Marketing Budget for the Web

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marketing budget

Imagine your small business is preparing to launch. Marketing is critical to your success. In particular, marketing for the web is critical to your success, but it’s hard to put together a marketing budget to meet all of your needs. Your first step should be to evaluate your website. It won’t matter how good or how proliferous your ads are if they lead back to a lack luster site. The core of your marketing budget should go into your website because it is often the most inexpensive and most effective form of advertising you will find anywhere. There are many ways your website can help you make money not only now, but also in the future. However, everything depends on the performance and appearance of your website.

Hosting

The best web hosting company gives you options. Many offer special plans for small business web hosting. If your business is new, then you will likely need a cheaper hosting package for the sake of your marketing budget. Keep in mind, however, that operating a business online is always cheaper than maintaining a physical storefront or office. If you need a physical location, then you may not need as much from your website, but in today’s world of multi-channel selling and mobile shopping, it’s imperative to invest in your online presence. While customers may not be able to receive personal services online, such as massages or tailoring, they should be able to set appointments, find pricing information, your phone number, your location and hours, and get a good idea of your “stock” from your website.

A website that operates as a storefront faces even greater demands. You should consider options like dedicated servers if you expect a lot of traffic or plan on selling online, because nothing kills a shopper’s inspiration faster than poor web site performance. Small business web hosting doesn’t have to be cut-rate to be affordable, and your website is critical to your success. Customers must be able to order, ask questions, solve problems, and find reasons to shop again. Like a physical store, online displays draw customers. You may not have windows to fill, that draw the eye of passing customers, but you need merchandise and design to bring customers through ads and to keep them interested in your site. This leads us to the next point.

Design

Should you design your website and your ads yourself using free or cheap DIY programs, or do you need a professional? The best websites always have professional help. No matter how good your DIY program is, at best, it can only give you a cookie-cutter website identical to thousands of others. This may feel like a good place to save for your marketing budget, but it’s one of the most important sales elements. Customers only see your product through your website. The design of the website itself will impact how they perceive your business. A creative, original website will leave as much of an impression as your product will.

The best web hosting company will keep your website up and running, no matter how popular your business becomes. Design engages customers, suggests additional purchases, and convinces visitors that you sell quality products. If these two elements are not in place, all of your marketing will be in vain. By using your website to your advantage, however, you can save enough for another round of marketing. Even the most expensive web hosting options are vastly cheaper than running even a small physical storefront. Remember, all of your marketing will tie back to your website, and that is where you need to most heavily invest.

Using Drupal 8

6 Reasons it is Time to Start Using Drupal 8

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Drupal is currently the top content management platform used by governmental and non-governmental agencies, global companies, and higher education institutions, so it should come as no surprise that you will love Drupal, and everything it has to offer for your business, too. Since Drupal was initially released in 2000, the trusted platform has stayed at the top of the industry by developing the latest innovations, raising the standards of digital experience, and being the preferred content management platform of the best web hosting platforms available.

To ensure you understand the numerous benefits associated with using Drupal 8, here are the top 8 reasons you will love the new Drupal 8 and need to start using it for your business.

1. Drupal makes it easy to learn everything you need to know about the platform.

When developing Drupal, in particular the latest version, Drupal 8, the company made a conscious effort to make certain that the platform wouldn’t be overly technical, nor have anything hidden from users. This included introducing a convenient, user friendly interface that site admins and editors could quickly and easily use to perform foundational tasks, such as data modeling, front end, landing page, installation, the architecture of information, and much more.

Additionally, training is simple, thanks to Drupal 8 User Guide and the large number of Drupal training organizations available on the Marketplace. There are also a wide variety of video tutorials, books, forums, and even a community where you can search for or ask questions. Online chat, Drupal core issue queue (specifically to provide support for a core bug, Drupal project issue queues (specifically for support with a special project), and email also can provide training, support, and answers.

2. Drupal 8 offers the perfect combination of functionality and features.

As discussed above Drupal 8 is very functional and user friendly, but it also offers a wide array of features and enhancements. In fact, it is the first CMS with almost 59 core modules, such as JQuery Update, Entity API, and CKEdition. Automatic packaging is another feature that is particularly beneficial for businesses of any size. It works by analyzing your site and automatically packaging the site configuration into a set of features, instead of you having to do everything manually. Other important business features offered are:

  • Twig, a new PHP-based theming engine that is secure, fast, and flexible.
  • All built-in themes are mobile first, meaning it easily adapts to different screen sizes, which is something your customers will appreciate.
  • It allows users to edit text on any page without going to the full edit form, making it easier to create drafts and better implementing web security.
  • Views are integrated with the core, allowing users to quickly create pages, admin section, blocks, and more, while also effortlessly modifying existing pages.

3. Drupal 8 has expert built-in configuration management and also makes upgrades simple.

With configuration management built in at the file-system level, you will have no problem carrying over configuration elements, such as fields, content type, and views, from local development to the server. To track your configuration changes, you can use a version-control system. All configuration data is stored in files that are kept separately from the site database.

Drupal 8 includes the Drupal Module Upgrader, which essentially allow you to automatically convert your Drupal 7 code to Drupal 8, ensuring the best-practice migration process. The Module Upgrader scans and then upgrades the previous version and flags any code that should be upgraded, while also pointing out relevant changes when needed.

4. The scalability offered by Drupal 8 means there will be no problem as your business grows.

This is especially important if you are starting a new business that is almost certain to grow as you widen your focus and ambitions. At the same time, there is an increasing demand for interactive websites with a variety of elements that can leave your website running slow. Drupal 8 is equipped for scalability and has the enhanced features necessary for your website to be dynamic without running slow.

5. Drupal 8 gives the Content Editor unprecedented power.

Thanks to WYSISYG editor CKEditor being bundled with the core, authoring has never been easier. Drupal 8 is integrated with a variety of key marketing tools, offers more and better content authoring tools, and has improved translation capacity, which will allow your business to interact with a global audience that may have previously not been within your reach.

6. From day one, Drupal 8 is fully responsive.

This means you can use Drupal 8 to deliver experiences on a desktop, laptop, phone, tablet, or anywhere else a customer may need to view your content without you having to do anything extra. While this may not seem all this important to you, it is. If your site is not mobile-friendly, you can anticipate anywhere from 50 to 79% of your visitors immediately clicking away from it. Even worse, it is entirely possible that they will not return.

Drupal Hosting by GlowHost

For more than a decade, GlowHost has been providing affordable and highly reliable managed web hosting plans for individuals and businesses of every size. GlowHost currently offers 3 Drupal web hosting plans to choose from. Making it easy to find a plan that perfectly meets the needs of your business. Drupal 8 can be installed with through GlowHost’s Softaculous control panel with a single click. In addition to transferring your existing data for free, GlowHost also provides 24/7/365 customer service in the event you ever encounter a problem. As an added bonus, GlowHost has a prepared a Drupal 8 video training series that offers information on every aspect of the content management platform. For a complete Drupal 8 Training guide, visit: https://glowhost.com/drupal-8-vids.  For fast and reliable Drupal 8 Hosting, go here: https://glowhost.com/php-script-hosting/Drupal-hosting.html

Final Thoughts on Drupal 8

In the end, the reasons you need to use Drupal 8 for your business is simple. You can easily use it, and in the event you do run into a problem, there are plenty of avenues you can turn to for assistance. At the same time, it makes authoring, configuration management, and upgrading simple to use, while also offering translation services and immediately adapting for mobile devices. Whether you are completely new to Drupal or need to upgrade to Drupal 8, now is the best time to start using Drupal 8.