Do you want to add one-click login with Google to your WordPress site?
When your users can sign in with their Google account, they won’t have to create, remember, or track another username and password just to access your website. This helps save them time and increase your conversion rates.
In this article, we will share how to easily add one-click Google login in WordPress.
Why Add One-Click Google Login in WordPress?
Many internet users stay logged in to their Google accounts. This lets them quickly access Google apps like Gmail, Drive, and Docs without signing in separately for each app.
Having one-click Google login activated on your WordPress login page allows your users to do the same on your website. They can save time by quickly signing in with their Google account. This saves them from having to enter their login credentials each time.
If you run a simple WordPress blog, then you might not find this feature useful.
But if your organization uses Google Workspace for professional business email addresses, then your team members can use your organization’s Google apps accounts for login.
With that being said, let’s take a look at how to easily add one-click login with Google to your WordPress website.
Tip: To add one-click Google Login, your site needs to have secure SSL encryption. To learn how to set up a secure connection, see our beginner’s guide on how to switch from HTTP to HTTPS in WordPress.
For this tutorial, we’ll use the free plugin that supports Google, Twitter, and Facebook login. There is also a paid version of Nextend Social Login that adds social login for lots of different sites including PayPal, Slack, and TikTok.
Upon activation, you need to go to Settings » Nextend Social Login in the WordPress admin area. On this screen, you see the different social login options that are available.
To add a Google login to your WordPress website, you need to click the ‘Getting Started’ button under the Google logo.
Here you will see that your first step will be to create a Google app.
Creating a Google app sounds technical, but don’t worry.
You don’t need to know any code, and we’ll walk you through all the steps.
Creating a Google App
To create this app, you’ll need to switch between your WordPress dashboard and the Google Developers Console. It’s a good idea to leave your WordPress dashboard open in the current tab and open a new browser tab.
Now you can visit the Google Developers Console website. If you are not already logged in, then you will be asked to log in with your Google account.
Next, you need to click on ‘Select a project’ from the top menu. It will open a popup where you would click the ‘New Project’ button to continue.
This will open the New Project page. You will need to add a project name and select the location. The project name can be anything you like, such as ‘Google Login.’
If you logged in using a Google Workspace account, then the location will be filled in with the name of your organization automatically. If not, then you should leave it as ‘No organization.’
Next, click the ‘Create’ button to continue.
You’ll now be redirected to the ‘APIs & Services’ dashboard. On this page, you need to click on ‘OAuth consent screen’ in the left menu.
Here you choose the type of user you’re allowing to log in.
Select ‘Internal’ if only users with your organization’s Google account will be logging in. Alternatively, you should choose ‘External’ if your users have email addresses outside of your organization. For example, anyone with an @gmail.com account versus an @yourcompanyemail.com address.
When you’re ready to continue, click the ‘Create’ button. Now you can start to add information about your app.
First, you should enter your business name in the app name field. This will be shown to the user when logging in, such as, ‘Smith Training Services wants access to your Google account.’
You also need to add the email address you logged into Google with. This will allow your users to ask questions about the Google login screen.
Tip: We recommend that you do not upload a logo for your app. If you do, then your app will need to go through a verification process with the Google Trust and Safety Team. This process is lengthy and can take 4-6 weeks.
Once you’ve done that, scroll down to the ‘App domain’ section. Here you need to add links to your website’s home page, privacy policy page, and terms of service page.
Then you need to click the ‘Add Domain’ button to add your website’s domain name, such as ‘example.com.’
If you want to add one-click Google login to more than one website, then you can click the ‘+ Add Domain’ button to add another domain.
Finally, you need to add one or more email addresses so that Google can notify you about any changes to your project.
When you’re finished, make sure you click the ‘Save and Continue’ button.
Next, you will come to the Scopes and Test Users pages. For both of these pages, simply scroll to the bottom and click the ‘Save and Continue’ button.
The final page for this step will show you a summary of your OAuth consent screen settings.
The next job is to create the keys your plugin will need to connect with Google Cloud.
You should click ‘Credentials’ from the left menu and then click the ‘+ Create Credientials’ button at the top of the screen. You need to select the ‘OAuth client ID’ option.
This will take you to the ‘Create OAuth client ID’ page.
You should select ‘Web application’ from the ‘Application type’ dropdown.
Some settings will be added to the page. You need to scroll down to the ‘Authorized redirect URIs’ section and click the ‘+ Add URI’ button.
Make sure you replace example.com with your own website’s address.
Once you’ve done that, you should click the ‘Create’ button to store the setting. It may take five minutes to a few hours for the setting to take effect.
Your OAuth client has now been created!
You will see a popup containing ‘Your Client ID’ and Your Client Secret.’ You will need to paste these keys into the plugin’s settings page back in your WordPress admin area.
You can just click the ‘copy’ icon to the right to copy the keys one at a time.
Adding Your Google Keys to Your Plugin
Now, simply switch back to your website’s browser tab and click on the ‘Settings’ tab under Settings » Nextend Social Login. Here you will see fields for the Client ID and Client Secret.
You need to copy your keys from the Google Cloud Console and paste them into these fields.
Once you’ve done that, make sure you click the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your settings.
Now you’ll need to test that the settings are working correctly. This is important because you don’t want real users to encounter errors when trying to log in to your website.
Simply click the ‘Verify Settings’ button and the plugin will make sure that the Google app you created is working correctly.
If you followed the steps above correctly, then you should see a notification saying ‘Works Fine – Disabled.’
You can now safely click the ‘Enable’ button to allow users to log in using their Google ID.
You will see a message confirming that Google login is now enabled.
Selecting Your Button Style and Labels
Nextend’s default button style and label are pretty standard and will work for most websites. However, you can customize them by clicking on the ‘Buttons’ tab at the top of the screen.
You will now see all the different styles that you can use for the social login button. To use a different style, simply click to select its radio button.
Once you’ve done that, you can also change the button text by editing the text in the ‘Login label’ field.
If you like, you can apply some basic formatting to the login label using HTML. For example, you can make text bold using <b> and </b> tags.
You can also edit the ‘Link label’ and ‘Unlink label’ fields that allow users to link and unlink your website with their Google accounts. Technical users can use HTML code for buttons to create their own Google login button.
Make sure you click the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your settings.
Taking Your Google App Out of Testing Mode
Now there is one last thing you need to do back on the Google Cloud browser tab. You should still see the popup with your client ID and client secret. You can dismiss the popup by clicking ‘OK’ at the bottom of the popup.
Now you need to click ‘OAuth consent screen’ from the left menu.
You can see that your Google app is in ‘Testing’ mode. This allows you to test your app with a limited number of users. Now that you have received a ‘Works Fine’ notification when verifying the settings with the plugin, you can move it to In ‘Production’ mode.
You do this by clicking the ‘Publish App’ button. Next, you will see a popup with the title ‘Push to production?’
Simply click ‘Confirm’ to allow everyone to use a one-step Google login on your site.
If you followed this tutorial carefully, then the Verification Status should now be ‘Verification not required.’
Your app will now work with all Google users.
Now when users are logging in to your website, they will have the option to log in with Google.
However, if they prefer, they can still log in using their standard WordPress username and password.
Keep in mind that users can only log in with the Google account address that they have used on your website. Also, if you have allowed user registration on your WordPress site, then users can quickly register on your site using one-click Google login.
If you wish to add the Google login button anywhere else on your website, then you can do so using a shortcode. You can learn more by clicking on Nextend’s ‘Usage’ tab.
Are you looking for an easy way to create a WordPress form with a payment option?
Often small business owners need to create an easy way to accept payments on their website without setting up a complex shopping cart. A simple payment form allows you to accept custom payment amounts, setup recurring payments, and collect custom details with ease.
In this article, we will show you how you can easily create forms with a payment option.
Why Create WordPress Forms with a Payment Option?
If you want to create a simple form with custom payment options, then you don’t need to create a full online store. While eCommerce plugins like Easy Digital Downloads and WooCommerce are very powerful, you may not need something as comprehensive if you’re only selling a few items, services, or need to accept custom amounts from each customer.
In some cases, creating a simple payment form is a much better solution than using a dedicated eCommerce plugin.
For example, on a non-profit website, you may want to give visitors the option to make a donation while they’re filling out a volunteer application form.
Some website owners like to accept optional tips from visitors who are reaching out for help.
Or, you may want to offer a digital download with a ‘pay what you like’ system, where visitors choose how much they want to pay for a product or service. We’ve even seen WordPress websites offer products as a free download, while giving visitors the option to pay for a premium upgrade or extra content.
That being said, let’s look at how you can create optional payment forms. Simply use the quick links below to jump straight to the method you want to use.
The easiest way to create a simple WordPress payment form is by using WP Simple Pay.
WP Simple Pay is the best Stripe payment plugin for WordPress that lets you accept credit card payments, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and more without any having to install any special eCommerce plugins.
This free plugin is perfect for non-profits, small businesses, volunteers, and anyone who wants to collect payments without having to invest in advanced eCommerce plugins.
First, you’ll need to install and activate the WP Simple Pay plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, the plugin will automatically launch the setup wizard. Go ahead and click the ‘Let’s Get Started’ button.
In the next step, you’ll need to connect a Stripe account to WP Simple Pay. Stripe is a beginner-friendly payment processor for website owners.
To get started, click on the ‘Connect with Stripe’ button.
After that, you can either log into an existing Stripe account or create a new one.
If you’ve already registered with Stripe, then simply type in the email address and password for that account.
WP Simple Pay will now show you how to connect your Stripe account to WordPress.
If you’re not already registered with Stripe, then type in your email address and then follow the onscreen instructions to create your free Stripe account.
Once you’re logged into a Stripe account, go ahead and click on ‘Create a Payment Form.’
If you’ve clicked away from this screen by accident, then don’t worry. You can reach the same screen by going to WP Simple Pay » Add New in the WordPress dashboard.
The free WP Simple Pay plugin has a few different payment templates that can help you create different kinds of payment forms within minutes. You can unlock extra templates by upgrading to WP Simple Pay Pro, including a template that adds a Stripe donate button in WordPress.
Since we want to create a simple WordPress payment form, hover over the ‘Payment Button’ template and then click on ‘Create Payment Button’ when it appears.
In the ‘Title’ field, type in a name for your payment form.
This title is just for your reference so you can use anything you want.
You can also use the ‘Description’ field to add some information about your payment form. Again, WordPress won’t show this to your site’s visitors but it can be useful for your own reference or for anyone else who shares your WordPress dashboard.
After that, click on the ‘Payment’ tab.
By default, WP Simple Pay will create your payment form in test mode, meaning you can’t accept payments from visitors.
We recommend leaving the ‘Global Settings (Test Mode)’ radio button selected, so you can test how the form works before you start accepting payments from visitors.
However, if you want to start accepting real payments straight away, then you can select the ‘Live Mode’ button instead.
Next, you can decide how much you’ll charge visitors by typing a number into the ‘One-Time Amount’ field.
Note: By default, WP Simple Pay uses the dollar currency. If you want to accept payments in any other currency, then simply head over to WP Simple Pay » Settings. You can then select the ‘Currency’ tab and choose a new currency.
After you’ve done that, select the ‘Form Fields’ tab.
By default, your button will have the label ‘Pay Now’, but you can change this to anything you want by typing into the ‘Button Text’ field.
Since we’re creating an optional payment form, you may want to use something like ‘Send Us a Tip’ or ‘Buy Me a Coffee.’
You can also change the ‘Button Processing Text,’ which is the message that WP Simple Pay will show to shoppers while it’s processing their payment.
Again, since this is an optional payment form you might use something that reflects this, such as ‘We’re processing your donation.’
By default, WP Simple Pay will use the same button style as your WordPress theme. It also has a ‘Stripe blue’ style that you can use, as you can see in the following image.
If you want to use this button style, then simply select the ‘Stripe blue’ radio button in the ‘Payment Button’ section.
After that, select the Stripe Checkout tab and choose the information that WP Simple Pay will collect from visitors at checkout.
For example, if you’re selling a physical product then you’ll want to check the ‘Collect Shipping Address’ box.
As you’re working on the payment form, you can preview how it looks at any point simply by clicking on the ‘Preview’ button.
This opens the payment form in a new tab, in exactly the same way you preview posts and pages in the standard WordPress editor.
When you’re happy with how the payment form looks, go ahead and make it live by clicking on the ‘Publish’ button.
You can now add the payment form to any page, post, or widget-ready area using the value in ‘Form Shortcode.’
If you published the form in test mode, then the Stripe dashboard doesn’t show any payments you get during this time, which makes it difficult to test your optional payment form.
To see your transactions, you’ll need to activate test mode in Stripe by logging in to your Stripe dashboard and then selecting the ‘Payments’ tab.
Next, click on the ‘Developers’ toggle in the upper right corner.
Once you’ve done that, all of your test payments will appear in the Stripe dashboard so you can check that the form is working properly.
When you’re happy with how the form is set up, you can start accepting real payments by going to WP Simple Pay » Payment Forms in the WordPress dashboard.
Here, simply hover your mouse over the optional payment form, and click on the ‘Edit’ link.
You can now go ahead and select the ‘Payment’ tab, and then click on the radio button next to ‘Live Mode.’
Finally, click on ‘Update.’ Your payment form is now live, and you’re ready to start accepting money from your audience.
Method 2. Using WPForms (Best For Flexible and Optional Payments)
Sometimes you may want to let customers choose how much money to send as part of a payment or donation. For example, you might create a ‘pay what you want’ model.
Other times, you may want to collect additional details as part of the form or even allow users to submit paid content to your blog or website.
If you’re looking to create a flexible payment form, then you’ll need an advanced form builder plugin.
WPForms is the best form builder plugin for WordPress. You can use it to quickly create lots of different forms, including contact forms, booking forms, and more. Over 5 million website owners use WPForms.
Using this plugin, you can create a form that shows different fields depending on whether the customer wants to send you a payment or not.
For this guide, we’ll be using WPForms Pro because it comes with addons that make it easy to collect payments using popular payment gateways such as Stripe and PayPal. There is also a WPForms Lite version that is 100% free, but it doesn’t include the payment addons.
First, you’ll need to install and activate WPForms Pro. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
After activating WPForms, head over to WPForms » Settings in your WordPress dashboard.
You can now enter your license key into the ‘License Key’ field. You’ll find this information in your WPForms account.
After activating the WPForms plugin, you’ll need to install at least one payment addon.
To encourage visitors to pay for your product or service, you may want to set up multiple addons so visitors can pay using their favorite method.
To install one or more payment addons, simply go to WPForms » Addons.
You can now find the addon that you want to use, and click on its ‘Install Addon’ button. WPForms lets you accept payments using Stripe, Square, PayPal, and Authorize.net.
For example, if you want to accept payments using PayPal, then you’ll need to install the PayPal Standard Addon.
After activating one or more payment addons, the next step is connecting WPForms to the related payment account. For example, if you installed the Square addon, then you’ll need to connect WPForms to your Square account.
To make this connection, go to WPForms » Settings. You can then click on ‘Payments.’
On this screen, you’ll see a ‘Connect with…’ button for each payment addon that you installed.
Here, simply click on the ‘Connect with…’ button. This will launch a setup wizard, which will guide you through the process of connecting WPForms to your payment account.
Simply repeat these steps for every payment addon that you want to use.
As soon as you’ve done that, click on the ‘Save Settings’ button at the bottom of the screen. Then, head over to WPForms » Add New.
Here, type a name for your form into the ‘Name Your Form’ field.
Your site visitors won’t see the name, so it’s just for your reference.
WPForms has different templates so you can quickly get started and build all kinds of forms.
To take a closer look at a template, simply hover your mouse over the template. Then, go ahead and click on the View Demo button.
For this guide, we’ll be using the Simple Contact Form template, but you can add a payment field to any WPForms template.
When you find a template that you want to use, simply click on its Use Template button. This will launch WPForms drag and drop form builder.
The Simple Contact Form template already has fields where customers can type in their name, email address, and message.
So next, we need to add a field where visitors can decide whether to send you a payment. The easiest way to do this is by using a Multiple Choice field.
In the left-hand menu, find the Multiple Choice field and then add it to your form using drag and drop.
To start, we need to change the label that WPForms shows at the top of the Multiple Choice section.
This is the perfect place to ask visitors whether they want to send you a payment. For example, you might use ‘Would you like to send us a donation?’ or ‘Do you want to support this website?’
To change the default label, simply click to select the Multiple Choice section in your form. The left-hand menu will now show all the settings that you can use to customize this section.
In the left-hand menu, delete the placeholder ‘Multiple Choice’ text in the ‘Label’ field. You can then type in the new text that you want to use.
By default, the Multiple Choice section has three choices, but we only need two choices.
To remove one of these choices, go ahead and click on the – button next to it.
The next step is customizing the text for ‘First Choice’ and ‘Second Choice.’
In the left-hand menu, simply delete the placeholder text and type in the text that you want to use instead. For example, you may want to type in ‘Yes, I want to support the website’ and ‘No, thanks.’
When creating WordPress forms with a payment option, you may want to let visitors decide how much money to send you.
To do this, simply click on the ‘Add Fields’ tab in the left-hand menu. Then, drag and drop a ‘Single Item’ field onto your form.
To customize this field, just give it a click.
By default, the field shows a ‘Single Item’ label. You can replace this label with your own text, by typing into the ‘Label’ field in the left-hand menu.
For example, you may want type in text such as ‘I want to send you…’ or ‘Donation Amount.’
Next, open the ‘Item Type’ dropdown and click on User Defined.
Visitors will now be able to type any value into this field, and send you this amount of money.
You may also want to suggest the amount of money you would like to get. This can make it easier for visitors to complete your form, since they can click to choose an amount rather than having to make this decision themselves.
To add some suggestions to your form, simply drag and drop a ‘Multiple Items’ field onto your WordPress form.
Then, go ahead and customize the section’s label and option text by following the same process described above.
Once you’ve done that, you’ll need to set a price for each option by typing the value into the field next to it.
By default, the Multiple Items section has three options. To add more choices, simply click on the ‘+’ icon.
You can then customize the new option’s text, and type in a value following the same process described above.
Want to remove an option from the Multiple Items section instead?
To do this, simply click on its ‘-‘ button.
After adding some fields, you can change the order these fields appear in your form by dragging and dropping them.
Once you’ve done all that, you’ll need to add at least one payment option to your form.
In the left-hand menu, scroll to the ‘Payment Fields’ section. Here, you’ll find fields for all the different payment addons that you installed.
To add a payment option to your form, just give it a click.
After adding a payment option field, it’s a good idea to click on it. WPForms will now show all the settings that you can use to configure this field.
For example, if you click on the ‘Stripe Credit Card’ field, you’ll be able to edit the label and add a description.
We only want to show the payment field to visitors who choose to send you a payment. To do this, you need to enable conditional logic for your payment field.
If you haven’t already, then click to select the payment field in your form. Then, simply click on the ‘Smart Logic’ tab in the left-hand menu.
Once you’ve done that, go ahead and click on the ‘Enable Conditional Logic’ slider to turn it from grey (inactive) to blue (active).
Next, we need to tell WPForms to only shows the payment field if the visitor selects your ‘Yes, I want to support the website’ option.
To do this, make sure the ‘this field if’ dropdown is set to ‘Show.’
Then, open the field that shows ‘Select Field’ and choose the ‘Do you want to support the website?’ field.
Once you’ve done that, open the next dropdown and click on ‘is.’
Finally, open the dropdown that shows ‘Select Choice’ by default, and choose the ‘Yes, I want to support the website’ field.
In the image above, we’re telling WPForms to only show the payment field when a visitor confirms that they want to support the website.
Adding Payment Methods to WPForms
The next step is enabling payments for the form. To do that, click on the ‘Payments’ tab in the left-hand menu.
You’ll now see all the different payment options that you can enable for the form.
To get started, simply click on the payment option that you want to configure.
After that, just check the box next to ‘Enable….’
Depending on the payment option, there may be some extra settings you need to configure. For example, if you’re enabling PayPal then you’ll need to type in the email address where you want to get your payments.
You’ll also want to use conditional logic rules with your payment settings.
To use conditional logic, click on the ‘Enable Conditional Logic’ slider. Then, open the ‘this charge if’ dropdown and select ‘Don’t process.’
Once you’ve done that, go ahead and open the dropdown that shows ‘Select Field’ by default. You can now choose your ‘Do you want to support this website?’ or a similar field.
Then, make sure the next dropdown menu is set to ‘is.’
After you’ve done that, you’re ready to open the ‘Select Choice’ dropdown menu and click on the ‘No, thanks’ or similar field.
Now, your site will refuse to process any payments if the visitor chooses the ‘No, thanks’ option, no matter what they type into the rest of your form.
If you’re offering a choice of payment options, then simply repeat the above process by checking the ‘Enable’ box and then configuring any extra settings. You can also enable conditional logic.
In the following screenshot, you can see that Stripe has different settings compared to PayPal, so it’s always worth checking these extra settings carefully.
Once you’ve done that, it’s a good idea to enable AJAX form submissions. This allows users to submit the payment form without reloading the entire page.
To enable AJAX submissions, simply go to Settings » General.
Then, just click to expand the ‘Advanced’ section.
After that, you can go ahead and check the ‘Enable AJAX form submission’ box.
When you’re happy with how your WordPress form looks, go ahead and save your changes.
To do this, just click on the ‘Save’ button at the top of the screen.
By default, WPForms will send an email to your WordPress admin every time someone submits this form. However, you may only want to get a notification when someone chooses to send you a payment.
To change WPForms’ default email settings, click on the ‘Settings’ tab. Then, go ahead and click on ‘Notifications’ in the left-hand menu.
Now, scroll to the bottom of the screen and click on the ‘Enable Conditional Logic’ slider.
As soon as you activate the slider, WPForms will show some extra settings.
Next, make sure the ‘this notification if’ dropdown is set to ‘Send.’
After you’ve done that, open the dropdown that shows ‘Select Field’ by default and click on the ‘Do you want to support the website?’ or a similar field.
Next, make sure the dropdown is set to ‘is.’
Finally, open the dropdown that shows ‘Select Choice’ by default.
The final step is choosing the ‘Yes, I want to support the website’ or a similar field.
When you’re happy with these changes, don’t forget to click on the ‘Save’ button.
By default, WPForms will send the email to your WordPress admin email. You can send these messages to any other email address, or even multiple addresses.
To change the default settings, find the ‘Send To Email Address’ field. By default this is set to {admin_email}. This is a dynamic value that tells WordPress to send its emails to your WordPress admin.
You can replace this dynamic text with any other email address by typing the new address into the ‘Send To Email Address’ field.
If you want to email multiple people, then simply separate each address with a comma as you can see in the following screenshot.
By default, WPForms uses ‘New Entry’ and the name of your form for the email subject line.
If you want to use something else then simply type the new text into ‘Email Subject Line.’
Another option is to use dynamic text in your email subject. To do this, click on the ‘Show Smart Tags’ link and then choose a tag from the ‘Available Fields’ list.
Now when WPForms creates its emails, it will automatically replace the smart tags with values taken from the submitted form. For example, if you click on ‘Total Amount’ then WPForms will show the total payment in its email subject line.
You can also change the text that’s included in the email’s body.
Once again, you have the option to use smart tags to create a more informative email.
After creating your custom email notifications, you’ll want to make sure they’re sent to the recipient’s email inbox and not to the spam folder.
You may also want to show a confirmation message to your customers. For example, you might confirm you’ve received their form safely or show them a personalized ‘Thank You’ message. WPForms will show this message automatically whenever a customer submits the WordPress form.
To configure this message, click on the ‘Confirmations’ tab. Then, just open the ‘Confirmation Type’ dropdown and choose ‘Message.’
If you want to show the same text to all visitors, then you can simply type your text into the ‘Confirmation Message’ box.
Another option is to create a personalized message by adding smart tags, following the same process described above.
Instead of showing a message, you might prefer to show a particular page or redirect visitors to another URL. To do this, simply open the ‘Confirmation Type’ dropdown.
You can now choose from ‘Show Page’ or ‘Go to URL.’
After that, you can use the settings to configure the page or URL that WPForms will show after the customer submits the form.
When you’re happy with these settings, don’t forget to save your changes by clicking on the ‘Save’ button.
After all that, you’re ready to add this form to your website.
To do this, simply open up the page or post where you want to show the form. Then click on the plus ‘+’ icon.
In the popup that appears, type ‘WPForms’ to find the right block. As soon as you click on the WPForms block, it will add the block to your page.
In your new block, go ahead and click to open the dropdown menu.
You will now see a list of all the forms you’ve created using WPForms. Simply click to select the WordPress form with a payment option.
WPForms will now show a preview of how your form will look directly in the WordPress editor.
You can also preview the entire page by clicking on the ‘Preview’ button in the toolbar.
When you’re happy with how your form looks, you can either publish or update this page as normal. Now if you visit this page or post, you’ll see the optional payment form live on your WordPress website.
Do you want to add your social media feeds to a WordPress website?
Showing Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram feeds on WordPress can get you more followers and engagement on social media. It’s also a great way to keep your website fresh and interesting.
In this guide, we’ll show you how to add custom social media feeds to WordPress and even create a social wall that brings all your social content together in one place.
Why Add Social Media Feeds to Your WordPress Site?
Billions of people use social media every day to connect with family, friends, and even brands. According to our marketing statistics research, people spend around 2 hours and 29 minutes on social media every day. That’s plenty of time to promote your content to existing followers and connect with new people.
If you have one or more social media accounts, then you’re already off to a good start. However, it’s also smart to add these social feeds to your WordPress website.
By embedding social media posts in WordPress, you can promote your different accounts to the people who visit your website. This can get you more likes, shares, and engagement.
If visitors like what they see, they might even decide to start following you on different social networks.
Once you’ve embedded a social feed, new posts will appear on your website automatically. This can be a great way to keep your website fresh and interesting, even for regular visitors.
If you run an online store, then a social media feed can even help you get more sales. In fact, 43% of people use social media to make purchasing decisions.
It’s the best social media feed plugin for WordPress and it’s trusted by over 1.5 million users. With this plugin, you don’t have to spend time dealing with jQuery code, APIs, or trying to arrange your social posts in a nice layout. Everything just works.
Smash Balloon has separate plugins for all the major social networks including YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook. It even allows you to combine multiple social networks and show all of your posts in a single feed.
With that being said, let’s see how you can add different social feeds to your WordPress website. Simply use the quick links below to jump straight to the social network that you want to add.
Facebook is the most popular social media platform in the world, with 2.9 billion monthly active users. No matter whether you have a small business website, a personal blog, a WordPress membership website, or something else, it’s very likely that your target audience are familiar with Facebook.
When you add a Facebook feed to WordPress, new posts will appear on your website in real-time. Visitors can also like, share, and comment on your WordPress posts, so this is a great way to get more engagement on Facebook.
You can even create a custom lightbox popup so visitors can see your full-sized images and watch your Facebook videos, without having to leave your WordPress website.
If you host regular in-person or online events, then it’s a good idea to create them as Facebook events on your page or group. Visitors can then mark themselves as interested or going to the event, invite other people, and share the event on their own Facebook page.
Once you’ve added these events to Facebook, you can easily promote them to the people who visit your website. Simply create a feed of your upcoming Facebook events and then add it to your WordPress website.
Adding an Instagram Social Media Feed in WordPress
With more than 2 billion monthly active users, Instagram is a great place to promote your website, products, and services.
Depending on your industry, Instagram may even be the most important part of your social media strategy. For example, Instagram is particularly popular among top fashion blogs, lifestyle, cooking, and photography websites.
If you’re posting beautiful photos and engaging videos to Instagram, then it makes sense to post that content to WordPress too.
You can add images in WordPress manually, but you’ll need to keep adding new photos as you post them to Instagram. This can take a lot of time and effort.
Since there’s no link between your WordPress website and your Instagram account, visitors can’t easily like or share these photos on Instagram. As a result, you may miss out on lots of social media engagement.
The easiest way to add an Instagram feed to WordPress is by using the Smash Balloon Instagram Feed plugin. This plugin allows you to embed a beautiful and professionally-designed Instagram feed on your website.
The feed updates automatically every time you post to Instagram, so visitors always see the latest photos.
You can even show other people’s photos on your site by creating a hashtag feed or displaying the posts that other people have tagged your account in. This can be a powerful form of social proof that encourages people to trust your website or business.
In the following image you can see an example of an online store that uses a custom Instagram feed to show user-generated content.
In this way, you can use a custom Instagram feed to create customer trust and make more money online.
However, this block only lets you embed a single tweet at a time. This is a quick and easy method if you just want to show a small number of tweets. However, if you want to embed multiple tweets then we recommend using Smash Balloon Twitter Feed.
This plugin allows you to create a Twitter feed that updates automatically as you post new tweets. You can then add this feed to any page, post, or widget-ready area.
Smash Balloon Twitter Feed also lets you create hashtag feeds.
This is useful for adding context and third-party content to your blog posts. For example, if you’re starting a fashion blog then you might create feeds for popular fashion-related hashtags such as #lookbook or #OOTD.
You can even use Smash Balloon to show the Twitter feed from a third-party account. This is perfect if you have a relationship with an influencer or affiliate marketer, and want to show their tweets on your website.
Blog posts with videos get 83% more traffic than those without videos. With that in mind, we recommend adding your YouTube videos to WordPress, too.
If you run an online store using a plugin such as WooCommerce, then videos can even get you more sales. In fact, 88% of people have bought a product or service after watching a video.
If you’ve created any YouTube videos showing your products or services, then adding them to your website could boost your profits.
If you only want to add a small number of videos to your site, then it’s easy to embed YouTube videos in WordPress blog posts. However, if you want to show more than one video, then it’s difficult to create a nice gallery layout using the built-in blocks and tools alone.
This plugin allows you to show videos from your favorites list, embed live streams, and more.
Adding a Combined Social Wall in WordPress
So far, you’ve seen how to add individual feeds from different social media platforms. However, many websites have multiple social media accounts, such as a Facebook page, a YouTube channel, and a Twitter profile.
If you create unique content for each platform, then you may want to combine all of that content into a single social media feed. This kind of social wall can convince visitors that you have a big presence on social media, and that you’re creating all kinds of interesting and varied content across the different platforms.
This single feed can get you followers and engagement across multiple platforms. It’s also a good choice if you have limited space, and don’t want to fill up your website with lots of separate social media feeds.
If you want to combine several social media accounts into a single feed, then we recommend the Smash Balloon Social Wall plugin.
It’s the best social stream plugin for WordPress and allows you to combine Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube social content into a single feed.
Already used the Smash Balloon plugins to create separate Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or YouTube feeds? Then you can add these feeds to your social wall with a few clicks.
Social Wall will then take your settings and automatically create a shortcode that you can add to any page, post, or widget-ready area. Simply publish your changes, and the social wall will appear on your website.
Note: To use this plugin, you’ll need to install and activate at least one of the Pro Smash Balloon plugins mentioned above. For example, if you wanted to show Facebook and Instagram content on your social wall, then you’ll need both the Social Post Feed and the Social Photo Feed plugins.
To get started, you’ll need to install and activate the Smash Balloon Social Wall plugin. For more information, please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Once the plugin is installed and activated, go to Social Feeds » Create a Social Wall.
Simply select each feed that you want to add to the social wall.
For example, you can combine posts from your Instagram and Facebook accounts.
On this screen you can also connect any extra social accounts that you want to use.
Simply click on a ‘Connect…’ button and then follow the onscreen instructions to connect the social media account.
After that, click on the ‘Customize’ tab.
Here, you can change the number of posts to show in the social wall, the feed layout, how often it updates, and more.
There are other settings you can use to change the wall’s color scheme, background color, button text, and more. Most of these settings are fairly self-explanatory, so it’s worth looking through them to see what changes you want to make.
When you’re finished, click on ‘Save Changes’ to store your settings.
Once you’ve done that, click on the ‘Configure Wall’ tab. Here, you’ll see a shortcode that allows you to add the social wall to any page, post, or widget-ready area.
Do you want to create a web directory in WordPress?
Web directories allow you to make money from content that’s submitted by the people who visit your website.
In this article, we will show you how you can create a web directory in WordPress, and even how to accept payments for posting premium web listings.
Why Create a Web Directory in WordPress?
A web directory is like a catalog that lists businesses or individuals.
You can find information such as their location, business email address, and the services they offer.
Yellow Pages, Angi, and Yelp are all examples of popular web directories that help people find a place or service.
To help visitors find what they’re looking for, these popular directories often divide their content using topics, categories and tags, interests, and other characteristics, as you can see in the following image.
Often, you’ll find tutorials that show you how to create a directory using a web directory theme. However, this locks you into the theme forever. Instead, we recommend installing a web directory plugin that you can use with any WordPress theme you want.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at how to create a web directory in WordPress. Simply use the quick links below to jump straight to the method you want to use.
Method 1: Create a Directory Using Business Directory Plugin
This method is easiest and is recommended for most users. We will be using the Business Directory plugin. This WordPress directory plugin has everything you need to create a simple business directory.
First, you’ll need to install and activate the plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
After activating the plugin, go to Directories » Settings. You will now see a popup asking your permission to create a new page.
The Business Directory plugin needs this page to work properly, so go ahead and click on ‘Create required pages for me.’
The plugin will now create a new paged called ‘Business Directory.’
By default, this page has all the controls visitors need to look through your different listings, and submit their own listings.
To start, it’s a good idea to check the plugin’s settings by going to Directory » Settings.
Here, you’ll find different sections:
Listings
Email
Payment
Appearance.
We recommend selecting each tab and then looking through the settings, to see whether you need to make any changes.
For example, in ‘Listings’ you can change how many listings the plugin shows on each page.
When you’re finished, don’t forget to click on ‘Save Changes’ to store your settings.
Business Directory has a standard form that it shows to visitors. You can customize that form by going to Directory » Directory Content.
In the left-hand menu, click on ‘Form Fields.’
This screen shows all the fields that make up the standard form.
To change where a field appears in your form, simply click on the little up and down arrows in the ‘Order’ column.
To remove a field, hover your mouse over it and then click on the ‘Delete’ link when it appears.
Finally, if you want to make some changes to a particular field then hover your mouse over it and then click on the ‘Edit’ link.
This opens a page where you can change the field label, mark the field as mandatory, add an optional description, and more.
When you’re finished, don’t forget to click on the ‘Update Field’ button to save your changes.
Next, it’s a good idea to create some categories that people can use when submitting their listings. These categories will also help visitors browse your directory and find what they’re looking for.
By default, this plugin has a single ‘General’ category, but you can add more by clicking on the ‘Categories’ tab. Then, go ahead and select ‘Add New Category.’
In the popup that appears, type in a name for the category.
You can also organize your categories into child-parent relationships, similar to child pages in WordPress. To turn a category into a subcategory, just open the ‘Parent Category’ dropdown and choose a parent.
To create the category, go ahead and click on ‘Add New Category.’
You can add more categories to your business directory, by repeating the same process described above.
Now, visitors can create a new listing by heading over to your Business Directory page and clicking on the ‘Add Listing’ button.
This takes them to a screen where they can type in all the information for the listing.
Then, they simply need to click on the ‘Complete Listing’ button at the bottom of the page to submit their listing.
Every time a visitors submits a listing in this way, you’ll need to manually approve it. To do this, head over to Directory » Directory Content in your WordPress dashboard.
You will now see a list of pending listings.
To take a closer look at a listing, simply hover your mouse over it and then click on the ‘Preview’ link when it appears.
This will open the listing in a new tab.
To make any changes to the listing, once again hover your mouse over the listing but this time click on ‘Edit.’
You can now make any changes you want. When you’re happy with how it looks, click on the ‘Publish’ button.
As a WordPress admin, you can also create listings in the dashboard. For example, you might want to create listings for your partners, so they don’t have to do the work themselves.
To create a listing, go to Directory »Directory Content and then click on ‘Add New Listing.’
This opens a screen where you can type in all the information.
When you’ve finished, click on ‘Publish’ to make the listing live.
Accepting Payments for Directory Listings
The Business Directory plugin allows you to accept payments for publishing a listing. By default, the plugin only supports the Authorize.net payment gateway, but you can add other gateways like PayPal, Stripe, Payfast, as part of their Pro version.
To set up Authorize.net, go to Directory » Settings, and then click on the ‘Payment’ tab.
You can then go ahead and select ‘Authorize.net.’ Here, click on the ‘Enable Authorize.net’ switch so that it turns active.
This adds some new settings where you can type in the login ID and transaction key for your Authorize.net account.
Once you’ve done that, click on the ‘General Settings’ tab.
If you’re not ready to start accepting payments yet, then make sure to enable ‘Put payment gateways in test mode?’
By default, the plugin accepts payments in dollars, but you can select a different currency using the ‘Currency’ dropdown.
You can also type in a different thank you message, which will be shown to users when they send you a payment.
When you’ve finished configuring the payment settings, don’t forget to click on ‘Save Changes’ to store your settings.
Before you can accept payments, you’ll also need to create at least one payment plan. To start, click on ‘Plans’ in the left-hand menu.
The plugin comes with a free plan and a default plan, which is $1.00 for 365 days.
To change either of the plans, simply hover over it and then click on the ‘Edit’ link.
This takes you to a screen where you can make all kinds of changes to the plan.
This includes changing the price, or even creating different prices for specific categories.
When you’re happy with the changes you’ve made, don’t forget to click on the ‘Save Changes’ button to make your plan live.
Method 2: Creating a WordPress Directory with Formidable Forms
The second method to create a business directory is by using Formidable Forms.
It is the most advanced WordPress form builder plugin in the market and helps you to create lots of different forms including surveys, payment forms, booking forms, and more.
Formidable Forms also comes with a powerful ‘Visual Views’ feature that you can use to display user-submitted data on your website. Using this feature, you can easily create directories, real estate listings, job boards, event calendars, and more.
With that in mind, let’s create a business directory using the Formidable Forms plugin.
1. Create a Form to Collect Data for Your Directory
Upon activation, you’ll need to install Formidable Forms Lite. This free plugin provides the core foundation for the premium plugin’s more advanced features.
Once you’ve done that, go to the Formidable Forms » Global Settings page and select ‘Click to enter a license key manually.’
You can find the license key under your account on the Formidable Forms website.
After entering this information, go ahead and click the ‘Save License’ button.
Many website owners charge visitors to submit a listing. If you want to create a premium web directory and accept credit card payments, then you’ll need to install an addon and set up a payment gateway.
Formidable Forms can collect payments with PayPal, Stripe, or Authorize.net.
In this guide, we will show you how to accept payments using PayPal, but the steps will be similar for other payment gateways.
In your WordPress dashboard, go to Formidable » Add-Ons. In the ‘PayPal Standard’ section, click on ‘Install.’
Later in this guide we’ll use ‘Visual Views’ to display all the information that visitors enter into our form.
With that in mind, find the ‘Visual Views’ addon and click on its ‘Install’ button, as we’ll need this addon later.
Once you’ve done that, head over to Formidable » Global Settings.
Then, select ‘PayPal’ in the left-hand menu.
On this screen, type in the email address that’s linked to your PayPal account. You can also change the currency and the URLs that will load after a visitor completes their payment or cancels their order.
After entering this information, click on the ‘Update’ button to save your changes.
Now you’re ready to create a form by heading over to the Formidable » Forms page.
Here, click on ‘Add New.’
This will bring up a list of all the form templates that you can use.
In this guide, we’ll be creating a real estate directory so click on the ‘Real Estate’ category.
You can now see all of the different templates within this category, including multiple mortgage calculator templates.
To preview a template, just hover your mouse over it and then click the little icon that looks like an eye.
To use a template, just hover over it and then click on the ‘+’ icon.
One you’ve done that, type a title into the ‘Form Name’ field and enter an optional description. This information is just for your reference so you can use anything you want.
Then, click on the ‘Create’ button.
This will open the template in the Formidable Forms editor.
From here, you can simply point and click to customize any field in the form. For example, you might click on the ‘Brief Blurb’ field and then type some new text into ‘Field Label.’
You can also add more fields by selecting ‘Add Fields’ in the left-hand menu.
Then, drag any of the fields onto the form layout. For example, you may want to add a field where the visitor can type in their name.
To continue customizing the template, simply repeat these steps.
When you’re happy with how the form is set up, click the ‘Update’ button at the top right corner of the screen.
If you want to collect payments, then you’ll need to add an action to your form. To do this, click on the ‘Settings’ tab and then select ‘Actions & Notifications.’
After that, click on ‘PayPal’ to add the action to your form.
Next, scroll to the ‘PayPal’ section.
We want to charge visitors a flat fee for creating a new listing, so click on ‘Set Amount.’
You can now type in how much you want to charge.
You can also choose whether to make this a one-off payment, a donation, or a recurring payment using the ‘Payment Type’ dropdown.
If you select ‘Subscription’ then you can use the controls to specify how often the person will be charged.
In this way, you can earn money from your listings over the long-term. You can also offer customers a free trial.
Once you’ve finished configuring PayPal, don’t forget to click on ‘Update’ to save your changes. Now, visitors will need to make a payment before they can submit the form.
2. Publish Your Form in WordPress
When you’re happy with your form, it’s time to publish it on your website by adding it to any post or page.
We’re going to add the form to a new page by heading over to Pages » Add New in the WordPress dashboard. You can now give this page a name, upload a featured image, and add any other content that you want to show on the page.
After that, click on the ‘+’ icon and type in ‘Formidable Forms.’
When the right block appears, give it a click to add it to the page.
Next, simply open the ‘Select a form’ dropdown and choose the real estate listing form.
Formidable Forms will then add the form to the post, and show a preview in the block editor.
When you’re ready to make the form live, go ahead and publish the page.
After that, it’s a good idea to add the page to your WordPress navigation menu so people can find it easily. You may also want to send a message to your email list so your audience know they can now submit listings to your website.
3. Build Your Web Directory with Formidable Views
Next, you’ll want to create a web directory so the user-submitted content appears on your WordPress website.
You can do this using the Visual Views feature, so head over to Formidable » Views and then click on ‘Add New.’
A popup will now show the different layouts that you can use for your directory.
Just click on ‘Classic’ as this allows you to create a new layout from scratch.
On the next screen, open the ‘Use Entries from Form’ dropdown and choose the real estate form we created earlier.
Formidable Forms will give your view a name based on the form you’re using as the data source. However, you can change this if you want.
When you’re happy with the information you’ve entered, click on ‘Create a view.’
You can now type in any information that you want to appear above and below the listings. For example, you may want to add your contact information at the bottom of the page or type out a short introduction.
To do this, simply click on ‘Add Before Content’ or ‘Add After Content.’
This will open a popup where you can type in any text that you want to show above or below your listings.
To the right, there are also some parameters that you can use. Formidable Forms will replace these parameters with real values on your website. For example, it will replace [siteurl] with your site’s URL.
When you’re happy with the information you’ve entered, click on ‘Update View’ to save your changes and return to the main view editor screen.
Once you’ve done that, you’re ready to create the layout for the different listings on the directory page. To get started, click on the middle ‘+’ icon.
You can now type text into the main text editor, and select different parameters in the left-hand menu.
In the following image, we’re creating a simple layout that shows each property’s brief blurb, followed by the listing’s price and type.
Finally, we’ll show the full description.
In the following image, you can see an example of how this simple layout will look on your WordPress website.
To expand on this very simple layout, just keep adding more parameters and plain text following the same process described above.
Chances are you’ll want to show a photo of each property. To do this, go ahead and click on the ‘Advanced’ tab of the ‘Customization’ box.
Then, click on ‘Show Image,’ which displays any images that visitors submit.
While you’re working on your layout, you can preview how it will look to visitors by clicking on ‘Update View.’
This takes you back to the main editor, which shows a preview of the layout you’re creating.
When you’re happy with how the directory looks, you can add it to any page or post using the shortcode in the left-hand menu, under ‘View Name.’ Simply find this code and then click on its ‘Copy’ button.
Have you ever wondered how people are finding your site, which of your pages has the most conversion rate, or which of your campaigns is bringing the most prospective customers? Well, you can measure all of these metrics and more using a simple web-based analytical tool: Google Analytics. If you’re looking for a detailed resource [...]
Do you want to get email notifications for post changes in WordPress?
By default, WordPress doesn’t send notifications when posts are changed by a user. If you run a multi-author WordPress site, then you may want to stay informed about post changes on your website.
In this article, we will show how to get email notifications for post changes in WordPress.
Why Set Up Email Notifications for Post Changes in WordPress?
If you’re the only one working on your own WordPress website, then it is easier to keep an eye on everything that is happening on your website.
For instance, you may want to be alerted when a new post is published or if changes were made to an older article.
This also helps all team members be accountable. If they make a mistake, then it can be easily caught and remedied quickly.
That said, let’s take a look at how to get email notifications for post changes in WordPress. We’ll cover two methods so you can choose one that works best for you. We’ll also show you how to undo post changes and make sure your notification emails are delivered.
Upon activation, you’ll be asked to enter your license key. You can find this information under your account on the WP Activity Log website.
Next, you’ll be given the option to run the setup wizard. You can answer a few quick questions to set up important monitoring and logging features.
All these things can be changed later in plugin settings too.
Setting Up Email Notifications for Post Changes in WordPress
After that, you need to visit the WP Activity Log » Email & SMS Notifications page and switch to the ‘Content Changes’ tab.
You will see a message that a helper plugin is needed to enable SMS notifications.
If you want to receive SMS notifications as well as email notifications, then simply click the button labeled ‘Install the helper plugin’. You will finish setting up SMS notifications in the next step.
Now you need to select the events that will trigger notifications. The plugin comes with three default notifications covering most content changes.
Next to each event, you need to enter the email address the notifications should be sent to. In the next step, you will also add a mobile phone number if you want to get SMS notifications for post changes.
Finally, click on the ‘Save Notifications’ button to store your changes.
Setting Up SMS Notifications for Post Changes in WordPress
WP Activity Log allows you to easily receive SMS notifications for post changes and other WordPress activities. To do that, you’ll need a Twilio account and a phone number.
Twillio is a paid service with a pay-as-you-go pricing model for SMS messages. Pricing starts at $0.0079 per SMS, and you’ll also need to purchase a virtual phone number which will be used to send messages.
Simply go to the Twilio website and signup for a free trial account.
After setting up your account, you’ll reach the Twilio Console.
Here, you can copy your Account SID, Auth Token, and get a trial phone number.
Copy and paste these values to a text editor or leave this browser tab open.
Next, you need to switch back to your WordPress website admin area and visit the WP Activity Log » Settings page. From here, switch to the SMS Provider tab and enter your Twilio Account SID, Auth token, and number.
Don’t forget to click on the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your settings.
Now you can navigate back to WP Activity Log » Email & SMS Notifications and switch back to the ‘Content Changes’ tab. Here you can add a mobile phone number to get SMS notifications for post changes.
Testing Post Change Notifications with WP Activity Log
WP Activity Log allows you to easily test your post change notifications.
First, make sure you are on the ‘Content Changes’ tab of the WP Activity Log » Notifications page.
Now you can scroll down and click the ‘Test Notifications’ button.
This will bring up a popup window where you can enter an email address and a mobile phone number to send notifications.
WP Activity Log will then send test notifications. If you do not receive an email notification right away, then you can jump to the section below on troubleshooting email notifications.
If you fail to receive SMS notifications, then check your Twilio credentials to make sure they are correct.
Method 2: Getting Notifications for Post Changes With Better Notifications for WP
This method is easy to use, but it doesn’t come with ready-made templates. While this method will send an email notification when a post is changed, you will have to write the email yourself and investigate the activity on your own.
Upon activation, you need to visit the Notifications » Add New page to create your first custom notification.
First, you need to provide a title for the notification. After that, you can choose a ‘Notification For’ option from the drop-down menu. This is the event that will trigger this notification, such as ‘Post Updated’ in the screenshot above.
If you like, you can check the ‘Additional Email Fields’ box so you can enter custom email addresses for the sender, cc, and more. If this option is left unchecked, then the plugin will simply use your default WordPress email settings.
Next, you need to select the users or user roles that will receive this notification under the ‘Send To’ option. Below that you can write the email subject and the message itself.
The Better Notifications for WP plugin doesn’t come with a template for post changes. This means you’ll need to write your own email message.
The plugin comes with a bunch of shortcodes that you can use to customize your notifications. You can view all of them by clicking on the ‘Find Shortcodes’ button.
Lastly, you need to click on the ‘Save’ button to store your email notification. Once you’ve done that, you’ll be able to click on the ‘Send Me a Test Email’ button to see if it is working.
Better Notifications for WP is not an activity monitoring plugin. This means you’ll need to set up multiple notifications to cover different types of content changes in WordPress.
For instance, you may want to set up a ‘Post Published’ notification or another one for when a category or tag is changed.
The plugin also allows you to create custom notifications or modify default WordPress notifications as well. For more details, see our article on how to create better custom notifications in WordPress.
Revising and Undoing Post Changes in WordPress
Once you have received an email notification for post changes, you may want to see what changes were made, who made them, and when.
WordPress comes with a built-in revision management system that keeps track of all changes made to an article.
Simply edit the post or page that you want to review and then click on the ‘Revisions’ tab under the ‘Post’ settings from the right column.
This will bring you to the post revisions screen.
You can check the ‘Compare any two revisions’ box and then move the slider below to compare the changes.
When you scroll down the post, you will see the changes between the two revisions highlighted in red and green colors.
If you don’t like the changes, then you can simply click on the ‘Restore This Revision’ button to undo them and return to the previous version.
By default, WordPress uses the PHPmail() function to send emails. This method does not use proper authentication (login or password) which means it can be easily misused. This is why most spam filters mark such emails as spam or block them altogether.
To fix this, you need to use a proper SMTP service provider to send out WordPress emails. There are even free SMTP servers like SendLayer, Gmail, Sendinblue, Sendgrid, and more that you can use with WordPress.
WP Mail SMTP allows you to connect your WordPress site to your SMTP service provider and send all your WordPress emails with much higher deliverability.
Upon activation, you need to go to the WP Mail SMTP » Settings page in your WordPress admin area to set up the plugin.
First, you need to enter your license key. You can find this information under your account on the WP Mail SMTP website.
After that, scroll down to the ‘Mailer’ section to select your SMTP service provider. WP Mail SMTP will show all top SMTP service providers. You can click on your provider and then enter the required information below (usually an API key).
If your mailer is not listed, then you can simply choose ‘Other SMTP’ option and enter the required information.
Do you want to export email address from your WordPress comments?
The people who comment on your site are already engaged with your content, and that makes them the perfect audience for email marketing or retargeting ads. As long as you get the right permissions, you can target these users by exporting their contact information.
In this article, we will show you how you can export email addresses from the WordPress comment section.
Why Export Email Addresses From WordPress Comments?
There are a few different reasons why you may want to export email addresses from WordPress comments but the most common is to build an email list.
However, according to digital privacy guidelines, you must have permission to contact the people who comment on your website. The default WordPress comment form doesn’t give users a way to opt into your email updates, which means you can’t simply add these people to your mailing list. One easy fix is to add custom fields to the comment form in WordPress so that anyone who leaves a comment can opt into getting emails from you.
The following screenshot shows an example of how this might look on your website.
When the person posts their comment, their response is added as comment meta data. You can then export the meta data along with the email address, and see whether you have permission to email that person.
In the following image, you can see an example of a spreadsheet containing one comment author who has opted into getting email updates and one author who doesn’t want to receive any messages from you.
This allows you to build a mailing list without breaking important privacy rules such as GDPR.
There may also be some sites where you already have permission to email anyone who comments on your content. This often includes private WordPress blogs such as a classroom website or a family blog. In this case, simply exporting the list of email addresses may be easier than asking every single person for their contact information.
With that in mind, let’s see how you can export email addresses from WordPress comments.
How to Export Email Addresses from WordPress Comments
This plugin lets you export different information from the WordPress comment section including email addresses and any meta data that was added via a custom field.
To begin, you’ll need to install and activate the plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, go to Comments » Comments Im-Ex.
By default, the plugin will export data from all the comments that people have posted across your website.
Depending on your site, this might be a lot of information for you to read through.
With that being said, you may want to filter the comments that the plugin exports. One option is to only export comments that were posted within a particular timeframe.
To set a time limit, scroll to the ‘Date’ section. You can then click on each date field and then choose a start and end date from the calendar popup.
You can also export comments from a specific post only. For example, you might be running a giveaway or contest where everyone who comments on a particular post gets entered into a prize draw.
You can then export the email addresses from this post and pick your winner.
To limit the export to a specific page, click on the box next to ‘Articles’ and then select any post from the list.
Once you’ve done that, scroll to the ‘Columns’ section which lists all the information you can include in the export.
By default, the plugin exports all the data from each comment, so you’ll typically want to uncheck the information you don’t need. For example, if you’re not interested in the author’s IP address then you can click to uncheck the comment_author_ip box.
You can check or uncheck any boxes you want. However, since we want to export a list of email addresses it’s important to check the comment_author_email box.
Did you add a custom opt in field to the comment form? Then make sure you check the comment_meta box so you can see whether the author opted into receiving email updates.
When you’re happy with how the export is set up, go ahead and click on the Export Comments button.
The plugin will now export all the email addresses and you can download that CSV file.
Next, open the file using any app or program that supports the CSV format, such as Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets, as you can see below.
You can now filter the comments based on whether these people opted into receiving emails.
How to Get the Most Out of Your Exported Email Addresses
After exporting the email addresses from your WordPress comments, there are a few different ways that you can use them.
If the comment author opted into getting email updates from you, then you might add them to your email newsletter. You can then send these people news, tips, and updates about your business or website.
You can also add the users in your CRM to do regular personal reach outs to build your network.
Another use for your exported email addresses is for Facebook retargeting ads. Facebook lets you upload a list of email address so you can target only those users with your ad campaign.
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