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How to Sell Audiobooks Online (3 Simple & Easy Ways)

20.03.2023audiobooks, Easy Digital Downloads, ecommerce, memberpress, online store, selling digital products, Tutorials, woocommerce, wordpress ecommerceEditorial Staff

Do you want to sell audiobooks online?

By selling your books as downloadable audio files, you can make money without having to pay for shipping or printing. You can also sell the same audio file an unlimited number of times.

In this article, we will show you how to easily sell audiobooks online using WordPress.

Why Sell Audiobooks Online?

There are lots of ways to share your experiences or knowledge online. You can create an online course, record a webinar, or even start a podcast.

Another option is recording that information as an audiobook. This is a great way to collect everything you want to say into a single, downloadable file that’s easy to distribute and sell to other people.

Unlike traditional printed books, you don’t have to pay printing or shipping fees for your audiobooks. You also don’t have to worry about physical storage, supplies, or managing your inventory. All of this means lower costs and bigger profits, which makes audiobooks the perfect way to make money online with WordPress.

If you have an ebook, then there are plenty of services that can help you turn it into an audiobook including ACX. Every audiobook you make on ACX will be available on Audible.com, Amazon.com, and iTunes, but it’s also a good idea to add the audiobook to your own website.

With that in mind, let’s see how you can sell audiobooks online. Simply use the quick links below to jump straight to the method you want to use.

Method 1. How to Sell Audiobooks With Easy Digital Downloads (Recommended)

The easiest way to sell audiobooks online is by using Easy Digital Downloads. Easy Digital Downloads is one of the best eCommerce WordPress plugins, and it’s designed specifically to sell digital products.

How to sell an audiobook in WordPress using Easy Digital Downloads

Unlike general eCommerce plugins, Easy Digital Downloads has the specific features you need to promote, sell, and distribute digital products with ease. This means you don’t have to waste time and effort with unnecessary settings, such as configuring your store’s shipping.

Even better, if you’re using SiteGround then Easy Digital Downloads already comes pre-installed on their EDD plan, so you can start using it straight away.

If you’re using a different hosting provider, then you’ll need to install and activate the Easy Digital Downloads plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, go to Downloads » Settings in the WordPress dashboard.

The Easy Digital Downloads plugin's settings

Even though you’re selling audiobooks, you’ll need to set your store’s location. This allows Easy Digital Downloads to auto-fill some fields in the order form, which will help improve the customer experience.

Easy Digital Downloads also uses your location to calculate sales tax.

To add your location, simply open the ‘Business Country’ dropdown menu. You can then choose where your business is based.

Setting the location for your audiobook store

Next, find the ‘Business Region’ field.

Here you can open the dropdown and choose the region where your store operates from.

Setting the region for your online audiobook store

After making these changes, go ahead and click on Save Changes to store your settings.

Next, you’ll need a way to accept credit card payments in WordPress by clicking on the ‘Payments’ tab. Then make sure the ‘General’ tab is selected.

Adding payment gateways to your WordPress website

In the Payment Gateways section, check the box next to each gateway that you want to add to your WordPress blog or website.

If you add more than one payment method, then you’ll need to choose a default gateway.

Adding multiple payment gateways to an online store

You can use any gateway you want, but Stripe can accept credit cards as well as Apple Pay and Google Pay. This is why we recommend using Stripe as the default payment gateway.

With that done, click on the ‘Save Changes’ button.

You’ll now see some new tabs where you can configure each payment method.

Configuring payment gateways including Stripe

Configuring the payment gateway will be slightly different depending on which gateway you’re using, but Easy Digital Downloads will walk you through the process.

Once you’ve set up at least one payment gateway, you’re ready to start uploading audiobooks to your WordPress website.

To create a digital product, select Downloads from the left-hand menu. Then, click on the ‘Add New’ button.

Adding a downloadable audiobook to your WordPress website

You can now type a name for the product into the ‘Enter download name here’ field. This will appear on the audiobook’s page, so you’ll want to use something that catches the visitor’s attention and accurately describes the book.

Next, type out the description that will appear on the ebook’s product page. You’ll want to give visitors all the information they need to decide whether this book is right for them.

Adding a title to a downloable audiobook

Many online stores use product categories and tags to help shoppers find what they’re looking for. If you’re selling lots of audiobooks, then these categories and tags help visitors find related audiobooks, which can get you more sales.

You can create new categories and tags in the Categories and Tags boxes.

Adding categories and tags to a downloadable ebook

For more information, see our step-by-step guide on how to add categories and tags for WordPress pages.

Next, you’ll want to set a price by scrolling to the Download Prices section. Here, type in how much visitors will pay to download the audiobook.

Adding prices to an audio book in WordPress

You’re now ready to upload the audio file that you want to sell. When it comes to audio, WordPress supports mp3, ogg, and wav. It also supports m4a, although this format may not work on all browsers.

Pro Tip: If you want to sell audiobooks in a file type that WordPress doesn’t support, then see our guide on how to allow additional file types in WordPress.

To add an audio file, simply scroll to the Download Files section.

How to upload a downloadable audiobook to WordPress

In the File Name field, type a name for the file that shoppers will get when they buy the audiobook. Then, simply click on ‘Upload a File.’

You can now choose any audio file from the WordPress media library, or you can upload a new audiobook from your computer.

Finally, you’ll need to add a product image, which will usually be your audiobook’s front cover. Simply scroll to the Download Image section and then click on the ‘Set Download Image’ link.

Adding a featured image to your audiobook

This launches the WordPress media library where you can choose an image or upload a new file from your computer.

When you’re happy with your digital download, click on the Publish button to make it live.

Easy Digital Downloads will now create the audiobook as a downloadable product, but visitors still need a way to access the product page.

This might mean adding the page to your website’s menu, creating a sales page where you advertise all your audiobooks, or even adding the book to a custom home page.

No matter what method you choose, you’ll need to know the audiobook’s URL.

To get this link, simply go to Downloads » Downloads. Then, find the audiobook you just created, and click on its ‘Edit’ link.

How to get a link to a downloadable audiobook product

You will then find the URL directly below the product title.

Now, you can link to this product page from any area of your website, simply by using its URL. To learn more, see our step-by-step guide on how to add a link in WordPress.

Easy Digital Downloads also creates a ‘Purchase’ button for this particular audiobook. Visitors can click this button to add the audiobook to their cart.

Adding an audiobook purchase button to an online store

You can add the button for this book to any page, post, or widget-ready area. This allows visitors to start the purchasing process without even Needing to visit the individual product’s page.

To get the audiobook’s shortcode, simply scroll to its Download Settings section. You can then copy the text in the ‘Purchase Shortcode’ field.

Adding an audiobook to your site using a product shortcode

For more information on placing the shortcode, please see our guide on how to add a shortcode in WordPress.

Every time someone buys an audiobook from your website, Easy Digital Downloads will send them an email and download link.

While this email has everything the customer needs to access their download, it’s a good idea to customize it. For example, we recommend adding your own logo and branding.

To customize the default email, simply go to Downloads » Settings. Then click on the ‘Emails’ tab.

Customizing the Easy Digital Download emails

When you’ve finished making changes, you may want to send a test email so you can see how the message will look to your customers.

To do this, simply click on the ‘Send Test Email’ button and Easy Digital Downloads will send an email to your admin email address.

Sending a test email for your downlodable audiobook

Have you clicked on the ‘Send Test Email’ button, but haven’t got a test email? If your site isn’t sending emails correctly, then customers won’t be able to download your audiobook.

With that in mind, you can follow our guide on how to fix the WordPress not sending email issue. You can use WP Mail SMTP to make sure the purchase confirmation emails arrive safely in the customer’s inbox.

When you’re happy with how the email looks, you can go ahead and click on the ‘Save Changes’ button.

This is all you need to start selling audiobooks online. However, Easy Digital Downloads has lots more advanced features that can help you sell audiobooks.

For more information on Easy Digital Downloads, please see our guide on how to sell digital downloads on WordPress.

Method 2. How to Sell Audiobook Memberships (Best for Recurring Revenue)

Another option is using your audiobooks to create recurring revenue streams.

For example, you might offer members unlimited monthly or annual access to all your audiobooks for a membership fee. In this way, you can get reliable recurring revenue over a longer period of time.

How to add an audiobook to your site using MemberPress

A membership site is also a great choice if you’re releasing your audiobooks as a series.

If you want to get recurring revenue, then MemberPress is the best WordPress membership plugin. It allows you to accept payments, create an unlimited number of membership levels, restrict access to audiobook pages based on membership subscription, and more.

First, you need to install and activate the MemberPress plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, go to the MemberPress » Settings page to configure the plugin settings.

To start, you’ll need to set up a payment gateway.

Out of the box, MemberPress supports PayPal (Standard, Express, and Pro), Stripe, and Authorize.net. You simply need to select the payment method you want to use and then type in the required credentials, such as your PayPal email address.

Adding a payment gateway to a membership site

You may want to add multiple methods, so members can use their preferred gateway. When that’s done, don’t forget to click on the Update Options button to save your settings.

With the setup out of the way, it’s time to create one or more membership levels. These are the subscriptions that visitors will buy to access your audiobooks, or other content.

MemberPress allows you to offer different content for different membership levels. For example, you might create Bronze, Silver, and Gold memberships and then give members access to different audiobooks.

To create the first membership plan, go to the MemberPress » Memberships page and then click on the ‘Add New’ button.

Adding a membership level to your audiobook website

On the next screen, you’ll need to provide a title for the membership plan and then add details in the post editor.

After that, you can set the pricing, billing type, interval, and expiration under the ‘Membership Terms’ section.

How to sell audiobooks online using MemberPress

Next, scroll to the Membership Options box below the editor.

Here, you can customize the plan permissions and membership options.

Adding a membership level to your WordPress blog or website

When you’re happy with how the plan is set up, go ahead and click on ‘Publish.’ To create more membership levels, simply repeat the same process described above.

Once you’ve created all the membership levels, it’s time to add some access rules. These allow you to restrict access to your audiobooks based on the user’s membership plan.

Just go to MemberPress » Rules and then click on the Add New button.

Adding a new rule to your WordPress membership site

Here, you can create all kinds of access rules, but you’ll typically start by selecting the audiobook that you want to restrict access to.

Under ‘Protected Content,’ open the dropdown menu and choose an option from the list. This might be the specific page where you embedded the audio file, content that has a particular tag, or any other option from the list.

Creating content restriction rules in WordPress

After that, open the ‘Access Conditions’ dropdown and choose ‘Membership.’

In the second dropdown menu, select the membership level people will need in order to access this content.

Creating subscriptions for your audiobooks

There are more settings that you can configure, but this is all you need to create a simple access rule.

When you’re happy with how the rule is set up, click on ‘Save Rule.’ To create more access rules, simply follow the same process described above.

Now that everything is set up, you’ll need to make sure visitors can buy memberships and log into their accounts. Thankfully, MemberPress comes with ready-made forms that you can add to your site.

We recommend adding the MemberPress login widget to a widget-ready area, so members can log in from any page.

Simply head over to Appearance » Widgets and add the ‘MemberPress login’ widget to the sidebar or similar section.

Adding a MemberPress login widget to WordPress

To learn more, please see our guide on how to add and use widgets in WordPress.

Don’t forget to click on the ‘Update’ button to save your widget settings.

There are a few different ways to add a signup page to your website, but MemberPress automatically creates a registration page for each membership level. This means you can simply add these pages to your main navigation menu.

In your WordPress dashboard, go to Appearance » Menus. In the left-hand menu, simply click to expand the ‘Memberships’ section.

Adding membership subscriptions to your WordPress website

You’ll now see a list of all the different MemberPress levels.

To add a membership to the navigation menu, simply check the box next to it and then select ‘Add to menu.’

For step-by-step instructions, please see our guide on how to add a navigation menu.

When you’re happy with how the menu is set up, click on ‘Save Menu.’

At this point, you’ve created a website where visitors can buy audiobook subscriptions. However, MemberPress has lots more settings you can use to sell audiobooks, grow your brand, and get more members.

For more information about MemberPress, check out our ultimate guide to creating a WordPress membership site.

Method 3. How to Sell Audiobooks With WooCommerce (Best For Online Stores)

Easy Digital Downloads makes it easy to sell audiobooks on any WordPress blog or website, without you having to configure lots of unnecessary settings like shipping and handling.

However, if you’ve already created a WooCommerce store, then you can sell digital products like audiobooks using this popular eCommerce plugin.

How to sell an audiobook online using WooCommerce

Although it’s mostly used to sell physical products, you can add support for digital products by going to WooCommerce » Settings and then clicking on the ‘Products’ tab.

Here, click on the ‘Downloadable products’ link.

Creating downloadable WooCommerce products

You can now open the ‘File download method’ dropdown and choose an option from the list.

When you’re selling digital downloads, there is a risk that customers may share the direct link with other people. This allows people to download your audiobook without paying.

‘Force Downloads’ helps to protect your site from direct linking, so it’s the recommended method. However, just be aware that very large files may result in a timeout, especially if your server has limited resources.

If this happens, then you may need to change your WordPress hosting plan or select a different file download method.

You may also want to enable the checkbox next to ‘Allow using redirect mode (insecure) as a last resort.’ If WooCommerce encounters any problems, then this setting will deliver the audiobook via an unsecured redirect link rather than showing an error.

This is a much better customer experience.

WooCommerce's downloadable product settings

The second option is ‘X-Accel-Redirect/X-Sendfile,’ which serves the file directly to the customer. This protects the audiobook from unauthorized downloads without impacting your site’s performance.

However, this method requires you to install and enable the X-Accel-Redirect/X-Sendfile module on your server, so it’s not very beginner-friendly. Depending on your plan, you may also need to speak to your WooCommerce hosting provider.

The final option is ‘Redirect only,’ which uses a direct link to the file. This means your audiobook isn’t protected and anyone can access it using the URL. That said, we don’t recommend the ‘Redirect only’ method.

After selecting a download method, you can choose whether visitors must be logged into an account in order to download the audiobook.

Allowing guest checkout can get you more sales and downloads, but requiring users to register with your online store can help you do lead generation.

To make this decision, either enable or disable the ‘Downloads require login’ checkbox.

How to disable guest checkout for audiobooks in WooCommerce

By default, customers can download the audiobook while their order is processing.

If you want to wait until the order is complete, then uncheck the following box: ‘Grant access to downloadable products after payment.’

By default, WooCommerce will download the audiobook to the customer’s computer.

Most of the time this is the best customer experience, but you can set the file to open in a new tab instead. The customer can then decide whether they want to save the file.

There are some use cases where this may be the better option. For example, if you’re showing the customer a free sample, or your audiobooks are short enough to enjoy in one sitting.

In this case, you may want to check the box next to ‘Open downloadable files in the browser.’

How to set up downloadable files in WooCommerce

When you’re happy with the settings you’ve entered, click on ‘Save Changes.’

With that done, you’re ready to add the audiobook as a downloadable product by going to Products » Add New. Here, you can type in a title, add a description, upload a product image, and set the price as normal.

Creating a downloadable WooCommerce product

Then, scroll to ‘Product Data’ and check the box next to ‘Downloadable,’ which adds some new settings.

To start, click on ‘Add File.’

Adding a downloadable audiobook to a WooCommerce online store

You can now either choose the audiobook from your media library or upload a new file from your computer.

After that, type in a filename for the audiobook.

Adding a downloadable audiobook in WooCommerce

By default, customers can download the audiobook as many times as they want, for as long as they want.

If you want to limit the number of downloads per customer, then type a number into the ‘Download limit’ field.

Adding a download limit for your audiobook

If you want the download link to expire after a certain number of days has passed, then type a number into the ‘Download expiry’ field.

When you’re happy with how the audiobook is set up, click on the ‘Publish’ button. The audiobook will now appear as a downloadable product on your online store.

We hope this article helped you learn how to sell audiobooks online. You may also want to check out our expert pick of the best WordPress plugins to grow your site, and our comparison of the best email marketing services for small businesses.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Sell Audiobooks Online (3 Simple & Easy Ways) first appeared on WPBeginner.

How to Fix the 500 Internal Server Error in WordPress

18.03.2023.htaccess, common errors, deactivate plugins, error establishing database connection, html 500 error, increase memory limit, internal server error, Tutorials, white screen of death, wordpress white screen of deathEditorial Staff

Are you seeing a 500 internal server error in WordPress?

The internal server error is one of the most common WordPress errors. Since the error doesn’t give any other information, many beginners find it quite frustrating.

In this article, we will show you how to easily fix the 500 internal server error in WordPress.

Fixing the internal server error in WordPress

Here is a quick overview of the topics we’ll cover in this article.

What is The 500 Internal Server Error?

The 500 internal server error is a common web server error. It is not specific to WordPress websites and can happen with any website.

The 500 in the error message is technically an HTTP error code. Looking up this code will only show its standard description.

“500 Internal Server Error response code indicates that the server encountered an unexpected condition that prevented it from fulfilling the request.“

This is a generic catch-all error message which means that the server was unable to assign a better more helpful error message when it encountered the issue.

The error page looks different depending on which web server software (Nginx or Apache) your website is using and which browser you are using.

Here is how the Apache error page may look.

It may look different if you are using Nginx and Google Chrome.

It will also look different if Google chrome is unable to find an error page to display:

For beginners, this can be incredibly frustrating. There is no clue or message that would point them in the right direction to quickly fix it.

Asking how to fix an internal server error is like asking your doctor how to fix the pain you’re experiencing without telling them where the pain is.

However, if we know the common causes that trigger this error, then we can try fixing them one by one to resolve the error without breaking anything.

What Causes The Internal Server Error in WordPress?

Internal server error in WordPress is often caused by a corrupt .htaccess file, poorly coded plugins, or your active WordPress theme.

Other possible causes of the internal server error in WordPress that we know of are: PHP memory limit or corrupt core WordPress files.

In some conditions, the internal server error may only show up when you are trying to access the WordPress admin area while the rest of the site works fine.

That being said, now let’s take a look at how to go about troubleshooting the internal server error in WordPress.

Video Tutorial

If you prefer written instructions, then continue reading.

Fixing The 500 Internal Server Error in WordPress

Before you begin troubleshooting, make sure that you have a complete WordPress backup of your website on hand.

If you have access to the WordPress admin area, then you can a WordPress backup plugin to create a complete backup of your website. We recommend using Duplicator to handle this.

On the other hand, if you don’t have access to the WordPress admin area, then you can manually create a WordPress backup using phpMyAdmin and an FTP client.

After that, you can follow the following steps to troubleshoot and fix the internal server error on your website.

Clear WordPress and Browser Cache

Browsers and your WordPress caching plugins can sometimes mistakenly store a cached copy of an error page.

The easiest way to fix this is by first clearing your browser cache.

After that, if you have access to the WordPress admin area of your website, then you can empty the WordPress cache by visiting your caching plugin’s settings page.

For details, see our tutorial on how to clear WordPress cache.

Checking for Corrupt .htaccess File

The .htaccess file is a server configuration file that is also used by WordPress to set up redirects.

One of the most common causes of the internal server error is the corrupt .htaccess file.

The easiest way to fix this is by simply visiting the Settings » Permalinks page in the WordPress admin area and then clicking on the ‘Save Changes’ button without making any changes at all.

Update permalinks to regenerate .htaccess file

WordPress will now try to update your .htaccess file or generate a new one for you. You can now visit your website to see if this has resolved the internal server error.

If you can still see the error, then you need to make sure that WordPress was able to generate or write to the .htaccess file.

Sometimes, due to file and directory permissions, WordPress may not be able to create or write to your .htaccess file.

You can now try to manually replace the .htaccess file. First, you need to login to your website using FTP or the File Manager app under your hosting account control panel.

Next, you need to rename your main .htaccess file to something like .htaccess_old. This lets you keep the file as a backup, but WordPress won’t recognize it.

To rename the .htaccess file, you will need to login to your site using FTP or File Manager app in your hosting account’s cPanel dashboard.

Once you are connected, the .htaccess file will be located in the same directory where you will see folders like wp-content, wp-admin, and wp-includes.

Simply, right-click on the .htaccess file and rename it to .htaccess_old.

Next, you need to create a new .htaccess file.

Inside your site’s root folder, right-click and then select ‘Create new file’ option in your FTP client or File Manager app.

Name this new file .htaccess and click OK to save it.

Now, this .htaccess file is currently empty and you need to add default WordPress rewrite rules to it.

Simply right-click on the file and then select View/Edit in your FTP client or File Manager app.

The empty file will open in a plain text editor like Notepad or TextEdit. Now, you need to copy and paste the following code inside it.

# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>
# END WordPress

This code is the default rule set used by WordPress. Don’t forget to save your changes and upload the file back to the server.

You can now visit your website to see if this has resolved the internal server error.

If it did, then give yourself a pat on the back because you fixed the internal server error.

Important: Before you move on with other things, make sure that you go to Settings » Permalinks page in the WordPress admin area and click the save button without making any changes. This will regenerate the .htaccess file for you with proper rewrite rules to ensure that your post pages do not return a 404 error.

If checking for the corrupt .htaccess file solution did not work for you, then you need to continue reading this article.

Increasing the PHP Memory Limit

Sometimes the internal server error can happen if a script is consuming all the PHP memory limit.

The easiest way to increase the PHP memory limit is by editing the wp-config.php file. Be careful when you do this if you’re a beginner. You want to follow these instructions carefully because even small mistakes in WordPress core files can break your site.

To begin, simply connect to your WordPress website using an FTP client or the File Manager app under your hosting account control panel.

You’ll find wp-config.php file inside the main folder of your website. Right-click on it and select ‘Download.’ This will ensure that you have a backup of the file in case something goes wrong.

When you’ve saved that, you can right-click on it and select ‘View/Edit.’

Inside the wp-config.php file, you need to add the following code just above the line that reads ‘That’s all, stop editing! Happy publishing’.

define( 'WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M' );

For more details, see our tutorial on how to increase PHP memory limit in WordPress.

If you are seeing the internal server error only when you try to log in to your WordPress admin or upload an image in your wp-admin, then you should increase the memory limit by following these steps:

Create a blank text file on your computer and name it php.ini
Paste this code in there: memory=256MB
Save the file
Upload it into your /wp-admin/ folder using FTP

If increasing the memory limit fixed the problem for you, then you have only fixed the problem temporarily. You still need to find the cause that is exhausting your memory limit.

This could be a poorly coded plugin or even a theme function. We strongly recommend that you ask your WordPress web hosting company to look into the server logs to help you find the exact diagnostics.

If increasing the PHP memory limit did not fix the issue for you, then you are in for some more troubleshooting.

Deactivate All WordPress Plugins

If none of the above solutions worked for you, then this error is most likely being caused by a specific plugin installed on your website.

It is also possible that it is a combination of plugins that are not playing nice with each other.

If you can access the WordPress admin area of your website, then you can simply go to the plugins page and deactivate all WordPress plugins.

However, if you are unable to access the WordPress admin area, then you can deactivate all WordPress plugins using FTP.

Simply connect to your WordPress website using an FTP client or the file manager app under your hosting account control panel.

Once connected, navigated to the /wp-content/ folder and rename the plugins folder to plugins.deactivated.

WordPress looks for plugins in the plugins folder. If the plugins folder is not found, then it will automatically deactivate all plugins.

You can now try visiting your website to see if this resolved the internal server error on your website.

To restore all your plugins, you can simply rename the plugins.deactivated folder back to plugins.

Your plugins will now be restored but they will still be deactivated.

You can now activate plugins one by one and visit your website to figure out which plugin is causing the internal server error.

For more details, see our guide on how to deactivate all WordPress plugins without WP-Admin.

If deactivating all plugins didn’t fix the internal server error on your website, then continue reading.

Switch to a Default WordPress Theme

One possible cause of the internal server error could be some code in your WordPress theme.

To find out if this is the case, you need to switch your theme to a default WordPress theme.

If you have access to the WordPress admin area, then simply go to the Appearance » Themes page. If you have a default theme already installed then you can simply click on the Activate button to switch theme.

If you don’t have a default theme installed, then you can click on the Add New button at the top and install a default theme (Twenty Twenty-Three, Twenty Twenty-Two, etc).

Now in case you don’t have access to the WordPress admin area, you can still switch to a default theme.

Simply, connect to your WordPress website using an FTP client and navigate to the /wp-content/ folder.

Right-click to select the themes folder and download it to your computer as a backup.

Next, you need to delete the themes folder from your website. Once it is deleted, go ahead and create a new themes folder.

Your new themes folder will be completely empty which means you don’t have any WordPress themes installed at the moment.

Next, you need to visit the WordPress themes directory and download a default WordPress theme to your computer.

Your browser will then download the theme as a zip file to your computer.

Locate the file on your computer and then unzip it. Windows users can unzip file by right-clicking on it and then selecting Extract All. Mac users can double-click on the zip file to extract it.

You’ll now see a folder containing your WordPress theme.

Switch back to your FTP client or File Manager up and upload this folder to the empty themes folder.

Once uploaded, WordPress will automatically start using the default theme.

You can now visit your website to see if this resolved the internal server error.

If this didn’t work, then you can reupload your WordPress themes from the backup or switch back to the theme you were using.

Don’t worry there are still a few more things you can do to fix the error.

Re-uploading Core Files

If the plugin and theme options didn’t fix the internal server error, then it is worth re-uploading the /wp-admin/ and /wp-includes/ folders from a fresh WordPress install.

This will NOT remove any of your information, but it may solve the problem in case any file was corrupted.

First, you will need to visit the WordPress.org website and click on the Download button.

This will download the WordPress zip file to your computer.

Go ahead and extract the zip file. Inside it, you will find a wordpress folder.

Next you need to connect to your WordPress website using an FTP client.

Once connected go to the root folder of your website. It is the folder that has wp-admin, wp-includes, wp-content folders inside it.

In the left column open the WordPress folder on your computer.

Now you need to select all files inside the wordpresss folder and upload them to your website.

Your FTP client will now transfer those folders to your server.

It will ask you whether you would like to overwrite the files. Select ‘Overwrite’ and then select ‘Always use this action’.

Your FTP client will now replace your older WordPress files with new, fresh copies.

If your WordPress files were corrupted, then this step will fix the internal server error for you.

Enable Debug Logs in WordPress

WordPress comes with a built-in system to keep logs for debugging.

You can turn it on by using the WP Debugging plugin. For more details, see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Once activated, the plugin will turn on debugging logs on your WordPress website.

If you don’t have access to the admin area of your WordPress website, then you can turn on debugging by adding the following code to your wp-config.php file.

define( 'WP_DEBUG', true);
define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true);

Once you have turned on debug logs, you can view these logs by using an FTP client and navigating to the /wp-content/ folder.

You can open the debug log file in a text editor and it will show you a list of errors and warnings that occur on your website.

Some of these errors and warnings can be harmless incidents that may not need fixing. However, if you are seeing an internal server error on your website then these may point you in the right direction.

Ask your Hosting Provider

If all methods fail to fix the internal server error on your website, then it is time to get some more help. Contact your web hosting support team and they will be able to check the server logs and locate the root cause of the error.

If you want to continue troubleshooting on your own, then see our ultimate WordPress troubleshooting guide for beginners.

We hope this article helped you fix the internal server error in WordPress. You may also want to see our complete list of the most common WordPress errors, and our guide on how to choose the best web hosting provider.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Fix the 500 Internal Server Error in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.

How to Download Your Entire WordPress Media Library (3 Ways)

18.03.2023download wordpress images, download wordpress media library, duplicator, duplicator pro, Media Library, wordpress media library, WordPress PluginsEditorial Staff

Do you want to download all the images and media files from your WordPress website?

By downloading your media library, you can easily store a backup of your media files on your computer or, if you have created another WordPress site, then you can also transfer these images from one site to another.

In this article, we’ll show you how to easily download your entire WordPress media library, step by step.

How to download your entire WordPress media library

Why Would You Want to Download the Media Library?

The WordPress media library stores all the media files that you have uploaded to your site. If you want to create a backup of these media files, then you can easily do that by downloading a copy of the media library and storing it on your computer.

You can always use a fully automated WordPress backup solution to back up your entire WordPress site (including plugins, themes, posts, and the media library).

However, most backup plugins do not offer an easy way to just download and upload your media library.

You could also use your WordPress hosting account file manager or FTP to download the media library, but these methods are a bit complicated and confusing for beginners.

With that being said, we’ll show you some easy ways to easily download your entire media library in WordPress.

Method 1. Download Media Library Using The Export Media Library Plugin

For this method, we’ll be using a plugin to download the media files.

First, you need to install and activate the Export Media Library plugin. For more details, see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, go to the Media » Export page from your admin area.

Once you’re on the ‘Export Media Library’ page, simply choose the ‘Single folder with all files’ option from the dropdown menu beside the ‘Folder Structure’ option.

Download the media library using the Export Media Library plugin

Now all your media will be downloaded into one folder. They will be downloaded as the original file types, such as JPG, PNG, or SVG.

If you want your media to be placed into separate folders based on the time of upload, then choose the ‘Nested Folder’ option from the dropdown menu.

After that, simply click the ‘Download Zip’ button, and your entire media library will be downloaded into a zip file on your computer.

Method 2. Download the Entire WordPress Backup Including Media Files

If you want to create a backup for your entire WordPress website including the media library, then this method is for you.

We’ll be using the Duplicator plugin which is the best WordPress backup plugin on the market and enables you to create a complete backup of your WordPress website.

First, you’ll need to install and activate the Duplicator plugin. For more details, see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to visit the Duplicator » Packages page from the admin sidebar and click on the ‘Create New’ button.

Create a new backup by clicking the Create New button

Next, you need to choose a name for your WordPress backup.

It can be anything that will help you identify the backup once it’s downloaded on your computer.

After that, click on the ‘Next’ button to continue.

In the next step, your website will be scanned for potential errors.

Once the scan is complete, simply click on the ‘build’ button to create your package.

Note: If an error is highlighted by Duplicator during the scan, you would need to solve that error before rescanning and building your package.

Once the package is built, you need to click on the ‘Download Both Files’ button.

Now, your installer and archive files will be downloaded simultaneously.

Your WordPress website backup including media files will now be downloaded and stored on your computer.

If you want to restore a WordPress backup, you may also want to see our guide on how to restore WordPress from a backup.

Method 3. Download Media Library Using WordPress Settings

In this method, we’ll show you how to download your entire media library from your WordPress backend and import it to another WordPress website.

Note: This method allows you to download the media library without using any plugins. However, we do not recommend this method because it exports your media as an XML file.

This method can come in handy if you want to import your WordPress media library to one of your other websites.

For that, head over to the Tools » Export page from the WordPress admin dashboard.

Now that you’re on the ‘Export’ page, simply check the box beside the ‘Media’ option.

If you don’t want to download your entire library, then you can also select a date range for a specific time frame. With this feature, only the images uploaded during your chosen time frame will be downloaded.

Finally, click on the ‘Download Export File’ button.

Now, your WordPress media library will be saved on your computer as an XML file.

Next, you need to install and activate the WordPress Importer plugin. For more instructions, please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

This plugin will allow you to import your XML file to another WordPress website.

First, you need to visit the Tools » Import page from the admin sidebar.

Then you can simply click on the ‘Run Importer’ link below the ‘WordPress’ option.

This will take you to the ‘Import WordPress’ page where you need to click on the ‘Choose File’ button.

Now, you can upload your media library XML file from the computer.

Once you’re done, don’t forget to click on the ‘Upload file and import’ button to upload the media library.

We hope this article helped you download your WordPress media library. You may also want to see our tutorial on how to speed up your WordPress website, and our comparison of the best Instagram plugins for WordPress.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Download Your Entire WordPress Media Library (3 Ways) first appeared on WPBeginner.

How to Create a Welcome Mat for Your WordPress Site (+ Examples)

17.03.2023create a welcome mat, fullscreen optin, fullscreen popup, optinmonster, Tutorials, welcome mat, welcome mat examplesEditorial Staff

Do you want to add a full-screen welcome mat to your website?

A welcome mat is a full-screen, dynamic overlay that can help you get more newsletter subscribers, eBook downloads, sales to your products, and more.

In this article, we’ll share how to create a welcome mat for your WordPress site, along with some great welcome mat examples to learn from.

Why a Welcome Mat Can Boost Your Conversions

More than 70% of visitors leaving your WordPress website will never return unless you convert them into email subscribers or customers.

A welcome mat is a large, full-screen interstitial that blocks the view of the rest of your website’s content to capture the user’s attention.

That might sound like a bad idea, but it’s a great way to get your message in front of visitors straight away.

If visitors don’t want what you’re offering, then they can simply close the welcome mat.

Of course, you’ll want to give people a good reason to sign up if you’re showing a welcome mat instead of an exit-intent popup, such as a discount code or even a freebie.

For example, you may have seen popular eCommerce stores offer a special discount using a full-screen welcome mat with gamification.

In other cases, you may have seen popular bloggers using a full-screen welcome mat to grow their email newsletter.

That being said, let’s take a look at how to easily add a welcome mat to your website.

How to Create a Welcome Mat for Your Website

The easiest way of creating a welcome mat in WordPress is using OptinMonster. It is the best lead generation software in the world and allows you to easily create optin forms, including welcome mats.

First, you’ll need to visit the OptinMonster website and signup for an account. You will need at least the Basic plan to create fullscreen overlays.

Next, you’ll need to install and activate the OptinMonster WordPress plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

The plugin connects the OptinMonster app to your website. Once you’ve activated the plugin, you’ll see the setup wizard in your WordPress dashboard. Go ahead and click the ‘Connect Your Existing Account’ button.

Connecting an OptinMonster account to WordPress

Next, a new window will open.

Simply click the ‘Connect to WordPress’ button.

Now, you’re ready to create your welcome mat.

Creating a Welcome Mat for Your Website

You can head to OptinMonster » Campaigns to create a new campaign.

Go ahead and click the ‘Create Your First Campaign’ button to start creating your welcome mat.

A new window will now pop up where you can select pre-built templates or choose ready-to-use campaigns and lead magnets, inspired by successful brands. OptinMonster also gives you the option to hire a specialist to customize your campaigns.

For this tutorial, we will use the ‘Templates’ option.

This will take you to the OptinMonster campaign builder.

Next, choose ‘Fullscreen’ for your campaign type.

You’ll need to choose a template for your campaign. We will use the ‘Entrance’ template, but you can pick a different one if you want.

Once you’ve selected a template, go ahead and enter a name for your campaign and click the ‘Start Building’ button.

Next, you can customize your campaign using the drag-and-drop builder. You can change anything you like here.

There are different blocks that can be added to the campaign, like images, text, buttons, and more. You’ll also want to edit the text to correspond to your offer.

Simply click on any element, and you’ll see that you can edit it in the left-hand pane.

For instance, we will change the headline of the full-screen welcome mat for our demo campaign.

The next step is to let your welcome mat slide in. You can do this by clicking the Settings gear icon on the bottom left-hand side.

From here, you need to toggle the ‘Display a Page Slide?’ option to enable it.

This means your welcome mat will slide down from the top of the screen instead of fading into view.

Next, you need to switch to the ‘Success’ view of your welcome mat. This is what your users will see after they perform the desired action. If you want, you can customize the success view or use the default template.

View the success view of welcome screen mat

Once you’re happy with your welcome mat, you can set up how it will display on your site.

Displaying the Welcome Mat on Your WordPress Site

You can set how to display your welcome mat popup by switching to the ‘Display Rules’ tab in OptinMonster.

There are lots of personalization and targeting options like users’ location, what items they have in their eCommerce cart, what they have done previously on your site, exit intent, and more.

By default, OptinMonster campaigns display on all pages of your site after the visitor has been there for 5 seconds.

Since this is a welcome mat, you’ll probably want it to display immediately. Just change this value to 0 seconds.

By default, the welcome mat will display on every page of your site. You can easily include or exclude specific pages by using OptinMonster’s personalization rules.

You can click the ‘Next Step’ button when you’re done.

Next, you’ll see more options for displaying your campaign. For instance, you can add an effect or play a sound when the campaign appears on a user’s screen.

For this tutorial, we’ll use the default settings and click the ‘Next Step’ button.

On the next screen, you will see a summary of your display rules settings.

You can edit the settings before publishing the campaign.

Once you are ready to make your welcome mat live, simply go to the ‘Publish’ tab at the top of the screen.

Go ahead and change the Publish Status from ‘Draft’ to ‘Publish.’

Don’t forget to click ‘Save’ to store your changes and close the campaign builder.

Next, you will see WordPress Output Settings for your campaign. Make sure that your campaign is published.

If it isn’t, then simply click the Status dropdown menu and select the ‘Published’ option. Don’t forget to click the ‘Save Changes’ button when you’re done.

Change the status of welcome mat campaign

To check out your campaign, you can visit your website in a new incognito browser window.

You should see your welcome mat slide in seamlessly from the top of your screen.

Examples of Great Welcome Mats

Let’s take a look at some welcome mat examples from different industries. For each, we’ll go through what they’re doing well, plus any minor changes we might suggest.

1. Singularity

This welcome mat from Singularity prompted users to sign up and watch the livestream of the Singularity University Global Summit. It was hugely successful and captured over 2,000 new email signups in under 9 days.

We particularly like the great use of the logo, the clear fonts, and the bright “Remind Me!” button.

2. Goins, Writer

This welcome mat from Goins, Writer offers a free guide. It’s a clear, simple offer, and the minimalist design is in keeping with the rest of the website.

We feel that the “Yes” and “No Thanks” buttons are clear and easy to use, and the use of numbers in the headline makes for a compelling offer.

3. AVweb

This welcome mat has a large, clear image of a small airplane. It’s instantly eye-catching.

We like the great image, and the clear “Sign Me Up!” call to action. One small possible tweak would be to shorten the tagline to avoid having it cover the top of the image.

4. Loaded Landscapes

This welcome mat from Loaded Landscapes is a little different from other examples. The background is slightly transparent.

We like the clear offer and the enthusiasm of the red call to action button. The background of the site beneath the welcome mat could be a little distracting, so it might be worth changing it to be fully opaque, however.

5. OptimizeMyBnb

This welcome mat was used on a specific page, which was included as a clickable link inside a book the website owner sold through third-party retailers. These retailers didn’t pass on customers’ details, though. Using a welcome mat in this way helped capture customers’ email addresses.

We feel the very clear headline, subheading, and call-to-action text all worked well, and that the ‘no, thanks’ button is used well to give the user sense of FOMO.

There are dozens more full-screen welcome mat examples that you can see, but we didn’t add them all in this guide.

If you’re looking for more inspiration, here are some things you can do with a fullscreen welcome mat:

Present a targeted offer or coupon
Showcase new products and services
Let visitors know what to expect from the site
Win new subscribers by highlighting their best content
Point visitors to their social media profiles
Collect email subscribers as part of a prelaunch phase

If you’re serious about improving your website conversions, then welcome mat and even exit fullscreen interstitials are some of the highest converting elements you can add to your website.

We hope this article helped you learn how to create a welcome mat for your website and that you found the examples inspiring. You may also want to take a look at our comparison of the best email marketing services, and our list of the must-have WordPress plugins.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Create a Welcome Mat for Your WordPress Site (+ Examples) first appeared on WPBeginner.

8 Best Online Content Optimization Tools for WordPress (in 2023)

17.03.2023ahrefs, clearscope, content optimization tools, frase, headline analyzer tool, marketmuse, online content optimization, semrush seo writing assistant, Showcase, surfer seoEditorial Staff

Are you looking for the best online content optimization tools for WordPress?

You can increase the search traffic to your WordPress website or blog by optimizing your online content. Luckily, there are plenty of easy-to-use tools you can use to make your content more readable and rank higher on search engine results pages.

In this article, we’ll share the very best online content optimization tools that experts use to grow their website traffic.

8 Best Online Content Optimization Tools for WordPress

What Is a Content Optimization Tool?

When you optimize your posts for SEO, you can improve your search engine rankings and consistently get more traffic to your WordPress website.

That’s why we created a handy checklist of tips to optimize your blog posts for SEO. This is a list of all the steps we use on our own blogs, such as keyword research, crafting effective titles, internal linking, improving readability, and much more.

But even using our checklist, optimizing your content is a lot of work. Luckily, there are handy online tools that can recommend specific steps you should take to improve your content so it ranks higher on search engine results pages.

That being said, let’s take a look at the best online content optimization tools for WordPress.

1. All in One SEO

All in One SEO (AIOSEO) is the best SEO plugin for WordPress websites. It’s beginner-friendly and at the same time, comes with advanced optimization features, and gives you SEO insights from your WordPress dashboard.

Once you finish setting up All in One SEO, it will automatically perform an SEO audit so you can see the overall SEO health score for your website.

It will also give you a detailed report with practical suggestions to improve your SEO score.

AIOSEO will also help you find semantic keywords for your focus keyword, and the headline analyzer tool will give your headline a score and offer tips to make your headline even better.

The plugin’s Link Assistant offers suggestions for relevant posts you can link to and the anchor text to use. Simply click the ‘Add Link’ button, and the link will automatically be added to your post.

All in One SEO will also automatically analyze readability issues and make suggestions for you in the analysis section. It also lets you take your XML sitemaps to the next level and allows you to add schema markup for your WordPress website.

Pricing: Starts at $49.50 for the Basic plan that supports one site. You can also get started using the free plugin which offers fewer features.

2. Semrush SEO Writing Assistant

SEO Writing Assistant is a content optimization tool created by Semrush, one of the best SEO tools on the market. You can use it to check your content in real-time for SEO suggestions and improve the overall SEO score of the content on your WordPress website.

You start by entering a focus keyword to generate content templates based on the top 10 results for that phrase. After that, you will be given scores on readability, SEO, originality, and tone based on rival results.

Next, you look for ways to improve your content. For example, you can use Writing Assistant to optimize your article headline, include recommended keywords, adjust the article length, make sure the tone sounds natural and casual, and check for plagiarism.

We show you how to do all of this step-by-step in our guide on how to use the SEO Writing Assistant in WordPress to improve SEO.

Pricing: Starts at $119.95/month for a Pro account. A free trial is available.

3. Surfer SEO

Surfer SEO helps you write articles that read well and rank high. It helps you structure your posts, provides a list of relevant keywords you should include, and offers a content score and real-time feedback on how to optimize your content.

This software offers many of Clearscope’s features at a more affordable price. For example, when you paste your content into the app, it will give you a content score, show you which keywords you are using and which you aren’t, and display an outline of the post’s structure.

Surfer SEO also offers an audit showing actionable steps to improve your content, a keyword research tool, and a page speed comparison so you know whether you need to improve your page’s load time.

Pricing: Starts at $49/month for the Basic plan when paid annually. This plan supports two users. There is a 7-day money-back guarantee if you are not satisfied.

4. Clearscope

Clearscope offers a wide range of tools that helps you optimize your online content. For example, it can show you the keywords you should use, the questions you need to answer, how to structure the article, how long the post should be, and how to improve readability.

You create a report by typing in a query such as a post title, and Clearscope will analyze relevant content from your competitors to determine which keywords should be included in the post and much more.

Next, you can paste the contents of your article to see how it can be improved. This will show you the length of your post compared with the typical length of your competitors’ posts and the readability level.

You’ll see a list of important keywords, and those you have already included will have a checkmark next to them. In the top left of the screen, you will see a content grade, and you can improve your grade by adding keywords that are not already in the post.

Clearscope also has a Keyword Discover tool. After typing in a keyword, you will see related keywords, questions that are asked related to that keyword, and which keywords are trending.

Pricing: Starts at $170/month for the Essentials plan which is for one user. Business and Enterprise plans have custom pricing. You can request a free demonstration of the software.

5. Frase

Frase is an affordable content optimization tool that identifies relevant content you should include in your post and provides a smart outline for your content.

Once you write or paste your content, smart insights will pop up on the right of the screen. It will also be given a content score so you can see how much it needs to be improved.

The app can autocomplete or rewrite sentences for you using artificial intelligence, suggest transition words that add interest to your writing, and recommend topics to include in your post by analyzing the most popular Google search results.

Pricing: Starts at $12.66/month for the Solo plan when paid annually. A 7-day free trial is available.

6. MarketMuse

MarketMuse is another excellent content optimization tool, but its pricing makes it more suitable for enterprise-level companies than small businesses. It offers applications to help you research, compete, optimize, and more.

You’ll see a personalized difficulty score of your existing content so you can see how your content competes with articles on other sites. It uses natural language rather than keywords to suggest content you should add to your post.

It also offers tools that perform keyword research and competitive content analysis.

This will show you the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors’ content in a chart so you can add content that they are missing.

Pricing: Starts at $600/month for the Standard plan, which supports one user. You can add additional users for $99/month each. The Premium plan costs $12,000/year, and there is also a limited free plan for one user so you can test the software.

7. Ahrefs

Ahrefs is an excellent keyword explorer and rank tracker tool and comes with a site audit tool to optimize your entire website.

Using the Keyword Explorer, you can come up with keyword ideas by simply typing a keyword into the search box. You’ll then see a whole list of keyword suggestions.

Its Rank Tracker feature lets you add the keywords you want to track to your Ahrefs dashboard. It shows you an overview of your search engine rankings. You can see your visibility percentage, average position, traffic, SERP features, and changes in position.

You can also use Ahrefs to see the keywords that your competitors are ranking for, so you can create new content pieces targeting keywords related to those subjects.

The Content Explorer feature finds the most popular content for any keyword or topic. You can see why those posts rank higher and replicate their strategy in your own content.

Pricing: Starts at $99/month for the Lite plan. Pay annually and get two months free.

8. Headline Analyzer (Free)

Headline Analyzer is a free tool that helps you evaluate your headlines and improve the copy to make it more engaging and click-worthy. It provides data-driven insights and suggestions for creating irresistible SEO titles.

It can be tricky for beginners to come up with a headline that instantly captures your users’ attention and gets them to click your website link. This is where you can use the headline analyzer tool.

All you have to do is enter your blog title, and the Headline Analyzer will give it an overall content score along with suggestions on how to improve it.

The tool will also tell you if your title needs to be longer or shorter to make sure it displays properly on SERPs (search engine results pages). It even shows you a preview of how your blog will appear in Google search results.

Pricing: Absolutely free.

We hope this tutorial helped you find the best online content optimization tools for WordPress. You may also want to learn how to increase your blog traffic, or check out our list of the best WordPress landing page plugins.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post 8 Best Online Content Optimization Tools for WordPress (in 2023) first appeared on WPBeginner.

How to Start a Video Blog (Vlog) And Make Money in 2023

16.03.2023aioseo, Easy Digital Downloads, memberpress, pretty links, pushengage, searchwp, seedprod, smash balloon, thirstyaffiliates, Tutorials, wpformsEditorial Staff

Do you want to start a video blog and make money?

Vlogging is a powerful way to connect with people and build a personal brand. However, if you simply upload vlogs to third-party platforms like YouTube, then you may struggle to grow your audience, make money, and become a successful vlogger.

In this article, we will show you how you can start a vlog and make money.

How to start a video blog (vlog) and make money

Which Is the Best Website Builder for Your Video Blog?

There are many website builders that can help you create a vlog site, but we recommend using WordPress and a separate video hosting platform.

To learn more about why WordPress is such a good choice, please see our complete WordPress review with pros and cons.

There are two types of WordPress software: WordPress.com and WordPress.org. We recommend using WordPress.org, also called ‘self-hosted WordPress.’ This will give you full ownership and control of your site.

Using WordPress.org allows you to install third-party plugins and themes, including plenty that are designed specifically for vloggers.

Also, while you can upload videos to WordPress, it’s far better to use a separate video hosting platform such as YouTube or Vimeo.

Videos take up a lot of your hosting resources, which will slow down your website. Instead, we recommend uploading your vlogs to a separate hosting platform such as YouTube or Vimeo, which has all the server resources you need.

After uploading your vlogs to one of these sites, you can then embed your vlog in a WordPress page or post by simply copying and pasting a link. WordPress has built-in support for most major video hosting platforms.

If you really want to save time and impress your viewers, then you can use a plugin like Smash Balloon to create a video feed that will update automatically every time you post a new vlog.

An embedded YouTube feed, created using Smash Balloon

If you don’t already have a video hosting platform in mind, then don’t worry. Later in this guide, we’ll help you find the perfect platform for your vlogs.

Step 1. Setting Up Your Video Blog Website

To create a video vlog, you’ll need a domain name and web hosting.

Although the WordPress software is free, hosting and domain names are where the costs can really start to add up.

A domain name typically costs $14.99/year and hosting costs start from $7.99/month. This is a lot for hobby vloggers, new creators, or anyone who is working with a tighter budget.

Thankfully, Bluehost has agreed to offer our users over 60% off on web hosting and a free SSL certificate as part of this deal. This is absolutely essential if you plan to sell premium videos and make money from your vlogs. You will also get a free domain name when you sign up!

Simply click the link below to create a vlogging website for as little as $2.75 per month.

→ Click Here to Claim This Exclusive Bluehost Offer ←

Because you get a free domain when you sign up with Bluehost, you’ll need to be sure it’s the right fit for your video blog. For expert tips, check out our guide on how to choose the best domain name.

Once you’ve completed the purchase, you’ll get an email with instructions on how to log in to your web hosting control panel. This is your hosting account dashboard where you can manage your vlog, including setting up email notifications and asking for WordPress support if you need it.

It’s also where you’ll install the WordPress software, so let’s do that now.

Step 2. Install WordPress on Your Video Blog

When you sign up with Bluehost using our link, you’ll get access to a one-click WordPress installer. Simply log into your Bluehost account and click on ‘One Click Install.’

You can now follow the onscreen instructions to set up WordPress.

If you’re using a different WordPress website host like SiteGround, Hostinger, HostGator, or WP Engine, then you can see our complete guide on how to install WordPress for all the top hosting providers.

Once WordPress is set up, you’re ready to start customizing your vlog site.

Step 3. Select a Video Theme

WordPress themes are professionally designed templates that change how your vlog looks and acts.

There are lots of different premium and free WordPress business themes to choose from. You can generally categorize these as multipurpose WordPress themes, or niche industry themes. However, most WordPress themes are designed to show text.

Since we’re starting a vlog, we need a theme that’s designed specifically for videos.

Even if you’re using a separate video hosting platform, embedded videos still take time to load. With that in mind, it’s important to find a lightweight theme that won’t slow down your website. Wherever possible, we also recommend using a theme that has built-in lazy loading.

On top of that, vlogs often need special features such as parallax scrolling, lightbox popups, and fullscreen video backgrounds.

That’s a lot to keep in mind, so you may want to look at our expert pick of the best WordPress video themes.

Another option is to use a landing page builder plugin such as SeedProd. SeedProd is the best drag-and-drop WordPress page builder and comes with more than 180 templates.

This includes an entire section of ‘Webinar’ templates that are designed specifically to show videos on your WordPress website.

SeedProd's professionally-designed vlog templates

SeedProd also has a ready-made ‘Video’ block that you can drag and drop onto any page.

For more information, please see our guide on how to create a landing page with WordPress.

Once you’ve chosen a video theme, please see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress theme.

After installing a theme, you may want to customize it by going to Appearance » Customize in the WordPress dashboard. This will launch the theme customizer where you can fine-tune the theme settings and see your changes in the live preview.

Customizing a WordPress video blog theme

If you’re using one of the newer full-site editing themes, then you’ll need to go to Appearance » Editor instead.

Here, you can fine-tune the theme using blocks.

Customizing a WordPress vlogging theme using the FSE

Just remember that you can customize your theme at any point. You can even completely change your WordPress theme, if you realize it doesn’t quite meet your needs.

This means you don’t need to finalize your site design now. In fact, it may be easier to fine-tune your vlog once you’ve added some content.

Step 4. Create a Custom Homepage

WordPress comes with two content types called posts and pages.

You’ll typically use posts to create articles and blogs, while pages are static “one-off” types of content. For example, you might publish an about page, a privacy policy, or a custom archive page.

There are a few different ways to show videos in WordPress. However, since we’re creating a video vlog you’ll typically embed one or more videos in a blog post.

By default, the WordPress homepage shows your posts in reverse chronological order, so your latest vlog appears at the top of the homepage.

However, you may want to move this blog list to another page, and use a custom homepage instead. This custom homepage can introduce your vlog to visitors and let them know what you have to offer.

You might even create a YouTube gallery of all your best videos, which is a great way to catch a visitor’s attention and make them want to watch more of your content.

Smash Balloon allows you to create all kinds of galleries, including showing a specific YouTube playlist or favorites feed, a single video, or even your latest live stream.

Adding a YouTube vlog feed to your WordPress website

For step-by-step instructions on how to create an attention-grabbing homepage for your video blog, please see our guide on how to create a custom homepage in WordPress.

Once you’re happy with the design, it’s time to set it as your homepage. To do this, go to Settings » Reading in the WordPress dashboard.

How to set a custom homepage in WordPress

Here, scroll to ‘Your homepage settings’ and select ‘A static page.’

Next, open the ‘Homepage’ dropdown and choose the page that you want to use.

Changing the homepage on a WordPress video blog

After that, simply scroll to the bottom of the screen and click on ‘Save Changes.’ Now, if you visit your website you’ll see the new homepage in action.

With that done, make sure you create a separate blog page to display your vlogs.

Step 5. Set Up Your Video Hosting Platform

Before you can start adding videos to your WordPress website, you’ll need to upload them to a separate video hosting platform. In this way, you can show countless high-resolution videos on your website without affecting its performance.

For more on this topic, see our post on why you should never upload a video to WordPress.

There are lots of different video hosting platforms that you can use, but we recommend YouTube as it’s the most popular choice.

It’s free to create a YouTube account and you can upload as many videos as you want.

YouTube even has a Partners Program that you can join to make money from your videos. This program also offers more benefits like analytics, longer videos, and editing tools.

Since it’s such a popular platform, there are lots of great WordPress plugins for YouTube. For example, you can use plugins to quickly and easily embed a YouTube playlist in WordPress.

Adding a YouTube playlist to a vlog using Smash Balloon

If you don’t want to use YouTube, then there are many other popular platforms including Vidyard, Wistia, and SproutVideo. For a closer look at all the top video sites, please see our expert pick of the best video hosting sites for bloggers.

After choosing a platform, you’ll need to create an account and upload all the vlogs that you want to show on your WordPress website.

For instructions on how to do this, check out the online documentation for your chosen video hosting platform.

Step 6. Create Your First Vlog

To create your first vlog, simply go to Posts » Add New in your WordPress dashboard.

WordPress has a block-based editor that allows you to create beautiful content layouts for your vlogs. Here, you can add text, images, audio clips, and more.

For an in-depth look at the editor, please see our WordPress block editor tutorial.

The easiest way to add vlogs to WordPress is by using the built-in auto-embed feature. If you’re using one of the big video hosting platforms, then you can simply paste the video’s URL into the WordPress content editor, and WordPress will handle the rest.

Just head over to your chosen video hosting platform and find the vlog that you want to show on your WordPress blog. You can then simply copy the video’s URL.

After that, switch back to the WordPress dashboard and paste the URL in the content area. If you paste it into a standard Paragraph block, WordPress will automatically try to place it in the correct block, such as the YouTube block.

Even if you don’t see the platform-specific block, it will use the Embed block and display the video inside the content editor.

For more information, please see our detailed guide on how to easily embed videos in WordPress blog posts.

As you’re working on the vlog, you can see how it’ll look to visitors by clicking on ‘Preview.’

This will open the page in a new tab.

The WordPress post editor also has sections for Categories and Tags. You can use these to organize your vlogs so it’s easier for visitors to find interesting content. To learn more, please see our guide on how to add categories and tags in WordPress.

When you’re happy with how the vlog looks, go ahead and click on the ‘Publish’ button in the top-right corner of the screen.

To add more vlogs to your website, simply follow the same process described above.

Step 7. Add a Contact Form to Your Vlog

Some viewers might want to contact you directly. This may include affiliate marketers, sponsors, advertisers, and other brands who are looking to build relationships with creators, or other vloggers who want to collaborate.

These people could ring your phone number or send a message to your business email address, but we always recommend adding a contact form to your website.

This makes it easier for potential partners to contact you, so you don’t miss out on any opportunities to grow your brand and make money from your vlogs.

The easiest way to add a contact form to your WordPress website is by using the free WPForms plugin. WPForms comes with a built-in Simple Contact Form template that you can customize using the drag-and-drop editor.

Adding a contact form to a WordPress vlogging site

You can then add the form to any page, post, or widget-ready area using the ready-made WPForms block.

For detailed instructions, see our guide on how to create a contact form in WordPress.

Step 8. Help Visitors Find Interesting Vlogs

Once you’ve added some content to your vlog, it’s a good idea to add a navigation menu so visitors can find their way around the different videos.

Adding a navigation menu to a video blog (vlog)

The exact location of your menu will depend on your WordPress theme. Most themes have several options, so you can create multiple menus and then show them on different areas of your vlog.

Whether you create a single menu or multiple menus, it’s easy to add navigation to your vlog. For a complete guide, please see our post on how to add a navigation menu.

Adding a navigation menu to a WordPress vlog

Menus encourage people to explore your site, but sometimes visitors may want to search for a specific vlog. WordPress comes with a built-in search feature, but it’s quite basic and not very good at finding relevant content.

That’s why we recommend using SearchWP, which is the best search plugin for WordPress.

It is very easy to use and gives much more accurate search results. It allows visitors to search for a keyword in the post or page title, content, URL slug, categories, tags, taxonomies, WordPress excerpts, and even comments.

All of this can help visitors find interesting vlogs, fast.

How to improve WordPress search with SearchWP

For step-by-step instructions on SearchWP, please see our guide on how to improve WordPress search.

Step 9. Optimize Your Vlog for SEO

If you want to get more viewers, then you’ll need to optimize your vlog for SEO. This will help search engines understand your content and show it to people who are looking for videos just like yours.

WordPress SEO is a huge topic that can be confusing for new vloggers. With that in mind, we recommend using All in One SEO for WordPress (AIOSEO).

AIOSEO is the best WordPress SEO plugin on the market and has everything you need to get your vlogs onto the first page of Google, without having to learn any complicated SEO jargon.

AIOSEO comes with the easiest setup wizard that helps you choose the best SEO settings for your business. AIOSEO will even scan your vlogs and show an actionable checklist on how you can optimize that specific vlog.

An actionable checklist for improving SEO

Additionally, AIOSEO has a video sitemap feature that you can use to show search engines what’s the most important content to index.

To help you get started, please see our ultimate guide on how to set up All in One SEO for WordPress correctly.

Step 10. Notify Users About New Vlogs

Did you know that 70% of people who leave your site will never come back? Thankfully there are lots of ways to turn abandoning visitors into loyal viewers.

To start, it’s smart to create an email newsletter so people who enjoy your vlogs can subscribe. After that, you can email these subscribers every time you post a new vlog.

You can also keep them engaged with your brand by sending them fun surveys and polls, notifying them about any giveaways and contests you’re running, or even simply asking them for feedback on your latest vlog.

All of this can help you create a sense of community and build a stronger relationship with your viewers.

If you do build an email list, then you’ll want to make sure your messages arrive safely in the subscriber’s inbox and not in their spam folder. With that in mind, we recommend using an SMTP service provider to improve your email deliverability rates.

Another option is to use push notifications with software like PushEngage to send targeted, personalized messages to viewers after they leave your vlog.

Push notifications are short, clickable notifications that appear as a popup on the user’s desktop or mobile devices. Some of the biggest websites in the world use push notifications to keep users engaged, including Facebook.

These notifications go directly to the user’s web browser or mobile device so they have a high chance of getting the person’s attention, which makes them perfect for notifying viewers when you post a new vlog.

To learn more, see our guide on how to add web push notifications to WordPress.

Step 11. How to Make Money From Your Video Vlogs

Creating lots of quality, engaging vlogs takes a lot of time and effort, so you may want to make money from your videos.

If you’ve created a contact form, then potential sponsors and partners already have a way to contact you, which is a great start. However, there are lots more ways to make money online with WordPress.

Here are some of the best ways to make money from your vlog.

Google AdSense

There are many reasons why it’s smart to embed videos on your own website, rather than simply uploading them to platforms like YouTube.

One major benefit is that you can show Google AdSense ads next to your videos.

When you sign up for Google AdSense, Google acts as a middleman between you and the advertiser. Instead of you having to find the right partners for your vlog, Google allows advertisers to bid for keywords matching your content. This allows you to get the best possible rates for the ads on your vlogging website.

For more details, please see our article on how to properly add Google AdSense to your WordPress blog.

Affiliate marketing

Many vloggers make money by recommending products and services to their viewers. For example, many lifestyle vloggers film daily routine videos showing off their favorite skincare or fitness products.

By using affiliate links, you can earn money every time a viewer buys a product or service based on your recommendation.

For the best results, it’s a good idea to only recommend quality items that you already use and trust. If you encourage viewers to buy poor-quality or scammy products, then you’ll damage your band and almost certainly lose viewers.

There are plenty of affiliate marketing plugins and tools for WordPress that can help you make money by promoting affiliate products, but we highly recommend PrettyLinks or ThirstyAffiliates to all vloggers.

To get started, please see our step-by-step affiliate marketing guide for beginners.

Ask for Tips and Donations

If you build a strong, positive relationship with your viewers then they may want to support your work as a vlogger. This is particularly true if you’re a hobby vlogger or someone who is just starting out.

Although they’re mostly used by non-profits, some vloggers use donation forms so that viewers can support their work. These forms are often presented as ‘buy me a coffee’ or ‘buy me a beer.’

To learn more, please see our guide on how to create a donate form in WordPress.

Create a Membership Site

Most of the time, you’ll want your vlogs to be publicly available so you can get as many views as possible and build your audience.

However, some vloggers may want to create a video membership site in WordPress. This allows people to pay for different perks, such as early access to the latest vlogs, exclusive live streams, or premium members-only videos.

You can also offer perks that don’t involve videos, such as a members-only forum, blog posts, or the ability to chat with you directly on channels like Discord.

The easiest way to create a membership site is by using MemberPress. It is the best WordPress membership plugin on the market and allows you to accept payments, create unlimited subscription levels, restrict access to video pages based on levels, and more.

Creating video memberships with the MemberPress plugin

Sell Your Videos as Digital Downloads

Depending on the kind of vlogs you create, you may decide to sell some of your premium videos as digital downloads. For example, if you’re a health and fitness vlogger then you might create videos teaching your followers different exercise routines.

For some niches, this can be a way to monetize the audience you’ve built from your vlogs.

Easy Digital Downloads is the best platform to easily sell digital products. You can get started in minutes and accept credit card payments with Stripe, PayPal, Google Pay, and Apple Pay.

The Easy Digital Downloads WordPress eCommerce plugin

With Easy Digital Downloads, you have complete control over how you distribute your videos. You can allow customers to download files as many times as they want or restrict file downloads by time or attempt.

To start selling your premium videos, please see our complete guide on how to sell digital downloads on WordPress.

We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to start a video vlog and make money. You may also want to learn how to increase your blog traffic or check out our list of the best email marketing services.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Start a Video Blog (Vlog) And Make Money in 2023 first appeared on WPBeginner.

7 Best Free Autoresponder Tools of 2023 (Pros & Cons Compared)

15.03.2023autoresponder, autoresponder tool, best autoresponder tools, email autoresponder, free autoresponder tools, ShowcaseEditorial Staff

Are you looking for the best free autoresponder tools to start sending automated emails?

The good news is that you don’t need to wait until your site starts making money. There are lots of free autoresponders that you can use to grow your email list.

In this article, we’ll take you through some of the best free autoresponder tools, comparing their pros and cons.

Best free autoresponder tools (Pros & cons compared)

Why You Need an Autoresponder Email Service

An autoresponder is any tool or service that sends automated messages to the people on your email list. Smart marketers use autoresponders to create a series of emails and then send those messages automatically based on certain rules, conditions, and user actions.

For example, if you’re designing a coming soon page, then you might ask visitors to register their interest by typing in their email addresses.

A coming soon page, created using SeedProd

You can then use an autoresponder to notify these people when your site goes live. This can get you extra visitors and create a buzz around your site’s launch.

Many bloggers use an autoresponder sequence to welcome new subscribers or notify existing subscribers of new posts in WordPress.

Some plugins come with built-in autoresponder features. For example, if you’re using WPForms then you can send a confirmation email after WordPress form submission using the plugin’s built-in features.

The WPForms email autoresponder settings

Another option is to use a stand-alone autoresponder. With the right autoresponder, you can create advanced workflows that automatically send the right email to the right person, at the right time.

These automated emails can re-engage disinterested customers and keep them engaged, get you more sales, drive more people to your website, and much more.

Most top email marketing companies offer auto-responders. However, if you’re just starting out then paying for email marketing can add a lot to your website building costs.

With that in mind, let’s look at some of the best free autoresponder tools to help you get started no matter what your budget.

1. Constant Contact

Constant Contact is the best email marketing service in the world. It’s our top pick for creating autoresponder sequences.

Pros

Constant Contact’s free trial lasts a generous 60 days. That gives you two months to build up your email list and start making money online blogging with WordPress.
You can sign up for the free trial without entering your credit card details, so you won’t be charged unless you actively choose to continue using Constant Contact.
It’s quick and easy to create an account. Simply click a few options and Constant Contact will show some helpful resources based on your answers.
If you already have a WordPress website, then Constant Contact can create a unique branded email template. Just enter your website’s URL and Constant Contact will create a template using the colors, images, and logos from your website.
Pick from over a hundred ready-made email templates.
The drag-and-drop interface is really easy to use. This is especially helpful if you’re new to email marketing.
The Constant Contact support team is easy to reach through live chat software, phone, and email.
They also have a library of resources and online training. If you’re in the United States, then you can even go to their in-person live seminars.

Cons

Constant Contact doesn’t offer a free-forever plan. After the 60-day free trial, you’ll need to pay if you want to keep using your email list. If you enjoyed the free trial and want to continue, then you can get 20% off using our Constant Contact coupon.
To keep using the automated features after your free trial, you’ll need to pay for the Email Plus plan.

Pricing

Constant Contact’s Core plan starts at $9.99 per month. However, if you want to use the email automation features, you’ll need the Email Plus plan, which starts at $45 per month.

2. Sendinblue

Sendinblue is a marketing automation platform that combines both email and SMS marketing, so you can send SMS text messages to your WordPress users.

They’re one of the fastest-growing email autoresponder platforms in Europe.

Pros

Sendinblue has a generous free-forever plan that allows you to store as many email contacts as you want. You’re just limited by how many emails you can send each day.
The majority of Sendinblue’s tools are available on their free plan including the marketing automation tools.
You get access to email support on the free plan, so you can contact the support team if you’re having any problems.
Sendinblue’s marketing automation tool has a user-friendly drag-and-drop Workflow Editor. This allows you to create powerful automations without having to write any code or learn complex tools.
Track the actions that each contact takes on your website, and then send emails based on their behavior.
A fully customizable sign-up form so you can add email subscriptions to your WordPress blog or website.
Sendinblue has over 40 responsive email templates that look just as good on mobile and smartphones, as they do on mobile devices. You can also create your own templates using the intuitive drag-and-drop editor.
If you’re creating an email campaign for a client, then they may have provided some ready-made HTML assets. To save time, you can upload these HTML templates to Sendinblue, and then use them as the basis for your campaign.

Cons

All emails sent from a free plan have Sendinblue’s branding, which can make your campaigns look less professional. The paid Starter plan also has the Sendinblue branding, but you can remove it by purchasing a $9 per month addon.
Although the marketing automation tools are included in the free plan, these tools are limited to 2000 contacts on both the free and Starter plans. This can make it difficult to grow your email list.
The free plan has a 300 emails per day limit. This might seem like a lot when you’re just starting out, but you can hit this limit surprisingly fast. With that in mind, you shouldn’t choose Sendinblue simply because they offer a free-forever plan.

Pricing

Unlike some other email providers on the list, Sendinblue‘s free plan is completely free, forever, with no limit on how many contacts you can create.

Need to send more than 300 emails a day? Then you’ll have to upgrade to one of their paid plans, which start at $25 per month.

Just be aware that Sendinblue’s plans are always based on how many emails you send each month, and not on the size of your email list.

3. HubSpot

HubSpot is a popular marketing automation platform and one of the best CMRs for small businesses. They also have a free plan that’s a perfect introduction to HubSpot’s all-in-one marketing platform.

Pros

The free plan includes a CRM that creates a contact record for each subscriber. You can use this information to create personalized email campaigns that feature the most relevant subject lines, links, attachments, and content.
HubSpot’s free plan includes many tools that can complement your email marketing. This includes a form builder, live chat, ad management, and more.
The email editor has an intuitive drag-and-drop interface that lets you easily create a call to action, add images, and customize the email to match your own branding.
Schedule emails so they arrive in the subscriber’s inbox at the best time, regardless of time zone differences.
Optimize your emails for different devices.
HubSpot has a selection of goal-based templates that you can choose from, or you can build your emails entirely from scratch.
Analyze your campaigns using HubSpot’s email analytics tool.
Integrates with Uncanny Automator, which is one of the best marketing automation tools for small businesses. You can use Uncanny Automator to automatically add visitors, customers, and event attendees to your HubSpot mailing lists.

Cons

You can’t remove the HubSpot branding on the free plan, which can make your business seem less professional.
The free plan limits you to 2,000 emails per month and 1,000,000 contacts.
Advanced features like A/B split testing and email segmentation are only included in HubSpot’s higher-tiered paid plans. As your business grows, you may need to upgrade to a paid plan to get the most out of your email list.

Pricing

HubSpot’s free plan allows 2,000 emails per month and a generous 1,000,000 contacts. It also comes with all of HubSpot’s free tools, including the CRM, forms, landing pages, live chat, and more.

Paid plans start at $45/month when paid annually.

4. Omnisend

The Omnisend email autoresponder and eCommerce platform

If you’re looking for an autoresponder that works across multiple channels, then Omnisend offers powerful SMS, email marketing, and web push notification features.

Omnisend comes with ready-made autoresponders for cart abandonment, purchase follow-up, and other eCommerce workflows.

With that being said, it’s a particularly good choice for online marketplaces, stores, and anyone who sells digital downloads or physical products online.

Pros

All of the marketing automation features are included in the free plan.
Use an unlimited number of triggers in your automation workflows.
Personalize your autoresponders with dynamic content.
Create powerful custom workflows using the drag-and-drop Automation Editor.
Pre-built automations that you can use to welcome new signups.
Unlimited segmentation. If you run an eCommerce site, then Omnisend can even segment users based on the different stages of the customer lifecycle.
Sales and performance reports so you can continuously review and refine your autoresponders. This includes open, click, deliverability rates, and revenue data for each autoresponder.
24/7 email and live chat support.

Cons

The free plan limits you to 500 emails per month, 60 SMS, and 500 web push notifications. If you want to send more messages, then you’ll need to upgrade to the Standard or higher plan, which starts at $16 per month.
If you plan to use SMS autoresponders, then the free plan doesn’t come with any SMS credits, so you’ll need to buy these separately.
The free plan comes with a built-in form builder and signup forms, but there’s no option to remove the Omnisend branding.

Pricing

Omnisend’s free plan allows 500 emails per month, up to 60 SMS, and 500 web push notifications. You can also add an unlimited number of contacts to your mailing lists.

If you want to send more emails, SMS, or web notifications then you’ll need to upgrade to the Standard plan ($16 per month) or Pro plan ($59 per month).

5. FunnelKit Automations

The FunnelKit Automations WordPress plugin

Formerly Autonami, FunnelKit Automations is the best marketing automation tool for WooCommerce stores.

You can use this free plugin to create automated emails and SMS campaigns to help you recover abandoned shopping carts, nurture leads, send automated coupons, and more.

Pros

No limit on the number of contacts you can add, or how many emails you can send.
Use any email service provider such as Sendinblue, Mailgun, Postmark, or SendGrid.
Build automations from scratch using the drag-and-drop editor, or import any of FunnelKit’s pre-built automations with a single click.
Onboard and educate new customers by sending welcome emails to new users.
Re-engage disinterested customers with automated win-back campaigns and first purchase anniversary campaigns.
Upsell to customers by creating automated post-purchase follow-up emails, and cross-sell with recommended product emails.
Build more effective cart recovery campaigns, with detailed information about recoverable, recovered, and lost carts.
Customize all of WooCommerce’s built-in emails using the intuitive drag-and-drop workflow builder.
‘Unsubscribe text’ is pre-inserted into all emails, so you can be confident your autoresponders are GDPR compliant.
Send targeted emails using audience segmentation and personalized merge tags.
Get useful analytics directly inside the FunnelKit dashboard, including email open and click-through rates.
If you’ve already used an email marketing tool or CRM, then you can easily import your contacts with a CSV file.

Cons

The free plugin only gives you access to a limited number of pre-built automations. You can unlock over 20 extra automations by upgrading to FunnelKit Automations pro.
You can’t create conditions-based automations using the free plugin, which can make it more difficult to create personalized autoresponder sequences.
You’ll need to upgrade to FunnelKit Automations Pro to see advanced analytics and to enable customer tracking in WooCommerce.
The pro version adds CRM-like features, including detailed contact profiles that show each person’s latest engagement, total spend, last order date, and more.
Many of the more advanced analytic and reporting features are exclusive to the pro version. This includes the ability to see your top-performing automations, most popular emails, total orders, and total revenue.
The pro version integrates with many popular WordPress plugins including LearnDash, WishList Member, AffiliateWP, and more.

Pricing

The free FunnelKit Automations plugin has everything you need to create powerful autoresponders for your WooCommerce store. However, if you want to unlock more automation features, then you’ll need to upgrade to the FunnelKit Marketing Automations Professional or higher plan, which starts at $219 per year.

6. AWeber

Founded in 1998, AWeber is one of the most established autoresponder tools. This popular email marketing service has powerful autoresponder features, and also offers a free plan that lets you send 3,000 emails per month to 500 subscribers.

Pros

AWeber’s free plan includes all the features you’d expect from a premium plan, including a drag-and-drop editor, hundreds of templates, and access to thousands of professional stock images.
Easily add AWeber to your WordPress website using the AWeber WordPress plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Ready-made landing page templates, so you can create high-converting landing pages for your email campaigns.
AWeber has powerful automation and segmentation tools. This allows you to create some very detailed autoresponder series.
Integrates with lots of other services, including OptinMonster, Unbounce, Elegant Themes, and more.
If you’re selling online, then AWeber integrates with all the top eCommerce solutions including Easy Digital Downloads, WooCommerce, Etsy, and more.
While on the free plan, you can access all the support materials including master class sessions and live webinars.
AWeber regularly brings out new features that all customers can access, including people on the free plan.
Allow subscribers to fill out forms, purchase products, book meetings, and more without leaving their inboxes, with the AMP interactive email feature.
Send web push notifications to people who’ve opted into receiving them.
24/7 customer support.

Cons

AWeber’s free plan limits you to 3,000 emails per month and 500 subscribers.
You’re also limited to 1 landing page and 1 email automation.
The free version has the AWeber branding, with no way to remove it.
If you do upgrade, then AWeber definitely isn’t the cheapest option out there. It has more features than some other email autoresponders, but these do come at a price.

Pricing

You can send 3,000 emails per month to 500 subscribers, using the free AWeber plan. If you want to add more contacts or send more emails, then you’ll need to upgrade to the Pro plan, which starts at $16.50 per month when billed annually.

7. MailerLite

MailerLite has become a popular autoresponder tool over the past few years. They have a generous free plan and lots of great features.

Pros

You can use autoresponders and advanced segmentation on the free plan, without any need to upgrade.
The free plan includes lots of features, such as landing pages, multi-user accounts, and A/B split testing so you see which campaigns get the most conversions.
There’s no limit on the number of emails you can send per day. Instead, there’s a monthly limit of 12,000 emails.
Create personalized email newsletters by segmenting your mailing list, and then assigning different blocks to different target audiences. MailerLite will then show each subscriber the content that’s most relevant to them.
There’s a drag-and-drop editor and pre-built blocks that you can use to create your emails without having to write any code. You can add and remove blocks easily, change fonts and styles, and more.
Built-in triggers for many common actions, so you can automatically send an email when a subscriber joins a group, completes a form, clicks a link, and more.
If you run an online store, then MailerLite has special eCommerce triggers. This allows you to create emails that help recover abandoned cart sales, cross-sell and upsell products in WooCommerce, and more.
Add up to 3 triggers to every email workflow, so subscribers can enter the workflow at multiple points.
You can connect MailerLite and WooCommerce using a MailerLite extension.

Cons

The free plan doesn’t include any special email templates. However, the drag-and-drop builder has a simple default template with space for a logo, header, image, and other important content.
If your list grows beyond 1,000 people, then you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan.
Your emails will all have the MailerLite logo, which can hurt your brand image.
Although the paid plans have 24/7 support, the free plan only includes Monday-Friday email support.

Pricing

MailerLite has a free plan that you can use for as long as you want. Paid plans start at $9 per month when billed annually, but if you want to add more than 1,000 subscribers, then you’ll need to buy a paid plan. These prices vary depending on how many subscribers you have, but you can expect to pay at least $15 per month for 2,500 subscribers.

Bonus: ConvertKit

ConvertKit has a free plan that allows you to build unlimited landing pages and opt-in forms. It’s a good way to start building your email list, but you can’t use the automation features on the free plan.

Despite this, we’re including ConvertKit in our list as it’s a popular email marketing solution, and you can try the automation features as part of a 14-day free trial.

Pros

The free ConvertKit plan includes unlimited landing pages, email opt-in forms, and one-time email blasts, which are also known as ‘broadcasts.’
Many website owners do lead generation by offering a free digital download to new subscribers. ConvertKit can automatically deliver a digital file every time someone subscribes to your mailing list.
ConvertKit can segment your subscribers in lots of different ways. You can also assign tags to customers based on entry points, interests, actions, and other characteristics.
ConvertKit comes with a drag-and-drop page builder that you can use to create attractive landing pages for your email campaigns.
To help you get started, ConvertKit has 30 fully-customizable templates that you can choose from. All of these templates are responsive, so your emails will look just as good on smartphones and tablets, as they do on desktop computers.
Setting up your free account is really quick and easy. In just a few minutes you can register with ConvertKit and start building attractive landing pages.
Identify the forms and pages that are getting the most email signups, with ConvertKit’s list growth reporting.
Customize and personalize your ‘unsubscribe’ page so people don’t opt out of your mailing list.

Cons

The free plan limits you to 1,000 subscribers.
You can’t use the automation features on the free plan, so you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan in order to create autoresponders. Automation is included in the 14-day free trial though, so you can try before you buy.

Pricing

ConvertKit has a limited free plan. After this, the cheapest plan is $29 per month, which allows up to 1,000 subscribers. The next tier is $41 per month for up to 3,000 subscribers when billed annually.

Bonus: Mailchimp

Mailchimp is a very popular email marketing service with a forever free email marketing service plan.

When it comes to autoresponder features, Mailchimp is quite limited when compared to other providers in our list.

For that reason, we don’t recommend Mailchimp anymore since there are better solutions available in the market, but we cannot create a list of the best autoresponders without including Mailchimp due to the platform’s sheer popularity.

If you do want to use Mailchimp, then we’ve created an ultimate guide to using Mailchimp and WordPress to help you get started.

Pros

Automatically import the logos, brand colors, fonts, and images from your website, to create branded emails.
Grow your email list with signup forms and landing pages.
Monitor and analyze your campaigns with built-in reports and analytics.
Mailchimp integrates with over 300 apps, including Canva, LiveChat, Help Scout, Stripe, and more.
Built-in drag-and-drop templates that are easy to set up and customize.

Cons

The free plan limits you to 2,500 emails per month. If you reach that limit, then all your email campaigns and autoresponders will be paused automatically.
The free plan only includes email support for the first 30 days. After that, the Mailchimp knowledge base documents will be your main source of support.
The free plan adds the Mailchimp badge to your emails and signup forms, and there’s no option to remove the branding.
You can’t schedule emails, create automated workflows, or add branching points to your email series, without upgrading to a paid plan. This is the major reason why we suggest you use one of our Mailchimp alternatives instead.
Segmentation and dynamic content are premium features, making it difficult to create personalized email campaigns.
Mailchimp’s customer support, pricing structure, and features are definitely not the best out there.
Mailchimp’s automation tools aren’t as powerful as its competitors, which is a big problem if you’re mainly interested in using Mailchimp as an autoresponder.

Pricing

Mailchimp has several different pricing systems, which can be a bit confusing. You can either choose a monthly plan (from $13 per month for the Essentials plan) or you can use “pay as you go” pricing.

Note: Mailchimp’s pricing tiers are based on how many contacts you have. This includes anyone who has unsubscribed and people who haven’t confirmed their email addresses. With that being said, you may end up paying for people who are never going to convert.

Choosing the Free Autoresponder That Suits You Best

So now you might be wondering: which free autoresponder tool should I choose? The answer will vary depending on your business, and how you plan to use the autoresponder.

Small Businesses

When you’re building a business, you need access to quality support and a powerful platform.

For small business owners, Constant Contact is our top pick. Their free trial lasts 60 days which gives you plenty of time to try it out. It’s quick and easy to get started, and there’s lots of support available if you need it.

You’ll have access to all of Constant Contact’s features as soon as you sign up, and you don’t even need to enter your credit card information.

The best part is they offer support via phone agents, live chat, and Twitter. They also have a knowledge base and a support portal where you can get help from the community.

Run an online store on WooCommerce? Then FunnelKit Marketing Automation Engine & CRM has the pre-built automations, triggers, and actions you need to create powerful eCommerce autoresponders.

Meanwhile, if you’re an established business with a bigger budget, then we highly recommend looking at Omnisend or Drip.

They offer advanced segmentation and powerful automation, but we didn’t include them in our list above because they don’t have a free option.

Non-Profits and Community Organizations

If you’re a non-profit or community organization, then you’ll probably want an autoresponder and email marketing tool that’s completely free.

SendinBlue is a good option if you have a small email list of 300 people or fewer, who you want to email more than once a week.

Meanwhile, MailerLite is a better choice if you have a larger list that you want to email weekly or less.

If you value phone support, then nothing will beat Constant Contact, and that’s why many non-profits use their platform because it offers all the support they need.

Note: We have tried all the top major email autoresponder software including many that are not in our email platform lists above such as ActiveCampaign, GetResponse, Ontraport, Mailjet, Campaign Monitor, InfusionSoft (now Keap), Klaviyo, Marketo, Eloqua, Pardot by Salesforce, Sendloop, iContact, Emma, TotalSend, SharpSpring, MailPoet, and more.

The email marketing platforms that we’ve chosen to include in our list provide the best automation workflows, deliverability, and pre-built email marketing tools for the best price.

Make Sure Your Emails Make It Through

If you do add an autoresponder or email marketing service to your website, then you’ll want to make sure your emails arrive safely in the person’s inbox, and not in the spam folder.

Here, a good SMTP service provider can improve your email deliverability. You can also use WP Mail SMTP to configure your WordPress emails to ensure they are sent correctly.

For more on this topic, see our guide on how to fix the WordPress not sending email issue.

We hope this article helped you learn about the best free autoresponder tools. You may also like our guide on how to create automated workflows in WordPress, and our comparison of the best business phone services for small businesses.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post 7 Best Free Autoresponder Tools of 2023 (Pros & Cons Compared) first appeared on WPBeginner.

How to Download WordPress for Free (Step by Step)

15.03.2023Beginners Guide, download wordpress, guide to install wordpress, install wordpress, Install WordPress Locally, local wordpressEditorial Staff

Are you looking to download WordPress to create your website?

WordPress is an open-source project, and you can download it for free. Although many web hosting providers now install WordPress for you automatically, you can always download and install it manually on your own server or computer.

In this article, we’ll show you how to download WordPress for free, as well as what you need to do next to get it installed.

How to Download WordPress for Free (Step by Step)

Why Is WordPress Freely Downloadable?

WordPress is free for anyone to download and use to build any kind of website without any restrictions. That’s because WordPress is an open-source community project that tens of thousands of talented people contribute to.

According to our WordPress market share report, over 43% of websites on the internet use WordPress.

There is a core team of developers that lead the project development, but anyone can contribute patches, fix bugs, make features, suggest features, and more.

Note: When we speak of the WordPress open-source project, we’re talking about self-hosted WordPress.org. This is different from the WordPress.com hosting service. For more details, see our comparison between WordPress.com vs WordPress.org.

While the core software is free, there are still costs involved in making a WordPress website. The cost of a website depends on your budget and goals, but it can be quite affordable.

The main costs will be a domain name, which will be your website’s address on the internet, and website hosting, which is where you will store your website files and database.

The good news is that most website hosting providers will automatically install WordPress for you, and you will probably never need to manually download or install it yourself.

However, if you are an intermediate or advanced user, then you always have the option of installing WordPress manually. That’s handy if you wish to do a custom WordPress install, or have WordPress running on your own server or computer.

With that being said, let’s take a look at how to download WordPress for free, along with what you need to do next. Here are the topics we’ll cover in this tutorial:

How to Download WordPress for Free

First, you need to visit the WordPress.org download page. This page offers two options:

You can download WordPress and install it yourself as we’ll cover in this article, or
You can set up WordPress automatically with a hosting provider.

We recommend most users take the second option. Reputable hosting providers such as Hostinger, Bluehost, Dreamhost, or SiteGround will install WordPress for you automatically in just 5 minutes. To learn how that works, see our complete guide on how to install WordPress.

But if you’re an advanced or intermediate user and want to install WordPress manually, then go ahead and click the ‘Download WordPress’ button.

This button will also indicate which version of WordPress you are downloading. In this case, it is WordPress 6.1.1.

After downloading the file from WordPress.org, you just need to unzip it. This will create a ‘wordpress’ folder on your computer that contains all the files you need to create a WordPress website.

The Downloaded Unzipped WordPress Folder

Now that you have downloaded WordPress for free, you can use it to install or reinstall WordPress on your server or create a local WordPress installation on your computer.

How to Install or Reinstall WordPress Manually on a Web Server

Installing WordPress manually requires a few added steps, but may be easier than you expect. You will need the files you downloaded and an FTP client or a web-based file manager.

You can also use this manual method when updating WordPress or uninstalling and reinstalling WordPress.

Uploading the WordPress Files to Your Web Server

Your first job will be to use FTP to upload the WordPress files you have downloaded to your web server. You can think of FTP as file management for the internet.

Most web hosting providers offer an FTP server and send your FTP username, password, and other details via email when you sign up for your WordPress hosting account. You can also find your ‘FTP Accounts’ information in your hosting account’s cPanel or Site Tools dashboard.

Most Hosting Providers Offer Both FTP and a Browser-Based File Manager

As an alternative to FTP, most hosting providers also provide a browser-based file manager application. This can be accessed from your web hosting control panel as pictured above.

We’ll use the FileZilla FTP client because it’s free and works on Windows and Mac.

First, you need to open FileZilla and select File » Site Manager from the menu. Next, you should click the ‘New site’ button and provide a title for your website. Once you’ve done that, you should enter the login details in the ‘User’ and ‘Password’ fields.

From the Protocol dropdown, you should select ‘SFTP’ if your hosting provider supports it, otherwise leave it as ‘FTP.’

Next, you just type your domain name such as ‘example.com’ in the Host field and select ‘Normal’ for the Logon Type.

Once you’ve entered those details, you can click on the Connect button to continue. FileZilla will now attempt to log in to your website using the credentials you entered.

Once connected, you will see two columns of files and folders. The left column lists the Local files on your computer. The right column lists the Remote files on your website. This layout lets you easily transfer files to and from your website.

Connecting to Your Website With an FTP Client

In the left column, you need to locate the ‘wordpress’ folder that you downloaded and unzipped earlier. In the right column, you need to locate the folder on your website where you need to upload these files:

If you want to install WordPress on your root domain name (like example.com), then you need to upload WordPress files to your website’s root directory. Usually, this directory is called /public_html/.
On the other hand, If you want to install WordPress in a subdirectory (like example.com/blog), then upload it to a folder /public_html/blog/.

Now you simply select all the files on the left. After that, you need to right-click the files and select Upload from the menu, or simply drag the files to the right column.

Uploading the Downloaded WordPress Files to Your Website

Your FTP client will now upload the WordPress files to your website.

Creating Your WordPress Database

Once the WordPress files are uploaded, you need to go to your hosting control panel to create a database. We’ll show you how to do that using cPanel, but if your hosting provider has a different control panel, then just look for the ‘phpMyAdmin’ option.

Launch phpMyAdmin From Your Control Panel

Clicking the ‘phpMyAdmin’ icon will open the phpMyAdmin application in a new tab. In the phpMyAdmin dashboard, click on the Databases tab.

You can now type a name for your database into the ‘Database name’ field. You can name your database anything you want. Make a note of the name because you’ll need it later.

For this tutorial, we will call our database test_db.

After typing your database name, you should click the ‘Create’ button.

PhpMyAdmin will now go ahead and create your database.

Creating a WordPress database for your local website

Now that you’ve uploaded the WordPress files to your website and created a database, everything is ready to install WordPress.

Installing WordPress

To start installing WordPress, simply go to your website’s URL, such as example.com or www.example.com. This will open the WordPress installation wizard.

You will see the language selection page. You can choose a language here so that the rest of the installation is displayed in your own language. You can also use English for now and then later change the language or add multiple languages.

Next, you can click the ‘Continue’ button to proceed.

You will now see some instructions about the installation process. You will see a list of information you need, including the database name, username, password, and host.

After reading the screen, you should click the ‘Let’s go!’ button to continue. The setup wizard will now show you a form where you can enter the database information you created earlier.

Once you’ve done that, make sure you leave the Database Host field as the default ‘localhost.’ This just means that the database and website are hosted on the same server. Unless you changed the database prefix, the Table Prefix field should say wp_.

After filling in this information, you need to click the ‘Submit’ button. WordPress will connect to your database and show you a success message.

To move on to the next step, simply click on the ‘Run the installation’ button. WordPress will now create tables in your database and then send you to the next step of the installation.

The next screen will ask for some additional information.

You will need to enter the Site Title that you wish to display at the top of your website, such as your business name. You can change the title in your WordPress dashboard at any point.

You’ll also need to create a username and password. This is the login information you’ll use to access your WordPress dashboard.

You can also type your email address into the Your Email field. This is the address where WordPress will send all of its admin emails.

If you don’t want your website to be visible to search engines at this point, then you can check the box next to search engine visibility.

Later when you are ready you can change this from WordPress settings. If you are unsure about what to do, then simply leave it unchecked.

After completing this form, click the ‘Install WordPress’ button. WordPress will now run the installation and after a few moments, you should see a ‘Success!’ message.

Now you can sign in to your WordPress dashboard by clicking on the ‘Log In’ button.

Congratulations, you have successfully installed WordPress by downloading the core software for free and then installing it manually.

How to Install WordPress Locally on Your Computer

You can also use the WordPress core files you downloaded to install WordPress on your own computer. This gives you the chance to try out WordPress before starting your blog or website. It’s also a great way to experiment with themes and plugins risk-free.

Note: If you install WordPress locally on your computer, then you will be the only person who can see it.

For WordPress to successfully run on your computer, you first need to install the software that WordPress relies on. This includes the PHP server-side programming language, the Apache web server, and the MySQL database management system.

Now, installing all these software independently and making them work with each other sounds like a daunting task.

Luckily, there are free development tools that make it super easy to install them as one package even for non-techy users. Once you install one of these applications, then you will be able to install WordPress using a method similar to the above.

We recommend using Local WP to install WordPress on your computer. Here are detailed tutorial on how to install WordPress on Windows, and how to install WordPress on Mac.

Note: When you’re using Local WP, you don’t need to manually download and install WordPress on your computer. It can help you do that with just a few clicks.

We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to download and manually install WordPress for free. You may also want to learn how to keep your WordPress site secure, or check out our list of must-have plugins to grow your site.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Download WordPress for Free (Step by Step) first appeared on WPBeginner.

How to Show Before and After Photo in WordPress (with Slide Effect)

15.03.2023before and after image, before and after photo in wordpress, photo difference, WordPress PluginsEditorial Staff

Do you want to show a before and after photo in WordPress?

A before and after photo allows you to show a side by side comparison of two images with minor differences. This is perfect for showing the impact of your products and services, or simply encouraging people to interact with your content.

In this article, we’ll show you how to add a before/after photo to your WordPress website with a slide effect.

How to show before and after photo in WordPress (with slide effect)

Why Show Before and After Photos in WordPress (with Slide Effect)?

A before-and-after image is an interactive picture that typically shows some kind of change.

Visitors can use a slider to switch between the different ‘versions’ of the image in an engaging and interactive way.

If you run an online store using a plugin such as WooCommerce, then a before and after photo can show the effect of your products or services.

You simply need to show a ‘before’ photo that the customer can relate to, and a desirable ‘after’ photo. This will make shoppers want to buy the thing that takes them from the ‘before’ state to the ‘after’ state.

If you’re an affiliate marketer, then showing persuasive before and after photos on your website is a great way to promote your affiliate links, and get more sales.

Before and after photos can also encourage visitors to interact with your content. Dragging a slider to reveal the ‘after’ photo is an easy way to get more engagement, which can keep visitors on your site for longer. This can also help increase your pageviews and reduce bounce rate in WordPress.

With that being said, let’s see how you can create a before and after photo in WordPress using a slide effect. Simply use the quick links below to jump straight to the method you want to use.

Method 1. How to Show Before and After Photos Using a Free Plugin (Easy)

The easiest way to create before and after photos is by using the Ultimate Before After Image Slider & Gallery (BEA).

The BEA plugin allows you to create horizontal and vertical sliders, and customize the image with different labels and colors.

An example of a before and after slider in WordPress

The first thing you need to do is to install and activate the Ultimate Before After Image Slider & Gallery (BEA) plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, go to Before and After Slider » Add New in your dashboard.

To start, type in a name for the image slider. This is just for your reference so you can use anything that will help you identify it.

How to create a side by side comparison image in WordPress

With that done, you can add the ‘before’ image by scrolling to the ‘Before Image’ section.

Here, click on ‘Add or Upload Image’ and then either choose a picture from the WordPress media library or upload a new file from your computer.

How to add a before comparison image to a WordPress website

To help search engines understand this image and show it to the right people, it’s a good idea to add some image alt text. To do this, simply type into the ‘Image Alt’ field.

For more information about alt text, please see our beginner’s guide to image SEO.

Adding image alt text to a before and after image

With that done, scroll to the ‘After Image’ section.

You can now add the ‘after’ image by following the same process described above. Don’t forget to add some alt text to this image, too, since it’s important for WordPress SEO.

Adding an 'after' comparison image to a website or blog

You can also show some text below the image, by adding a title and a description.

For example, you might encourage visitors to interact with the slider. This is especially important for visitors who might have never run across a before-and-after photo before.

An example of a comparison image with a title and description

This is also an easy way to add some context to the image.

To add some text, simply type into the ‘Slider Title’ or ‘Slider Description’ fields.

Adding a description to a before and after image

You can also add a ‘Read More’ URL, which can link to any post or page on your WordPress website, or even an external website. For example, you might send visitors to a page where they can buy the product featured in the slider image.

This link will appear below the before/after image, and also beneath any slider title or description you’re using.

Adding a Read More link to a comparison image with a slide effect

To add a link, type the destination into the ‘Read More Link’ field.

You can then decide whether to open the link in the same tab, or in a new tab using the ‘Read More Link Target’ dropdown.

If you’re linking to another website, then we recommend choosing ‘New tab’ so you’re not sending visitors away from your WordPress blog.

With that done, you can choose whether you want to create a vertical or horizontal slider by clicking on one of the thumbnails in the ‘Orientation Style’ section.

Creating a vertical or horizontal slide effect in WordPress

After that, scroll to the top of the screen and click on ‘Options.’

Here, you’ll see the ‘Default offset’ is set 0.5. This means the visitor sees half of the ‘before’ image when the page first loads.

How to customize a before and after slider in WordPress

If you want to show more of the before image, then type in a bigger number such as 0.6, 0.7, or higher.

If you want to show the entire before image, then type in 1. This will place the slider at the top or right of the before image, as you can see in the following image.

Customizing a side by side comparison image with a slide effect

By default, the plugin shows ‘Before’ and ‘After’ labels when the visitor hovers their mouse over the image.

You may want to replace these labels with something more descriptive.

Adding custom labels to a before/after slider

To do this, simply go ahead and type into the ‘Before Label’ and ‘After Label’ fields.

By default, visitors will move the slider using drag and drop. Some people may find this difficult, especially if they have mobility issues or they’re using smaller devices like smartphones or tablets.

With that being said, you may want to change how visitors move the slider.

If you select the ‘Yes’ button next to ‘Move slider on mouse hover,’ then visitors can move the slider simply by hovering their mouse over the image.

Creating a custom slide effect on a before and after image

If you select the ‘Yes’ button next to ‘Click to move,’ then visitors can click anywhere on the image to move the slider to that point.

These settings can make it easier to interact with the before/after image, but it’s typically not the way that sliders behave. With that in mind, we recommend using these settings carefully.

Next, click on the ‘Style’ tab.

Changing the style of a slide effect on a website or blog

Here, you can change the colors used for the different labels, backgrounds, headings, descriptions, and the read more button. This can help the before/after image blend in with your WordPress theme, or even stand out from the rest of your website’s design.

You can also change the font size and text alignment.

When you’re happy with how the slider is set up, click on the ‘Publish’ button.

Publishing a before and after photo to your WordPress website

This creates a shortcode that allows you to add the before/after image and slider to any page, post, or widget-ready area.

For more information on how to place the shortcode, please see our guide on how to add a shortcode in WordPress.

Adding a slide effect to your WordPress images using shortcode

After adding the shortcode to your site, simply click on the ‘Publish’ or ‘Update’ button to make the before/after image and slider effect live.

Method 2. How to Show A Before and After Photo Using SeedProd (Advanced)

If you simply want to add a before and after image to a page or post, then the BEA plugin may be a good choice. However, if you’re using the image to promote a product, service, or business then we recommend using SeedProd.

SeedProd is the best drag-and-drop WordPress page builder. It comes with more than 180 ready-made templates that you can use to create high-converting landing pages, sales designs, and more.

It also has a ready-made ‘Before After Toggle’ block that you can use to create beautiful before-and-after images your users can interact with.

Simply drag the block from the left-hand menu, and then drop it onto any page design that you may happen to be working on, including sales pages.

A before and after image created using SeedProd

If you’re using WooCommerce to sell your products, then SeedProd integrates with WooCommerce and even comes with special eCommerce blocks. This is perfect if you plan to use before and after images to promote your WooCommerce products.

Note: There is a free version of SeedProd that allows you to create custom pages no matter your budget. However, we’ll be using the premium version as it comes with the Before After Toggle block. It also integrates with many of the best email marketing services you may already be using on your website.

For information on how to use SeedProd, please see our guide on how to create a custom page in WordPress.

After creating a page, it’s easy to add a before and after image to your design. In the SeedProd page editor, simply find the ‘Before After Toggle’ block.

The SeedProd before and after toggle block

You can then drag and drop this block anywhere on your design, to add it to the page layout.

With that done, simply click to select the ‘Before After Toggle’ block. The left-hand menu will now update to show all the settings you can use to create your before-and-after image.

SeedProd's before and after toggle settings

To start, you’ll need to add the picture you want to use as the before image. Under ‘Before Image’ either click on ‘Use Your Own Image’ or ‘Use a Stock Image’ and choose the picture you want to use.

By default, SeedProd shows a ‘Before’ label above this image. However, you can change this to something more descriptive by typing it into the ‘Before Label’ field.

Creating a before and after image using a page builder plugin

With that done, scroll to the ‘After Image’ section.

You can now add an image and customize the default ‘After’ label by following the same process described above.

Adding an after image to a custom page layout

SeedProd can add a vertical or horizontal slide effect.

To switch between these two styles, scroll to the ‘Slider Orientation’ section and then click on either ‘Vertical’ or ‘Horizontal.’

By default, visitors will move between the before and after images by dragging the slider. However, some users may find it easier to move the slider by hovering their mouse over the image.

This is particularly true for larger images where the visitor would need to drag the slider a greater distance.

To try this setting, enable ‘Move on Hover’ in the left-hand menu.

Next, you may want to add a colored overlay to both the before and after images. This can help the image blend in with the rest of the color scheme, or stand out from the background.

You can even make the colored overlay semi-transparent, to create a more subtle effect.

To try different colors, click on the ‘Overlay Color’ section and then make your changes in the popup that appears.

Adding an overlay color to an interactive image using SeedProd

With that done, you can customize the slider handle by clicking to expand the ‘Comparison Handle’ section.

By default, SeedProd shows half of the ‘before’ image and half of the ‘after’ image. To change this, simply drag the ‘Handle Initial Offset’ slider.

Changing the initial offset on a before/after picture

To display less of the before image, drag the slider to the left so that it shows a lower number. To show more of the before image, drag the slider to the right, which increases the number.

Next, you can change the slider’s color using the ‘Handle Color’ settings.

How to customize a slider using SeedProd

You can also make the handle thicker or thinner using the ‘Handle Thickness’ slider.

In this way, you can make the handle stand out, or create a more subtle effect.

Changing the thickness of a slider using SeedProd

When you’re happy with the handle, you may want to change the circle. You can make the circle bigger or smaller using the ‘Circle Width’ settings, and change the ‘Circle Radius’ to create sharp or curved corners.

As you make changes, the live preview will update automatically so you can try different settings to see what looks the best.

Changing the width and radius of the slider circle

When you’re happy with the circle, you may want to change the size of the triangles inside that circle. For example, if you’ve made the circle bigger then you might want to increase the size of the triangles too.

To make this change, drag the ‘Triangle Size’ slider until you’re happy with how it looks.

How to customize a slider using a page builder plugin

With that done, you can continue adding new blocks and customizing the content on your SeedProd page.

When you’re happy with how the page looks, just click on the arrow next to the ‘Save’ button and then select ‘Publish.’

Publishing a before and after image using SeedProd

Now if you visit your website you’ll see your page design with the before-and after-image live.

We hope this article helped you learn how to add a before and after photo to your WordPress website with a slide effect. You can also go through our guide on the best social proof plugins for WordPress and how to choose the best web design software.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Show Before and After Photo in WordPress (with Slide Effect) first appeared on WPBeginner.

How to Automatically Add WordPress Products in Google Shopping

14.03.2023aioseo, ecommerce, ELEX Google Shopping, GMC schema, Google Merchant Center, Google Shopping, Product Schema, Tutorials, woocommerceEditorial Staff

Do you want to add your WordPress products to Google Shopping?

Adding your online store products to Google Shopping can help you increase traffic, reach more customers, and generate greater revenue.

In this article, we’ll show you how to easily add WordPress products to Google Shopping.

How to Add WordPress Products in Google Shopping

Why Should You Add WordPress Products to Google Shopping

Google Shopping is a virtual marketplace like Amazon and Etsy, where users can search, view, and compare products from different online stores that have paid to advertise their products.

If you have a WooCommerce store, then adding your products to Google Shopping can prove to be extremely beneficial for your business.

Your products will be shown to all users browsing through Google shopping which will increase traffic on your WordPress website, generate more revenue and bring in more customers.

That being said, let’s see how you can add WordPress products to Google Shopping.

How to Add WordPress Products in Google Shopping

Step 1: Creating a Google Merchant Account

To add your products to Google Shopping, you have to start by creating an account in the Google Merchant Center. This is the place where your product information will be stored for viewing by Google Shopping.

First, go to the Google Merchant Center page and click the ‘Sign up for free’ button.

After that, Google will ask you about your online business.

Just check the answers that apply to you, and then provide your website’s URL.

After you’ve provided the details, you’ll be redirected to another page.

Here, you simply have to click the ‘Create a Google Merchant Account’ button at the bottom of the page.

Click the Create Google Merchant Account button

Now, you will be asked to provide your business details. You can start by writing your business name.

Next, select the country where your business is based from the dropdown menu below the ‘Registered Country’ option.

After that, click the ‘Continue to Merchant Center’ button.

You’ve successfully created your Google Merchant Account. Now all you have to do is provide your business info and shipping details.

Once you’ve filled in those details, simply click the ‘Save’ button at the bottom to store your settings.

Provide shipping and business details once a GMC account is created

Step 2: Linking Your Google AdWords Account

Now you’ll have to link your Google AdWords account to your Google Merchant Center account so that you can show your products via Google Shopping.

To link your account, simply go to the Google Merchant Center dashboard and click the gear icon at the top of the page.

Clicking it will open up a ‘Tools and Settings’ prompt. Here you simply have to choose the ‘Linked Account’ option present.

Click the Linked Accounts option from the Settings

This will take you to the ‘Linked Accounts’ page.

Now you simply have to click the ‘+’ button to create your Google Ads account.

Click the Plus button to create a Google Ads account

This will open up a ‘Create Your Google Ads Account’ prompt.

Simply choose your preferred time zone and currency and then click the ‘Create’ button.

You have now successfully created your Google Ads account.

This is how it will look once your account has been created.

GMC account has now been linked to the Google Ads account

Step 3: Adding WordPress Products to Google Shopping

To add your WordPress products to Google Shopping, we will be using the ELEX Google Shopping plugin to display your WooCommerce products in Google Shopping.

First, you need to do is install and activate the ELEX Google Shopping plugin. For more instructions, check our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, head over to the Google Shopping Feed » Create Feeds page from the WordPress admin sidebar.

From here, simply fill in your business details and click the ‘Continue’ button at the bottom.

Fill basic info on the Google Shopping Feed page

Next, you’ll be taken to the ‘Map Category’ page. Here you simply have to select your product categories.

Simply type your product categories in the ‘Google Categories’ tab and click ‘Continue’

After that, you’ll be directed to the ‘Map Attributes’ page.

This is where you’ll have to fill in your product details including product id, product description, product link, pricing, image, and more.

Here select and fill in as many attributes as possible for more visibility in Google Shopping and click the ‘Continue’ button.

Now that you’re on the ‘Filtering Options’ page, simply fill in the details as required for your online store.

For example, you can include how many items you have in stock or note how many have sold already.

Next, simply click the ‘Generate Feed’ button at the bottom.

After you’ve created your Google Shopping feed, go to the Google Shopping Feed » Manage Feeds page from the admin sidebar.

Here you will be able to view your Google Shopping Feed. Now you have to simply click the ‘Download’ button beside it.

Once you’ve downloaded your feed as an XML file, go back to the ‘Google Merchant Center’ dashboard and click the Products » Feeds option from the sidebar.

This will open up the ‘Primary Feeds’ page where you have to click the ‘+’ button to add a new feed.

This will take you to the ‘New Primary Feed’ page where you can start by filling in basic details. First, start by adding all your target countries.

Next, select your preferred language and then click the ‘Continue’ button.

Then, you have to choose a name for your feed and select a method to connect your data to the Merchant center.

For this tutorial, we will be uploading the feed XML from WordPress.

After that, just click on the ‘Continue’ button.

Choose a name and method for uploading the feed

Now that you’re on the ‘Setup’ page, simply type the name for your Google Shopping Feed.

Next, just upload the Feed file you got from WordPress and click the ‘Create Feed’ button.

Upload file and click the Create Feed button

You have now successfully added your WordPress products to Google Shopping.

Bonus: How to Add Google Merchant Center Schema in WordPress

To improve your product search visibility in Google Shopping and increase conversion rates, you should add a Google Merchant schema in WordPress.

Schema markup is an HTML code that provides more details about your products to search engines.

A GMC listing schema will make your search snippets more prominent and will allow your products to be featured as popular products for the relevant search terms.

The easiest way to add a Google Merchant Center listing schema to WordPress is by using the All in One SEO for WordPress.

It is the best SEO plugin for WordPress that is used by over 3 million websites.

First, you need to install and activate the All in One SEO for WordPress. For more instructions, please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, a setup wizard will open up. Simply go ahead and click the ‘Get Started’ button.

After that, you need to follow the onscreen instructions in the setup wizard to configure the plugin. If you need help, please see our guide on how to properly set up AIOSEO in WordPress.

After the AIOSEO plugin has been set up, you need to visit the Products » All Products page from the admin sidebar.

From here, simply click on the ‘Edit’ link below a product to open up the ‘Edit Product’ page.

Click the Edit link below the product name

Once there, you need to scroll down to the ‘AIOSEO Settings’ section and click on the ‘Schema’ tab.

Now, you need to make sure that the schema type is set to ‘Product’ by default.

If that is not the case, then simply click on the ‘Generate Schema’ button.

Click the Generate Schema button to add another schema

It will open up the Schema Catalog which will list all the available schema templates.

From here, you need to click the ‘Add Schema’ (+) button beside the Product option to set it as your primary schema.

Note: You may see the ‘Article’ schema already applied. If so, you can remove it as you add the new one because this particular page isn’t an article or blog post in Google’s eyes.

Click the Add Schema button next to the Product option

Next, you will need to fill in the product information to add the GMC listing schema.

For that, you need to click the ‘Edit Schema’ button next to the ‘Schema in Use’ option.

Click the Edit button next to the Schema in use option

This will open up the ‘Edit Product’ modal where you will need to fill in the product details.

If you’re using WooCommerce, then AIOSEO will automatically pull most of the product data from your product information.

However, if you want to fill in the information manually, you need to simply toggle the ‘Autogenerate Fields’ switch to ‘No.’

The product attributes that you will need to add include the product name, description, image, ISBN, price, material, color, shipping details, and more.

We recommend that you provide all the details so that the schema markup can make your product snippets more engaging.

Once you’re done, simply click the ‘Update Schema’ or ‘Add Schema’ button to store your settings.

You have now successfully added the Google Merchant Center listing schema to WordPress, and your products can now be featured on the platform and hopefully earn you more sales.

We hope you learned how to add WordPress products to Google Shopping. You may also want to check out our best WooCommerce reporting and analytics plugins and our article on how to speed up your eCommerce website.

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