is a necessary expense for any website that wants to go live online. But it’s an expense you can save on if you go with a website builder package that includes it in the price. If you do go with a website builder plan that includes web hosting, make sure it comes from a web hosting provider that has a strong reputation in the industry for consistent uptime and speed.   Email accounts If you send people emails from a Hotmail or AOL account, you look unprofessional. Gmail’s a step up, but it’s still not quite as impressive as sending an email from an address at your own domain name. Many premium website builder packages include the option to create email addresses at your domain name . Sometimes they’ll allow just a limited number, sometimes you can create as many as you want, which is a useful option for large and small business owners that want all employees to have a branded email address. eCommerce options Not all website owners will need eCommerce options, but if you hope to ever sell products through your website, then they’re essential. Some premium website builder packages specialize in eCommerce store features, providing shopping cart functionality, an easy checkout process, and a secure way to accept payments. If this is something you’ll need, it’s important to find a plan that supports it. Mobile friendly options Having a website that’s mobile friendly is no longer optional. A good portion of your visitors will view your website on a mobile device and, if it doesn’t look good or the functionality is lacking in that format, you’ll lose them. A bad mobile experience is also bad for SEO. A good website builder plan will include easy ways to create a website that’s mobile friendly, such as offering responsive website templates. Supports multiple websites Some website builder packages will allow you to use the builder to create multiple websites under the same plan. You’ll still need a separate domain for each, but you can do all the design work and monitoring in one place without paying extra. Ability to take your website with you Website builder plans typically use a subscription model, meaning that you’ll pay monthly or yearly for as long as you keep your website. If down the line you decide you want to switch to a different website builder, many plans won’t allow you to take what you’ve built with you. Some premium plans will let you export the website you have so you won’t have to start from scratch with a new plan. Unlimited pages For simple websites that don’t include many pages, a basic website builder plan that allows for one page or just a few will do the trick. But for more complicated websites that will include product pages, a blog, or lots of educational resources, you need the option to expand. Many premium website builder plans allow you to build websites with unlimited pages. High level of storage As previously mentioned, all website builders should provide some level of storage, but premium plans will often offer much more of it than basic plans. For any websites that will have a lot of pages, images, and media elements, having more storage will allow you to grow as you need without limitations. More bandwidth The amount of bandwidth your website builder plan includes will affect how fast and consistently your site loads for visitors. This is especially important for websites that get a high level of traffic or include media elements that require more bandwidth to load, like high resolution images and videos. Premium plans usually include higher bandwidth so you can count on faster load times for your visitors. Add-on apps Many website builder packages include access to an app store which offers a number of different apps you can add to your website builder to increase the functionality of your website. Add-on apps can provide new e-commerce website features, more advanced analytics, different ways to embed social media, and additional security options. Before settling on a particular website builder package, consider what add-on apps are available that may be useful for your website. SEO features With so many websites online, getting noticed is a challenge. Search engine optimization is important  because it’s  one of the best ways to make sure people can find your website when they’re searching for the kind of information and products you provide. While there’s a lot to doing SEO well, the right website builder package can make some of the initial steps easier with handy SEO features that enable on-site optimization, such as customizing your URLs, creating SEO-focused title tags , and adding image tags with target keywords. Mobile app If you want the ability to work on and update your website on the go, look for a website builder package that includes a mobile app. When you can easily make updates to your website from your phone, that provides flexibility to get your website done faster and more efficiently, no matter where you’re working from. Automated backups Even if creating your website is quick and easy with a website builder, that doesn’t mean you want to risk having to start over from scratch due to losing everything. To keep your website safe and avoid having to re-do work, consider a package that includes automated website backups or offers the option as an affordable add-on. You won’t have to make a point of remembering manual backups, and you’ll always have easy access to the last version of your website if you need to restore it. Security features Websites get hacked. It’s an unfortunate risk of putting yourself out there on the web. That’s why it’s so important to secure your website from hackers right from the start. You can reduce your website’s vulnerability with the help of security features like an SSL certificate and security software. Some website builder packages will include security features as part of the cost, or as add-ons you can buy. Analytics Analytics give you a snapshot of how many people are visiting your website, how they find it, and how they interact with it once there. No matter what your website goals are, whether that be for a business or blog, following your website analytics is the best way to understand how well you’re achieving them and determine any changes you should make to do better. A good website builder package will provide access to analytics in your dashboard so it’s easy to check how your website is performing every time you log in. The Cost of Website Builder Packages As you’d expect, the more premium features a website builder package includes, the more you’ll be spending. Most basic affordable website builder plans start at around $4 a month and provide all the most essential features you need to build a simple website with just a few pages and elements. For a more complicated website that will require a lot of pages, an e-commerce store, or more media elements, you’ll want to consider a website builder package that offers more of the premium features you need. These fall somewhere in the $10-$50 a month range. Keep in mind that, in some cases, spending more on a website builder package can save you money by avoiding the cost of expenses you’d otherwise pay for separately. For example, no matter what, you’ll need to invest in web hosting for your website. If your website builder plan doesn’t include it, you’ll be paying separately for it. Carefully consider both the cost of the plan itself, and what you’ll be getting for that cost. How to Compare Website Builder Plans in 4 Simple Steps There are a lot of website builder plans out there. Trying to research them all to find the right one can be overwhelming. Here are a few tips to help you figure out how to hone in on the best one for you. 1. Figure out your priorities. You’ll have an easier time identifying the right plan for you if you start by defining what you need. Some of the features listed above will be necessities for you. Some will be nice-to-have, but not required. And others will be completely inconsequential to the website you plan to build. Figure out which features fall into which category so you start your search with a list of what you need and want. 2. Research different providers. Now go looking for website builders that offer the items on your list. You can easily rule out any plans that don’t provide your must-have features and compare the plans that offer your nice-to-have ones. 3. Consider a company’s different plans. For website builder companies that offer packages that cover all the bases you need, also take a minute to look at their higher-level plans. Even though you may not need all the features offered in their more expensive plans right away, you want to have room to grow. If you’ll need those premium features later, it’s good to know you can easily upgrade with the website builder you choose now to get them. 4. Make your choice. With your list and a little research into your options, you should be able to easily identify the website builder packages that come the closest to what you need for a price you can afford. Decide which of them is the best fit, and make your purchase. Start Building Your Website HostGator’s website builder offers users many of the features included in the list, including free website hosting from one of the most respected providers in the industry. If you want to get started with one of our website builder packages, sign up for our hosting services today. Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading →

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Creating a Website: How To Create a Beautiful Site

Posted on March 19, 2019 by Hosting

The post Creating a Website: How To Create a Beautiful Site appeared first on HostGator Blog . When creating a website, aesthetics aren’t everything – but they definitely matter. Have you ever visited a website that was cluttered, had colors that clashed, or a design that made it hard to read and navigate? Your response was probably to click away and go looking for another website to visit in its place. If you don’t know anything about web design, but you know it’s time to start that website you keep thinking about, you’re probably wondering to how to make a website that will both look good and accomplish your goals. For aspiring website owners that don’t know how to code and don’t have the budget to hire a designer (or would simply rather not spend that money), the best answer is to use an online website builder . Why Create a Website with a Website Builder? Website builders are a fast and easy way to get started with a new website or blog. And this is one case where taking the easy route doesn’t mean sacrificing quality. You can create a truly beautiful and effective website with the right website builder. Here are three benefits to using a website builder . 1. You can use website templates designed by professional designers. Any good website builder you consider will include a number of attractive templates that have been designed by skilled web designers. That means you get to take advantage of their skills without paying top dollar, like you would if you hired them on your own. In most cases, the designers that create templates for website builders will have knowledge of web design best practices and incorporate them into the templates they create. Even if you don’t have a good eye for visuals or website UX (user experience), you can trust that the people who created the template you start with do. By starting with a good template, it’s easy to build a website that looks beautiful and makes a good impression on your visitors. 2. You don’t have to learn how to code. Coding languages are complicated and intimidating to anyone that doesn’t already know them. And even some people who know how to code find it challenging. But you can skip over dealing with all that completely.   Choosing the best website builder for your business or site saves you from having to learn to code . And notably, it means you’ll also never have to deal with coding when making later updates. People that hire a designer to build their website will still have to struggle with HTML down the line when they need to make additions and changes. With a website builder, every future update will be simple.   3. You can make the website your own. The templates are a good starting point, but you don’t want your website to look just like all the other websites created from the template you chose. Don’t worry. You still have room to add your own style and make sure the end results look beautiful to you, while still being intuitive for your visitors. You can change out colors, add and remove different elements of the page, and move things around with simple drag-and-drop website builder functionality. Starting with a template provides a good shortcut, but from there it’s entirely up to you what you choose to do with it. How to Create a Website with a Website Builder If you’re sold on the idea of using a website builder, then it’s time to get started. These are the steps to building a beautiful website using a website builder. 1. Choose your website builder. First things first, you need to choose which website builder to go with. You have a number of options to choose from, and making the right choice now matters. Many website builders make it hard to keep your website if you move to a new product down the line. When looking for the best website builder for you, consider: Ease of use – You don’t want to spend hours learning how to use your new website builder, and you shouldn’t have to. Many website builders provide intuitive editing tools and resources to help you get familiar with the product right away. In particular, look for drag-and-drop functionality which makes editing easy for anyone, no matter the level of skill. Cost – Some drag-and-drop website builder options are free, but most that offer the kind of functionality you’ll need will cost somewhere in the range of $5 to $40 a month—and that’s an ongoing cost, you’ll be paying for as long as you keep your website up. Make sure you choose an affordable website builder you can pay for now and in the months and years to come. Mobile compatibility – Many of your visitors will be coming from mobile devices, so your website needs to look as good on a small screen as it does on a computer. Make sure your website builder provides easy options for making your website mobile friendly, such as responsive templates. Number of templates –  When you start from a template that comes pretty close to what you want your website to look like, the job of customizing it will be easier. The more options you have, the easier picking the right template will be. Media features – If you ever hope to include video or audio on your website, consider what options a website builder offers for adding them. SEO features – Search engine optimization (SEO) is an important tactic for making sure people are able to find your site. While there’s a lot to doing SEO effectively, a good starting point is having a website builder that offers SEO features that make on-site optimization easier. Image library – Finding good images is a big part of creating a website that looks great. A website builder that provides an image library can make the process much faster and easier whether that be for your small business or personal blog. Analytics – Easy access to website analytics will help you track the success of your website over time. Consider what analytics options your website builder offers. Figure out what your main priorities are in a website builder and find one that provides everything you need. 2. Select your favorite template. Creating a website with a website builder starts with a template. Look through the different options available to find one that’s a close match to what you have in mind for your site. Don’t just think about the one you like the look of the best—you can easily change a lot of the visual elements of the template you choose. Think about which one has the closest structure  and layout to the website you want to create. That will make bringing it in line with your unique vision easier. 3. Choose your color scheme. So much of creating a beautiful website as a business owner or blogger will depend on the colors you choose. You want to be consistent with the colors you use across the website—if someone clicks from a page that’s green and blue to one that’s red and black, it creates a confusing experience. And you want to make sure you stick with colors that look good together. Creating a color scheme as one of your first steps will help you achieve both those goals. You’ll know which colors to stick with for your backgrounds, fonts, images, and various page elements. If you don’t really know how to select colors that look good together, you can find a number of free resources online to help. Browse sites like Design Seeds and Color Hunt for inspiration. And the tool Coolers lets you pick a color you like, and see a wide variety of automatically generated color schemes that include it until you find one you like. All of these resources helpfully provide the color codes for each number, so you can easily find them in the editing tools of your website builder as you work. 4. Create a style guide for your site. As with your color scheme, creating a style guide for your website early on will help you make sure your style is consistent across the site and everything looks the way you want it to. This doesn’t have to be anything too long or complicated. It can be a basic list of notes on the stylistic choices you want to use on your site. Consider things like whether you want your elements and buttons to have rounded corners or sharp ones. Do you want all the pages on your website to maintain the same basic layout? What coloring do you want to use for backgrounds, text, links, and buttons? What font do you want to use, and if you want to use more than one, what contexts should you use each in? You can get some inspiration by looking at examples of other style guides , but yours can be much simpler than anything the big brands put together. It should simply serve as a guide you can revisit anytime you’re working on a new page and need a reminder of how to keep it stylistically in line with the rest of the site. 5. Define your website’s goals. While this part doesn’t have to do with making your website beautiful, it’s an important step in creating a website that’s effective. Everyone that creates a website has something they want to accomplish. In order to do so, you need to be strategic in creating a website designed to meet your goals. Spend some time clearly defining what those goals are. You’ll definitely have one overarching goal—for a business owner, that will be making new sales, for a personal website it could be connecting with people through blog posts ho care about the same things you do. In addition to that, you’ll likely have a number of smaller goals that contribute to your primary one: getting noticed by the right people, gaining traffic, and building an email list are a few possible examples. When you approach your website design with clear goals in mind, you’ll do a better job of making a website that’s in line with what you want it to be and do. And you’ll know how to track its success after it goes live. 6. Clarify your messaging. We’ve talked a lot about visual design so far, but the wording you choose will be just as important to accomplishing your goals as the visual aesthetic. The written content you include on your website (called copy in marketing parlance) has to do the heavy lifting of telling your visitors what the website is about and why they should care. You may find this easier if you take a little time to look at similar websites and see how they describe themselves. They can serve as inspiration to help you clarify your own messaging, while also making clear what’s already being done. Ideally, you want to differentiate yourself from other websites and communicate to visitors what makes yours unique. Write out your unique value proposition (UVP), a line or two that describes what your website has to offer and how it’s different from any other site. You can put the UVP directly on your website’s homepage, and it will also help guide you in the copy you create for the rest of the site. 7. Decide on your website’s pages and organization. Another important factor in keeping your website effective is making sure it’s intuitive. You don’t want to overload your visitors with too much information on one page—that’s both confusing and bad for SEO. So figure out how to divide everything you want to share into a number of pages that are each devoted to a manageable amount of information. When you have an idea of the different pages you’ll create, think about how to best organize them in a way that will make it easy for your visitors to find what they’re interested in. Figure out a few main categories your different pages fit into. These will probably be your main menu items. If your website will be fairly simple and only have a few pages, this step shouldn’t be too complicated. If you expect your website to grow into something much larger that has dozens or hundreds of pages, then it’s even more important to define a clear website architecture now that you’ll stick with moving forward.   8. Get to work creating your site. Now that you’ve done all the advance prep to figure out what you want your website to look like and say, pull up your template and start making the necessary changes. Make sure you stick with your style guide, color scheme, messaging, and organization plan as you work. It can be easy to get carried away with making changes that look good in isolation, especially when a personal or business website builder makes each little tweak so easy. But you did all the work in those steps for a reason and your website will be more user friendly, beautiful, and effective if you follow the guidelines you created for yourself. 9. Run it by someone else to get a second opinion. When you spend time working on a website, you get too close to it to see it the way someone else will. Before you push it out into the larger world, find a friend you trust to be a set of fresh eyes for you. They may be able to spot minor errors or let you know if the navigation is a little confusing. Listen to their feedback and make any changes they recommend that you trust will make the website better. Unleash Your Beautiful Website After all that work, your website is ready for a larger audience. Secure website hosting (if you haven’t already) and publish it to the web. Creating a website is exciting. Seeing something beautiful you created yourself (even if with the help of a solid template to start) is certain to instill pride and give you a sense of accomplishment. Now you can start reaching people with your message and working toward your goals. If you’re ready to sign up for a hosting service and create your own website, please contact HostGator today. Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading →

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Website Builder for cPanel

Posted on February 24, 2019 by Hosting

I am looking for a easy to use Website Builder to include in cPanel for my clients, something ideally suited to users that have never built … | Read the rest of http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=1753747&goto=newpost Continue reading →

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10 Reasons to Love HostGator’s New Gator Website Builder

Posted on February 12, 2019 by Hosting

The post 10 Reasons to Love HostGator’s New Gator Website Builder appeared first on HostGator Blog . HostGator is pleased to announce our new website builder, Gator Website Builder . Gator was created for anyone who has an idea for a website and wants a frustration-free solution to build and launch a website with ease.   Gator is a full-featured website building and hosting tool with an easy to understand, drag-and-drop page builder so you can get started quickly. In addition, Gator comes with some of the basics you need such as free website hosting , security basics like an SSL certificate, and a free domain name. Unlike other website builders, the Gator Website Builder offers a breadth of tools to fit every need. No more shopping around for a site builder that has either blog or eCommerce functionalities, Gator has it all. Plus, it’s backed by HostGator’s powerful website hosting, so you can upgrade your website as your online business grows.   Unlike other website builders, Gator by HostGator offers a breadth of tools to fit every need. No more shopping around for a site builder that has either blog or eCommerce functionalities, Gator has it all. Plus, it’s backed by HostGator’s powerful website hosting, so you can upgrade your website as your online business grows.   10 reasons to love Gator Website Builder by HostGator:   1. Drag-and-drop elements   Using Gator, you can add dynamic elements to your site, without the help of a professional designer. Some of the things you can add to your website with our easy website builder are buttons, images, maps, text blocks, videos and more! When you set up your account, the first thing you’ll see is a quick, interactive tour that shows you how to add sections and make revisions  to your site. Follow these instructions and you’ll be designing a website in no time! 2. More than 200 professional design templates to choose from.  These design templates are so good that you might wonder why they’re free. Where other website builders limit your options, Gator comes with more than 200 professional design themes, all of which are scalable to fit your business. When you set up your account, scroll through all the options available and choose the one that best fits your business. The templates are organized by category so you can quickly find find a theme that is suitable for your type of business. There’s even a full screen preview so it’s easy to see all the theme’s features. Plus, the designs are fully customizable – you can quickly change the color scheme, fonts, or text style to match your business. 3. Mobile-friendly design templates.  Search engines give a boost to rankings of mobile-friendly sites and can penalize websites that are only optimized for desktop computers. Since so many people are browsing websites on their phones, in the long run, you’re hurting your business if you don’t have a mobile-friendly version. With Gator Website Builder, all of the professional design templates come with a mobile-friendly version. You can view the desktop and mobile version of your site individually to be sure the necessary information is correct and looks great no matter which device your site visitors use. In addition, you can make changes in the mobile editor that won’t affect your main website. This is handy if you want to reduce some content for mobile website visitors.   4. Stock photo library included and integrated.  No more searching for stock photos, downloading, and then uploading to your website. Gator Website Builder comes with an integrated library of high-quality stock photos courtesy of Unsplash. These photos are available in all Gator packages at no charge and are license free, meaning you can use them however you want. Best part? The photos are searchable and sorted by category to make it easier to find what you need. If you have your own photos, that’s great! You can upload and store them in your Gator “my images” library. 5. Integrated website analytics and tracking.  Analytics can be intimidating, but with Gator, you can keep on eye on the backend of your website right within the platform! Easily keep track of pageviews, bounce rate and visitor demographics with a few clicks of your mouse. This detailed data about your website visitors will help you make informed decisions about what to do with your website and how to promote your business. But, of course, if you’re already using Google Analytics, Gator has an easy way to insert your tracking code in the “manage site” section. 6. Easy blogging feature.  Some website builders give you the choice of either a basic website or a blogging platform. However, Gator Website Builder gives you both options on the same website. If you’re ready to start a blog , Gator has blog templates that seamlessly integrate with the design of the rest of your website. The “blog” tab allows you to easily organize your blog posts into one place so you can create, edit, and schedule your posts with confidence. If you’d rather start a blog later, the blog feature comes with all Gator packages so you can easily add a blog as your business grows. 7. Build an online store with eCommerce plans. Our special eCommerce Plan has all the functionality you need to sell your products or services in a professionally designed, mobile-friendly store. Simply choose your favorite eCommerce template then add your product images and details. Gator includes inventory management and coupon features to help you run your business efficiently. The eCommerce store also comes with our integrated statistics feature. Using this feature you can explore which products are your top performers so you can continue to drive more sales, more revenue, and more growth. 8. Add and manage all your social media accounts.  Quickly and easily communicate with your customers by cross-promoting your social media accounts from your website homepage. This drag-and-drop feature allows you to seamlessly connect your live-feeds from popular social networks like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Additionally, Gator has a social media productivity tool, My Social Suite, that allows you to seamlessly engage and communicate with your customers as you make updates to your website. My Social Suite is an add-on product that makes social media marketing easier than ever by allowing you to manage multiple social media profiles from one dashboard. 9. Website Security.  HostGator offers free SSL certificates for all of our customers!  An SSL certificate shows website visitors that your site is secure and that they can shop or browse confidently knowing that their personal information will be protected. 10. No ads.  Some website builders promise that your website will be free, only for you to later find out they will add advertisements to your site. With Gator Website Builder, you don’t need to worry about unwanted ads on your site because all Gator plans have zero ads. After all, we know that your customers should focus on your business, nothing else. Ready to get started? No matter what type of website your business needs, Gator Website Builder has you covered. Gator gives you access to customizable design templates, image libraries, live social feeds, and integrated analytics to help you keep tabs on your website performance. The frustration-free, drag-and-drop website means that creating and editing your website requires no prior website building or coding experience. Simply choose a template for blogs, business sites, or eCommerce sites from a category that aligns with your goal, and get online fast. Choose your Gator package and get online today. Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading →

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