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The importance of localised SEO for restaurants

Modern office researching the importance of localised SEO for restaurants

You’ve perfected the interior design, you’ve tweaked the menu until you’re happy with it and your staff is ready to go. But how are you going to get the new customers you need for your restaurant to thrive? We’re going to look at how you can use Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) to help your restaurant’s website get noticed with people in your local area. Local SEO can increase your brand reputation, drive more customers to your restaurant, provide cost-effective marketing and increase customer engagement!

What is local SEO?

SEO is a way of applying elements to your website that makes it easier for search engines to index and rank it. This means that robots scan your website and decide what it is trying to do or sell. If it seems relevant or useful to people the robots will push your website up the search engine results so it gets noticed by more people. You can do this in multiple ways, using keyword implementation, optimising your web design, or using a good website builder with some SEO techniques built in. 

This is fine if you have a company that is global or national, but if you have a geographically specific company like a restaurant or a bar, then it doesn’t matter if your restaurant is the first result on Google in the Marshall Islands; that isn’t going to get you any more customers. Instead, you want to use local seo techniques to make sure people in your area are more likely to see your restaurant’s website.

Think about when you’re looking for a new restaurant in your area – what do you search for? If you’re anything like us, it will be something along the lines of “restaurants near me”. Let’s look at how you can make sure your restaurant is one of the first results they see.

Set up a Google My Business page

Google is the most used search engine and it is very adept at showing people what they are looking for close to where they are. This is due to the fact that many companies have a Google My Business page, which means they show up on Google Search and Google Maps as a certified business. 

When creating your Google My Business page, be aware that this is likely to be the first thing a potential customer will see of your restaurant. Choose high quality pictures – of your restaurant and your food – and add a description of what you offer. Make sure all the information you include is up to date, especially the address, opening hours and phone number. 

Use your social media pages

Social media is an important marketing tool for local businesses. You can use beautiful images to showcase your food and restaurant, publicize offers and discounts, and drive engagement with your potential customers. Make sure in each account you have your website address, physical address and phone number to make sure they can contact you. 

Publish your menu on your website

How many times have you visited a restaurant’s web page and there isn’t a menu to peruse? Don’t be that restaurant. Typically people search for the menu when they’ve decided on a specific restaurant, so if you can take them to your website immediately and show them a well-designed menu then you are likely to increase your conversion rate. 

Make sure your site is mobile friendly

The vast majority of people searching for restaurants will be using a mobile device when they are already out and about in a certain area. If your website isn’t optimised for mobile usage then people are likely to quickly lose patience and choose another option. In fact, Google ranks responsive websites higher, so make sure you choose a website builder like Go Sitebuilder that ensures that your website can be used across desktops, tablets and mobile devices. 

Get local citations

A local citation is anywhere on the internet where a website (that isn’t your own) mentions the name, address and phone number for your business. Google My Business is a great place to start, but consider branching out into other areas like Yelp and Trip Advisor, as well as more local options. Does your area have a local restaurant listing website, or is there an online local magazine that has a section on places to eat in the area? The more places your website and business information shows up on the internet, the better. 

Your restaurant is local, so make sure your SEO is as well! If you’re looking for a website builder to help you create a beautiful web design to show off your restaurant, why not try Go Sitebuilder? We know you’re busy, so we provide pre-made templates custom-made for industries such as restaurants so you can get back to what you do best.

Try our 14 day free trial today and see how a website can help you grow your business!

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How much programming knowledge do I need to create my own website?

Male working on laptop from his home and hanging out with his dog pet finding out how much programming knowledge is needed to create my own website

Whether you’re planning on expanding your business model by setting up an ecommerce site, want to create a digital portfolio for your work, or simply want to start blogging, you’ll need a website to do this. 

If you’ve decided to build your own website without the help of a website builder, you’ll either need to already have some experience in programming, or be prepared to expand your programming knowledge. Whilst building your own website from scratch does have some pros, you will also encounter some setbacks. We take a look at the different ways you can build your website, depending on how much programming knowledge you have.

Customising your web design 

If you’ve enlisted the help of a website builder, but want to create your own custom web design elements – like a specific photo gallery or navigation bar – then you’ll need to have some knowledge of HTML and CSS:

HTML is the standard markup language of building website pages:

  • It describes the structure of web pages 
  • HTML elements tell the browser how to display content 
  • HTML tags label pieces of content, such as ‘heading’ or ‘graph’ or ‘table’
  • It allows you to embed images, videos and other media

CSS focuses on your document’s style:

  • Page layouts, colours and fonts are all controlled with CSS

So, in other words, HTML provides the materials for the structure of your website, whilst CSS gives you all the tools to decorate it, making your web design look attractive and appealing. 

If you already have a basic backbone of your site but want some specific tools or functionalities not provided with a website builder, then you’ll need some knowledge of HTML and CSS, or have the time available to learn more about it. This means you can have the freedom to edit and add to your site, giving you a final web design which is unique to you. However, learning this programming jargon takes time for those who aren’t familiar with it, making understanding web design a lengthy and complicated process. 

You could enlist the help of a website designer if you need help with the visuals element of your web design. However, hiring a website designer to work on your site could set you back anything from £400 to just under a thousand pounds. 

So, whilst building your own web design is ideal if you have the time, or skill, needed for programming, if you’re new to building websites and don’t have much spare time on your hands then using a website builder with ready to go templates might be the better option.

Building the skeleton of your website 

Of course, before you can even think about your web design, you must have a functioning website which doesn’t have any glitches or errors. To build this yourself, not only do you need to have programming knowledge of HTML and CSS – you also need to understand Javascript. 

Javascript is a sort of scripting language that allows you to create content which can update, control multimedia, animate images and much more. If HTML is the foundational structure of your website, and CSS is the interior design element, Javascript is the blueprint you use to build your website with. 

Building your own website from scratch is great if you have an exact image in your head of the final product, and are willing to spend the time needed to create your site. However, beware of the hidden costs you might not have otherwise considered – you will need to become SSL certified to ensure the details of your site users are protected from possible interception from malicious third parties. 

You will also have to buy your own domain name so that people can find your website, as well as creating your own contact form so that people can use your website to get in touch with you. If you’re setting up an ecommerce site then you’ll need to use an ecommerce platform to sell your items through, and if you want to upload high quality photos onto your site you’ll need to hire a professional photographer. 

So, whilst building your website might seem like the cheaper option to begin with, once you add up all the extra expenses it can become a lot more costly. If you’ve built your site to boost your business online, spending countless hours trying to get your head around coding might not be the best way to improve your business model. By turning to a website builder for help, you can create the right website for you, without the hassle and expense of starting from scratch. 

Using a website builder 

If you don’t have the time or inclination to learn how to code, then a website builder is the ideal choice. With a website builder, the chances are you’ll be saving both time and money, enabling you to redirect your energy into more efficient ways to grow your business.

Go Sitebuilder offers ready to go web designs which are completely customisable, an ecommerce platform, a selection of domain names, an SSL certificate and more, all for an incredibly low price, making us one of the cheapest website builders in the UK for ecommerce sites.

Want to try it for yourself? Our 14-day free trial lets you test out all Go Sitebuilder has to offer – try it today to build your dream website, within a few clicks!

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How to build an online community

Happy milennials friends walking in old town city centre talking about how to build an online community

Creating an online community with your website can be a really useful way to engage with visitors and spread the word of your business. A virtual community makes customers feel more connected to your ethos and ideas, thus creating a more loyal and attentive customer base. 

Brands that create a strong online community are seen as trustworthy and worthy of promotion and conversation by their community. There is a sense of the company wanting to fulfill the individual needs of the customer, not just wanting a customer base for the revenue. 

There are many simple steps you can take to build an online community for your business and many of these start with your website. 

Choose Your Platform

There are a few different ways you can create an online community. Some businesses choose to mainly operate through social media, creating engagement through comments on posts or sharing their followers images. 

Other companies may use online forums for their business. An online forum is a specific site owned by the business (e.g. a website or blog section), where visitors interact in a similar way to social media. A key difference is that the owner of the site can oversee the content created and delete comments or start threads (online conversations) surrounding certain topics, making sure the focus stays on the company. There are two different types of online forum:

A Shared Interest Forum:  this is a site where people who have a shared interest can come together to discuss and share information. This can be really useful for businesses to find people who are interested in areas surrounding their business. By engaging in these platforms firms can market their business to potential customers. 

Information Forums:  these are forums which are specifically focused around a certain product or service. Usually the first post is surrounding this product or service and then others contribute their opinions or suggestions about the product. 

These forums can either be on a platform designed and made by your business (on your website) or on social media. There are benefits of both. Often social media can be better at reaching a wider variety of people initially, and then a link to your online forums can ensure you attract those who are more interested. When you set up your online forums ensure you have some way of taking members details or allowing them to ‘subscribe’ to your online community, even if this is simply a like to your page on Facebook.  

Foster Your Community

Creating an online community is pointless unless you are willing to continue to build and inform those in your community. To foster your virtual community you must consider the following questions:

  • Who is the main leader of this community? 
  • Who in your business will be responsible for posting and engaging?
  • What kind of content will you post? Examples may include:
    • Questions about a product you may start selling to see if there is interest
    • Gathering data on your community – age, location etc
    • Asking questions surrounding topics related to your business 
  • What platform will be your main forum?
  • How many members are you aiming for?
  • Will you run competitions with prizes/giveaways in your forum to attract more people?
  • How else will you interact with visitors to your forum? (e.g. blogs posts, videos etc.)

One of the biggest questions is how to engage a wide range of people. Some internet forums can be very exclusionary, however with studies showing that there are many social and individual benefits to belonging to online forums, reaching out to a broad audience is incredibly important. 

Establish Guidelines

As with many large communities the importance of guidelines cannot be understated. Without clear guidelines for your community there is opportunity for hateful comments or threads that are not related to your topics. Therefore, writing your guidelines at the start of your forum and ensuring that these guidelines are visible for everyone can reduce unwanted posts. This blog outlines some guidelines you may want to consider.

Whoever is running your forum should also be in charge of moderating the comments and posts made. This means that if there are any posts which do not fit the guidelines then the moderator can delete these quickly. If someone is posting regularly against your guidelines, then you may want to exclude them from the forum.

If you need a great website builder to back up your online forums, then look no further than Go Sitebuilder. With a wide range features to link to your social media, our simple website builder design means you can have a professional looking website up and running in minutes. Try our 14-day free trial today!

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Which sports teams have the best marketing strategies online?

Female marketing working with a customer looking into which sports teams have the best marketing strategies online

There is no textbook definition as to what a strong marketing strategy is. However, by examining successful marketing strategies carried out by sports teams, you can build an idea as to what the techniques are best to adopt for that specific sector. If you want to grow the visibility of your sports team online and build a strong brand, you’ll need to have a strong presence online. 

Building your own website is the first step in your marketing strategy: we suggest using a website builder, as building a site from scratch can be time-consuming and expensive. Once you’ve built your site, you can start working on your marketing strategy to ensure your sports team has a powerful online image. 

Motivational message 

Conveying a motivational message which reaches out to a wide audience is a great way to market your sports team. In 2015, the English Sports Council started up the trend #ThisGirlCan, inspiring women across the country to take up sports. This marketing campaign was a success, as it reached out to ordinary women who might have hesitated to take part in sporting activities due to their appearance or fitness: the original video was viewed more than 8 million times, and the hashtag is still going strong to this day. 

Incorporate a motivational message in your marketing strategy to encourage audiences to identify your sports brand with positivity and personal growth. If you want to target a certain group of people, focusing your marketing strategy around them will show your sports team is committed to helping and inspiring this particular audience. 

Make your sports team personal 

It is easy to feel distant from even your most idolised sports star: their wealth and extravagant lifestyle often makes sports teams seem like they’re far away from your reality. However, sport plays a big role in many people’s lives, so building a relationship between your sports team and its supporters is key. 

As part of your marketing strategy, utilise social media to build a stronger relationship between your sports team and its supporters. Real Madrid launched their own SnapChat account in 2015, providing live updates to supporters all around the world. In just three months they managed to gain almost half a million subscribers – by providing their fans with match footage and information about its players, they built a successful digital relationship between their fans and their sports team. 

Stay connected with supporters

Keeping supporters in the loop with your sports team with all the latest updates around game results, membership deals, and team information is important to establish a healthy relationship between your sports team and their fans. One of the easiest ways to do this is by creating an email list – sending out weekly updates is a good way to keep your supporters up to date with the latest news surrounding your sports team, so that if they miss a match, they don’t feel as if they’ve missed out on your sports team’s latest developments. 

For a more personal way to stay connected with supporters, use live chat options on social media platforms, such as Facebook or Twitter. This lets you directly answer questions about your sports team, and shows that you really value the supporters of your sports team. It also gives you a chance to boost your publicity: retweeting and sharing messages of support from fans evidences the successes of your sports team. With a larger base of supporters, your sports team is more likely to get more sponsors, helping to grow your sports team even further. 

Be accessible

When choosing a site builder to build your website, you’ll need to check they offer a responsive web design. In 2012, a Nielsen Report showed that 60% of mobile and tablet owners received sports related content on their devices at least once a day. Make sure your website is accessible on both desktop and mobile devices so that supporters can gather the latest information surrounding your team wherever they are in the world. 

Having a website that can only be accessed from only one type of screen may mean people become less engaged with your latest news and slowly drift away from supporting your team. To keep fans interested, build a site which is easy to use and looks great from any device. 

Although there are many site builders to choose from, we believe Go Sitebuilder is the best site builder for those who want an easy-to-use site builder which delivers premium websites at an incredibly affordable price. Our website builder offers ready to go web designs which are fully customisable, and our site can be accessed from any device.

Our 14-day free trial gives you all the time you need to discover why Go Sitebuilder is right for you and your sports team – try it today!

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What makes a great website?

Businessman Using Phone Whilst Working In Coffee Shop what makes a great website

Creating your own website is a fun project – you’ve got the freedom to make it look exactly how you want it…but what if you have no design experience? Or what if you don’t feel like you have the time to create an effective website for your business? Using a simple website builder can help you streamline the process, and we’ve created a list of elements that you should include to make sure you have the best website design possible.

Simple visual web design

First things first, the overall look of your web design is going to have a significant impact on a visitor’s first impression of your company. According to web credibility research from Stanford University, 75% of users admit to making judgements about a company’s credibility based on their web design. 

Don’t worry though, the easiest way to create a simple web design is not to overcomplicate it. Even if your website builder offers a plethora of interactive features like videos and animated logos, only use them very sparingly; they can result in an annoyance for the user. 

Clear Navigation

This is such an important feature we’ve written an entire blog on how to optimise your website’s navigation. Good navigation means a good user experience, which helps to keep visitors on your site and hopefully increase conversion rates. 

Focus on the customer’s viewpoint when designing your navigation. You want to make sure that at any point the visitor knows where they are and that they can easily get to where they want to be. If you have lots of different products and you’re not sure how to condense them, consider using a hamburger menu (below) that opens out into further options. 

Clear Call to Action (CTA)

Your CTA is a short phrase (two to five words maximum) that tells the visitor what you want them to do. Think about it from a visitor’s perspective; if they arrive on the site and you haven’t told them what to do, how are they going to do it? HubSpot research found that CTAs in anchor text (text with a link to another page) increased conversion rates by 121%.

Good examples of CTAs are “Contact us”, “Register now” or “Click here”. It’s also good to add a sense of urgency; “Download our Ebook today”, for example, to make it seem like there is a time limit on the resource. 

Make sure your web design is mobile friendly

Use of smartphones has skyrocketed over the past decade. According to marketing company Digital Next, in 2016 mobile usage overtook desktop for the first time, which makes it clear that having a website that looks good and works seamlessly on a mobile device is crucial in 2020. Our website builder is fully compatible with mobile and tablet devices, and you can even edit and upload content to your website on your phone!

Google is also using mobile friendliness as a way to rank a website for SEO, and sometimes indexes just the mobile site rather than the desktop version, so website designers are forced to make their sites responsive. 

Optimise for SEO

You might think SEO is a confusing list of 200 algorithms that Google uses to rank content – and it is! But there are really simple things that you can make sure your website has that will make your web design easier for search engines to index and boost you up results pages. 

Does your website work on all browsers? Do you have an SSL certificate? Have you put alt tags on your images and meta descriptions on your written content? Do some keyword research and make sure you use these words in your content, and you’re already far better than many websites on the internet in terms of SEO.

Fast load time

Your website needs to load quickly – 40% of people will abandon a website if it takes too long to load. This is also another reason why a simple web design is better than a complex one, as it will load faster. If your page is taking a long time to load and you’re not sure why, it could be to do with the file size and type of your images; have a look at our blog on how to edit the images you use for your website to optimise your load time. Simple things like saving the file as a different type or running it through an online compressor could make a huge difference. 

If you’re ready to get going with a website builder, then why not try ours? At Go Sitebuilder, we offer ready to go website templates that you can adapt to your brand and style. Our pre-made web designs mean that you can be sure that your navigation will be easy to use, your visual design will be clear and simple, and your website will be fully optimised for mobile devices. 

Still not convinced? Try our 14-day free trial today to see how quickly you can have a beautiful website up and running. 

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Why do lawyers need a website?

Lawyer researching why he might need a website and to use Go Sitebuilder

Whether you’re an established law firm, a brand-new company or if you’re starting out as a freelance lawyer, a website could be an invaluable resource to expand your business. Although law firms traditionally provide very face-to-face service, there are multiple ways that switching to a more digital platform could bring you new customers and increase brand awareness. If you’re on the fence as to whether a website would be worth your time, a website builder with ready to go templates could make creating a beautiful web design easy and quick! 

A website means more people will find and contact you

According to Transaction.Agency, 85% of consumers conduct online research before making a purchase. That is a huge potential client base that you can tap into, that you would miss out on if you didn’t have a website for them to browse. Having a website means it is more likely for people to find you, without having to spend money on television or print adverts, which are swiftly losing their utility in our increasingly digital world. 

With these traditional adverts, people would have to pick up the phone to contact you. People are becoming much more reticent to call people directly without having done any research or if they aren’t sure whether you would be the right law firm for them. By adding a contact form or an email to your website, you’ll find that many more people send enquiries – and once you’ve got their contact information you can stay in touch with them reminding them of the services you provide. 

Your lawyer website will build trust and credibility

Imagine taking a call with someone and telling them all your qualifications and how happy previous clients are with your work – it might end up coming off sounding like a sales pitch. An easy way to show potential clients that you are a trustworthy and high-quality lawyer is to prove it on your website. You can show certificates of your qualifications, provide references from large companies or more personal testimonials from smaller clients. This will help when potential clients are doing their research and choosing between you and other possible lawyer websites – if you have better reviews and more qualifications, they are more likely to opt for your law firm.

This builds credibility not just among possible customers but also among peers. This could help you build connections with other lawyers, and create mutually beneficial agreements where you recommend clients to each other depending on your specialisations.

Gives potential clients useful information

Not only does having your credentials and client testimonials on your site build trust among visitors to your law firm website, but uploading relevant and useful content to your website can show that you are well-versed in your field. It also is a way for visitors to see your areas of experience and expertise and whether it aligns with their needs, without having to call or visit your office to find out. This saves both you and visitors time; they can make an informed decision depending on your specialities, and you don’t get requests for services that you cannot provide. 

A lot of people search for legal advice online before they search for a lawyer, so it’s a good idea to put in the effort to create a long-form piece of content on legal advice in an eBook or PDF format. You can then only allow access to this resource if visitors give an email address, which is a great way for you to get warm leads, and for potential customers to see that you have the relevant knowledge to help them. 

Your lawyer website is online 24/7

The traditional 9-5 office hours are becoming increasingly blurred, and most people only have time to research and contact companies outside of these hours. This is where a website comes in handy; it is online all the time, so even if somebody sees your site and emails you at 2am, you can just pick up the email when you wake up. 

In fact, according to a study by Zahavian Legal Marketing, nearly 30% of conversions (in the form of email form submissions) happen between 6 and 8 p.m.

Ultimately, a lawyer website is a great – and cheap – marketing tool. People rarely search for lawyers unless they actually need one, so the people who are coming to your site are already receptive to your company’s services; with a website, you won’t let that opportunity go to waste. Have a look at our blog on how lawyers market and advertise themselves for more inspiration. 

Still not sure? With Go Sitebuilder, you can set up a site in minutes with our ready to go lawyer website templates, and you can track how useful it is to you with our integrated analytics software. We know you’re busy with your business, which is why we’ve made our website builder as simple as possible, and you can even update it on the go on a mobile or tablet. Try our 14-day free trial today!

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How to watermark your photos

Young woman using laptop at home to find out how to watermark photos

The internet is a complex place, and it can be extremely difficult to keep track of images once they’ve been uploaded. Although it is true that images you take yourself are automatically protected by copyright, once those images go online it is so easy for someone to copy or save your image and use it on their site – and you might not even realise that they’ve done it! We’ve already written a blog about stamping a copyright logo to your image, but these can be easily cropped off, whereas it’s impossible to use a watermarked photo without making it clear where the image came from.

What is a watermark?

Traditionally, a watermark is a translucent phrase or a logo embossed directly onto an image, meaning that both the watermark and the image are both still visible. Although we are talking about watermarks on digital images today, as a society we have been using watermarks for centuries; you’ll find them on banknotes, passports and reams of branded paper. In fact, the first practice of watermarking dates back to the Fabriano paper mill in Milan in 1282, when papermaking started to become a common practice. 

Nowadays, however, it’s possible to apply “digital watermarks” to your images. This means you don’t have to have something embossed on top of your image. It is invisible, but indelible; some providers like IMATAG change the pixel values themselves to encode a secret message, imperceptible to the human eye. Even if the image is cropped, scaled, colour-edited or compressed, the digital watermark will remain. 

Do you need a watermark?

If you have a photography website or are uploading your own photos on your website builder, then it’s a good idea to watermark them. They are your intellectual property, and especially if you are trying to develop a particular brand image with your photos, the last thing you want is someone else passing these images off as your own. 

Although visible watermarks can seem obtrusive, they are more likely to dissuade photo thieves from taking your image, whereas if you place a copyright logo in the bottom of the picture, it’s easy for someone to crop this out of the image. Creating a subtle but visible watermark can ease your mind and keep your photography safe. Invisible watermarks remove the issue of affecting the image, but you’ll have to manually check to see if people have used your photos on their websites and you normally have to pay a fee to do it. 

Watermark software

Visible watermarking

When creating visible watermarks for your images, you can choose between using paid or free software. Although paid photo editors like Adobe Photoshop have dedicated watermark tools, it’s not worth paying for the software unless you already use it for other purposes. You can even create a basic visible watermark in Microsoft Paint!

Make sure that you don’t use a watermark that is too faint or too small, as photo editors can remove these types of watermarks. However, if it is too obvious, then it will compromise the appearance and composition of the original photo. 

A+ Signature is available through the iTunes store, and allows you to easily add a watermark to your images. Marksta gives you various options to watermark your photos, so you can make sure it’s the right size and opacity for you. If you’re a Windows user, uMark or Watermark are also options that make it simple to add watermarks to your images. 

But what should you choose to add as a watermark? You can add the copyright logo, or your brand’s logo as a watermark, or a string of text; your name, business name or image description could work well here. 

Digital watermarking

Digital watermarking is invisible and adds data to the original file, meaning that the watermark remains on the image regardless of the image type you use or any image editing that takes place. This might be a good idea if you have a photography business and you don’t want your images to be compromised by a visible watermark. 

Unfortunately, most digital watermarking providers charge for this service. IceMark costs around £40 for an application that lets you watermark as many images as you like, or DigiMarc is a good option for large-batch corporate images but costs around £40 annually. 

How can I avoid watermarking and copyright issues?

If this all seems too complicated and you just want pictures to enhance your web design rather than to publicise your own photography, feel free to use copyright-free stock imagery from sites such as Pixabay or Unsplash. If you use our website builder, we have access to thousands of stock images that you can use to make your site look stunning in just a click!

Ready to get started with your website builder? With Go Sitebuilder, we have ready to go templates that will allow you to easily add your images and information in minutes so that your new site is professional, beautiful and most importantly – hassle free! Try our 14-day free trial today and get your business online.

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How do online shopping websites work?

Happy African American family with daughter using laptop at home, shopping online and reading how online shopping websites work

We’ve all thought about selling products online; whether that’s our own handmade gifts or choosing items to sell on for profit, and with website builders you can set up an ecommerce site in minutes! However, there are other things that you need to think about to be able to manage a successful and profitable ecommerce business. Let’s have a look at them here!

What an online shopping website needs

When choosing a website builder for your online store, it’s important to create a checklist to make sure it has all the features you need and that it doesn’t have hidden extra costs. For example, many website builders offer a free ecommerce template, but charge you more if you sell more than a certain number of products. Here’s a list of the basic elements an ecommerce website should have:

Product catalogue

Your customers need to be able to see what you’re selling! A product catalogue includes a list of available products, descriptions, and images. You want to make it as easy as possible for your customers to find what they’re looking for, so make sure you put your products in categories and if possible add a search bar. If your products don’t fit well into categories, then add a “best-selling” or “most popular” section – if others are buying it, that could persuade others to do so as well! 

Online payment processor

This is an absolute must-have. An online payment system is a third party software that handles customer payments, so you don’t have to worry about giving strangers your card details! PayPal and Stripe are popular options, but have a look at our blog on online payment processors to help you choose which one will work best for your site. 

SSL security

If you’re handling online payments and other sensitive information, then you need to make sure you have an SSL certificate. It encrypts the data passing through an online connection, making sure the information and your website are protected from potential hackers. It is the foundation of internet security, and you can tell if a website has one if it has a padlock symbol or https in front of the domain name. Without one, it is very likely that potential customers will not trust your site and buy from one of your competitors instead. SSL certificates can be complicated to get, but thankfully Go Sitebuilder gives you one with every website you create.

Ecommerce template 

You need to make sure the ecommerce template your website builder offers has certain features that make it easy for you to sell and easy for your customers to buy products. This means that each product must clearly state the price and allow the customer to choose different colours and different quantities. An extra feature Go Sitebuilder has is sending you an email when your stock levels start getting low – one more thing you don’t need to worry about! 

Choose your delivery method

One of the things many people forget to think about is how to deliver the products. If you’re selling homemade products that you keep in your house, then this is the easiest method; you just need to find a way to package your product. You can capitalise on this by using it as an opportunity to grow your brand; use your brand colours, stickers or add a handwritten note to make it seem personal. 

If you get your products from a supplier, you will have to decide whether to order the products in bulk and keep them yourself – you’ll have to make sure you have enough space – or dropship your products. Dropshipping is where a supplier holds the stock and sends it straight to the customer – less time intensive for you, but you can’t personalise the brand and returns can be complicated. 

You’ll also have to decide how much delivery will cost and what kind of returns policy you are willing to provide. Returns can be costly for a new ecommerce business, but equally not having one could put potential customers off as they cannot see the physical product – this is why good product photos and descriptions are so important!

Design a good online shopping website

When customers arrive on your website, they want to see a professional-looking site that they can trust. If this sounds like a daunting task, don’t worry! Use a website builder like Go Sitebuilder that gives you thousands of ready to use website templates, so you can have a stylish website up and running in moments. If you want a bit more autonomy, then our web designs are all easily changed to suit your brand colours and company style. 

Unlike many website builders, we have an ecommerce platform integrated into our website builder, so it is incredibly simple to use, whether you’re on a desktop, mobile or tablet. We designed our website to be as quick and easy to use as possible – so you can focus on the important bits of growing your business! Try our 14-day free trial today to see what your ecommerce website could look like!

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What is Backlinking and How Do You Do it For Your Website

Diverse culture people using mobile smartphone outdoor backlinking to eachothers website

How often do you take recommendations? If you know somebody has used a product and given a positive review of it, you are much more likely to trust and use that product. Essentially, this is the idea behind backlinking; it’s a vote of confidence in your site from an unbiased source. Backlinking is a great way for your site to improve its reputation online, and can help your website establish its authority on a given topic. 

What is backlinking?

In simple terms, backlinking is when a site links to your website – this can be via a blog or a review. For example, say you own an ecommerce business selling lawnmowers: if another website writes a list of the best lawnmowers and lists one of your products, then they will add a link directing the site user onto your page: for you, this is a backlink. 

Why is it good for SEO?

SEO – search engine optimisation – is where you optimise your site so that Google sees your website is relevant and useful to users, and thus ranks you highly on its search engine pages. A good way to improve your SEO is by getting backlinks to your site: if a high ranking website has given you that vote of confidence and linked your website on its page, then Google’s algorithms will see that your page is of high value to the user, which means it boosts you up its search engine results. 

What are the different types of backlinking?

There are two different types of backlinks; Nofollow and Dofollow. As a user, these tags are indistinguishable; if you see them on a website you can click and follow them regardless of their tag. However, there is a big difference for SEO. 

The best backlink is a Dofollow link. This means the search engines can see that an authoritative source has externally linked to your site, which will boost you up the rankings. 

However, if an external website puts a link to your website with a Nofollow tag, it tells search engines to ignore that link. That means this backlink will have no effect on SEO. It’s not the end of the world though; if a site with millions of views mentions your website – even with a Nofollow link – it will still enable users to click the link and visit your site; bringing more traffic, and more brand recognition.

Are all backlinks good for SEO?

Unfortunately, Google’s algorithms are now so updated that having too many backlinks from disreputable or low-value sources can actually harm your SEO ranking. It is better to have fewer backlinks from high ranking sources, than hundreds of backlinks from websites with no reputation at all. 

Nowadays, you also can’t spam comments sections on high value content with links to your own site – nobody likes spam, especially Google. Not only might it harm your site’s reputation, but Google could also pick up on your spam habits, and penalise you by lowering where you rank on its search engine.

What if a low-value source has backlinked your site?

If a low-value source has backlinked your site then you will want to remove this link – remember, disreputable websites can negatively affect your SEO ranking. Google Webmaster Guidelines require you to ask website owners of toxic websites to remove their links to your site: fail to do this, and Google can penalise your site, reversing all the hard work you’ve done to build a website that is fully optimised for SEO.

Luckily, there are free tools available online to track what sites are linking to your website: Google Search Console, Ahrefs and SEMrush all allow you to check every backlink so that you can remove any links from discredited websites. 

To do this, simply contact the website owner and ask them to remove the link. If this doesn’t work then you can also disavow the link with Google tool.

How to get backlinks to your site

One of the best ways to get backlinks to your site is by reaching out to popular bloggers or influencers in your industry, offering to write for them or maybe simply telling them about certain content on your website that they may want to link to. 

Or, perhaps you can try to get an interview with influencers or bloggers who have knowledge in the same field as you – this can be via video or podcast, or you can even create a blog post, including keywords in your blog as another way to improve SEO ranking. By getting your guest to link your interview on their site, you have gained a reputable backlink to your site.

An even simpler way to get backlinks to your site is by searching a post that is already ranking well, and then improve and expand on it. By creating a blog post with high-value content, then you are not only showing Google that your content should be ranked highly, but you are also encouraging other websites to add links to your site, without you even having to contact them! Structuring your blog post as a list tends to be the most popular, or including ‘how-to’ or ‘why’ phrases can improve your chances of getting more backlinks from reputable sources. 

If you want to create a site where you can write high-quality blogs for your business, you should pick a website builder that makes this process as smooth as possible. Go Sitebuilder has ready to go website designs, making us one of the best website builders if you want a website ready in a few clicks, but with a beautiful, professional finish. Our free blogging feature lets you post endless amounts of blogs, so that you can improve your chances of getting more backlinks to your site.

Our free 14-day trial gives you all the freedom to build your own website within minutes – try it today!

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What homemade items are in high demand?

Woman selling homemade organic beautycare products in a shop which are in high demand

Now that you know how to make money selling homemade items, deciding the kind of product you are going to specialise in is an important step in making your homemade crafts business successful. There are so many different types of homemade crafts to sell, from  creating beautiful jewellery to personalised pillows. It all depends on your creativity and your skillset; but it’s also important to make sure there is a demand for the product you want to sell. 

A good place to start is to look at best-selling products on websites such as Amazon and Etsy to get a feel for what consumers are looking at when they buy a gift for themselves or someone else. Have a look at the most successful sellers on their websites to see how they market their products and interact with their customers on the platforms. 

The most popular homemade items vary from site to site and depending on the year. But in this blog we will outline some of the most popular homemade crafts to sell online.

Jewellery

If you have the skills and creative passion, jewellery can be a great homemade product to sell. There is the opportunity to create unique pieces which you can sell for a relatively high price. Jewellery also has the bonus that products can be easily personalised, allowing you to increase the price of the product and also give customers interesting gift ideas for birthdays and celebrations. 

There are many different types of jewellery you could create from rings to necklaces, and there is scope to use many different materials to make a product more or less expensive. Jewellery is also easily marketable, with the ability to create galleries of beautiful photographs and to use e-commerce facilities on website builders. The small size of these homemade gifts also means postage and packaging should be relatively low cost. 

Bath Bombs and Soaps 

One of the easiest homemade items to make, bath bombs and soaps can be a great product to sell online. With high demand for bath bombs from companies such as Lush and increasing momentum in the sustainable/plastic-free toiletries movement there has never been a better time to start creating these products. 

Before you start selling, ensure that your homemade soaps are safe to use, that they work effectively and smell amazing. Try to have a range of scents and types of soaps that you sell. Also consider selling items together as a gift set, so that when people go to buy a gift they are directed to your site. 

Planners and Notebooks 

Planners and notebooks are another example of a simple homemade gift to sell which is in high demand currently. If you can create beautiful notebooks and planners there is a high chance of sales and demand for your homemade items. There are many different types of planners and notebooks you could sell, some of the best selling types are:

  • Year diaries – a diary that starts in January and ends in December, usually has a few pages at the start for key contacts, addresses etc.
  • Bullet journal style planners – these are often very minimalistic, but have high quality paper and very aesthetic designs.
  • ‘Prompt’ diaries – these could be anything from a dream journal to a ‘one line a day’ type of journal.

Gift and Subscription Boxes

Gift and subscription boxes are a great homemade gift to sell, they can be so varied and allow you to create personalised boxes or set boxes depending on your customer base. You could market these as gift ideas or as a treat for the customer buying your product. 

Some ideas for gift boxes include:

  • Beauty boxes – this could be anything from drugstore makeup to luxury skincare. 
  • Food boxes – this could be a spice selection, different sauces for fresh produce. 
  • Book boxes – customers send you a book preference and you send them a book every month or a gift box of a few books. 
  • Interest-specific boxes – for example someone may be a fan of gardening or dogs and you send them speciality seeds or sustainable dog toys.

Although we have only listed a small number of ideas in detail there are many other types of handmade crafts you could sell. Here are a few more ideas:

  • Sewing or knitting crafts 
  • Printed t-shirts 
  • Pet products (e.g. toys)
  • Candles
  • Ornaments
  • Artisan sweets and chocolate 
  • Arts and photographs 

If you think you can sell these products but need a great website builder, then look no further than Go Sitebuilder. With built in e-commerce services, our simple website builder design means you can have a professional looking website up and running in minutes. Try our 14-day free trial today!