Category Archives: WordPress Plugins

How to Create a Survey in WordPress (with Beautiful Reports)

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Do you want to create a survey in WordPress? Surveys help you gather valuable information, so you can use to make data-driven decisions. In this article, we will show you how to easily create a survey in WordPress and generate beautiful reports.

Survey Plugin for WordPress

Choosing The Best Survey Tool for WordPress

There are many online services that allow you to create survey forms and embed them in WordPress. The downside of these forms is that the data is stored on third-party servers, and you have limited customization options.

Some of these forms are also limited to the number of responses you can collect. You have to pay extra to get more responses and usually these services have high monthly costs.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you could run surveys on your own website without relying on third-party services?

This is where WPForms comes in. It is the best WordPress form builder plugin in the market.

They recently announced a powerful new WordPress surveys and polls addon that you can use to easily create survey forms on your website.

With WPForms survey feature, you get the following:

  • Powerful drag and drop form builder to create surveys
  • Smart survey fields like Rating, Likert Scale, and more
  • Conditional logic to personalize survey fields based on user input
  • Interactive survey reports with bars, graphs, charts, and tables
  • Ability to export survey graphs as JPEG, PDF, or Print Formats
  • Export survey results as CSV to use elsewhere

That being said, let’s take a look at how to easily create and add survey in your WordPress website.

Disclosure: WPForms is created by the same team behind WPBeginner. It is one of our premium WordPress plugins.

Creating a Survey in WordPress

First thing you need to do is install and activate the WPForms plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

WPForms surveys and polls addon is part of their Pro plan. WPBeginner users can use our WPForms coupon to ge 10% OFF on all WPForms licenses.

Once the plugin is activated, you need to head over to WPForms » Settings page to enter your license keys. You can find this information under your account on the WPForms website.

WPForms License

Next, you need to visit the WPForms » Addons page and scroll down to the Surveys and Polls addon. Go ahead and click on the Install addon button to install the survey addon. Once installed, you need to click on the ‘Activate’ button to start using the addon.

Install survey and polls addon

Now you are ready to create a survey form.

You need to visit WPForms » Add New page to create a new form. This will launch the WPForms’ drag and drop form builder interface.

Create survey form

First you need to provide a title for your survey form and then click on the Survey Form template.

This will load a sample customer feedback form template with several fields already added into the form.

Survey form template

You can just point and click to edit any field, rearrange them with drag and drop, or remove them from the form. You can also add new form fields from the left column.

WPForms supports all commonly used form fields including drop down, radio buttons, checkboxes, likert scale, text input, rating scale, and many more. This makes it super easy for you to build highly interactive survey forms.

WPForms also includes conditional logic which means you can personalize your survey questions based on user input in one of the previous fields.

Conditional fields

Once you have created the form, you need to click on the save button to store your form settings. You can now click on the close button to exit the form builder.

Adding The Survey Form in Your WordPress Website

WPForms makes it very simple to add your forms anywhere on your website. You can easily add your survey form in any WordPress post, page, custom post type, or your sidebar.

To add the survey form in a WordPress post, page, or post type, you need to visit the post edit screen and click on the ‘Add Form’ button.

Add form button

This will bring up a popup where you can select the survey form you created earlier and click on the insert form button to continue.

You will now see the form shortcode added into the post editor.

Once you are done editing the post, go ahead and publish it. You can visit your website to see your survey form live in action.

Survey form preview

WPForms also allows you to easily add your survey form into any sidebar or widget ready area. Simply head over to the Appearance » Widgets page in your WordPress admin area and drag the WPForms widget to any sidebar.

Survey form widget

In the widget settings, select the survey form you created earlier and don’t forget to click on the save button to store your changes.

You can now visit your website to see your survey form displayed in the sidebar.

Sidebar survey widget

Viewing Your Survey Form Results

WPForms shows survey results in beautiful charts and graphs. You can also print survey results and export them to use in your favorite spreadsheet software.

To view your survey results, you need to visit WPForms » All Forms page and click on the ‘Survey Results’ link below your survey form.

View survey results

On the results page, you will see your survey responses displayed in an interactive chart and tables. You can export responses to a single question, as well as the entire survey.

Survey results

On the top, you will see options to switch to different chart types and the export option. You can save individual survey results as JPEG, PDF, and Print formats to easily share them on presentation slides, blog posts, or social media.

Result tables

Convert Any Form into a Survey

WPForms also allows you to make any form into a survey form and display past results as a survey. You can even select specific form fields that you want to be treated as survey fields.

This is particularly useful if you want to gather data through other forms like a contact form, user registration, or newsletter sign up forms.

To convert an existing WPForms form into a survey, simply edit the form in WPForms and go to the Settings » Surveys and Polls section. You need to check the box next to ‘Enable Survey Reporting’ option and save your changes.

Enable survey reporting for any form in WPForms

To enable survey reporting for an individual form field, simply edit the form and then click on the field that you want to enable.

Under the ‘Field Options’ section on your left side, you need to click on the Advanced Options and check ‘Enable Survey Reporting’ option.

Enable survey reporting for any form field

We hope this article helped you learn how to easily create and add beautiful survey forms in WordPress. You may also want to see our beginner’s guide on how to track user engagement in WordPress with Google Analytics.

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 Survey in WordPress (with Beautiful Reports) appeared first on WPBeginner.

How to Use the Plugin Organizer to Speed Up Your WordPress Site

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After WordPress hosting, plugins are the second biggest reason that can cause your WordPress site to be slow. Often times this can be mitigated by either disabling the plugin or stop it from loading in areas where you don’t need them. In this article, we will show you how to use the Plugin Organizer to speed up your WordPress site.

Using Plugin Optimizer to speed up WordPress

How WordPress Plugins Affect Your Website Speed?

One of the most frequently asked questions that we get is how many WordPress plugins are too many? The two things that concerns most users are WordPress security and how plugins may affect speed and performance?

All good WordPress plugins are coded in a way that they are only loaded on your website when needed. You can see our infographic on how WordPress actually loads plugins (behind the scenes).

WordPress doesn’t load inactive plugins which means they don’t affect your website’s performance. However, it does load all active plugins which then run their code when needed.

Now sometimes plugin authors cannot anticipate when and where you will use their plugin features on your website. In that case, they may load their code whether or not you need it. If the plugins are loading JavaScript and CSS files, then this may increase your website’s page load time.

How WordPress Plugin Organizer Can Speed Up Your Site

Depending on the plugins that you’re using, there may be some that you only need on specific pages, posts, or post types. Some plugins you may only need in the WordPress admin area, so they shouldn’t load on the front-end of the website.

WordPress Plugin Organizer allows you to do the following things:

  • Selectively enable or disable plugins based on URL
  • Enable or disable plugins for user roles
  • Enable or disable plugins based on post types
  • Rearrange the order in which plugins are loaded
  • Disable plugins and only load them when needed

Basically, it gives you the ability to fine-tune your website performance.

That being said, let’s take a look at how to use the Plugin Organizer to speed up WordPress.

Using WordPress Plugin Organizer to Manage Active WordPress Plugins

First, thing you need to do is install and activate the Plugin Organizer plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Important: Plugin organizer is a very powerful plugin. Reordering or disabling plugins can cause conflicts and unexpected behavior which could make your site inaccessible. We recommend that you create a complete WordPress backup before disabling or reordering any plugins.

Once you are ready, you need to head over to the Plugin Organizer » Settings page to configure your settings.

Plugin organizer settings

There are several options on this page, and we will look at each option, what it does, and which ones you should turn on.

Fuzzy URL Matching

This option allows you to enable/disable plugins on child URL. This means that settings will affect http://example.com/sample-page/ and all subsequent URLs under it. For example, http://example.com/sample-page/child-page1/ and http://example.com/sample-page/child-page2/.

Ignore URL Protocol

This option is turned off by default. It allows the plugin organizer to ignore http and https part of plugin URLs. This is particularly helpful if you have SSL enabled on your WordPress site.

Ignore URL Arguments

This option allows you to ignore URL arguments. For example, http://example.com/page/?foo=1&bar=2 is a URL with arguments. Turning on this option is only helpful on URLs with arguments. You should leave it OFF in most cases.

Only allow network admins to change plugin load order?

If you are running a WordPress multisite network, then turning on this option will only allow Network Administrator to rearrange plugin order. We highly recommend that you turn this on if you have a WordPress multisite network.

Custom Post Type Support

This option allows you to select the post types where you want to enable/disable plugins. This option is particularly useful if you have plugins that you only need for specific post types.

Auto Trailing Slash

This option adds or removes the trailing slash at the end of plugin filter URLs based on your WordPress permalink settings.

Selective Plugin Loading

This option allows you to selectively load plugins even if they are disabled in plugin settings. You need to turn on this feature if you want to enable or disable plugins on individual content types.

To properly use this option, you need to add a must use plugin or mu-plugin in WordPress. MU plugins can be added to any WordPress site, and they are activated by default. The plugin will try to create an MU plugin itself, but if it fails then you will need to create it. We will show you how to do that later in this article.

Selective Mobile Plugin Loading

This option allows you to selectively enable or disable plugins on mobile browsers.

Selective Admin Plugin Loading

You can turn on this option if you want certain plugins to only load inside the WordPress admin area.

Disable Plugins By Role

This option allows you to disable plugin by user roles. You can turn on this option and then select user roles that you want to use in the next box.

Don’t forget to click on the save settings button to store your changes.

Creating an MU Plugin for Plugin Organizer

Plugin Organizer needs an MU plugin to work properly. The plugin will try to automatically add it to your website, but if it fails then you will have to create it yourself.

To find out whether the plugin has successfully created the MU plugin. You need to visit Plugins » Installed Plugins page. You will see a new link labeled Must-Use, clicking on it will show you the installed MU plugins on your site.

Must Use plugins installed in WordPress

If you don’t see the plugin or Must-Use plugins link, then this means that the plugin organizer failed to create the file, and you will need to manually do it yourself.

First, you need to connect to your website using an FTP client or File Manager app in cPanel.

Next, Go to the /wp-content/mu-plugins/ folder. If you don’t have a mu-plugins folder in your /wp-content/ folder, then you need to create one.

After that you need to go to /wp-content/plugins/plugin-organizer/lib/ folder and download the file called ‘PluginOrganizerMU.class.php’ to your computer.

Copy MU plugin file

Next, you need to go to the /wp-content/mu-plugins/ folder and upload the file from your computer.

Plugin Organizer mu-plugin file

The Plugin Organizer can now you use this file to properly manage your plugins efficiently. You can go ahead and continue with plugin settings.

Set up Global Plugin Options

Plugin Organizer allows you to activate plugins but keep them disabled. To set up which plugins remain active and which plugins are disabled, you need to go to the Plugin Organizer » Global Plugins page.

Set plugins to disable globally

You will see your installed plugin on the left. Active plugins will be highlighted and displayed on top. If you want to disable a plugin, then you can simply drag and drop it to the Disable column.

This will disable the plugins without deactivating them.

You can re-enable the plugin you disabled for individual post types, single post or page items, individual URLs, from different pages in the plugin settings. We will walk you through each of them later in this article.

Enable or Disable Plugins on Search Results Page

To disable or enable certain plugins on search results, you will need to visit the Plugin Organizer » Search Results page.

Disable plugins on search results page

On this screen, you need to simply select a plugin from the left column and drop it to the disable column. You will notice that the disable column has different boxes. You will need to click on the box where you want to disable the plugin. For example, adding a plugin to ‘Disabled Standard’ box will disable the plugin for all users on all pages.

If you previously set a plugin to be disabled globally, and you want it to be loaded on search results page, then you can simply drag and drop it from disabled plugins column back to available plugins.

Enable plugins on search results page

Selectively Enable / Disable Plugins for Custom Post Types

To control which plugins work on certain post types, you need to visit Plugin Organizer » Post Type Plugins page.

Enable or disable plugins for post types

First, you will select the post type where you want to apply the changes. After that, you can drag and drop plugins from available items column to the disable column.

You can also enable a plugin that you have disabled in Global Plugins page by dragging it from the Disabled column to the available items.

Group Plugins and Change Plugin Load Order

By default, WordPress loads your current active plugin files alphabetically. This alphabetical order may sometimes cause conflicts if you have plugins depending on each other’s code.

For example, if you have a plugin file apple.php which relies on functions in another plugin called zebra.php, then you may need the zebra.php file to load first so that apple.php works properly.

Plugin Organizer allows you to manually change the plugin order and group plugins. However, be very careful as this could make your website inaccessible.

To rearrange the plugin load order, you need to visit Plugin Organizer » Group and Order Plugins page.

The plugin organizer will display your plugins in default alphabetical order, and you can rearrange the order by simple drag and drop.

You can also group plugins together by selecting ‘Create new group’ from the drop down menu at the top. Next, you need to enter a name for the group and select the plugins you want to add in it.

Creating a plugin group

Once you are done with the group, click on the Submit button to continue. Plugin organizer will now create a plugin group for you.

Now if you go to the Plugins page, then you will see a new link named after your group name. When you click on it, you will see all the plugins inside that group.

Plugin group list on the plugins page

Creating Plugin Filters with Plugin Organizer

Plugin Organizer allows you to enable or disable plugin based on URL. To do that you need to create Plugin Filters. These filters will allow you to enable or disable plugins that match specific URLs.

First you need to go to the Plugin Organizer » Plugin Filters page and click on ‘Add Plugin Filter’ link.

Add plugin filter

This will bring you tothe add new plugin filter page. You will need to provide a name for your plugin filter and then add permalinks (URLs) that you want to be affected by this filter.

Creating a plugin filter

You can add multiple URLs by clicking the Add Permalink button.

Under the settings section, you can choose whether this filter will also affect child URLs of permalinks you have added. You can leave the priority field blank.

After that, scroll down to the ‘Plugins’ section. Here you can drag and drop plugins from the available items to Disabled boxes.

Disable plugins based on URL filters

Similarly, you can also drag and drop a plugin from the disabled column to available items to make a plugin load when this filter is matched.

Additionally, you can save this filter inside a filter group. Filter groups are like categories. Their purpose is to help you sort similar plugin filters together.

Organize your filters in groups

Once you are done, click on the publish button to make this plugin filter active. It will start working as soon as you click on the publish button.

Enable or Disable a Plugin on a Single Post or Page

Plugin Organizer also allows you to load or disable plugins on a single post, page, or custom post type item. First you need to make sure that you have enabled the post type support on Plugin Organizer » Settings page.

Post types enabled

Next, go ahead and edit the post, page, or custom post type you want to change. On the post edit screen, scroll down to the ‘Plugin Organizer’ section.

Plugin organizer section on post edit screen

You will see the plugin organizer settings with your plugins. You can drag and drop plugins to disable them or drag disabled plugins to available items to make them active.

Don’t forget to click on the save changes or update button to store your changes.

Troubleshooting Plugin Organizer Issues

Plugin Organizer plugin is used to change the default behavior of WordPress plugins on your website. Your settings may cause unexpected results including fatal errors, syntax errors, or white screen of death.

A quick way to resolve those issues is by deactivating all your WordPress plugins via FTP. This will deactivate plugin organizer as well.

To uninstall Plugin Organizer, simply delete the plugin from the plugins page. This will not only delete the plugin itself, but it will also delete all plugin settings. You can then reinstall the plugin if you want.

For most errors, see our comprehensive list of most common WordPress errors and how to fix them. If the error you are seeing is not listed, then try our step by step WordPress troubleshooting guide to find the cause of the error and possible solutions.

We hope this article helped you efficiently use WordPress plugin organizer to speed up your WordPress site. If you want to just install best of the best plugins, then see our list of must have WordPress plugins for all websites.

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 Use the Plugin Organizer to Speed Up Your WordPress Site appeared first on WPBeginner.

How to Add a Cookies Popup in WordPress

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Do you want to add a cookies consent popup in WordPress? The European Union’s cookie law requires websites to get user consent to set any cookies on their computers. As a WordPress website owner, your website may be using cookies as well. In this article, we will show you how to add a cookies popup in WordPress.

How to add cookies consent popup in WordPress

How WordPress Uses Cookies?

By default WordPress uses cookies for authentication purposes to store session information for logged in users. It also sets a cookie when someone leaves a comment on your site.

Apart from these, WordPress plugins can set their own cookies to store different information. For example, WP Favorite Posts plugin shows a user’s favorite posts by storing them in a cookie.

While cookies are extremely useful, they can also be used to collect information about a user and share it with third party advertising platforms.

This is why in Europe and few other countries, website owners are required to let users know about their usage of cookies. If your website is based in one of those countries or mainly targets audiences in those regions, then you need to show a cookie consent disclaimer on your website.

Cookies notification popup displayed on the BBC website

That being said, let’s take a look at how to easily display a cookie consent popup in WordPress.

Showing a Cookie Consent Notification in WordPress

First thing you need to do is install and activate the Cookie Consent plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to visit Settings » Cookie Consent page to configure plugin settings.

Cookie consent notification settings

On this page, you can control when and where you want to show the cookie consent notification. You can also select how you would like it to be closed.

In other settings, you can show or hide it for people visiting from specific geographic locations and set an expiration time for the cookie.

The default settings would work for most websites. Don’t forget to click on the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your settings.

Next, you need to switch to the ‘Content’ tab. This is where you can edit the content that will be displayed to your users in the notification.

Edit cookie consent notification content

Here you also need to select your privacy policy page. If you haven’t already created a privacy policy page, then you can follow our guide to create a privacy policy page in WordPress and then select it here.

Once you are done, click on the save changes button to store your settings.

Changing the Appearance of Your Cookie Consent Notification in WordPress

Your cookie consent popup is almost ready. You just need to setup how you would like it to be displayed.

First you need to visit Settings » Cookie Consent page and then click on the Styles tab.

Cookie consent popup notification style

On this tab, you can choose the position, colors, borders, and style for your cookie consent popup notification. You can also set a container class and then add custom CSS for your popup.

Once you are finished, click on the save changes button to store your settings.

You can now visit your website to see your cookie consent popup in action.

Cookie consent popup on a WordPress website

We hope this article helped you add a cookie consent popup to your WordPress site. You may also want to see our ultimate step by step WordPress SEO guide for beginners.

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 Add a Cookies Popup in WordPress appeared first on WPBeginner.

21+ Best Free WooCommerce Plugins for Your Store (2018)

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Are you looking for the best free WooCommerce plugins for WordPress? WooCommerce, just like WordPress, comes with thousands of extensions and plugins. These plugins add new features to your eCommerce store and help you grow your business. In this article, we have hand-picked the best free WooCommerce plugins for WordPress that you can try right away.

Best Free WooCommerce Plugins

If you haven’t started your online store yet, then we have a step by step guide on how to start an online store with WooCommerce. It walks you through how to choose the best WooCommerce hosting, install WooCommerce, select a theme, and everything that you need.

Having that said, let’s take a look at the best free WooCommerce plugins for WordPress.

1. YITH WooCommerce Wishlist

YITH WooCommerce Wishlist

YITH WooCommerce wishlist plugin allows your customers to save products to their wishlist. They can use the wishlist to make the purchase later or share their wishlist with friends and family.

This is a perfect addon for your online store during busy holiday seasons when people are making their shopping lists and purchasing gifts.

2. WooCommerce Multilingual

WooCommerce Multilingual

Non-English WordPress websites surpassed the English WordPress websites in 2014. Since then more WooCommerce stores are created in languages other than English. WooCommerce Multilingual adds compatibility layer with the popular WPML WordPress multilingual plugin.

This allows you to translate your product and other WooCommerce pages in multiple languages. Your customers can choose to browse your website in their preferred language.

3. WooCommerce Products Slider

WooCommerce Products Slider

WooCommerce Products Slider allows you to easily create beautiful product sliders and carousels and add them anywhere on your WooCommerce store.

4. WooCommerce Customizer

WooCommerce Customizer

WooCommerce Customizer provides an easy user-interface to use built-in WooCommerce filters. These filters allow you to customize things like button text, labels, fields, and much more.

Normally, you would have to write PHP code to use these filters. With WooCommerce customizer, you can easily use those filters from a simple settings page (no coding necessary).

5. WooCommerce EU VAT Compliance

WooCommerce EU VAT Compliance

As the name suggests, this simple plugin makes your WooCommerce shop compliant with the new EU VAT. It will automatically detect your customer’s location and will display prices with correct VAT from the first page.

6. Order Delivery Date for WooCommerce

WooCommerce Order Delivery Date

This plugin allows users to choose a delivery date for products during the checkout. WooCommerce store owners can see the desired delivery date on their orders page in the admin area.

7. YITH WooCommerce Quick View

YITH WooCommerce Quick View

WooCommerce Quick View allows your customers to peek into product details by simply taking their mouse over a button. This enables customers to quickly get the product information without leaving the product listings or shop page.

Users will be able to see a larger product image, product description, and an add to cart button in a lightbox popup.

8. WooCommerce PDF Invoices & Packing Slips

Download WooCommerce PDF Invoices & Packing Slips

This nifty plugin allows you to send PDF invoices and packing slips to customers via email. Users can also download their invoices and slips from their account area. As a site admin, you can also bulk generate invoices, download them, and email them to users from an admin area.

9. YITH WooCommerce Compare

WooCommerce Compare

As the name suggests, this plugin allows your customers to compare two or more WooCommerce products side by side. You can choose which fields users will see in the comparison table and reorder them as needed.

10. WooCommerce Menu Bar Cart

WooCommerce Menu Bar Cart

Normally, your WooCommerce theme would prominently display a cart button at the top. However, if your theme doesn’t show a cart button, or you don’t like its placement, then WooCommerce Menu Cart will fix this for you.

It allows you to add the cart button into your WordPress navigation menu. It works with any WordPress theme and will display cart icon, items and price in your navigation menu.

11. YITH WooCommerce Ajax Search

Ajax Product Search

Speed is crucial for the success of any website, particularly for online stores. A single second delay in page load can significantly increase cart abandonment and lower user engagement.

YITH WooCommerce Ajax Search offers a powerful search feature to instantly display products as users start typing. It uses Ajax to fetch the results which means your users can search without leaving the page they are currently viewing.

See also: Proven tips to Reduce Shopping Cart Abandonment

12. MailChimp for WooCommerce

MailChimp for WooCommerce

MailChimp is one of the top email marketing services in the world. MailChimp for WooCommerce is their official WooCommerce extensions that integrates email marketing into your ecommerce website.

13. WooCommerce Checkout Field Editor

WooCommerce Checkout Field Editor

Do you want to add custom fields to WooCommerce checkout page? The WooCommerce Checkout Field Editor plugin allows you to easily add, customize, and rearrange fields on the checkout page of your online store.

This allows you to customize the whole checkout experience for your customers and use the data to grow your business.

14. Minimum Purchase for WooCommerce

Minimum Purchase for WooCommerce

Minimum Purchase for WooCommerce allows you to setup minimum purchase rules to your products. You can add rules for a single product or create rules for a product group.

The plugin also allows you to apply rules on minimum purchase amount or quantity, set different rules based on user role, and set up custom messages to display when rules are not matched.

15. WooCommerce Gift Cards

WooCommerce Gift Cards

Gift cards for WooCommerce allows you to add gift cards to your online store. Your customers will be able to purchase gift cards of different amounts and give them to their friends and family who then apply the gift card when shopping on your store.

You can setup gift cards of different pricing and sell them as virtual products. When a customer applies the gift card on purchase, the equivalent amount is deducted from their bill.

16. WooCommerce Currency Switcher

WooCommerce Currency Switcher

As the name suggests, this plugin allows your customers to easily switch currencies and get real time conversion rates in their local currency. You can add the currency switcher by using the shortcode or a sidebar widget.

17. WooCommerce Colors

WooCommerce Colors

WooCommerce Colors adds a WooCommerce section to the theme customizer where you can change the color of buttons and other WooCommerce elements. It is simple and highly useful if you want to customize WooCommerce elements without adding any custom CSS.

18. WooCommerce Products Filter

WooCommerce Products Filter

WooCommerce Products Filter allows your site customers to filter products by categories, attributes, product tags, product custom taxonomies, and price. You can add the filter anywhere using the shortcode or the sidebar widget.

19. WooCommerce Shortcodes

WooCommerce Shortcodes

WooCommerce comes with a bunch of shortcodes that you can use throughout your website to add products, buttons, and more. The WooCommerce Shortcodes plugin adds a drop down in your WordPress visual editor, allowing you to easily select and insert shortcodes in content areas like post, page, or products.

20. Booster for WooCommerce

WooCommerce Booster

Booster for WooCommerce allows you to add several useful features to your WooCommerce website that allow you to run your online store more efficiently. It uses a modular approach similar to Jetpack and acts like a plugin suite with tons of features.

21. Custom Product Tabs for WooCommerce

Custom Product Tabs for WooCommerce

Normally, product pages require users to scroll down to view more information. Custom Product Tabs for WooCommerce allows you to divide product description and details into tabs. This helps users switch to the section they want to view while making sure that your website looks neat and organized.

Bonus Plugins

These plugins are not free, but we believe they are highly useful for any WooCommerce store.

22. WooMarketing Bundle

WooCommerce WooMarketing Bundle

The Woo Marketing bundle is a pack of WooCommerce marketing extensions developed and maintained by the folks behind WooCommerce. It includes email marketing, dynamic pricing, smarter discounts, transaction emails, Facebook retargeting, and more.

23. Woo Pack & Ship Bundle

Woo Pack & Ship Bundle

If you pack and ship products to customers, then you’ll need this bundle. It is maintained by the WooCommerce team and includes extensions like invoices, packing slips, customize shipping options, product kits, multi-address shipping, track shipping, and more.

Purchasing this bundle also gives you access to the WooCommerce 360° images extension, WooCommerce Storefront and all its child themes.

24. OptinMonster

OptinMonster

OptinMonster is the most powerful conversion optimization software in the market. It helps you convert abandoning website visitors into subscribers and customers.

You can use it on your eCommerce website to reduce cart abandonment, increase sales conversion, grow your email list, show targeted website messages, onsite retargeting, and more.

If you’re serious about growing your email list and boosting sales, then you need this conversion optimization optimization toolkit.

We hope this article helped you find some of the best free WooCommerce plugins for your online store. You may also want to see our expert pick of the best WooCommerce themes for your ecommerce website.

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 21+ Best Free WooCommerce Plugins for Your Store (2018) appeared first on WPBeginner.

Modula Gallery Review: An Easy-To-Use WordPress Gallery Plugin

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Sometimes (actually, a lot of times…), the built-in WordPress gallery functionality just doesn’t cut it. And when that happens, you’re going to need to turn to a WordPress image gallery plugin, of which there are…a ton. With so many image gallery plugins out there, it can be hard to find the one that’s best for ... Read moreModula Gallery Review: An Easy-To-Use WordPress Gallery Plugin

The post Modula Gallery Review: An Easy-To-Use WordPress Gallery Plugin appeared first on Learn WordPress with WPLift.

How to Create an Online Course with WordPress using LearnDash (Review)

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Do you want to create an online course in WordPress? Selling online courses allows you to make money from your blog by teaching others how to do what you’re good at. In this article, we will show you how to create and sell an online course in WordPress using LearnDash.

Creating online learning course in WordPress using LearnDash

What Do You Need to Create / Sell an Online Course?

You will need the following things to start selling courses online with WordPress.

  1. A domain name. This will be your website’s address (Example, wpbeginner.com).
  2. A WordPress hosting account. This is where your website’s files are stored.
  3. A learning management addon to create and manage courses.

You can create your online course with WordPress in less than an hour, and we’ll walk you through every step of the process.

Let’s get started.

Step 1. Setting up Your WordPress Website

There are plenty of website builders that you can use to build your website. However, we always recommend WordPress because it offers you the flexibility and freedom to take your website in any direction you want.

There are two types of WordPress, and often beginners end up confusing the two. First there is WordPress.com which is a hosting service, and then you have the original WordPress.org also known as self-hosted WordPress. See our guide on the difference between WordPress.com vs WordPress.org.

We recommend using WordPress.org because it gives you access to all the WordPress features that you will need.

To start a self hosted WordPress.org website, you will need a domain name ($14.99 / year), WordPress hosting ($7.99 / month), and SSL certificate to accept online payments ($69.99 / year).

This is quite a lot of start up money.

Luckily, Bluehost, an officially recommended WordPress hosting provider, has agreed to offer our users a free domain name, free SSL certificate, and a discount on web hosting.

Basically, you can get all of the above for $2.75 per month.

→ Click here to Claim this Exclusive Bluehost offer ←

After purchasing hosting, head over to our guide on how to create a WordPress website for step by step set up instructions.

Step 2. Install and Setup LearnDash LMS Plugin

LearnDash is the best LMS plugin for WordPress. It is an all-in-one solution with complete course management, lesson plans, quizzes, assignments, course progression, and more.

Disclaimer: At WPBeginner, we believe in transparency. If you sign up with LearnDash using our referral link, then we will earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. We would get this referral fee for recommending just about any other solution, but we only recommend products that we personally use and believe will add value to our readers. And no, we were not paid to write this review.

Now that we’re on the same page, let’s get started with the course setup process.

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

Upon activation, you need to visit LearnDash LMS » Settings page and click on the LMS License tab to enter your email address and the license key. Once you have entered the information, click on the ‘Update License’ button to store your settings.

Enter your LearnDash license key

Next, you need to switch to the ‘PayPal Settings’ tab. This is where you will enter your PayPal information to receive online payments from your users.

LearnDash PayPal payment settings

Don’t forget to click on the ‘Save’ button to store your settings.

LearnDash also has Stripe and 2Checkout payment gateways available as Addons. You can install those if you don’t want to use PayPal.

Once you have configured the payment settings, your LearnDash LMS plugin is ready to go, and you can start creating courses.

Step 3. Creating Your First Course

LearnDash makes it super easy to create and manage online courses.

First, you need to visit LearnDash LMS » Courses page and then click on the ‘Add New’ button.

Adding a new course in LearnDash

This will bring you to the ‘Add New Course’ screen. You will need to start by providing a title for your course and then adding a detailed description. You can also add course categories / tags, and a featured image also known as course thumbnail.

Creating course

Below the course description, you will see the course options box. This is where you can set different options for the course including course price and what type of course it is: open, free, closed, buy now, or recurring.

Course options

Once you are satisfied with your course options, you can click on the save or publish button to make your course publicly available.

You can click on the preview button to see your course in action.

Note: You will not see the ‘Take This Course’ button if you are viewing the course page while logged in as an administrator in WordPress. We recommend opening an incognito browser window or log out to preview the course page.

Step 4. Adding Lessons to Your Course

Now that you have created your first course. It’s time to add lessons to the course. LearnDash allows you to create highly interactive lessons and then add them to your online course.

You can add a lesson by visiting LearnDash LMS » Lessons page and then click on the ‘Add New’ button at the top.

Adding new lessons in LearnDash

First you need to provide a title for your lesson and then start adding lesson content. You can add text, images, embed videos, and more.

Below the lesson editor box, you will find lesson options. Here you can add the lesson to a course by selecting the course you created earlier from ‘Associated Course’ drop down box.

Lesson settings

You can also choose whether this lesson requires submission of assignments, lesson timer, lesson progression, and more.

Once you are satisfied with the lesson, you can click on the publish button to save your lesson.

Your lesson will now automatically appear on the course page below the course details. You can repeat the process to add more lessons to your course.

You can also break down an individual lesson into topics. Simply go to LearnDash LMS » Topics page and click on the ‘Add New’ button to add a topic.

Creating a topic is similar to creating a lesson. Instead of associating it to a course, you will just need to associate it to a lesson.

Adding topics to your lessons

Step 5. Adding Quizzes and Assignments to Your Online Course

LearnDash comes fully equipped with dynamic quizzes and assignments. This allows you to make your online course a dynamic and engaging experience for your students.

You can make the quizzes and assignments required for your users before they can progress to the next lesson or course. You can also review assignments and give feedback to students.

Creating Quizzes in LearnDash

To add a quiz, you need to visit LearnDash » Quizzes page and click on the Add New button.

Adding new quiz

First you will need to provide a title and description for your quiz. After that you need to scroll down to ‘Quiz’ box and associate your quiz to a course, lesson, or topic.

Quiz settings

The default quiz settings would work for most cases, but you can customize the settings as needed from the advanced quiz settings area.

Once you are done, click on the save or publish button to save your quiz. You will now notice the new option to add questions to your quiz.

You need to switch to the ‘Questions’ tab and then click on ‘Add Question’ button.

Add question to the quiz

This will bring you to the ‘Add new question’ screen. LearnDash allows you to create different type of questions (multiple choice, true or false, fill in the blank, essay, free choice, etc).

You can add multiple answers for your question, add the correct answer, choose message to display for correct or incorrect answers, and more.

Don’t forget to click on the save button before you move onto the next section.

Depending on your settings, your quiz would appear on your lesson, topic, or the course page.

Enable Assignments in LearnDash

You can easily add assignments by editing a lesson and going to the lesson options area. You need to check the box next to upload assignment option.

Enable assignment upload option

After that, you can provide the assignment instructions in your lesson. At the end of the lesson, users will see an option to upload their assignment.

Upload assignment form

Once users have uploaded their assignments, you can view them by visiting LearnDash LMS » Assignments page.

Review assignments

Here you can edit assignments, approve, or give comments on submitted assignments.

Step 6. Giving Certificates on Course Completion

LearnDash allows you to automatically give certificates upon completion of a course. However, creating a certificate in LearnDash requires some basic knowledge of HTML.

First, you will need a certificate image file. This is basically the background image you want to use for your certificates.

You can find certificate templates on free image creating websites like Canva. Once you find a template you like, simply delete all text from it and download it to your computer.

Creating a certificate template

Next, you need to visit LearnDash LMS » Certificates page and click on the ‘Add New’ button.

Add new certificate

On the add new certificate screen, you need to set the certificate background image as featured image and click on the save button to reload the page.

You will now see your certificate template in the background of the visual editor. You can start adding text you want to be displayed on the certificate.

Certificate editing

To insert user’s name in the certificate, click on the LearnDash icon in the editor to insert the username shortcode.

Once you are satisfied with the certificate, you need to publish it.

Next, you need to edit the quiz you added to your course lesson. In the Quiz options box, you need to associate your certificate to the completion of the quiz.

Add certificate to the quiz

You can now save your quiz settings.

Users who complete the course and pass the quiz will see the option to print their certificate.

Print certificate

Taking Your Online Courses To Next Level

Now that you have learned how to easily create an online course in WordPress, you are ready to launch your online learning course website.

LearnDash seamlessly integrates with numerous providers including WordPress eCommerce platforms like WooCommerce, and it can run alongside your existing online store.

It also works with MemberPress, the best WordPress membership plugin in the market. This allows you to not just sell your courses, but you can also run a membership website with powerful subscription models.

We hope this LearnDash review helped you learn how to create an online course with WordPress. You may also want to see our ultimate step by step WordPress SEO guide for beginners.

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 an Online Course with WordPress using LearnDash (Review) appeared first on WPBeginner.

How to Add a Stats Dashboard On Your WordPress Site

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Do you want to add a stats dashboard on your WordPress site? Analytics help you find out how people find and use your website, so you can keep them coming back. In this article, we will show you how to easily add a stats dashboard on your WordPress site.

How to add a stats dashboard in WordPress

Why You Need a Stats Dashboard in WordPress

Normally you can install Google Analytics and view your reports by logging into your Google analytics account. This sounds great, but most people forget to check their blog stats on a regular basis.

The two biggest reason for that are:

  1. You have to login to a separate website (Google Analytics) to check the stats.
  2. You have to dig around Google Analytics to actually find what you’re looking for.

While Google Analytics is a powerful tool, it often requires some digging to get to the good parts of the reports you want to view. Most beginners never make it this far.

Adding a stats dashboard to your WordPress website solves this problem. You will be able to quickly view the stats that matter without leaving your WordPress admin area, and it will require far easier.

That being said, let’s take a look at how to easily add a stats dashboard on your WordPress site.

Adding a Stats Dashboard in WordPress

First thing you need to do is install and activate the MonsterInsights plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to visit Insights » Settings page to enter your license key. You can find the license key under your account on the MonsterInsights website.

MonsterInsights license key

Next, you need to connect your website to your Google Analytics account. You can do this by visiting the Insights » Settings page and clicking on the ‘Authenticate with your Google account’ button.

Authenticate with your Google account

This will redirect you to Google accounts where you will be asked to sign in or select a Google account if you are already signed in.

Sign in or select your Google account to continue

You need to click on ‘Next’ to continue.

After that, you will be asked to allow MonsterInsights to access your Google Analytics account. This step is necessary, so MonsterInsights can bring the report back to your WordPress dashboard.

Allow MonsterInsights to access your Google Analytics account

Go ahead and click on the ‘Allow’ button to continue.

The final step is to select the profile you want to track. You need to select your website here and then click on the ‘Complete authentication’ button to continue.

Select your website profile

You will now be redirected back to your WordPress site.

That’s all you have successfully installed and setup Google Analytics on your WordPress site. If you haven’t installed Google Analytics on this website before, then it will take sometime before Google Analytics starts showing your stats.

Viewing Your WordPress Stats Dashboard

Now that you have set up Google Analytics using MonsterInsights, you can view your WordPress stats by visiting Insights » Reports page.

Website stats reports

On top of the stats dashboard, you will see a graph of your WordPress page views and visitor sessions for the last 30 days. This gives you a quick overview of incoming traffic to your blog.

Below that, you will see a comparison of your website stats against previous 30 days. It will show numbers of sessions, page views counter, session duration, and bounce rate.

Stats break down

After that you will see charts showing new vs returning visitors and devices used to access your website. This is followed by top countries people visiting your website from and top referral websites sending you the most traffic.

MonsterInsights also acts as a pageview counter and shows your most popular WordPress posts and pages. This helps you find your top performing content, so you can plan your content strategy accordingly.

Top posts and pages

Viewing More WordPress Stats with MonsterInsights

MonsterInsights also shows custom reports depending on your settings. You can switch to publishers, ecommerce, search console, and dimensions.

The publishers tab shows reports made for content-rich websites like blogs, news, or magazine websites. It will show you the following stats:

  • Top landing pages
  • Top exit pages
  • Top outbound links
  • Top affiliate links
  • Top download links
  • Age, gender, and interests (visible only if you have them enabled in Google Analytics)

Tracking Ecommerce Stats in WordPress with MonsterInsights

If you run an online store using WooCommerce or Easy Digital Downloads, then you’ll love MonsterInsights eCommerce tracking features.

First, you will need to visit Insights » Addons page to install and activate the MonsterInsights eCommerce addon.

Ecommerce addon

Next, you need to visit Insights » Settings and click on the tracking tab.

Enable eCommerce tracking

On the tracking tab, you need to scroll down and select the eCommerce settings and then check the box next to ‘Use Enhanced eCommerce’ option.

Don’t forget to click on the save changes button to store your settings.

Now you can view your ecommerce stats in WordPress by visiting Insights » Reports page and clicking on the ecommerce tab.

ecommerce stats in WordPress

Ecommerce reports will show you the break down of the following stats:

  • Conversion rate, transactions, revenue, and average order value
  • Top products
  • Top conversion sources
  • Total add to cart and total remove from cart
  • Time to purchase and session to purchase stats

We hope this article helped you learn how to easily add a stats dashboard in WordPress. You may also want to see our ultimate WordPress SEO guide to improve your search rankings and get more traffic for your website.

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 Add a Stats Dashboard On Your WordPress Site appeared first on WPBeginner.

How to Add an Interactive Map in WordPress

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Do you want to add an interactive map in WordPress? Interactive maps allow your users to discover routes, journeys, and itineraries by clicking on markers in the map or moving the mouse around. In this article, we will show you how to easily add an interactive map in WordPress.

Adding an interactive map in WordPress

Method 1: Adding an Interactive Map in WordPress using Google My Maps

This method is simpler and doesn’t require you to install a plugin on your WordPress site.

First, you need to visit Google My Maps website and click on the ‘Create a new map’ button.

Create a new map

This will bring you to the edit map page. On this screen, you can create your map by selecting a base map, adding points of interest, layers, and more.

Editing map

Using the toolbar at the top, you can draw lines on the map, add routes, use rulers, and select items.

Using the map toolbar

All your map items are saved in layers to the left. You can add, edit, rename, or even delete layers. You can also click on any item in your layer to add description, change title, or add photos / videos.

Add descriptions

Once you are done editing your map, you need to make it public so that you can use it on your website. You can do this by clicking on the share button in the edit panel.

Sharing your interactive map

This will bring up the sharing center where you need to click on ‘Change’ under ‘Who has access’ section.

Sharing settings

Next, you need to select ‘On – Public on the web’ and then click on the save button.

Making your map public

After that click on ‘Done’ to close sharing center.

On the edit panel click on the menu icon next to map name and then select ‘Embed on my site’.

Embed map on site

You will now see the embed code that you need to copy.

Embed code

Next, head over to the post or page where you want to add your interactive map in WordPress. On the post edit screen, you need to switch to the text editor and paste the map embed code you copied earlier.

Paste your interactive map code in WordPress

You can now save your changes and preview your post to see your interactive map in action.

Map preview

Method 2: Add an Interactive Map in WordPress Using Plugin

While you can create and add interactive maps using Google Maps, it still lacks certain features and is limited to Google Maps.

If you want to use Open Street Maps, Bing, or other mapping services, then this method is for you.

First thing you need to do is install and activate the Maps Marker Pro plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to visit Maps Marker Pro page to create your interactive map. To start, you need to click on the ‘Add New Layer’ button.

Adding a new layer to your map

Next, you need to provide a name for your layer and click publish.

Creating new layer and publishing it

Now that you have created a layer, you are ready to add map markers on it. Go to Maps Marker Pro » Add New Marker page to add your first marker.

Adding first marker

First you will need to enter a title for the marker, and then search for the location and select it.

You will also need to place your marker on the layer you created earlier. You can do this by typing the name of the layer in the layers field and select it.

Don’t forget to click on the ‘Publish’ button to save your marker.

Repeat the process to add other markers to the layer.

Once you are done adding markers, you can edit any WordPress post or page where you want to add the map.

On the post edit screen, click on ‘Add Map’ button.

Add map button

This will bring up a popup displaying all your map markers and the layer you created earlier. You need to select the layer and click on insert map button.

Select and insert map layer in your post or page

The plugin will add the required shortcode in your post editor area. You can now save or publish your post and preview it to see your interactive map.

Preview your interactive map

You can always edit your main layer to adjust the map size and dimensions.

Maps Marker Pro is a powerful plugin with tons of options like multi-layer maps, custom markers, directions, GPX support, export map in multiple formats, and more. You can explore these options to make your maps even more interactive.

We hope this article helped you lean how to add an interactive map in WordPress. You may also want to see our list of the best Google Maps 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.

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How to Send Email in WordPress using the Gmail SMTP Server

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Are you having trouble sending emails from your WordPress site? One easy way to solve this is by sending WordPress emails using the Gmail SMTP server. In this article, we will show you how to send emails from your WordPress site using the Gmail SMTP server.

Send WordPress emails using Gmail SMTP server

Why and When You Need Gmail SMTP Server for WordPress Emails

Your WordPress site sends emails to notify you of new user registration, lost password reset, automatic updates, and even notifications from your contact forms.

By default, WordPress uses the PHP mail function to send out email notifications. However, this function does not work as expected due to a number of reasons.

Most WordPress hosting companies restrict usage of this function to prevent abuse and spam.

Spam filters on popular email service providers check incoming emails to monitor if they are sent from authentic mail servers. Default WordPress emails fail this check and sometimes may not even make it to the spam folder.

SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) is the industry standard for sending emails. Unlike PHP mail function, SMTP uses proper authentication which increases email deliverability.

Gmail provides SMTP service that you can use to send out emails from your WordPress site. If you just want to send WordPress notification emails to yourself and few users on your site, then Gmail SMTP servers are the best option.

However, if you are planning on sending newsletter emails using WordPress, then you should use a mass emailing service provider, like MailGun or SendGrid.

Free vs Paid Gmail SMTP Service for WordPress

You can use your free Gmail account to send out WordPress emails. However, for better deliverability, we recommend using paid Google Apps for Work with Gmail.

With Google Apps for Work, you get your own professional branded email address such as ([email protected]).

Google Apps require you to add MX records to your domain name which means that your emails will appear to be coming from your own domain name boosting authenticity and ensuring better deliverability.

We use Google Apps for Work for WPBeginner and can honestly say it’s the best.

How to Send WordPress Emails Using Gmail SMTP Server

If you decided to use Google Apps for Work, then you first need to set up your domain to work with Google Apps. We have a step by step tutorial on how to setup a professional email address with Google Apps and Gmail.

Rest of the instructions are the same whether you are using paid or free Gmail account.

First thing you need to do is install and activate the WP Mail SMTP plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to visit Settings » WP Mail SMTP page to configure the plugin settings.

WP Mail SMTP Settings

First you need to make sure that you use your Gmail email address in the ‘From Email’ field. Next, you need to provide the sender name.

WP Mail SMTP plugin offers two ways to connect your WordPress site to the Gmail servers.

The first method uses OAuth Authentication. This is a more secure method to send emails using Gmail servers.

The second method is by entering Gmail SMTP settings manually. This method is not recommended because it is less secure.

That being said, let’s set up WordPress to use Gmail SMTP for sending emails.

Method 1: Setting up Gmail to Send WordPress Emails using OAuth Protocol

This method is recommended for all users. It is more secure and once you set it up, you’ll never have to do that again.

You need to start by selecting Gmail as your mailer and set the return path to be the same as sender.

Select Gmail and set return path

Next, you will see the option to enter your Client ID, Client Secret, and a URL in ‘Authorized redirect URI’ field.

Let’s set up these fields.

Creating an App and Generate API Keys for Gmail

Visit the Google Developers Console website and create a new project.

Create a new Google Developer Console project

If you don’t see the blue button to create a project, then you can also click on select a project drop down and create a new project.

You’ll be asked to provide a name for your project. Give it a memorable name, so that you can easily recognize it in the future.

Name your project

After that, click on the create button to continue.

Developer console will now create your project and take you to its dashboard. Google offer developers access to many of their APIs and services. You need to enable the APIs that you will be needing for this project.

Enable APIs

Click on Enable APIs and services button to continue.

This will bring you to the APIs library page. Next, you need to type Gmail in the search box to quickly find the Gmail API and click to select it.

Select Gmail API

You will now see an overview of the API and what it can do. Simply click on the ‘Enable’ button to continue.

Enale Gmail API

Now that your API is enabled, the next step is to create credentials that you can use in your WP Mail SMTP plugin settings.

Click on the create credentials button to continue.

Create credentials

On the next screen, you will need to select ‘Web browser JavaScript’ in ‘Where you’ll be calling the API from’ field. After that click on the ‘User Data’ option.

API credentials step 1

To continue, click on the ‘What credentials do I need?’ button.

You will now be asked to provide a name for your OAuth client name. You can enter ‘WP Mail SMTP’ here.

API Credentials step 2

Under JavaScript origins field, you need to add your website’s domain name. Next, you need to copy and paste the authorized redirect URL from WP Mail SMTP plugin settings.

After that click on the ‘Create client ID’ button to continue.

Next, you need to enter a name for OAuth consent screen. You can put the plugin’s name here.

Ouath consent screen

After entering the details, click on the continue button and the developer console will show your client ID. You can copy and paste this in the WP Mail SMTP plugin’s settings page. However, you will still need to add your client secret key.

Getting your client ID

Go ahead and click on the Done button to move on.

You will now be taken to your project’s credentials page. You will see your recently created credentials listed there. You need to click on the edit icon next to your credentials to continue.

Edit credentials

This will bring you to the edit credentials page where you will be able to see your client secret key. You need to copy and paste the key in your plugin’s settings page.

Client secret key

Return back to plugin’s settings page in your WordPress admin area. Now that you have both client ID and client secret keys, you need to click on the save settings button to continue.

Save client credentials in plugin settings

The plugin will now store your settings and reload the page. After that you need to scroll down to the bottom of the settings page and click on the ‘Allow plugin to send emails using your Google account’ button.

Allow plugin to send emails

This will take you to your account on Google, and you will be asked to give the website permission to send emails on your behalf.

Allow Gmail

Click on Allow button to give permissions.

After that, you will be redirected back to your website where you will see a success message.

Connected successfully

Method 2: Setting up Gmail SMTP as SMTP Sender

This method allows you to manually connect to Gmail’s SMTP servers to send your WordPress emails.

First, you need to visit Settings » WP Mail SMTP page to configure the plugin settings.

You need to start by providing the Gmail address you want to use in the From email field, and your name in the name field.

Gmail SMTP

Next, you need to select ‘Other SMTP’ as your mailer and check the box next to return path.

After that, scroll down to the Other SMTP section to configure more settings.

Gmail SMTP settings for WP Mail SMTP plugin

Here is the exact configuration you need to add in the plugin settings:

  • SMTP Host: smtp.gmail.com
  • SMTP Port: 465
  • Encryption: Use SSL encryption
  • Authentication: Turn on authentication
  • Username: Your complete Gmail address, e.g. [email protected] or [email protected]
  • Password: Password of your Gmail account

Once you are done, click on the save changes button to store your settings.

That’s all, you have successfully setup WP Mail SMTP to use Gmail SMTP servers.

Testing Your WP Mail SMTP Settings

WP Mail SMTP plugin allows you to test your email settings, so you can make sure that everything is working properly.

You need to visit Settings » WP Mail SMTP page and click on the ‘Email Test’ tab. Simply provide an email address that you can access in the send to field and click on the send email button.

Send test email

You will see a success message. You can now check your inbox to see a message with the subject line ‘WP Mail SMTP: Test Email to…’.

That’s all, you have successfully setup your WordPress site to send emails using Gmail SMTP servers.

Troubleshooting Gmail SMTP Not Working Issues

We have seen users encounter few issues when using Gmail SMTP with certain shared hosting configurations.

Take the following steps to fix the Gmail SMTP issue:

  1. Login to your cPanel account and create an email account that matches your Google apps email address. This might seem strange because you’re not using your server for emails. This step basically tricks your server into believing that you’re sending the email through the server.
  2. In your cPanel account, go to the MX Records and change the MX routing from automatic to remote. It might be a little tricky to find since each host now has custom cPanel interface. You need to look for a small link next to MX that says Email Routing: Remote Mail Exchanger.
  3. After that log back into your WordPress site and send a test email.

We hope this article helped you learn how to send email in WordPress using the Gmail SMTP server. You may also want to see our list of the 5 best contact form 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 Send Email in WordPress using the Gmail SMTP Server appeared first on WPBeginner.