Tag Archives: products

How to Create a Style Guide for Your Website in 5 Steps

Posted on May 24, 2019 by Hosting

The post How to Create a Style Guide for Your Website in 5 Steps appeared first on HostGator Blog . Websites are online storefronts for small businesses. Because they play a pivotal role in the customer experience, your team must make it a priority. A style guide helps your small business develop a cohesive look for your website. Without a clear branding style, customers will disengage and leave your site. Style guides also ensure there aren’t any discrepancies in your branding strategy. Let’s streamline your online presence. Here are 5 elements to consider in your website style guide. 1. Brand Voice Branding is the overall perception of your small business. It’s how you differentiate your products and services from others in the market. Brand voice is part of building your website. You get to show visitors your brand personality and unique qualities. Voice can range from casual and calm to vibrant and risky. In the  chart below , each voice characteristic corresponds with suggested actions (and inactions) for businesses. For instance, a company aiming for an authentic voice should portray honesty and ownership of mistakes and stay away from marketing jargon. A description of your brand voice isn’t always enough. When developing your style guide, you also should include explicit examples for your team to follow. This tactic eliminates any uncertainty when posting copy to your site. Web design affects many internal departments. Your sales team needs to know the appropriate messaging to secure customers. The finance team is interested in the actual costs, and human resources wants to attract new employees. Therefore, it’s helpful to get input from your entire team when making key brand decisions. Choose a brand voice that inspires your customers. Then, you can start developing a website that represents your brand story.   2. Navigation Laying out your website is just as critical as selecting the right words and images. When visitors land on your site, they should easily tell where to go next. It’s vital that your team craft a straightforward roadmap for their visit. For starters, keep your main heading options under six. Too many choices can overwhelm visitors and can cause them to take no action at all. Drop-down  menus also can offer structure, giving visitors access to additional pages without multiple clicks. When mapping out your navigation, conduct customer research and examine data from conversion optimization tools like heatmaps. You’ll want to begin with what’s important. Andy Crestodina , the co-founder and CMO of Orbit Media, provides his perspective: “In website navigation, just like any list, items at the beginning and the end are most effective, because this is where attention and retention are highest. Always seek to put the things that are most important to visitors in the most visually prominent places.” Effective navigation helps customers buy your products. So, streamline the navigation bar to increase engagement.   3. Colors Red, blue, purple, yellow. The colors on your website matter to your visitors. They can either spark an invitation to stay or ignite a reaction to leave your site immediately. Colors influence consumers’ perceptions of your brand. While each color represents something different for every individual, humans do recognize specific colors to represent different emotions. Yet, studies recommend that companies select colors that support the brand personality they want to portray, instead of aligning with stereotypical color associations. Your team then can add meaning to the chosen colors through other branding aspects. The  diagram below shows the connection between a color and a meaning. For example, lime green can translate into competence with a brand personality of reliability and intelligence. Colors relay an essential message your customers. Don’t force your brand to adhere to the traditional norms of what a color embodies. Find the right palette for your small business.   4. Fonts Fonts are usually the last thing on a small business owner’s mind. However, fonts help communicate your brand’s voice. Script fonts can portray a young, playful company, while a slab font can mean a bold, established brand. Google Fonts is an interactive library of more than 900 fonts. It’s an easy-to-use tool to experiment with fonts and compare your top choices. Avoid fonts that aren’t legible or clear. Consumers shouldn’t have to squint their eyes to read your text or take a second look just to be certain. Jill Chongva , a WordPress website designer, says: “It’s best to use fonts that complement each other and work together without being jarring for the reader. This usually means choosing a combination of a serif font and a sans serif font that don’t fight for the reader’s attention.” It’s also wise to not select fonts similar to well-known brands, like Coca-Cola or Nike. You want a distinct font that separates your small business from the competition. What font expresses your brand? Do your research and select one that will grab your consumers’ attention.   5. Images Images impact how consumers see your small business. With a couple of pictures, buyers can quickly determine whether they can see themselves with your product. In your style guide, outline the type of images that are acceptable for brand promotion. Specify the recommended file format and display size. You also may want to limit the number of images per page—leaving some white space. That way, your visitors don’t get bombarded with too many visuals at once. Invest in quality product photography . You want images that display the fine details of your product. For example, if you sell purses, consumers should see every pattern design. The image should give them a sense of how the product would look and feel in real life. Customers can become accustomed to the same old stock photos. For your website to stand out, you may want to shoot your own photos. Most smartphones are capable of taking high-quality pictures. So, encourage your team to share their photos from the last company retreat or team-building outing. Choose your images carefully. The image specifications make a huge difference for your website.   Your Website’s Style Guide Websites are open invitations for customers to learn about your small business. Style guides create a roadmap to establish your brand. With the right elements, your team can build a better customer experience. Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading →

Posted in HostGator, Hosting, VodaHost | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on How to Create a Style Guide for Your Website in 5 Steps

5 Email List Building Mistakes That Kill Your Sales (and How to Avoid Them)

Posted on February 15, 2019 by Hosting

The post 5 Email List Building Mistakes That Kill Your Sales (and How to Avoid Them) appeared first on HostGator Blog . Building your email list is the key to boosting your sales. Email marketing is an opportunity to directly engage with potential customers. With this communication channel, you become a trusted friend in your subscribers’ pursuit to find the right product solution. Entrepreneur VIP contributor Susan Gunelius offers her perspective: “Email marketing doesn’t work unless you build a list of people to send messages to who are interested in your products or services. If you’ve captured email addresses from your prior customers, then you have a great head start.” Steer clear of roadblocks when building your list. Here are five mistakes to avoid. Mistake #1: Buying Email Subscribers As a business, it’s tempting to take the easy route. You’re juggling multiple responsibilities, and a quick growth hack seems reliable. Most companies will attempt to buy their email subscribers . But honestly, that’s not a sound business idea. For starters, these subscribers didn’t sign up to receive messages from your brand. Sending unsolicited emails may result in legal violations, while annoying people. Subscribers who haven’t expressed interest in your products are less likely to engage with your messages. Everyone involved loses and lots of precious time gets wasted. So, what happens to your unsolicited messages? They end up in a person’s spam folder, never to be read. The result equals no sales for your business and a poor brand image. Rather than purchasing subscribers, work with your team to capture consumers when they visit your blog, exit a product page, or scroll down a sales page. Building a co-marketing campaign with another brand is also a creative way to cultivate your list. This strategy will introduce new buyers to your product offerings and get potential consumers excited to receive your emails. Are you seriously thinking about purchasing subscribers to build your list? Skip the hassle and grow your list in an organic way .   Mistake #2: Asking for Too Many Details List building is very much like a friendship. When you’re getting to know someone, you don’t bombard the individual with intimate questions. If that happens, you may startle the person and never hear from him or her again. In a similar manner, you can scare away potential subscribers by requesting too much information up front. It’s not necessary on the first encounter to ask for an individual’s mailing address or phone number. “It sounds counterintuitive, but more choices is not better for your users. In fact, the more choices you give people, the less likely they are to take action. And even if they do ultimately make a decision to take action, they will be less happy with that decision than if you had only given them one choice,” writes Mary Fernandez , a professional blogger. Moreover, you want to minimize the time it takes to subscribe. Requiring only a name and email address takes a few seconds, while a laundry list of form fields may take a few minutes. Progressive profiling is one solution to gaining more details about your subscribers. It’s the process of requesting additional information at specific points in the consumer relationship. For instance, you may send an email talking about the origin of your business, leading your brand to ask for the subscriber’s birthdate. Be mindful of when and how you ask for consumer information. Give the subscriber time to learn about your brand.   Mistake #3: Offering a Weak Incentive Nowadays, your consumers understand how marketing works. You can’t trick someone (nor should you) into being part of your mailing list. It will quickly damage your brand reputation. You can entice customers with an incentive. But if you’re wanting to give away a superficial trinket, your business should rethink that strategy. Competition is stiff across several industries. So, copying your competitors’ tactics will not work for your business either. To join your newsletter, consumers want more than empty promises. Instead, they desire information that will strengthen the brand-customer relationship. Your action plan may translate into offering offering 15% coupons, invitations to brand events, or even access to exclusive product launches. The goal is to give subscribers a compelling reason to sign up and stay on your list. Below is a pop-up box on the  Nike website . The footwear and apparel company tempts consumers with “exclusives, offers, and the latest” from the brand. Strong incentives will satisfy your subscribers and persuade them to buy from your business. Plus, your consumers will likely spread the word to their friends and family members, resulting in more sales. It’s time to drop any and all weak incentives. Do the research to learn what will attract consumers to join your brand family.   Mistake #4: Failing to Send a Welcome Email Once a consumer signs up, your team’s job isn’t over. You must follow through on your promise to send an incredible email marketing campaign. Let’s begin with the basics. You need a welcome email that will deliver your incentive and intrigue your new subscribers to not touch the delete button. Treat your welcome email as a greeting and as an add-on to the onboarding process. Subscribers should feel delighted to join your brand’s journey. Bria Sullivan , Constant Contact contributor, explains in more detail: “A welcome email is the perfect way to greet your new subscribers and ease them into your list before they start getting your regular communications. With a welcome email, you increase the likelihood that your subscriber stays engaged with your business and becomes a great, loyal customer.” A captivating welcome includes an engaging subject line, relevant visuals, concise copy, and a clear call to action. If you promised a $10 off promo code, be sure to add it to the message. Welcome emails serve a distinct purpose in email marketing. Use them to your advantage to connect with consumers and earn their trust for future sales.   Mistake #5: Forgetting to Ask for Feedback Your email list is only as valuable as the insight you receive from subscribers. Learning how and why they remain on your list and buy your products can help you make better business decisions. Feedback loops are an integral part of your marketing and sales funnel. It’s the cycle of asking for feedback and receiving it. When asking for feedback, stick to one topic. You don’t want to flood your consumers with various questions. Also, keep your feedback survey short. It should take less than 5 minutes to complete. Below is a feedback email  Little Black Bag   sent to its subscribers. It expresses how much the brand values the consumers’ thoughts. Learning about your flaws isn’t helpful to customers if you don’t take action. After you receive their suggestions, you’ll want to take steps to rectify their concerns. For instance, customers may demand your support team offer more ways to communicate. If your team adds a live chat feature as a response, you’ll want to notify your customers of the improvements. Feedback is a valuable asset for your brand. By learning from your subscribers, you walk the path to increasing your revenue.   Don’t Make the Same Mistake Twice Email marketing plays an essential role in growing your company’s sales. It’s your chance to connect with your target audience. Stay away from buying subscribers who will delete your emails anyway. Avoid offering a sign-up incentive that doesn’t correlate with the consumers’ needs. And always immediately send a welcome email. Build your email list, and boost your sales without the mistakes. Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading →

Posted in HostGator, Hosting, VodaHost | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on 5 Email List Building Mistakes That Kill Your Sales (and How to Avoid Them)

Use a Website Builder to Create Your eCommerce Site in 8 Steps

Posted on January 31, 2019 by Hosting

The post Use a Website Builder to Create Your eCommerce Site in 8 Steps appeared first on HostGator Blog . Today building an online store is easier than ever. As a result, eCommerce stores have been exploding in popularity. Before, you’d need to hire a professional developer to build the complex elements required to sell products online . But, with today’s web builders you can literally drag and drop your way towards creating your first eCommerce store. Below you’ll learn how a website builder can help you build an eCommerce store in record time, the benefits to doing so, and the steps you’ll want to take to get started. Why Use a Website Builder? When you’re building an eCommerce store you have a lot on your plate. You not only have to research your market, name your store, determine what products you’re going to sell, set your prices, calculate shipping, and market your store, but you need to build a website on top of all that. To make your life much easier, you can simply choose from dozens of professionally designed and created eCommerce themes available with a website builder. Then, all you have to do is customize them to your liking. This will not only save you a ton of time, but it takes the guesswork out of designing a store that looks good and converts.   What to Look for in an eCommerce Website Builder You’re going to have a lot of options to choose from when it comes to choosing the right eCommerce website builder for your needs. There are a ton website builders out there, but ultimately you’ll want to choose a builder that’s best suited to the needs and goals of your store. Here are some features to keep an eye out for: An extensive theme selection with niche-specific theme choices. A selection of responsive themes that look good and function properly on any screen size . A drag and drop builder to quickly customize your eCommerce site. Bundled eCommerce features like inventory management and coupon creation. A high-performance hosting environment behind the builder. A solid support team to walk you through any issues. Once you’ve settled upon an eCommerce website builder, it’s time to start creating your store. If you’re still unsure about what builder will be best suited for your needs, then take the new Gator builder for a spin. It includes all of the features above and more.   How to Use Gator to Create Your eCommerce Store Building out your eCommerce store with a website builder is a pretty simple and intuitive process. If you’re using the Gator builder, you can follow the simple steps below.   1. Select Your Theme Gator has over 100 responsive templates you can choose from, all of them designed by skilled professionals knowledgeable about web design best practices . And to save you time and make the choice easier, they’re categorized based on common types of websites , so you can quickly find a template that matches the kind of online store you’re starting. Every Gator template is responsive, so you don’t have to worry about doing any extra work to make sure your website looks good on mobile—which is crucial in an era when a significant amount of online shopping happens on mobile devices. But you can also quickly check and see how your website will look on a smaller screen during the design process by clicking on the mobile icon at the top of the editor. Take some time to browse your options and find something you like. The closer your template comes to the design you have in mind, the less work you’ll have to do to bring it line with your vision. And when you get your website done faster, you can launch your store and start making money sooner!   2. Customize Your Design Once you’ve selected your template, get to work customizing it for your business. Easily move any element on the page to where you want it to be by clicking on it, dragging it to a new spot, and dropping it into place. Add unique copy and change out fonts and text size by clicking on the text already on the page, or adding a new text box. You can do that by clicking on the plus sign in the editor, or in the Sections setting on the menu on the left side of the page. Change out the images included in the theme by uploading your own in the Style section on the right side of the screen, and add new ones by selecting Images when you go to add a new section. In the left side menu, you can add Elements to the page, such as buttons, contact forms, a map to your business site, and your social feeds. Also on the left side menu, you can easily change out the color scheme and backgrounds in the template, and add any new sections to the page you want included. The editor is designed to be easy for even beginners to use, so spend some time playing around in it to get a feel for what you can do.   3. Decide How to Organize Your Site Organizing your website well is important both to make sure it’s intuitive for your visitors and to improve your SEO. For an eCommerce store, a good site organization requires considering two main things: What are the most important pages to include on your main menu. What are the most customer-friendly categories to divide your products into Your main menu should include the most important pages on your website. For almost all businesses, that will include your Home page, About page, and a Contact page. For customers that provide services, it may also include a portfolio or gallery that collects examples of your work. For those with product-based businesses, you can include a general Products link in your main menu with the main product categories listed underneath it. Or you can include the main product categories in the menu themselves, if there aren’t that many. In Gator you can update the Menu by scrolling over it, clicking on Pages Menu, then selecting Manage Pages. You can drag different page names to the place in the menu you want them to be in. Delete a page from the menu by clicking on it, then clicking on the trash can that shows up to the right. And add a new page by clicking Add Page and filling in the information for it in the form that comes up. Gator will helpfully create a unique URL for you that reflects the page name, but you can edit the URL if you’d prefer it to be something else. When determining the best categories to use, try to get inside the heads of your customers and think about their priorities when looking for your products. If you sell floral arrangements, useful categories may include the main occasions people buy flowers for (weddings, sympathy, romantic gestures, etc.), price points, or the primary colors present in an arrangement. Think about what customers most consistently ask for when coming to you. In Gator you can manually create your most important category pages in the main editor, and also add more categories in the Store app, as you’ll see later in step #5. To add relevant subcategories that will show up in the dropdown for your main menu pages, add a new page for each subcategory and drag it underneath the page you’ve added to the main menu. You can use this page to highlight all the relevant products that fall into the category, and to optimize your site for the relevant SEO keyword. Figuring out your site’s organization will help you determine the different pages you need to create, which prepares you for our next step.   4. Create Your Main Pages Your template will come with a number of pages already created. Now you just need to make any changes to the pages already supplied so they match what you need, and add any new pages you want to the site. Common pages to consider creating (or modifying) in this step include: Your homepage that communicates your unique selling proposition (USP) and highlights your most popular products. An about page that tells visitors what your store is about and highlights your mission. A gallery or portfolio that showcases your work. High-level category pages that group similar products based on attributes your customers will be looking for A blog where you can post educational information, product updates, and more. A contact page that tells customers how to reach out and get in touch, and includes your address and hours if you have a physical location. For any pages you create that don’t come supplied with your theme, you can simplify the creation process by copying a similar page you already have and going from there. For each of these pages, take a few minutes to optimize them for SEO for keywords relevant to your online store. And consider opportunities to promote your email list or include CTAs to drive sales wherever relevant.   5. Upload Your Products With the above steps taken care of, it’s time to start adding your products to the website. In Gator, click on Store in the menu on the left side of the page, then Manage Products and Orders. This will take you to the Gator store app, where you can start adding your products. The app will walk you through the process in a number of easy steps. Select whether it’s a physical product or service. Fill in name, pricing info, and your description. Upload your product photo. And voila! You’ve created your product. You can add each product you’ve added to the relevant pages on your website by going into Elements, selecting Products, and dragging the product box to where you want it on the page.   6. Setup Your Payment Processor Without setting up and integrating a payment processor your customers will have no way of actually paying you. In the Gator store app, you can get your payment information set up by clicking on Settings, then Payment Providers. The app makes it easy to add PayPal and Stripe to your store, so you can securely process credit card payments. 7. Setup Your Order and Shipping Details Also in Settings, you can fill in the main information needed to complete orders, such as shipping costs, the address order emails will be sent to, and the tax rate that should be applied to all orders. Filling all these in will help automate the process when orders come in, so that you have an easier time processing them in a timely manner and tracking them over time. You can also add relevant legal documents, tracking details for shipments, and create templated customer emails to automatically go out when orders are made, shipped, and delivered. In the Advanced Features section, you can enable discounts, offer variations of products (such as by size or color), and simplify the shipping process with Shippo integration . You can also set up product categories that allow customers to display products grouped by attributes they have in common. While you can also create category pages in the Editor, this automates the process and makes it easier for you build out the different possible categories your customers may want to filter product results by.   Finish Your eCommerce Store and Launch! With Gator, you can build out a simple eCommerce store in a matter of hours. And while stores that include a lot of products or categories will take more time than that, adding everything you need will be a simple process. The faster you can get your website up, the sooner you start making money from it. Dive right in and start building now! Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading →

Posted in HostGator, Hosting, VodaHost | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Use a Website Builder to Create Your eCommerce Site in 8 Steps

How to Strengthen Your Content Strategy with Customer Input

Posted on January 21, 2019 by Hosting

The post How to Strengthen Your Content Strategy with Customer Input appeared first on HostGator Blog . One of the first things you learn when you start doing content marketing for your business is how important it is to learn who your audience is. Marketers use a lot of different techniques and tools for this—reviewing analytics, turning to market research tools , investing in social listening . But surprisingly, research from the Content Marketing Institute found that 58% of marketers are skipping the most obvious tactic of all for getting to know your audience: talking to them directly. The Importance of Talking to Your Customers Analytics can show you trends in what products customers buy, or which content topics they respond to, but they can’t always tell you why. And social listening can alert you to complaints about your products online, but they often leave out key information you need to understand the problem and provide a satisfying solution. Most of the tools and tactics you can use to learn about your audience are second hand. They can help you see overall trends, but they leave out important context. By asking your customers direct questions—or even better, actually having a two-way conversation with them—you can fill in the gaps in your knowledge and hear directly from the source.   How to Get Customer Input The why of talking to your customers is pretty self-explanatory: you want to get to know who they are and what they care about. The how is what makes it a challenge to do at all and, more importantly, do well. For those in the 58% of marketers that could use some help to start communicating with your customers, we talked to Cathy McPhillips, Vice President of Marketing at the Content Marketing Institute for some tips on how to do so.   1. Make sure you ask the right questions. First things first, if you’re going to make an effort to start listening to your customers more, you have to be strategic about the questions you ask. “Definitely have questions planned in advance and definitely take those questions and cycle them through the whole organization,” Cathy recommends. One person shouldn’t be deciding what to talk about in a vacuum. Consulting other departments ensures you’ll get a wider view of what you need to know and that you’re not overlooking important information other people in the company need And don’t just stick with that same list of questions as you go. Each person you talk to is unique, so tailor the questions you ask where relevant. And use the feedback you get early on to make changes to your questions that make them more useful.   2. Use social media. “The easiest way to [start getting input from customers] is to start using your social media and use places you’ve already started building an audience,” Cathy suggests. The whole point of social media is to be social, so treat it like a platform for two-way communication with your followers.  Ask questions via LinkedIn groups or Twitter chats, or wherever you’re already connected with people. Listen to what they say and make an organized record of what you learn. Social media may be a good place to hear from your audience, but it’s not the greatest place for organizing that information or finding it again later. You definitely don’t want to stop with social media, but it can be a good place to start communicating more directly with your audience and may help you spot some of the best customers to reach out to for more detailed conversations.      3. Conduct a survey. A survey is one of the easiest places to start getting more direct feedback from your customers. If you’re worried about getting people to actually spend a few minutes taking a survey, Cathy has two main suggestions: Give them a clear time frame upfront of how long it will take (and make sure it’s a pretty short time commitment —5 minutes or so). Offer to enter them in a drawing for a $50 gift card. That lets people know that the commitment is low, and the possible reward is high. 4. Identify and call your most devoted customers. Social media and surveys can be good for playing the numbers game—you can reach a lot of customers at once with minimal effort. But to really fill in the gaps in your knowledge and learn the context behind the answers you get there, you want actual conversations over the phone or in person. To identify the best customers to talk to, look to your data to learn who your best customer advocates are. They’re a good place to start because they’ll often be happy to give you their time. “I’ve spent 30 minutes on the phone with people before and they want nothing in return other than knowing that we’re caring enough to listen to what they have to say,” says Cathy. Your happy customers can supply you with valuable information on: How they use your products The specific problems they solve The specific products or features they like or use the most Any new products or features they’d like to see What type of promotions they’d be most likely to respond to What types of content they appreciate the most What their day to day looks like Other products they use and like If you come into the call prepared, you can usually cover a lot of territory in a short amount of time, but you might want to leave your schedule open in case they have a lot to say.   5. Identify and call your least enthusiastic customers. Another important category of customers to talk to is those that aren’t happy with your products. You may think getting them on the phone to talk would be a hard sell, but Cathy suggests you might be surprised. “If someone cared enough to listen to why I wasn’t taking an action, I feel like to most customers that’s enough of a reward for them,” she says. Your unhappy customers can provide some of the same type of information your happy customers do, but with some additional valuable insights about what doesn’t work for them and how your products or service would need to be different to satisfy. The call may give you room to help save the relationship, but even if not, it can help you either better clarify who your target audience is by excluding the people your product isn’t a good fit for, or identify opportunities for ways to improve your product or services to better meet people’s needs.   6. Use what you learn. Once you’ve done the hard work of gathering all this valuable information, you won’t get anything out of it unless you put it to use. Record all the answers you gain throughout the process and get it all into a database or other format that makes it easy to organize and sort. Make sure you get the right information to the specific people in the company it will benefit. Any feedback on changes to the product should go to your product development team, and complaints about a customer service experience need to get in front of your customer service department. For marketers, commit to spending time using what you’ve learned to: Update your personas to improve their accuracy. Re-work your content strategy to ensure you answer the common questions that came up and address the topics your customers expressed interest in. Identify content pieces that should be updated based on the new information you’ve learned.     The better you know your customers, the more successful you’ll be at creating content they care about . But only if you make an effort to actually listen to them, and incorporate what they tell you into your content strategy. Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading →

Posted in HostGator, Hosting, VodaHost | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on How to Strengthen Your Content Strategy with Customer Input

Use a Website Builder to Set Up Your New Online Store

Posted on November 14, 2018 by Hosting

The post Use a Website Builder to Set Up Your New Online Store appeared first on HostGator Blog . You’ve decided it’s time to start selling your products online . You’ve known for a while you should, but you just didn’t know how. The skills it takes to become a business owner aren’t the same as those it takes to set up an online store from scratch. But even though you worry it will be hard, you trust it will be worth it. With an online store, you can bring your products to a wider audience than you can with a storefront. You make the decision to purchase more convenient for your customers – being able to buy something without leaving the couch removes a lot of the possible barriers to a sale.   And you can tap into the power of online marketing and SEO . Now that so many people start their search for a new product online, the best way to show up when someone’s looking for what you sell is to be online. If the main thing stopping you was concern that setting up an online store would be difficult, we’ve got good news. With the right website builder , creating an online store is easy — no matter your level of experience.   Why You Should Use a Website Builder to Set Up Your Online Store For any business ready to get an online store up and running, there are a few clear benefits to using a website builder to make it happen:   It’s easy. This might be the most important benefit for most small business owners. You don’t have time to learn all the ins and outs of setting up an online store from scratch, and you don’t have the budget for hiring someone that does. But you don’t need either if you use a website builder.   It’s quick. Every day your website isn’t set up for selling products is a day you could be losing out on sales. The sooner your online store is functional, the faster you can start making extra money.   It brings the main tools you need into one interface. If you set up an online store on your own, you have to remember to find the right design tools, eCommerce software, and security features all as separate steps. With a website builder, everything you need is brought together in one place, where you can access it all through one interface. It makes your job easier and ensures you don’t forget anything important.   How to Set Up an Online Store with a Website Builder If you already have a website that you’re adding an online store to, you can skip the first few steps. But if you don’t have a business website yet, you’ll need to start at the beginning.   1. Choose a domain name. Your domain name will ideally be yourbusinessname.com. But if your business has a name that’s at all common, that may already be taken. You can use a domain search tool to find out what’s available and brainstorm options that will be easy for your visitors to remember. If the .com is taken, then .net or .co may be a better option. You can also consider variations of your business name using hyphens between words, so a business called Acme Knives becomes acme-knives.com, if acmeknives.com is taken. Get a little creative if you need to, but make sure the end result is something that will be intuitive for your visitors to use and remember.   2. Select a hosting plan. Every website online requires hosting. When you start looking into your hosting options, you’ll quickly realize that there are both a lot of providers and a lot of different plans to consider. In your search, make sure you prioritize finding a hosting plan that supports an eCommerce website and that will be compatible with the website builder you use. Here’s a helpful checklist to follow when selecting your web hosting provider.   3. Choose your website builder. Some web builder plans come with hosting included (including HostGator’s ) , so you may be able to complete this step at the same time as the last one. If not, then spend some time reviewing your different options. Make sure you go with a website builder that’s easy for beginners to use and makes adding an online store to your website a breeze. Consider the number of themes and features each website builder offers and how the costs line up with the budget you have in mind. 4. Select your theme. Most website builders come with a number of different themes you can choose from. The theme works as a starting point that provides a structure for your website. You can make changes to it to make the design your own by moving different elements of the page around, adding in any new elements you want, and subbing in different colors, images, and copy.   5. Create your main pages. Your website can’t just be product pages. At the very least, you’ll need a Home page that communicates your company’s unique positioning and why your visitors should do business with you. In addition, you may want to include:      An About Us page that provides information about what your business is and who’s behind it      Category pages that help you organize your products based on the main attributes your visitors will use to find what they need      A contact page that makes it easy for your visitors to find out how to get in touch Figure out the most important pages you want to include on your website and how best to organize them.   With that done, you can start working on the online store part of your website.   6. Add an eCommerce app to your website builder. Depending on the website builder you choose, eCommerce features may be included, or may be an additional add-on. With HostGator’s website builder, the eCommerce store is an app you can easily add to your website builder. A good eCommerce app will make the next few steps easy.   7. Add products to your store. Now that the structure of your website and online store are in place, you can start adding in your products. In addition to filling in the product name and the price of each product, make sure to load high-quality product photography and include persuasive copy that touts the benefits of each product. This step is worth committing some time to. Your product pages have a lot of work to do to get your visitors to take that last step to purchase. It may be worth hiring a professional photographer and copywriter to make these pages really attractive and convincing. And take a little time to learn SEO basics and optimize each of your product pages. Your website will go a lot further if people can find your products when searching for them in Google.   8. Select your payment options. To make sales online, you need a way to process payments. Chances are, the eCommerce software or website builder you use will have some particular payment options it’s compatible with. These likely include Paypal, Stripe, CashonDelivery or other payment processing solutions. Choose which payment options you’ll accept and connect them to your merchant account.   9. Start promoting your store. You finally did the work of setting up your online store, now you need people to find it. With the sheer number of eCommerce businesses on the web, people are unlikely to stumble across yours without a little nudge (or a big one). Figure out a plan to market your website. A good digital marketing strategy often includes:       SEO – Strengthening your website’s authority to increase search engine rankings for relevant terms.       Social media marketing – Promoting your brand and products on social media channels where your audience hangs out       Content marketing – Creating high-quality content as a way to attract new traffic, build trust in your website, and convert leads to customers.       PPC advertising – Paying for ads on the search engines or social media sites that charge on a pay-per-click model.       Email marketing – Building an email list to sustain and grow your connection with leads to help convert them to customers (and keep them as customers for the long term once you do). Decide what the right mix of tactics is for your online store and get to work. Be aware that online marketing is a long game, and you may need to put some real time and work in before you start seeing big results.   10. Track analytics. A good website builder will come equipped with analytics tracking that helps you gauge the success of your website so you can improve over time. Pay attention to what your analytics tell you about your traffic: where it’s coming from, what people do once they reach your website, and which visitors become customers. The more data you gain over time, the better you’ll understand what works best for your particular audience. You can improve the copy you use on your website, select the most effective keywords to target in your SEO and PPC ads, and tweak your marketing efforts to focus on the tactics that result in the most profit.   Build Your Online Store Running an online store takes work, but you can save yourself a lot of time and money in the early stages by using a website builder to get your new online store set up. With an intuitive, accessible online store, your customers gain a new way to buy from you, and you gain a new stream of income. Find the post on the HostGator Blog Continue reading →

Posted in HostGator, Hosting, VodaHost | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Use a Website Builder to Set Up Your New Online Store