The Internet has drastically changed the way that most businesses build and promote their brands as more and more consumers are engaging with brands online before making a purchase. According to Business Insider, 40% of consumers are heading to the search engines to get more information as they make their purchasing decisions. This should come as no surprise given that Google gets over 100 billion searches each month.

What does this mean for your business? If you don’t already have an integrated website marketing strategy in place that includes an effective website and SEO strategy, then you may be missing out on valuable opportunities to reach and engage your leads online.

Below, we’ve created a step-by-step guide to creating an effective website marketing strategy for your business. By following the process below, you’ll be on your way to developing an integrated digital marketing strategy for attracting, engaging, and converting more leads over time.

Step 1: Conduct a website analysis.

The first step to creating an effective website marketing strategy is to audit your current website. By conducting a website analysis of your current site design and content, you can better understand what you’re doing well and where there may be opportunities for improvement.

When it comes to site design, you will want to consider the user experience. Your website should be easy to read and navigate. Review your navigation bar and site map to ensure that visitors can easily find and access the pages they are looking for. Make sure that font sizes and colors are easy to read and all images can be viewed, especially from smaller device screens.

When analyzing your site, you should also look at load times. Slow load times will not only impact the user experience but can also hurt you when it comes to SEO. To reduce load times, make sure that any images or video that you use on your site is condensed so it does not impact the time it takes for each page to load.

Another thing to look for during your website analysis is whether your site is mobile responsive. Mobile-friendly websites are no longer optional for businesses that want to remain competitive in the digital marketplace. In fact, Business Insider reports that mobile continues to drive the most sales growth for businesses. Yet only 60% of the top 100 global retailers have a site that is mobile responsive. Not only does a mobile responsive design help improve the mobile device user’s experience on your site, but it can also have an impact on your SEO.

In addition to analyzing your website design, it’s also imperative that you look at your site content. What pages do you currently have on the site? Do you give the user enough information to move forward in the purchasing process? Review your written content to ensure that it provides enough information for visitors to understand your business, products or solutions, and the value that you can provide.

Also, make sure that the content is written with your audience in mind. Headlines should be attention-grabbing and content should focus on your target buyers’ biggest challenges. Use a tone that resonates with your audience and tailor your topics to their preferences.

Step 2: Optimize your website for SEO.

The second step in developing a website marketing strategy is to optimize your website for SEO. After you have analyzed your current website and identified areas of opportunity, it’s time to make sure that your site is optimized for the search engines. Search engine optimization is the process of making changes to your website design and content to make it more attractive for the search engines. In turn, you are helping ensure that your site will appear on the search engine results page (SERP) for relevant keywords and phrases.

Best practices for search engine optimization are often changing or being added to as Google updates its search algorithm. However, there are a few principles that you’ll want to keep in mind as you make sure your website is optimized for search:

• Keyword Research – One of the most important parts of your SEO efforts is your keyword research strategy. There are a variety of tools that you can use for keyword research, but the Google Keyword Tool is a great place to start. This helps you find search terms that are relevant to your business and better understand how many people are searching for these terms online.
• Content – Once you’ve developed a list of potential keywords, you will need to plan and write content around these keywords and phrases. The goal here is not to stuff your content full of keywords, but rather to write informational and entertaining content that will add value for your audience once they find it on the search engines.
• On-Site Optimization – In addition to using the keywords in the body of content, you’ll also want to pay attention to other on-page elements of your website such as titles, meta descriptions, images, and image tags. Use the keywords strategically when creating these different page elements to boost SEO.
• Link Building – Link building is another important (and very complex) aspect of search engine optimization. Search engines look at how many pieces of content link back to your site as a way of understanding whether your site content is valuable. There are many different ways to build quality links, such as submitting your site to different directories or simply creating content that people will want to link to.

Overall, by improving your SEO, you can work to rank higher in the search engines for relevant terms. This allows you to drive more relevant traffic back to your site for measurable results. If you do not have anyone on your team that is experienced in SEO, you may want to consider hiring an SEO company for help with this part of your website marketing strategy.

Step 3: Start content marketing.

The third phase of your website marketing strategy is developing your content marketing. Content marketing is the process of creating and publishing valuable and relevant content that helps you attract and engage your target audience. By providing your target buyers with engaging content, you can work to build and foster stronger relationships with your leads.

Before you start creating content, you’ll want to develop a content strategy. This is the process of determining the different aspects of your content plan, such as:

• What types of content you will create
• What topics your content will focus on
• Who on your team will create content
• How often you will publish new content
• What channels you will use to promote your content

Once you’ve created a content strategy, you can then work to develop a content calendar. This will help ensure that you are regularly publishing quality content on a consistent basis.

When it comes to your content marketing, it’s important that you choose topics that will be relevant and valuable to your target audience. You should also create a range of different types of content such as blog posts, e-books, infographics, videos, and other content assets that can help you build a stronger connection with your audience.

Step 4: Build a social media presence.

The next step in building your website marketing strategy is to work to build a social media presence. With social media marketing, your company can expand your reach online and work on driving more quality traffic back to your website. The first step in building a social media strategy is determining which social media channels you will use to attract and engage your audience. It’s important to remember that you do not need to be present on every social media platform. Instead, opt to spend your time and resources on the social media channels that your target audience frequents.

Once you know which social media platforms you will focus on, you’ll need to sign up for an account and start creating your business social media profiles, if you haven’t already. It’s important to keep branding consistent when it comes to images and descriptions. Be complete as much of your profile as possible to improve your chances of ranking in searches.

Now, it’s time to start building your social media presence. First, you’ll want to make sure that you are connected with your current customers on social media. Be sure to put links to your social media profiles on your website and in your shipping confirmation emails so that current customers and site visitors can check out your social media profiles and connect with you.

You can then work to grow your social media following by posting engaging content. In addition to posting updates and promotions from your business, you can share your content, such as links to blogs or gated content. You can also post links to third-party content that you think your audience will find valuable. The more quality content you post, the more likely your target audience is to follow along with your posts and engage with your brand on social media.

Step 5: Amplify with email marketing.

After you’ve started working to create more content assets and build your social media following, you can continue to amplify your website marketing strategy with email marketing. Email marketing enables you to get the word out about your new products and promotions while also driving traffic back to your website.

Before you start sending marketing emails, you’ll need to work on building your email list. There are a few different ways you can do this. You can start with the email addresses of your current customers. Then, work to build on your list by capturing new contact information from lead forms.

One way that you can work to collect email addresses from new leads is by creating a valuable incentive. An incentive that you might provide is a compelling content offer such as an e-book, checklist, or special guide that will help your leads better understand their challenges. You can create a landing page with a lead form that collects visitor email addresses in exchange for a free download of the content offer.

You can also add an email opt-in form to your website. Whether you use a header bar, a pop-up, or a side bar, you can ask your site visitors to sign up for your email list to stay up-to-date with the latest updates and content from your business. You can also place CTAs in some of your blogs or other content, encouraging your readers to sign up for your email list for more great content.

Step 6: Use paid advertising to speed up your sales cycle.

Though the goal may be to bring in as much organic search volume as possible, SEO takes time to work its magic. If you want to speed up your sales cycle a bit, you can introduce paid advertising into your digital marketing strategy. Paid advertising can help you bring more of your target buyers to your site where your content marketing and other elements of your digital marketing strategy can work to convert them.

There are two main options of paid advertising that you can introduce into your digital marketing strategy – Google PPC advertising and social media advertising. Let’s start with Google ads…

Google offers advertising on its search engine through Google AdWords or ads that display on relevant websites through the Google Display Network.

Both types of Google ads can help boost your visibility online and bring more visitors to your site. The Google AdWords content appears directly on the search engine results page, just above the organic results for the search term. This means that when users type in relevant search terms for which you have created ads, they will see your ad content at the top of the SERP. While Google Display ads will appear on the pages of relevant websites as a banner on the top, bottom, or side of the page. 

Social media ads can also be used to help you boost visibility and drive more traffic back to your website. Social platforms like Facebook offer sophisticated ad targeting features that allow you to take advantage of user data in order to target those who are most likely to be interested in your brand. You can then deliver tailored ad content to these ideal buyers that encourage them to visit your site.

Next Step: Implementation!

Now that you know each step of the process, it’s time to consider whether your company has the time, resources, and knowledge to effectively implement your website marketing strategy. For most small businesses, every team member is already working at full capacity to keep business operations running smoothly. That’s why many business owners look for outside help when implementing their website strategy.

A website marketing strategy agency can help take care of all your website needs while your team continues to focus on your core business. The website experts at LYFE Marketing know just what it takes to help you create a stunning and effective website that will attract and convert more leads to help you grow your business. In addition to website design services, our team is also skilled at search engine optimization tactics that will help your business rank on the search engines, increase referral traffic, and build a strong online presence.

If you’re ready to get started, we are only a phone call away! Contact us today.

Houston-based HostGator, founded by Brent Oxley in 2002 is a major player in the ultra-competitive domain name and web hosting business field. Over the years, it has built its reputation as a reliable web host to become one of the top budget web hosting companies in the world (over 8M hosted domains as of 2014). As part of the Endurance International Group since 2012, seeks to take its online activities to the next level.

When searching for a web host, you ideally want to choose a company that offers the necessary tools and platform robustness to let you grow at the pace you desire. All without costing you an arm and a leg! Does HostGator fit the bill? The results of our investigation may surprise you.

Shared Hosting Plans for Newcomers

HostGator offers discounts for its entry-level customers ($7.16 per on a month-to-month basis, down to $3.96 per month for a 3-year commitment). Its features include: unlimited disk space and bandwidth, easy to use control panel (cPanel); and unlimited subdomains, ftp accounts, and e-mail accounts. As of now, domain name purchase and registration are fully priced.

Of interest to novices is HostGator’s “no contract” feature and 45-day money back guarantee – one of the longest in the business. This gives you added flexibility if you ever decide that this web hosting service is not for you.

Mind you, there are strong incentives to stick around:

• Free Weebly Sitebuilder and other website builder tools
• One free website, cPanel and domain transfer per shared account; also MySQL and scripts transfers available
• Complementary scripts installed on demand, and a $100 Google Adwords promotion

Basic WordPress hosting prices (Hatchling Plan) matches its web hosting offers, whereas the Baby plan goes up to $7.96 monthly, the Business Plan up to $11.96 monthly.

Hassle-free installation, free transfers of existing WordPress websites and code-free creation are included.

VPS, Dedicated Hosting

HostGator’s Virtual Private Server (VPS) package serves as a good transitional option for growing businesses. At $11.97 per month in the first year ($19.95 monthly afterwards), VPS gives you a dedicated server feel at a reasonable price. Its features include:

• Unlimited domains, subdomains, MySQL databases,  e-mail accounts and ftp accounts
• Free SiteBuilder software with fully managed VPS
• Private name servers and weekly off-site backups

Full root access lets you install advanced software and customize your account. The optional cPanel allows for easier administration.

Like VPS, the Dedicated server options are backed by top of the line Linux servers. However, the Basic Plan starts at $105 per month, making it appropriate for companies who already handle a significant amount of traffic.

HostGator Web Hosting Pros

• Large number of discounts for a host of useful features
• Significant experience with novice website owners and bloggers
• Top-ranked VPS and dedicated hosting options
• Unlimited bandwidth, disk space and  e-mail accounts

HostGator Web Hosting Cons

• Pushing people to sign up for longer terms, e.g. three years, even when it may not be in their best interest
• Customer service issues on occasion, although its knowledge base can often compensate for a lack of live assistance by telephone or via chat
• Recent server outages and downtime issues (three (3) major incidents in 2014)
• Need to move to Baby or Business Plan to host an unlimited number of domains

HostGator Final Verdict

If you are looking for a reliable web host for WordPress sites or a nascent e-commerce business, HostGator is a battle-tested option worth considering. Although other companies may offer slightly more attractive pricing and setup options, a motivated Internet entrepreneur will easily benefit from its entry-level shared plans. Making the transition to VPS or dedicated hosting for future growth all the more rewarding.

Are you feeling a little confused by the different types of website services and web hosting plans?

If so, don’t feel bad, you’re not alone. With hundreds and hundreds of web companies competing for your business with thousands of different web hosting plans, things can get pretty confusing pretty quickly.

Add to that all of the “technical geek” terms like bandwidth, GB, and DNS and it’s easy to see how someone who just wants to start an online business and make money online can get easily discouraged.

As your online business grows, your Web hosting needs will increase and become more complex. Free and inexpensive web hosting plans may have been fine in the startup phase of your online business, but if your website is starting to feel sluggish as it continues to grow and you get more website traffic, you may need to start looking at beefing up your Web server.

Think of this list as the progression of the type of hosting plans and services a growing online business can consider.

With that said, let’s talk a look at the most common types of web hosting plans and determine which one would best serve the needs of your business; whether you are just starting an online business or looking to take your online venture to the next level.

1. Shared Web Hosting

Shared hosting means just that. Your website is hosted on a server shared by other websites. The advantage of this setup is the shared cost. You can pay as little as $5-$10 per month for sharing a super server with (probably) hundreds (or thousands) of other websites.

The biggest disadvantage of a shared hosting account is that you’re at the mercy of the other sites on your server. A really popular site may adversely affect the performance of your own site. On the other hand, if you’re the most popular site on the server, you get to use a super server for a very low price.

When most people start an online business they usually start out with a shared hosting plan to minimize costs; and they’re not likely getting a ton of traffic initially.

Shared hosting is good for a brochure type site, or a newer site that doesn’t get a lot of traffic.

Price Range: $5 – $20/month.

Bluehost is a very popular shared web hosting option.

2. Reseller Web Hosting

Reseller hosting packages are basically a shared hosting account with extra tools to help you resell hosting space.

Reseller packages come with greater technical control (often via the Web Host Manager (WHM) control panel), billing software to help you invoice clients and other extra perks.

Some of those perks include:

• free website templates
• white label technical support — that means the hosting company handles your clients’ tech support issues
• private name servers — make your company seem even bigger by telling your clients to point their domain nameservers to ns1.yourwebdesignfirm.com

Price range: Reseller packages range from $15 – $50, depending on features and resource limits.

If you’re planning on selling web hosting as a business then reseller web hosting is perfect for you. Otherwise just stick with a shared hosting plan if you’re just starting out.

Also, if you’re interested in making money as a web hosting affiliate you’ll want to check out this article on how to make money with affiliate marketing.

3. Cloud Based Web Hosting

Cloud Based Web Hosting refers to a fairly new hosting technology that lets hundreds of individual servers work together so that it looks like one giant server. The idea is that as the need grows, the hosting company can just add more commodity hardware to make an ever larger grid or cloud.

The advantage of cloud-based web hosting is that if you get an unusually large amount of website traffic the web hosting plan can accommodate the surge of traffic – rather than shutting your website down.​

If you’re website is growing and you’re driving more traffic to your website, this is probably the first point you would upgrade too from a shared hosting plan.

Price Range: All grid computing packages use some form of pay-for-what-you-use pricing structure.

See Also: iPage Web Hosting Review

4. Virtual Private Server (VPS)

Virtual private servers share one physical server but acts like multiple, separate servers. A VPS is a stepping stone between shared hosting and getting your own dedicated machine. Even though each VPS instance shares hardware resources, they are allocated a dedicated slice of the computing resources.

A VPS avoids the problem of having your hosting neighbors bring down your website, while avoiding the cost of a dedicated server.

Price Range: Most VPS hosting packages cost between $50 and $200. Pricing is based on the guaranteed CPU and memory (RAM) you get.

See Also: Namecheap Web Hosting Review

5. Dedicated Web Server

When you have a dedicated server, it means you are renting one physical server from a hosting company. You can have full control (called “root” permissions in Linux) if you want it.

With a dedicated server, you don’t have to worry about other websites on a shared server taking up your resources and slowing your website down.

A dedicated server is generally the highest level of server you would need if your online business grows into a presence that is getting a lot of website traffic. While the costs of a dedicated server is significantly higher than shared hosting, your business will be at a point that can easily afford the necessary costs of having your own server.

Pricing: Dedicated servers are priced from $100 and up. But if you are considering a dedicated server, you should also consider the costs of hiring a system administrator to take care of the technical details.

See Also: GoDaddy Web Hosting Review

6. Colocation Web Hosting

When you colocate, you rent rack space from a data center. You bring in your own server hardware and they provide power, cooling, physical security, and an internet uplink. This means you’re responsible for your own server software, data storage, backup procedures, etc. If hardware fails, you’re responsible for replacing it and getting the server back up and running.

Unless you have the technical know-how in-house, colocation is probably not worth the investment in time, expertise, and money for most small businesses.

See Also: The Benefits of WordPress Optimized Web Hosting

7. Self Service Web Hosting

The ultimate hosting plan — you do it all yourself! You buy the servers, install and configure the software, make sure there is sufficient cooling and power in your machine room, and double up everything for redundancy. Some of the things you’ll have to take care of:

• data center space
• cooling
• power (with backup)
• bandwidth
• server hardware
• systems administrator
• data integrity and backup
• … and the list goes on

Similar to colocation web hosting, this most likely beyond the scope of what you’d want to do as an online business owner.

8. Managed WordPress Hosting

With the increasing popularity of WordPress as a web building platform, many web hosting servers are offering what’s referred to as “Managed WordPress Hosting.

In a nutshell, managed WordPress hosting is a service where the web hosting provider will keep your WordPress installation up-to-date which can help protect your site from security threats that would allow hackers into your website.

While not the as inexpensive as shared web hosting, this is a great option for both start up businesses and established businesses that use the WordPress platform.

See Also: Why You Must Host Your Own WordPress Blog

9. Web Hosting for WordPress: Which Hosting Type to Choose

Choosing a web hosting provider for your WordPress website is a major decision in the process of your website creation. It’s incredible how much of your success depends on hosting: website performance, security, its downtime, even Google rankings, and so much more.
But here comes a question: is WordPress hosting any different than any other generic hosting? Yes, it is. You can choose a generic one for your WordPress site as well, but specialized web hosting for WordPress will give you a better experience by making WordPress installation easier, being compatible with all software you might need, and offering more perks. But let’s keep the details for later and get back to the hosting market.

It seems like everybody has a website these days. And why not? The low price of web hosting — both initial and ongoing costs — for your website has made it more affordable than ever. And web hosting is easy to set up and maintain, so anybody can do it.

What Is Web Hosting?

Web hosting is what makes it possible for your website to be live, online, and viewable to your website visitors. Your website and its contents are stored on what’s called a server, which is connected to the internet so that users can access it.Anytime you add a page, photo, video, or any other type of content to your website, it will be uploaded to your web host.

Every website out there uses web hosting, from Amazon.com to the funny video sites your friends share on Facebook. Individuals and small business use web hosting too.

You could have a website for your personal blog, your freelance career to show your portfolio, your bricks-and-mortar company, or just a personal site for fun. In your case, you’re after a website for your e-commerce/online business. This will be your online storefront, where prospects and customers come to check out your products and hopefully buy.

Web hosting companies specialize in providing these servers and related technology. But there are several options. That’s why it’s so important that you pay close attention to your web hosting provider. You don’t want downtime, or for website visitors to have trouble accessing your site. This is your business, and trouble with your website means you’re not making money.

So you don’t want to invest your money and your trust in a solution that’s not going to work. You also want a web host provider that is going to offer 24/7 customer support in case any issues arise with your web hosting.

With so many hundreds, even thousands, of different web hosting companies and services out there, how do you know which one is right for you? Which ones provide great service, and which ones are unreliable? Which ones can handle the growth of your business from a simple online store to a major e-commerce retailer? How much hard drive space and bandwidth do you need, and which providers or types of web hosting can handle it?Which web hosting service will give you the best value for your money?

As you’re considering your options, don’t think that cheaper is better. You see, once your online business grows, your web hosting requirements become more complex as you experience more traffic to your site. In other words, you need more hard drive space and bandwidth to handle all the visitors. You need systems in place to account for that growth — you don’t want to be caught short when a breakthrough comes for your business.

So let’s go over this list of the five most common types of web hosting and figure out which one is the best fit for you and your needs.

1. Shared Web Hosting

In this type of web hosting, your website is on a server with other websites… perhaps hundreds. While generally the most cost effective option, the problem with this type of shared server is that your website can be affected by the other websites.

A site that gets a lot of traffic could slow your site down. So it’s probably only your best option if you’re just starting out with your online business.

The main advantage is that it’s cheap: about $5 to $20 per month.

Share hosting is a great option if you're just starting your online business and trying to keep an eye on costs. Most web hosting providers that offer shared web hosting also offer other options that let you upgrade as you continue to grow your business.

2. Virtual Private Server (VPS)

Usually, the first type of upgrade you'll make with your web hosting as you grow your business is from a shared web hosting account to a virtual private server.
With a virtual private server or VPS, you’re bridging the gap between low-cost shared hosting and having your own dedicated server. In this setup, multiples VPSs exist on one physical server, sharing hardware and a guaranteed part of that server’s computing power. But a VPS functions as if it were a separate server from the others so the other sites hosted there won’t affect your site at all.
These virtual private servers will run you about $50 to $200, based on how much dedicated bandwidth and memory you need.

3. Dedicated Web Server

Continuing with our theme of upgrading your web hosting options, once your business outgrows the needs of a virtual private server, the next logical upgrade would be to a dedicated server.
This is an ideal web hosting solution for a small online business because it offers you maximum flexibility. In this solution, you get your own physical server, just for your website, over which you have total control. And there are no other websites on the server that can affect your site by slowing it down. You get the speed and security you need.
Here’s one drawback. You probably will have to hire someone, a system administrator, to run this server’s technical side. With the ability to have root permissions on the server this is a necessity.

4. Cloud Based Web Hosting

Everything is in the cloud these days, even web hosting. In this model, you have individual servers, hundreds of them, working in conjunction to create what is essentially one very robust server. With all that power working for you, you have the advantage that if you get a big boost in traffic — say with a product launch — the cloud-based web hosting plan can handle it — no slowdowns, no shutdowns.

With these types of web hosting plans, you generally have a customized billing structure based on what you use.
Though many companies offer cloud-based hosting as a standalone product, many companies will use a cloud-based structure for their shared web hosting, virtual private server hosting, and dedicated web servers.

5. Reseller Web Hosting

This type of web hosting account is unique as it’s kind of business in itself. Let me explain. With reseller hosting you, as the account owner can use your hard drive space and bandwidth on the server to host other people's websites. These third parties pay you for the service — essentially your are reselling your web hosting space, hence the name reseller hosting. The difference between what you charge your customers and the price you pay for the web hosting space is your profit when reselling web hosting.
In many cases you can sell the web hosting using your own company/brand name — basically acting as a private label.
For the end user, a reseller hosting account is very similar to a shared hosting account. Again, this type of hosting is more suitable if you're looking to sell web hosting as an income source and not necessarily a good option if you're looking to host your own website.

What About Free Web Hosting Solutions?

You may have seen blogs that use this naming convention: websitename.blogspot.com or websitename.wordpress.com. This is technically a type of web hosting, and the major benefit here is that the hosting is free.
But before you rush to use it, be aware of the downsides. The biggest is that you’re stuck with the templates your host provides, among other limitations. And you really can’t run an online business this way, as these hosts don't really offer effective e-commerce abilities. I would completely disregard this solution unless you just want to run a personal blog cost-effectively. Avoid any type of free web hosting or blogging solutions if you intend to make money with an online presence.
If you want to learn more, see this article on why you should host your own paid website.

Putting It All Together

Before signing up for any type of web hosting platform, it’s important that you do your research to find out which solution is right for you. A cheaper, shared web hosting solution is a great way to start your online business. But you’ll quickly outgrow it. At that point getting a cloud-based web hosting service or even a virtual private server or dedicated server will be the way to go.
Web hosting could determine the success or failure of your online venture. It’s not sexy, but getting it right could be the difference between the success and failure of your online business.