In this third and final post of the series, we look at five more common misconceptions about Yola, site building and growing your business online.
Myth #9 – “Drag and drop websites all look the same.”
All of our website templates offer you complete flexibility in terms of the layout as well as the look and feel of your website. With our Style Designer, easily change site properties such as:
- the position of your logo.
- header and navigation layout
- color scheme
- font types, sizes and colors
- background images and more
Beyond layout and Style changes, updating copy and uploading images is easy. Customize your site by changing some (or all) of these elements to ensure your website is unique to your business and isn’t merely another face in the crowd.
Take a look at these three websites. All of these have been created on Yola using the same style, Skyline, and yet they look completely different. This shows the power of the Style Designer and how a unique look is fully achievable.
Myth #10 – “I need an HTML5 website builder.”
One of the main reasons why HTML5 is popular is because websites built using it render well on mobile devices. With mobile Internet usage set to increase in 2014, it’s more important than ever to have a mobile optimized website.
HTML5 is not the only option for a good mobile experience. At Yola, we have developed our Mobile Publishing solution that creates a version of your website specifically dedicated to making your website look satisfying on mobile phones and tablets. When your customers land on the mobile version of your Yola site, they will be able to view a map showing your business location, and be able to call you in just one click. With 74% of users saying they’re more likely to return to a mobile-friendly site in the future, it’s extremely important for you to give your users a positive mobile experience.
Myth #11 – “My business is very specific (e.g. a hairdresser) and I can’t get all the features I need using Yola.”
At Yola, we have all different types of businesses creating sites with us. We recognize that goals vary from business to business, and therefore have a variety of features useful to a wide range of customers. For example, we offer an appointment scheduling widget, allowing customers to schedule their own appointments on your website. This widget is ideal for hairdressers, beauty salons and any other types of businesses who keep scheduled appointments.
Our Online Store is another extremely versatile feature used by many types of businesses. We’ve seen personal trainers and gyms using it to sell class packages or equipment, apparel sites using it to sell clothing and accessories. Many customers also use it to sell virtual goods, such as ebooks or music.
Myth #12 – “You need to be a SEO expert in order to get found.”
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of getting your website found on Google and other search engines. There are simple things you can do while both planning and building your website to help improve your SEO.
- Know what keywords you would like to be optimized for and work them into your site’s content, page titles and page descriptions
- Choose a custom domain wisely
- Generate unique content regularly by starting a blog
It’s also important to remember SEO is not the only way to attract visitors to your website. There are many other ways to promote your website – for example, Facebook Marketing, Paid Search and local business directory listings could all be great ways to put your name on the map.
Myth #13 – “I like Tumblr but it will duplicate my content and therefore lead to bad SEO and less people finding you.”
One of the best ways to drive people to your website is to create content and start blogging. This is why we’ve created the Tumblr widget, allowing you to integrate your existing blog with your Yola website. That being said, duplicate content can be detrimental to your search engine ranking. You are correct in acknowledging that in using the Tumblr widget, your blog posts will appear on both your Tumblr page and your Yola website, therefore creating duplicate content.
There is a very simple solution to this – with the simple click of a button, stop search engines from indexing your blog, only allowing them to index the content on your website.
We hope these debunked myths have helped to get the most out of your Yola website. Check out Part 1 and Part 2 of the Yola Myths series as well if you haven’t already seen them.