Category Archives: WebSites

Your Website: All in One with GDI

September 3, 2015 GDI Corporate Leave a comment

Other Companies

You may have heard of quite a few companies out there that offer tools to build your website at a price like GDI’s. While these tools are effective, what the marketers of these companies don’t tell you is that’s all you get–the tools to build a website. So what’s missing? Your domain! Companies that offer these site building tools can only get you so far, to make your site accessible to anyone you need to purchase a domain in addition to your monthly service fee. Combining these two services from separate companies can also be difficult to do.

GDI

With your GDI membership, you are given site-building tools and a domain. This is included in both our basic and premium membership. There’s no need to figure out how to combine services, because you can access your domain and site building tools all from the Members Area for GDI. All you need to do is choose your domain when you become a member, then when log in to your Members Area, you can access a variety of tools to build your website. No extra steps.

How to Build Your Site

GDI offers two easy services to help you build your website: SiteBuilder and a WordPress plugin especially for GDI. Read on to decide which is right for your website.

SiteBuilder

SiteBuilder is a great option if this is your first ever website or blog. SiteBuilder works off of professionally designed templates to help you build a professional looking website. These templates allow you to choose the style of your website and easily build it using drag and drop tools and widgets. If you don’t like your site, you can change the template without losing text and photos that you’ve already added to your site.

WordPress

WordPress is the right option for you if you’ve used it or similar blogging platforms before or are comfortable being more creative and using tools like WYSIWYG (which stands for what you see is what you get). Also when considering if WordPress is right for you, know that it’s not just for blogs. You can build a full website using WordPress themes and widgets. Like SiteBuilder, WordPress does offer templates and drag and drop tools, but with more freedom. You can use the GDI Theme offered in WordPress or search thousands of themes available online to make your website just the way you like. If you have HTML knowledge, you can use it to personalize your site even more.

Drupal

For those very experienced website builders, GDI offers the option to use Drupal CMS to build your website. You can find this plugin in your Member’s Area under the navigation for WordPress and More.

Other Important Services

In addition to offering tools to build your website. GDI also offers tools to supplement your website like email. With your basic GDI membership, you can create up to 10 email addresses that you can easily access. No forwarding or additional services needed. Want to know how much traffic you’re getting to your new site? GDI also offers hit logs to let you know who is viewing your site, at no extra cost.

Are you ready to get your domain and website up as a GDI affiliate? Click below to learn more!

WebSites

What to Do Once Your Affiliate Website is Live

July 23, 2015 GDI Corporate Leave a comment

Congratulations on buying your domain and taking the time to set up your website! Now what? A great website is wasted if you don’t use it right. Read on for what to do now that your affiliate website is ready for business.

Let People Know

Now is a great time to follow up with everyone you told about your new website. Maybe you told friends you were working on it, or have been putting off customers waiting for your new site to be ready. Now is the time to reach out! Send a personal email to everyone who has been waiting for your website and direct them to it. If this site is an update to previous website, go through your old mailing list to let past customers know of your new address. Lastly, share your big news and links to your site on social media. This is a great way to hit a large audience at once and find some new visitors to your page.

Find New Customers

One way to find new customers with a new website is by ensuring your content has good SEO. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and refers to using the right keywords and phrases to drive traffic to your site and earn higher rankings with search engines. Identify several keywords and keyword phrases that apply to your business. Next use a tool like KeywordTool.io to idenify which of these phrases and words are more powerful in driving traffic. Then use these keywords throughout your website to ensure they are picked up by search engines.

Keep Content Consistent

You’ve no doubt put a lot of effort into creating just the right content for your website, but don’t let that content get stale. To keep visitors coming back, keep content updated frequently. One easy way to do that is to add a blog. With a blog, you can share updates frequently without having to edit your entire website. A blog can demonstrate to your visitors that your website is managed well and that you are available should someone need to reach out. Also make sure business information like address and hours are always up to date. The best way to get and keep customers and traffic is to share the most up-to-date and accurate information possible.

Plan for Updates

Just like you need to keep your content fresh, you need to keep your website design looking fresh too. Make updates to your website design as needed. If you find people aren’t clicking the “Contact Us” button as frequently as you hope, perhaps move it to a more prominent place. Invite feedback from your customers and friends on your website design and makes changes accordingly to make site visits as effective as possible. Last, try to look at your site through new eyes every few months. Is there something that needs to be changed? Is the design serving its purpose. Remember, once your website is complete, the work has just begun!

Interested in Affiliate Marketing with GDI? Click Below to Learn More!

WebSites

How to Avoid Web Design Pitfalls

June 4, 2015 GDI Corporate Leave a comment

When used right, your website is your number one marketing tool. It can be your space for others to learn more about GDI, affiliate marketing and who you are. Your website gives people the chance to see what can be done with GDI’s site building tools and plugins. Creating a clean, easy to navigate website can be simple, but there are also many pitfalls to look out for. Read on for how to avoid some of the most common website pitfalls.

Poor Quality Images

Images are essential to a visually interesting website, but the wrong images can drive your traffic away. Always test images on your website before adding them and publishing your site. Images may look OK in the preview, but blurry on your website. It’s not necessary to use high resolution images on your website as these can take up lots of space. Just make sure your image looks clear and sized properly for your site.

Poor Navigation

GDI offers WordPress and SiteBuilder to help you build your website. These services come with themes that include easy navigation and menu building for a reason–good menus are an important feature of a successful website. If you want people to visit many pages on your site, you need to make it easy for them. Menus necessary to navigate your site should be at the top or side of the page so they are easy to see. Make sure every page on your website can be accessed from these menus.

No Linkbacks

Direct traffic to your website is important, but in this highly connected digital world much of your traffic will come from referrals. Referrals are website visits that come from outside sources and pages. You can gain referral traffic by sharing your website on social media or working with other affiliates to share links. Linkbacks to your website helps to verify it through search engines and appear higher in search results.

No Goal Conversion

What do you want people to do when they visit your website? Fill out a contact form? Sign up for a newsletter? What you want people to do on your website should dictate how you build it and how it is designed. Always keep your end goal in mind and make sure website visitors can accomplish it with just a few clicks if needed.

Too Many Distractions

It’s easy to get wrapped up in adding fun things to your website like GIFs, photos, and animations, but use these things sparingly. Too many distractions can make your website seem unprofessional or make it difficult for people to accomplish what you want them to on your site. Use images where it is necessary to explain a concept or break up text. Use GIFs and animation only when they can help your business, like GDI’s animated banners that link to your signup page.

Grammar, Spelling

Nothing makes a website seem unprofessional quite like a spelling mistake or typo. Though these mistakes are simply accidents, it can make it seem like your are careless. Proofread your website frequently and anytime you add new content. Copy all the text from your website and run it through a spell check. If you can, have a friend proofread your website any time you update it.

GDI Affiliate Blog