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WooCommerce SEO – How To Make Your Store Rank High

Sam Mulaim — Sun, 09 Jun 2024 17:00:14 +0000

WooCommerce is a great WordPress plugin that can turn any website into an online store. It’s easy to set up, compatible with most plugins, and most importantly, it’s free.

Once you’ve set up your WooCommerce store, the next step is to optimize it for search engines. Thankfully, you don’t have to be an SEO guru to properly optimize your store to rank highly on searches.

In this SEO guide, we will share the steps you can take to make your WooCommerce store rank highly on search engines and a list of WooCommerce plugins to make it easier to do.

We’ve made this guide super easy to follow. So, even if you are just starting out on the web, you will catch up pretty quickly.

Table of Content

Why You Should Take WooCommerce SEO Seriously
Steps to Optimize your WooCommerce Store for Search Engine
Best WooCommerce SEO Plugins
Conclusion on WooCommerce SEO

Why You Should Take WooCommerce SEO Seriously

There are about 4.7 million WooCommerce stores running on the internet. For your store to be visible to your customers, you need to optimize it to outrank thousands of other websites in your niche. Here are some statistics that highlight the importance of WooCommerce SEO.

Nearly half of all online shoppers—44%—kick off their search with Google.
Organic searches account for 53.3% of total website traffic.
SEO drives over 1000% more traffic compared to organic social media.
An ecommerce site can lose 67% of organic traffic if it is on the second page of search results.
Over 70% of search engine users focus solely on organic results.

Another benefit of SEO is that the traffic coming from search engines has higher buyer intent. This means that people coming to your WooCommerce website from Google and other search engines are more likely to make a purchase.

Steps to Optimize your WooCommerce Store for Search Engine

Google ranks websites based on over 200 factors, according to Backlinko. To improve your WooCommerce store’s search engine ranking, you need to optimize for the following factors:

1. Write a Catchy Product Page Title

The first step in optimizing a store page is to write a catchy title. Product page titles appear bolded on Google search results.

A well-written title allows you to capture the attention of a prospective buyer, thereby driving more traffic to your store. Search bots also read the product page title to understand your webpage. So it is important to spice it up with relevant keywords.

Use clear, concise, and descriptive titles. Also make it catchy, precise, and short.

Here’s an article on how to write a catchy product description.

2. Add Compelling Meta Descriptions

Meta descriptions give a brief summary of what your product is all about on the SERP.

It’s the block of text you see beneath the product/page title, after the title link.

Just like product page titles, meta descriptions play an important role in eCommerce SEO. It’s where you give searchers more convincing reasons to visit your page. Your descriptions should be compelling and descriptive. It’s also essential to keep within the 160-character limit

To add a product page description, you first need to install an SEO plugin like Yoast SEO. Once you’ve installed and activated Yoast SEO, edit the product page you wish to edit. Then scroll down and click on Edit Snippet.

In the Meta description box, type in your desired description.

Then update your page/post.

Here’s the article on how to use meta description in WordPress.

3. Make Proper Use of Categories and Tags

Aggregating similar products on your website in the same category makes it easy for buyers to find their way around. And Google loves it when you do so.

Let’s say you sell men’s, women’s, and kids’ wristwatches, and you have them categorized accordingly. If a buyer makes a search for “men’s wristwatch”, your category pages for men’s wristwatch will pop up on Google. That way, the customer will have a plethora of options.

Here’s an example:

You could see the men’s watches collection (category), which appears when a buyer searches for “men’s watches.”

Another added benefit of the category is that it prevents your products from competing with each other for attention on SERP.

Adding categories and tags to WordPress websites is easy. To do this, go to Posts >> Categories or Posts >> Tags. Next, set a name for the new category. If there’s a parent category, specify it in the drop-down box.

Set a description, if you want to, and click Add New Category to create your new category.

Here’s a guide on how to create, edit, and assign WordPress categories.

So what about tags? Well, tags add extra bits of information to your products. Using the wristwatch example, your tags could be “Rolex”, “Tag Heuer”, “gold,” etc.

To add tags, click on the Tags tab and follow the same process to add new tags for your site.

Here’s an article on how to use WordPress tags on your website.

4. Optimize Your Product Slugs

In WordPress, slugs mean the URL to a page or post. They are sometimes referred to as permalinks.

The good thing about WordPress is that it automatically generates a slug for you when you publish a page or a post.

However, most times, these generated slugs aren’t particularly SEO-friendly, thus denying you enhanced eCommerce visibility.

As a rule of thumb, the slug for your products must be spiced with your focus keywords. Also, keep them descriptive.

To create your own slug, scroll down your post/page and click Edit snippet. Then set your slug.

To learn more about this, please read our article on WordPress slug.

5. Upload High-Resolution Images

Images are one of the most essential parts of an eCommerce state, as the right image can entice your customers to buy. But images are also essential for SEO.

Search engines give preference to websites with visually appealing, relevant, and high-resolution images because they increase user engagement and lower bounce rates. As such, it’s important to use high-resolution images and, when possible, use zoom and 360-degree view options.

It is, however, essential to be mindful of the image sizes. High resolution images often have large sizes, which can slow down the speed of your website. So its important to strike a balance between image quality and size.

6. Add Alt Text to Your Images

Oftentimes, prospective buyers search for products using the image search tool on Google. Now, if your product images aren’t properly optimized, they will never show up.

Secondly, search bots depend on alt texts to understand what an image is about.

There’s nothing hard about optimizing images. All you have to do is add alt text (alternative text) to your images. Like everything else, your alt text should be descriptive and contain your focus keywords.

WordPress provides you with a box to add an image alt text for each image you upload to your Media Library. You can also edit existing images and add alt text to them.

Here’s a guide on how to optimize image for web.

7. Implement Structured Data and Schema Markup for products

Google uses structured data to create rich snippets in the search results. Both structured data and schema markups allow you to provide more information about your page and product to search engines.

For example, you can add product details like prices, customer ratings, and availability, and they will be displayed alongside your product in search results. Adding structured data and schema markups to your WooCommerce page can increase your visibility.

An SEO plugin like Yoast SEO makes it easy to add schema markup and structured data to your web pages. Here’s a guide on how to add schema markup to your site.

8. Add Social Sharing Buttons

Social share is another essential factor Google uses for ranking product pages. Google loves websites that have traffic coming from other sources than search engines. Adding a share button allows your shoppers to share products on social media, which will drive in more traffic.

Here’s a guide on how to add shared buttons to your store.

9. Optimize Your Focus Keywords

Keywords are the bread and butter of SEO. They determine where and when your product appears in search engines. It’s important to do extensive keyword research and analysis before you start writing your product description. Here are some steps you can take:

Start by using tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Moz to find relevant keywords with high search volume and low competition.
Analyze competitors’ keywords to identify gaps and opportunities.
Leverage customer reviews and queries to find more natural keywords.
Implement keywords strategically in titles, meta descriptions, headings, and image alt texts.
Incorporate these medium- and long-tail keywords in product descriptions and categories to capture specific search queries.
Include location-specific keywords, if applicable.

10. Write a Detailed Product Description

The product description is the most important content on your Woocommerce product page. It not only convinces your buyers, but also allows search engine crawlers to understand what the page is all about and the keywords to rank it for.

It is important that your product description is compelling and should include all necessary product details. You should also incorporate all the relevant keywords naturally and use bullet points to improve the content’s readability.

Here’s a guide on writing a product description.

11. Make sure your WooCommerce Store is Secure

A secure website will rank a lot better on Google. As such, putting strong safeguards in place to stop SEO spam and hacks is crucial for WooCommerce store optimization. You can use security plugins like iThemes Security, Wordfence, or Sucuri to ensure all-encompassing protection. Also, ensure to update your plugins, themes, and WordPress to fix security flaws.

Use a strong WordPress password and set up two-factor authentication on all user accounts. Also, backup your website regularly and use SSL certificates. Here’s a guide on how to deal with WooCommerce security vulnerabilities.

12. Improve Navigation with Breadcrumbs

Search engines use breadcrumbs to help them understand the hierarchy of your website and to determine which pages are more important. Breadcrumbs also help your users navigate your website.

Most SEO plugins, including Yoast SEO, allow you to add breadcrumbs to your web pages. To improve SEO, include descriptive keywords in your breadcrumb links. Also, place the breadcrumbs prominently at the top of each page for easy access.

This guide explains how to add breadcrumbs to your site.

13. Make Your Product Page Mobile-friendly

Mobile friendliness is a major factor in SEO. Google has even rolled out a mobile-first indexing approach. You can use a tool like the Responsive Test Tool to check how your site looks on mobile. If your page looks good on mobile, then fine; otherwise, follow these steps to increase the mobile-friendliness of your eCommerce pages.

Use responsive web design to guarantee that pages adjust to different screen sizes. Here’s our list of the best 10 mobile friendly WordPress themes.
Create a simple, user-friendly menu so that each section is easily accessible.
Ensure the text has the right font size and line spacing to be readable on small screens.
Use sizable and easily tappable buttons to simplify actions and navigation.
Incorporate payment gateways that are optimized for mobile devices to ensure smooth transactions.
Use forms optimized for mobile devices and fewer steps to streamline the checkout process.
Use drop-down menus and autofill to simplify form filling on mobile devices.
Call-to-action buttons should be placed prominently and clearly to improve user engagement.
Test the compatibility of your website frequently across a range of mobile devices.

14. Optimize Your Website Loading Speed

Loading speed is an important ranking factor Google uses to decide which site comes on top. If you don’t want your competitors to win you out, you must take your site’s loading speed seriously.

The very first thing you have to do is check how fast your site loads. To do this, run your site on Google Pagespeed Insights. The tool can tell you how fast your page loads and how to improve your site speed. Here are some steps to increase your site’s speed:

i. Compress your images: One of the easiest things you can do to reduce loading time is to compress your images. Compressed images are lighter and load faster. Check out this article to learn how to enable GZIP compression in WordPress.

ii. Change your image format: image formats like WebP and HEIF offer the same quality of images at a much smaller file size. This article explains more about how to use WebP images to speed up your site.

iii. Use a CDN: You can also use content delivery networks to serve your content to your visitors. CDN services reduce loading time by serving the content of your site from servers nearest to your visitors. Check out our list of the best content delivery networks.

iv. Choose the Right Hosting Solution: Your choice of a hosting provider affects your website’s performance in more ways than you may think. Going for any cheap WordPress hosting solution, such as shared hosting, can lead to frequent downtimes. Something you definitely wouldn’t want for your business.

The best thing to do is to go for dedicated WooCommerce Hosting solutions. This type of hosting, though quite similar to managed WordPress hosting, is specifically tailor-made for WooCommerce.

v. Get a Premium Theme: Finally, go for premium WordPress themes, especially if your business has started growing. Cheap themes can harm your site’s performance.

Here’s our ultimate guide on how to make your WordPress site’s loading speed faster.

15. Add a Blog to Your Store

A blog adds value to your WooCommerce store’s SEO by boosting the quantity of keyword-rich content on your website. Blogging is also an effective way to interact with your audience, establish authority, and boost traffic.

Consider writing about industry news and trends, producing product-related how-to guides, and showcasing customer success stories. Maintain a consistent publishing schedule, since consistency is essential. Prioritize producing unique, high-quality content, and don’t forget to organically incorporate relevant keywords.

16. Embed Customer Testimonials

Embedded customer testimonials help search engine optimization by increasing trust signals and allowing you to add keywords naturally. You can use social media to collect and display testimonials, offer incentives for submitting reviews, or follow up with letters asking for feedback.

Use both text and video formats in these testimonials, and make sure to feature them prominently on your website. Emphasize particular benefits and outcomes that clients have encountered to boost their relatability and persuasiveness. Here’s a list of the best WordPress testimonial plugins to add testimonials to your store.

17. Add Video Content

Adding video content to your store can boost engagement metrics like time on page and decrease bounce rates—both of which are good signals to search engines.

Consider producing industry-related instructional content, customer testimonials, behind-the-scenes tours, and product demos. Aim for SEO-friendly titles, descriptions, and tags for your videos, and keep them short and direct.

Here’s a guide on how to embed videos in WordPress.

18. Track Your Stats on Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a great webmaster tool you need to keep track of your website’s statistics. It provides you insights into the behavior of your website’s visitors.

Though Google Analytics will not directly improve your site’s visibility on SERPs, it will provide you with the data and guidance you need to rank your site better.

For better eCommerce visitor tracking, you can install Google Analytics together with Monsterinsights, a Google Analytics plugin.

Best WooCommerce SEO Plugins

The success of your WooCommerce SEO efforts is also affected by your choice of plugins. These plugins were specifically created to do the heavy lifting for you.

Here is a list of plugins that can help increase your visibility on search engines.

i. Yoast WooCommerce SEO Plugin

Yoast SEO is a behemoth when it comes to search engine optimization. The plugin comes in two variations: regular and WooCommerce. If you run a regular website or blog, the former would suffice. But we will be spotlighting the latter: Yoast WooCommerce SEO plugin.

So, what can this plugin do for you? Quite a lot! We mentioned a few things you can do with Yoast earlier. Here are others:

Page preview on Facebook and Twitter. Want to know how your product pages will be displayed on social media? Yoast can help.
Internal link optimization. Internal linking is very important in SEO, so you need to get it right.
24/7 support for up to a year.

ii. All-in-One SEO Pack

Maybe you are just starting out, and so you don’t have the upfront capital to invest in a premium plugin like Yoast. All-in-one SEO is where you can look. This plugin has all you will ever need to optimize your WooCommerce products. Here are a few features of the plugin that might be of interest to you:

Automatic Meta tags generation: That is, you only get to write product descriptions, and the Meta tags are generated for you.
Beginner friendly
Automatically submits your sitemap to Google
Optimizes your SEO titles for better visibility
Can be integrated with Google Analytics
Supports AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages). It is great if you are looking to attract more mobile users to your site.

All-in-One SEO has a premium version with lots of loaded benefits. This allows you to optimize your product categories, control how your product pages appear on Facebook, and do so much more.

iii. The SEO Framework

One important feature you need to be on the lookout for when choosing a plugin is speed and lightness. Thankfully, the SEO Framework plugin combines both features.

Here are a few takeaways about the plugin:

It saves you an intense amount of time by automatically generating meta tags for you.
Once you have the plugin installed, everything you need to make SEO a success is automatically set up for you. All you need to do is tweak things.
Automatically notifies Google as well as Bing search bots when you make a change to your website.
Designed for speed and performance
It allows you to share posts and product pages to Facebook, Discord, etc. at the click of a button.

This eCommerce SEO plugin comes with extensions to better improve your visibility on SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages).

For instance, it has an extension called Local. This is an excellent solution if you are looking to target a market within a particular locality.

iv. Jetpack

Though more of a performance and security plugin, Jetpack also performs well when it comes to SEO. At least you need to keep your site safe from malicious attacks.

It has a free and paid version. The free version offers you quite a lot. For instance, it gives you access to your website’s statistics, thus helping you understand your audience preferences.

Additionally, the plugin comes with numerous pre-built themes you can choose from to improve your website’s user experience.

In the paid version, you can connect your website to advertising programs like AdSense, AOL, Amazon, Facebook ads, etc.

Conclusion on WooCommerce SEO

Improving your website’s visibility on search engines is a serious matter, and it should be treated as such.

In this guide, we have shared with you tested and proven tactics for making a WooCommerce store rank highly on search engines. We also listed the top WordPress SEO plugins to give your WooCommerce store a better ranking.

Now is the time to take action. Read through the article again, and implement each of those steps to improve the ranking of your WooCommerce store. If you need help implementing these SEO strategies, our WooCommerce expert assistance team can guide you through the optimization process.

If you want to learn more about WooCommerce, then head over to our WP College to find more exciting tutorials.

You can also reach out to us if you need to optimize your WooCommerce store. Our team of WordPress experts is available to provide all the help you need. Contact us for a free WooCommerce stor review.

The post WooCommerce SEO – How To Make Your Store Rank High appeared first on FixRunner.com.

The 4 Strategies You Need for Lead Generation in WordPress

Mesheal Fegor — Sun, 26 May 2024 17:00:36 +0000

All businesses depend on attracting new customers and retaining old ones.

Before buying a product or a service, a customer goes through a series of touchpoints with the business, from the moment they become aware of their need/problem, until the buying decision.

These touchpoints can be mapped across the customer’s journey (often called a marketing funnel).

Now these maps may differ from B2B to B2C, and from company to company, and the length of their sales cycle may differ as well. But, at the end of the day, they have the same core design.

So let’s have a look at what will be discussed in this article:

Lead Generation
The Lead Generation Process
Lead Generation Strategies
Best Lead Generation Practices
Lead Qualification
Importance of Lead Qualification
How to manage Leads effectively
Generating Leads in WordPress
How to use forms to acquire Leads
Building Lead Generation Magnets and Landing Pages that convert
Do’s and Don’ts for Pop-ups
How to Leverage Chatbots on your site for Lead Generation
WordPress Plugins to use for Lead Generation
Conclusion

Let’s begin.

The most simple customer journey looks like this:

Before we discuss lead generation, it would be good to understand what a lead is.

A lead is an individual or organization that’s no longer anonymous. It has an interest in what you are selling and has shared contact information with you, such as: email, phone number, or even social media profile.

Lead Generation

Lead generation is the process of attracting and nurturing a customer’s interests in your company’s products and services.

The goal of this marketing process is to build the brand’s awareness, collect customer data, build loyalty and convert prospects into paying customers.

Lead generation is a strategy under the consideration stage. At this stage, the potential customers are already engaging with your brand via multiple channels: website, social media, events, etc.

The Lead Generation Process

Lead generation isn’t a single-step process. It is, however, a multiple-step process of attracting and converting potential clients. Let’s delve into them:

Research and Identify Your Audience

This is a vital step to take before trying to gather leads. It is important to understand your target audience profile. This includes their location, interests, budgets, social habits, typical customer needs, pain points, etc.

You can also use this stage to research your competition. Find out what they do better or why your offer stands out from theirs. Knowing all these will help you tailor your message to convince the audience.

Thankfully, with WordPress, there are plugins that can help you track these data. With a Google Analytics plugin, you will be able to track the kind of visitors that utilize your website and a whole lot more than that.

Create Great Content

This is another vital key to attracting leads. After identifying the needs of your target audience, use the information to create valuable and compelling contents. It can be in the form of blog posts, videos, eBooks or webinars. The most important thing is to add value to each piece of content in order to attract your leads.

One great plugin that helps you analyze your contents and gives suggestions on how to improve your content is the SEOPress plugin. It also comes with the necessary tools to manage and enhance your site’s seo.

Use a Lead Database

Now that you are getting leads, the next step is to create a lead database. This is an organized collection of information that stores the details of your customers. With it, business owners can keep a record of their contact information, their interest, interactions and the need for a follow-up.

The Lead Database is a handy tool that enables you to keep track of your customers and segment them based on their progress down the sales funnel. So we will recommend the OptinMonster plugin as it provides templates that enable you to create lead generation forms.

Qualify and Score Leads

This process allows you to determine which sales prospect will most likely become a paying customer. When qualifying leads, you are deciding if a client will fit the criteria of the company. Afterwards, the clients are scored based on how interested they are in the company’s product and services. A WordPress contact form plugin can help to make this process seamless.

Lead Generation Strategies

There are many ways you can generate leads. Let’s discuss some of the most common ways:

Content Marketing

This is a strategy that focuses on creating helpful and engaging information to attract your target audience. The contents can be in the form of articles, videos, blog posts, eBooks and more.

Content marketing gives you the chance to engage with your audience and gain their trust over time. As a result, they are encouraged to take action and make a purchase.

Content marketing is also a great way to build the brand’s visibility and helps to improve search engine rankings.

Email Marketing

This is a direct form of marketing as it involves sending compelling emails/campaigns to the clients. It is done with the aim of building rapport with clients, promoting products and services or updating them on news related to your business.

Email marketing also allows you to create customized contents tailored to each segment of your targets to allow for maximum engagement. Overall, it is a cost effective means of generating leads and driving engagement and sales.

Social Media Marketing

With the popularity and versatile use of social media today, it is only fitting to search for potential leads there. This strategy involves the use of social media platforms to interact with leads, market products and services and increase brand awareness.

Further, social media allows you to create content, engage audiences and run ads to generate more leads/sales. You can also partner with social media influencers who have a large following to help promote your brand to their audience.

Online Ads

Running sponsored ads is a great way to create brand awareness and reach your target audience. Ad services such as Google Adwords can help you display your business to potential clients who are already searching for what you offer.

Referrals

This is one free form of marketing that also works great. If you’re like many people, you would always look out for reviews before going ahead with a purchase. This is because you trust the unbiased opinion of a previous buyer to help with your purchase decision.

So, encourage your existing customers to leave a review for you. You can go further and offer a discount on their order for every friend they refer to your business.

Overall, Referral marketing is one great lead generation strategy as it shows your brand in a positive light.

Best Lead Generation Practices

If you want to get the most out of your lead generation practices, here are some practices you should follow:

Use your Data

To do this, gather information on your previous high performing generation methods. This can be your blog posts or video contents with high traffic, or emails that have a high-open rate. Figure out what you did differently.

So with this information at your fingertips, you will be able to know what resonates with your audience.

Practice Consistent Messaging

As you move your prospects through the sales funnel, ensure you send clear and consistent messages. Direct them through every action they should take throughout the process and provide value.

Your messages should also reflect everything your brand offers. From the blog posts to the product you intend on selling. This is to enable you to get your lead to the next stage in the sales funnel.

Develop Mouth-Watering Offers

It is important to provide befitting offers for each phase of the sales funnel. We say befitting because leads at different stages of the sales journey want different things.

For instance, a client who is just getting to know your brand might not be interested in a free demo/trial. They may, instead, go for an eBook or guide that provides them with enough value.

On the other hand, a client who is farther into the sales funnel might be interested in a free demo offer to get a hang of your products.

Use Clean Landing Pages

Whatever important information you want your visitors to see, put it at the top of your landing page. In addition, you should make it clear where you want them to input their contact information. All of these help to optimize your page for conversion.

Make use of Partners

Two heads are better than one right? Co-marketing helps to widen your audience reach. With the collective knowledge of both business partners, you will be able to excel in areas where you lack experience.

In addition, you can tap into each other’s customer base, allowing you to attract new leads.

Lead Qualification

Lead Qualification is the process of accessing a potential customer’s readiness to purchase from your brand. During this process, the sales team works together to collect and analyze a client’s information. Afterwards, they assess if the lead meets the ideal customer profile (ICP).

There are various types of lead qualification processes:

Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL)

Marketing Qualified Leads are customers that have shown a high level of interest in the company’s marketing efforts. They are the ones that engage your posts on social media, visit your website regularly, download resources but aren’t ready to have a sales conversation.

Sales Qualified Leads (SQL)

The Sales Qualified Leads are contacts who are interested in making a purchase and are ready to be contacted by the sales team. These ones are way ahead in the sales process than other leads.

Product Qualified Leads (PQL)

Product Qualified Leads are contacts who have already sampled your products via a free trial. It could also be a limited version of the company’s product with options for an upgrade.

These ones have already experienced the worth of the company’s products/services and are now interested in being customers.

Importance of Lead Qualification

We have discussed some of the different types of lead qualifications there are in a sales process. But why is it important? For the simple fact that it saves your company time, effort and resources. Here are some other reasons:

Pick out Quality Leads

When you set a standard for lead qualification, it helps you to quickly identify prospects that are interested in buying what you are selling. This makes the filtering process easier, thus, allowing you to get contacts that are a good fit for your company.

Higher Conversion Rates

Qualified leads have a better chance of turning into customers. This is because the qualification process helps to target leads that are more likely to convert. Thus, the company’s sales representatives can focus on attending to leads that have a higher chance of paying.

As a result, the company sees an increase in conversion rates and revenue.

Greater Productivity in Sales

With qualified leads as the priority, the company’s sales reps are able to elevate their productivity and effectiveness. This is because they would not be wasting their efforts on leads that are not a good fit for the company. As a result, there is an increase in sales performance.

Better Sales and Marketing Alignment

To have a successful lead qualification process, the sales and marketing teams must have “all hands on deck”. This collaboration will enable them to work together effectively to make sure their goals are aligned.

As a result, the teams are able to work towards attracting, nurturing and converting leads into paying customers.

Improved Customer Service

During the lead qualification process, you get to have constant engagement with the prospects. This will enable you to understand your customers’ needs better and provide personalized solutions for them.

As a result, you will be able to build a stronger relationship with your customers.

How to Manage Leads Effectively

To avoid losing potential customers and revenue, it is crucial to track and maintain your leads effectively. By using the right strategies, you will be able to enhance your lead management and improve your business.

So, here are some strategies you can apply to enhance lead management process in WordPress:

Segmentation of Leads

This is the first step in the lead management process. Lead Segmentation, also known as Customer/Market/Audience Segmentation is the grouping of customers into different categories.

Each segment can be based on a number of criteria such as behaviors, demographics and purchase history. This practice enables you to tailor your marketing strategies to match the client’s needs and interests of each segment.

Thankfully, the WordPress CRM provides a variety of tools that allows you to segment your leads. Some of them include custom fields, filters and tags. You can use these tools to create targeted lists of leads, depending on the criteria you chose for your business and audience.

Lead Scoring and Prioritization

With Lead Scoring and Prioritization, you will assign value (numerical) to each lead. The values are assigned based on the behavior and interest of the leads. These can be their level of engagement with your site, contents viewed or downloaded, and their level of response to your marketing messages.

After these data has been collected, you can then prioritize the leads that are most promising and increase your chances of success.

A WordPress contact form plugin can serve as a lead scoring tool. With it, you can easily automate this process. Firstly, you will have to define the factors that will determine a lead’s score. Afterwards, you can use the lead scoring tool to assign points to each lead based on their behavior.

As a result, you will be able to identify the leads that have higher chances of converting into sales.

Lead Nurturing

The next step in the lead management process is the Lead Nurturing. This strategy involves building relationships with the prospects to get them to become paying customers.

In Lead Nurturing, the sales team takes note of the needs of the prospects. Next, they provide information that addresses that need as regards the products and services offered by the business. As a result, the sales team is able to boost the chances of the customer making a payment.

With a lead generation plugin, you can get tools that will help you to implement lead nurturing. Some of the plugin features email marketing, social media integration and custom automation workflows.

So create a targeted messaging strategy that tailors to the needs and interests of each criteria. You can also provide educational resources, offer personalized product recommendations or even spotlight positive reviews from customers. The plugin can then create workflows that will deliver the messages to the leads.

Automated Lead Nurturing

As its name implies, Automated Lead Nurturing is the automation of the lead nurturing process. This strategy uses email campaigns and follow-up personalized messaging to help prospects down the sales funnel. It also helps the company save time and resources and reach potential clients at the right time.

To achieve this, you can create targeted email campaigns that are activated by specific lead behavior. So new leads can receive a welcome email, a follow-up email after a content has been downloaded and a marketing email after they’ve viewed a product.

Afterwards, the WordPress CRM’s automation tool is used to automatically activate these emails. It then delivers the appropriate message based on the lead’s behavior.

Now, we’re going to talk about how to gain leads from your WordPress website. In the end, most of your marketing efforts (paid ads, SEO optimized blog articles, social media, etc.) will drive website visitors. Some of these visitors ideally will be converted into leads, and then customers.

Let’s dig in.

Generating Leads in WordPress

Here, we outline five WordPress strategies to kickstart your B2C or B2B lead generation strategy:

how to use forms to acquire leads
how to build lead magnets and landing pages that convert
do’s and don’ts for pop-ups
how to leverage chatbots on your site
what WordPress plugins to use for lead generation

How to Use Forms to Acquire Leads

When can you use forms? Let’s check the most popular use cases out there:

When you want to acquire newsletter subscribers
Or when you have gated content: case studies, ebooks, reports
When you register people for an event: webinar, online summit, etc.
On your “Contact us” page
Inside pop-ups that promote your newsletter subscription or latest ebook
When you want to schedule visitors to a product demo

Which are the main elements of a form? The form fields and a call to action (CTA). The form will need to push the collected data in a CRM or your own database.

Now, let’s examine a form to help you understand best practices:

Source: https://www.abtasty.com/blog/4-strategies-b2c-lead-generation/

There are plenty of form fields, the question is, might this discourage the visitor from signing up?

Well, if you’re in B2C, selling clothing for example, you might need only the gender and email so that you can send out your newsletter for women.

In B2B, it will be different. You must qualify your contacts before going into some other marketing and sales actions. For example, knowing the role of the visitor might be vital to the messaging.

If you know that the visitor is a decision maker in Marketing, the email sequences that will follow this submission should be personalized according to the pain points in this role.

Whatever the case, the minimum number of fields should be used to capture the details of the lead if you want more signups.

Let’s look at an example from Keap:

Source: keap.com

They want to schedule visitors to a product demo. And what do you think will be on the mind of their site visitors? Saving time and doubling revenue, right? Of course!

The approach here is going straight for scheduling the demo, no text input fields whatsoever. But, they are also offering an incentive: a free eBook copy. And the face on the left, makes the experience a bit more humane.

Now, data has proven that the conversion rate for forms decreases as the number of form fields increase. So, you should A/B test it and find out what works for you. In the end it’s a business choice – do you want to select your prospects, and qualify them from the start, or do you qualify later on?

You could also use data enrichment tools like Clearbit, or Albacross to get more data from a person based on some reverse IP engineering techniques. This means that you can eliminate form fields such as country, company, and even job title.

Ok, enough with the forms fields.

Going back to the first form above, on the left you have some social proof: stats and logos (nice touch). The purpose of the form was to acquire contacts for demo requests. This means you can show this to people who have proven some buying intent, and who need some convincing that you’re worthwhile. Social proof is something that helps bring trust and knowledge to the equation.

This is also a best practice for CTAs as well. Place some testimonials, case studies, or logos, before your CTA. It will grow your chances for a click, or form submission.

And this leads us to our next pit stop: lead magnets and their landing pages.

How to Build Lead Generation Magnets and Landing Pages that Convert

A lead magnet is an incentive that marketers offer to their website visitors or prospects in exchange for their email address (usually). Lead magnets can be also called gated content. They come in different shapes: free PDF checklist, free PowerPoint templates, reports, eBooks, case studies, etc.

You can also use quizzes to generate leads as DoFasting does. It promotes a quiz on its homepage and blog posts. When people finish taking the quizzes, it creates a unique report based on their answers and offers it in exchange for a sign-up. As it is a custom report, it can generate more leads than a generic lead magnet like an eBook.

Usually, you need a landing page to promote your lead magnet.

Now, before creating such a lead magnet, you need to really know your buyer persona, and his/her pains. Your lead magnet should come with the solution for such a pain, and should be convincing enough so that they will exchange contact information for your lead magnet. This means that quality and usefulness should be your focus.

Example of a Landing Page

Now, let’s analyze such an example from the landing page masters themselves: Unbounce. They are promoting their lookbook for e-commerce: “What’s a Great Ecomm Landing Page Look Like? You’re About to Find Out”.

Source: https://unbounce.com/ecommerce-lookbook/

First, your header should be explanatory. Here is a guideline for writing powerful headers.

Next, the form is above the fold, next to a compelling image.

The copy on the left hand side is addressing a pain point: sales conversion, and providing a solution: high converting landing page examples.

If the visitor isn’t yet convinced, there’s more below:

Brands mentioned in the lookbook

Short summary of the lead magnet

Convincing data

Testimonial/quote

These are the most important sections of a high converting landing page.

In B2B, you can have more types of lead magnets, that can be addressed to more buyer personas, and personalized based on the customer journey.

You can have webinars on generic topics, for brand awareness, or case studies for those prospects with high intent.

Based on the location of the visitor on your website, you can place smart CTAs to drive them to specific landing pages.

Let’s say:

They are browsing blog articles related to fintech, why not place a CTA with your latest banking report?

Source: https://www.netguru.com/blog/fintech-startups-going-public

They are reading an article on UX design, why not guide them with a contextual CTA to your latest case study on how you did UX design for “X”?

Personalization is key, especially in B2B, where traffic can be scarce, and you can’t afford to lose sight of your website visitor. This leads us to our next subject.

Do’s and Don’ts for Pop-ups

No, pop-ups aren’t dead. Yeah, we know most designers hate them, but they can be valuable when used wisely. Personalization and timing are again the key.

Remember the Unbounce example from above? They have created a pop-up for that in the shape of a top info bar guiding people to the landing page.

Nice and clean copy, good CTA. The only problem: they place it on the landing page as well.

Let’s check another one:

Source: keap.com

In this case, Keap is promoting an offer, and they are using a counter to induce FOMO (fear of missing out). The copy is quite convincing: “Your chance for great savings”.

Ok, so which are the good practices concerning pop-ups?

Make sure to use timing, show them when someone scrolls long enough, or stay more than “X” seconds on a page. You wouldn’t want to ruin the user experience.
Adjust the pop-up for desktop and mobile.
Personalize: don’t show a pop-up for your latest eBook on AI development, when they’re browsing for React development info.

Source: netguru.com

Personalize based on geos, returning vs new visitors, if they’ve seen your product pages or not, etc.
Don’t forget to give visitors a way to opt out.
A/B test! Are 15 seconds enough or you should go for exit intent pop-ups (these are our personal favorites)? Should you go for a full screen pop-up (we noticed Neil Patel was a fan)?

How to Leverage Chatbots on your Site for Lead Generation

There’s an eternal dispuse out there: forms versus bots. There’s no clear winner yet. But definitely you should give it a try, and see if this works for you.

According to Drift, before you define your chatbot strategy, you must understand:

Who are you talking to? Is it a returning visitor?
Where are they located on your website? Are they checking the product pricing?
Why should you engage with the visitor? Is it to lead them to one of your sales reps or to provide them with some knowledge?

Source: Drift.com

Yes, all the roads lead to…personalization.

What can you do Inside a Chatbot?

Offer an incentive in order to get their email address (lead generation)
Find out what the visitor is looking for (prepare dropdown with options)
Guide them to resources (blog, landing pages)
Get feedback

Source: drift.com

Send the visitor over to a human for real interaction (support, sales reps)
Offer a discount
Offer a lead magnet
Find out more about the visitor with the purpose of lead scoring (ask questions such as: company size, job title…)

Drift has even made a survey and found out what people use a chatbot for:

Chatbots are becoming more popular across B2Bs with the purpose of accelerating deal cycles.
When creating your lead generation chatbot, keep the following in mind:

Use a language that matches your buyer persona (don’t be too informal if that’s not needed)
Have a fallback if the person wants to talk to a real human instantly
Let users know that they are interacting with a bot
Have a different approach for new and returning visitors. Returning visitors know you better than the new ones, you can behave more familiarly.
Ask qualifying questions if your bot is placed on high intent pages (careful though! Things can get tricky on these pages, and you need to balance things a bit. You wouldn’t want to ruin the experience, and lose them).

You can use a bot as a second net option on a landing page that also has a form
Personalize (use the person’s name, or the company name)

If you need inspiration in making the copy for your chatbots, here’s a great collection of bots.

Wow, we’ve gone a long way, haven’t we?

Time to talk about some tools that can let you achieve some of the above.

WordPress Plugins to use for Lead Generation

We’ve almost reached the end of our journey. Here, we present 3 plugins (in addition to those previously mentioned) that can help you with: forms and pop-up creation, and chatbot implementation.

If you don’t know how to add a WordPress plugin, here’s a complete guide.

WordPress Forms Plugin – Forminator PRO

Source: https://premium.wpmudev.org/project/forminator-pro/

This plugin enables you to create and manage forms for lead generation. It is a great option as it offers:

Pre-designed templates
Tons of third party integrations, so you can connect it to your favorite CRM or email tool
Conditional logic, dynamic pre-filling, and multi-step options
You can create polls & quizzes
You can configure email routing and conditional emails

WordPress Pop-up Plugin – Convert PRO

The Convert Pro plugin enables you to create popups in your WordPress pages. It is likewise an ideal option for this purpose.

It has pre-designed templates
You can create mobile friendly pop-ups
There are type of pop-ups available, from sliders, info bar to light-boxes

There are lots of triggers to choose from

You can use your own code
It has tons of third party integrations, so you can connect it to your favorite CRM or email tool
You can do A/B tests

WordPress Chatbot Plugin – Drift for WordPress

Source: drift.com

Before installing this plugin, you will need to set up a Drift account. See the installation steps.

Drift is a great option because:

There are a lot of targeting options
It has if-then branches
You can build bots by dragging and dropping specific sections
It has great reporting
You can identify buyers using Use Drift Intel (it provides data enrichment info)

Wrapping Up

To sum up, no matter the strategy you want to use, or the tools you employ, transparency and building trust are a must.

In B2B, where the sales cycles are long, content is still king. People are still sharing their contact details if you are willing to provide them with real value and solutions to their pains.

Figuring out how to generate leads takes time and A/B tests (if you have enough traffic). Don’t trust those saying that forms or pop-ups are dead. They can work if used wisely, and the performance varies from niche to niche.

So with all that said, happy lead generation, folks!

The post The 4 Strategies You Need for Lead Generation in WordPress appeared first on FixRunner.com.

Contact Form 7- How to Install, Setup, and Use

Mesheal Fegor — Sat, 11 May 2024 07:00:26 +0000

Contact Form 7 is one of WordPress’s most popular plugins for creating and managing forms. The plugin helps over 5 million WordPress website owners collect valuable data and stay in touch with their visitors.

One feature that makes Contact Form 7 stand out from all other form plugins for WordPress is its remarkable simplicity. You can easily set up the form fields and customize the templates, even if you are a newbie.

This article will explain how you can create forms with Contact Form 7.

Installing Contact Form 7 on WordPress
How to Create a Form With Contact Form 7
How to Create Your Form from Scratch
How to Insert Your Form
How to Add Conditional Fields to Your Form
8 Extensions To Improve the Functionality Of Contact Form 7
Other Important CF7 Options
How to Improve Engagement and Optimize the Performance of Your CF7 Forms
Troubleshooting Common Contact Form 7 Issues
Conclusion

Installing Contact Form 7 on WordPress

If you are just starting, this video explains how to install and configure Contact Form 7.

Steps to Install Contact Form 7

The first step to using Contact Form 7 is to install the plugin on your website. To do this, go to Plugins >> Add New.

Next, search for “Contact Form 7” using the search function.

When you find the plugin, click on the Install Now button to install it.

Once you’ve installed the plugin, click to Activate it.

With Contact Form 7 installed and activated, you are now ready to start creating your forms. But first, let’s look at the plugin’s major features that make it stand out.

Installing Contact Form 7 is simple, but managing the plugin over time requires regular updates to maintain compatibility with your theme and other plugins. Our WordPress site maintenance services offer the peace of mind that your contact form and other critical plugins are regularly maintained.

How to Create a Form with Contact Form 7

To create your very first form with Contact Form 7, navigate to your WordPress dashboard and go to Contact >> Contact Forms.

Using the Default Form

CF7 comes with a default contact form named “Contact Form 1.” If you don’t have the time to create a new contact form and want something quick, you can go with this default form.

It contains all the basic fields you want for a contact form.

To use the form, copy the generated shortcode and paste it to the page/post you want the form to appear in.

How to Create Your Form from Scratch

To create your custom form, go to Contact >> Add New

This will take you to the “Add New Contact Form” page where you can create forms, synchronize your mail, format your message body, and more.

To create a form, start by entering the title/name of the form in the title field.

Let’s say you want to create a form for customers to inquire about a product or service. Here are the steps to follow:

Step 1. Form Tab

To get started, click on the “Form” tab (if it isn’t already selected). The tab allows you to set the fields for your form.

Configure Existing Form Fields

By default, Contact Form 7 typically comes with some basic fields like name, email, subject, message, and submission button tags/fields.

You need to decide which of these fields you want in your form. If you don’t want any of these fields, delete them. You can also modify the existing fields. You can change the name of the field and its label.

For instance, you can change the call-to-action message in the submit button from “Submit” to “Send”.

Insert New Form Tags

Let’s say these default fields are not enough, you can add new tags to the form.

For instance, if you want to collect the phone numbers of anyone who submits the form, you just need to add a tel field. To do that, place your cursor where you want the field to appear and click on the tel button.

Doing this will launch a popup box where you can customize your field.

First, check the “field type” box to make the field ‘Required’. A required field must be filled for the form submission to work. If users don’t fill in the required field, they won’t be able to submit the form. The “required” status of a field is indicated by an asterisk (*).

In the Name field, set a name for the newly created form field. This is the name that you will use to identify the field. Feel free to use what suits you best. In this example (image above), we used telephone-number.

The default value box is where you can set the value that the form field should have. This value appears by default in the field, but the user can imut in a new value.

If you are an advanced user, you can set an ID attribute or class attribute.

Click the Insert tag button once done.

Next, like other fields, you will need to wrap a label tag around this new Tel field.

And with that, we have added a telephone field. Follow the same steps to add other custom fields like a dropdown menu, date, radio, etc.

Step 2: Set Up Mail

Now that you have created the form, the next step is to get it to function exactly as it should, starting with the Mail tab, which allows you to set where emails regarding your forms are sent.

Here are the various fields in the Mail tab and how you can best fill them out.

To: (recipient) – This is where you enter the email where you want messages about your contact form sent. The email is sent to the site administrator’s email by default.

From: (sender) – This field contains the details of the person who sent a message from your WordPress site. You can change the email manually or type in the tag [your-email] to automatically use your email as the sender.

Other fields: To retrieve the subject field, insert the subject tag – “[your-subject]” – into it.

You can leave the Additional Headers and Message Body sections just the way they are or add text and other tags as needed. With that, you are done with the mail section.

Step 3. Set Up Messages

For a better user experience, you will want your form to display a message when a user completes an action. For example, you may want to show confirmation to inform users that their form has been successfully submitted. Similarly, you want error messages to appear when they make mistakes.

The Messages tab allows you to set up these notifications.

The default values will suffice. But you can always change them to what you want.

But be sure to click the Save button after making any necessary changes.

Step 4: Additional Settings

The additional Settings tab allows you to add code snippets to customize your forms further. For example, you can add the snippet subscribers_only: true if you want only subscribers to be able to fill out and submit the form.

And that is it. You have successfully created your form. Next, let’s look at how to insert your form using shortcodes.

How to Insert Your Form

To access the form you have just created, go to Contact >> Contact Forms. Then copy the generated shortcode for your contact form.

Now, locate the page you want the form to appear and open it for editing. Paste the shortcode where you want the form to appear.

Hit Preview Changes to see how the form would display.

If all looks fine, go on and click Update to publish your contact form. Also remember to run tests on the form to ensure it is working and send email alerts as required.

How to Add Conditional Fields to Your Form

Conditional fields are fields that only appear based on a WordPress user response.

For example, let’s say you wish to know how a user found out about your website. You can list out several options like emails, online ads, referrals, and ‘others’ in your form.

If a user chooses “others”, a field would typically appear that says “please specify.” It won’t appear if a user chooses a different option. This is an example of a conditional field. Here’s how you can add conditional fields to your CF7 forms.

Step 1. Install and Set Up Conditional Fields for Contact Form 7

To add conditional logic to your forms, you will need to first install and activate the Conditional fields for Contact Form 7 plugin. This plugin allows you to create a group of fields that do not appear until a set condition is true.

Step 2. Add Drop-down Menu

Once you install and activate the plugin, a new Conditional fields tab will be added.

To add a conditional field, you first need to decide which fields you want to add.

In this example, we want to create an option that allows users to specify where they found the website.

To get started, click on the drop-down menu tag to add a dropdown field.

In the dialog that pops up, add a name for the drop-down tag. There should be no spaces in the name. Next, enter the various options you want to show into the “Options” input box as shown below.

Then click Insert Tag.

Once the tag is inserted, add a label as shown below.

Step 3. Add Conditional Field

Next, add a Conditional Field Group field. Enter a name for the group and click Insert Tag.

An opening and closing pair of group tags will be added to the editor.

Anything in between the opening and closing group tags will only be shown when “Other” for your form. And this brings us to the next step.

Step 4. Insert Tags in the Group

Place your cursor in between the opening and closing group tags and click to add the text tag. This is the text box that will be displayed when someone makes the “Others” selection.

In the dialog box that opens, enter a name for the text input, and click Insert Tag.

Again, wrap the text field in a label as shown below.

Now save the form.

Step 5. Add Conditional Logic

With that done, you can finally set the conditions so that when a user selects “Others”, the field within the conditional group will be displayed.

To do this, switch to the “Conditional fields” tab and click add new conditional rule.

Click the Show option and select the group you created earlier. Choose the field you created earlier for the if option.

So the structure will look something like this: Show [show-when-other-selected] if [find-out-about-us] equals [Others]

Once you are done, click on the Save button.

And that’s it. You’ve added conditional fields to your form. You can use the shortcodes to display your form anywhere on your site.

Extensions To Improve the Functionality Of Contact Form 7

Contact Form 7 can do a whole lot more than just collect messages and sender details. However, for this to happen, you will need to install a couple of form extensions to enhance its functionality.

Below are the top Contact Form 7 plugins to add more functionality to your website.

1. Really Simple CAPTCHA

Really Simple CAPTCHA is an innovative solution developed to keep spammers and spambots in check. Without them, your inbox would be run over by a ton of spam emails.

Developed by the same author as Contact form 7, this plugin is very simple to use, hence its name.

2. Drop Uploader for CF7

What if you wanted users to submit file attachments while sending a message via your contact form? Maybe you put a vacancy post, and would like applicants to send their resume along with the applications.

Unfortunately, CF7 has no file uploads feature. The only way to make this happen is via an add-on. Drop Uploader for CF7, a premium addon, can get the job done.

One of the very cool features of this plugin is that it lets you determine where files are stored when users submit their messages. You have the option of using Dropbox or your Google Drive.

3. Ultimate Addons for Contact Form 7

Ultimate Addons For Contact Form 7 is a must-have plugin that supplements Contact Form 7. It has over 30 critical features like Mailchimp, Conditional Fields, Redirection, WooCommerce, Multi Step Forms, and more. This plugin will greatly improve the functioning of your website’s forms generated using Contact Form 7.

4. Drag and Drop Multiple File Upload – Contact Form 7

Drag and Drop Multiple File Uploader is a simple, straightforward WordPress plugin extension for Contact Form7, which allows the user to upload multiple files using the drag-and-drop feature or the common browse-file of your webform.

5. Multi Step for Contact Form 7

Multi Step for Contact Form 7 turns long and boring CF7 form fields into exciting multi-steps forms. Assume you have a form with 20+ fields. This can put off your viewers and make them stop the process halfway. With the Multi Step for Contact Form 7, you can transform your lengthy contact form into a multi-step form.

The plugin would allow you to break the form into several easy to fill-out pages to make the process easier for your users.

6. Contact Form 7 Database Addon – CFDB7

Do you want to save or even export your Contact Form 7 data? The CFDB7 plugin can help you achieve this. The plugin saves Contact Form 7 submissions in your WordPress database and allows you to export the data as a CSV file.

Once you install the plugin, it will automatically start capturing form submissions from Contact Form 7 and save the submission data to the database.

7. Redirection for Contact Form 7

Oftentimes you want to redirect users to a different webpage after they fill out your forms. Redirection for Contact Form 7 allows you to do that.

8. Contact Form 7 – PayPal & Stripe Add-on

Contact Form 7 – PayPal & Stripe Add-on allows you to integrate PayPal and Stripe payment to your CF& forms. The plugin allows you to add and configure the payment structure for each form. So when a user clicks on the submit button, they are redirected to either the PayPal or Stripe payment pages where they can make payments for your product or services.

Other Important CF7 Options

In this section, we will cover a few common how-tos and settings you would use often in Contact Form 7.

How to Link CF7 to MailChimp

Mailchimp is a popular marketing tool that can be integrated with Contact form 7. If you have a Mailchimp account and would like to integrate it with CF7, first install and activate Contact Form 7 Mailchimp Extension.

With the plugin installed and activated, head over to your Mailchimp account and copy your API key.

Then go back to WordPress admin area. Navigate to Contact >> Contact forms, and select a form. Click on ChimpMatic Lite tab, and paste your API key.

Finally, click on the blue connect button, and you are all set.

How to Improve Engagement and Optimize the Performance of Your CF7 Forms

When creating forms, it’s important to make them easy to understand and fill-out. You also want the form to be visible to more people. Here are some steps you can take to improve your form’s engagement and optimize its performance.

Steps to improve CF7 engagement:

Evaluate the need for each field and reduce the number of fields to only include what’s necessary. Having too many fields can lower engagement.
Use a compelling Call To Action (CTA) that conveys the benefits of completing the form. E.g: “Request a Quote” or “Get Started.”
Position contact forms strategically on high-traffic pages and use sticky headers for persistent visibilities as users scroll.
Offer incentives or access to premium to entice users to complete forms.
Include social proofs like testimonials and clients logos to improve trusts.

Steps to improve CF7 Performance:

Test different forms setup, placements and CTA to identify the one that performs best.
Implement caching to improve the form’s response time.
Only set validation rules when necessary and use simpler rules to ensure data accuracy.
Minify and Load CF7’s JavaScript and CSS files to lower their impact on page load times.
Regularly update WordPress and CF7 to maximize performance, fix bugs and improve security.
Choose themes and plugins that don’t clash with Contact Form 7.
Use tools like Google Pagespeed Insight or GTmetrix to identify and fix performance issues.

Troubleshooting Common Contact Form 7 Issues

Here are some common issues that arise when using Contact Form 7 and how you can solve it.

1. People are not filling out specific information you want

If you want specific information like phone number, emails or names filled out on your form, then you should make that field mandatory. To do that, simply add * to that field to require users to fill out that field before being able to submit their form.

2. My emails end up in the spam section:

Emails sent using Contact Form 7 may be rejected during the sending and receiving process and wind up in the spam folder for various reasons. Email servers all around the world have the option to just reject your message as malicious, and this often occurs because of the content of the email or the email address.

For instance, if your website is located at www.fixrunner.com, you should enter an email address such as yourname@fixrunner.com in the Mail tab’s From: box. If not, many mail receiving systems will reject the CF7 email as spam, or it will not send correctly on some hosting systems.

3. Email is not delivered due to hosting

Depending on your hosting provider, you may need to make changes to your WordPress installation to be able to send email. Read your hosting documentation or get in touch with them to find out about their email setup.

If your hosting provider does not allow both wp_mail() and the regular PHP mail() method, you may need to use an SMTP to send emails on your site.

4. JavaScript Conflicts in Plugins/Themes

Contact Form 7, just like most WordPress plugins, sometimes conflicts with other themes or plugins. One typical sign of a JavaScript conflict between a plugin and theme in CF7 forms is a spinning arrow that keeps spinning after the form is submitted.

This usually means that there is a JavaScript issue with another JavaScript that is loaded on that page, which is preventing Contact Form 7’s JavaScript from finishing. You will need to find out the plugin causing the problem.

Deactivate all your plugins except Contact Form 7, and reactivate them one after the other to know which one conflicts with the plugin.

5. Securing Your Forms/Preventing spam

To secure your Contact Form 7, start by adding Google reCAPTCHA to stop bots. You can do this with any of the reCAPTCHA plugins we mentioned earlier. Also consider activating email validation to ensure only valid emails are submitted. Regularly update Contact Form 7 and WordPress to patch vulnerabilities, monitor your form for suspicious activity and update accordingly.

Conclusion

As a website owner, you need a way to listen to the requests of your clients and visitors. The easiest way to achieve this is by setting up contact forms on your site.

Contact Form 7 is a plugin solution you can count on. Not only is it effective, but it’s also free. So you don’t have to worry about making an upfront financial commitment before using the plugin.

But if you are skeptical about using CF7 form, there are other alternatives to Contact Form 7 solutions you can try. Examples are WP forms, Gravity forms, Ninja forms, and Formidable Forms. For more tips and tricks in WordPress, visit our WP College.

More Resources:

The post Contact Form 7- How to Install, Setup, and Use appeared first on FixRunner.com.

What are Dashicons and How to Use Them in WordPress

Sam Mulaim — Fri, 10 May 2024 01:00:36 +0000

With version 3.8 WordPress introduced Dashicons, the WP admin icon font set. The WordPress Dashicons are a set of over 300 font icons included in the WordPress core. Just like any other font icon, each font icon set contains symbols instead of letters and numbers.

These icons are high-quality SVG files, meaning they will scale to any size without any pixelization. Although these icons were added for Dashboard menu items, there is nothing stopping you from using them elsewhere. So you can use them for custom plugins, themes, admin panels, and front-end theme design.

To start using WordPress Dashicons, you have to do two things. First, enable Dashicons for the theme you are using. Then go to WordPress.org and find HTML or CSS code for the icon you plan to use. Yes, it’s that simple. So let’s go over how to do this in more detail.

Enabling Dashicons on the WP Front-end

Before you start using dashicons, you’ll have to enable them for the theme you are using. This is done by adding a small snippet of code to functions.php file. To do this, follow these steps:

First, in the WordPress Admin Dashboard, go to Appearance/Theme File Editor.
Then open functions.php file.
Next, scroll to the end of functions.php and add this code:

add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 'load_dashicons_front_end' );
function load_dashicons_front_end() {
wp_enqueue_style( 'dashicons' );
}

We recommend creating a child theme before you edit functions.php. If you edit the theme file directly and later on there is a theme update, then the update will override changes you made to functions.php. For this reason, it’s always better to have a child theme.

How to get Dashicons HTML and CSS Code

WordPress.org provides a dashicons library where you can find HTML and CSS code for every icon. Once you are on WordPress.org, look for Developer Resources: Dashicons or click on this link. Then follow these steps:

First, click on any icon that you like.
Then click on Copy HTML or Copy CSS depending on what you need.
A popup window with code will appear. Copy this code to the clipboard by pressing CTRL + C.

With Dashicons enabled and code copied to clipboard, all you need to decide is where to use Dashicons icons on your wp dashboard. For example, You can use them for post meta things like date, category, tag, or author. Also, maybe menu navigation or custom post types on the backend.

Display Dashicons Directly in Posts and Pages

If you want to add icons to posts or pages, this is easy. To do this, just add this code in the text editor:

class="dashicons-before dashicons-smiley">A Cheerful Headline

Or alternatively, you can use this code:

class="dashicons dashicons-smiley"> A Cheerful Headline

Then once you save your post and reload the page you should see the smiley icon.

Customizing Dashicons

In 2020, the Dashicons project stopped accepting new icon requests. As a result, you can only create a new icon by modifying one using CSS. Like a text, Dashicons can be styled by changing their size and color using standard CSS properties.

To change the size and color of an icon, you only need to place a code snippet in your site’s style.css file. Head on to Appearance >> Theme File Editor. Next, click on style.css. Paste the code at the bottom of the file:

.dashicons-{icon-name} { 
font-size: 50px; 
width: 50px; 
height: 50px; 
color: blue;
}

How to use WP Dashicons for Navigation Menu

The more useful example of using WordPress Dashicons is for the navigation menu. To add icons in menus follow these steps:

First, in the WordPress Dashboard go to Appearance/Menus.
Then add the HTML code of the menu icon you got from WordPress.org to the Navigation Label.

As you can see, adding an icon to a navigation menu is also simple. In case you need to display text next to the icon, just add text at the end of the Navigation Label field.

If everything worked correctly you will see the icon displayed on your home page navigation menu.

Using Dashicons on the Backend

In case you want to use different icons for custom post types, post titles, or widgets, this is even easier. There is no need to change functions.php file since this is on the backend of WordPress. So you can skip the first step we did. To make custom post type with custom icon, follow these steps:

- Go to WordPress Dashboard Appearance/Theme Editor.
- Next, open functions.php file.
- Then to register custom post type, add this code at end of the file:

function create_posttype() {

    register_post_type( 'movies',

       array(

            'labels' => array(

            'name' => __( 'Movies' ),

            'singular_name' => __( 'Movie' )

            ),

            'public' => true,

            'menu_icon' => 'dashicons-format-video',

            'has_archive' => true,

            'rewrite' => array('slug' => 'movies'),

       )

    );

}

add_action( 'init', 'create_posttype' );

When making your own post types you will want to change code for each post type. So for example to change the post type icons you need to change ‘menu_icon’ => ‘dashicons-format-video’ part of code. In case you don’t want to mess with code you can use the Custom Post Type UI plugin. However, just note that if you deactivate the plugin, you won’t have access to the custom post type you made with that plugin.

Embed Menu Icon in a Custom Post Type Using a Plugin

Using a plugin simplifies the whole process. So if you do not want to take the coding route, this is for you. For this tutorial, we will be using the Custom Post Type UI plugin.

To begin, go to Plugins >> Add New Plugin page on your WordPress dashboard. On the search field, type in the Custom post type plugin. Next, install and activate the plugin.

Upon activation, a menu item ‘CPT UI’ will appear in your admin menu.

Click on the Add/Edit Post Types, then, open the Edit Post Types tab. From the drop-down menu, select the custom post type you wish to modify.

Next, scroll down to the Menu Icon section. If you select the Choose dashicons button, you will get a box with different icons.

Simply pick an icon that fits the custom post type you created.

On the other hand, if you have an image you wish to use, click the Choose image icon button. This will allow you to import the image from WordPress media library.

Once you are done, scroll down and click the Save Post Type button to register your changes. The new icon should appear next to your custom post type.

How to Create a Shortcode

To make Dashicons easier to use for your clients, you can make shortcodes for Dashicons. To do this simply add this code to function.php file:

add_shortcode( 'dashicon', function( $atts ) {

    $atts = shortcode_atts( array(

        'icon' => 'menu',

    ), $atts, 'bartag' );

    if ( ! empty( $atts[ 'icon' ] ) ) {

        return ''icon' ] ) . '">';

    }

} );

Then, you can use shortcode like this one:

[dashicon icon=”format-video”]

Conclusion

In case you need some icons for a WordPress website, Dashicons are a good choice. But if you are doing backend WordPress development, you can keep the look of your WordPress Dashboard consistent by using the same font icon set as WordPress does.

If you are happy with Dashicons but you are missing some icon, you can request for more icons. The icon request process is done on github.com/WordPress. Also, if you want to add your icon to the Dashicons library, that is also possible through the GitHub page.

The dashicons icon set is somewhat limited and there are larger icon fonts out there. So if you need a bigger set of icons, we recommend Font Awesome. They offer a large selection of free icons. But if you need more icons, they offer more if you upgrade to the PRO version.

For more WordPress tutorials check the rest of our blog out here. If you have further questions write them in the comment section below. Have a great day!

Dashicons are a great tool for adding visual appeal to your WordPress site, but ongoing care is essential to ensure they work correctly over time. With WordPress maintenance plans, you’ll receive the support and updates needed to keep all your site features, including Dashicons, running smoothly.

More Resources:

The post What are Dashicons and How to Use Them in WordPress appeared first on FixRunner.com.

WordPress Meta Description – How to Use in WordPress

Mesheal Fegor — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 17:00:19 +0000

When it comes to Search Engine Optimization, there are things to do to improve your site’s ranking. Adding a WordPress meta description is one of those things.

Meta descriptions are short descriptions of a page or post.

When users make a Google search, they will see your meta description on the search result page along with your meta title, and post URL. The meta description tells readers what the page is about.

In this article, you will learn everything there is to know about WordPress meta description. We will look at how they affect your SEO and how you can create the ideal WordPress meta description.

Most importantly, you will get to learn how to add/optimize meta descriptions using Yoast SEO plugin and manually.

Table of Content

Why are WordPress Meta Descriptions and Keywords Important?
- Examples of Effective Meta Descriptions
Are Metatags Considered as Ranking Factors?
What Makes a Good WordPress Meta Description?
How to Add Meta Description in WordPress
- How to Add Meta Description with Yoast SEO Plugin
- How To Add WordPress Meta Description Manually without Plugin
Advanced SEO Tips for Meta Descriptions
Conclusion – WordPress meta description

Why are WordPress Meta Descriptions and Keywords Important?

When you publish a WordPress post, your ultimate goal, most likely, is to get as many eyes as possible on it. Unfortunately, the quality of your post content – no matter how good – won’t be enough to realize this goal. Considering the short attention span of the average web user, you need to hook them in quickly.

That’s where WordPress meta descriptions come into play.

Meta descriptions are HTML metatags, with a maximum length of 155 characters, added to the header section of your WordPress site. They tell a searcher if your content is worth spending time on or if they just have to move on.

A well-written meta description acts as the hook you need to get clicks to your pages and posts. And the more clicks your page and posts get, the higher your CTR (Click Through Rate).

But that’s not all meta descriptions do. They also inform search engine crawlers about the relevance of the page to help determine which content best fits the needs of a searcher.

To better understand the concept of meta-descriptions, consider the image below. The meta description is the text directly above the URL that shows a summary of the content of the post.

Another important thing to consider is meta-keywords. A meta keyword is the keyword(s) you use in the WordPress meta description. For example, in this screenshot below, the bolded text is the meta keyword, while the entire text beneath the URL is the meta description.

Getting your descriptions and meta keywords right from the get-go will go a long way in improving your website’s visibility on search pages. Below are some examples of meta descriptions.

Examples of Effective Meta Descriptions

Here are examples of meta descriptions for various use cases. You can use any of these as a template to create your meta descriptions.

Meta Description for E-commerce Product Page:

“Discover the new iPhone 15 Pro Max with cutting-edge features and stunning design. Capture breathtaking photos, and stay connected with fast 5G. Order now!”

Meta Description for Blog Post:

“Master the secrets of Instagram marketing with our detailed guide. Learn proven strategies, tips, and tricks to grow your following, and drive conversions.”

Meta Description for Service Page:

“Transform your home with our professional interior design services. Our team of experts can bring your vision to life. Schedule your consultation today!”

Meta Description for Local Business:

“Indulge in tasty Italian cuisine at our neighborhood trattoria. We offer a taste of Italy right in your backyard. Join us for a lovely dining experience!”

Are Metatags Considered as Ranking Factors?

From our discussion so far, you might have assumed that a well-optimized custom WordPress meta description will be used by search engines to rank your content. Sadly, it won’t.

Google, as well as other search engines, officially dropped meta keywords and descriptions as ranking factors sometime in 2009.

The question about the relevance of meta description for search ranking was also posed to John Mueller, a Senior Webmaster Trends Analyst, and Search Relations team lead at Google.

He was specifically asked whether “adding the location name in the meta description matters to Google in terms of ranking if the content quality is maintained?”

In responding, John Mueller said “The meta description is primarily used as a snippet in the search results page. And that’s not something that we would use for ranking. But obviously, having a good snippet on a search results page can make it more interesting for people to visit your page when they see your page ranking in the search results.”

What this means is that depending on metatags alone won’t lead to good SEO results for your WordPress site.

However, WordPress meta descriptions can still help your SEO indirectly. As stated previously, having good meta descriptions affects how users interact with your site. When you add the keywords users want to see in the article, they are more likely to click on your page and view your content. This will increase your Click Through Rate (CTR).

And Google uses CTR to rank pages. So in this way, meta description does affect your site ranking indirectly, even if Google does not use it as a factor.

Here are some statistics that highlight the importance of meta descriptions for SEO:

Implementing meta descriptions can improve a website’s click-through rate (CTR) by up to 15% and boost search rankings by up to 10% according to Search Engine Journal.
According to a study by Backlinko, pages with meta descriptions have a 5.8% higher CTR compared to those without meta descriptions.
Using keyword-rich meta descriptions can boost a website’s search rankings by up to 5%.
Research found that including a strong call-to-action in meta descriptions can drive an 8.6% increase in click-through rates.
Adding relevant keywords in meta descriptions can result in a 4.8% increase in click-through rates.
74.98% of top-ranking pages have a meta description.
Research found that nearly 70% of all search queries contain four or more words. This shows the importance of descriptive meta descriptions for capturing long-tail keywords and improving search engine visibility.
Google has confirmed that meta descriptions are used as snippets in search results when they are relevant to the user’s query. So having an optimized meta description increases the likelihood of your page being displayed prominently in search results.
In 2018, Google’s John Mueller recommended on Twitter to write your meta description, saying, “You know your content best.”

How Meta Description Impact SEO and Click-through Rate

Meta descriptions help search engines understand the content of web pages. If you include the right keywords in your meta descriptions, it will inform search engine crawlers about the relevance of your content to specific search queries and ensure that your site appears in relevant searches.

Similarly, creating meta descriptions that perfectly summarize the content of a webpage allows searchers to understand the content of a page before clicking through.

As mentioned above, users are more likely to click on your website if they find your meta descriptions compelling and relevant to their search intent.

Search engines interpret these clicks and longer stay times as a positive signal of user satisfaction, and can indirectly boost your rankings. So as more people click on your site on searches, you will gain prominence and subsequently rise in searches.

Meta Description Vs. Other SEO ranking Factors

As mentioned previously, meta descriptions play an indirect role in SEO. Here’s how meta description compares against other SEO elements

1. Meta Description vs. Title Tag:

The title tag focuses on keywords and grabbing attention while the meta description complements it by providing additional context and enticing users to click with a compelling call-to-action (CTA).

Example:

Title Tag: “Best Running Shoes for Men | Top Brands 2024”
Meta Description: “Discover the latest trends in men’s running shoes from top brands like Nike, Adidas, and New Balance. Find the perfect pair for your runs today!”

2. Meta Descriptions vs. Keywords:

Keywords are essential for signaling relevance to search engines. The meta description complements this by incorporating relevant keywords naturally into a compelling summary that appeals to users’ interests and needs.

Example:

Keywords: “vegan restaurants Los Angeles,” “organic dining options,” “plant-based eateries”
Meta Description: “Looking for vegan restaurants in Los Angeles? Explore our curated list of organic eateries offering delicious plant-based options for every palate!”

3. Meta Description vs. URL Structure:

Both the URL structure and meta descriptions can help search engines and searchers understand the page’s hierarchy and content.

Example:

URL: www.example.com/mens-running-shoes/nike-air-zoom-pegasus-38
Meta Description: “Explore our collection of Nike Air Zoom Pegasus 38 running shoes for men. Get ready to elevate your running game with the latest innovations!”

What Makes a Good WordPress Meta Description?

A badly written description will do more harm to your website than omitting it altogether. As such, you must get it right.

Here are some of the characteristics of a well-written meta-description based on Google’s recommendation.

It’s neither too long nor too short. If you are unsure of the right length, aim for something between 150 and 160 characters (including spaces).
It is spiced up with focus keywords. A description that contains the keywords a searcher is looking for has a higher chance of being clicked on.
Must contain a call to action. It’s in your description that you get to tell web users the action you would like them to take. Want them to click and read? Say that in the description.
A good meta description is unique. Copying your competitor’s description is self-sabotaging. So be unique with your description.
Don’t use identical descriptions across your site. Instead, customize each WordPress meta description to accurately represent the unique content of each page.
Think beyond mere sentences. Use the meta description to highlight key details that might otherwise go unnoticed.
It is best written in an active, actionable voice.
Avoid stuffing your meta descriptions with keywords that offer little insight into your page’s content.

Below is an illustration of how to better your WordPress meta description:

Illustration 1.

Bad: “Sewing supplies, yarn, colored pencils, sewing machines, threads, bobbins, needles”

Good: “Discover everything you need for your next sewing project. Visit us in the Fashion District, open Monday-Friday 8-5pm.”

Illustration 2.

Bad: “Eggs are a source of joy in everyone’s life…”

Good: “Master the art of egg cooking with our comprehensive guide. From poached to over-easy, become an egg aficionado in under an hour!”

How to Add Meta Description in WordPress

There are two ways you can add meta descriptions on WordPress. You can do it with a plugin like Yoast SEO or manually with code. We will look at both steps below.

How to Add Meta Description with Yoast SEO Plugin

There are several SEO plugins that allow you to add meta tags to your WordPress website. However, for the purpose of this tutorial, we will use Yoast SEO.

Installing Yoast SEO is pretty straightforward. If you are not sure how to go about it, check out this tutorial.

After installation and activation of the Yoast SEO plugin, navigate to Dashboard >> Posts >> All Posts. Then pick the post you would like to edit.

Next, navigate to the bottom of the post. Then click the Edit snippet button.

In the meta description box, type in the meta description of your post.

That’s it!

How to Add a Description to Your Pages

The process for adding a description to a page is similar to that for posts.

First, navigate to Dashboard >> Pages >> All pages. Select the page you wish to edit and scroll down to the bottom of the page. In the snippet editor, click the Edit snippet button and then type in a meta description.

If you so wish, you can also add descriptions to your archive pages. The process is pretty much the same for posts and pages. Only this time navigate to Dashboard >> Posts >> Categories.

How To Add WordPress Meta Description Manually without Plugin

If you are not keen on using an SEO plugin to create custom meta descriptions, then you can add it manually by editing your theme code. However, this method might be a bit complex, especially if you’re looking to add descriptions to only specific pages.

The first thing to do is to backup your website. Also consider working with a child theme to protect your site from any potential issues. Once you have backed up your site, then follow these steps to create a meta description for your site using plugins.

Step 1. Access Theme Editor

From your WordPress dashboard, go to Appearance>>Theme Editor

Step 2. Open Theme Function

Once on the theme editor screen, find the Theme Function (function.php) file and open it.

Step 3. Paste Code into function.php

Paste the code below into the Theme Function (function.php) file, then click Update File.

function meta_description_r(){

if( is_single() || is_page() ) { ?>

 



add_action('wp_head', 'meta_description_r');

Note: The code converts the post excerpt and uses it as the meta description

Step 4. Create Posts Excerpt

To create a meta description for your post or page, you simply have to paste the content to the excerpt field. To do this, navigate to the page or post you want to create the meta description for.

If you’re using the Block Editor, you’ll find the excerpt field on the right side or the page. For those using Classic Editor, it should be under the text editor.

Just paste or type in the meta description text and update or publish the page or post.

And that’s it.

Advanced SEO Tips for Meta Descriptions

Here are some advanced SEO tips to optimize your meta descriptions for higher click-through rates and improved search engine performance:

SEO plugins: SEO Plugins like Yoast SEO and Rank Math offer tools to preview and optimize meta descriptions directly within the WordPress editor. These plugins allow you to finetune your meta descriptions for maximum effectiveness.
Exceed the Character Count: While Google typically truncates meta descriptions around 155-160 characters, there’s no strict character limit. Experiment with longer meta descriptions (up to 300 characters) to provide more detailed information and increase visibility in search results.
Special Formatting: Use formatting like bullet points, numbers, and emojis to make your meta descriptions stand out and improve readability.
Keywords: Include relevant keywords in your meta descriptions to signal to search engines what your page is about. Focus on long-tail keywords and phrases that align with user intent and reflect the content of your webpage.
Track CTR: Keep a close eye on your click-through rates in search engine results pages (SERPs) and adjust your meta descriptions accordingly. If you notice low CTRs for certain pages, consider revising the meta descriptions to make them more compelling.
A/B tests: Conduct A/B tests to experiment with different variations of your meta descriptions and evaluate their impact on click-through rates using tools like Google Search Console.
User Intent: Tailor your meta descriptions to align with user intent for specific search queries. Conduct keyword research to understand the intent behind target keywords and craft meta descriptions that directly address users’ needs or questions.
CTAs: Use compelling language and persuasive calls-to-action (CTAs) in your meta descriptions to entice users to click through to your website. Incorporate power words like “exclusive,” “limited time offer,” or “free shipping” to create a sense of urgency and value.

Conclusion – WordPress meta description

If you run an online store, manage a blog, or just own a website, you can’t afford to leave any stone unturned when it comes to SEO. As such, writing a well-optimized description shouldn’t be ignored.

Like we had earlier discussed, meta description no longer plays a direct role in improving the search ranking of a page. However, it still helps by improving your click-through rate, which is a search ranking factor.

That said, it is important to learn how to improve your site SEO using the techniques and factors that work. Please read our complete WordPress SEO Guide to learn more.

More Resources:

The post WordPress Meta Description – How to Use in WordPress appeared first on FixRunner.com.

Best Drag-and-Drop WordPress Theme Builder

Mesheal Fegor — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 20:00:29 +0000

Are you looking for the best drag and drop WordPress Theme Builder? Then this article is for you. In today’s digital era, establishing an online presence is important for businesses, bloggers, and individuals alike. This is because a captivating website allows you to showcase products, share ideas, and engage with audiences. However, the process of designing and developing a website can be daunting, especially for those without technical expertise. This is where WordPress theme builders come in.

WordPress theme builders enable users to unleash their creativity and bring their website visions to life, without the need for coding skills. So in this article, we will explain what WordPress Theme Builders are, their functionalities and benefits. We will also list some of the best WordPress Theme Builders in the WordPress marketplace.

What are WordPress Theme Builders?

WordPress theme builders are tools designed to simplify the process of website design and customization. Usually, building a website requires a combination of coding skills, design expertise, and time-consuming manual labor.

With WordPress Theme Builders, however, you can easily design and customize your website. And you do not have to spend hours and hours writing codes.

WordPress theme builders provide you with a blank canvas upon which you can create your website layouts. You can also insert various elements such as headers, footers, sidebars, and content blocks.

Further, theme builders typically offer a wide range of pre-designed templates and modules. Therefore, you can choose from a selection of layouts and customize them to suit your specific needs.

In addition, theme builders provide advanced features. Some of them include responsive design options, dynamic content capabilities, and integration with third-party plugins. All of these, therefore, enable you to create fully functional and visually stunning websites with ease.

WordPress theme builders are simple and accessible. So whether you’re a seasoned web developer or a complete novice, these tools enable you to design and customize your website. And you do not need extensive technical knowledge.

With a theme builder at your disposal, the possibilities are endless. That means you can get creative and build a website that truly reflects your vision and brand identity.

Benefits of Using a WordPress Theme Builder

WordPress theme builders offer a plethora of benefits that make them essential tools for website design and customization. Let’s explore some of the key advantages.

Ease of Use

One of the most notable advantages of WordPress theme builders is their user-friendly interface. With its intuitive drag-and-drop interface, users can simply click, drag, and drop elements onto their website canvas. All these, therefore, remove the need for complex coding or design skills.

This intuitive approach to website design streamlines the process, allowing users to quickly create professional-looking websites, in contrast to using traditional methods.

Flexibility

WordPress theme builders provide users with unmatched flexibility when it comes to customizing their websites. From layout and typography to color schemes and dynamic content, theme builders offer a wide range of customization options. They allow users to create truly unique and beautiful websites.

From a portfolio website, an e-commerce store, or a corporate blog, a theme builder allows you to tailor your website to suit your specific needs and preferences. This ensures that your online presence stands out from the crowd.

Time-Saving

Building a website from scratch can be a time-consuming process, with hours of coding, design, and testing. But with a WordPress theme builder, users can drastically reduce the time it takes to create a website.

Theme Builders provide pre-designed templates, layouts, and modules. These enable users to get started quickly and easily, eliminating the need to start from scratch. Additionally, the intuitive interface of theme builders simplifies the design process. Therefore, users can make changes and updates to their website in real-time, without the need for extensive revisions/coding.

Cost-Effectiveness

Hiring a professional web designer to create a custom website can be expensive, especially for small businesses or individuals with limited budgets. However, with a WordPress theme builder, users can design their own websites at a fraction of the cost.

Without the need to hire a developer, theme builders offer a cost-effective solution for creating professional-looking websites that meet your specific needs. Whether you’re a freelancer, a small business owner, or a blogger, a theme builder provides an affordable way to establish an online presence and reach your target audience.

When selecting a theme builder, it’s essential to consider not just the design capabilities but also the security features. A secure theme builder reduces the risk of vulnerabilities that hackers could exploit. Nonetheless, it’s always wise to be prepared to clean an infected WordPress site in case any security issues arise.

Best WordPress Theme Builders

WordPress boasts a plethora of theme builders, each offering its unique set of features and functionalities. In this section, we’ll delve into two of the most popular WordPress theme builders: Elementor Pro and Beaver Builder.

Elementor Pro – WordPress Theme Builder

Elementor Pro is a leading drag-and-drop page builder plugin for WordPress, known for its user-friendly interface and extensive range of features. Launched in 2016, Elementor has quickly risen to prominence, becoming the go-to choice for millions of website owners worldwide.

With Elementor Pro, users can design and customize their websites with ease thanks to its intuitive drag-and-drop editor and comprehensive set of design tools.

Pricing:

Elementor Pro offers three pricing plans: Personal, Plus, and Expert. The Personal plan is suitable for single-site owners and costs $59 per year. The Plus plan, priced at $99 per year, allows for use on up to three websites. The Expert plan, priced at $199 per year, is suitable for web developers and agencies. It also includes access to additional features and support.

Key Features:

Intuitive Drag-and-Drop Editor: Elementor Pro’s drag-and-drop editor makes designing websites a breeze. It allows users to create custom layouts and designs without any coding knowledge.
Extensive Template Library: Elementor Pro offers a vast library of pre-designed templates and blocks, covering a wide range of industries and website types.
Theme Builder: With Elementor Pro’s theme builder feature, users can customize every aspect of their website’s design. This includes headers, footers, and archive pages.
Dynamic Content: Elementor Pro allows users to add dynamic content to their websites. With its dynamic content widgets, users can add post grids, sliders, and pricing tables, using its dynamic content widgets.

Drawbacks:

Learning Curve: While Elementor Pro’s interface is user-friendly, mastering all of its features and functionalities may require some time and effort.
Pricing: Elementor Pro’s pricing plans may be prohibitive for some users, especially those with limited budgets or who only require basic functionality.

Setup Process:

Install and activate the Elementor Pro plugin from the WordPress dashboard. For a detailed tutorial on how to install a WordPress plugin, do check out out article on how to install WordPress plugins.
Create a new page or edit an existing one using Elementor Pro’s drag-and-drop editor.
Customize your page layout and design using Elementor Pro’s extensive range of widgets and templates.
Preview and publish your changes to make them live on your website.

Beaver Builder

Beaver Builder is a popular drag-and-drop page builder plugin for WordPress, known for its simplicity and ease of use. Thanks to its intuitive interface and robust set of features, Beaver Builder has garnered a loyal following amongst website owners and developers alike.

Pricing:

Beaver Builder offers three pricing plans: Standard, Pro, and Agency. The Standard plan is suitable for single-site owners and costs $99 per year. The Pro plan, priced at $199 per year which allows for use on an unlimited number of websites. It also includes additional features such as Beaver Builder Theme and Multisite Capabilities.

The Agency plan, priced at $399 per year, is designed for web developers and agencies and includes white labeling and multisite network settings.

Key Features:

Front-End Editing: Beaver Builder’s front-end editing interface allows users to see changes to their website in real-time. This makes the design process intuitive and efficient.
Extensive Template Library: Beaver Builder offers a wide range of pre-designed templates and modules. Thus, making it easy for users to get started with their website design.
Mobile-Friendly Design: Beaver Builder ensures that websites created with its plugin are fully responsive and mobile-friendly. This ensures a seamless user experience across all devices.
WooCommerce Integration: Beaver Builder seamlessly integrates with WooCommerce. It allows users to design custom product pages and layouts for their online stores.

Drawbacks:

Limited Dynamic Content: Beaver Builder’s dynamic content capabilities are more limited compared to other theme builders. This makes it less suitable for websites that require extensive dynamic content customization.
Lack of Advanced Features: Some users may find that Beaver Builder lacks certain advanced features found in other theme builders. These include advanced animation effects or dynamic content widgets.

Setup Process:

Install and activate the Beaver Builder plugin from the WordPress dashboard.
Create a new page or edit an existing one using Beaver Builder’s front-end editor.
Customize your page layout and design using Beaver Builder’s drag-and-drop interface and pre-designed templates.
Preview and publish your changes to make them live on your website.

Divi Builder – WordPress Theme Builder

Divi Builder is a powerful drag-and-drop WordPress page builder plugin bundled with the Divi theme. It is one of the most popular WordPress themes available. Developed by Elegant Themes, Divi Builder offers a comprehensive suite of design tools and features. This makes it a favorite among both novice and experienced website owners.

Pricing:

Divi Builder is available as part of Elegant Themes’ membership. It includes access to Divi Builder, the Divi theme, and other Elegant Themes products and plugins. Membership plans start at $89 per year for access to all themes and plugins, or a one-time fee of $287 for lifetime access.

Key Features:

Visual Drag-and-Drop Editing: Divi Builder’s intuitive drag-and-drop editor allows users to design and customize their websites in real-time. This means all changes will appear instantly on the screen.
Extensive Module Library: Divi Builder comes with a wide range of modules and elements. These include text, images, sliders, galleries, and more. As a result, users are able to create virtually any type of layout or design.
Theme Customization: Divi Builder integrates seamlessly with the Divi theme, allowing users to customize every aspect of their website’s design, including headers, footers, and page layouts.
Global Elements: Divi Builder’s global elements feature enables users to create reusable elements. Some of these elements include headers, footers, and sidebars that can be applied across multiple pages on their website.

Drawbacks:

Learning Curve: While Divi Builder’s interface is intuitive, mastering all of its features and functionalities may require some time and effort, especially for beginners.
Dependency on Divi Theme: Divi Builder is tightly integrated with the Divi theme. So users who prefer to use a different theme may not be able to take full advantage of its features.

Setup Process:

Purchase an Elegant Themes membership and download the Divi theme and Divi Builder plugin.
Install and activate the Divi theme and Divi Builder plugin from the WordPress dashboard.
Create a new page or edit an existing one using Divi Builder’s drag-and-drop editor.
Customize your page layout and design using Divi Builder’s extensive range of modules and pre-designed templates.
Preview and publish your changes to make them live on your website.

Thrive Theme Builder

Thrive Theme Builder is a complete drag and drop WordPress theme builder developed by Thrive Themes. This is a company known for its conversion-focused WordPress plugins and themes. Launched in 2019, Thrive Theme Builder offers a unique approach to website design. It combines drag-and-drop editing with conversion-focused features to help users create high-converting websites.

Pricing:

Thrive Theme Builder is available as part of Thrive Themes’ membership. It includes access to Thrive Theme Builder, Thrive Architect (a drag-and-drop page builder plugin), and other Thrive Themes products and plugins. Membership plans start at $149 per quarter for access to all themes and plugins.

Key Features:

Front-End Editing: Thrive Theme Builder’s front-end editing interface allows users to see changes to their website in real-time. This, in turn, makes the design process intuitive and efficient.
Conversion-Focused Design: Thrive Theme Builder comes with a range of conversion-focused features. They include customizable call-to-action buttons, opt-in forms, and scarcity timers. All of these are designed to maximize engagement and conversions.
Theme Customization: Thrive Theme Builder enables users to customize every aspect of their website’s design. These include headers, footers, blog layouts, and category pages, using its drag-and-drop editor.
Thrive Architect Integration: Thrive Theme Builder integrates seamlessly with Thrive Architect, thus, allowing users to create custom page designs and layouts with ease.

Drawbacks:

Learning Curve: Like other theme builders, Thrive Theme Builder has a learning curve, and mastering all of its features and functionalities may require some time and effort, especially for beginners.
Limited Template Library: Thrive Theme Builder’s template library is more limited compared to other theme builders. Therefore, users may need to create more elements from scratch.

Setup Process:

Purchase a Thrive Themes membership and download Thrive Theme Builder and Thrive Architect.
Install and activate Thrive Theme Builder and Thrive Architect from the WordPress dashboard.
Create a new theme template or edit an existing one using Thrive Theme Builder’s front-end editor.
Customize your theme layout and design using Thrive Theme Builder’s drag-and-drop interface and conversion-focused features.
Preview and publish your changes to make them live on your website.

WPBakery Page Builder

WPBakery Page Builder, formerly known as Visual Composer, is one of the original drag-and-drop page builder plugins for WordPress. Developed by WPBakery, the plugin has been around since 2011 and has amassed a large user base for its ease of use and extensive range of features.

Pricing:

WPBakery Page Builder is available as part of many premium WordPress themes, where it is bundled as a built-in page builder. Alternatively, users can purchase a standalone license for $45. The license includes access to lifetime updates and six months of support from the WPBakery team.

Key Features:

Intuitive Drag-and-Drop Editor: With WPBakery Page Builder’s drag-and-drop interface, users can easily design and customize their websites visually. The changes will also reflect in real-time.
Extensive Element Library: WPBakery Page Builder comes with a vast library of pre-designed elements and templates. They include text blocks, image galleries, sliders, and more. This enables users to create complex layouts with ease.
Backend and Frontend Editing: WPBakery Page Builder offers both backend and frontend editing options. So users can choose their preferred editing mode.
Compatibility: WPBakery Page Builder is compatible with most WordPress themes and plugins. This ensures seamless integration and compatibility with existing websites and content.

Drawbacks:

Bloated Code: Some users have reported that WPBakery Page Builder generates bloated code. This can impact page load times and website performance, especially on larger websites with complex layouts.
Limited Design Flexibility: Compared to some other WordPress theme builders, WPBakery Page Builder may offer less flexibility and customization options in terms of design and layout customization.

Setup Process:

Purchase WPBakery Page Builder or activate the plugin if it is bundled with your premium WordPress theme.
Install and activate WPBakery Page Builder from the WordPress dashboard.
Create a new page or edit an existing one using WPBakery Page Builder’s visual editor.
Customize your page layout and design using WPBakery Page Builder’s drag-and-drop interface and extensive library of elements and templates.
Preview and publish your changes to make them live on your website.

Conclusion – WordPress Theme Builder

In summary, WordPress Theme Builders have transformed the way we design and customize websites. Now, users can create professional-looking websites with ease. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced developer, a theme builder offers a flexible and efficient solution for bringing your website visions to life.

Drag-and-drop WordPress theme builders offer a convenient way to design professional websites without coding knowledge. By choosing a builder that focuses on performance, you can create a visually appealing site and boost WordPress speed at the same time.

For more articles like this, do visit our wp college.

FAQs

What is the best WordPress theme builder?

This solely depends on the individual needs and preferences. Some popular options include Elementor Pro, Beaver Builder, Divi Builder, and Thrive Theme Builder. So when choosing, consider factors such as ease of use, features, pricing, and support.

How can I create my own theme in WordPress?

Creating your own theme in WordPress requires knowledge of HTML, CSS, and PHP. So to do this, users can start by creating a new directory in the `/wp-content/themes/` folder of their WordPress installation.

Within this directory, they can create files for the theme’s stylesheet, template files (such as index.php, header.php, footer.php), and functions.php for adding custom functionality. Additionally, users can utilize WordPress’s Theme Development Codex and various online tutorials for guidance.

How do I access theme builder in WordPress?

Accessing the theme builder in WordPress depends on the specific theme builder being used. For example:

In Elementor Pro, users can access the theme builder by navigating to Templates > Theme Builder from the WordPress dashboard.
In Beaver Builder, users can access the theme builder by navigating to Beaver Builder > Themer Layouts from the WordPress dashboard.
In Divi Builder, users can access the theme builder by navigating to Divi > Theme Builder from the WordPress dashboard.
In Thrive Theme Builder, users can access the theme builder by navigating to Thrive Dashboard > Thrive Theme Builder from the WordPress dashboard.

The post Best Drag-and-Drop WordPress Theme Builder appeared first on FixRunner.com.

What are WordPress Image Sizes and How to Change Them?

Sam Mulaim — Wed, 28 Feb 2024 17:30:19 +0000

WordPress image sizes are a major factor in the performance of any site. Marketing professional Jeff Bullas found out that web pages with images get about 94% more total views.

But despite the benefits of images, using the wrong image size can affect the look and feel of your website. Large images can affect your loading speed and search engine ranking, while images that are too small can make your website look messy.

As such, it’s important to learn about WordPress image sizes, and how to apply them properly. This article explains everything you need to control your image sizes and improve their overall performance.

Table of Content:

What is an Image Size?
- Why are WordPress Image Sizes Important?
- How Does WordPress Process Images?
How to Change Default Image Sizes
How to Change Image Size Using WordPress Image Editor
How to Change Image Size on your Posts or Pages
How to Add Custom WordPress Image Sizes
- How to Add Custom WordPress Image Sizes With the Perfect Images Plugin
- How to Add Custom WordPress Image Sizes Manually
How To Optimize Your Image
- Choose The Best Image File Format
- Compress Your WordPress Images
Conclusion
Frequently Asked Questions

What is an Image Size?

The term “image size” refers to the dimensions (width and height) of the WordPress image sizes in pixels. The image size is an important attribute that determines the visual resolution and overall quality of the image.

The size of an image can also refer to its file size. An image with dimensions of 8000×8000 pixels may be too large for a webpage. Similarly, an image with a file size of 9 MB is also too large for a webpage.

When working on WordPress image size, you need to create a balance between the dimensions and file size.

Why are WordPress Image Sizes Important?

Improperly sized images can hurt your site in a lot of ways. Here are the roles WordPress image sizes play on WordPress websites.

Page Load Speed: large images can significantly slow down the loading speed of your website. Large images can result in longer loading times on your site.
User Experience: The chances of a visitor leaving your WordPress site increase with every second it takes to load. Optimizing the size of your images ensures a faster browsing experience for your visitors.
Mobile Responsiveness: Mobile users often have limited data plans and slower connections. When you optimize image sizes for smaller screens and lower bandwidth, it helps deliver a better experience for mobile visitors.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Page speed is a major ranking factor on Google and other search engines. Faster-loading pages have a higher chance of ranking in search results. Using the right image sizes increases your site speed and the likelihood of ranking highly on search engines.

How Does WordPress Process Images?

When you upload an image to the WordPress image library, WordPress generates three additional default image sizes; thumbnail, medium, large, and full-size.

As such, you will end up with 4 images. The first three are the generated images, while the ‘full-size’ is the original you uploaded. The default resolution of the generated image sizes may be as follows:

Thumbnail: 150px square
Medium size: 300px maximum width and height
Large size: 1024px maximum width and height
Full size: the original size you uploaded

WordPress uses various image sizes for different areas. Thumbnail images are typically used for blog previews, while the large WordPress image sizes are used for WordPress header images.

The default image sizes on your website may, however, slightly differ from what we have here, depending on the theme you use.

Fortunately, you can change the image sizes as you want.

How to Change Default Image Sizes

You can adjust the default WordPress image size set to whatever you want.

To do this, go to Settings >> Media from your WordPress dashboard.

> Media" width="1064" height="549" srcset="https://www.fixrunner.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/image35.png 1064w, https://www.fixrunner.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/image35-300x155.png 300w, https://www.fixrunner.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/image35-1030x531.png 1030w, https://www.fixrunner.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/image35-768x396.png 768w, https://www.fixrunner.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/image35-705x364.png 705w, https://www.fixrunner.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/image35-450x232.png 450w, https://www.fixrunner.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/image35-600x310.png 600w" sizes="(max-width: 1064px) 100vw, 1064px" />

This will take you to the “Media Settings” page, where you can change the default image sizes.

For instance, if you want to change the Thumbnail size, you will just type in the new height and width.

Once you are done, scroll down and click on Save Changes to save the modified sizes.

How to Change Image Size Using WordPress Image Editor

The WordPress image editor provides one of the easiest ways to set the sizes for featured images, blog images, and other image applications on your site. The editor allows you to manually edit the size of each image you upload to the WordPress Media library.

To edit an image using the editor, go to Media>>Library.

> Library" width="757" height="567" srcset="https://www.fixrunner.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/image15-2.png 757w, https://www.fixrunner.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/image15-2-300x225.png 300w, https://www.fixrunner.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/image15-2-705x528.png 705w, https://www.fixrunner.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/image15-2-450x337.png 450w, https://www.fixrunner.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/image15-2-600x449.png 600w" sizes="(max-width: 757px) 100vw, 757px" />

Then click on the image you want to edit.

Next, click on Edit Image.

This will open the image editor. Now, you can set custom width and height.

For example, the original size of the image below is 2560 x 2048. Let’s say we want to change the image size to 1380 x 1024. We will enter the size and then click Scale to process the image editing.

Then click Save.

Now, the full size of the image will change to 1380 x 1024.

How to Change Image Size on your Posts or Pages

WordPress allows you to edit the size of images when you add them to posts or pages. Typically, you will see the edit icon when you select the image you want to edit.

Click on the icon.

This will take you to the image editor.

Click on the “size” section to reveal a drop-down list.

Choose Custom Size from the drop-down.

Now, enter the new width and height you want for the image.

Click Save.

And that is it. The new image size will be applied to the blog or page.

How to Add Custom WordPress Image Sizes

Most often, the three default image sizes may not be sufficient to meet all your needs. Fortunately, you can add custom image sizes to your site.

You can do this either with a WordPress image sizes plugin or by editing your theme’s code.

How to Add Custom WordPress Image Sizes With the Perfect Images Plugin

Perfect Images is an exceptional plugin that gives you control over your image sizes. The plugin allows you to easily create custom image sizes, regenerate existing images, and optimize your images.

To get started, you need to first install the Perfect Images plugin.

Go to Plugins >> Add New Plugin.

Type in ‘’Perfect images” in the search bar. Then look for Perfect Images (Manage Image Sizes, Thumbnails, Replace, Retina) and click Install Now.

Next, click Activate.

Once you activate it, the plugin will appear as “Meow Apps” on the WordPress dashboard.

To create a new WordPress image size, go to Meow Apps >> Perfect Images.

> Perfect Images page" width="957" height="547" srcset="https://www.fixrunner.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/image28.png 957w, https://www.fixrunner.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/image28-300x171.png 300w, https://www.fixrunner.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/image28-768x439.png 768w, https://www.fixrunner.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/image28-705x403.png 705w, https://www.fixrunner.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/image28-450x257.png 450w, https://www.fixrunner.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/image28-600x343.png 600w" sizes="(max-width: 957px) 100vw, 957px" />

On the “Perfect Images” page, scroll down and click on Add New.

This will bring up a form to fill out. Enter the name for the new custom image size, as well as the weight and height.

Next, decide whether you want to crop images for that size. Cropped images are good for featured images and profile pictures. Selecting Yes crops the image. Choose No if you don’t want cropping.

Click OK once you’ve filled out everything.

The plugin will create the new WordPress image size for your WordPress site.

And that’s it. You’ve successfully added a new image size to your website. You can follow the same steps to add additional image sizes.

Most WordPress plugins have no way to check the image sizes. As such, you can use a plugin like Regenerate Thumbnails for this. The plugin lists all the image sizes on the website.

How to Add Custom WordPress Image Sizes Manually

Now let’s look at the steps to adding custom images by editing your theme’s code. While it is simple, this process requires some technical knowledge. So it’s best to leave it to a professional if you have no coding experience.

To get started, you first have to create a backup for your website. It’s important to do this to protect your data in case anything goes wrong during the process. This article explains how to perform a regular WordPress backup for your website.

Once you have completed the backup process, navigate to the WordPress dashboard.

Then go to Appearance >> Editor or Theme File Editor.

You will likely get a warning about editing the code.

Just click I understand to proceed.

Activate Custom Images Support

The first step to adding custom images to your website is to activate support for post thumbnails. To do this, you need to add the add_theme_support string below into the WordPress image sizes php file of your website:

add_theme_support( 'post-thumbnails' );

Click on the functions.php file.

Next, search to see whether the add_theme_support string is already there.

If the code is not there, paste it in. Then click Update File.

This will activate the function that allows you to add custom images to your site.

Add Custom Image Code

The next step is to add the code for the custom image size you want to create.

To do this, you have to locate and edit the “add_image_size” code in the functions.php file.

First, check whether the code is already there using the search function to find it. If it’s not there, then you can add it. Here’s the “add_image_size” code:

add_image_size( 'name', width, height, true/false );

Now let’s look at the parameters in the code. The first argument is the ‘name,’ which represents the name you want for the image size. It is important to choose a descriptive image sizes name.

The second and third arguments are the width and height in pixels. You can choose any specific image size you want. The last parameter is the cropping. This allows you to define the cropping type or its positioning (we will discuss this subsequently).

How to Add a Custom Image Using Code

For example, let’s say you want to add a new image size for blog posts with a height and weight of 1200 x 630 px.

In that case, the code will look like this with no cropping applied:

add_image_size( 'blog-image-size', 1200, 630 );

Once you have pasted the code, click Update File.

Cropping Your Image

Cropping is the last argument of the add_image_size code. This allows you to set the cropping status of the image size by choosing either true or false.

add_image_size( 'name', width, height, true/false );

When you don’t apply cropping to your code, the image just gets shrunken to the new size. However, when you crop an image, a part of it is cut off while the remaining part will adjust to the new size.

If your goal is to reduce the size of the image, then cropping may not be for you since it involves removing elements of the image. Cropping makes sense if cutting out part of the image wouldn’t affect the overall output.

How to Add Cropping for Your Size

To add cropping to an image you have to add “true” to the end of the image size code.

If you don’t want the images to be cropped, then add ‘false’ at the end of it or remove the whole argument. WordPress will not apply cropping if you leave it out entirely.

For example, let’s say we are still considering cropping the 1200 x 630 px blog post image size. In that case, the cropping side of the code will be ‘true,’ like this:

add_image_size( 'blog-image-size', 1200, 630, true );

Your code will look like any of this if you don’t want cropping for the image size.

add_image_size( 'blog-image-size', 1200, 630, false );

add_image_size( 'blog-image-size', 1200, 630,  );

Add New Custom Image Sizes to Your Theme

Once you’ve added the custom image size, the next thing is to make your theme display it. To do this, you need to edit the index.php theme file, which contains the posts loop, and add this code to it:

the_post_thumbnail( 'image-size-name' );

Go to Appearance >> Editor or Theme File Editor.

Then click on the index.php file.

Now add the code above to display the new image size for your theme.

Replace the image-size-name with the name of the image size you used in the earlier steps. In our case, the name of the image size was blog-image-size. So our code will look like this:

the_post_thumbnail( 'blog-image-size' );

And that’s it. You will now see the new image size as an option when you upload a new image to your website.

Apply New Image Size to Old Images

The problem with this manual configuration is that it only applies to new images. Older images will retain their current sizes, and you need to update them to apply the new image size.

Fortunately, some plugins allow you to do this. One of those is Regenerate Thumbnails, a free plugin that allows you to update your image sizes.

Update Image Sizes with Regenerate Thumbnails

The Regenerate Thumbnails plugin, as the name suggests, regenerates the WordPress thumbnail sizes for the images in your Media Library. Since we’ve added a new image size, Regenerate Thumbnails will ‘regenerate’ this new size for older images.

To get started, you need to first install the plugin. Go to Plugins>> Add New Plugin.

Now type in “Regenerate Thumbnails” into the search box. Find the Regenerate Thumbnails plugin and click Install Now.

Once installed, click Activate.

The Regenerate Thumbnails Plugin will appear under the Tool menu on your WordPress dashboard.

To regenerate your images, go to Tools >> Regenerate Thumbnails.

> Regenerate Thumbnails page" width="955" height="534" srcset="https://www.fixrunner.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/image11-2.png 955w, https://www.fixrunner.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/image11-2-300x168.png 300w, https://www.fixrunner.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/image11-2-768x429.png 768w, https://www.fixrunner.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/image11-2-705x394.png 705w, https://www.fixrunner.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/image11-2-450x252.png 450w, https://www.fixrunner.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/image11-2-600x335.png 600w" sizes="(max-width: 955px) 100vw, 955px" />

Once on the plugin page, you just have to click on Regenerate Thumbnails for all Attachments.

The plugin will take a few seconds/ minutes to regenerate the images to the new WordPress image sizes. And that’s it.

How To Optimize Your Image

WordPress image sizes also entail the image file size. While changing the image dimensions allows you to control the size, you may need to optimize the image without changing the dimensions.

Here are two ways you can optimize your WordPress images size:

Choose The Best Image File Format

The file format you choose, whether it’s PNG, JPEG, or WebP, can affect your image size. For instance, webP images have smaller file sizes compared to PNG files.

As such, you can convert your PNG images to the WebP format to reduce their size. This article explains more about WordPress WebP Images.

Converting your images can, however, potentially lower the image quality. You must compare the quality of the original image to that of the converted one to ensure there’s no noticeable drop in quality.

Plugins like EWWW Image Optimizer, Optimole, and ShortPixel Image Optimizer allow you to control your website image file format.

Compress Your WordPress Images

Another way to reduce the size of an image is to compress it. Image compression involves minimizing the size of an image without degrading its quality.

Compressed images are far lighter than images that aren’t optimized.

Several plugins allow you to quickly compress your images, including Optimole. Once you set up the plugin, it can automatically compress any image you upload.

Conclusion

WordPress image sizes are an important issue that can affect the look, speed, and ranking of WordPress websites.

This guide to WordPress image sizes has explained what image sizes are and how you can change your website’s image sizes. So you can follow the steps outlined above to edit your WordPress default image sizes and add custom sizes.

If you also want to learn more about WordPress images, you should check out this article on how to fix image upload issues in WordPress. A well optimised WordPress image can improve website speed. However, there certain issues that can arise with your site’s image. The article, therefore, explains how to fix these issues.

Remember, the team at FixRunner is ready to meet all your WordPress website needs. We offer custom development, WordPress maintenance, and more. Fill out this form to get a free website review.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the Image Size Functions in WordPress?

The image size function in WordPress is add_image_size(), which allows you to add custom-size images. The full function is add_image_size( ‘name’, width, height, true/false );. You can also change your default WordPress image sizes by going to Settings >> Media.

How do I get Custom Image size in WordPress?

You can add custom image sizes on WordPress using a plugin like Perfect Images, or you can do it manually with code. The add_image_size() allows you to add custom image sizes by editing your theme’s code.

How do I get the full size Image in WordPress?

When you upload an image to WordPress, it automatically generates three default images in addition to the full-size image. So you will typically have four image options and can just choose the full-size image option when creating a post or page.

Does WordPress Reduce Image Size?

No. WordPress doesn’t reduce your image sizes. However, there are options to reduce your image size after it’s uploaded. You can also use various plugins to reduce the image size.

The post What are WordPress Image Sizes and How to Change Them? appeared first on FixRunner.com.

How to install and use WordPress on AWS(Amazon Web Services)

Sam Mulaim — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 17:00:52 +0000

Some of the biggest internet companies use AWS. To just name a few Netflix, Airbnb, Adobe Systems, Autodesk… Also, some of the managed WordPress hosting solutions are hosted on Amazon Web Services. Since you have a middleman between you and AWS, cost of running a website might be greater. Therefore if you cut the middlemen (hosting provider) and move WordPress site to AWS, you might save some money.

With AWS you are making your hosting solution on Amazon’s server.

The unique thing about AWS is that you pay only for what you use. This might be appealing to a business that does not get a lot of traffic. However please note if you get a large spike in traffic it’s going to raise your costs. That said Amazon has a monitoring and notifications service so you can follow your site traffic and know if it’s going to exceed some limit.

While the cost might be less initially, you are responsible for maintaining your server that might be time-consuming even if you have technical knowledge. If you don’t know how to do that, you’ll need to learn or pay someone to maintain your server. So this is something that needs to be considered.

That said, you can follow this step by step guide and see just how complicated the initial setup is. But first, let’s get started with the benefits of installing WordPress on AWS.

AWS Web Hosting Benefits: In-depth Analysis of AWS Advantages
Overview – Step by Step Guide
How To Host WordPress on Amazon Web Services (AWS)
How To Set Static IP
How to Register a Domain Name
How to Configure DNS
Set up CloudWatch Monitoring and Notifications Service
Amazon Lightsail as an Alternative
Troubleshooting and Support
Conclusion

AWS Web Hosting Benefits: In-depth Analysis of AWS Advantages

Choosing the right hosting platform for your WordPress site is crucial for its performance, security, and scalability. Amazon Web Services (AWS) stands out as a premier choice for web hosting, offering a range of benefits that cater to websites of all sizes and complexities.

Let’s delve into the specific advantages of AWS web hosting to understand why it’s considered a superior choice for WordPress hosting.

Scalability

One of the most significant benefits of AWS is its unparalleled scalability. AWS allows you to easily scale your hosting resources up or down based on your website’s demand, ensuring that your site remains responsive and efficient, even during unexpected traffic spikes.

This flexibility is particularly beneficial for businesses experiencing rapid growth or websites with fluctuating traffic patterns.

Global Data Center Availability

AWS boasts an extensive global network of data centers, strategically located in various regions and availability zones around the world.

This global footprint enables you to host your WordPress site closer to your target audience, significantly reducing latency and improving load times for a better user experience. Moreover, AWS’s global presence ensures higher redundancy and reliability, minimizing the risk of downtime.

Cost-Efficiency

AWS follows a pay-as-you-go pricing model, which means you only pay for the resources you actually use. This approach can lead to significant cost savings compared to traditional hosting services that may require you to pay for a fixed package of resources, regardless of your actual usage.

AWS also offers various pricing plans and options, such as reserved instances and spot pricing, which can further optimize your hosting expenses.

Enhanced Performance

AWS provides a robust infrastructure equipped with high-performance computing, storage, and networking capabilities. This ensures that your WordPress site can handle complex operations, high-resolution media content, and large volumes of data with ease.

AWS’s performance optimization features, such as Amazon CloudFront (a global content delivery network) and Amazon ElastiCache (in-memory caching service), further enhance your site’s speed and responsiveness.

Security and Compliance

AWS is committed to maintaining the highest levels of security and compliance. It offers a comprehensive suite of security tools and features, including network firewalls, encryption, and identity and access management, to protect your WordPress site from potential threats.

AWS also complies with various industry standards and certifications, ensuring that your hosting environment meets strict security and regulatory requirements.

Reliability and Uptime

AWS’s architecture is designed for high availability and fault tolerance. Its data centers are equipped with backup power supplies, networking connectivity, and other redundancies to ensure continuous operation.

AWS’s Service Level Agreement (SLA) guarantees an impressive uptime percentage, giving you peace of mind that your WordPress site will remain accessible to your users around the clock.

Overview – Step by Step Guide

This step by step guide is divided into five sections.

In the first section, we’ll demonstrate how to host WordPress on Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Then we’ll set static IP for our website.
After that, we’ll demonstrate how to register a domain name.
Then we’ll explain how to configure DNS. This is going to link static IP to the domain name.
And finally, show how to set up CloudWatch monitoring and notifications service.

The first section is required. The other four are optional. If you are just testing AWS you don’t need to do them.

1. How To Host WordPress on Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Step 1: Create an AWS Free Tier account

Before we start hosting WordPress on Amazon Web Services (AWS) you should sign up for the account. This an easy process just go to this webpage and click on create a free account. Since this is a tutorial, we are going to use a free tier to demonstrate the process of setting up WordPress sites with AWS.

Have your credit card nearby you are going to need it. To create an account Amazon is going to charge $1 to your credit card. This is to verify that you are a real person and also to have your payment info if you decide to switch to a paid plan.

When you sign up for AWS Free Tier you can use it for 12 months. This includes 750h per month for t2.micro instances running Linux or Windows. Please note that you should only use t2.micro instance if you want to stay in the free tier.

Step 2: Open the AWS Management Console and select EC2

Once you logged in to your new account open AWS Console. Then under the compute category click on EC2.

Step 3: Launch an Amazon EC2 instance

Now that you are in EC2 Dashboard under Create Instance click on Launch Instance. This is going to launch an Amazon EC2 instance. This instance is a virtual machine (server). If terms like virtual machines or instances are confusing you don’t fear is noting scarry. The virtual machine is an emulated computer system. On the server, your VM will get part of CPU cores, RAM and storage. This is a clever way of sharing computing resources. This means that your VM will run Linux OS with WordPress. While on that same server PC there might be some other VM running Windows Server OS doing something completely different. You can even run virtual machines on your home PC or Laptop with software like VirtualBox. This can be used for testing software that runs on different OS and things like that.

Step 4: Install WordPress on EC2 instance

To install WordPress on AWS EC2 instance we are going to use Amazon Machine Image (AMI) from the AWS Marketplace. AMIs are pre-configured images of operating systems bundled with common pieces of software. We are going to use WordPress powered by BitNami image. To select this image click first on AWS Marketplace and then type WordPress in the search box. WordPress powered by BitNami image will show up as the first result just click on select on the right side. This going to create an Ubuntu Linux virtual machine with pre-installed WordPress.

Step 5: Select the pricing for EC2 instance

When we say pricing don’t worry you don’t need to spend money. As we said we are going to use the free tier for this tutorial. This just listing all the prices that can be associated with this EC2 instance. Just scroll down and click on continue. The pricing is going to be $0.00 regardless of the instance size.

Step 6: Select an instance type

In this step, you will select the free-tier instance. In type, column click on t2.micro. When you selected t2.mircro instance click on Next: Configure Instance Details.

Then on the following screen click Next: Add Storage and then Next: Tag Instance.

Step 7: Set a key-value pair for instance

Next, we’ll set a name for instance. Enter Name in key box and WordPress in the Value box.

Step 8: Review instance configuration

Check if everything is configured correctly, then click on Launch.

Step 9: Skip creating key-pair for SSH – WordPress on AWS

For this tutorial, we are not going to create a key-pair for Secure Shell (SSH). This is because we are not going to use a terminal to access our instance. However, if you need terminal access you can create a key-pair for SSH later on. Steps that you need to take are outlined in this tutorial. See steps 2 d.-2 f. and 3 if you need to set this up.

So just select Proceed without a key pair. Check the box next to: ‘I acknowledge that I will not be able to connect to this instance unless I know the password built into this AMI’. Finally, click on Launch Instance.

This process might take a few minutes so be patient.

Step 10: Check if WordPress instance is running

On the bottom right click on View Instances. Then select WordPress instance make sure that in Instance State column says running. It may say launching if this is the case you might need to wait a bit until the instance is up and running.

Step 11: Test your WordPress site – WordPress on AWS

Finally, in this step, we’ll get to WordPress. To access your WordPress AWS site you’ll need Public IP that is listed at bottom of the page. For our instance IP address is 54.172.168.218, you’ll get some other IP.

Copy this your Public IP, then open a new tab in your browser and paste this IP. Then press enter and hopefully, you should see a familiar WordPress blog home page.

Step 12: Make changes to your WordPress Website

If you type /admin after your Public IP (for our instance that is 54.192.32.144/admin) and press enter you’ll get to the default WordPress login page. However, you’ll need a password to login to your WordPress console. So let’s get the password.

You can get the password by going to the EC2 management console and clicking on the Actions button. In the drop-down menu, select Instance Setting, and choose Get System Log.

In the system log window, scroll to the bottom to find the password that’s surrounded by hash marks.

Copy this password and go back to the WordPress login page. For user name type: user and for password paste the password that you just copied.

Congratulations! You now have installed WordPress on Amazon Web Services. Now you can go and install WordPress themes, plugins and do whatever you like with your new WordPress website.

We recommend you change your WordPress password next.

Ok, we have a website that is running but one thing is missing. No one will be able to find our website so next, we have to add a domain name. Please note that you’ll need to buy a domain name and prices can range from $9 up to hundreds of dollars. So if you are just using AWS for testing you might not need to do the next steps. You can use that public IP to access your site. However, if you need to show site to other people you’ll need a domain name. So let’s set that up in the next few steps.

2. How To Set Static IP – WordPress on AWS

Step 1: Set Elastic IPs

Before we get to domain name we first need a static IP address to link to the domain name. AWS defines elastic IPs as a static IPv4 address designed for dynamic cloud computing. To set elastic IP do the following:

To set up Elastic IPs follow these steps:

First, go to the EC2 instance console.
Then under NETWORK & SECURITY select Elastic IPs.
Last click on Allocate New Address button.

Step 2: Set EIP

Set EIP used in: to VPC then click Yes, Allocate.

Note: There is no charge for Elastic IP addresses (EIPs) that are connected to running instances. If you remove the instance (e.g. the EIP is no longer connected to a running instance) then there is a cost of $0.005/hr for the EIP.

Step 3: Note your Elastic IP – WordPress on AWS

Note your Elastic IP you are going to need it later on.

Step 4: Associate Elastic IP address

Select the new IP address in the Elastic IP column. Then press the Actions button and pick the Associate Address option.

On the next screen click in the Instance text box and choose the option that has your instance name.

Step 5: Verify your new Elastic IP

Copy Elastic IP address then open a new tab in your browser and paste the address. If nothing went wrong, you should see a familiar Hello world! WordPress starting page.

In the next steps, we are going to set the domain name system (DNS) to point to elastic IP that we just setup.

3. How to Register a Domain Name – WordPress on AWS

Step 1: Open Route 53

Amazon’s Domain Registration is called Route 53. To get to Route 53 open this link. You can do DNS management. monitor health and performance and domain registration. We want to register a domain name so click on the Get Started Now under Domain Registration.

Step 2: Choose a domain name – Hosting WordPress on Amazon Web Services

Please note that you need to pay for the domain name it’s not included in the free tier. To register a domain name follow these steps:

Enter the domain name you want in Choose a domain name field.
Then set a Top Level Domain (TLD) (e.g. .com, .org, .co.uk, etc.) next field to the right.
And click the Check button to see if the domain is available.
If the domain is available, click the Add to cart button.
And scroll to the bottom of the page to click Continue.

Step 3: Enter your contact details – AWS WordPress

Enter your Contact Details. The information that you provided will be associated with the domain name.

Step 4: Review details and complete your purchase

Check if everything is correct and click on Complete Purchase.

Step 5: Confirm your contact data – WordPress on AWS

To complete your domain registration you need to open the email that you have received from Amazon. Then follow the instructions to finish verification of your contact data.

4. How to Configure DNS – AWS WordPress

This is the last thing that we need to do to have a fully functional website. We are going to link the domain name to static IP.

Step 1: Select the domain name

Open Route 53 console then click on Hosted Zones. After that select the domain name that you created. In this tutorial, we named that domain cloudexamples.com.

Step 2: Link Elastic IP to the domain name

Under Create Record Set you are going to edit name and value fields. Set Name to www and for Value to Elastic IP that you created in section two. Then click on the create button.

Step 3: Verify entry

Verify that your domain name is in the main table with static IP that you entered.

Step 4: Verify that your site can be reached at the new domain name

Check that your website can be reached at the new domain by typing the address in your web browser.

This is the last step you have a fully functional WordPress hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS) with a custom domain name.

5. Set up CloudWatch Monitoring and Notifications Service

Before you start setting this up please note that CloudWatch is not completely free. You pay for what you use the same as other AWS services. You can find full pricing on this page. That said for EC2 instance you get free basic monitoring and this includes:

CPU utilization
data transfer
and disk usage activity from Amazon EC2 instances.

To get to Amazon CloudWatch Console click on this link https://console.aws.amazon.com/cloudwatch/. When you open this link you are going to see the CloudWatch overview home page.

Even if you are opening CloudWatch console for the first time it might have some of the free metrics. Considering this is your first time using CloudWatch console you are going to have a button that says Create Alarm. You can click on this button to set custom alarms so you know when some metric goes over set threshold. And also, you can set actions to be taken if an alarm occurs. There are many actions that you can take on an alarm event.

CloudWatch is a must-use feature. Don’t skip this since if something goes wrong it can end up costing you a lot of money. So make sure you set alarms that will prevent that from happening.

And with CloudWatch set, your awesome website ready to go live. We know there are a lot of steps in this tutorial if you made it these far congrats.

Amazon Lightsail as an Alternative

When considering hosting WordPress on AWS, the complexity of setting up and managing an EC2 instance might seem daunting for many users, especially those with limited technical expertise or those seeking a more straightforward approach.

This is where Amazon Lightsail comes into play as a viable, user-friendly alternative.

What is Amazon Lightsail?

Amazon Lightsail is a cloud computing service that offers an easy-to-use platform for deploying and managing virtual private servers (VPS).

Designed with simplicity in mind, Lightsail provides a more intuitive interface and straightforward pricing compared to the more complex AWS EC2 service. It’s an ideal solution for small businesses, developers, and bloggers looking for a hassle-free hosting experience.

Key Features of Amazon Lightsail

Simplified Setup: Lightsail allows you to launch pre-configured virtual servers, known as instances, with just a few clicks. These instances come with everything you need to run a WordPress site, including a pre-installed LAMP stack or other software applications.
Predictable Pricing: Unlike the pay-as-you-go model of EC2, Lightsail offers fixed monthly pricing plans. These plans include a bundle of essential services such as compute power, memory, SSD-based storage, and data transfer allowance, making it easier to manage your hosting expenses.
Integrated Tools: Lightsail provides a suite of integrated tools for managing your instance, including DNS management, SSH access, and snapshot backups. These tools are accessible from a simplified, user-friendly console, eliminating the need for complex command-line operations.
Global Reach: With AWS’s extensive global infrastructure, Lightsail allows you to choose from multiple data center locations around the world. This ensures that you can host your WordPress site closer to your audience, reducing latency and improving site performance.

Why Choose Amazon Lightsail for WordPress Hosting?

For users new to AWS or those who prefer not to delve into the complexities of server management, Lightsail offers a compelling alternative. It combines the reliability and scalability of AWS with the ease of use of traditional shared hosting.

Whether you’re launching a new WordPress blog, setting up a portfolio site, or running a small online business, Lightsail provides a balanced mix of simplicity, performance, and affordability.

Troubleshooting and Support

Embarking on the journey of hosting your WordPress site on AWS can be both exciting and, at times, challenging. While AWS offers a robust and flexible platform for web hosting, users may occasionally encounter hurdles during the setup process or in the day-to-day management of their instances.

To empower our readers with the ability to navigate these challenges, we’ve compiled a troubleshooting guide for common issues and outlined the support resources available through AWS.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Connectivity Problems: One of the first hurdles you might face is difficulty connecting to your AWS instance. This can often be traced back to security group settings that may not be correctly configured to allow access on the necessary ports. Ensure that your security group rules allow inbound traffic on HTTP (port 80), HTTPS (port 443), and SSH (port 22).
WordPress Installation Errors: During the WordPress setup on your EC2 instance, you might encounter errors related to database connections or missing files. Double-check your wp-config.php file to ensure that the database name, username, and password match those you created in your AWS RDS or MySQL instance on EC2.
Performance Issues: If your WordPress site is experiencing slow load times, it may be due to insufficient resources allocated to your instance. Consider scaling your instance type to one with higher CPU and memory capacity. Additionally, review your WordPress plugins and themes, as poorly coded extensions can significantly impact site performance.
SSL/TLS Certificate Configuration: Setting up an SSL/TLS certificate for your WordPress site on AWS is crucial for security and SEO. If you encounter issues, verify that you’ve correctly installed and linked your certificate to your instance and that your security group settings allow HTTPS traffic.

AWS Support and Resources

For issues that go beyond basic troubleshooting, AWS provides a wealth of support and resources to assist you.

AWS Documentation: AWS offers comprehensive documentation covering every aspect of its services, from setting up EC2 instances to configuring RDS databases. The AWS documentation is an invaluable resource for step-by-step guides and best practices.
AWS Support Plans: AWS provides various support plans tailored to different needs, from the basic Developer plan to the more comprehensive Business and Enterprise plans. These plans offer access to AWS support engineers, infrastructure event management, and technical guidance.
AWS Community Forums: The AWS Community Forums are a great place to seek advice, share experiences, and troubleshoot issues with a global community of AWS users and experts.
AWS Knowledge Center: The AWS Knowledge Center is a repository of answers to frequently asked questions and common issues encountered by AWS customers. It’s an excellent starting point for troubleshooting specific problems.
AWS Partner Network: For more complex projects or enterprise-level deployments, consider working with an AWS Partner. These certified professionals can provide specialized expertise in AWS solutions, including WordPress hosting.

Conclusion – Hosting WordPress on Amazon Web Services (AWS)

In this tutorial, we went through the full process of hosting WordPress on Amazon Web Services (AWS). This process is a bit more complicated than using some hosting solutions. And while it’s less expensive there are additional costs that you should consider. Maintenance can be hard, you are responsible for updating your Linux installation and WordPress. Doing security patches so your site does not get hacked and so on. And if something goes wrong and you can’t fix it you might need to pay a developer to help you with your problem. So this is more work and if you don’t have technical knowledge it’s not worth the extra hassle.

If you don’t have time or technical knowledge you are better of using a managed WordPress solution. You can try WP Engine. They use AWS for some of their solutions so you get the performance of AWS and don’t have to manage it. These solutions usually use monthly subscription, in contrast, to pay for what you use with AWS. This might be pro or con depending on your needs.

For more WordPress tutorials check the rest of our blog out here. If you have further questions write them in the comment section below. Have a great day!

The post How to install and use WordPress on AWS(Amazon Web Services) appeared first on FixRunner.com.

WordPress Page ID and Where to Find It

Mesheal Fegor — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 09:00:33 +0000

In WordPress, everything has an identification (ID) number. This includes your pages, posts, media, comments, categories and tags. You may have had instances where you needed to find a WordPress page or post ID – maybe while working with codes or while configuring a plugin.

So, here is the big question: how do you find a WordPress ID? That’s the essence of this article. Although IDs are important, WordPress does not make them available on the surface. You have to find them.

In this guide, you will learn what an ID is, how to find your post or page IDs, and other IDs too. Stay with me!

Content

What is a WP page ID
How to find page ID
Finding Post IDs in WordPress
How to Find Category,Media and Tag IDs
Viewing WordPress Post ID with WordPress plugins
How to display ID With PHP
What you can do with page IDs
Conclusion
FAQs

What is a WordPress page ID?

WordPress gives a unique number to all your site’s pages. The unique number assigned to each page is called the Page ID. It allows WordPress to keep track of each and every site content.

They are useful when you need to add widgets on specific pages. You may also need IDs to apply special styles to just one or a few pages on your WordPress website. These IDs grant you flexibility on your website.

How to find WordPress page ID

Finding a WordPress page ID isn’t difficult. It is usually located within the page’s URL.

Let’s see an example: I have a page on my WordPress site with the name “courses”. To find its ID, here are the things to do.

Login to the WP dashboard and click on ‘Pages’. Now, locate the page (“courses” or the page for which you are seeking its ID).

Next, let your cursor rest on the word ‘edit’ beneath the page title. Check the base of your browser window, you’ll see the Page URL. Within the URL string, check for “post=number ID”. The number after the equals sign is the page ID.

In the illustration above, 109 is the page ID of the page titled ‘courses’.

Alternatively, you may click the link ‘Edit’ (beneath the page title). When the editor opens, look at the address at the top of your browser window. You will see “post=number ID” within the URL. That’s the page ID.

Side note: In case you’re wondering why it says post=number when it is a page number, WordPress pages are stored as a post type in the database.

Finding Post identification number in WordPress

Finding a WordPress post ID follows the same pattern as finding a page ID. The only difference is this – You open Dashboard >> Posts instead of Dashboard >> Pages.

Let’s see another example. I have a post titled ‘WordPress Salts’. To find its ID, go to Posts in your dashboard. Select ‘Edit’ (beneath the post’s title).

When the editor opens, you would be able to see “post=number ID” in the URL. See the picture below.

The post ID for our blog post titled ‘WordPress salts’ is 263.

How to Find Media, Category, and Tag IDs in WordPress

Every piece of content on your site is referenced and stored in your WordPress database with a unique number. Thus, everything (not just your posts and pages) have unique IDs. In this section, you will learn how to find the IDs of your Media Content, tags and categories.

The process is similar to what we discussed above.

For category id, go to Posts > Categories. To get your tag id, go to Posts >Tags. When it opens, click on Edit for the category or tag for which you are trying to get ID number.

The category or tag ID appears in the URL. And here is how it looks.

Instead of “post=number ID”, it is “tag_ID=number ID” for categories and tags. The category ID in the illustration above is “1”.

The same approach applies to finding a media ID. Click on media on your dashboard menu. Next, select the particular picture or video.

When it opens, highlight the URL in your browser’s address bar.

There you go. “item=number ID” becomes visible in the URl. The media ID in the example above is 137.

You will need this knowledge when creating a default gallery shortcode in WordPress.

How to Find Comments identification number

Finding a WordPress comment is similar to the procedure for finding a page ID. Head over to Comments on your WordPress dashboard. Next, locate the comment you want to work with and click Edit. The comment opens up in a WordPress edit screen. Highlight the URL in the address bar and your comment ID then becomes visible.

Alternatively, you may just let your cursor float over the word ‘Edit’. And the Comments ID will be visible at the bottom of the browser’s window.

Viewing WordPress Page IDs with WordPress Plugins

In our journey through the WordPress dashboard, we’ve explored various methods to uncover the elusive IDs that are the backbone of our pages, posts, and more.

While these techniques are invaluable, there’s a realm of user-friendly tools designed to streamline this process, making it accessible to all levels of WordPress users.

Let’s delve into some plugin recommendations that can transform your experience with WordPress IDs.

Reveal IDs

One standout plugin that deserves a mention is Reveal IDs. This gem adds a new dimension to your WordPress dashboard by seamlessly integrating an ID column into your content management screens.

Whether you’re navigating through pages, posts, categories, or tags, Reveal IDs ensures that the ID of each item is displayed prominently, eliminating the need to dig through URLs or engage in guesswork.

The beauty of Reveal IDs lies in its simplicity. Once installed, there’s no complicated setup required; it’s a plug-and-play solution that works out of the box.

This makes it an excellent choice for both seasoned WordPress veterans looking for efficiency and newcomers seeking clarity in the WordPress landscape.

How to display Page or Post ID With PHP

If you have a need for it, you can also display page id or post id using PHP on your frontend. WordPress has the_ID() function that lets you put a Page ID on display.

All that is required of you is to include the function, and the ID will be displayed.

See this example from the WordPress Codex:

Post Number:

What You Can Do With Page Identification Number

So now, you have learnt how to find IDs for your posts and pages, as well as other content. But, what do you need them for?

These unique identifiers, while seemingly inconspicuous, hold the key to unlocking a new level of control and personalization over your website. Let’s explore some practical applications of WordPress IDs that can elevate your site’s functionality and aesthetic appeal.

Tailoring Page-Specific Styles

Have you ever wanted to give a particular page or post a distinct look, setting it apart from the rest of your site?

WordPress IDs make this not only possible but straightforward. By identifying the specific ID of a page or post, you can craft custom CSS rules that apply uniquely to that element.

For instance, you might want to change the background, adjust the font size, or modify the layout of a single page without affecting others. With the page or post ID in hand, these customizations become a breeze, allowing you to inject personality and flair into selected areas of your site.

Fine-Tuning Plugin Behavior

Plugins are the backbone of WordPress’s versatility, but their one-size-fits-all approach might not always align with your vision. This is where WordPress IDs come into play.

Many plugins offer the capability to include or exclude certain pages or posts from their scope of operation, based on their IDs. Whether you’re setting up an SEO plugin that needs to ignore specific pages, configuring a social sharing plugin to appear only on selected posts, or customizing which pages display certain widgets, knowing how to leverage WordPress IDs can significantly enhance your site’s functionality and user experience.

Creating Exclusive Content Areas

Imagine wanting to create a members-only section on your site or a dedicated area for premium content. WordPress IDs can help you delineate these exclusive zones by allowing you to apply specific rules or styles to them.

By identifying the IDs of the pages or posts that make up these areas, you can use various plugins or custom code snippets to restrict access, customize the appearance, or even tailor the navigation experience for these sections.

Streamlining Site Management

On a more technical note, WordPress IDs can be instrumental in site management tasks such as batch editing, content migration, or setting up redirects.

Knowing the IDs of the pages or posts you want to work with can make these processes more efficient, reducing the risk of errors and saving valuable time.

Conclusion

Have you been experiencing ID problems while configuring your WordPress theme and plugin. If yes, I hope this article has helped you.

Remember, you only need to check the number in your browser’s address bar. And if you want an easier method, you can install and activate Plugins like Reveals ID.

Do you have further questions on finding your page ID? You may ask them in the comments section below.

Also, you may check out our blog for other WordPress tutorials. This knowledge base will help you make your WordPress website fast, secure, and successful. It’ll also guide you on making the best choices in WordPress hosting, WordPress theme selection, the right plugins for your site, and more.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about WordPress Page IDs

What is a WordPress Page ID and why is it important?

A WordPress Page ID is a unique identifier assigned to every piece of content on your WordPress site, including pages, posts, categories, and tags. It’s crucial for various tasks like customizing CSS for specific pages, configuring plugins to include or exclude certain content, and more, ensuring precise control over your site’s functionality and appearance.

How can I find the Page ID in WordPress?

You can find the Page ID by navigating to the Pages section in your WordPress dashboard, clicking on the page you’re interested in, and then looking at the URL in your browser’s address bar. The Page ID will be displayed as a number following post= parameter.

Can I use WordPress Page IDs with plugins?

Absolutely! Many plugins require Page IDs to target specific content. For example, you might use a plugin to display a special banner on certain pages only, and by providing the Page IDs, you can specify exactly where the banner should appear.

Is there a way to view Page IDs directly in the WordPress dashboard without checking each page’s URL?

Yes, there are plugins available, such as “Reveal IDs” and “Show IDs by 99 Robots,” that add a column to your Pages and Posts lists in the dashboard, displaying the ID for each item directly.

Can Page IDs be used for customizing the appearance of my site?

Definitely. Knowing the Page ID allows you to apply custom CSS to specific pages. For instance, you can change the background color or font style of a particular page by referencing its Page ID in your theme’s custom CSS section.

What should I do if I can’t find the Page ID using the methods mentioned?

If the usual methods don’t work, you might be dealing with a custom post type or a theme that handles IDs differently. Try using the “Inspect Element” feature in your web browser to look for the Page ID in the page’s HTML code, or consider using a plugin that reveals IDs.

Are WordPress Page IDs unique across the entire site?

Yes, each Page ID is unique and serves as a distinct identifier for its corresponding piece of content, ensuring that there’s no overlap or confusion between different pages, posts, or other content types.

Can I change a Page ID?

Page IDs are automatically generated by WordPress and cannot be manually changed. They are integral to how WordPress organizes and retrieves content from the database.

More Resources:

The post WordPress Page ID and Where to Find It appeared first on FixRunner.com.

WordPress Keyboard Shortcuts To Maximize Your Efficiency

Sam Mulaim — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 15:00:58 +0000

If you use a computer a lot, you must know the value of WordPress Keyboard Shortcuts. They are great time savers, and they help boost your productivity.

Imagine you were working on, say, a blog post, and wanted to select all the text you typed. If you choose to use your mouse, you’d have to drag your cursor from top to bottom. This can be time-consuming. However, by holding down Ctrl + A (on the PC), you would accomplish the same task, but in a second.

This goes to prove how time-saving keyboard shortcuts can be. Thankfully, there are lots of keyboard shortcuts in WordPress that you can exploit to stay productive. You can use these keyboard shortcuts to perform lots of actions in WordPress.

In this post, we will be exploring some of the common WordPress shortcuts. The thing is, if you are familiar with Microsoft office shortcuts, you already have one foot in the door.

Now, beyond the basic shortcuts, you might already be familiar with, we will be digging deep a little further. We will be looking at WordPress shortcuts for comment moderation, Gutenberg editor, and for text formatting.

Content

For Windows users
For Mac users
WordPress formatting shortcuts
WordPress shortcuts for comment moderation
Gutenberg keyboard shortcuts
Conclusion

WordPress Keyboard Shortcut for Windows Users

So, we will be starting off with the common shortcuts you can use to format texts in WordPress’s visual editor. These are shortcuts you are probably already familiar with. If you’re ready let’s get started.

To make it easy for you to follow through, we have broken shortcuts into sub-sections: text selection shortcuts, text manipulation, and formatting shortcuts.

Text Selection Shortcuts

There are a couple of ways you can select text on a WordPress website. Here are some of the keyboard shortcuts that let you do just that.

Ctrl + A – Select all text.
Shift + Right Key – Select one character at a time to the right
Shift + Left Key – Select one character at a time to the left
Shift + Up Key – Select lines of text, one at a time moving up
Shift + Down Key – Select lines of text moving down
Shift + Home – Select a line of text from the beginning to the current position of the cursor
Shift + End – Select a line from the text from the current position of the cursor to the last letter.
Esc key – Undo selection

Text Manipulation Keyboard Shortcuts in WordPress

We just showed you how to select chunks of text with shortcuts. So, how do you manipulate the selected texts without having to move your mouse? Let’s show you.

Ctrl + B – Bold text
Ctrl + C – Copy selected text
Ctrl + X – Cut selected text
Ctrl + I – Apply Italics
Ctrl + U – Underline selected text
Ctrl + K – Insert or edit link
Ctrl + Z – Undo recent changes
Ctrl + Y – Redo changes
Alt + Shift + S – Remove link
Alt + Shift + R – Align text right
Alt + Shift + L – Align text left
Alt + Shift + C – Center-align text
Alt + Shift + D – Strikethrough selected text
Alt + Shift + J – Justify text
Alt + Shift + M – Insert image
Alt + Shift + Q – Insert Quote
Alt + Shift + O – Start an ordered list
Alt + Shift + T – Insert more tag
Alt + Shift + P – Insert page break
Alt + Shift + W – Distraction-free writing mode. That is, everything except the text editor gets hidden.
Alt + Shift + H – Fire up the help menu
Alt + Shift + X – Add/remove code tag
Alt + Shift + 1/2/3/4/5/6 – Change text to heading 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6

WordPress Mac Keyboard Shortcuts

The keyboard shortcuts we’ve looked at so far are for Windows users. They are pretty much similar to Mac keys, only with slight changes. Here is a list of them:

Cmd + B – Bolden text
Cmd + C – Copy text
Cmd + X – Cut text
Cmd + A – Select all text
Cmd + V – Paste the selected text
Cmd + I – Make selected text italics
Cmd + U – Underline selected text
Cmd + K – Insert link
Option + Ctrl + S – Remove link
Option + Ctrl + J – Justify text
Option + Ctrl + R – Align right
Option + Ctrl + L – Align left
Option + Ctrl + C – Align Center
Option + Ctrl + D – Strikethrough
Option + Ctrl + U – Create an unordered list
Option + Ctrl + Q – Create a quote
Option + Ctrl + 1/2/3/4/5/6 – Change text to heading 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6

WordPress Formatting Shortcuts

WordPress has some really handy formatting shortcuts. To use them, all you have to do is press certain key characters once or more. Let’s have a look at some of them.

Note: For these shortcuts to work, you need to hit the Space button after typing them. If nothing happens, try the Enter button.

* – Starts an unordered list
1.- Create an ordered list
1) – Same as above
## – Heading 2
### -Heading 3
#### – Heading 4
##### – Heading 5
###### – Heading 6

Keyboard Shortcuts for Comment Moderation

So far, we’ve shown you keyboard shortcuts for editing and formatting content in WordPress. But did you know that there are shortcuts you can leverage to moderate comments in your WordPress site?

These shortcuts will be particularly useful if you run a WordPress blog and receive lots of comments.

Comment shortcuts, by default, are disabled. As such, you’d have to enable them. To do so, head over to your dashboard, and then navigate to Users >> Your Profile. After that, check the Keyboard Shortcuts box.

Next, scroll down the page and hit the Update Profile button.

With the shortcuts enabled, you are all set to use them. Of course, for these shortcuts to work you would first have to open the Comments section.

First, here are the WordPress Keyboard Shortcuts for selecting comments

J – Select the next comment below
K – Select the comment above the current selection
X – To select multiple comments
Shift + X – Multiple de-selection

After selecting the comments, you would want to moderate them. You can do so by either applying bulk actions, or moderating them one at a time.

Here are shortcuts that let you do just that:

R – Reply to a comment
A – Approve current comment
D – Delete a comment
U – Unapprove a comment
Q – Quick reply to a comment
S – Mark comment as spam
Shift + S – Mark all selected comments as spam
E – Switch to full-screen edit mode
Shift + A – Approve all checked comments
Shift + Z – Restore deleted comment from the trash

WordPress Gutenberg Keyboard Shortcuts

If your WordPress website uses Gutenberg block editor, there are a couple of keyboard shortcuts you can take advantage of to make your life easy. Here they are:

Enter – Creates a new block
/ – Inserts a new elements into a new block
Ctrl + Shift + D – Duplicates currently selected block
Ctrl + Shift + Alt + M (on the PC) – Switch between code editor and visual editor
Cmd + Shift + Option + M (on the Mac) – Same as above
Ctrl + Alt + T – Insert a new block just above the currently selected block
Ctrl + Alt + Y – Insert a new block below the selected block
Esc – Clear all selection

Conclusion

So there you have them; WordPress shortcuts you can take advantage of to stay productive while running your website.

You may not master all of them right off the bat – that’s okay. But with consistent practice, you can get used to them in no time.

To make things easy, you can also print out those you will use often and keep that close as reference. In no time, you should master them and no longer need the printed copy.

If you found this article helpful, kindly share it with others.

More Resources:

The post WordPress Keyboard Shortcuts To Maximize Your Efficiency appeared first on FixRunner.com.

How to Add Expires Headers in WordPress

Sam Mulaim — Sun, 04 Feb 2024 17:00:07 +0000

Would you like to learn why and how to add expires headers in WordPress? You may have come across this recommendation when running your website on speed test tools like GTMetix.

Expires headers leverage browser caching to improve your website speed and performance.

In this tutorial, you’ll learn how expires headers work and why they are important. Then we’ll show you 2 ways to add expires headers to WordPress.

In this article:

Understanding Expires Headers: A Beginner’s Guide
Boosting Your Site’s Health with Core Web Vitals
How to Add Expires Header in WordPress (2 Ways)
- Adding Expires Header in WordPress Manually
- Using Caching Plugins
How Browser Caching Affects the Load Speed of a Website
Exploring Cache-Control Headers
Conclusion

Understanding Expires Headers: A Beginner’s Guide

Have you ever wondered how some websites seem to load instantly on your second visit? The secret often lies in a clever trick called “expires headers.” Let’s break this down into a simple analogy to make it easier to understand.

Imagine you’re visiting a friend’s house for the first time. You need directions, and it might take you a bit longer to find the place. But the next time you visit, you remember the way and get there much faster. In this analogy, your friend’s house is a webpage, and your memory is the browser cache.

When you visit a website, your browser (like Chrome or Firefox) needs to ask for directions every time, which means loading images, stylesheets, and scripts from the server. This can take time, especially if there are a lot of files to load. But what if your browser could remember some of these files, just like you remember the way to your friend’s house? That’s where expires headers come into play.

Expires headers are like a note attached to each file, telling your browser how long to remember (or “cache”) them. If the note says, “Remember this for a week,” the next time you visit that website within the week, your browser will skip asking for those files and load them from memory, making the page load much faster.

This doesn’t just make websites load quicker for you; it also reduces the load on the website’s server, making it a win-win situation. However, it’s important to use expires headers wisely. For things that rarely change, like logos or stylesheets, a longer memory note makes sense. But for frequently updated content, a shorter time or even no caching is better to ensure you always see the freshest content.

How Cached Files Are Deleted

For a file to be deleted from a browser’s storage, an expiry date needs to be set on it. To achieve this, rules need to be added to the header telling the browser the exact time to discard old files and fetch new ones.

These rules are known as Expires Header. Oftentimes, they are added manually to web servers via the htaccess file. It tells the browser the specific file to delete and the specific date to do so.

In place of Expires header, some webmasters prefer to set Etag Headers. Basically, they do nearly the same thing, but for this article, we will be focusing on Expires header.

There are a couple of ways to set expires headers, but we will be considering just two: manually and via a plugin.

How Long Should Cached Files Stay Before They Expire?

There are no set rules for that. The trick is web assets that are requested more frequently should have a shorter expiration time. A good example is HTML files. Ideally, 1 hour will suffice.

Whereas assets that are requested less frequently should have a longer expiration time. CSS, Javascript, and your website logo are typical examples. These can be given an expiration time of 1 month.

For files that hardly ever change, such as images, the expiration time is usually set to 1 year.

Boosting Your Site’s Health with Core Web Vitals: Why Expires Headers Matter

Let’s dive into something called Core Web Vitals. Think of them as a health check for your website. Google uses these to see how well your site performs. It’s like a report card for your website’s speed, stability, and user-friendliness.

Now, you might wonder, “What does this have to do with expires headers?” Quite a bit, actually! Expires headers are a behind-the-scenes helper that can boost your site’s speed. And speed is a big deal for Core Web Vitals.

When your website loads quickly, visitors are happy. They can find what they need without waiting. Google notices this happiness. It smiles upon fast, efficient sites by giving them a thumbs-up in search rankings. This is where SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, comes into play.

SEO is all about making your site attractive to search engines like Google. The faster and smoother your site, the higher Google might rank it. This means more people can find your site when they search for something you offer.

By setting up expires headers, you’re telling browsers to remember certain parts of your site. Next time someone visits, their browser loads the site faster because it recalls some of the content. This speed boost can help your site score better on Core Web Vitals, making your site more SEO-friendly.

How to Add Expires Header in WordPress (2 Ways)

In this section, we’ll show you 2 ways to quickly add expires headers in WordPress. Manually and using WordPress plugins.

The manual method requires modifying your server configuration file. So if you’re not comfortable with editing server files, we recommend using the plugin method.

Note: Since we’ll be making changes to site files, we recommend backing up your WordPress site before you proceed.

Adding Expires Headers in WordPress Manually

Before getting started, you need to figure out if your website is using Apache or Nginx web servers. You can reach out to your WordPress hosting provider’s support to get this information. However, there is a quick way to find out.

First, open the website you want to check, then right-click and select Inspect.

In the ‘Developer Tools’ section, click on the Network tab. Once here, refresh the page again and select your web address from the available ‘Network’ options.

In the overlay that appears, scroll to the Server section. You’ll see the server your website is hosted on.

You may either see a CDN server like Cloudflare, or Apache/Nginx server.

Below, we’ll cover how to set expires headers in Nginx, Apache, and CDN servers.

Apache Web Server

To add expires headers in WordPress on Apache servers, you will need to access your WordPress website htaccess file.

These files can either be accessed via the cPanel or FTP clients like FileZilla. For the sake of simplicity, we will stick with cPanel.

First, log into your cPanel account. After logging in, you will see a File Manager icon. Click on it.

Upon click, navigate to the root folder containing your site files. This is usually the public_html directory.

Here, you will find the .htaccess file. Right-click on this file and click Edit.

Then copy and paste the following code into it.



  ExpiresActive On

  # Images
  ExpiresByType image/jpeg "access plus 1 year"
  ExpiresByType image/gif "access plus 1 year"
  ExpiresByType image/png "access plus 1 year"
  ExpiresByType image/webp "access plus 1 year"
  ExpiresByType image/svg+xml "access plus 1 year"
  ExpiresByType image/x-icon "access plus 1 year"


  # Video
  ExpiresByType video/mp4 "access plus 1 year"
  ExpiresByType video/mpeg "access plus 1 year"


  # CSS, JavaScript
  ExpiresByType text/css "access plus 1 month"
  ExpiresByType text/javascript "access plus 1 month"
  ExpiresByType application/javascript "access plus 1 month"


  # Others
  ExpiresByType application/pdf "access plus 1 month"
  ExpiresByType application/x-shockwave-flash "access plus 1 month"

From the code snippet above, you can see that images have been given an expiration time of 1 year. Likewise also videos. But for CSS and Javascript, they will be erased from the cache and replaced every month.

Of course, you can always change these time parameters but only do so with caution.

For better efficiency, some webmasters take things further by setting what is known as Cache-control Headers.

Cache_control headers serve the same purpose as Expire headers in that they also set an expiration date for cached files.

The major difference between Cache-control header and Expires header is that cache control is more detailed as you can specify other caching parameters in addition to when the cache should expire. It is also more modern.

Note that adding both to your server isn’t necessary as this might lead to redundancy.

If you would like to set cachecontrol headers to your server, add the following piece of code to the htaccess file.

# BEGIN Cache-Control Headers


  

    

      Header append Cache-Control "public"  

    

    

      Header append Cache-Control "public"

    

    

      Header append Cache-Control "private"

  

    

      Header append Cache-Control "private, must-revalidate"

Using Nginx Web Server

Unlike Apache, Nginx server doesn’t work with .htaccess file. To set expires header on it, copy and paste the following line of code to your server block.

location ~* \.(js|css|png|jpg|jpeg|gif|svg|ico)$ {

 expires 30d;

 add_header Cache-Control "public, no-transform";

}

For Content Delivery Network

If your website runs on a content delivery network – or CDN for short – you will need a different approach to set expiration dates on cached files. The trick is to unset what are known as Etags from your CDN servers.

Doing so is quite simple. Just copy and paste the code snippet below to your htaccess file.

# Disable ETags



Header unset ETag



FileETag None

Choosing the Right Tools: Premium and Free Plugin Recommendations for Expires Headers

To make your website faster and more efficient with expires headers, you don’t always have to dive deep into code. There are fantastic tools out there, both premium and free, that can do the heavy lifting for you. Let’s explore some of these plugins that can help you effortlessly implement expires headers on your WordPress site.

Premium Option: WP Rocket

WP Rocket stands out as a top-tier choice for those willing to invest in their website’s performance. It’s like giving your site a turbo boost without needing to know how a turbo works. Once activated, WP Rocket automatically applies the best caching settings, including setting up expires headers. It’s user-friendly, incredibly effective, and doesn’t require you to tinker with complex settings. The investment not only brings you speed but also peace of mind.

Free Alternatives: W3 Total Cache

If you’re starting out or prefer to keep your budget tight, there are excellent free options that still pack a punch. W3 Total Cache is a powerful plugin that offers a wide range of caching tools, including expires headers. It might take a bit of setup, but it’s a robust solution for those looking to speed up their site without opening their wallets.

WP Super Cache

WP Super Cache is another great free option, known for its simplicity and effectiveness. It generates static html files from your dynamic WordPress blog, meaning fewer resources are needed to load your site, leading to faster load times for your visitors.

Making the Choice

Whether you choose the premium route with WP Rocket or opt for the free capabilities of W3 Total Cache or WP Super Cache, you’re taking a significant step towards improving your site’s performance. Remember, a faster site not only makes your visitors happy but also contributes positively to your SEO efforts.

When selecting a plugin, consider your technical comfort level, the specific needs of your site, and your budget. No matter your choice, you’re on the right path to a faster, more efficient website.

Using a plugin to add expires headers simplifies the process, but plugins require regular updates to function properly. Fixrunner’s WordPress website maintenance service ensures that all your plugins, including those managing expires headers, are up-to-date and compatible with your site.

How Browser Caching Affects the Load Speed of a Website

To get things started, let’s head over to GTMetrix – an online website performance test tool – and run an analysis of your website.

You might see something that looks like this:

From the screenshot above, you could see GTMetrix suggesting that we leverage browser caching.

So, how does browser caching work?

When a web user hits the homepage of your website for the first time, his/her browser will make an HTTP request to your web server. The request will instruct the server to download the needed images, JavaScript, and CSS files, plus other file types needed to render the requested web page.

Since it’s the first visit, all resources will be downloaded and cached by the browser. As you might expect, the entire request/download process will take a significant amount of time.

However, upon subsequent visits, the process will change. Before making a download request to the web server, the browser will first check if the requested web page files have been cached. If they are cached, the browser will serve the files from its cache instead of the webserver.

Doing so will help speed up your WordPress website as zero time will be spent downloading these files from the server. In addition to that, the load on your server is greatly reduced, hence there’s more efficiency.

Exploring Cache-Control Headers: A Modern Twist on Caching

While we’ve been talking about expires headers, there’s another player in the game: cache-control headers. Think of them as the modern sibling to expires headers, offering a bit more flexibility.

Cache-control headers are like detailed instructions for your browser on how to handle caching. They can say, “Hey, keep this file for 30 days,” or “Don’t cache this at all!” This gives you more control over how different parts of your site are cached.

Why does this matter? Well, in the fast-paced world of the internet, having the latest and greatest on your site is key. Cache-control headers help make sure your visitors are seeing your newest content without sacrificing speed.

But here’s the cool part: you don’t have to choose between expires headers and cache-control headers. You can use both! They can work together to make your site as fast and fresh as possible.

Think of expires headers as setting a simple expiration date, while cache-control headers are like a detailed manual for how to cache your site’s content. By understanding and using both, you’re equipped with a powerful toolkit for speeding up your site and keeping your visitors happy.

How to Add Expires Headers WordPress – Conclusion

Leveraging browser caching is one of the ways to optimize your website’s load speed. But you have to do it right to see meaningful results.

In this article, we showed you how to leverage browser caching by setting cache_control and expires headers to your web server. You got to learn how to do so by copying and pasting codes to the .htaccess file.

What’s more, you’ve seen a couple of plugins you could use if editing your .htaccess file feels uncomfortable.

We hope you found this article helpful. If you did, kindly share.

More Resources

The post How to Add Expires Headers in WordPress appeared first on FixRunner.com.

Remove Query Strings from Static Resources – 2 Methods

Sam Mulaim — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 17:00:54 +0000

Are you looking to improve your website’s performance and speed? One important factor to consider is the use of query strings in static resources. While query strings are commonly used to version assets and pass information between web pages, they can also cause caching issues that slow down your website and affect its user experience.

In this article, we’ll explain what query strings are, why they can be problematic for website performance, and how to remove them from static resources. We’ll also cover common questions about this topic, such as whether removing query strings can affect SEO, and provide tips for versioning your resources without using query strings.

Query strings are extra sets of characters appended to the URL of a WordPress site. A good example of these characters are “&” and “?”. While these characters in static resources can help facilitate cache busting and other dynamic features, they also slow down the site speed. And as far as SEO and user experience are concerned, loading speed is a huge factor. Remove query strings from static resources is one of the numerous ways to increase website speed, and thankfully you can use plugins for this task.

What Are Query Strings All About?

If you made a search on our website for the term “database”, you will see this in the URL

https://www.fixrunner.com/?s=database

The bolded text in the URL is what is referred to as a query string.

Below, you can see another example. Here, you could see the query string to the static CSS resource (query strings from CSS), which indicates the CSS version.

/wp-includes/css/dashicons.min.css?ver=4.4.2

Now let’s explain what these strings are all about.

When a visitor comes to your website for the first time, your website’s static resources (CSS and Javascript files) are cached on the visitor’s browser.

If you make updates to your website, the changes won’t reflect immediately on the visitor’s browser. The reason is that the browser is still “seeing” the old CSS and Javascript files rather than the updated ones.

Since query strings can’t be cached, adding them to your website’s static resources will solve this problem. That is to say, if a query string is added to a CSS or Javascript file, whenever a change is made to them, it will reflect immediately on a visitor’s browser.

Why Remove Query Strings

Head over to GTMetrix or Google pagespeed test and run a test on your website. Chances are, after the test GTMetrix will suggest that you remove query strings to improve WordPress performance.

Query strings force your website to make requests to the server each time the website is loaded. This not only causes caching problems, it makes a website load slower.

So, in plain English, if you want your website to perform better, you have to find a way of removing query strings from static resources.

Impact on SEO and User Experience

Improving your website’s speed is not just about making pages load faster. It’s a crucial step that significantly boosts your site’s SEO and enhances the overall user experience. When you remove query strings from static resources, you’re taking a big leap towards a smoother, more efficient site. Here’s how this simple tweak can make a big difference:

SEO Benefits

Search engines like Google place a high priority on page speed. A faster site is more likely to rank higher in search results. Why? Because search engines aim to provide the best possible experience for their users, and a quick-loading site fits that bill perfectly. By removing query strings and speeding up your site, you’re directly contributing to better SEO performance. This means more visibility, more clicks, and potentially, more conversions.

Enhanced User Experience

Imagine waiting for a slow-loading page to display its content. Frustrating, isn’t it? Now, think of your visitors. In today’s fast-paced digital world, users expect quick and seamless access to information. A delay of just a few seconds can lead to increased bounce rates, as visitors might leave your site in search of a faster alternative. By optimizing your site’s speed, you’re not only keeping your visitors happy but also encouraging them to engage more with your content, be it reading articles, signing up for newsletters, or making purchases.

Mobile Optimization

With the increasing use of smartphones for internet browsing, your site’s mobile performance is more important than ever. Mobile users often rely on cellular data, which might not be as fast as a wired connection. Optimizing your site, starting with removing query strings, ensures that your mobile site loads quickly, providing a smooth experience for users on the go.

Long-Term Benefits

The positive impact of site optimization, including removing query strings, extends beyond immediate user interaction. Sites that load quickly and offer a great user experience tend to have higher levels of user engagement, lower bounce rates, and better conversion rates. These factors contribute to a strong online presence and can lead to sustained growth over time.

How to Remove Query Strings from Static Resources Easily

To remove query strings from static resources in WordPress, there are two ways you can go about it:

Adding a piece of code to the functions.php file
Using a plugin to remove.

Adding a Piece of Code

If you are a bit tech-savvy, we recommend this option.

Log into your WordPress dashboard. Navigate to Appearance >> Editor

Next, click functions.php

At the top of the editor page, paste the following block of code:

function remove_cssjs_ver( $src ) {

 if( strpos( $src, '?ver=' ) )

 $src = remove_query_arg( 'ver', $src );

 return $src;

}

add_filter( 'style_loader_src', 'remove_cssjs_ver', 10, 2 );

add_filter( 'script_loader_src', 'remove_cssjs_ver', 10, 2 );

Finally, scroll down and click the Update file button.

The problem with this technique is that you might end up breaking your site if you don’t do it well.

To mitigate this problem, you may use the Code Snippet plugin for this action. Basically, what the plugin does is to prevent a website from getting harmed even when a code is typed incorrectly into it.

How to Remove Query Strings From Static Resources Using a Plugin

WordPress caching plugins help you control and manage WordPress’ caching issues, including query strings on static resources.

Here are a few plugins you might want to try:

W3 Total Cache Plugin

W3 Total Cach plugin happens to be one of the most popular caching plugins out there. It does more than just caching and minify javascript and CSS; removing query strings is also one of the things it can do.

To use it, you will first have to install and activate it on your WordPress website. Next, navigate to Performance >> Browser Cache in plugin settings.

Now, scroll down the browser cache page and uncheck the “Prevent caching of objects after settings change” option. After that, check the “Remove query strings from static resources” option.

Scroll down and Save all settings. And with that, you are done!

WP Performance Score Booster

This is yet another caching plugin and speed booster that does quite a good job. It handles cache related issues in WordPress seamlessly. Plus, everything can be done at the click of the button.

When you are done removing query strings from your website’s static resources, you might want to run a test once more on GTMetrix.

WP Rocket

This is a premium plugin that comes packed with a lot of features. In addition to removing query strings, it optimizes images for SEO and makes page caching pretty seamless.

Using a plugin makes it easier to remove query strings, but it’s crucial to keep your plugins updated to avoid conflicts. Our WordPress site maintenance services can manage plugin updates and ensure that all optimizations continue to work as intended.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are query strings in URLs?

Query strings are the part of a URL that follows a question mark (?). They are used to pass data to the server.

Why should I remove query strings from static resources?

Removing them can improve your site’s speed because resources with query strings often aren’t cached by browsers or proxies.

Will removing query strings affect my website’s functionality?

In most cases, no. But always test your site after making changes to ensure everything works as expected.

How can I remove query strings from my WordPress site?

You can use plugins or add code snippets to your site’s functions.php file. Always back up your site first!

Can removing query strings improve my SEO?

Yes, faster sites are favoured by search engines, which can lead to better rankings.

Will this optimization impact mobile users?

Yes, it can significantly improve loading times on mobile devices, providing a better browsing experience.

Is it safe to remove query strings?

Yes, but it’s crucial to test your site afterwards to ensure all functionalities remain intact.

Do I need to be a developer to remove query strings?

No, there are plugins available that make this process easy for non-developers.

How often should I check my site’s speed?

Regularly. Site speed can change with new content, updates, or plugins.

Can I revert the changes if something goes wrong?

Yes, if you use a plugin, simply deactivate it. If you added code, remove it from your functions.php file. Always have a recent backup before making changes.

Conclusion

In this post, we examined what query strings are all about, and why removing them is important. Additionally, we showed you how to remove query strings using a code or a plugin.

We hope you found this useful. If you did, kindly share. This guide should work with any WordPress theme, however, if you run into issues feel free to contact our WordPress Support team. Our team of experts is just one call away!

For more step-by-step tutorials follow our WordPress blog.

More Resources:

The post Remove Query Strings from Static Resources – 2 Methods appeared first on FixRunner.com.

Ask Zak Any WordPress Related Questions You Have

WooCommerce SEO – How To Make Your Store Rank High

Table of Content

Why You Should Take WooCommerce SEO Seriously

Steps to Optimize your WooCommerce Store for Search Engine

1. Write a Catchy Product Page Title

2. Add Compelling Meta Descriptions

3. Make Proper Use of Categories and Tags

4. Optimize Your Product Slugs

5. Upload High-Resolution Images

6. Add Alt Text to Your Images

7. Implement Structured Data and Schema Markup for products

8. Add Social Sharing Buttons

9. Optimize Your Focus Keywords

10. Write a Detailed Product Description

11. Make sure your WooCommerce Store is Secure

12. Improve Navigation with Breadcrumbs

13. Make Your Product Page Mobile-friendly

14. Optimize Your Website Loading Speed

15. Add a Blog to Your Store

16. Embed Customer Testimonials

17. Add Video Content

18. Track Your Stats on Google Analytics

Best WooCommerce SEO Plugins

i. Yoast WooCommerce SEO Plugin

ii. All-in-One SEO Pack

iii. The SEO Framework

iv. Jetpack

Conclusion on WooCommerce SEO

The 4 Strategies You Need for Lead Generation in WordPress

Contents:

Lead Generation

The Lead Generation Process

Research and Identify Your Audience

Create Great Content

Use a Lead Database

Qualify and Score Leads

Lead Generation Strategies

Content Marketing

Email Marketing

Social Media Marketing

Online Ads

Referrals

Best Lead Generation Practices

Use your Data

Practice Consistent Messaging

Develop Mouth-Watering Offers

Use Clean Landing Pages

Make use of Partners

Lead Qualification

Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL)

Sales Qualified Leads (SQL)

Product Qualified Leads (PQL)

Importance of Lead Qualification

Pick out Quality Leads

Higher Conversion Rates

Greater Productivity in Sales

Better Sales and Marketing Alignment

Improved Customer Service

How to Manage Leads Effectively

Segmentation of Leads

Lead Scoring and Prioritization

Lead Nurturing

Automated Lead Nurturing

Generating Leads in WordPress

How to Use Forms to Acquire Leads

Let’s look at an example from Keap:

How to Build Lead Generation Magnets and Landing Pages that Convert

Example of a Landing Page

Do’s and Don’ts for Pop-ups

How to Leverage Chatbots on your Site for Lead Generation

What can you do Inside a Chatbot?

WordPress Plugins to use for Lead Generation

WordPress Forms Plugin – Forminator PRO

WordPress Pop-up Plugin – Convert PRO

WordPress Chatbot Plugin – Drift for WordPress

Wrapping Up

Contact Form 7- How to Install, Setup, and Use

Table of Contents

Installing Contact Form 7 on WordPress