What is WordPress?

According to Wikipedia, WordPress is a free and open-source content management system written in PHP and paired with a MySQL or MariaDB database. Features include a plugin architecture and a template system, referred to within WordPress as Themes.

 

What Is a Page Builder

A page builder is a plugin or component of a theme that lets you structure and design pages with minimal effort and time. Many readers will be already familiar with the HTML components of the ‘Text’ view and actual ‘Visual’ preview of content in the WordPress visual editor. A page builder can be considered as an advanced version of the visual editor. (Sitepoint)

 

Main Factors to Consider

Page builders have been around for a while, so you have many options. Many WordPress users will swear by their favourite tool, which can make the choice challenging.

At the same time, it is important to choose a solution you’ll be delighted with over the long term. Shifting from one page builder to another can be complex, since each one has unique components. It may be hard to make your old and new content look identical, unless you reformat all your existing content in the new page builder by hand.

With that in mind, we’re going to help you make an informed choice by walking you through the main factors to consider when choosing a WordPress Page Builder. By having these main factors in mind, you’ll be in a good position to pick the page builder for your site.

 

1. Compatibility

One of the first things you’ll want to look at is whether the page builder is compatible with your current WordPress theme. If not, you’ll need to change your site’s theme, which can be costly and time-consuming.

If you’re having issues with theme compatibility, look for builders that work with all WordPress themes so you can change your site’s look with less trouble.

 

2. Ease of Use

The best website builder has an intuitive editing tool that makes it tweak your site in a way you find pleasing and satisfying. It needs to have an excellent drag-and-drop functionality that lets you move around page components with your mouse.

 

3. Design and Features

The best page builders should make it easy to design and customize your site in real-time. It should also include styling options, templates, and other content elements. At the same time, you also have to ensure that you can turn that particular template into something exceptional.

A great website builder will provide you with a lot of options to pick from to be able to customize your site. You should be able to switch colors, add new pages, icons, and buttons, into sizes and shapes that you want to.

 

4. Affordability

While deciding which page builder to be preferred, it is always necessary to decide the cost. Whereas, it is essential to invest in premium themes and plugins if you need it. Most of the page builders work on the “freemium” model. The freemium model means there is a basic version for the page builder with a few core features and the full premium version with all the whistles and bells.

 

Best Drag and Drop WordPress Page Builders

1. Divi

This page builder is very straightforward to use and comes with 800+ pre-made designs for different kinds of websites. Divi’s vital feature is that it provides a real-time preview of all the changes. It comes with 40+ website elements that can be used in any part of the layout.

Divi is mainly used to create custom sites, and you can save these designs for later use. Divi also provides a feature to export a layout from installation to another. The Divi Builder plugin is the backbone of the Divi theme, but it works perfectly with any other WordPress theme.

Pros:

• Front End Page Builder
• Wide selection of pre-made Templates
• Comes Bundled With A Theme
• Responsive Editing
• Global Elements
• 40+ Design Elements

 

Cons:

• Shortcodes When You Deactivate
• So Many Options, Almost Too Many
• Very Glitchy With Longer Pages
• No Free Version

 

Pricing:

• $89 / Yearly Access
• $249 / Lifetime Access

 

2. Elementor

It is the most famous page builder plugin at the moment — more than 3 million websites use it — and it’s also arguably the most feature-rich.

The main strength of Elementor’s is that it’s absolutely simple to pick up, even when it’s your first interaction with a builder plugin of this sort. Basically, there’s just a main options panel to the left and a live preview window in the center. You can drag and drop things freely between those areas, and reorganize the blocks however you want.

Pros:

• Tons of styling options
• User-friendly interface
• Clean code after deactivation

 

Cons:

• A little buggy
• Worsen site performance
• Support wasn’t that responsive and it took a long time to get a reply

 

Pricing:

• $0 / Free Version
• $49 annually for 1 site / Personal
• $99 annually for 3 sites / Plus
• $199 annualy for 1K sites / Expert

 

3. Beaver Builder

Beaver Builder is an extraordinary premium page builder for beginners. It has drag-and-drop page builder that comes with pre-made and customizable templates. This way you don’t have to start from scratch when creating a new website or page. After you’ve done customizing your template, you can save your new design to be used for future pages that you build.

Additionally, Beaver Builder comes equipped with modules for adding useful page elements like special buttons, image sliders, accordion menus, and more.

Pros:

• Fast Front End Page Builder
• Full Template & Block Library
• Modern Design Features, Gradients, Drop Shaddows
• Most Reliable Page Builder Available
• Ideal Page Builder For Agencies

 

Cons:

• Development “Feels” Slow Compared To Other Builders
• Theme Builder Costs Extra
• Lacks Form Builder
• May Need To Purchase a 3rd Party Addon For Extra Features

 

Pricing:

• $99 / Standard
• $199 / Pro
• $399 / Agency

 

4. SiteOrigin

SiteOrigin is one of the most well-known page builder plugin for WordPress. . With over a million downloads to date, SiteOrigin is a reputable, well-maintained, and responsive option for building out your WordPress site. Its drag-and-drop system combined with backend customization make it ideal for both novices and advanced users.

It makes it easy to create responsive grid based content, using the widgets you know and love. Your content will accurately adapt to all mobile devices, ensuring your site is responsive.

SiteOrigin has live frontend editing, but you also have the option to move around elements in the backend page builder.

Pros:

• Smooth page builder without the price tag
• Provides a sleek, simple toolbar that’s easy to understand
• Can use existing widgets, even from other page builders

 

Cons:

• Can’t import/export page
• Free version doesn’t have a live customization function

 

Pricing:

• $0 / Free Version
• $29 annually for 1 site / Single
• $49 annually for 5 sites / Business
• $99 annually for unlimited sites / Developer

 

5. WPBakery

WPBakery  is one of the oldest page builders. It is also among the most used builders today. It offers decent customization options with its row and column-based editor. You can easily set up the layout and point out all the margins and padding between elements. You can also do some basic changes to individual columns. These consist of things like changing background color and font changes. Editing rows adds more advanced options like parallax scrolling. You can also make custom styling changes, but you can’t apply CSS directly to individual elements.

WPBakery supports all WordPress’s default widgets plus a lot more, like Google Maps, charts, carousels, etc. It also supports WooCommerce, so you can build a store.

Since WPBakery is one of the oldest and most used page builder plugins, there is a host of extensions for it. You can use them to set up forms, get more control over customization, set up social sharing, and add various other functions.

Pros:

• Highly customizable
• Abundant integrations
• Affordable

 

Cons:

• Too old-fashioned to compete with other page builders
• Clunky interface
• No multisite plan

 

Pricing:

• $45 for 1 site / Regular
• $245 For use in a single SaaS application / Extended

 

6. Live Composer

Live Composer is an older plugin that took its time getting to the mainstream market. Fortunately, it has gone through a lot of major updates to get where it is now.

It offers a frontend drag and drop interface so you don’t require to know anything about coding. The editor makes a responsive design and it comes with over 40 content modules for quick and easy development.

Live Composer lets you fully customize page layouts, including headers. You can also set up visual elements like animations and access various styling options. Live Composer has an abundance of customization options for text. Another cool feature is the Mega Menu module. You can customize complex expandable menus for your site.

Pros:

• Great website navigation options
• Low price for a page builder

 

Cons:

• The extensions are sold in a separate package
• Limited templates
• Clunky User Interface

 

Pricing:

• $49 for 1 site
• $79 for 5 sites
• $99 for unlimited sites

 

7. Oxygen Builder

The ultimate WYSIWYG visual editor plugin for WordPress! More flexible than typical page builders and as powerful as hand-coding. It packs many key features including templates for layouts of different website pages or posts, and responsive modules that you can quickly add to enhance your site and engage visitors.

Oxygen Builder is not your classic drag and drop page editor, and that’s by design. The UI looks much more like Photoshop, because Oxygen was built to accommodate website developers that know their way around a code playground.

Oxygen is quickly becoming the tool of choice for WordPress developers and designers.

Pros:

• You can make sites within minutes
• It has an import/export feature to quickly move designs from one site to another
• It provides full coding ability (with Java, HTML, PHP, and CSS,) along with a solid visual frontend builder.

 

Cons:

• Intimidating for a first-time user
• Extremely steep learning curve for non-techies
• When you deactivate all data is stuck in the database
• Almost all content is wrapped in shortcodes

 

Pricing:

• $99 for Unlimited License / Personal
• $149 Unlimited License / WooCommerce Bundle
• $169 Unlimited License / Agency

 

Final Words

Page builders can be great tools for web designers who want nearly full control over layouts, sizes, colours, spacing, and so on.

Many WordPress users swear by page builders, and wouldn’t create content without one. Others find them frustrating and problematic. The camp you fall into will rest on a lot on personal choices, as well as what you’re looking to achieve.

On the other hand, users with less grand ambitions may be completely content with the options provided by a quality WordPress theme. The best way to find out for yourself is to give a few page builders a hands-on trial.

Have you ever tried building sites code-free? What’s the top website builder of your choice? Tell us about it in the comments section below!

As the Coronavirus has rapidly scattered across the world, businesses in every field continue to be impacted by the result of the extremely contagious virus. With implemented social distancing ordinances put in a place designed to keep people safe, many organizations have had to reconsider how they will conduct business during this time. One of the most significant aspects being taken into consideration is how COVID-19 will affect Digital Marketing, and overall search engine optimization cost.

With many clients being advised to stay at home, Digital Marketing is one area that has been forced to embrace new programs to adapt to this disaster rapidly. While public health and safety is the primary priority, we wanted to give some insight into some of the changes that are taking place in the digital scene. Keep reading to learn more about how the Coronavirus is turning the world of Digital Marketing and what the future of SEO might look like stepping forward.

 

1. Temporary Impact

Online marketers are focusing more on the present scheme. They have put future perspective and long-term survival on the back burner. In the last few years, Digital Marketing companies had to handle with many problems. They include issues like transparency, brand trust, and poor consumer feedback.

Experts claim that the pandemic had a cleansing effect on the sector. Even the finest digital marketing company in the USA is focusing on spending without expecting returns quickly. The results of these efforts have become uncertain due to the world turning to almost a halt. Top brands are waking up to this impact due to losses in sales and visibility.

E-commerce advertising for computers, electronics, and household goods increased. But paid search and social ads are not producing the same impact as before. They are slowly recovering, but the short-term impact has been substantial. But, search shopping campaigns and Facebook dynamic product ads recovered fast.

To cut down costs, digital marketers also shifted focus to TV. They produced low-cost ads at a faster rate like Telco. Then they turned their attention to online sales and brand performance matters. The structure and relationship of digital media and TV platforms have also altered.

 

2. Large Numbers of Employees Working Remotely

 

• Increased demand for work-from-home from employees

The demand for resilience in where and how individuals work has been developing for decades. Before the crisis, studies showed 80% of employees want to work from home at least occasionally. While the practice of working at home during the situation may not have been ideal, as entire families sheltered in place, it will give people a bite of what could be.

• Work from Home Policy

Work from home is the finest thing to control the virus around the company. With an already failing global economy, everybody in any corporation must remain healthy. If you’re a small business and are troubled about how to take things further, you can always outsource or consulting from digital marketing agencies. This is also a good time to start working on your digital marketing plans.

Whatsoever, with access to the internet here and there, it has now turned into a lot simpler to work on remote working policy than it was ever before. There are ways you can keep track of their performance, and if it all, the productivity goes up if the company gives free hands to its employees.

 

3. Increase in Search Volume for Healthcare / Health Topics

One notable impact of the increased amount of people working from home due to quarantine regulations has been the increased volume of desktop vs mobile traffic. This move to more desktop searches means that companies should expect to see an increase in the amount of time spent on their website vs mobile website, more from conversions and in some cases a lower bounce rate. To make information more accessible it is recommended that each healthcare provider also include a page on their website dedicated to discussing their response to the COVID-19 outbreak. More than ever before it is important that companies demonstrate their responsiveness in providing the types of company updates that searches are looking for.

Another platform being utilized by consumers is social media and Google My Business. That is why it is necessary that healthcare providers update Google My Business profiles to provide up-to-date hours and closing information. Facebook can also be another key channel to provide COVID-19 related information and share any content from your website. With new tools added to Google My Business mark-up Google is making it smoother for corporations in the healthcare sector to provide COVID-19 related information to target markets. Perhaps Google’s most important update however has been the presence of enhanced information cards for people who search for terms related to the Coronavirus. These tabs provide information on symptoms, prevention, global statics, and locally relevant information.

 

4. Trade Shows and Conferences Cancelled, with an Increase in Online Events

Live marketing events are being cancelled or postponed worldwide. In fact, according to eMarketer, the total loss from cancelled events in the U.S. will exceed $500 million. Many companies will go through a net loss in terms of their travel expenses vs. expected new customers and revenue increase from these events.

In-person events and trade shows made up almost 40% of engagements and 53% of conversions for B2B marketing teams as of January 2020—just before the virus spread.  U.S. companies will certainly have to rethink this to make up for the loss.

Digital marketing efforts will have to take the place of live events, trade shows, and conferences. In other words, marketing teams will have to adjust their estimated revenue from each channel and convert into digital channels. They will also have to collaboratively plan with sales teams more actively in order to meet their targets during this crucial time.

One thing that will surely benefit these B2B digital marketing efforts is the fact that more consumers will be online in the coming months. As more individuals spend time at home, avoid social contact, and set up home offices, consumer usage of digital marketing channels—such as social media, paid search, and webinars—will increase. This is a perfect time to amplify your strategy to attract new customers online.

Consider that many people will shift to social media to stay connected with friends, family, and workmates as they quarantine at home. Your sponsored and paid ads have the potential to get a wider viewership than normal. Hopefully, this will lead to unprecedented revenue for your team in these channels.

 

5. Industries and Businesses Will Take Longer to Recover

Even if the transmission of the disease slows down drastically, businesses will still have to face slower recovery to make up for all the losses they sustained.

For instance, China’s inflation rate in February dropped to 6.2% and retail sales dropped by 20.5%.

Also, when huge businesses shut down their stores to slow down the virus from spreading, they lose revenue and profit. Of course, in the vast majority of cases, they have the resources to pay their employees during the shutdown but some won’t be able to pull this off and will face economic crisis.

Experts speculate that the virus will make corporations to lose several hundred billion dollars in the early stages of the spread and layoffs in a few companies have already commenced. It is estimated that the virus will cost a stunning 2-3 trillion dollars for the global economy, and as such, digital marketers are also affected at the moment since they are losing both conversions and traffic.

Rethinking the Digital Community

The Covid-19 pandemic has driven to a rethinking of the digital community, as people are spending even more time online. Industries and businesses that have long resisted a turn to digital means, such as medical specialists and schools, are now adopting the shift. More classes are going online, and physicians are reaching with their patients face-to-face over Skype, Zoom, and similar apps. More businesses are also allowing their workers to work from home while staying connected through these apps.

Artist communities are also working more to reach people online during the pandemic. Musicians at every level; from local artists to famous performers are playing free live shows on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Performance artists such as actors and comedians are entertaining people with live broadcasts as well. People with skills of different types are also doing live instructional videos to teach people a technique, recipe, or exercise, etc.

What businesses, institutions, and artists are essentially thinking is, “What can I offer right now that will benefit people?” This is the way businesses should stand as they go full charge into digital marketing during this pandemic, what can your company offer that people need right now.

 

Conclusion

The coronavirus pandemic has created a shift in marketing, as more businesses and institutions are shifting to online and digital systems to reach their target market. Marketing professionals forecast that these trends will continue through the coronavirus crisis as more people are spending time online, and there is a positive chance these trends will last after the crisis is over. Today, it is impossible to tell how long this crisis will last, but you can put your business in an excellent position by boosting your online presence and engagement.

At DigiTellUs, we are experts in promoting brand awareness and online presence for businesses with our Digital Marketing and SEO services. We can help improve the performance of your website with Web Management, and also we can help craft your message during this pandemic and make sure that it comes to your market.

You can reach DigiTellUs at +1 760 306 3155 and learn more about how we can help your online marketing efforts.

What is a Domain Name?

A domain name is the Web address attached to a site. You use this technology on a daily basis when you type a destination into your browser address bar and click from one site to another.

Domain names were introduced as an easy way to navigate the Web. Instead of trying to remember 9 digit IP addresses we need only to recall the often-catchy domain that is assigned to the IP address.

Domain Name Basics

This might seem like a pretty basic topic but it’s not. While we don’t endorse an awkwardly scientific approach to domain name selection, we do have a few basic “rules” for this aspect of doing business (or promoting anything personal) online.

We’ve seen some pretty glaring mistakes made in this regard and rest assured a major blunder in this area will cost you money in lost sales, or will result in a lower response if money is not your objective.

With this in mind let’s look over a few basics of good domain name selection.

Domain Name Continuity

The best domain names are those that reflect the exact name of the company, product, person, organization, or theme being promoted by the Website in question. This just makes good sense, and of course it’s easy for your customers and prospects to find you; even if they forget your site address they can always wager a guess based on your name, or your company or product name.

A lot of entrepreneurs will use their first and last name for their primary business domain. We recommend that everyone register their name as a domain, even if only to use as a personal blog, because this is a very powerful way to promote your professional identity or your personal profile.

Of course it’s not always possible to find the exact domain name you want, so using your company, product, or personal name might not be an option. Don’t be afraid to use a little flexibility here.

For instance, we had a client who owned a company called Possmann. They could not acquire Possmann.com so they opted for Possmannusa.com.

If an acceptable spin on your company or product name cannot be found you might be able to register a domain based on a tagline, slogan, or registered trademark statement used by your company. This technique is best if there is considerable recognition of this statement within your market, or if you intend to create such recognition by aggressive branding campaigns.

.com Is Still The King

There are plenty of entrepreneurs who will not agree with our opinion here, but as far as we’re concerned, a .com domain is the only option worth the registration fee.

Most Internet users will automatically assume the .com, so if you register a .net, .org, etc. there is a good chance you’ll be sending traffic to somebody else’s Website from time to time when folks enter the .com domain into their address bar by way of habit.

If we’re absolutely had to use a TLD (Top Level Domain) other than a .com we would choose .net, but truthfully we can’t imagine a situation that would require this.

Should You Register All The TLDs?

The question often arises as to whether a new site owner should go ahead and register the .com, .net, .info, and .org in order to control all possible versions of their domain. This is actually a smart thing to do, but we admit we don’t always take the time to do it.

As long as we get the .com, we’re happy. But there is good logic in getting all available TLDs (Top Level Domains) and either redirecting them to the .com or actually using them for a blog, support desk, etc.

Keep It Simple

It’s important to avoid complicated domain names that might be difficult to spell.

Not everyone is a spelling whiz and you don’t want to lose traffic over something this simple.

By the same token avoid excessively long domains as well. Something short and concise is best.

Make It Memorable!

Having said all of this we want to emphasize: Your domain name should be easy to remember and something worth remembering in the first place!

Try your best to come up with something cool, or at the very least very explanatory.

Domains As Your First Step Toward Solid SEO

Another thing you should consider is the value of domain names in your onsite SEO (search engine optimization) practices. It would be ideal to integrate a keyword or keyword phrase directly into your domain name because the search engine spiders place greater value on sites that do this.

Regardless of the domain you choose, you can exercise good keyword usage when you set up subdomains. For instance you might set up a blog using services.yourdomain.com.

A Word About Subdomains

Now let’s take just a moment to tell you what a subdomain actually is. Simply; a subdomain is a domain within a domain, or a Web address built on the foundation of a “parent” domain.

This element is used to make things easier or more obvious for a site’s users. In the example above using services.yoursite.com tells a user very quickly “hey, here is where you can find our services”.

Likewise, something like members.yourdomain.com would be a great place to set up your secure member’s area.

Setting up subdomains in this manner is optional. But it’s a useful technique and one we wanted to mention briefly.

How and Where To Actually Register Your Domain

Acquiring a domain for your Web business is a snap, and it shouldn’t cost you more than ten bucks. We personally recommend Greengeeks for your domain needs because of their solid customer support.

There are many other registrars to choose from but the process is pretty much the same everywhere as far as how to register and what to do thereafter. Again there is no reason to pay more than $10 per year for a good domain name.

You can’t actually purchase a domain, but you can register them in increments of one year. Below is a quick tutorial on domain name registration.

On the main page of any domain registrar you will find a simple bar you can use to search for an available domain name. Simply enter your chosen domain name in the bar, being sure to select the proper extension, and click the ‘next’ button:

If the domain you choose is available, you will be able to add it to your shopping cart and continue. If your choice is not available you will be informed and allowed to continue searching.

Once you find your domain name and continue, you’ll often be given the opportunity to buy a variety of other products and services.

You won’t need most of the products other domain registrars wants to sell you.

For instance email hosting will be available through any good hosting company, so why pay extra for this service through your registrar? And we don’t recommend the hosting provided by most domain vendors as it is often outsourced and of a lesser quality than good commercial hosting.

However we do recommend (and use) Greengeeks for both your domain registration and your Website hosting needs. This great company is one of the rare vendors that provides both of these services at a quality level.

What is Web Hosting

For your website to work, you need a place to keep your website’s files, and you need a way for people to download and view those files.

This is what a server does. A server is a specialized computer that stores (hosts) your website’s files and sends (serves) them to people who visit your site.

A web hosting service is a company that manages servers. When you sign up for a hosting plan, you are paying them for the right to use one of their machines. You are also paying for the benefit of having professionals take care of the computer that holds all of your valuable website files.

 

Top Host Providers

If you need powerful, flexible web hosting, these top-ranking providers will get the job done. With so many hosting companies offering extensive hosting packages, including site builder tools, domains, speed, and disk space, making the right web hosting decision can be a challenge.

Having reviewed all the big players in the hosting industry, our expert team have come up with this definitive list. Choose your favorite & launch your project today!

 

Features:

• Decent performance
• Easy-to-use website builder
• cPanel-powered Linux hosting

The largest domain registrar in the world, and one of the best provider of services that enable individuals and businesses to establish, maintain and evolve an online presence.

They provide a variety of domain name registration plans and Web site design and hosting packages, as well as an extensive bundle of on-demand services. These include products such as SSL Certificates, Domains by Proxy private registration, ecommerce Web site hosting, blog templates and blog software, podcast packages and online photo hosting.

Kinds of web hosting service they offer:

• Shared hosting
• VPS hosting
• Dedicated hosting
• WordPress hosting

 

Features:

• Easy to use
• Powerful and feature-packed
• Automated setup for WordPress

The most affordable WordPress hosting.

WordPress hosting plans are generally more costly, but there are discounted introductory rates available. With those, you get automated setup for WordPress, as well as other popular apps.

With BlueHost you can depend on: Highest customer service; Quality equipment; Maximum guaranteed uptime; Highly functional tools for administration and secure and reliable backups.

You can chat online or over the phone round-the-clock. This makes for a powerful, feature-packed, user-friendly web hosting – with customization options for the more demanding user.

Kinds of web hosting service they offer:

• Shared hosting.
• VPS hosting
• Managed WordPress hosting.
• Dedicated hosting.
• Cloud hosting

 

Features:

• Great basic plan
• No limits or restrictions
• 45-day money-back guarantee

Hostgator has been a established hosting solution for a long time. Millions of businesses and bloggers trust HostGator to provide web hosting for all levels of business.

They promise cheap plans, strong uptime, and generous money-back guarantee.

Additionally, all plans include a website builder with templates, unlimited bandwidth, and $100 in AdWords credits to help you optimize your WordPress SEO. Furthermore, HostGator offers amazing 24/7 support.

Kinds of web hosting service they offer:

• Shared hosting.
• VPS hosting
• Managed WordPress hosting.
• Dedicated hosting.
• Cloud hosting

 

Features:

• Easy & Fast
• Suitable for All Users
• Prefered by Designers & Agencies

SiteGround is an outstanding, and reliable cheap web hosting service provider that has been around since 2004. Hosts over a million domains globally, and it’s one of the most beginner-friendly web hosting platforms.

The company is widely known for its highly secure environment, industry-leading speed and stable support.

Moreover, SiteGround provides freebies that include free setup, free domains, daily backups, limitless bandwidth and emails, free website migration, and free CloudFlare CDN

Kinds of web hosting service they offer:

• Shared hosting.
• VPS hosting
• Managed WordPress hosting.
• Dedicated hosting.
• Cloud hosting

Features:

• Fast and friendly service with different levels of support
• Relatively cheap hosting for a green service
• Offers excellent security

The greenest hosting company on this list is GreenGeeks.

Servers use up a lot of energy and it’s good to see a company that is truly concerned about the environment. They give back 300% the power they consume into the grid in the form of renewable energy.

Their SSD storage makes them one of the fastest WordPress hosting providers that also delivers on security and reliability. Also, they offer feature-rich, reliable, and scalable hosting that comes with 24/7 support and 99.9% uptime.

Kinds of web hosting service they offer:

• Shared hosting.
• VPS hosting
• Managed WordPress hosting.
• Dedicated hosting.
• Cloud hosting

 

Webhosts Speed compared

GoDaddy – global average 171.1 ms
SiteGround – global average 136.9 ms
BlueHost – global average 153.0 ms
HostGator – global average 191.0 ms
GreenGeeks – global average 118.6 ms

 

Shared hosting vs VPS or Dedicated IP

In general, there are three kinds of hosting: shared, dedicated, and VPS.

You should know heading in to this section that shared hosting is probably going to be your best choice. Most beginners will never need dedicated or VPS services, but it’s still good to understand how they work.

 

Shared hosting

Shared hosting means that you share a server with other customers. One server is split up into a bunch of virtual partitions, with each hosting account being assigned to a particular partition.

Shared hosting plans are cheap (starting at around a few dollars a month) and easy to use. Most shared hosting plans are very full-featured and allow you to host unlimited websites.

The biggest issue with shared hosting is the “shared” part. Since you’re splitting server resources with other customers, your site’s performance can vary due to activity of other sites on your server. If a site from a different account experiences a sudden spike in traffic, you might notice slower page loads for a short period of time.

Most hosting companies have countermeasures in place that prevent any one user from hogging all the resources, but it may still be an occasional issue.

Additionally, if your site begins receiving tens of thousands of visitors a day, then you may begin to run into some problems on a shared hosting plan. It’s usually easy to upgrade, so this isn’t something you should worry about.

For 90% of websites, shared hosting will be more than sufficient.

 

Dedicated hosting

With dedicated hosting, you are essentially leasing an entire server from the hosting company. Nobody else will be allowed to use your machine. Your website will load extremely quickly at all times, and unless you are receiving insane amounts of traffic, you’ll never have to worry about performance. You’ll also have the ability to make all sorts of tweaks to how the hardware runs, and you’ll be able to install custom software.
Dedicated servers are good for large companies, high-traffic websites, and complex web applications that need a lot of processing power.
Dedicating hosting is expensive, with most plans starting at around $140/month, and there’s a lot more you need to know about hosting when you’re in charge of your own server. There’s very little chance you’ll need dedicated hosting for your first site.

 

Virtual Private Server (VPS)

A virtual private server is sort of a halfway point between shared and dedicated hosting.

Virtual private servers are created by dividing a single server into a small number of “virtual machines”. These virtual machines behave like individual computers. They have their own memory, operating systems, etc. Even though they all run on a single physical machine, they’re don’t affect one another.

VPS servers are split among a very small number of customers. Shared hosting servers will usually have a much larger number of users on the same machine.
As with dedicated servers, VPS hosting is not necessary for the majority of new websites.

 

2 Things You Need in From your Website host; Performance, and Customer Service

Shopping for a web host can be overwhelming. The Internet is littered with hundreds of providers who all seem to be offering the same product at the same price.

The truth is that is that web hosting costs are about the same no matter where you look, so it’s most important to consider Performance and Customer Service when evaluating a hosting service.
There are lots of review sites for hosting companies, but many of these are just fronts for people trying to make affiliate sales.

We think the best and most honest advice comes from forums, so we highly recommend you spend some time browsing sites like DigitalPoint or WarriorForum where you’ll find mostly unbiased opinions on hosting providers.

 

Host your WordPress Site on GreenGeeks

WordPress is an extremely popular content management system. A content management system (CMS) is a framework that makes it easy for webmasters to add, edit, and remove website content.

WordPress is used by tens of millions of websites. It’s free, easy to use, and highly customizable. While WordPress was originally designed as a blogging platform, it’s so powerful and flexible that countless non-blog sites use it as well.

If you want to learn more about how to build a WordPress website on your new hosting package, I suggest checking out Digitellus’ HOW TO SET UP A WORDPRESS WEBSITE, which contains detailed instructions on installing and configuring WordPress.

Launching and growing a small business is a difficult endeavor. 20% of small businesses fail in their first year, 50% fail within 5 years, 70% fail within 10 years. So what stands the profitable small businesses apart? How do they continue to outlast their competitors and increase their market share year-over-year?

This article will take a look at the strategies and systems behind successful small companies, and outline why they excel where others fail.

 

Know your Market

Research is critical to the success of many startups and small businesses. Without sufficient prior knowledge of their market niche, a business can be doomed to fail from the beginning.

The most successful entrepreneurs have often spent years in their specific industry before they decide to launch their business. Even with relatively small budgets, startups can put together thorough consumer research using methods such as questionnaires or focus groups.

The best way to start with testing a product or service is to identify the ideal customer. Once they have been identified, companies can begin to test their theories on how they’ll use and benefit from their product or service.

It is at this stage that many companies uncover critical errors that other small businesses missed by skipping their market research. Having a “build it and they will come” approach rarely works in today’s business climate.

 

Have Clear Goals

No business can ever succeed if there aren’t clear and attainable targets set in place. Also, it is not sufficient for just the owners or managers of the business to keep these goals to themselves.

The most successful small businesses make the company’s overall mission and the underlying goals attached to that mission clear for all employees. This allows colleagues at all levels to both buy in to the company principles and provides direction on all employee tasks.

The company’s objectives should be time-bound to give a sense of urgency, and milestones should be celebrated to recognize their achievement. However, once the celebrations are over, the company’s employees should quickly refocus on the next target and use that for motivation.

 

Measure Your Results

Good work is measured work. Without objective data, it is impossible to tell how well a product or service is performing.

It is important for small businesses to be scientific in their approach, establishing a baseline and then adding variables one at a time while measuring their impact. The variables that perform above expectations and have a positive impact can then be drafted into the overall product or service offering, and those that perform poorly can be discarded before any significant investment into their development has been made.

It is often the case that leaders within a business have an idea that they think will transform their performance or sales. They launch this idea with great fanfare, and it quickly becomes a flop because there was no testing or measurement of data beforehand. The greatest asset of measurement is that it is objective, as the famous phrase goes “the numbers never lie”.

 

Focus Your Actions

A small business is unlikely to have unlimited resources, and therefore, as much of the finite budget as possible should be spent on profit-generating activities.

The Pareto Principle tends to hold true for most businesses. The principle states that 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. What does that mean in a business context? It means 20% of a company’s work will generate 80% of its revenues and therefore profits.

The key is to work out which 20% is generating the 80% as quickly as possible, and then invest heavily into increasing resources in this area. This is a continual process and a review every year should indicate if that 20% has shifted somewhat from where it was at the beginning of the year.

 

Provide Your Clients Consistent Quality

Of those 70% of businesses that fail within 10 years, inconsistency will have accounted for a large portion of those failures. Customers or clients cannot rely on a company that does not have a reliable output.

Whether that’s ensuring your product consistently meets of all the necessary quality requirements to be a success, or making sure the service a company provides is always at the same or increasingly improving levels; if an end-user is continually let down, they will fail to return. Putting robust systems and processes in place ensures that every time a product or service is delivered, it is consistently of the same quality as its predecessor.

No business has ever succeeded without returning customers in one form or another and word of mouth marketing can make or break a business. 54% of customers share their bad experiences with more than five people compared to just 33% of customers sharing a good experience with more than 5 people. That statistic alone emphasizes the importance of delivery quality on a consistent basis.

 

Continuously Innovate

No company has ever become successful by standing still. Selling the same product or service over and over again without ever improving, developing, or pivoting the offering is akin to signing an early death certificate for a small business.

Despite being a large company, the recent transformation of Apple demonstrates this point perfectly. After the break out success of the iPod in the early to mid-2000s, Steve Jobs decided to launch the iPhone, despite the fact it performed many of the same functions as the iPod (in actual fact, a lot more).

Just over a decade later, the iPod is defunct, the iPhone accounts for over 50% of total sales and it has transformed Apple into a trillion-dollar company.

This example is even more stark when you take into account the inventor of the mobile phone Motorola now doesn’t exist and the first mass-market mobile phone manufacturer Nokia is all but extinct. Why? Because they didn’t innovate fast enough and quickly got left behind, thinking their success would last much longer than it ever did.

 

Conclusion

Launching and subsequently running a small business is tough. Many market segments are cut-throat environments that reward innovation and punish inconsistency and ignorance. Many companies enlist outside professional help to achieve their goals and help maintain their competitive advantage.

Small business consulting is one such way to achieve these results. DigiTellus offers a wide range of services and are experts at helping companies develop technology systems and business processes to ensure a quality product or service is delivered consistently.

Seo for Websites – Art and Science

Getting online is easier than ever. There are now over 200 million websites which are active. The competition has reached a very high level and SEO for websites or search engine optimization is more important than ever as it improves your search engine rankings and guides you to improve the quality of your website making it user friendly, faster and easier to navigate. Learning how to apply SEO for websites takes some study, planning and execution.

The best time to start thinking about SEO for your website is right at the start. You can get your website SEO started on the right foundation in the beginning and save yourself from trouble later. Here are a few steps you should take to get your new website’s SEO plan into place.

 

Choose your domain name carefully

Domain names are one of the major ranking factors search engines look at to figure out what a page is all about. If its possible to choose a domain name that is easy to remember, relevant and incorporates the main keyword you want to rank for that’s the way to go. For example, if your business is making and selling pizza and the domain name www.bestpizza.com is available, that’s probably a better choice than www.ThePitStop.com. Although there has been a large amount of information published, by Google themselves, that the use of key phrases in the URL is not important. Our testing has shown that key phrases used in the URL and properly throughout the site produces stronger ranking more quickly. If you already have a business name established then that is what you should use for your URL as not to cause confusion for your customers. Just realize this will be a little tougher to get ranked.

There are various tools that can help you brainstorm ideas for your domain name based on what’s available. NameMesh.com is one that works well

 

Select a reputable and trustworthy web hosting provider

Google has been very upfront about site speed being an important ranking factor when it comes to SEO for websites. Visitors are impatient and website pages need to load quickly. Google judges how it will display websites int he search ranking based partly on how quickly they load. While you have a variety of strategies, you can make your website faster from day one by selecting a website hosting provider that is reputable and can deliver consistent speeds. For more in-depth information on choosing a website host visit our article on that topic.

 

Performing keyword research is an important step

Keyword research is an important step in good Seo for websites. Several SEO tools provide keyword suggestions and data on the amount of traffic and competition you can expect to receive for every keyword. While choosing your keywords for your business websites, be sure to be realistic. SEO is extremely competitive, and a new website is not in the position to compete for popular broad terms against well established sites with great content. That being said the keyword tools are making estimations and are not always exactly right. If you open a private browsing window in either Google Chrome (ctrl+shft+N) or in FireFox (ctrl+shft+P) and start typing your search term, the auto complete will indicate what other search phrases are most often used.

Target primary keywords for each page

Building a key phrase matrix and planning content pages to specifically target key phrases is a must to your long term Website SEO plan. Your initial keyword research can help you gain an overall picture of the language to use when building a website. However, it’s also a good practice to choose a target keyword for each individual web page on your site. Then by linking these together in a planned matrix you are helping search engines to see what content you consider to be most important on your site as well a creating a content path that leads visitors easily to related content the may also be interested in.

 

Use a design which is mobile friendly

Many of the SEO algorithm updates Google has announced in recent years have been about mobile and mobile site visitor traffic. More and more people are using their phones to do most of the browsing, users and search engines expect websites to provide an intuitive mobile experience. Your website needs to look and function just as well on a mobile phone as it does on a desktop or laptop. This is done by building a dynamic website that adjusts to be optimal based on the device it is being viewed on. A winning strategy for website SEO must include a good mobile design.

 

Optimize Page URLs and Title Tags

Customize the URL of each page on your website. To the best of your ability, create a structure of your URLs that provide the visitor information on their positioning in the site. Using a page URL like MyWebsite/post123/ is not as informative as a URL like MyWebsite/KeyWord-Research/.
The title is the part of the web page search engines see first, it should tell  them about the web page and makes it another good spot to use your target keywords. No need to stuff keywords here. Using your primary keywords once should do the job SEO for websites is as much an art as it is a science.

Optimize the Images and Headings

Customize the name of each image to include the keyword you’re targeting and update the alt text on the page with your keyword as well.
Headings are an excellent tool to better organize your copy so that it’s easy for you to read and scan-able for your visitors. Your headings are a signal to search engines to tell them what the page is about and that the phrases used in the heading is important. Include your target keywords in the headings, but only where it makes intuitive sense to do so. Don’t force the keywords so that they sound strange to the reader.

 

Optimize text on the page

Search engines notice keyword stuffing and you can be penalized for it. Use your target words in context where they make the most sense and don’t over use them. It’s best to incorporate them into the text naturally on the page.

 

Write Unique meta descriptions

Meta descriptions don’t directly influence rankings. However, they play a role in your click through rates from the search results. Write a relevant meta description for each page on your website. Incorporate your keywords for the page naturally in the description. Use the space to provide a brief description about what’s valuable in the page you want readers to be interested and compelled to click through to your page.

Link to other pages on your website

Internal linking gives a way to signal to search engines what your page is about through the anchor text you use. Internal links also give you a way to show the search engines how your different pages are connected and drive internet traffic from one page on the website to the other. If want your visitors to stick around and spend time on your website, providing helpful internal links is a good way to make that happen.

Submit your Site map to Search Engines

Before your web pages can show up on the results page of the search engine, the search engine has to crawl your website and index the pages. You can speed things up by submitting your site map through the search engine. laying out a site map of all your pages helps the search engine to quickly find them.

 

Create an SEO plan for the future

SEO is a long-term on-going process. To show up in the search engines when people are looking for the information for your e- commerce website, you have to put some real effort and efficient work into providing consistent value on your website and building credibility for your domain. If you do this correctly it can drive your site up drastically in the searches and that means more visitors to your website.
Start on your plan for long term SEO. It is important that you decide to make it your first priority and take the long view on making progress. The sooner you start with this step, the better off you’ll be.

If you need help we are always here for you. Try our free website audit or contact us to help you build a website that gets results.

DigiTellus.com

Website Design and Digital Marketing Experts.

 

Before you venture into a business, one of the most critical things you have to consider is writing a good business plan. Many businesses cannot see the importance of a greatly crafted business plan and fail to enjoy the benefits it offers.

Having a winning business plan will help your business define its direction and strategies. More so, it helps your business get the funding it needs. Here are the steps you can follow in crafting the ideal business plan:

 

Do Your Research

In whatever endeavor, it is always best to face the situation armed. And in the matter of businesses, the armor that can assist you to garner success is thorough research. If you want to have the best business plan, do your research.

It is your foremost duty to research as much information as you can to know what you are heading into. Learn more about your company, the product you are selling, the market you are entering, your customers, and the competition you have.

 

Define the Objective of Your Plan

By definition, a business plan is a document written to describe the business’s nature, marketing and sales strategy, and its financial background. It also includes the statement of forecasted income and loss. This may be how you define the meaning of a business plan, but its purposes can be in various forms.

It is important to define the objective of a business because it acts like a map that you will follow to lead you to the goal and the future of the business. The purpose that your business has is critical because this is where investors will depend for information whether or not they want to be a part of your business.

You have to write a clear, concise, and straightforward written objective plan of business to help you attract the investors you want.

 

Craft a Profile of the Company

People need to know more about you. If you want consumers and investors to consider you, you need to have a company profile , which you must include in your company history. It can also be added as an About Page.

The company profile is to be made available on the official website of the company. It is there to attract customers, investors, and talents. It must include the company’s history, products and services you offer, resources you have, your target market and audience, what makes your business different, and how you plan to solve hindrances in the business.

 

Have a Record of All Business Aspects

Every investor wants to know where their money is going. Keep a record of everything about your business. From expenses to cash flow, and future endeavors; document it all. Even the minor details should make it to these records to keep everything transparent.

 

Define a Strategic Marketing Plan

A strategic marketing plan is essential for a great business plan. You need to define your goal and the processes you will perform you achieve them. You have to include costings and budgets to guarantee everything is taken care of.

 

Make the Plan Relatable to Audience

Your business plan will target different people. Your audience can range from consumers to bankers, and investors. Make sure that the plan you have will cater and be relatable depending on the person who will be reading it. In that way, you can be sure that you are properly targeting the people you want in your business.

 

Justify Why You Care

Your business is there for a reason. Whatever driving force you have in opening up your business, explain it. Justify the reasons you have the plan and business. Tell the audience why you care for your business to develop an emotional connection that will cement their support for your business now and in the future.

Having a business plan is critical for the success of a business. It is present to attract consumers, investors, suppliers, and many others. It has goals and objectives. It ultimately aims to obtain more resources, assets,and profit.

At the end of the day, the reason behind crafting a great business plan is not only for these above-mentioned reasons. A business plan is written to prove to people that your business is worthy, sensible, and profitable.

If you want a business plan that makes sense and will uplift your business to the next level; don’t forget to check out DigiTellUs.

The online world on a rise. If you think there aren’t too many people going online yet, you are wrong. As days pass by, the number of people who go only increases. It wouldn’t be right to let all this magnificent number go. Digital marketing is one way to take advantage of these numbers.

 

What is Digital Marketing?

DIgital marketing is the use of digital channels to deliver any form of advertising. The first digital marketing strategy did not include the Internet. It may seem as a surprise as the term “digital marketing” was first popularized in the early 2000s.

The first digital marketing was performed in 1896 by Guglielmo Marconi through a public transmission of wireless signals. 10 years later, people are using the radio to sell products and services giving life to digital marketing.

Digital marketing is any means of marketing products and services using electronic devices. Digital marketing is not just limited to the Google ads and content marketing we know now. Digital marketing has been around for decades just like electronics.

Today, the channels used in digital marketing includes social media, email, mobile applications, websites, search engines, web applications, and any fresh and new digital channel. Digital marketing is both used online and offline.

 

Why Choose Digital Marketing?

Traditional marketing is still present and other businesses are utilizing it to market their products and services. But with the rise of the Internet, going digital is the best way to go. If you want to capitalize on what’s in and employ many options and strategies, digital marketing is the most ideal.

Using digital marketing allows you to get creative and experiment. You can go with a budget and use that for different marketing techniques. When you go with digital marketing, it will not limit you to just billboards and print ads. Digital marketing is more transparent as it allows you to measure, monitor, and target your marketing efforts to be successful and achieve ROI.

With digital marketing, you can capitalize on the Internet giants like Google and Facebook. With the many people accessing these two platforms, you can easily win back your revenue compared to the old and traditional method of marketing.

The modern people each have a mobile phone and stay connected on the Internet. The majority are even looking on the Internet for searching and even buying their products and services. The Internet is a pool of endless information with many eyeballs looking at it. Grasping that opportunity makes digital marketing a winner.

 

In Summary

Digital marketing is a winner in marketing. With more and more people glued on their mobile phones, the ideal way to connect and influence consumers is by teaching them on their gadgets. The Internet has so much to offer and digital marketing utilizes every inch of this.

Mastering the art of online marketing via digital marketing will guarantee opportunities and success for your business. And that’s not the end of it. You can also employ your digital marketing efforts offline so even those who do not have access to the Internet can still know, learn, and buy from you.

Digital marketing is complex and effective. Working with digital marketing online and offline makes sure that all your marketing tactics won’t go to waste. Both online and offline digital marketing should work together and always keep your customers the priority in delivering the best digital experiences to guarantee efficiency, great results, and success.

Take your business to the next level. The future is in digital marketing. Give your business the best fighting chance for success it deserves. For more amazing information about digital marketing, please visit DigiTellUs.