If you’re a webmaster who’s devoted hours upon hours to building up your site and its presence in the natural search results, there’s almost nothing scarier than the thought of logging into your Google Analytics account and seeing the massive drop in traffic that indicates a search engine penalty. It doesn’t matter if you’re facing manual action by Google or if your site simply fails to meet the quality threshold imposed by an unexpected algorithm update.  What does matter is the potential loss of traffic and revenue your site faces if you don’t take the necessary steps to determine whether or not your website is at risk. To minimize your site’s chances of being struck with a search engine penalty, pay attention to the following three factors: ? Factor #1 – Is your content written for humans or computers? In the “good ol’ days” of SEO, the search engines relied more heavily on the number of keyword repetitions present in a piece of content than on its quality when it came to determining which site to place at the top of the search results. As you might expect, website owners and early SEO strategists figured this out pretty quickly – resulting in websites that were cluttered ...

There’s no arguing with the fact that the number and quality of the backlinks pointing at your website play a role in your site’s performance in the natural search results.  But unfortunately, since the recent Google Panda and Penguin algorithm updates, building effective backlinks isn’t as simple as using an automated tool to crank out spam links from bogus websites. Instead, the name of the game in 2013 is “natural” links.  For a few ideas on how to create these highly-desirable site-to-site connections, consider implementing any of the following techniques as a part of your website’s SEO plan: ? Technique #1 – Publish and distribute good “link bait” content The phrase “link bait” refers to articles, videos, infographics and other types of content that use intentionally provocative titles and subjects in order to attract both attention and backlinks.  As an example, a blog in the personal finance industry could publish a post titled “101 Ways to Save Money” – a topic that’s bound to generate excitement amongst its audience members. A few typical link bait formulas you can follow include: List posts, as in the example above Interviews with industry experts Content that takes a controversial stand on a popular topic Resource roundup articles Breaking news pieces that cover an ...

We recently chronicled Snappy’s trip to the Houston Zoo on Instagram.  However we’re going to re-cap here as well as share some additional pictures of Snappy that didn’t make it onto Instagram; think of this as the bonus footage of Snappy’s trip to the Houston Zoo.  You can also revisit Snappy’s trip to the Houston Zoo on Pinterest! First and foremost, what would a trip to the zoo be without seeing the famous pink flamingos? After Snappy communed with the flamingos, he found this other unique bird that apparently has its kneecaps on backwards: Snappy does like to take a moment to enjoy the scenery form time to time.  The Houston Zoo has tons of beautiful rest areas throughout its grounds. One of the Zoo’s newest exhibits is the African forest.  This exhibit contains giraffes, rhinos and numerous other animals, but Snappy couldn’t pass up the photo op with this mask, near the entrance of the exhibit: What can we say about this next pic?  If you followed this adventure on Instagram, you saw another picture of Snappy up in a different tree… for a gator, Snappy sure likes to climb! The only appropriate way to conclude Snappy’s trip to the Houston Zoo is with a ...

The Internet never sleeps.  Is it possible to even fathom the idea of any given moment without someone in the world being connected to the Internet for one reason or another?  It wasn’t that long ago that the Internet wasn’t even a thing, but anymore it’s something that we can’t do without.  Let’s take a look at “A Day in the Life of the Internet”: A Day in The Life of The Internet via HostGator

In many ways, choosing a domain name for your new website is the hardest part of the site creation process.  Given how difficult it can be to transfer websites to new URLs – and given the potential SEO losses that could occur by doing so – it’s vital that you get things right from the start. But staring down endless lists of available and already-registered domains doesn’t make the process seem any easier.  If you’re struggling to choose the right domain for your new website, consider the following tips: ? Tip #1 – Look for “.com” When it comes to domain names, you have the option to register everything from a standard “.com” URL to a country-specific extension like “.tv” (Tuvalu) or “.ly” (Libya). That said, registering a “.com” is the best choice for nearly all businesses, for two specific reasons: “.com” domains have better name recognition.  If you want readers to be able to enter your URL directly into their browsers, they’re far more likely to remember your address if it ends in “.com.” There’s a small SEO benefit to registering a “.com” domain, as the search engines tend to view these web URLs as belonging to stable, legitimate businesses. Unless you have a truly compelling reason ...

WordPress has been under fire lately, though it is important to note that although WordPress has been the target that there is truly nothing the platform has done to cause these recent circumstances to occur.  You may have heard about the recent distributed brute force attack, which is presently on-going still and targets the “admin” user name. A subsequent, and slightly lower-level attack has since been launched against popular WordPress plugins, like WPSuperCache and W3TotalCache.  While we did identify this circumstance very early on and take pre-emptive measure to effective mitigate this attack on our server farm, it simply reiterates a point we often try to make: please make sure your scripts and plugins are always up-to-date. Metaphorically speaking, having out of date scripts or plugins installed is akin to having a very nice house, with a very nice door with a very nice deadbolt on it that you simply choose to not engage, effectively leaving your door wide open to anyone what wants to walk in and do as they see fit with your property. As a web host, we provide the house, the door and the lock.  We also hand you the key to the lock on the door, but we ...

If you’ve ever conducted a Google search and seen results that appear with the author’s picture and byline attached (as shown below), you’ve seen the results of Google authorship: Essentially, this feature – which launched at the end of 2011 – allows writers to “claim” their content with Google through the use of their Google+ profiles.  The results of these marked-up search results listings are higher click-through rates, greater perceived authority and increased website traffic – making it highly advantageous for website authors to set up authorship correctly. Because the guidelines for doing so have changed over the past few years, the following steps will give you the most up-to-date process for setting up Google authorship on your own site: ? Step #1 – Set up your Google+ profile The first thing you’ll need to do to take advantage of Google’s authorship features is to create a personal Google+ profile. If you don’t already have a Google Account, start by navigating to https://accounts.google.com/SignUp to complete your registration.  If you have an existing Account, head to https://plus.google.com and log in with your Google credentials. Once inside, you’ll see a number of different options for creating your personal profile and adding your friends and contacts to your Google Circles. ...

1984 is a classic novel written by George Orwell.  Published in 1949, the story centers around a dystopian society and its all-seeing “Big Brother.”  Essentially it is a cautionary tale about a totalitarian government that closely monitored each and every action of its citizens. The actual year of 1984 has now come and gone, but with today’s technological advances and the nature of the Internet, in general, is it possible that we are approaching a Big Brother-type of monitoring of our on-line actions? We cannot answer this question, but we can provide you with the following infographic that outlines the nature of privacy and the Internet in 2013: ? 1984 in 2013: Privacy and The Internet via HostGator

I consider myself to be a very active participant of social media, and agree that it offers a lot of interesting opportunities. However, I think it’s important for us to avoid getting so caught up in the social media whirlwind that we forget about good old fashioned SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Think about it this way: When you go to your financial advisor, he would never recommend that you put your entire net worth into a single stock. Well, any good Internet marketing consultant will tell you the same thing about your online marketing strategy. The most effective strategies are those that are well diversified between social media, natural search and paid search. In today’s post, we’re going to focus exclusively on the natural search piece of the puzzle. Since paid search and Google+ Local would require their own dedicated posts, hopefully HostGator will invite me back in the future to discuss those topics. Having spent a little over a decade as a search marketing professional, I can tell you with absolute authority and conviction that a well-targeted SEO campaign will result in highly targeted traffic and conversions, which in turn will add to the bottom line of your business. To help you get ...

? There’s no fighting the fact that mobile internet usage is a trend that’s here to stay.  As such, offering your website’s information in a format that’s easily digestible by mobile consumers is no longer a luxury – it’s a “must have” for any company that’s serious about courting the growing number of smartphone and tablet users who rely on their mobile devices for internet access. With this in mind, the following are a few specific mobile web usage trends your business needs to be aware of, as well as the recommended actions you’ll want to take in order to maximize your own company’s mobile presence: ? TREND: “Mobile to overtake fixed Internet access by 2014” (Smart Insights Marketing) If you’ve ever set foot into a coffee shop or restaurant and seen more than half the establishment’s patrons bent over their smartphones, it isn’t difficult to imagine mobile internet usage overtaking desktop access in the near future. However, as a website owner, this statistic shouldn’t just surprise you – it should spur you to action.  If 50% or more of all internet activity is occurring on digital devices, then your website needs to be accessible to these users.  Mobile marketing research suggests that website without mobile-optimized ...

We at HostGator have always vehemently opposed any piece of legislation that contradicts the idea of a free and open Internet.  If you haven’t read our prior blog posts about CISPA and it’s earlier incarnation SOPA, then please do so now in order to bring yourself up to speed: CISPA Must Die! SOPA Must Die! The problem with legislation such as these is not what it appears to do on the front end, rather it’s the back end implications that make it frightening.  Cyber security is serious business, and it is a realm that could use some tightening up.  However, this tightening up cannot come at the expense of your privacy due to a circumvention of existing privacy laws. Why are we mentioning CISPA now?  Well, it has reared its head once again and is being voted on by the House of Representatives today.  It seems this piece of legislation refuses to die.  Unfortunately, the longer something like this sticks around, the less attention the media at large will pay attention to it. Truth be told, we’ve outlined in great detail what is wrong with this piece of legislation in our previous blog posts.  We don’t want to be redundant, but we didn’t want to ...

Social media marketing can be a great tool for promoting your brand and engaging directly with customers and potential buyers.  But at the end of the day, you should be getting more from your marketing efforts than simply being a part of “the conversation.”  If you want your actions on popular social platforms to translate into increased sales and profits, you need to learn how to measure the ROI of your social media campaigns. So, without further ado, here’s a simple process that any business can implement, using the free Google Analytics program: ? Step #1 – Set your social media campaign goals The first step to measuring ROI in any situation is to determine the specific goals you’ll be tracking.  In this case, let’s assume that your goal is to use social media marketing to drive additional buyers to your website.  As a result, a sample goal might be to have 5% of the visitors your business receives from social media sites convert into paid product purchasers. Now that you know what goal you’re measuring – in this case, sales – you’ll need to set up goal tracking within Google Analytics. Begin by logging into the admin area of your account and clicking on the ...

It has been quite a while since our last official Newsletter.  The truth is that although we’ve been incredibly busy, and constantly growing, there hasn’t been much news to share; its just been nose to the grindstone around the offices. Having said that, we wanted to take a moment to share with you some account security tips, news about our ever-growing social media presence, and first-up the fact that we’re now hiring! ? HostGator is Hiring! The truth is that HostGator virtually never stops hiring.  We are a constantly-growing company in an ever-expanding industry; we are always on the look out for qualified individuals to join us in our myriad of available positions.  From front-line Technical Support, to System Administrators, Billing Administrators, Account Managers, and Verifications Agents… entry-level through industry veterans, we are now hiring for all positions!  To apply, please visit http://hostgator.com/jobs or email us, jobs@hostgator.com. HostGator also has an employee referral program that is open to anyone and everyone; we will pay you up to $2,500 to refer qualified candidates to us for employment!  Full information about the employee referral program is available at http://www.hostgator.com/employee-referral ? Account Security: Did you know that one of the most common causes for a hosting account to become hacked, or ...

As I type these words, there is an on-going and highly-distributed, global attack on WordPress installations across virtually every web host in existence.  This attack is well organized and again very, very distributed; we have seen over 90,000 IP addresses involved in this attack. At this moment, we highly recommend you log into any WordPress installation you have and change the password to something that meets the security requirements specified on the WordPress website.  These requirements are fairly typical of a secure password: upper and lowercase letters, at least eight characters long, and including “special” characters (^%$#&@*). You have now changed your WordPress password, correct?  Good. The main force of this attack began last week, then slightly died off, before picking back up again yesterday morning.  No one knows when it will end.  The symptoms of this attack are a very slow backend on your WordPress site, or an inability to log in.  In some instances your site could even intermittently go down for short periods. We are taking several steps to mitigate this attack throughout our server farm, but in the same breath it is true that in cases like this there is only so much that can actually be done.  The servers ...

Sure, your website may be beautiful, but is it doing its job when it comes to converting first time visitors into lifelong readers?  If you aren’t sure whether or not your website is performing as well as it could, measure it against all of the following usability metrics: ? Step #1 – Accessibility As you might expect, a great place to start your website usability testing is to determine whether or not visitors are able to access your site in the first place!  Ask yourself the following questions to minimize any such issues: Does your website display correctly in multiple browsers? What looks good in Chrome might not work in IE – and what looks good on your desktop might render horribly in a mobile environment.  Check your website in multiple browsers at once using cross-browser compatibility testing tools like BrowserShots. Are your load times reasonable? Slow load times frustrate both users and the search engines alike.  Make sure your site speed is up-to-par (or get recommendations on how to improve load times if necessary) by using Google’s free PageSpeed Insights tool. Can the search engines index your content? Plenty of different website elements can interfere with search engine indexing, which can prevent your site from receiving all of ...

? Do your website visitors land on your pages and click away without ever engaging with your brand?  Stop losing money to unresponsive visitors – encourage user activity on your site by implementing the following strategies: ? Idea #1 – Encourage visitors to subscribe to your mailing list Adding a mailing list to your website allows you to reach out to customers and offer incentives to get them to return to your site in the future.  Use a reputable email list management service like MailChimp or Aweber to store your addresses and consider offering some type of incentive (like a free product or coupon code) to encourage sign-ups. ? Idea #2 – Add product review features to listing pages Customers love to share their feedback, so make it easy for them to do so by adding product review features to your website’s pages.  Review modules can be custom-coded to your site or they can be easily installed using scripted programs like Citricle or Re-Vu. ? Idea #3 – Install social sharing tools on your blog Make it simple for website visitors to engage further with your site’s content by embedding social sharing tools like AddThis or ShareThis into your site’s blog posts and pages.  Prompting users to share their favorite ...

You’ve seen in prior posts how unattended desks at the HostGator offices can become innocent victims to roaming gangs of hooligans armed with pads of post-it notes and bent upon the defacement of perfectly clean work areas.  Well, it’s happened once again.  And I’m taking it personally, mostly because it was my desk this time. It all began when I was summoned out of town for a week, on official HostGator business.  I received cryptic text messages throughout the week about a “surprise” that I would receive upon my return.  Multiple people from multiple departments, acting so innocent and saying how jealous they were about my surprise, and how great of a surprise it was.  Little did I know. No reason to beat around the bush, we might as well just tear the band-aid off in one swift motion.  So, here it is; this is what I found upon my return to the office, in all it’s glory: It hurts even just to look at, I know.  Since we’re already here, though, we might as well take this all in piece by piece.  Hopefully we can find clues as to the identity of the culprit, or culprits.  We must endeavor to put a ...

Too many webmasters approach website creation and management from a single perspective.  If something looks good, they assume that it’s as attractive and as profitable as it’s ever going to be. But savvy marketers know that this isn’t the case.  Truly effective website performance can only come from the measurement of set metrics and experimentation to determine which conditions and variables lead to the strongest website results.  By continually measuring and testing using the conversion rate optimization (CRO) process described below, you can boost on-site engagement and overall site profits significantly with just a few tweaks. ? Step #1 – Explore your site’s current performance Before you can begin any CRO campaign, you need to understand how your site is currently performing. Suppose you want to increase the number of sales that occur from a given sales page on your website.  You aren’t trying to boost traffic necessarily – just to increase the number of people who are already on your site who make the leap from reader to buyer. While you can run a simple calculation – dividing the number of sales you make over a set period by the number of visitors your page receives in the same time – you’ll find the process ...

If every year can be labeled according to the reigning digital marketing paradigm, 2013 will undoubtedly be the year of “content marketing.”  Articles on this promotional strategy are popping up all over the place online – but what is content marketing and how can it be used to encourage engagement and conversions on your website? Content marketing is simply a synonym for the idea of “inbound marketing.”  Instead of running an advertisement or actively prospecting for sales leads (two classic hallmarks of “outbound marketing”), content marketing relies on the dissemination of high-value marketing pieces and the resulting viral sharing that occurs. Basically, the idea behind content marketing is that, by publishing great content and distributing it socially, brand awareness, website traffic and on-site conversions will all increase naturally – without the ongoing, concerted effort needed to continually promote traditional marketing initiatives. If that all sounds good to you, here’s what you need to know about the process of running a successful content marketing campaign: ? Step #1 – Develop high-value content Unsurprisingly, the key component of any successful content marketing campaign is good content.  Cranking out a few “throwaway” blog posts because somebody told you that content marketing is a good way to promote a website ...

Fresh from a successful show at the SXSW Music festival in Austin, TX, BugGiRL rolled through Houston on their current tour and Snappy found himself on stage, and backstage, with the band! BugGiRL are Australian siblings Amber (vocals & guitar) and Clinno (drums) along with Austin’s own Heather Webb (bass), whom you may remember from a prior Adventures of Snappy post. Playing loud and fast rock n’ roll, BugGiRL are a tight and impressive live band.  Here’s Snappy rocking out on stage with them: BugGiRL have released two EP’s and two full-length albums (with a new record on the way!) not to mention appearances on multiple compilation albums.  A quick YouTube search will show you exactly what this band is all about; that good ol’ fashioned punk- and metal-tinged rock n’ roll! Here’s Snappy hanging out with the band after the show: BugGiRL virtually never stops touring; be sure to catch them live when they come to your town! If you have an event in the Houston or Austin area that you would like for Snappy to attend, please get in touch with us by emailing feedback@hostgator.com ATTN: Blog.