SnapPages https://snappages.com Tue, 28 Feb 2017 16:21:19 +0000 Tue, 28 Feb 2017 16:21:19 +0000 hourly 1 3600 SnapPages.com SnapPages Is Joining The Subsplash Family https://snappages.com/blog/2018/10/19/snappages-is-joining-the-subsplash-family Fri, 19 Oct 2018 00:00:00 +0000 https://snappages.com/blog/2018/10/19/snappages-is-joining-the-subsplash-family
When I set out to build SnapPages back in 2006, it all started because I saw firsthand what a huge challenge it was for the average small business or church to build and maintain a website. I found that so much time and money were poured into hiring outside help, and the end result was often a website that was either too expensive to update regularly or couldn’t be updated at all.

I have always had a passion for taking complicated things and making them simple, and so I set out to create one of the first drag-and-drop website builders on the market, following three guiding principles:

  1. Make it useful.
  2. Make it simple.
  3. Make it awesome.

With these guiding principles SnapPages officially launched in 2008. Ten years later, while a lot has changed in the world of websites, the mission of SnapPages has remained the same!

We launched SnapPages 3 over a year ago by taking all the lessons learned over the last  decade and reimagining what a website builder should look like in 2018. The result is the best-in-class website builder optimized for today’s mobile demands.

Now, over ten years later, I am thrilled and extremely proud to announce that SnapPages is taking a huge leap forward and has recently been acquired by Subsplash!

By joining the Subsplash family, I truly believe we will be able to take everything that you know and love about SnapPages to new heights, as well as add innovative features that just weren’t possible before.

I know that this may bring a lot of questions, so we’ve compiled a brief FAQ below:

Will this affect my current website?

Nope! If you have a current website with us, everything you know and love about the service will remain the same. We will still continue to build out and add features to the product, and our partnership with Subsplash will enable us to do this in a way that is bigger and better than ever before.

Will my login change?

Nope! You will still log in to manage your website the same way you always have.

What is going to change?

Great question! You may have noticed some new faces on the support desk—that’s because we are already ramping up and improving our customer support. We have several new features already planned for for the end of the year, and you should be seeing those released shortly.

Why Subsplash?

Subsplash has been working hard over the last ten years to develop The Ultimate Engagement Platform™. They have an impressive structure in place for creating custom apps (Mobile and TV), Subsplash Giving for beautiful fast online donation processing, the best-in-class media delivery, and much more!

For Subsplash, adding website creation to the platform is the perfect fit. For SnapPages, it means the opportunity to provide our users with even more ways to engage with their audience.  

More importantly our combined  core values of excellence, innovation, and humility as well as  the overall vision and purpose is fully-aligned. It was our shared belief that bringing SnapPages and Subsplash together would create  something uniquely better than what it could be alone, and we are excited about the future of our combined platform!

How can I learn more about the Subsplash platform?

Great question! To learn more about Subsplash feel free to email them at hello@subsplash.com or give them a call (206) 965-8090. You can also head to their website to learn more about The Ultimate Engagement Platform™ and how they can help drive more meaningful engagement for your organization.

I want to truly thank everyone of our users and everyone who has been involved with making SnapPages what it is today! Together with Subsplash, I know we can make it even better!

]]> https://snappages.com/blog/2018/10/19/snappages-is-joining-the-subsplash-family#comments 7 January Update https://snappages.com/blog/2018/01/25/january-update Thu, 25 Jan 2018 14:55:51 +0000 https://snappages.com/blog/2018/01/25/january-update
It's hard to believe that another year has flown by! This past year was all about launching the new SnapPages 3, and we're so grateful to all our awesome users for making that a huge success! We've got a lot of amazing things planned for 2018 and we can't wait to announce them. This year is going to be all about expanding and taking SnapPages to a whole new level and we're starting off by launching our first update this month.

New Section Templates

Section templates make it extremely easy to create great looking content with just a few clicks. Each template is made up of individual web blocks that can be easily edited and moved around, saving you lots of time when building your website. Additionally, each template was professionally designed to help give you a starting point for your site's content. We've almost doubled the amount of section templates available with this update and plan for this library to keep growing throughout the year.

New Themes

We've added two new responsive themes to choose from. Palate is a simple clean restaurant theme, while Expression is ideal for musicians and bands. Both theme templates come with pre-formatted pages and like the rest of our themes, are highly customizable. 

Other Updates

In addition to the new section templates and themes, we've made several other fixes and improvements in this update. One of the more useful new features is the ability to duplicate an individual section slide. Section slides allow you to have different slides of content that rotate through a single page section. With this new feature, you can do things like create a page section that rotates formatted customer quotes, without having to format each new slide from scratch.
]]> https://snappages.com/blog/2018/01/25/january-update#comments 9 Image is Everything: 4 Tips to Choosing the Best Blog Images https://snappages.com/blog/2017/11/20/image-is-everything-4-tips-to-choosing-the-best-blog-images Mon, 20 Nov 2017 08:15:35 +0000 https://snappages.com/blog/2017/11/20/image-is-everything-4-tips-to-choosing-the-best-blog-images
In our last blog, we mentioned that 2 million blog posts are published to different websites every single day. Could just be me… But does anyone else find that number overwhelming?

Find your Hook

If you are reading this article and find that number overwhelming, congratulations, you are a living human being. And, the fact is, if you’re a blog author and want your fresh content to cut through the noise, you have to find ways to hook people in.

So what’s your hook?

This specific blog post is dedicated to a hook that oft goes forgotten. Or, rather, a hook that is rarely fully taken advantage of. A hook that’s usually an afterthought and is considered, briefly, only before publishing. A hook that, many times, ends up doing more harm than good.

Hook in your audience… By finding the perfect images.

And, if a picture is truly worth 1,000 words, shouldn’t you spend the time to find the right picture to come before your 1,000 word blog post?

The answer is yes.

(Blog) Image is Everything

HOT TAKE ALERT!

Okay, so maybe image isn’t everything in your blogs, but don’t discredit the impact of a good set of images to complement your content. Having compelling rich media — images, infographics, video, GIFs — incorporated into your blog posts can go a long way to ensure that your blog post is gaining eyeballs.
Just look around. Instagram and Snapchat often dominate our phone use — especially for younger generations. For all of the oldies out there, even Facebook now prioritizes video- and image-based posts in News Feeds. We send pictures and video to our families and friends. We binge watch.

BOTTOM LINE: Our eyes like images.

So how do you find those perfect images for your blog post? Specifically, how do you find the right Featured Image that will be displayed any time you post your blog link to a social network?

Here are 4 useful tips.

1. Beware the Stock Market

No, I’m not talking about Wall Street here. I’m talking about the stock photography market.

Now, I don’t mean to throw the entire stock photography business under the bus, but I’m simply telling you to use caution. The large majority of stock photography on the Internet is pretty terrible and selecting cheesy images for your blog can truly harm your content — even if the content is fantastic.

Don’t believe me that there’s lots of terrible stock photography out there?

What about this image?
Don’t these fine looking employees know it’s impolite to point?

Or maybe this image.
Perhaps most disturbing about this one is that, I believe, it was featured on a website about funerals.
But, you get the picture (no pun intended). This is merely a snapshot of what’s out there (okay… pun intended). In fact, there have been entire blog posts and even entire blog sites dedicated to pointing out terrible stock photography. And the worst part of it is — these photos cost money. And are often really expensive.

Save yourself the money (and embarrassment), and check out some free AND non-cheesy photography websites like Unsplash. Or, maybe hit up 99Designs, which is basically a hub for freelance design professionals. 99Designs is best known for its logo design work but can also commission freelancers to take quality photography for your blog post.

Or, here’s a novel idea — maybe take the pictures yourself. I heard a rumor that the iPhone 8 can literally transform into a hovercraft, so if that’s the case, I can assure you that it’s also got a quality camera that can shoot professional grade pictures. Then, slap a filter on your pics and voila! — visual gold.

2. Watch your Tone

This one is pretty basic but can go a long way. When choosing an image or set of images for your blog, find images that match the tone of your blog post. Is this an inspiring blog post? Find bright and uplifting pictures. Is this blog post intended to stir up the emotions of your audience to help them buy into a cause that you are passionate about? Find some images that complement — not detract from — your arguments.

This is where the old mantra — a picture is worth 1,000 words — can really ring true. Choose an image that captures a thought or idea that’s simply impossible to describe with words, and your content will be all the more enticing — and persuasive — for readers.

3. A Resolution for Resolution

One of the worst mistakes you can make when finding an image or set of images for your killer blog post is settling for lower resolution. There is nothing less-enticing to readers than seeing a link to a blog post, whose Featured Image is a grainy mess.

The main perpetrator of low quality images — Google Images.

*Side Note* Here's another reason to be wary of using Google Images to find images for your blog posts. Many of the images on Google Images are most likely rights-reserved, meaning you don’t technically have the rights to use those images. Many surfaced images in Google Images are low resolution, so think twice before immediately choosing the first images that surface in your search feed.

Again, a website like Unsplash features high resolution images for free that are not rights-reserved; however, if you find the ole Google machine easiest for surfacing your images, here’s a quick way to filter out those low resolution duds.

From the Google Images homepage, perform your search. Then, once your results arrive, click on “Settings” to the bottom right of the search pane and click on “Advanced Search” from the dropdown menu. Then, on that new page, click on the dropdown menu to the right of “image size:” and choose one of the listed sizes. Typically, for a blog post, choosing the “Medium” option is sufficient, as it only includes medium- to large-sized images and weeds out any smaller, low resolution images.

4. Don’t Slow Down your Blog

Finally, as a follow up to number 3, although you should look for quality, high resolution images for your blog posts, you should also beware of including an image whose file size is HUGE. If your image is too big, you can slow down your blog post’s webpage or, even worse, your entire blog site.

By using tools like Adobe Photoshop or online tools like Dynamic Drive, you can compress your images to sizes that are ideal for websites. OR through using SnapPages to build your website, your images will be automatically optimized as you upload them.


So, before pushing the “Publish” button on your next blog, consider if the images that you have chosen are going to be beneficial, neutral, or detrimental to the content that you have written.
Taking an extra 15 minutes to find the right image, as opposed to settling for second-best (or third- or fourth-best), could take your blog posts from “good” to “fantastic.”

Got any extra tips or websites with great, free photography? Hit us up in the Comments!
]]> https://snappages.com/blog/2017/11/20/image-is-everything-4-tips-to-choosing-the-best-blog-images#comments 4 6 Surefire Ways to Grow Your Blog https://snappages.com/blog/2017/11/07/6-surefire-ways-to-grow-your-blog Tue, 07 Nov 2017 08:52:31 +0000 https://snappages.com/blog/2017/11/07/6-surefire-ways-to-grow-your-blog
Oh snap! You’ve finally put all procrastination aside and have finished that blog post that’s been sitting in the back of your mind for days, weeks, months. No doubt, you’re extremely impressed with your punchy metaphor and lyrical flow. This isn’t just any blog post; this is a work of art.

So, now, the blog post just sits on your website, with all of the blog posts you’ve written over the past year. And, with an estimated 2 million blog posts being published to different websites every single day, surely someone will happen to stumble across yours, right? I mean, you’ve noticed that you’ve picked up a handful of website visits from China and Russia. Now, that’s pretty cool!

Time to Build a Following

SPOILER ALERT: Before you start applying for the blue checkmark on Twitter for your Chinese celebrity status, the Chinese and Russian hits are most likely bots. And, while we appreciate your Internet optimism, you need to be proactive to make sure people find your diamond in the rough.

You need to drive some traffic and build your following. And the really cool thing is this — as you create more quality content and keep pushing people towards that content, people will start subscribing to your blog. And as people subscribe to your blog, they will automatically get updates when you post new content! And your audience begins to grow...

BOTTOM LINE: Your blog site deserves to be seen!

So How Do I Do It?

Well, we are very glad you asked. In fact, we are so glad that we pulled together 6 ways that YOU can start driving traffic and building a blog following TODAY.

1. Keep your Audience In Mind

This may seem like a no-brainer, but it’s really easy to lose sight of this one — or not get a handle on it at all! And missing the mark on your target audience could be a fundamental error that could make or break a blog site.

Find a specific audience. Learn what they care about. Write in that direction.

In the midst of all of the “noise” on the Internet, a blog site specifically dedicated to underwater basket weaving techniques may ironically garner more of a following than a general blog site about life, as long as you understand who your readers are and what they find interesting.

2. Be a Guest Blogger (Or Invite Guest Bloggers!)

FACT: You’re most likely not the only person that blogs on your specific topic, no matter how niche it is! If you’re all trying to add value to the same conversation, why not work together for the common good?

Enter guest blogging. By inviting other bloggers or subject matter experts to write for your website or by volunteering to guest post on others’ websites, you can a) garner free content for your own blog, b) expand your reach and influence and c) ultimately (hopefully) convince some people who wouldn’t normally read your blog to jump on board.

As an added bonus, links back and forth from blogs are great for everyone's search engine rankings. Teamwork makes the dream work!

3. Be Consistent

Really simple idea that is not so simple to carry out — create consistent content. This pro tip goes a long way in building a blog audience. If you’re creating great content on a reliable schedule, people will be more likely to revisit or subscribe to your blog.

Be consistent in your publishing frequency, and traffic will start to arrive. And, over time, maybe guest bloggers will emerge from your normal subscriber base. And, when that happens, that means free content. And free content equals more consistent content. And more consistent content eventually equals daily content…

… But, of course, none of that matters if you’re not creating engaging content.

4. Create Engaging Content

Again, seems like a no brainer, but the fact that terrible content is rampant across the Internet isn’t fake news. Find some ways to help your content rise above the noise.
What are some of those ways? Here are a couple of tips.
  • Create timely and relevant content. Is what you’re writing relevant to your audience? Is it outdated? Does it feature something that our audience would find useful?
  • Use (compelling) images. If a picture is worth a thousand words, why not include one (or two) in your blog content? However, use discretion. While high quality images can raise a blog from good to great, low quality images can do more harm than good.
  • Make informing — not selling — your primary focus. If you (or your business) are an expert in your field, let your content do the talking! No need to sell yourself or your product or your service; let the bulk of your content be an informative value-add for your audience. Then, if you feel a need to insert a shameless plug, tack it on at the end.
  • Draw readers in with your headlines. Just as with images, misleading or low quality headlines can produce mistrust with your blog and can force readers away. However, when used correctly, headlines can be an invaluable resource to draw in readers and, ultimately, build your blog audience.

5. Amplify and Respond

Something that goes oft forgotten when writing blog posts is that blogging is a two-way street. If you want one-way information distribution, go read a newspaper. However, most (if not all) blogging platforms offer readers some sort of ability to interact with the author by leaving comments. Show your readers that you care by responding to their comments and continuing the conversation that you started with your blog post.

Further, social media is an excellent way to a) amplify your blog post and b) facilitate that two-way dialogue about your blog. Be sure to take advantage of social media to make sure your blog content is seen and to ensure that your audience is able to chat with you wherever possible.

6. Have an Offer

With email lists, hundreds of people can be automatically notified when a new blog has been posted. But how do they start? Where do you find people’s email addresses who are interested in reading your material?

On most blog platforms, people can volunteer to enroll or “subscribe” into email lists, but more often than not, this personal information is the result of an exchange — an exchange where you, the blog writer, offer your readers something of value in exchange for a small piece of personal contact information.

This “offer” can be anything from an infographic to an eBook. In fact, a popular tactic of bloggers is to take the pieces of a blog series, form them into an eBook as chapters, then release these stylized, consolidated posts in exchange for an email address.

Whatever the strategy, having some sort of offer for your audience is a great way to capture reader information and, slowly but surely, build an audience of loyal followers.
At the end of the day, the Internet wants more good content. So, yes, 2 million blog posts are published to different websites every single day. But, while true, this doesn’t necessarily mean that 2 million quality blog posts are being published every day.

It’s time for your quality content to be seen. Building a blog audience is just as important as writing the blog itself, so be sure to allot time to do the good work of amplifying your content and growing your following.

Got any tips to add? Let us know in the comments.
]]> https://snappages.com/blog/2017/11/07/6-surefire-ways-to-grow-your-blog#comments 2 What's New: Gradients, Shadows, and 3D https://snappages.com/blog/2017/09/26/what-s-new-gradients-shadows-and-3d Tue, 26 Sep 2017 15:46:52 +0000 https://snappages.com/blog/2017/09/26/what-s-new-gradients-shadows-and-3d
We're constantly working behind the scenes to try and improve SnapPages and make it as easy as possible to create a website that looks awesome. On that note, we've got some exciting new features to show off that you're going to love!

Gradient Backgrounds

We try to keep up with the latest design trends (because we're really cool) and gradients are hot right now. As a result, we've added a feature that allows you to add custom gradient backgrounds to any page section on your website. If you don't know what a gradient is, it's simply when one color slowly transitions into another color.

Image Shadows

Another feature is the ability to add shadows to your images that help them stand out. To add shadow effects for an image, just click on any image while in the page editor and then select the new "Shadow" option from the menu. There are multiple effects to choose from ranging from subtle to dramatic.

3D Rotations (Advanced)

This last feature is only available for websites on the 'Advanced' plan. It allows you to rotate any block on your website in 3D. Just remember... as a wise person once said, "with great power come great comes great responsibility". If this feature is used correctly, it can add some subtle extra depth to your website elements. On the flip-side, if this feature is overused, it could get messy real fast! You've been warned.
]]> https://snappages.com/blog/2017/09/26/what-s-new-gradients-shadows-and-3d#comments 2 How to Build a One Page Website https://snappages.com/blog/2017/09/18/how-to-build-a-one-page-website Mon, 18 Sep 2017 15:18:07 +0000 https://snappages.com/blog/2017/09/18/how-to-build-a-one-page-website
One new trend that is becoming increasingly more popular is creating a simple one page website. If all you need on your website is some very basic information (and maybe a contact form), then a one page website might be the way to go!
 

What is a one page website?

Yup, it's exactly what it sounds like. It's a website that only has one page. Typically, these websites completely replace the need for having separate pages, by breaking content up into page sections. For instance, a typical simple brochure website might have a home page, an about us page, a services page, and a contact us page. In some cases, each of these pages doesn't have more than a paragraph of information on it. So the question becomes: why not just put it all on the home page and save your visitors a few clicks?
 

Advantages of a one page website.

Get your website launched faster...or at all.

Creating a website can feel like an overwhelming task. Even when using a simple drag and drop website builder like SnapPages, there is still the daunting chore of creating your own content for every page. In fact, many websites never get fully launched because they just keep getting put on the back-burner until you feel like you have enough time to dedicate to it (which let's face it... if you're a small business owner like me, you never have enough time!). By simplifying the requirements for your website's content, you can get a site up and running in a fraction of the time.
 

Increase conversions.

Thanks to smart phones, people are used to just swiping and scrolling down to get the content they need. By having all the relevant content a visitor needs on a single page, it allows them to quickly scroll down and understand who you are, and what you do. Today's customers make decisions at a much faster pace so the quicker you can get them the information they need, the more likely they are to follow up with an action.

To learn more about creating mobile friendly websites, check out our previous article on responsive design and why it's important.
 

Higher quality.

By keeping all your content on a single page, it frees you up to spend more time and attention on the all important details. Many times it's the polish that makes the difference between a good site and a great site. When you spread yourself too thin, you're much less likely to spend the time necessary focusing on the little details. A one page website can help you focus all of your attention on a single page which can ultimately lead you to have a much nicer looking end product.
 

SnapPages makes it easy.

Create page sections.

With the new built in page sections functionality, it's simple to create a one page website. To do this, just add a new section to your home page for every topic that you want to cover (about us, services, contact form, etc.). Then, be sure to give each page section a different color scheme so that they are visually broken up on the page. Lastly, add an appropriate heading to each section so that visitors can quickly find the information they need.
 

Link to sections

In the section option, there is a text field where you can add a title for the section. Adding a title allows you to link directly to a page section just like you would link to a page by automatically generating an anchor link at the top of the section. For instance if you had a website called "mywebsite.com" and a section titled "About Us", the link directly to this page section would be "mywebsite.com#about-us".
 

Customize the navigation menu.

If you don't want to see the navigation menu at all on your one page website, you don't have to. To get rid of the navigation menu, just move all of your pages (except for your home page) out of the "Navigation" folder within the 'Pages' section of your SnapPages account. If your navigation menu only has one page in it, then it will automatically be hidden on your website (which removes the navigation menu).

Alternatively, if you'd like to keep the navigation menu on your site to link to the page sections you created, you can do this as well. To do so, go to the 'Pages' section within your account, and create a new "Link" page for every section you want to link to. When prompted to add the URL, just enter the hashtag link for the section you want to link to. For instance, if you want to link to the section titled "About Us", then the URL would simply be "yourdomain.com/#about-us".
 

That's it!

As you can see, building a simple one page website with SnapPages is a very quick and easy way to get your website up and running! One page websites can be extremely effective, especially with how common mobile browsing is in today's world. 
]]> https://snappages.com/blog/2017/09/18/how-to-build-a-one-page-website#comments 7 A Beginner's Guide To SEO https://snappages.com/blog/2017/07/31/a-beginner-s-guide-to-seo Mon, 31 Jul 2017 16:02:52 +0000 https://snappages.com/blog/2017/07/31/a-beginner-s-guide-to-seo
Here at SnapPages, we've done our best to make it as easy as possible to create a website. Unfortunately, helping you get visitors to your website isn't as easy. That's why we're starting a new blog series to help get you on the right track! The first topic we are tackling is the mystical and magical world of SEO. If you aren't really sure what the heck SEO is — or if you think you do but you're still looking for that large button labeled "SEO" that you can mash to boost your Google ranking — then this is the guide for you! (On a side note, I typed "button mash" into Google to find an appropriate image, and all I got was a bunch of My Little Pony images. SEO FTW!) I'm working in the lab on that big SEO button, but in the meantime, I'm going to do my best to give you a quick introduction to what SEO is, why you should care, and how to get started. 


So what is SEO?

SEO stands for "Search Engine Optimization". What's that? You don't even know what a search engine is? Do you know how to "google" something? Google is an example of a search engine. You type something into the Google search bar, and then Google tries to find what you are looking for. The goal of SEO is to "optimize" your website so that when people type "How do I groom a shih tzu?" (it's harder than it sounds) into Google (or another search engine like Bing or Yahoo!), the website for your mobile dog grooming service will show up.

One of the most important things to understand about search engines as it relates to SEO is that it's their job to find content that is both relevant AND helpful for its users. The more helpful people think a search engine is, the more people will use it. The more people use it, the more advertisements it sells. The more ads it sells, the more money it makes (you get the picture!). SEO is all about trying to convince these search engines that your website contains the relevant and helpful information that people are searching for!


That one simple trick to boost your ranking!

So now back to that magic "SEO" button that you can mash. You are having a hard time finding it because it doesn't exist! You have to understand that SEO is not a one time action you can take — it's an ongoing process. To give you an example, it's similar to the difference between planting and gardening. Ever tried to plant something only to come back in a few weeks and find out that it's dead? Gardening is more than just planting — it's watering, fertilizing, pruning, and more. With SEO, you can't just throw in a few keywords and call it a day.

Anyone that tries to sell you on the idea that there is one simple trick to boost your rankings is playing one simple trick on you to boost their bank account. The best way to convince search engines that you have relevant and helpful information on a certain topic IS to actually have relevant and helpful information on that topic. Tricks and other spammy techniques will almost certainly backfire on you as search engines are constantly penalizing websites for doing these sort of things. You might get a quick boost out of these spammy practices, but it will hurt you in the long run.


Be helpful. Be relevant.

A lot of SEO techniques might come and go, but the safest thing you can do is to create great content on your website. For instance, if you are starting a coffee shop, creating a website that has some basic information about your coffee shop is a good start. Be sure to clearly state somewhere in your content what you are and where you are. That way when someone does a search for "coffee shop in Georgetown," a search engine knows that you are exactly what the person is searching for (a coffee shop in Georgetown). This is what it means to optimize for "keywords." Think about what you would search for if you were looking for your business. What would you type in? Whatever it is, make sure that this exact phrase is used throughout your website's content (in a natural way).

But don't just stop there! If you really want the search engines to think you are really helpful and relevant, then be really helpful and relevant! If you're a coffee shop, consider starting a blog on your website about coffee, or other great things to do in the city you are located in. Then, continue to post on a regular basis. Search engines know the difference between sites that have old stale content and sites that are constantly posting new content. In fact, search engines will even take this into consideration when ranking websites. To add a little more icing on the cake, if your content is really great, then other websites might start linking to it as well. Which leads us to our next point...
 

Show them you are important.

You think your business is important, and so do we! Unfortunately, Google doesn't know this yet. You have to prove to them that you are relevant and important, and links are a great way to do this! When other websites link to your website, it shows search engines that you are more important, and that will positively affect how they rank you. What's more, links from other sites that have great SEO are even better! Think of it as another reputable friend vouching for you.

A great way to get started is to have an active presence on social media and get your site listed on local review sites (like Yelp). Also, if there are legitimate business directory sites in your city, try to get listed on those as well. Doing these things will create links back to your site.

Whatever you do though, DO NOT BUY LINKS! If someone is offering to go off and create a bunch of links to your site, do not do this. It's spammy and will get you penalized in the long run. Search engines have made it their mission to know the difference between legitimate links, and which ones are from spammy trolls. If they think you are the latter, they will destroy you!
 

Conclusion

I know this is not the world's most comprehensive how-to on SEO, but hopefully I've helped you understand what it is and have given you a few tips to get the ball rolling. Just remember that there are no shortcuts here. Investing the time and energy to create helpful and relevant content is hard, ongoing work, but if you want your website to grow, that's what it takes!

We might post more on this subject later, but in the meantime if you want to dig a little deeper, here are a few great links to check out:

https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo
https://blog.kissmetrics.com/seo-guide/
http://searchengineland.com/5-must-dos-seo-267750

Bonus Tip: Linking to other high ranking sites, can also help you out. See what we just did there?
]]> https://snappages.com/blog/2017/07/31/a-beginner-s-guide-to-seo#comments 11 User SnapShot: Rooted Trumpet Photography https://snappages.com/blog/2017/07/10/user-snapshot-rooted-trumpet-photography Mon, 10 Jul 2017 16:27:49 +0000 https://snappages.com/blog/2017/07/10/user-snapshot-rooted-trumpet-photography

Giving Passion a Voice

This past February ushered in the arrival of SnapPages 3 — a fresh drag-and-drop website builder that empowers any business or individual to create a website that is professional-grade, at a fraction of the cost. Our passion is creating the best website builder available, so we find great joy in seeing people using our passion to broadcast their passions!

Hannah's Story: Capturing Memorable Moments

We recently had a chance to catch up with one such small business owner, Hannah! This professional photographer recently started using SnapPages to build and amplify her newly forming business. You can see the highlights of our Q&A below!
photography

SnapPages (SP): Hannah! Tell us a little bit more about yourself and about your business.

Hannah (H): My name is Hannah, and I am a portrait and wedding photographer based in Austin, Texas. I recently started a photography business called Rooted Trumpet Photography so that I can spend my life doing something that I truly love while helping others capture moments with the people they truly love and want to remember.
I photograph a little bit of everything, but what I enjoy most is taking portraits of couples in love. My goal for the future is to photograph more couples and weddings. I also love taking trips to new places and documenting experiences through the photos I take.

SP: Cool company name. What's the meaning behind it?

H: I wanted my business name to stand for something important, and the name Rooted Trumpet is rooted (pun intended) in Scriptures from the Bible. Being a Christian, the Rooted Trumpet name and logo symbolize how I try to live my life — grounded in truth and love and proclaiming both to the world.

SP: Give us the mission of your company in 10 words or less.

H: Encapsulate meaningful moments into photographs.

SP: Nice! So what drove you to photography?

H: I’ve had a passion for photography since I was really young. My dad gave me a couple of his old cameras growing up, and I would spend hours photographing flowers and sunsets and everything in between. Looking back on chapters of life – important memories you can’t relive again but can enjoy and remember through a photograph – that’s what drove me to photography and why I enjoy it. So much value, history, and feeling can be captured in a single photograph.
"That's what drove me to photography and why I enjoy it. So much value,
history, and feeling can be captured in a single photograph."

SP: Tell us about your experience using SnapPages.

H: I have built three different websites now for three separate companies, but my experience with SnapPages has been my favorite. SnapPages is easy to use with its drag-and-drop features and can be 100% customized to help my brand look exactly the way I envision it.
SnapPages can help small businesses create websites that are completely customizable to their unique brands. Just like the value a single photo can convey to someone, a website is basically a snapshot of your business to your clients. Having a professional website can help small businesses grow by showing their unique value to clients. Building a website from scratch can seem daunting, but SnapPages makes it easy!
"I have built three different websites now for three separate companies,
but my experience with SnapPages has been my favorite."

SP: Do you have any advice for other aspiring photographers (without giving away your secrets, of course)?

H: I read a blog recently by one of my photographer friends about her first year as a full-time photographer. She mentioned learning how to “grow slow and grow well.” We are all tempted to compare ourselves to others, but for now, I am happy “growing slow and growing well” instead of growing fast and making sloppy mistakes.
My advice to other aspiring photographers is to be proud of who you are and what you create. Comparing yourself and your work to other photographers will limit your creative capabilities. Enjoy the place you are in right now instead of wishing to be ahead in the future.

SP: How can people connect with you?

H: Through my website or through email. I would also love to connect with others on Instagram and Facebook!

Web Design Made Simple

Want to create a website for your small business? Check out our step-by-step guide (HINT: it’s REALLY easy!), then try out SnapPages for FREE for 14 days.
Stay tuned for more SnapPages User Snapshots!
]]> https://snappages.com/blog/2017/07/10/user-snapshot-rooted-trumpet-photography#comments 0 Responsive Web Design 101 and 3 Simple Reasons to Care https://snappages.com/blog/2017/03/27/responsive-web-design-101-and-3-simple-reasons-to-care Mon, 27 Mar 2017 17:13:21 +0000 https://snappages.com/blog/2017/03/27/responsive-web-design-101-and-3-simple-reasons-to-care
This is an article about the importance of responsive web design — a feature of the new SnapPages 3 website building engine. Click here to see all of the features and to try your first 14 days FREE.

These days, responsive web design is a BIG DEAL! Responsive web design can help you get new customers, boost your search engine rankings and much, much more!

In a nutshell, responsive web design ensures that your beautiful website will look just as good on a tablet or mobile phone as it does on your computer screen. Ever logged onto a website and had to pinch and zoom and strain your eyes to see any of the website text? Yep... No responsive web design there.

With more and more people buying smartphones, responsive web design is crucial to making sure people want to continue visiting your website. AND it also helps you rank higher on search engines like Google. It's truly a win-win.
 
Your customers need responsive web design.
Find websites that are responsive. Your ophthalmologist will thank you.

Responsive web design... Or bust.

We've all been there, right? We need to pay a bill or read a movie review or get started on a recipe for dinner and so, naturally, we whip out our handy-dandy smartphones and type in the URL... only to find that we're now looking at the world's smallest website on our tiny screens. What do you think this is... A website for ants?!

The type is illegible. The pictures are too small. My fat fingers can't seem to press the right buttons. So, for the next 30 minutes, we're forced to pinch and zoom and click to get all of the necessary info. These are 30 previous minutes that you could have spent cooking that recipe or actually seeing that movie or hugging your kids or something. The possibilities are endless.
While these websites may have been okay in 2007 when the first iPhone was released into the world (and what a glorious year it was), these types of websites simply aren't going to fly in 2017. Your visitors are simply not going to waste their time and will probably move on to something else if your website isn't optimized for a mobile experience. In fact search engines like good will now actively penalize sites that aren't mobile friendly.

What is the answer?! You guessed it... Responsive web design.
 

What is responsive web design?

Without getting too technical with things like fluid grids and media queries, responsive web design (RWD) basically ensure that a website will look great no matter what screen size you are viewing it on. The look of your website will adjust based on the physical size of your screen. Not only that, but RWD also ensures that your website retains its great look, even as you shrink the size of your browser.

To that last point, you should test it out! Go to the new SnapPages homepage — which was built using the SnapPages tool — on your desktop computer, click on the right-hand side of your browser window (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc.) and drag it inwards and outwards. See how the site adjusts based on the size of your window? BOOM... Responsive web design.
Here's responsive web design.

The case for responsive.

Still not convinced that it's important for your website? Don't see any issue with pinching and zooming and continuously upping your eyeglass prescription?

Here are 3 good reasons why you should care...
 

1. Responsive web design and... mobile engagement.

While some of us may still be sporting Zack Morris phones or notoriously indestructible Nokia brick phones (shout out to all of the Snake fans out there), a large amount of people on the planet have smartphones.

In 2014, 67.6% of people in the United States using mobile phones used some sort of smartphone, and by 2020, that number is expected to grow to 92.8%. Which means, if someone is visiting your site on a desktop and wants to later pull it up on their phones, the experience must be consistent and easy to use.
 

2. Responsive web design and... SEO.

Look, I get it. "Search engine optimization" (or "SEO") sounds like a big ole scary term, so let me break it down for you. It's the job of a search engine, like Google, to provide people with the most useful, relevant information on any topic that they are searching for. You might have great relevant information on your website, but now if it's not optimized for mobile you are now considered "less useful". The truth hurts, but it is what it is.

There are many, many factors that go into ensuring a page is SEO optimized on Google — all of which should be discussed in another time and another place — but trust me when I say that having a responsive web design can move your page further towards the top. This is extremely important for bloggers and small businesses who want to be on that pristine top-level Google page.
 

3. Responsive web design and... Competitive advantage.

As of mid-2015, only 52% of Fortune 500 companies' websites could be classified as "mobile-friendly." I know many of you reading this may not be the website managers of Fortune 500 companies, but considering many of the biggest companies in the world have yet to adopt responsive web design, you have to believe that many small business owners, personal bloggers and the like have yet to jump onboard as well.

Get ahead of the curve! Chances are if you have a mobile friendly website and your competition doesn't, there is a much better chance that they are going to stick around on your website instead of theirs. That's a huge competitive advantage that can't be ignored!
 

We make it easy!

This sounds complicated, and on some level it is, but don't worry, on the new SnapPages 3, every single template is designed to be responsive automatically. We have done all the hard work for you! In fact, while building your website in our new web building tool, you can test how it will look on a desktop, a tablet and on a mobile phone. All it takes is the click of your mouse. Oh snap! So easy!

Hear about all of the SnapPages 3 features in this blog post by CEO and Founder Steve Testone. Check out SnapPages 3 today to easily create a website that will look great at every touchpoint, without the unnecessary pinching, zooming, straining and crying. Save both yourself and your visitors time, money and heartbreak.
]]> https://snappages.com/blog/2017/03/27/responsive-web-design-101-and-3-simple-reasons-to-care#comments 5 Introducing SnapPages 3 https://snappages.com/blog/2017/02/28/introducing-snappages-3 Tue, 28 Feb 2017 16:21:19 +0000 https://snappages.com/blog/2017/02/28/introducing-snappages-3
Today, we are extremely proud to show off the all-new, completely redesigned SnapPages 3. We were one of the first drag and drop website builders when we launched back in 2008 and a lot has changed in the world of websites since then (R.I.P. Flash). In that time, mobile browsing has exploded and become the norm (rather than the exception) and the world has become flooded with gimmicky website builders. What the world needs now is not another website builder - just a better one. That's what led us to ask the following question: "If we were to take everything we know about website building and create a solution from the ground up to meet the needs of today, what would that look like?". The answer is SnapPages 3.


The Goal

Simplify. More than anything we wanted to simplify the entire process of building a website by reducing the amount of steps it takes from the time you sign up, to the time you have a beautiful website. Some features needed to be improved, others needed to be consolidated, and some just didn't need to be there at all. Products have a habit of getting bloated overtime with too many features and we didn't want that to happen with SnapPages. Instead, we wanted to get back to the core of the website builder, and do that better than anyone else.

There are more improvements and new features in this update than we can list in a single blog post, but I'll touch on some highlights below:
 

Responsive Design

Mobile compatibility was not an afterthought or an add-on in SnapPages 3. We don't just have a few responsive templates... everything is responsive! Every aspect of it was designed from the ground-up to adjust and resize automatically so that your website will look great on any screen size. This means there's not a separate mobile version. Instead, there's just one website that works great while being viewed from any screen size. You even have additional control over what's displayed on different screen sizes to allow you to customize the mobile experience even further. For instance, you can choose to hide content from certain types of mobile devices, only show some content on tablets, etc.

Page Sections

Mobile browsing has fundamentally changed the way we interact with web content. Clicking through pages has been replaced by scrolling through content in order to make sites easier to view on mobile devices. Our page sections make it easier than ever to create longer-form pages with just a few simple clicks.
There's a lot more to our sections than just grouping content. Each section can have multiple slides so that you can easily present additional content to your visitors. This is great for creating large formatted slideshows, rotating through quotes, or providing tabbed content.
 

Drag and Drop Editor

The drag and drop editor is at the heart of our website building experience. While the editor will feel familiar to those of you who have used SnapPages in the past, it has been redesigned to be even easier and more streamlined than before. For instance, you can now easily jump back and forth between editing page content and your theme's design in the same editor. You can also preview what your website will look like on tablet and mobile screens with a single click.

All New Themes

Our new responsive system required us to go back to the drawing board with our themes. We've created several brand new modern themes, and there's a lot more on the way. The theme editing process has been simplified so that it's much quicker and easier to customize the look of your site. With our new Advanced account type, you can customize almost every aspect of your theme, all within the editor, and without the need for any coding.

Blogging

We spent a lot of time talking with bloggers and asking them what their dream blogging platform would look like. We have used that information and input to build our blogging tools. Some of the new features include blog index page layouts, advertisement injection points, and much more. Additionally, each blog post can now have it's own thumbnail image associated with it. This makes for a better visual experience for your visitors, and helps with sharing your blog posts on sites like Pinterest.

Form Builder

Generic contact forms are a thing of the past. Our new built in form builder allows you to customize what information you want to gather from visitors. There are many pre-formatted input types to choose from, and of course, all the forms are fully responsive so they will be easy for your site's visitors to fill out from any device.

Consolidated Interface

What does this mean and why should you care? Our whole user interface has been simplified so you can spend less time jumping back and forth between different features and more time on getting straight to the core features you use the most. Our page editor and theme editor are now combined into one. Image and other file storage management is built directly into the Dashboard instead of separate apps. These are just a few examples, but you get the idea.

 

What about existing SnapPages accounts?

The good news is that if you have an older 1.0 or 2.0 Snappages website, nothing will be affected with this update. Your website will continue to be supported and appear online and you can keep updating the site just like you always have. The bad news is that SnapPages 3 is so dramatically different, that there was no way to make it backwards compatible with older websites.

But why?
This was a very hard decision to make, but in the end, we know it was the right thing to do to as we move forward. Trying to make older websites compatible with the new system would have greatly limited what we could do with 3.0. If want to take advantage of the features of 3.0 you will need to setup a new 3.0 account and migrate your content over.

We know you will have more questions about this, so free to contact us and we'll be happy to walk through them with you.
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