Posts Tagged "blogs"
Website Extras You Might Need
Do you want to offer your visitors more than just a standard website? When choosing website extras, you need balance. You don’t want your visitors to find your website lacking. On the other hand, you don’t want to pay for features which will just sit around unused, costing you money without generating any traffic or revenues.
In this article, we’ll take a quick look at some of the most popular extra features you can add to your web space—and see which ones will benefit your site the most.
Blogs
Blogs are one of the most popular extras available for your web space, and with good reason. There are many different types of sites which can benefit from a blog, including some which might surprise you.
A great example would be a restaurant website. Sure, you can create an absolutely gorgeous site, showing off your menus and featuring a dramatic slideshow of your dining room and outdoor patio area. However, visitors will be very intrigued by a blog written by the owner of the restaurant, detailing day-to-day operations in way that’s fun to read. The idea is to draw customers into your world, which will make them feel connected and entice them to come and taste this wonderful food they’ve been reading about.
If you feel that a blog might help your website, we encourage you to give it a try. This add-on is inexpensive and can really help boost sales and loyalty. A web host that offers Fantastico is a great choice for beginners. This helpful tool makes adding blogs a snap—often it can be done with a single click.
Flashing Graphics
Overall, flashing graphics look amateurish and make people think of a high school student’s social network page. Most small businesses should stick with tasteful, suitable graphics that don’t move or flash. Not only will a flashing or moving graphic cost you money that it will not recoup, but it might actually drive customers away from your web space.
Forums
Forums or message boards let your website visitors interact with each other. This can be a big boost in terms of keeping people on your site longer, and in making them feel connected to the site. However, not every site will draw customers who enjoy forum discussions.
Only you can decide this, since you know your business best. Sites which deal with social issues are ideal for forums. Ecommerce sites, in general, are not. A few customers may want to leave feedback, but there are many less-expensive ways for them to do that.
Unless you want to immediately spark ongoing conversations among your visitors, hold off on a forum until you’re certain that it will benefit your web space.
The Bottom Line
Research each extra feature carefully before you commit money to it. You can always grow your web space later, but in the beginning, it’s best to keep overhead costs low. Click here to see affordable and recommended web hosts that allow you to install blogs and forums for free.
Read MoreAdding a Blog to Your Website
Blogs are everywhere these days, and for good reason. A blog can be beneficial to your web space. Here, we’ll give you a primer on blogs and what they can do for you.
What Is a Blog?
Blogs allow you to post about whatever you like, whenever you like, and share it with your visitors. While you may be thinking that nobody would want to read your blog, you’re wrong. Connecting with your visitors is a powerful way to get them to return. A blog can be great whether your website is personal or for business.
- If you run a restaurant, talk about the freshest dishes on the menu for a particular day.
- Selling T-shirts? Write a funny story about how you wore your own creation out to lunch and somebody recognized it.
- If you run a site about social issues, blog about how you started a recycling campaign at your day job and got the entire office going green.
You get the idea—anything goes. Even posts that are only slightly related can be successful, as long as they’re fun to read. People love to be entertained, so entertain them in your web space to keep them there longer.
Would Your Website Benefit?
In reality, there are many sites which could benefit from a blog. Your audience is a big indicator of whether or not a blog will be good for your web space. The more tech-savvy your target market, the more likely they are to enjoy reading a blog. Target markets which aren’t all that up-to-date on things may not even know what a blog is, and your efforts will be for naught. Are you enticing customers to your hip new Tex-Asian fusion cafe? Blog away! If you’re selling home safety products to seniors, a blog might be a waste of time.
Also remember that your website will only benefit from a blog if you can devote the time and energy to setting it up and maintaining it properly. This includes posting regularly—we recommend at least once a week—and following SEO guidelines. If this is too much for you right now, don’t force it—-wait a while, research by reading successful blogs, and add one when the time is right.
Blogging Platforms and Web Space Hosts
Self-hosted blogging platforms are the best choice, since they give you the most control. WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal are among the most popular, and with good reason. They’re easy to integrate into your web space, offer great features for optimization and, most importantly, are extremely easy for a beginner to set up and use.
When selecting your web host, look for a featured called Fantastico, which allows you to install blogs—as well as other software, such as ecommerce systems and message boards—in a few clicks.
One of the best web hosts for blogs is Just Host. They include Fantastico and support a variety of blogging platforms.
Conclusion
If you can dedicate the time to creating and maintaining an up-to-date and quality blog, go for it. Take the time to research your options, set it up carefully and above all, make those posts interesting! This will draw visitors to your web space and keep them there, generating traffic and revenue.
Image by Harold Groven.
Read MoreFantastico Web Hosting
Do you want to install a blog, forum, or photo gallery on your website? Here’s a secret: you don’t need to hire a web developer to do it! Thanks to Fantastico web hosting, you can easily deploy web applications yourself with just a few clicks.
Fantastico is a powerful, easy-to-use piece of software that lets you install popular web applications on your website. It often comes bundled with web hosting plans. With Fantastico web hosting, you can easily install any of the following applications:
- Blogs. A blog is a regularly-updated website, much like a journal or a magazine. Blogs can be used in a variety of ways, ranging from personal diaries to newspapers to company newsletters. With Fantastico web hosting, you can not only set up a blog on your website; you can also add search functionality, customize the design, and arrange the layout in a few clicks. Two popular examples of blog applications are WordPress and b2evolution.
- Forums. These are discussion boards where people can interact online. With Fantastico web hosting, it’s easy to set up a forum without the need to program it from the scratch. Fantastico also lets you customize the forum design to match your main website. phpBB and SMF are examples of forum applications.
- Customer service systems. Fantastico lets you set up help features, FAQ pages, and chat scripts so you can support your customers. A lot of companies use osTicket and Help Center Live, for example.
- E-commerce systems. If you’re used to buying things online, you’ve probably seen this kind of system already. With Fantastico, you can install shopping carts and e-commerce applications instantly. You can also select the design and features to suit your business needs. osCommerce and Zencart are popular examples.
- Photo galleries. More and more people use photo galleries to exhibit their creative work or share personal pictures. You have more control and reliability when you do this on your own website instead of uploading to third-party image hosting sites. Fantastico web hosting lets you install powerful web-based image gallery systems. You can even include commenting functionality, user registrations, and browser-based uploads. Among the many applications you can use are 4images and Gallery.
In summary, Fantastico web hosting is ideal for any website owner or administrator. It’s great for beginners, as it lets you build and manage your website in a few easy steps. No extra fees. No database setup. No programming. You can choose from more than 50 applications to install.
Note that there are many web hosts that provide Fantastico web hosting. When choosing your web host, you should of course make sure they bundle Fantastico with their plans. But in addition to that, make sure they have adequate disk space and bandwidth, good customer support, and reliable service. Check out some recommended providers of Fantastico web hosting.
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