ShivarWeb Blog: WordPress, SEO, Analytics, Marketing & Reviews

How To Use Amazon for SEO & Content Marketing

July 13, 2017 By Nate Shivar

Amazon is the world’s largest online store. They sell more than the next 12 largest online stores…combined.

If you run an online store, it’s senseless to view Amazon as a competitor (even though they are).

Instead, it is more productive to use Amazon as a platform to make your store as profitable as it can be.

Listing your products on Amazon is the most straightforward method. You can even use Amazon’s PPC platform to make these listing successful.

But Amazon takes a cut from every listing that erodes your margins. For many storeowners, it makes sense to invest more in your own store.

But if you are going to invest in your own store, you can (and should) use Amazon.

Amazon is the largest source of ecommerce data on the Internet.

And a lot of that data is public-facing. Here’s a few ideas on using Amazon as a data gold mine for your SEO & content marketing efforts.[Continue Reading]

InMotion Hosting Review: 6 Pros & 4 Cons of InMotion Hosting

July 3, 2017 By Nate Shivar

This InMotion Hosting Review was revised and updated on July 3, 2017.

InMotion Hosting is one of the largest independent web hosting companies in the world. They’ve been around since 2001, and have tried to develop a brand around being the “nerd’s choice” that businesses also love.

InMotion Hosting has positioned themselves as the one of the few large, stable hosting companies that is not owned by Endurance International – a holding corporation for many well-known hosting brands (including a few that I use for sites like HostGator, Bluehost and iPage).

Get InMotion’s 53% off discount on plans here…

There are a lot of InMotion Hosting reviews online – usually with user-generated reviews based on anecdotes, complaints and personal experience. That’s fine but I take a different approach with pros and cons to highlight whether a particular company is a good “fit” given resources, priorities and experience.

Since 2013, I’ve done several side-projects on InMotion in addition to consulting for clients who run projects on a range of competitor hosting companies. In August 2015, I actually moved ShivarWeb.com to an InMotion VPS server, though several projects remain with other hosting companies such as HostGator and InMotion’s sister brand Web Hosting Hub – both of which have more “unlimited” plans and a support focus on beginner / small sites.

Here’s what I’ve found to be the pros and cons & full InMotion Hosting review based on my experience there and at other providers as a customer & consultant.[Continue Reading]

InMotion Hosting vs. HostGator: InMotion Hosting Compared Part 2

July 3, 2017 By Nate Shivar

I did a full review of InMotion Hosting, which you can read here. However, I wanted to specifically look at InMotion Hosting vs. HostGator. I use an InMotion VPS server to host this website, which used to be hosted on a HostGator server. I also use HostGator as my primary side-project and personal website hosting company. In other words, I use both and want to compare them head to head to highlight the best fit for new customers.

HostGator has been one of the fastest growing web hosts since 2002. They’ve built their reputation on good pricing, fast servers, and great service. They were acquired by Endurance International (a holding company for several other popular hosting brands including Bluehost & Just Host) in 2012. I’ve been a HostGator customer for quite a while. I run most of my development and personal projects on a HostGator shared hosting plan.

And InMotion is a rapidly growing, but still independent hosting company out of Los Angeles that has recently generated a good bit of press and won several awards for their hosting services. ShivarWeb.com currently lives on an InMotion VPS server.

Like I’ve said in all my hosting reviews and hosting quizzes – there is no such thing as a “best overall host” – there’s only the right host for you given your priorities, resources and expertise. I’m a long time customer of both companies – and I even I use each depending on the demands of each project. I’ve decided to compare InMotion with HostGator across 6+ considerations that hopefully will help you find the right fit for you.

Skip to conclusion here.

That said – let’s dive in and look at InMotion Hosting vs. HostGator Web Hosting.[Continue Reading]

InMotion Hosting vs. GoDaddy Web Hosting: InMotion Compared Part 1

July 1, 2017 By Nate Shivar

I did a full review of InMotion Hosting based on the broad advantages & disadvantages of the company. However, I wanted to specifically look at InMotion Hosting vs. GoDaddy Web Hosting, simply because GoDaddy is the consumer brand among most people who are looking to start their own website.

GoDaddy is a global brand that does a lot of advertising (that’s an understatement). I’ve maintained an account there, and a couple of my clients use it, so I’ve had a a good bit of experience with them since 2009.

And InMotion is a rapidly growing hosting company out of Los Angeles that has recently generated a good bit of press and won several awards for their hosting services.

For quite a while now, I have been receiving reader questions about InMotion. I have client websites on GoDaddy, but currently use an InMotion VPS server for shivarweb.com. So I thought I’d compare them head to head. Let’s dive in and look at InMotion Hosting vs. GoDaddy Web Hosting.[Continue Reading]

Blogger Review: Pros & Cons of Using Blogger (aka Blogspot)

June 29, 2017 By Nate Shivar

Blogger is the grand old man of Internet publishing. In fact, they arguably started the whole “everyone should have a voice online” ideal. Evan Williams started the company back in the 1990s.

After Evan Williams sold Blogger to Google, he went on to found both Twitter and Medium – both pillars of Internet publishing in their own right. Additionally, it was Matt Mullenweg’s dissatisfaction with Blogger that led him to create the first version of WordPress back in the early 2000s.

All that to say – Blogger is an Internet standby. In fact, it’s such a standby that it gets unfairly disregarded for many web projects simply due to its age.

I recently gave Blogger a try for a small project, along with several other website builders. I tried to approach Blogger not as the platform that had my first blog back in 2004, but as a serious platform that might be a good fit for someone’s web project today, post-2017.

Check out Blogger here.

But first, a bit of an overview on website builders in general. Whether you go drag and drop builder; an installed Content Management System (CMS), or hand-coded HTML files, there’s a lot of considerations that go into an building a website and / or blog.

In the end, you really want someone to type in a website address and see your information, presented well with the right functionality in their browser. Whether you are building a simple personal blog or running a business, the way you build your site determines a lot both long-term and short-term.

In the long-term, the tools you use to set up your website affects your versatility, functionality, and, of course, your brand. In the short term it can add/take away a lot of headaches. In fact, one of the most common headaches is moving a successful blog off Blogger. That said, like choosing a physical house or office, there is no such thing as an absolute “best” or “top” choice. There’s only the right choice relative to your goals, experience, and circumstances.

What Is Blogger?

On the wide spectrum of website building solutions, Blogger lives on the end that is all-inclusive and provides everything you need to get started and grow your website. It’s in contrast to solutions where you buy, install, and manage all the “pieces” of your website separately.

It’s like trading off some control for more convenience.

Using Blogger is like leasing and customizing an apartment in a nice development instead buying and owning your own house. You’re still in control of decor, cleaning, and everything living-wise – but you leave the construction, plumbing, security, and infrastructure to the property owner. That point is key because there’s usually a direct tradeoff between convenience and control.

All the functionality and design that are included with Blogger work seamlessly together as a platform. That’s what allows them to have drag and drop design, layout and content.

One note about Blogger is that it focuses 100% on blogging – ie, reverse-chronological publishing of posts. It has very little in terms of content management (as I’ll mention in the cons section.

As far as competition, Blogger competes directly with all-inclusive website builders like Weebly and WordPress.com in addition to pure-play blog / social networks platforms like Medium and Tumblr.

Website builders as a group compete with options like WordPress.org (which provides the free software to build a website that you own & control – see my WordPress setup guide here) all the way to options like typing actual HTML code into a text file. Make sense? Awesome, let’s dive in to the Blogger review.[Continue Reading]

How To Use 11+ Free Tools To Find Prequalified Content Ideas for SEO

June 26, 2017 By Nate Shivar

Creating content for your website requires a ton of time, money & resources to do well. But when it doesn’t generate visitors or sales – it’s a huge waste.

There are a lot of reasons why a piece of content might not perform well, but you can dramatically increase your odds of success by prequalifying your content idea.

In the offline world, companies use focus groups or sampling to prequalify the market. They use resumes and cover letters to prequalify candidates before committing to an interview (or much less a hire). And the incredible beauty of the Internet is that you can prequalify your content ideas as well with the right tools and a bit of research.

Here’s how to use a range of tactics from keyword research to mining platforms to exploring past successes to find, inform & guide your content marketing ideas.

*Note – if you are interested in finding trending topics for social-optimized posts, also check out my Trending Topics guide here.

[Continue Reading]

My Blog Comment Spam Is Too High. Here’s Why & What To Do About It.

June 23, 2017 By Nate Shivar

Last month, Akismet (the anti-spam software I use) filtered 850 delicious bits of blog comment spam.

I now have 324 comments in my queue tagged spam.

And that’s just the automated stuff.

I also get lots of bewildering comments such as,

Good way of explaining, and fastidious post to obtain data regarding my presentation subject matter, which i am going to deliver in institution of higher education.

The above comment could have been from a very well-meaning reader who is trying to leave a very kind comment in a language not his own…except for certain indications that said that it was a spammy attempt for a certain British web design agency to get a free link from my website.

If you have had a blog for any amount of time – you will encounter spam. Lots of spam. In fact – here’s my spam chart that I proudly on my WordPress Dashboard…

But what most people don’t know is what blog comment spam is…who does it? Why does it exist? And most importantly – how you can attempt to stanch the tsunami of blog comment spam, so that you can treat your real commenters like royalty?

Well here’s what you need to know.[Continue Reading]

How To Hire an SEO Consultant or Agency: Dos, Don’ts & Processes

June 20, 2017 By Nate Shivar

Search engine optimization is a process of making your website as relevant (ie, detailed and descriptive website content) & trustworthy (links from relevant and trustworthy websites) as possible so that search engines rank your site when people are searching for relevant keywords.

Hiring someone to help with marketing – specifically an SEO marketing campaign – can unfortunately be tough & confusing. But here’s the Do’s & Don’ts and processes I recommend when hiring and SEO consultant or agency:[Continue Reading]

WP Engine Review: My Pros & Cons of WP Engine WordPress Hosting

June 13, 2017 By Nate Shivar

WP Engine is a Managed WordPress Hosting service based in Austin, TX. They were one of the (if not the) first companies to provide managed hosting services specifically for WordPress.

While they have plenty of competition in both hosting in general and in the managed WordPress hosting vertical, they are still the market leader in many ways with broad name recognition and cutting edge features.

Check out WP Engine’s current plans & pricing here.

With the growth of both self-hosted WordPress and website builders, the hosting industry has become a super-confusing place.

Several of the bigger brands such as GoDaddy, Bluehost, HostGator, InMotion and SiteGround all now offer various flavors of “WordPress Hosting.” They all vary in services provided. Some simply have WordPress-trained tech support. Some offer services such as server-side features and staging for WordPress.

And then there’s a separate level of managed WordPress Hosting where you are not really buying hosting per se – but rather services to keep your WordPress install live. Basically, a Managed WordPress Hosting services do differently is offer a menu of services tailored to WordPress at a higher price point, so that the website owner can focus less on speed / security and more on the website content / functionality.

Every competitor in the Managed WordPress Hosting has a different offering. And there is no standardized “menu” of options, but as whole, they all compete with traditional shared Linux hosting offerings and customized WordPress hosting options.

Either way – that’s the field where WP Engine plays. It’s confusing, yes, but it’s important to understand before making apples to oranges comparisons.

There are a lot of WP Engine reviews online – usually with user-generated reviews based on anecdotes and personal experience. That’s fine but I take a different approach. This review will look at the pros / cons of WP Engine in the context of all web hosting options to see who it is a “best fit” for.

I’ve used WP Engine for various projects since 2012. I don’t use them for my primary sites right now (see conclusion), but I do have a current client on WP Engine who absolutely loves them. Here’s my WP Engine structured as pros / cons.

[Continue Reading]

Beginner’s Guide To Advertising on Instagram Effectively

June 12, 2017 By ShivarWeb Staff

Instagram provides an active, visually striking social media community ideal for building your brand awareness. With the help of its parent company, Facebook, you can take advantage of incredible reach to talk directly to your target demographic with minimal networking efforts. Plus, take advantage of a powerful advertising engine to build single image, video and slideshow campaigns within minutes.

During this guide, we’ll walk you through the basic steps of creating an effective Instagram ad campaign to impress, engage, and expand your target audience. Enjoy![Continue Reading]

How To Advertise On Craigslist Effectively

June 8, 2017 By ShivarWeb Staff

Craigslist is a treasure trove of opportunity for astute marketers. Each month, more than 60 million people visit Craigslist in the United States alone. The site features a very simple interface and several highly targeted sub-sections. Best of all, many of Craigslist’s daily visitors are qualified buyers, looking to make immediate purchases.

Craigslist came from extremely humble beginnings. The founder of the site, Craig Newmark created an online mailing list of about ten friends, so they had somewhere to discuss social happenings in the San Francisco area.

The list continued to grow and evolve. People who were on the list began to ask Craig if he could get the word out about a job offer, or an item for sale, or an apartment for rent. At this point, Craigslist began to take shape; a shape that has remained relatively unchanged throughout the twenty-year history of the site.

Today, Craigslist operates in more than 700 cities across 70 countries. The site is a hugely popular destination to buy and sell merchandise, buy, sell and rent homes and apartments, look for a job, advertise a job, meet people and more. Each month, over 80 million ads and one million new jobs are posted to Craigslist.

In almost all instances, it’s free to post your ad to Craigslist. In a few markets, Craigslist will charge a small fee for certain types of posts. For example, it will cost $10 for a broker to post an apartment for rent in New York City, or $5 for a car dealer to post an ad about a car they have for sale throughout the US.

One thing that has remained constant is the sense of community that’s associated with Craigslist. Craigslist’s top priority has always been its user experience, and the site is carefully moderated to ensure users have a quality experience. You may want to take a look around the help section on the Craigslist site. That page features useful information that will help you to stay in the good graces of the site when posting your ads.

If you are developing a locally-focused marketing plan, Craigslist will feature heavily. Here’s a broad overview of how to get the most out of your Craigslist advertising.[Continue Reading]

A2 Hosting Review: Pros & Cons of Using A2 Hosting

June 8, 2017 By Nate Shivar

A2 Hosting is an independent web hosting company founded in 2003. They are based in Ann Arbor Michigan but serve hosting markets globally. A2 Hosting positions themselves as a high performance, speed-focused hosting company with excellent support.

The offer a full spectrum of hosting solutions ranging from shared Linux hosting (what most businesses need) all the way to cloud and dedicated server solutions for large, growing websites.

Like InMotion Hosting and SiteGround Hosting, they’re one of the faster growing independent hosting companies (i.e., not owned by a larger corporate holding company like Endurance or GoDaddy). They have a large dedicated fanbase in addition to some high-profile bloggers as customers.

Like my experiment with Web Hosting Hub, I recently had a couple small websites that needed their own hosting accounts. Since I’ve had readers ask about A2 Hosting, I decided to give them a try.

Get A2 Hosting’s current discount here.

Here’s my A2 Hosting review structured with pros and cons based on my experience as a customer.

Skip to direct comparisons or skip to the conclusion.[Continue Reading]

How To See YouTube Tags for Competitor / Keyword Research

May 26, 2017 By Nate Shivar

You can see YouTube tags in the <meta name=”keywords” content=”[keywords]”> field within the view-source code for any video.

Whether you are researching YouTube for your own content or you are trying to optimize your own YouTube videos – competitor tags can provide a ton of insight. It’s like free keyword research.

On any given video, you can right-click on the page and choose to “View Source”[Continue Reading]

How To Try WordPress Before Purchasing Hosting for Your Website

May 26, 2017 By Nate Shivar

I recently had a reader question sent via email –

Is there a way to try out WordPress before signing up to a hosting site? Maybe a ‘try before you buy’ arrangement, or something which you can download and try out on a laptop? Am just worried about signing up and then finding WordPress isn’t for me.

That is an excellent question. Unlike website builder services like Weebly or Squarespace or even ecommerce platforms like Shopify or Bigcommerce – there’s no real “free trial” option for self-hosted WordPress.

And no matter how many setup guides you read or tutorial videos you watch, there’s nothing quite like messing around with software to see if it “makes sense” to you.

There are 3 ways to try WordPress before you actually purchase hosting.[Continue Reading]

Beginner’s Guide To Advertising on YouTube Effectively

May 24, 2017 By ShivarWeb Staff

Want to build brand awareness with a compelling video ad campaign, but lack the financial resources to land a traditional TV spot? YouTube advertising offers a compelling platform to reach a spirited online audience.

*Editor’s note – This post is by ShivarWeb staff. I’ve also written posts on using YouTube Analytics, optimizing your YouTube channel, using YouTube data to inform your marketing, and even how to scrape YouTube tags for research. I’ve also done a podcast episode on YouTube SEO.

Run through Google AdWords, YouTube video advertising campaigns, called TrueView, can be tailored to control costs while precisely targeting your ideal audience. During this overview, we’ll take a look at the essential elements of launching a TrueView campaign, while also offer tips to improve your campaign’s effectiveness.

We’ll also touch on using text-based ads rather than (or in addition to) videos to promote your products or services.[Continue Reading]