Using the right lead generation tools can help you get more customers and sales faster so that you can grow your business.

In this article, we will share some of the best lead generation WordPress plugins to help you improve your marketing.

What Is Lead Generation, and Why Does It Matter?

Lead generation means getting the interest of prospective customers. It can be done in several different ways.

On your website, lead generation might mean getting visitors to:

• Join your email newsletter.
• Submit a contact or inquiry form on your website.
• Contact someone at your company through live chat.
• Talk to a chatbot (automated chat).
• Call your sales team, or book a call with them.

Lead generation is essential for all online businesses. Of course, it’s also important to have a strong process for converting the leads into customers. However, most businesses struggle to get enough leads in the first place.

Even if you run a nonprofit, lead generation matters. It can help you get more donations and more support.

Our goal with this list is to share the absolute best WordPress lead generation plugins that you can use to grow your business faster.

Unlike other best lead generation tool lists, we are not just sharing a list of plugins that do the same thing. Instead, we’re focusing on lead generation from a holistic point of view.

For each lead generation solution category, we share an expert pick along with one alternative option for that category. This will help us keep this list comprehensive without causing choice paralysis.

With that said, here are the best lead generation plugins for WordPress.

1. WPForms

WPForms is the best contact form plugin on the market. Over 6 million website owners use the beginner-friendly, drag-and-drop builder to create any kind of online form for their WordPress sites.

It comes with over a hundred pre-built form templates you can use as a starting point. After that, you can customize the form to match your needs using the drag-and-drop form builder interface.

Here are just some of the lead generation forms you can create:

• Email newsletter signup form
• Content download form
• Online event registration form
• Request a quote form
• Contest entry form
• Neighborhood events questionnaire form
• Personal trainer signup form

WPForms also integrates with your favorite email marketing services and CRM providers. This lets you automatically add leads to your email list.

Each time someone submits the form, you will automatically get an email notification. You can easily turn this off if you prefer not to receive email alerts. WPForms will store each completed form entry in your WordPress database too.

It’s also possible to send notifications to multiple recipients using WPForms. For example, you might want to send a customer inquiry notification to a specific person in the sales team and their supervisor.

Price:

WPForms pricing starts at $49.50/year. There’s also a free version of the plugin, which has limited features.

Alternative:

Formidable Forms ($39.50 per year) is a good alternative to WPForms. It has powerful tools that let you create different forms, including lead generation calculators. However, it’s not as beginner friendly as WPForms.

2. OptinMonster

OptinMonster is a powerful lead generation and popup plugin that you can use on your WordPress site.

It lets you create high-converting popups and email signup forms that help you turn abandoned website visitors into subscribers and customers.

It has lots of useful features, including Exit Intent® technology. This lets you show your popup at the exact moment when someone is about to leave your site.

You can combine it with their page targeting feature to show customized popup messages for each page on your site, which is proven to increase conversions.

With OptinMonster, you even get special popups like spin the wheel popups and Yes/No optins. These can boost your conversion rate even further.

There are lots of different professionally designed templates included in the app. This makes it quick and easy to create your lead forms using the drag-and-drop builder.

You can also use OptinMonster to generate leads in other ways. For instance, you might use the content-locking feature to ask visitors to join your email list before they can read your full content.

You don’t necessarily need to use it to generate email leads, either. You could add a click-to-call button to your popup, use it to show special discount codes, and more.

Price:

OptinMonster starts at $9/month when billed annually. To get advanced features like Exit Intent technology and Yes/No forms, you need the Pro plan from $29/month.

Alternative:

Thrive Leads ($99 per year) is a good alternative to OptinMonster. It offers a range of different types of lead generation forms and popups. It also has a built-in template library to speed up the building process.

3. SeedProd

SeedProd is the best WordPress website and theme builder on the market. It’s used by over a million website owners to easily create any type of website without writing any code.

It has dozens of professional templates you can customize easily with the drag and drop builder.

SeedProd also provides you with a beginner-friendly landing page builder. And you will find a ready-made sales page, opt-in page, webinar registration, coming soon page templates, and more.

All of these landing page templates can be completely customized to help you start generating leads as quickly and easily as possible.

It includes dozens of blocks designed to help you build better landing pages, like testimonial blocks, countdown timers, CTA buttons, pricing tables, and so much more.

You will find a searchable stock photo library with over 2 million photos that you can add to your pages to improve conversions.

It also has powerful integrations with the top email marketing software and thousands of third-party apps via Zapier. This lets you easily send your leads to your lead management tool of choice.

For online store owners, you can use the WooCommerce blocks to build custom WooCommerce product pages easily, thank you pages, and more to collect leads and sell more products.

Price:

SeedProd starts from $39.50 per year (only $3.29 per month). Plus, there’s a free version you can try to see how the plugin works.

Alternative:

Instapage offers similar page builder features but is more expensive and starts at $199 per month (billed annually).

4. LiveChat

LiveChat is the best live chat software for WordPress websites. It’s very easy to set up, and you can integrate it with dozens of other marketing services.

By adding live chat support to your WordPress website, you can build a better relationship with your users and convert more visitors into customers.

This plugin places a chat button in the bottom right-hand corner of your website. Visitors can click on this to chat with your team in real time.

Plus, your support team members don’t need to log in to WordPress to use LiveChat. Instead, they can use the LiveChat app on their laptop or mobile devices.

LiveChat will create a support ticket if a visitor contacts your team outside of support hours.

LiveChat is fast and easy to use for your visitors and your support team. It lets you quickly turn leads into customers by answering pre-sales questions straight away.

Price:

LiveChat starts at $20 per month when billed annually with a 14-day free trial. Our LiveChat coupon gives you an extended 30-day free trial plus a 30% discount.

Alternative:

Brevo (Previously Sendinblue) offers a simple, free live chat feature that you can use on your website. It also offers email, SMS, and a CRM tool that integrate with live chat.

5. ChatBot

ChatBot is one of the best AI chatbot software options on the market and lets you use automated live chat to connect with your potential customers and respond to questions 24/7.

To help you get started quickly, ChatBot has lots of pre-designed templates. For instance, you can use the lead generation bot to book calls. Meanwhile, the sales bot template allows you to sell products directly from the chat window.

ChatBot can be used in Facebook Messenger as well as on your website. That makes it a great option for companies and organizations that get a lot of inquiries through Facebook.

It’s easy to integrate it with other apps, such as LiveChat. A live agent can step into the conversation seamlessly if needed.

Price:

ChatBot pricing starts at $52 per month. There’s a 14-day free trial available.

Alternative:

Hubspot offers a suite of business CRM tools, including a chatbot builder and live chat. You can get started free, and paid plans start at $30 per month.

6. RafflePress

RafflePress is one of the best WordPress giveaway plugins on the market. It allows you to easily create viral giveaways and contests that you can use to grow your website traffic and email list.

You can use the drag and drop builder to quickly create giveaway campaigns in minutes without writing any code. Plus, there’s a built-in template library to help make giveaway creation even faster.

A unique refer-a-friend feature lets you do word-of-mouth marketing by letting users share your contest on their social media profiles.

This helps to build engagement and can get you a lot of new visitors to your WordPress blog.

You will find many other powerful features that help improve your campaigns, like email verification, fraud protection, social logins, giveaway landing pages, success tracking, and more.

Plus, your giveaways will run on mobile devices, so you can reach your visitors no matter where they happen to be.

For more details, see our guide on how to run a giveaway/contest in WordPress.

Price:

RafflePress has a free version of the plugin you can use to get started. Paid plans start at $39.50 per year for the starter plan.

Alternative:

Gleam is an advanced giveaway platform you can use to run contests and giveaways. However, it’s not as beginner friendly, and you will need at least the $97 per month Pro plan to unlock useful features.

7. PushEngage

PushEngage is the best web push notification software on the market, used by over 10,000 companies, including Harvard, Dominoes, and Business Insider.

It lets you easily send targeted push messages to visitors after they leave your website.

We use push notifications here at WPBeginner, and they are consistently a top 5 source of our traffic. They are a highly-effective way to convert website visitors into loyal followers and customers.

Visitors simply give their permission to receive push notifications by clicking a button:

You can set up push notifications to automatically send out to your subscribers whenever you publish a blog post or use them to send completely custom messages.

It’s a very easy-to-use solution for beginners to advanced users. You will find powerful features like A/B testing, custom-triggered campaigns, interactive messages, custom drip campaigns, and so much more.

Plus, you can use the marketing automation features to create abandoned card sequences, scheduled messages, and more.

You will be able to see a detailed breakdown of your subscriber engagement and even the transactional revenue generated from your push campaigns.

Price:

PushEngage starts at $9 per month and gives you support for 100,000 subscribers and unlimited campaigns. There’s also a free plan available that gives you 30 campaigns per month for 200 subscribers.

Alternative:

OneSignal has a free plan for unlimited notifications on mobile. For advanced features like delayed notifications, pricing starts at $99 per month.

8. FunnelKit

FunnelKit, formerly known as WooFunnels, is the best sales funnel builder for WordPress.

You can use it to create lead-generation funnels, sales funnels, high-converting checkout pages, one-click upsells, and more.

It’s essentially a ClickFunnels alternative that helps you convert website visitors into leads and customers.

FunnelKit comes with a built-in library of beautiful funnel templates that you can import in one click.

You can easily customize the templates using the WordPress block editor as well as popular page builder plugins like Elementor, Divi, and others.

FunnelKit offers in-depth analytics so that you can see how your funnels are performing in real time. Plus, it comes with A/B testing that lets you experiment with different versions of your funnels to find out which one converts best.

In addition, FunnelKit has a marketing automation solution called FunnelKit Automations. It allows you to set up automated email and SMS campaigns for lead nurturing, welcome series, abandoned cart recovery, post-purchase upsell, and more.

Price:

FunnelKit starts at $99.50 per year. To access FunnelKit Automations, you need at least the Professional plan, which costs $249.50 per year.

Alternative:

SeedProd, which we mentioned earlier in this list, can also be used to easily create lead generation pages, sales pages, custom WooCommerce checkout pages, and more.

9. WP Call Button

WP Call Button allows you to easily add a ‘click to call’ button on your WordPress website or WooCommerce store. Visitors can simply click or tap the button to call you straight away.

If your customers need to call you before purchasing a service or booking an appointment, adding a click-to-call button on your website will increase your leads and sales.

It can also be used to easily set up business call forwarding.

WP Call Button makes adding your button to any post or page easy. You can include it in your WordPress sidebar, too. It’s also easy to create a sticky floating call button that stays visible all the time.

Price:

WP Call Button is free and works with all top business phones and business VoIP providers.

Alternative:

You can also create a click-to-call link using the manual method covered in our article on adding a click-to-call button in WordPress.

10. AffiliateWP

AffiliateWP is one of the best affiliate tracking and management solution for WordPress. It lets you simply create your own fully featured affiliate program on WordPress.

By creating an affiliate program, you can have your own team of affiliates promoting your products in exchange for a commission.

This can help you get more visibility online, traffic, and of course, make more sales. You can even create your very own WooCommerce affiliate program using this plugin.

It comes with everything you need to manage your program, including accurate affiliate tracking, integrated payouts, real-time reporting, affiliate coupon tracking, and so much more.

With manual affiliate approval and top-performing affiliate data, you can build lasting partnerships with your most valuable affiliates for years to come.

Price:

AffiliateWP starts at $149.50 per year and has everything you need to run a successful affiliate program.

Alternative:

Easy Affiliate is another popular WordPress plugin for creating and managing an affiliate program. The basic plan starts at $99.50 per year.

11. All in One SEO

All in One SEO is the best WordPress SEO plugin used by over 3 million websites. It’s the most comprehensive SEO toolkit that makes it easy to improve your SEO rankings without learning any complicated SEO jargon.

Doing WordPress SEO is an important part of lead generation. You need to bring people to your website before they can join your email list, call you, subscribe to push notifications, or do anything else on this list.

Once you install and activate the plugin, an easy-to-use setup wizard will help you choose the best SEO settings for your business, so you can start getting more traffic.

It has a TruSEO score, which offers detailed on-page SEO analysis and gives you an actionable SEO checklist to help you easily optimize your posts and pages.

All in One SEO can help you improve your post SEO titles and meta descriptions, generate rich snippet schema markup and create smart XML sitemaps and RSS sitemaps.

Plus, there are built-in WooCommerce SEO settings, like individual product optimizations, product image SEO, and more, to help your online store get more visitors from the search results.

Price:

AIOSEO starts at $49.60 per year for access to advanced SEO features. You can also try out the free version to begin optimizing your site for SEO.

Alternative:

Yoast SEO is another popular SEO plugin for WordPress that will help you optimize your site. There is a free version and a premium version that starts at $99 per year.

12. MonsterInsights

MonsterInsights offers a powerful way to add Google Analytics to your WordPress website. It lets you quickly and easily see crucial statistics about your site and find your most important pages.

This means you can easily find out what’s working and what’s not, focusing on the areas that really matter.

For instance, you might use MonsterInsights to enable author tracking and see which writers for your site are producing the best-performing posts.

Or you could use MonsterInsights to track link clicks and button clicks. This lets you figure out which links and buttons are getting clicked and which ones aren’t, letting you pinpoint areas for improvement.

MonsterInsights is quick and easy to set up and gives you real-time stats. It can even track things like your eCommerce data, form completions, and file downloads. This gives you more insights into your lead generation efforts.

Price:

MonsterInsights starts at $99.50/year. There’s also a free version available for WordPress with limited features.

Alternative:

ExactMetrics offers similar features to MonsterInsights and starts at $99.50 per year.

Bonus: Nextiva

Nextiva is the best business phone service for small business owners in terms of features and ease of use.

If your business relies on phone calls for lead generation, then Nextiva can help you improve your business communication across the board.

It has a web-based admin panel that will let you manage your entire unified communications platform in one place.

You will find business phone features like call routing, voicemail to text and email, SMS messaging, unlimited domestic calling, online faxing, and so much more.

Every new account can get a free local or toll-free number. Plus, you get all standard features like caller ID, call forwarding, routing, custom greetings, and more.

You can even integrate your business phone with powerful features like live chat and CRM services.

We use Nextiva at WPBeginner for our business phone service. It works well for our remote team since they can receive business calls on their cell phones while still keeping their numbers private.

Price:

Nextiva starts at $14.95 per month per user for all your business phone needs. The Enterprise plan costs $26.95 per month per user and includes video conferencing, call recording, and more.

Alternative:

RingCentral is another popular business phone provider that’s packed with features. Paid plans start at $20 per month per user.

What Is the Best Lead Generation Plugin for WordPress?

We believe you need multiple plugins for a robust lead-generation strategy on your site.

With that said, WPForms is the best lead generation plugin for WordPress. You can use their drag-and-drop form builder to create any online form.

If you are looking for a live chat solution to improve leads and support, then LiveChat and ChatBot are both great options.

If you want to improve your overall conversion rate on your website, then nothing beats the powerful features that OptinMonster has to offer.

If you want to improve your existing website and product pages to generate more leads and make more sales, then SeedProd is a must-have plugin.

With any lead generation strategy, attracting leads is only the first part. You have to ensure a proper sales process to close the deal.

If you rely on phone calls, then we recommend using Nextiva. It comes with auto-attendant, call-routing, CRM, and powerful sales features that you can use to increase your sales.

To summarize, our top lead generation tools are:

1. WPForms
2. OptinMonster
3. SeedProd
4. LiveChat.com
5. ChatBot.com
6. Nextiva

We hope this article helped you learn about the best lead-generation plugins and tools for WordPress.

You might also want to see our other guides that can help you generate new leads and turn them into customers.

Best WordPress Guides for Lead Generation

• How to Add a CRM on Your WordPress Site and Get More Leads
• How to Generate More Leads with Free Online Calculators (Pro Tip)
• How to Perform an SEO Audit and Generate Free SEO Repor
• How to Create an Alert Bar in WordPress (3 Easy Ways)

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 12 Best Lead Generation WordPress Plugins (Powerful) first appeared on WPBeginner.

Mailchimp is a popular email marketing tool that offers a form builder. However, this builder has limited features and customization options. Adding a custom subscribe form gives you more flexibility and helps grow your email list.

In this article, we will show you how to create a Mailchimp subscribe form in WordPress with custom fields.

Why Add a Custom Mailchimp Subscribe Form in WordPress?

Adding a subscription form to your WordPress website is a great way of communicating with your users.

You can send newsletters, new product releases, announcements, and other information while creating a direct connection with your audience.

Mailchimp is one of the most popular email marketing services. It helps you build an email list, send emails, and set up automated email campaigns. Plus, it also offers a form builder that you can use to create a subscription form and embed it on your website.

However, Mailchimp’s form builder is very basic and doesn’t offer a lot of customization options. You get limited form fields to choose from, and there are no settings to change color, font, and more. It also adds Mailchimp branding at the bottom.

Creating a custom Mailchimp subscribe form gives you more flexibility and control. You can add all types of form fields, edit their appearance, add conditional logic to show fields based on the user’s responses, and more.

That being said, let’s look at how you can create a Mailchimp subscription form with custom fields.

How to Create a Mailchimp Subscribe Form in WordPress

The easiest way of adding a Mailchimp subscribe form in WordPress is by using WPForms. It is the best contact form plugin for WordPress that’s used by over 5 million professionals.

WPForms is a beginner-friendly plugin that offers a drag-and-drop form builder, prebuilt templates, and lots of customization options. The best part is it easily integrates with Mailchimp.

Step 1: Connect Mailchimp With WPForms

First, you will need to install and activate the WPForms plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you will need to go to WPForms » Settings and add the license key. You can find the key in your WPForms account area.

After entering the license key, go ahead and click the ‘Verify Key’ button.

Next, you will need to install the Mailchimp addon.

You can do that by going to WPForms » Addons from the WordPress admin panel. From here, navigate to the Mailchimp addon and click the ‘Install Addon’ button.

The addon should now install and activate.

Once that’s done, simply go to WPForms » Settings from your WordPress dashboard and switch to the ‘Integrations’ tab.

Next, you can expand the Mailchimp settings and then click the ‘+ Add New Account’ button under Mailchimp.

As soon as you do that, you will see more options. To integrate Mailchimp, you must enter the API key and account nickname. This will allow WPForms to communicate with your Mailchimp account.

Creating Mailchimp API Keys for WPForms Integration

To create an API key to connect WPForms, you will first need to log in to your Mailchimp account.

Once you are logged in, simply click on your avatar in the top right corner and select the ‘Account & billing’ option.

On the next page, you will see different account settings.

Simply click the ‘Extras’ dropdown menu and then select the ‘API keys’ option.

Next, you can copy an existing API key to use for your WPForms integration.

If you haven’t generated a key previously, then simply click the ‘Create A Key’ button.

After that, you can enter a name for your new API key.

Once that’s done, just click the ‘Generate Key’ button.

Next, you will see the new API key.

Go ahead and copy the key and click the ‘Done’ button.

You can now return to the browser tab or window with your WPFroms integration settings.

From here, simply paste the key into the ‘API Key’ field. You can also add a Mailchimp account nickname to remember which account you are connected to.

After entering the key, go ahead and click the ‘Connect to Mailchimp’ button.

You should now see a green ‘Connected’ button next to the Mailchimp settings, showing that the email marketing tool is successfully integrated with WPForms.

Step 2: Design a Mailchimp Subscribe Form With Custom Fields

Now that you have integrated Mailchimp with WPForms, the next step is to create a subscription form with custom fields.

First, you will need to go to WPForms » Add New from the WordPress dashboard. Next, you can enter a name at the top and select a form template.

WPFomrs offers lots of prebuilt form templates, so you can quickly pick one and customize it.

It even offers form templates for Mailchimp. For instance, you can create a signup contact form, newsletter signup form, or email marketing form.

For this tutorial, we will choose the Mailchimp Newsletter Signup Form template.

On the next screen, you will see the WPForms drag-and-drop form builder. Here, you can customize the form and add custom fields from the menu on the left.

The default form template will come with a Name and Email field.

However, you can simply drag any form field and drop it onto the template. There are fields to add text, dropdown options, multiple choice, phone number, address, date and time, website, password, and more.

For instance, if you are using a business phone service, then you can add a Phone field. This will help you send SMS messages or reach out to subscribers via phone calls.

You can add a checkbox field and allow users to select their interests. This way, you can segment your subscribers and send them targeted emails.

Next, you can further edit each form field in the template. Simply choose a field, and you will see more options in the left panel.

For example, we changed the options in the Checkboxes form field.

You can also edit the label of the form field, make it a required field, add images to the checkbox options, and more.

Once you have finished adding custom form fields, switch to the ‘Settings’ tab from the left menu. In the General settings, you can change the form’s name and description, add tags, edit the submit button text, and more.

Next, you can switch to the ‘Confirmations’ tab and choose what subscribers will see once they submit a form.

WPForms lets you show a message, a specific page like a thank you page, or redirect users to a URL.

After that, you can go to the ‘Marketing’ tab from the left panel and then select Mailchimp.

From here, simply click the ‘Add New Connection’ button.

Next, a small popup will open where you will need to enter the Mailchimp nickname.

After entering it, go ahead and click the ‘OK’ button.

Next, you can pick the Mailchimp account that you connected to earlier.

Simply click the ‘Select Account’ dropdown menu and choose your account.

After that, more options will appear.

You can go ahead and select the audience from the dropdown menu to which the new subscribers will be added.

There are different actions to choose from, but we will select the ‘Subscribe’ option for this tutorial. This will add the user as a new contact to your Mailchimp account.

Next, you can scroll down to see additional settings. For instance, there is an option to choose the WPForms field where users can enter their email addresses.

You also have options to add tags to new subscribers and a note to the user’s profile.

If you scroll down further, then you will see more optional settings. For instance, you can enable double opt-in, mark the subscriber as VIP, update their profile if the contact is already in an audience, and more.

Now, you are ready to add your Mailchimp subscribe form to your WordPress blog or website.

In the WPForms form builder, you will see an ‘Embed’ option at the top. Go ahead and click on the ‘Save’ button to store your changes, and then click the ‘Embed’ button.

Next, a popup will open where you will need to select an existing page or create a new page.

For this tutorial, we will use the ‘Create New Page’ option.

After that, you will need to enter a name for your new page.

Once that’s done, simply click the ‘Let’s Go!’ button.

Next, you will see a preview of your form in the WordPress content editor.

You can then click the ‘Publish’ button at the top to make your Mailchimp subscribe form live.

You have now successfully created a Mailchimp subscribe form with custom fields.

You can go ahead and visit your website to see the form in action.

You can also do a lot more with Mailchimp and WordPress. For instance, you can integrate it with OptinMonster and show your subscribe forms in popup campaigns.

To learn more, please see our ultimate guide to using Mailchimp and WordPress.

We hope this article helped you learn how to create a Mailchimp subscribe form in WordPress with custom fields. You may also want to see our guide on easy ways to grow your email list faster and our expert picks for the must have WordPress plugins to grow 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 Create a Mailchimp Subscribe Form in WordPress With Custom Fields first appeared on WPBeginner.

WordPress login and user registration pages are often prime targets for hackers, spammers, and brute force attacks. One way to avoid these attacks is by using CAPTCHA, which effectively blocks spambots and protects your site from being hacked.

In this article, we will show you how to add CAPTCHA to WordPress login and registration forms.

What Is CAPTCHA?

A CAPTCHA is a computer program that can tell whether someone is a human or an automated user. It does that by showing a test that would be quite easy for a human user to pass but almost impossible for automated scripts or bots to get right.

In the earlier days of CAPTCHA, users were asked to enter the text they saw in an image. This image displayed random letters, words, or numbers in a distorted style.

Later, a newer technology called reCAPTCHA was introduced.

It showed random words as a challenge and used user input to help digitalize books.

This technology was acquired by Google in 2009. Since then, it has helped digitalize thousands of books and complete New York Times archives.

However, these new CAPTCHAs were still annoying and often ruined the user experience on websites.

To fix this, Google introduced ‘No CAPTCHA reCAPTCHA’, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) and user interactions to catch spambots.

It shows an easier checkbox for human users to click on. For other suspicious traffic, it will show a more difficult CAPTCHA, like identifying objects in images.

That being said, let’s take a look at how WordPress websites can improve security with CAPTCHA.

Why Use CAPTCHA for WordPress Login and Registration?

WordPress login and registration pages are an easy target for spammers, wannabe hackers, and brute force attacks.

That’s because WordPress is the most popular website builder in the world, which makes it a common target for malicious attempts.

The attacker’s motivation is often to get unauthorized access to your WordPress admin area to distribute malware. In other cases, the attacker can crash the entire network of websites hosted with a specific web hosting company to collect a ransom.

The easiest solution to protect your WordPress site is using a WordPress firewall plugin like Sucuri. It will block bad traffic from reaching your website and prevent unauthorized access.

Another solution is to add a secondary layer of password protection on WordPress login and registration pages. However, the problem with this method is that you will have to share that second password with each user, and this simply doesn’t scale for large multi-author blogs or membership sites.

CAPTCHA provides an easier alternative to those solutions. It uses Google’s AI technologies to detect genuine visitors and present CAPTCHA challenges to suspicious users.

Default vs. Custom WordPress Login and Registration Form

The default WordPress login and registration form provides a basic set of features.

The login page allows users to access the back end of your website according to their respective user roles and permissions.

The default WordPress registration form lets visitors create an account on your site. Once they are registered, they can also log in to your website’s back end and perform specific tasks allowed by their user role.

A lot of website owners want to customize the default WordPress login and registration page with their own logos, styles, and more. They use one of the many plugins to create their own custom login and registration page to replace the default ones.

Whether you are using the default pages or custom ones, we have got you covered.

In this guide, we will show you how to set up reCAPTCHA for both default and custom login and registration pages in WordPress. You can click the links below to jump ahead to any section:

reCAPTCHA in Default WordPress Login and Registration Forms

The first thing you need to do is install and activate the CAPTCHA 4WP plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Once the plugin is activated, you need to visit the CAPTCHA 4WP » CAPTCHA Configuration page from your admin panel.

You will then see a setup wizard. Simply click the ‘Next’ button to continue.

After that, you will need to select the type of reCAPTCHA you’d like to use.

There are 3 options to choose from, including Version 2, where users can check the ‘I am not a robot’ checkbox, or Version 2, where no user interaction is needed, but a CAPTCHA will appear for suspicious traffic. Finally, Version 3 verifies requests with a score without user interaction.

For this tutorial, we will select the ‘Version 2 (Users have to check the “I’m not a robot” checkbox)’ type.

Once that’s done, click the ‘Next’ button.

On the next screen, you will need to enter the Google reCAPTCHA site and secret key.

To get these Google reCAPTCHA API keys, you need to visit the reCAPTCHA website.

Then, click on the ‘v3 Admin Console’ option at the top.

On the next screen, Google will ask you to sign in to your account. Once you are logged in, you will see the Register a new site page.

First, you need to enter your website name in the ‘Label’ field. After that, you must select a reCAPTCHA type. For example, we will choose the reCAPTCHA v2 ‘I’m not a robot’ checkbox.

Next, you need to enter your domain name in the ‘Domains’ section.

Make sure to enter your domain name without the ‘https://www’ part.

Once done, just click on the ‘Submit’ button.

Next, you will see a success message along with the site key and secret key that you can use on your WordPress website.

You can copy the site and secret keys.

Next, you will need to return to the browser tab or window where the CAPTCHA 4WP setup wizard is open. From here, you can enter the Google CAPTCHA site key and secret key.

Once you are done, you will need to check the ‘I’m not a robot’ checkbox and click the ‘Next’ button.

Then, you will see a success message. Simply click the ‘Finish’ button.

After that, you can configure additional CAPTCHA 4WP settings.

For instance, there are options to change the language, edit the error message, select a theme, and more.

When you are done, simply click the ‘Save Changes’ button.

That’s it! You have successfully added reCAPTCHA in the default WordPress login and registration form.

To preview it, you can open your WordPress login URL in your browser. For example, www.example.com/wp-login.php.

If you want to check the reCAPTCHA in the registration form, then just click on the ‘Register’ link below the login form. After that, the WordPress registration form will open, and you can see how reCAPTCHA works.

reCAPTCHA in Custom WordPress Login and Registration Forms

As we mentioned earlier, custom WordPress login and registration forms offer more user-friendly membership options to your website’s members and visitors.

First, these forms allow users to register or log in to your website from the front end. This improves the user experience and lets you keep the same overall design experience across your website.

Next, you can add your website logo and customize the login and registration pages in your style.

Plus, creating a custom WordPress login form and user registration form is easy with the most user-friendly WordPress form plugin, WPForms. It is the best contact form plugin for WordPress.

For this tutorial, we will use the WPForms Pro version because it includes the User Registration addon and more customization options. However, there is also a free WPForms Lite version you can use to get started.

To get started, you need to install and activate the WPForms plugin on your WordPress site. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, head over to the WPForms » Settings page to enter your WPForms license key. You can get this key from your account area on the WPForms website.

After that, click on the ‘CAPTCHA’ tab at the top to configure reCAPTCHA for your custom-made WordPress forms.

First, you need to choose a CAPTCHA type. Go ahead and click on the ‘reCAPTCHA’ option.

Since we chose v2 earlier, we will choose reCAPTCHA v3 in this example so that you can see the different options.

However, our recommendation is still v2.

After that, you will see the site key and secret key fields. To get these keys, you need to register your site on the Google reCAPTCHA website.

Just go to the Google reCAPTCHA website and then click on the ‘v3 Admin Console’ button in the top right corner.

After that, Google will ask you to sign in to your account. Once done, you will see the ‘Register a new site’ page.

Next, you can enter your website name and then select ‘Score based (v3)’ from the reCAPTCHA types.

Next, you need to enter your domain name (without https://www.), as shown in the screenshot below.

Once done, simply click on the ‘Submit’ button.

After that, Google will show a success message along with the site key and the secret key to add reCAPTCHA to your site.

Go ahead and copy these keys.

Now that you have the Google reCAPTCHA API keys, you need to return to the browser tab or window where the WPForms reCAPTCHA settings are open.

Next, simply go to the reCAPTCHA tab and enter the site key and secret key. Once that’s done, you can save your settings.

Now that you have successfully added reCAPTCHA to WPForms, you can easily enable reCAPTCHA in your custom login form, user registration form, or any form built with WPForms.

Now let’s go ahead and create a custom WordPress registration form.

First, you must visit the WPForms » Addons page and find the User Registration Addon. From here, click the ‘Install Addon’ button.

After that, WPForms will download and install the addon. Once you see the User Registration Addon’s status is ‘Active,’ you are ready to add a new user registration form.

Now you need to go to WPForms » Add New to launch the WPForms Builder. On the WPForms setup page, select the ‘User Registration Form’ template and enter a name for your form.

Once you select a template, it will launch the WPForms drag-and-drop form builder.

After that, WPForms will automatically build a custom user registration form and open the form setup page.

Now, you can customize your form by adding new fields or editing the field options. If you like the default form, then you can use it without making any changes.

Next, you need to go to the ‘Settings’ tab in the left menu to configure your form settings. Then switch to the ‘Spam Protection and Security’ settings and enable Google v3 reCAPTCHA.

Once that’s done, just click the ‘Save’ button in the top right corner.

That’s it! You have created a custom WordPress user registration form and also added reCAPTCHA to it.

The next thing you need to do is add the custom user registration form on your website. You can do that by clicking the ‘Embed’ button in the form builder.

Next, you will need to select an existing page or create a new one to embed your form.

For this tutorial, we will use the ‘Create New Page’ option.

After that, you can enter a name for your new page.

Once that’s done, simply click the ‘Let’s Go’ button.

Next, you will see a preview of your registration form in the content editor.

Alternatively, you can also use the WPForms block to add your form.

Now, you can publish the page and visit it in your web browser to see the custom user registration form with Google reCAPTCHA in action.

Since we chose reCAPTCHA v3 in this example, you won’t see a Google reCAPTCHA checkbox like ‘I’m not a robot.’ This is because reCAPTCHA v3 works in the background, but you will still see a small badge in the bottom right corner.

The process of creating a custom login form is almost the same.

The only difference is that you need to choose the User Login Form template from the WPForms setup page.

For more details, you can see our guide on how to create a custom login page in WordPress.

We hope this article helped you to learn how to add CAPTCHA to WordPress login and registration forms. You may also want to see our ultimate WordPress security guide and our expert picks for the best WordPress security plugins.

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

The post How to Add CAPTCHA in WordPress Login and Registration Form first appeared on WPBeginner.

These three are the best WordPress form plugins in the market. However, picking the right form builder can be challenging for many website owners.

In this article, we’ll compare WPForms vs Gravity Forms vs Formidable Forms and show which is the best.

Introduction to WordPress Form Plugins

WPForms, Gravity Forms, and Formidable Forms are among the most popular WordPress form plugins that you can use. Each of them offers unique features and allows you to add different forms to your website.

WPForms was launched in 2016 by Syed Balkhi (founder of WPBeginner) and Jared Atchison. Since its launch, over 5 million WordPress sites have been using the plugin. The goal of creating WPForms was to offer an easy and powerful form plugin. It takes the pain out of creating online forms by making the process beginner friendly.

Gravity Forms is created by the team at Rocketgenius. It is a WordPress plugin that lets you add forms to your WordPress site. The plugin also specializes in helping developers build complex form-related solutions.

Formidable Forms is another powerful WordPress form builder created by Steph Wells and Steve Wells. You can use it to create a wide range of forms from simple contact forms to advanced solutions-focused forms like mortgage calculators, directories, listing forms, and more. Formidable Forms is part of WPBeginner Growth Fund companies.

That being said, let’s compare these WordPress form plugins and find out which is the best for your use case. In our research, we tried dozens of WordPress form plugins, and have decided to compare these top 3 form plugins in the following criteria:

Ease of Use

When it comes to picking a WordPress form plugin, it is essential to choose a tool that is easy to use. The form builder should allow users to easily customize their forms without the need to edit code or hire a developer.

Let’s see how the 3 plugins compare to each other for ease of use.

WPForms – Ease of Use

WPForms is a beginner-friendly form plugin for WordPress. It offers a drag-and-drop form builder that is very super simple to use.

You can easily customize any form by adding multiple form fields from the menu on your left. All you have to do is drag the field and drop it onto the form template.

WPForms also makes it very easy to add your forms anywhere on the WordPress website. The best part, you can do all this within the form builder. You can click the embed button, and WPForms will show you options for adding your form.

For instance, you can create a new page or select an existing one to embed your forms.

You can also manually add your form to any page or post using the WordPress block. Besides that, the plugin lets you use shortcodes to add a form to your WordPress website.

Gravity Forms – Ease of Use

Gravity Forms also offers a drag-and-drop form builder, and it lets you create all types of forms without editing code.

You can quickly rework your form from inside the WordPress dashboard. The form builder offers different form fields that you can add by simply placing them onto the template.

After creating a form, Gravity Forms also lets you easily embed it on your website. Just like WPForms and Formidable Forms, you get an option inside the drag-and-drop builder to add your form.

Gravity Forms also offers a WordPress block to easily embed your forms on any page or post. Plus, you can use shortcodes or add the forms manually anywhere on your site.

Formidable Forms – Ease of Use

Formidable Forms is a user-friendly plugin that to lets you customize your forms using a drag-and-drop form builder, just like WPForms and Gravity Forms.

You can simply drag any form field from the options on your left and place them on the template. The plugin also lets you rearrange the order of the fields by simply moving them up or down or side to side.

Formidable Forms makes it very easy to embed your forms anywhere on your website. You can use the Formidable Forms block to add the form to any post or page. Or click the embed button in the form builder to embed your forms.

Winner – Tie

When it comes to ease, all 3 plugins perform equally well. Each of them offers a drag-and-drop functionality, which lets you edit and customize forms with editing code easily. Plus, each plugin makes it very easy to embed the forms anywhere on the website.

WPForms has a slight edge because it leans on decisions over options by giving you over 600+ form templates and easy-to-use choices whereas Gravity Forms and Formidable Forms are built more for developers.

Form Templates

Form templates are another important factor to consider when choosing a form plugin for WordPress.

Templates help save time as you don’t have to create a form from scratch. You can quickly edit it according to your requirements or simply use the default template to add a form to your website.

Let’s see how WPForms vs Gravity Forms vs Formidable Forms stack up in terms of form templates.

WPForms – Form Templates

With WPForms, you get over 600 prebuilt form templates. Whether you’re looking to create a simple contact form, feedback form, request a quote form, payment form, or registration form, WPForms has you covered.

The plugin categorizes form templates into different categories in the form builder. For instance, you can find different templates for business operations, customer service, education, entertainment, event planning, feedback, health and wellness, and more.

Even in the free version of WPForms, you get a lot of form templates to get started.

Gravity Forms – Form Templates

Gravity Forms offers limited prebuilt form templates compared to WPForms and Formidable Forms.

You only get 15 form templates in the form builder. Some of these include a simple contact form, advanced contact form, donation form, eCommerce form, event registration form, survey, newsletter signup form, and more.

Formidable Forms – Form Templates

Formidable Forms offers over 175 WordPress form templates and examples you can use for your website.

What makes it different is that you get templates for advanced forms. For instance, you can create an advanced mortgage calculator form, net promoter score (NPS) survey form, car payment calculator form, life insurance calculator form, doctor visit form, signature forms, and more.

Besides that, you can find forms for payment collection, health and wellness, customer service, education, donations, event planning, and more.

Winner – WPForms

WPForms is a standout winner compared to Gravity Forms and Formidable Forms. You get the largest form template library in WPForms, with over 600 choices available. There are prebuilt templates for just about any type of form you want to create for your website.

Customization Options

A WordPress form plugin should allow you to edit and customize your form with ease. When selecting the right tool, you should look at the customization options the plugin offers.

Here’s a look at the different features offered by WPForms, Gravity Forms, and Formidable Forms.

WPForms – Customization Options

WPForms offers lots of customization options for your form. For starters, it offers different form fields that you can simply drag and drop from the menu on your left onto the template.

For instance, it offers standard fields like paragraph text, multiple choice, checkboxes, and more. Plus, you can add fancier fields like phone number, address, file upload, date/time, website, and more.

If you click on an existing form field, then you’ll see more options for customization.

You can edit the label of the field, make it a mandatory field, add smart logic, and more. For example, you can choose which payment methods to show in an order form and rearrange their order.

Other than that, WPForms also lets you create conversational forms. This makes your forms more interactive.

Instead of asking multiple questions at once, you can take the one-question-at-a-time approach. It will look like having a conversation face to face with a human, and boost form conversions.

Similarly, you can also use the lead forms addon to increase form conversions. It basically allows you to embed conversational forms on any page on your WordPress site.

WPForms offers more customization features like custom form landing pages similar to Google forms. You can create a distraction-free landing page for your form and get more conversions.

The plugin lets you add a title and description for the page, a header logo, and edit the page URL. You also get to change the background color of the page and choose a style to make your forms more appealing.

Other customization options offered by WPForms include a save and continue feature. This lets your users save the progress while filling out a form and continue later to complete it. You can allow users to sign your online forms using their mouse or touchscreen.

If you have lengthy forms, then you can use the multi-page feature to split them into different pages. Or you can use conditional logic to show different form fields based on the user’s responses.

Besides that, you can also customize the notification and confirmation settings for your form. In the notification settings, you can edit details like email addresses, subject lines, names, messages, and more.

Similarly, you can also edit the confirmation message a user will see when they submit a form. You can show a thank you message, show a page, or redirect people to a specific URL.

Gravity Forms – Customization Options

Gravity Forms offers different form fields to customize your form template.

These include standard fields, advanced fields, post fields, and pricing fields.

Just like WPForms and Formidable Forms, you can click on existing form fields to edit them further.

However, you’ll see a slight difference in the customization options. There are general settings for a field where you can change its label and add a description.

Other than that, you can edit the appearance of the field, change advanced settings like enabling field autocomplete, and add conditional logic.

Other than that, you also get control over different form settings. For example, you can edit the notifications and confirmations settings in the form builder.

You can also configure ‘Personal Data’ settings similar to WPForms. These allow you to prevent the storage of IP addresses during form submission. Plus, you can enable integration with other tools for exporting and erasing personal data, which is helpful in complying with data regulations like GDPR.

Formidable Forms – Customization Options

With the Formidable Forms drag-and-drop builder, you can easily customize your form with options such as prebuilt form fields that you add to your template.

What makes the plugin different from others is that it offers multiple form fields that will help you create advanced forms. For instance, you can add a user ID field, captcha, hidden field, appointments, lookup field, and more.

Besides that, you can easily edit each existing field in the template.

There are general options to change the label, add a CSS class, and more. Or you can view the advanced options to add a placeholder text, and description, edit the field size and allow maximum characters.

What’s different about Formidable Forms compared to WPForms and Gravity Forms is that it also offers different styles for your forms.

You can use the default style or choose from various options. This way, you can change the appearance of your forms without having to enter CSS code.

Other than that, you can also customize the form settings. For instance, the plugin lets you change the notification settings, and form permissions, and also allows form scheduling.

Winner – WPForms

After comparing all 3 plugins, we found WPForms to be the clear winner. It offers more customization features compared to Formidable Forms and Gravity Forms.

You can add different form fields, change their settings, rearrange them, and more using the drag-and-drop builder. Besides that, WPForms offers tons of features to make your form more appealing and boost conversions.

Additional Features and Integrations

Now that we’ve covered ease of use, templates, and customization options, let’s see how WPForms, Formidable Forms, and Gravity Forms compare in terms of additional features and integrations.

As a website owner, you’d want a WordPress plugin that easily works with third-party tools, payment services, and email marketing services. Here’s what each plugin has to offer.

WPForms – Additional Features and Integrations

WPForms offers lots of premium addons and integrations that extend its functionality and benefits.

For instance, you can accept file uploads with its post-submission addon. This way, users can easily submit content on the front end of your site without requiring access to the WordPress dashboard.

Similarly, you get addons for geolocation data and see where your form users are from. The user journey addon can show you the pages and posts people visited before submitting a form.

The plugin also offers a form abandonment addon that captures partial entries for a form. You can then recover those entries and encourage users to complete a form.

Aside from this, WPForms provides more addons for creating custom Captcha, allowing digital signatures, locking WordPress forms, creating interactive form layouts, and more.

Another advantage of using WPForms compared to other plugins is that it easily integrates with different tools and plugins. For example, you can use it with popular email marketing tools like Drip, Mailchimp, and Constant Contact.

The plugin also supports payment gateways like Stripe, PayPal, Square, and Authorize.Net. You can also integrate WPForms with CRMs such as Salesforce and HubSpot.

Gravity Forms – Additional Features and Integrations

Gravity Forms also offers different addons that can help you get the most out of the plugin. However, the list is not as expansive as WPForms, and you’d have to pay extra to use third-party extensions.

You get additional features for setting up user registrations, creating surveys and polls, tracking users’ geolocation, collecting partial form entries, allowing signatures, and more.

Besides that, Gravity Forms also offers integrations with different tools and plugins.

You can easily integrate email marketing tools like AWeber, Constant Contact, Mailgun, and more. Plus, you can add anti-spam solutions like Akismet and reCAPTCHA.

Other integrations include Google Analytics, Dropbox, Zapier, Trello, ActiveCampaign, HelpScout, PayPal Checkout, 2Checkout, and Stripe.

Formidable Forms – Additional Features and Integrations

Formidable Forms offers different addons and integration features. Most of the additional features are similar to WPForms and Gravity Forms.

However, what makes Formidable Forms different is that you get several powerful features to create advanced forms, set up web applications, show stats on the front end, and more.

For instance, the plugin offers a form action automation feature to schedule email notifications, SMS messages, and other actions. It also offers API webhooks that let you send submissions to REST APIs.

It also offers a visual views addon that lets you display data from form entries on the front end of your website. You can create web apps to display form submissions in tables, grids, calendars, and other views.

This is great for showing testimonials and product reviews, adding a user-submitted events calendar, and displaying useful statistics.

Besides that, Formidable Forms also lets you create applications for your website. It offers prebuilt templates that include different forms, views, and pages for your application. Simply select a template, and the plugin will take care of the rest.

You can create different applications, such as product reviews, real estate listings, testimonials, restaurant menus, certificates, and more.

For example, you can offer professional certificates in just a few clicks. Simply choose the certificate application template, and Formidable Forms will automatically add a form with a certificate generator on your website.

It will also add views for the certificate and certificate of completion, which users can see on the front end.

Other advanced features offered by Formidable Forms include converting WordPress forms to PDF, mapping form fields to PDF form fields, quizzes, repeater fields, SMS voting, front-end editing, and more.

Other than that, you can also integrate Formidable Forms with different payment services, email marketing tools, CRMs, and third-party plugins. It even works with Uncanny Automator and Zapier, so you can connect Formidable Forms to services like Asana, Slack, and Dropbox.

The best part about using Formidable Forms is that you get all the advanced features in one place, with everything included in a single pricing plan. If you were to use Gravity Forms, then you’d need to subscribe to multiple third-party addons.

For example, you’d need the basic Gravity Forms plan along with other extensions like Gravity PDF, File Upload Pro, Gravity View, Gravity Math, and so on. This can add to your overall cost and make it very expensive to use Gravity Forms.

Winner – Formidable Forms

While each plugin offers multiple additional features and integrations, Formidable Forms is the standout winner. It offers more advanced features that you can use to display form results on the front end, create complex forms, convert forms to PDF, create web applications, and use various addons to help users create form solutions for any scenario.

WPForms gets an honorary mention for marketing-related features, like form abandonment and digital signatures. It also integrates with popular email services, CRM software, tracking tools, payment gateways, and other plugins.

Pricing Plans

The next parameter we will compare WPForms vs Gravity Forms vs Formidable Forms is that of pricing. Let’s see which plugin offers the most value for money.

WPForms – Pricing

WPForms offers 4 different pricing plans suitable for all types of businesses. These include a Basic plan, which costs $49.50 per year, and you can use it for 1 website. It also offers all the essential features like premium templates, entry management, and file uploads.

If you want to use the plugin on more websites and require marketing integrations, then WPForms offers a Plus plan for $99.50 per year.

On the other hand, there is a Pro plan that includes everything from the Basic and Plus plans. It includes payment addons, conversion tools, and other advanced form features. This will close you $199.50 per year.

Lastly, there is an Elite plan for $299.50 per year, which has everything. You get to use it on unlimited websites and get all the features and integrations WPForms has to offer. Each premium plan comes with 14-day money back guarantee.

The best part, there is also a WPForms Lite version you can use for free. You get multiple form templates, standard fields for customization, spam protection, and other features.

Gravity Forms – Pricing Plans

Gravity Forms offer 3 premium plans, which include the Basic License, Pro License, and Elite License.

With the Basic License plan, you can use the plugin on 1 website. You also get addons for email marketing tools and spam protection services. This plan will cost you $59 per year.

Next, there is a Pro License plan that offers more addons. For instance, you get to integrate more email marketing services, CRMs, payment gateways, and third-party services. This plan will cost $159 per year.

Lastly, Gravity Forms offers an Elite License plan that includes all the features from the Basic and Pro plans. In addition to that, Elite plan users also get access to features like polls, quizzes, digital signatures, surveys, geolocation, and more. The Elite plan is available for $259 per year.

That said, Gravity Forms doesn’t offer a free version, like WPForms or Formidable Forms. You’d also need to pay extra to use different third-party addons and extensions.

Formidable Forms – Pricing Plans

Formidable Forms lets you choose from 4 pricing plans. It starts with a Basic plan, costing $39.50 per year. You get 50+ form templates and basic features like conditional logic and file uploads.

Besides that, there is a Plus plan for $99.50 per year, and it offers more form templates and features. For instance, you get the Formidable Views feature, landing pages, and integration with Mailchimp, MailPoet Newsletters, and AWeber.

Next, it offers a Business plan that includes over 150 form templates, premium addons, more integrations, and additional features. This plan will cost you $199.50 per year.

Lastly, there is an Elite plan for $299.50 per year, and it includes all the features and integrations. You get all the templates and support for third-party tools like Salesforce, ActiveCampaign, and HubSpot.

Formidable Forms also offers a free version. You can get started for free and get features like drag and drop form builder, basic form templates, and standard form fields for customization.

Winner – WPForms and Formidable Forms

When it comes to offering the most value for money, both WPForms and Formidable Forms clearly stand out when compared to Gravity Forms.

Both of them offer 4 different pricing plans for businesses of all sizes. Plus, you get a free version, which helps small website owners, bloggers, and others to create WordPress forms without a considerable investment. You also don’t have to pay more to use multiple addons and advanced features.

Which is the Best WordPress Form Plugin?

WPForms, Gravity Forms, and Formidable Forms are some of the best WordPress form plugins you can get your hands on today.

However, we believe that WPForms is the best plugin for creating forms for your WordPress website. It is super easy to use and offers tons of features.

You get over 600 form templates, a drag-and-drop form builder, multiple form fields for customization, and additional settings to edit your form. Plus, there are different premium addons that allow you to expand the functionality of WPForms.

Not to mention, there is a WPForms Lite version available for free. It also includes lots of form templates and customization features. You can quickly create forms for your website using the free plugin.

On the other hand, if you’re a developer looking to save time on developing complex and advanced WordPress forms, then Formidable Forms is the perfect solution. You can create calculators and web applications, convert forms to PDF, and much more without editing code.

We hope the comparison between WPForms vs Gravity Forms vs Formidable Forms helped you pick the right form plugin for WordPress. You may also want to see our list of best WordPress SEO plugins and tools, and how to get a free email domain.

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 WPForms vs Gravity Forms vs Formidable Forms: Which is Best? first appeared on WPBeginner.

Using a front-end posting plugin, you can allow people to upload different types of files without giving them access to the WordPress dashboard. They can submit documents, images, videos, PDFs, guest posts, and more.

In this article, we will show you the best front-end posting plugins for WordPress.

Why Use a Front-End Posting Plugin for WordPress?

By default, WordPress doesn’t allow users to upload or submit content on the front end.

This means if you want to accept guest posts from a user, or want them to upload files on your site, then you would have to give them access to the admin area of your website.

This can be a time-consuming process and a security risk, as unknown users could then view your WordPress dashboard.

That’s where a front-end posting plugin can help. It allows you to collect user-generated content and accept all types of files without editing code or giving anyone access to the admin area.

For example, you can allow guest post submissions, real estate listing submissions, create a multi-vendor marketplace, collect testimonials from users, and more.

That being said, let’s look at the best front-end posting plugins for WordPress.

1. WPForms

WPForms is the best WordPress form builder plugin in the market used by over 5 million websites. It offers a drag-and-drop interface that you can use to create any type of form.

They have a post-submission addon that lets you collect user-generated content without creating an account. Your visitors can easily submit content on the front end. Plus, you can accept payments for a post submission, like property listings or business directories.

WPForms also gives you full control over which content to accept, and how you’d like to receive it. For example, you can map certain fields in your form to a new WordPress post such as Post Title, Content, and Featured Image.

You can also create a file upload form to collect user-generated content. It comes with a file upload form field that lets people submit guest posts, upload images, share presentations and documents, and more.

Besides that, WPForms offers other powerful features such as spam protection, conditional logic, form abandonment, online signatures, locking specific forms, tracking user journeys, and more.

WPForms also easily integrates with payment services like PayPal, email marketing tools like Constant Contact, and other third-party tools like Zapier, Google Sheets, and Uncanny Automator.

2. Formidable Forms

Formidable Forms is another powerful form builder plugin for WordPress that you can use to allow front-end posting.

It offers a user-submitted posts and pages feature that allows front-end publishing. Your visitors can create new posts using the plugin, and they don’t require admin access. This way, you can gather community content, guest posts, resources, databases, listings, and other user-generated content.

Formidable Forms also offers a file upload feature that lets users submit different files without the need to log in to the admin area.

When a user submits a file using the form, it is automatically stored in your WordPress media library. From here, you can easily browse, view, and filter different submissions.

With Formidable Forms, you can also create advanced forms, like mortgage calculators, payment forms, quote calculators, surveys, and more. The plugin offers a drag-and-drop form builder, pre-built templates, and powerful integrations.

3. Easy Digital Downloads

Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) is one of the best eCommerce plugins for WordPress. You can use it to sell digital products like ebooks, music, PDFs, spreadsheets, recipes, software, and more.

Easy Digital Downloads offers a frontend submissions extension that lets you create websites that work like Amazon, AirBnB, and eBay.

The EDD extension allows you to create a multi-vendor marketplace where users can register as vendors from the front end, and then they can use your site to upload and sell digital products.

Users can create new products, update existing products, access earning details, communicate with customers, and more from the front end.

Besides that, you can use Easy Digital Downloads to track and record vendor commissions, review new vendor registrations, and get email notifications when a vendor adds a new product.

The best part is that you get a drag-and-drop form builder to create forms for vendor registration, product submission, and vendor profiles.

On top of that, EDD also integrates with payment services like PayPal and Stripe. You can connect the plugin with email marketing tools and other third-party software.

4. MemberPress

MemberPress is the best membership plugin for WordPress that is super easy to use. You can create unlimited premium memberships and restrict access to pages, content, and files for subscribers only.

Using MemberPress, you can create a membership site to get user-generated content. For instance, you can set up members-only associations like Young Entrepreneur Council. This way, premium members submit guest posts for the site itself. In addition, they can get access to forum discussions, share other content, and more.

MemberPress offers a file upload option that you can show in the account area. This way, subscribers can share different content on your membership site.

The plugin also offers powerful content restrictions and access controls. You can lock premium forums and upload content for members only. Other than that, MemberPress easily integrates with different payment providers, email services, WordPress plugins, and third-party tools.

5. Thrive Ovation

Thrive Ovation is a popular testimonial plugin for WordPress. You can use the plugin to collect user-generated content in the form of testimonials.

Testimonials are incredibly powerful for driving sales and getting new users, and this plugin makes it super easy to gather reviews and feedback from existing customers.

It has an autopilot feature that automates the process of asking for feedback from customers.

Besides that, you can use Thrive Ovation to convert WordPress comments into testimonials with a single click. It also helps convert social media comments into testimonials for your website.

The plugin offers a testimonial library where you can easily manage user-submitted content, WordPress comments, and other imported feedback from your WordPress dashboard.

6. WordPress File Upload

WordPress File Upload is the next free front-end posting plugin on our list. It allows users to submit content from any page, post, or sidebar on your WordPress site.

You can simply use a shortcode to add a file upload form to your website or use the sidebar widget. The plugin also lets you manage the uploaded content from your WordPress dashboard. The uploaded files can be added to the media library or stored in an FTP location.

Besides that, you can set up file upload filters for multiple WordPress user roles, add file size limits, and control which file extensions users can upload.

WordPress File Upload also offers different customization options and lets you show an upload progress bar. However, if you’re looking for more options to edit your forms, then you can use other plugins on our list, like WPForms and Formidable Forms.

7. WP User Front-end

WP User Front-end is a flexible and beginner-friendly WordPress plugin for accepting front-end submissions.

The plugin comes with a drag-and-drop form builder and offers multiple customization options. You can place the form anywhere on your site to allow users to create a new post and submit guest posts, images, and other content.

It also lets users edit their profiles from the front end. This is great as you don’t have to give access to the main dashboard for users to set up a profile.

Besides that, you can use the WP User Front-end plugin to create subscriptions and membership packs. It lets you add pay-per-post, manage transactions, and easily receive payments.

8. User Submitted Posts

User Submitted Posts is a simple and free WordPress plugin that you can use to allow file upload on the front end of your website.

It is a great solution to accept guest posts, customer reviews, testimonials, images, and other user-generated content. The plugin offers basic form fields like name, email, URL, post title, content, post category, post images, and agree to terms.

You can display the front-end posting form anywhere on your site using a shortcode. The User Submitted Posts plugin also offers a login and registration form, so users can create a profile without requiring access to your site’s dashboard.

That said, the plugin doesn’t offer a lot of customization options, form templates, and features to control file upload compared to other plugins like WPForms.

9. AccessPress Anonymous Post

AccessPress Anonymous Post is another free WordPress plugin you can use to accept guest posts and allow front-end posting. It offers a responsive form that is easy to customize and place anywhere on your website.

Users can simply use the form to upload content, add a title, and enter tags, categories, URLs, images, and more. All the submitted content is stored in the WordPress database, and you can access it from your dashboard.

Besides that, you can also add a captcha for verification, receive emails when someone uploads a file, and make different form fields required.

Bonus: File Upload Types by WPForms

File Upload Types by WPForms is a free WordPress plugin that lets you accept different file extensions on your WordPress site. By default, WordPress only allows a handful of file types that users can upload to the media library.

If someone is submitting a post for the site on the front end, but uploads a file that has an extension not supported by WordPress, then they’ll see a ‘Sorry, this file type is not permitted for security reasons’ error message.

This is where the File Upload Types by WPForms plugin comes in handy. It allows users to post any type of file. For instance, you can accept file extensions like .zip, .xml, .ai, .csv, .svg, and more.

An important thing to note is that the plugin will let you accept additional file types, but it doesn’t have a feature to accept front-end posting. That’s where you’ll need another plugin like WPForms or any other on our list.

Which is the Best Front-End Posting Plugin for WordPress?

In our research, we found that WPForms is the best front-end posting plugin. It allows you to allow file upload and accept guest posts, images, quotes, and other user-generated content.

On top of that, you get over 600+ pre-built from templates, a drag-and-drop form builder, and lots of customization options to edit your form. You can add a file upload form field and display your form anywhere on the website.

Plus, its field-mapping feature makes drafting and editing on the front-end a breeze and is perfect for sites that have user-submitted content like real-estate listings or guest posts.

If you want to create complex and advanced forms like mortgage calculators, then you can use Formidable Forms. It also comes with a file upload feature and allows easy front-end posting.

On the other hand, you can use Easy Digital Downloads if you’re selling digital products. The plugin offers an upload file extension that allows users to submit documents, images, and other content on the front end. And their front-end submissions extension allows you to create a multi-vendor marketplace.

We hope this article helped you find the best front-end posting plugin for WordPress. You can also see our guide to the best WooCommerce plugins for your store and how to increase your blog traffic.

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 9 Best Front-End Posting Plugins for WordPress (2023) first appeared on WPBeginner.

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

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

Which Is the Best Website Builder for Your Video Blog?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Step 1. Setting Up Your Video Blog Website

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Step 2. Install WordPress on Your Video Blog

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

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

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

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

Step 3. Select a Video Theme

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Step 4. Create a Custom Homepage

WordPress comes with two content types called posts and pages.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Step 5. Set Up Your Video Hosting Platform

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Step 6. Create Your First Vlog

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This will open the page in a new tab.

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

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

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

Step 7. Add a Contact Form to Your Vlog

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

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

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

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

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

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

Step 8. Help Visitors Find Interesting Vlogs

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Step 9. Optimize Your Vlog for SEO

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

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

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

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

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

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

Step 10. Notify Users About New Vlogs

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Step 11. How to Make Money From Your Video Vlogs

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

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

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

1. Google AdSense

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

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

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

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

2. Affiliate marketing

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

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

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

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

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

3. Ask for Tips and Donations

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

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

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

4. Create a Membership Site

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

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

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

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

5. Sell Your Videos as Digital Downloads

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A restaurant website can help attract new customers and grow your business. It can also provide a better experience for your existing customers and keep them coming back to your restaurant, cafe, takeaway, or similar business.

In this article, we will show you how to create a restaurant website with WordPress.

Why Create a Restaurant Website?

A website is one of the best ways to market your restaurant to new customers and provide a better experience for your existing clients.

By creating an online presence for your restaurant, you can introduce your business to people who are looking for venues and food just like yours.

After a potential customer discovers your business, a professionally-designed and helpful restaurant website will tell them everything they need to know about your business. They can then decide whether your restaurant is right for them.

Even if you have lots of loyal customers and a positive reputation in the local area, a restaurant website can help you improve the customer experience.

For example, it can allow customers to book a table online, send you questions using a convenient contact form, check out the latest menu, and much more.

In this way, a restaurant website can keep your customers happy, so they carry on visiting you for months, or even years to come.

That said, let’s see how you can easily create a restaurant website with WordPress.

Which Is the Best Website Builder for Your Restaurant?

There are many website builders that can help you create a restaurant website but we recommend using WordPress.

According to our blogging research statistics, WordPress is the most popular website platform in the world. It powers nearly 43% of all websites on the internet including many top restaurant websites.

WordPress is also open-source and free. For more on this topic, see our article on why WordPress is free.

However, it’s important to realize that there are two types of WordPress software, so you don’t choose the wrong one.

First, there is WordPress.com, which is a blog hosting platform. Then, there is WordPress.org which is also known as self-hosted WordPress.

For a detailed comparison, you can see our guide on the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org.

For a restaurant website, we recommend using WordPress.org because it gives you complete ownership of your site and allows you to install third-party plugins, including plenty that are designed specifically for restaurant owners.

To learn more about why we recommend WordPress to all our readers, please see our complete WordPress review with pros and cons.

Step 1. Setting Up Your Restaurant Website

To create a WordPress website you’ll need a domain name and web hosting.

A domain name is your website’s address on the internet. This is what customers will type into their browsers to reach your website, such as justeat.com or tacobell.com.

Web hosting is where your website lives online. To help you out, we’ve hand-picked some of the best WordPress hosting that you can buy for a restaurant website.  

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

A domain name typically costs $14.99/year and hosting costs start from $7.99/month. This is a lot for restaurants that already have bills and expenses to pay.

Thankfully, Bluehost has offers a free domain name, and our readers can get 60% off on web hosting. Bluehost is one of the largest hosting companies in the world, and an official WordPress-recommended hosting partner.

They’re also offering our readers a free SSL certificate. If you want to accept payments online, then an SSL certificate will help keep the customer’s credit and debit card information safe.

You can click the button below to get started for as little as $2.75 per month.

Once there, you will need to go to the Bluehost website in a new tab and click on the green ‘Get Started Now’ button.

This will bring you to a pricing page where you can choose a hosting plan for your website.

We recommend choosing a Basic or Plus plan, as they’re the most popular web hosting plans among our readers.

After selecting a plan, click on ‘Continue.’

On the next screen, you’ll need to choose a domain name.

Ideally, the domain name will be easy to pronounce and spell, easy to remember, and related to your business. The name of your restaurant is a great place to start, but sometimes that domain may already be taken by another business.

In that case, you can try extending the domain name by adding your restaurant’s location, your own name, or the type of food you serve.

Need help choosing a domain name for your restaurant website? See these tips and tools on how to choose the best domain name.

After choosing a name, click on the ‘Next’ button to continue.

Now you’ll need to provide your account information such as your name and email address. After that, you’ll also see optional extras that you can purchase.

We generally don’t recommend purchasing these extras straight away, as you can always add them later on if you need them.

After that, simply type in your payment information to complete the purchase.

Once you’ve done that, you’ll get an email with instructions on how to login to your web hosting control panel. This is your hosting account dashboard where you can manage your restaurant website, including setting up email notifications and asking for WordPress support.

It’s also where you’ll install the WordPress software.

Step 2. Create a New WordPress Website

When you signup with Bluehost using our link, Bluehost installs WordPress on your domain name automatically.

If you want to create a different WordPress website, then you can simply click on the ‘My Sites’ tab in the Bluehost dashboard.

Next, just click on the ‘Add Site’ button and select ‘Create New Site.’

The Bluehost wizard will now guide you through the setup process.

First, you’ll need to type in a site title and optional tagline.

Click on the ‘Next’ button to continue.

After that, Bluehost will ask you to select a domain name and path for your restaurant website. If you’ve already purchased a domain name, then you can simply select it from the dropdown menu.

If you don’t have a domain name then you can buy one by visiting the ‘Domains’ page inside the Bluehost dashboard.

After choosing a domain name, you can leave the directory path blank and let Bluehost fill it in for you. The installer will also show a few must-have WordPress plugins that you may want to install on your restaurant website including OptinMonster.

After that, click on the ‘Next’ button and the installer will set up your restaurant site.

Once it’s finished, you’ll see a ‘WordPress installed successfully’ message with information about your new website. You can now go ahead and click on the ‘Log into WordPress’ button.

This will take you to your site’s admin area.

You can also log in to the WordPress dashboard by simply going to yoursite.com/wp-admin/ directly from your browser.

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

Once WordPress is setup, you’re ready to start building a five-star restaurant website.

Step 3. Select a Restaurant Theme

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

By default, each WordPress site comes with a basic theme. If you visit your website, then it will look something like this:

This is not very appealing for most customers, so you’ll usually want to replace the default WordPress theme.

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

Your typical restaurant website needs special features, like the ability to show a menu, photos, location information, business hours, and more.

With that in mind, it makes sense to look for a theme that’s designed for the food or hospitality industry. To help you out, we’ve collected the best WordPress restaurant themes.

You can also use a website and landing page builder plugin such as SeedProd.

SeedProd is the best drag and drop WordPress page builder and comes with built-in templates that you can use to build a professionally-designed restaurant website.

These templates include a menu, food photos, pricing, recipes, and more.

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

After installing your theme, you may want to customize it by going to Appearance » Customize in the WordPress dashboard.

This will launch the theme customizer where you can fine-tune the theme settings and see your changes in the live preview.

If you’re using one of the newer full site editing themes, then you’ll see the option for Appearance » Editor, which uses blocks similar to the content editor to customize your site.

Pro Tip: No matter what theme you’re using, neither the default WordPress customizer nor the full site editing offers a user-friendly drag and drop customization experience. For that reason, we recommend using a page builder like SeedProd to customize your theme.

Just remember that you can always return to this screen and continue customizing your theme. You can even completely change your WordPress theme at any point.

Step 4. Create a Custom Home Page

WordPress has two two default content types called posts and pages.

You’ll typically use posts to create articles and blogs. By default, the home page shows these posts in reverse chronological order, so the newest content appears at the top of the list.

You might use a blog to build a stronger relationship with their customers, improve your WordPress SEO, and get more traffic to your restaurant website. For example, you could write about recipes, share cooking tips, or blog about the latest restaurant industry news.

However, even if you plan to publish blog posts, you typically won’t show these on the home page. Instead, we recommend creating a custom home page that introduces your business to new visitors.

For step-by-step instructions on how to create an attention-grabbing restaurant home page, please see our guide on how to create a custom home page in WordPress.

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

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

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

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

If you are going to write blogs, then make sure you create a separate blog page to display your posts. If you don’t, then customers will struggle to find your latest WordPress blogs.

Step 5. Create an Online Restaurant Menu

Even long-term, loyal customers may want to look at your menu from time to time. By publishing your menu online, customers can look at it any time of day or night.

Publishing a menu can also help convince new customers to visit your restaurant.

It is possible to upload PDF files to your WordPress website. However, downloading a PDF menu can be difficult depending on the customer’s data plan and internet connection, and they’re non-responsive so they can be hard to read on some devices.

Plus, if you add new dishes or change your pricing, then you’ll also need to upload a completely new PDF.

For that reason, we recommend using SeedProd to add an online menu to your WordPress website. SeedProd also allows you to create a mobile responsive menu that looks great on every device.

You can also easily update the menu as you add new dishes, change the prices, remove dishes, and more.

SeedProd even comes with a ‘Menu Sales Page’ template that’s perfect for creating a menu.

For detailed instructions, please see our guide on how to create an online restaurant menu.

Step 6. Set Up Online Food Ordering

Many restaurants allow customers to order food online. For example, you might give customers the option to pre-order their meal or place an order for delivery.

It may sound technical, but you can easily add online food ordering to your website using the WPForms plugin.

WPForms is the best WordPress form builder that allows you to create online order forms for all kinds of products and services.

It even comes with a ready-made ‘Takeout Order Form’ that you can customize to suit your restaurant website.

Every time someone completes the form, WPForms will notify you automatically so you can start working on that order straight away.

If you don’t want to accept cash on delivery, then WPForms supports all of the best payment gateways including PayPal and Stripe. This allows you to accept payments securely online, which is quick and convenient for your customers.

For step-by-step instructions, please see our guide on how to set up food ordering for restaurants in WordPress.

Step 7. Add a Restaurant Booking Form

Today, most people expect to be able to book appointments through an automated system.

By adding a booking form to your restaurant website, you can accept reservations at any time of the day or night. You’ll never lose another customer just because you weren’t around to answer the phone. 

Booking forms can also automate a lot of the booking process. This includes collecting payments and emailing your customers to remind them about their upcoming booking.

You can easily add a restaurant booking form to your website using WPForms. This plugin has a ready-made dinner reservation form template that you can customize for your restaurant.

WPForms also integrates with all of the top email marketing providers. This makes it easy to send reservation confirmation emails to your customers.

As their booking approaches, you can even send the customer a reminder email, ask them to share any dietary requirements, send a pre-order form, and more.

To learn more about adding a reservation form to your WordPress website, please see our guide on how to create a booking form in WordPress.

Step 8. Add a Contact Us Form

Even if you use a WordPress appointment and booking plugin, some customers may still need to talk to you directly.

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

Most of the best contact form plugins come with built-in spam protection, so you won’t get any contact form spam. A form will also collect consistent information from visitors, so you’ll have all the data you need to write a helpful reply.

The easiest way to add a contact form to your WordPress website is by using the free WPForms plugin.

This free plugin comes with a built-in Simple Contact Form template that you can quickly customize using the drag and drop editor.

Then, simply add the form to any page, post, or widget-ready area using the ready-made WPForms block.

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

Step 9. Add a Navigation Menu

Once you’ve added some content to your restaurant website, you’ll want to help visitors find their way around those pages and posts by adding a navigation menu.

No matter what theme you’re using, WordPress makes it really easy to add menus and sub-menus to your restaurant website.  

For a complete guide, please see our post on how to add a navigation menu.

Step 10. Add Social Proof to Your Restaurant Website

Social proof is one of the best ways to earn customer trust, and convince new people to visit your restaurant. After all, we’re more likely to try things that we see other people buying, using, or recommending.

People love sharing food photos on sites like Instagram and Facebook. With that in mind, we recommend adding social media feeds to your WordPress website.

Smash Balloon Instagram Feed is one of the best Instagram plugins for WordPress, and it allows you to easily show other people’s photos on your site.

Using this plugin, you can create a hashtag feed and show photos that customers have tagged your account in. This includes photos of your food, venue, and shots of customers having fun at your restaurant.

For detailed step-by-step instructions, please see our guide on how to create a custom Instagram feed in WordPress.

If your customers regularly tweet about your restaurant, then Smash Balloon Twitter Feed also lets you create hashtag and mention feeds.

For more instructions on adding a Twitter feed to WordPress, see our guide on how to embed tweets in WordPress.

Step 11. Show Customer Reviews

Customer reviews and testimonials can provide visitors with more information, and may even solve any question or worries customers have about visiting your restaurant.

If you already have a Facebook page, then it’s easy to display your Facebook reviews in WordPress using Smash Balloon Facebook Feed.

If you want to show reviews from other platforms like Yelp or Google My Business, then there’s also plenty of customer review plugins for WordPress that you can use.

These plugins will collect reviews automatically and then organize them into a nice layout on your restaurant website.

If you do add a customer review page in WordPress, then don’t forget to add it to your navigation menu too.

Don’t have any reviews to feature on your website? Then it’s time to start asking for them.

WPForms has a a ready-made Restaurant Review Form template that you can add to your website.

Bonus Tips to Grow Your Restaurant Website

Now that you have setup your restaurant website, here are some top tips that you can use to grow your online business:

• Setup AIOSEO plugin to improve your website’s SEO ranking. There’s a free version available as well.
• Follow our ultimate WordPress SEO guide for more tips to outrank your competitor.
• See our proven tips to boost your website’s traffic.
• Setup a business phone number to increase your bookings and create a business email address to make your business look more professional.

We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to create a restaurant website with WordPress. You may also want to see our ultimate WordPress security guide and our expert pick of the must have WordPress plugins that you should install on all business sites.

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 Easily Create a Restaurant Website with WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.

WP101 is one of the most trusted premium WordPress video training providers in the market. Over 3 million users have learned WordPress from their WordPress video tutorials. The WP101 Plugin allows WordPress agencies and service providers an easy way to offer white-labeled professional WordPress training videos to their clients.

Introduction to WP101 – Quick Overview

WP101 offers professionally-produced WordPress training videos to help you learn WordPress, fast. It’s a perfect solution for small businesses owners, large corporations, and government agencies who want to offer professional WordPress training videos in their employee onboarding process.

With WP101, you get access to over 200+ WordPress training videos that cover everything you need to learn the WordPress user interface in a university style format.

In addition to the popular WordPress 101 series for both Gutenberg and the Classic Editor, the current library also includes video tutorials for top WordPress plugins including WooCommerce, WPForms, Elementor, Beaver Builder, and more.

The WP101 Plugin makes it easy for WordPress developers and agencies to offer white-label training videos to their clients, right inside the WordPress dashboard.

It gives you the ability to add your own custom videos as well as selective show / hide videos based on client’s needs.

Whether you’re a small business owner or large corporation, I highly recommend adding WP101 training to your employee onboarding process.

If you’re a WordPress freelancer or agency, then you should consider adding the WP101 Plugin to your client and build a recurring revenue stream.

Background Story – Why WP101? 

Both WPBeginner and WP101 started around the same time with a similar mission: making it easy for people to learn WordPress.

At WPBeginner, we did it with our easy to understand written tutorials, while Shawn at WP101 offered premium video training.

I have been friends with Shawn Hesketh, founder of WP101 for a long time, and we have enjoyed over a decade of coopetition. I have a lot of admiration and respect for the massive impact he’s had in the growth of the WordPress community.

After 14+ years of creating WordPress training videos, when Shawn was ready to move on to the next chapter of his life, we started talking about the future of WP101 and carrying his legacy forward.

Given my experience running the largest WordPress resource site, it made perfect sense for us to be the future custodian of the WP101 brand. 

It gives me great joy to be there for a friend and offer him the exit that he deserves as he pursues the next chapter of his career. At the same time, it’s an honor and a privilege that Shawn trusted us to carry the mission forward.

What’s Coming Next? 

Our work is just starting.

My goal is to create the best class-room style WordPress training videos to help WordPress grow in enterprise, government agencies, as well as at the school and collegiate level. 

I’m really excited about the latter because I believe that education helps level the playing field, and that’s the mission of my Balkhi Foundation.

WordPress is an open source platform, and open source is one of the greatest ideas of our generation. It has the power to transform the lives of so many people across the world, like it did for me when I first immigrated to the US.

While talent is everywhere, opportunities are not. I want to use the WP101 training platform to bring opportunities everywhere, so we can help shape the future of the web for billions worldwide.

This is a big mission, and I need your help. If you have experience with instructional design or higher-ed, I would love to chat with you to see how we can work together to bring WordPress to classrooms and universities. Please send me a message via WPBeginner contact form.

If you’re passionate about teaching WordPress and want to be a part of our mission, we’re hiring content creators and trainers. While the listings for these roles aren’t public, just send me a brief message via our contact form with your resume, and I’ll get in touch with you.

As always, I want to thank you for your continued support of WPBeginner. 

Every time I share an announcement like this, I realize that I’m only able to do what I love every day because of you, our amazing readers, and I’m extremely grateful for your support throughout the years.

WPBeginner and Awesome Motive would not be here without YOU, and I just want to say how much I appreciate all of you.

I look forward to continuing serving you, and the larger WordPress / web ecosystem for years to come.

Yours Truly,

Syed Balkhi
Founder of WPBeginner

P.S. Want us to acquire or invest in your WordPress business? Learn more about the WPBeginner Growth Fund.

The post Welcome WP101 to the WPBeginner Family of Products first appeared on WPBeginner.

Setting up age restrictions allows you to limit users from seeing content due to legal requirements or the nature of the content. You can set up age verification with the right WordPress plugin without editing any code.

In this article, our expert team have researched and picked the best age verification plugins for WordPress.

Why Do You Need an Age Verification Plugin?

If you’re selling products or promoting goods that are age sensitive, then it is important to verify the user’s age before allowing them access.

For example, many countries have laws and regulations that require websites to verify users’ age. This is common if you’re in the business of selling alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, vape, tattoos, and other similar goods.

Similarly, different videos and games are not appropriate for minors and require an age gate. You can also add age verification on your membership website if it contains sensitive content.

A simple way of adding age verification to a WordPress site is by using a plugin. You don’t have to edit any code or hire a developer.

Plus by using a plugin, you can show a confirmation form or a popup where users can enter their age before accessing the content or buying a product.

That being said, let’s look at the best age-verification WordPress plugins for different business needs.

1. WPForms

WPForms is the best WordPress contact form plugin that is beginner friendly and lets you create all types of forms. It offers a drag-and-drop form builder and comes with over 500+ pre-built form templates.

WPForms offers a Form Locker addon that allows you to set up age restrictions on your online forms. You can pick age as the verification type for your form and define the age limit. Users will then have to enter their date of birth before they can submit a form on your site.

Using WPForms, you can create forms for all kinds of situations. For instance, the plugin lets you create a login form or a registration form and only allows logged-in users to view the content.

If you’re looking for feedback about your company from a specific age group, then you can create a survey form and add an age restriction. Similarly, you can add an order form on your website with age verification to sell concert tickets or alcohol.

Besides that, WPForms also offers other features and addons. You can integrate payment services like Stripe and PayPal to accept online payments, allow file uploads, connect email marketing services, and more.

Pricing: You will need the WPForms Pro version to access the Form Locker addon and set up age verification in WordPress. This will cost you $199.50 per year. There is also a WPForms Lite version you can use for free.

2. OptinMonster

OptinMonster is the best lead generation and popup plugin for WordPress. It helps you get more leads, grow your email list, and boost conversions.

You can create stunning campaigns for your site, including age verification popups. The plugin offers a drag-and-drop campaign builder, pre-built templates, and lots of customization options. You can add different elements like images, buttons, videos, and more to your popup.

For instance, you can create a simple age verification lightbox popup with Yes/No options or show a popup where visitors need to enter their date of birth.

OptinMonsters also offers fullscreen campaigns, which are great for restricting access to your website or a page until users confirm their age.

The plugin provides powerful display rules that let you choose when and where to show your campaigns. For instance, you can show your age verification campaigns on selected pages or hide the popup for users that have already verified their age on your website.

Besides that, OptinMonster easily integrates with different email marketing services and works with eCommerce platforms like WooCommerce and Shopify.

Pricing: OptinMonster prices start from $9 per month (billed annually). There is also a free version of OptinMonster that you can use to get started.

3. Age Gate

Age Gate is a free age verification WordPress plugin that is very easy to use. Using the plugin, you can easily restrict content based on the user’s age.

It offers 3 input options to add age verification in WordPress. You can show a dropdown menu and let visitors select an age, allow users to enter their date of birth, or simply offer a Yes/No option to verify age.

Other than that, you can choose whether to restrict the entire website or select pages based on age. Plus, there is also an option to set different age restrictions for individual content using the plugin.

With Age Gate, you get multiple customization options to edit the appearance of your age restriction message. For instance, you can add a logo, change the background color, add blur, add a background image, and more.

Pricing: Age Gate is a free WordPress plugin.

4. MemberPress

MemberPress is the best membership plugin for WordPress. It lets you create a membership site and sell subscription-based products and services.

With MemberPress, you can add age restrictions to your WordPress site. Let’s say you don’t want members under 18 signing up for a particular membership or course. By setting up an age limit, you can prevent access to content.

Besides that, MemberPress offers other powerful features. It gives you full control over who can access content, release paid content over time, add payment gateways, and more. You can also create and sell online courses using MemberPress’s course builder.

If you want to learn more about setting up a subscription-based website, then please see our ultimate guide to creating a WordPress membership site.

Pricing: MemberPress is a premium plugin with prices starting from $179.50 per year.

5. WooCommerce Age Verification Popup

WooCommerce Age Verification Popup is the next plugin on our list. It is a paid extension for WooCommerce stores. If you have a WooCommerce store and you’re selling products like tobacco, vaping, medicines, fireworks, or items that require age verification, then this plugin is for you.

The plugin offers 4 verification methods where users can simply enter their age, select their date of birth, click a checkbox, or simply select from a Yes/No option.

Besides that, you can choose which pages the popup should appear on. For instance, you can enable it on your entire website or specific pages like cart, checkout, my account, and shopping page.

There are also different customization options you can use to edit your popup. These include adding a background image, selecting a color, adjusting the border height, and text size, and more.

However, if you want more options like prebuilt templates and the ability to add different elements to the popup, then you can use OptinMonster. It also works seamlessly with WooCommerce and offers more powerful display rules.

Pricing: WooCommerce Age Verification Popup is available for $29 per year.

6. Age Verification for WordPress

Age Verification for WordPress is a free WordPress plugin that you can use to add an age limit to your WordPress site. The plugin is beginner friendly and offers basic features.

It adds an age verification popup to your site and restricts access to content for visitors that don’t meet the age requirements. Once a user verifies their age, a cookie is saved for 30 days, so they don’t have to verify their age again.

The plugin offers limited options to edit your age verification box. For instance, you can only add a background image, logo, title text, message text, and edit the yes/no button text using the Age Verification plugin.

However, there are other plugins on our list, like WPForms and OptinMonster, that offer more customization options. Plus, you get to choose from pre-built templates and drag-and-drop builders.

Pricing: The Age Verification plugin is free to use.

7. AgeChecker.Net 

AgeChecker.Net is a third-party age verification platform for eCommerce websites. It uses identity networks and a proprietary database to verify customer’s age at checkout.

The plugin is compatible with different eCommerce platforms, including WooCommerce, Shopify, Magento, BigCommerce, and more.

It adds age verification on checkout pages and instantly verifies 90% of the user’s age in the United States.

If the data isn’t available in the data sources, then it will ask for the customer’s ID verification. Once a customer submits the required documents, AgeChecker.Net’s 24/7 live team manually verifies it for you. If the customer is underage, they will disable their access to the product or service.

Other than that, you can customize the minimum age, digital signature requirements, and order blocking based on the customer’s location. Plus, the plugin is compliant with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other federal and state regulations in the US.

Pricing: AgeChecker.Net has a free WordPress plugin that connects with WooCommerce. However, you will need to signup for their premium plan, which will cost you $25 per month + 50¢ per accepted verification.

8. AgeVerify

AgeVerify is another WordPress age verification plugin that is free to use. The plugin is super simple to use and lets you create an age-verification message for your website.

It comes with prebuilt templates that you can use for different types of businesses. Plus, you can edit the age verification text, change the text and color of the button, and more.

What makes this plugin different from others on our list is that it lets you edit the cookie duration (in hours) for the age verification message. This way, your visitors won’t have to verify their age each time they visit your website.

Pricing: AgeVerify is a free WordPress plugin.

9. Easy Age Verify

Easy Age Verify is an age verification plugin for WordPress that comes with pre-built verification settings and messages for alcohol, vape, and adult businesses.

The plugin is super easy to use and doesn’t require complex configuration. All you need to do is enable age verification, select your industry, and the plugin will take care of the rest. It also gives you the option to exclude age verification for logged-in users.

On the downside, you cannot customize the appearance of your age verification message in the free version. However, you can use WPForms as an alternative. It helps display a custom age verification form anywhere on your website.

Pricing: Easy Age Verify is free to use. There is also a premium version that unlocks customization features, and it costs $8.25 per month (billed annually).

Which is the Best Age Verification WordPress Plugin?

Our top picks for the best age verification plugin for WordPress are WPForms and OptinMonster.

WPForms offers a Form Locker addon that allows you to add an age gate on any type of form and display it anywhere on your site. It offers a drag-and-drop form builder, prebuilt templates, and lots of customization options.

On the other hand, if you’re looking to add an age verification popup on your WordPress site, then OptinMonster is the best option. It lets you create age verification popups, offers powerful targeting rules to show and track that campaign, and easily integrates with eCommerce platforms.

We hope this article helped you find the best age verification plugin for WordPress. You may also want to see our post on the best live chat software for small businesses and proven ways to make money online blogging with 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 9 Best Age Verification Plugins for WordPress (Compared) first appeared on WPBeginner.

WordPress is the most popular content management system (CMS) in the world and powers over 43% of sites on the internet. Following different WordPress blogs can help you learn how to better use WordPress, get website growth tips, stay up to date with WordPress updates, and receive latest community news.

In this article, we will share the list of some of the best WordPress blogs that you should follow. We’re following these WordPress blogs in our own RSS reader.

Why Should You Follow WordPress Blogs?

If you have a WordPress website or plan to create one, then you definitely want to follow top WordPress blogs.

You can get in-depth knowledge about WordPress and how it works. Plus, you get to see step-by-step tutorials on how to get started. Aside from that, they also have tips on choosing the best WordPress hosting services, themes, and plugins to operate your site.

Many WordPress blogs will also share tips and tricks to optimize your website for search engines, make it load faster, strengthen your website security, make money online, and more.

That being said, let’s look at some of the best WordPress blogs you should read and follow. We’ve broken down the list of blogs into different sections, so you can jump ahead by clicking the links below:

Top WordPress Blogs to Follow

If you are looking for blogs that help you learn about WordPress, then here are our top picks. Each of them covers detailed tutorials, plugin reviews, comparison posts, guides, the latest WordPress news, and more.

1. WPBeginner

WPBeginner is the largest free WordPress resource site for beginners. Our goal is to provide helpful tutorials on WordPress for small business owners, bloggers, and non-techy WordPress users.

WPBeginner was launched in 2009 by founder Syed Balkhi. Since then, it has become one of the best WordPress blogs in the world. There are over 320,000 subscribers from across 190 countries.

You can find a variety of topics on WPBeignner. There are WordPress beginner guides, showcases, step-by-step tutorials, articles on themes and plugins, comparison posts, and the latest news about WordPress.

To help you get started with WordPress, here are some helpful tutorials on WPBeginner:

• How to start a WordPress blog
• How to create an online store
• How to make a WordPress website
• How to choose the best WordPress hosting
• Ultimate guide to WordPress SEO for beginners
• The ultimate guide to boost WordPress speed and performance

You can visit the WPBeginner blog section to find more helpful content on WordPress.

Besides that, you can also join the free WPBeginner Facebook group and connect with a large community of WordPress users and experts (over 90,000 members). It is an excellent place for beginners and non-tech users to get help and support about WordPress, plugin suggestions, learn tips and tricks, and more.

If you like video content, then you can subscribe to WPBeginner’s YouTube channel. There are detailed videos on WordPress that will guide you every step of the way.

2. IsItWP

IsItWP is another free online resource that offers WordPress tutorials, product reviews, guides, how-to articles, and showcases. It is a great place to get started with WordPress and learn about different things.

You can learn about creating a WordPress blog, online store, membership site, and more. Plus, you’ll get to know about WordPress security, performance, email marketing, lead generation, plugins, and themes. It also offers detailed guides on marketing hacks, like 30 ways to make money online blogging.

The best part about using IsItWP is that you get to use multiple free tools. Some tools include a domain name generator, WordPress speed test, website uptime checker, headline analyzer, and more.

3. Blog Tyrant

Blog Tyrant is the next WordPress blog on our list. If you’re looking to start a WordPress blog and learn strategies to grow your business, this is the right website for you to follow.

Blog Tyrant was started in 2010 to help bloggers make a living online. It covers extensive guides, how-to tutorials, product reviews, and other resources to help you create a successful blog and make money online.

The website also lists valuable tools for blogging and helps pick the right plugins for your website.

For instance, you can use tools like a password generator to secure your website, a security scanner to check for vulnerabilities, or a site speed test to see how fast your website loads.

4. WP Tavern

WP Tavern is another famous WordPress blog that covers the latest news and events about WordPress. You can follow the blog to learn about new WordPress releases, and industry news.

It also covers the latest news about different WordPress plugins and themes. You can learn about product acquisitions, feature releases in themes, and new features coming in WordPress, and more.

5. WPForms

WPForms is the best WordPress form builder plugin in the market used by over 5 million websites.

With the WPForms blog, you can learn how to create all types of forms for your WordPress site. From simple contact forms to complex multistep forms, the WPForms blog has detailed guides and tutorials to help you out.

Plus, you get to stay informed about the latest updates and releases in the plugin. Other than that, you’ll find more helpful blog posts, how-to guides, and showcases on WordPress. For example, there are step-by-step tutorials like how to create an NPS survey form in WordPress or thought-leadership pieces like 7 benefits of conversational marketing.

6. Elegant Themes

Elegant Themes offers a high-quality premium WordPress theme collection. It is also the company behind Divi, a popular WordPress theme and page builder.

The Elegant Themes blog offers a lot of content focused on using Divi. For instance, you can learn how to use the website builder, use its features, and customize your site.

Aside from content on Divi, Elegant Themes also publishes general content about WordPress. There are WordPress tutorials, plugin suggestions, reviews, comparisons, and other marketing guides. For example, you can read articles like how to customize your WordPress header.

7. CodeinWP

CodeinWP is the next WordPress blog on our list. It covers extensive topics about WordPress and offers tutorials, lists, comparison posts, and other detailed guides.

What makes CodeinWP different is that it offers various resources and tools besides blog posts and guides. For instance, there are free code snippets you can use to customize your WordPress site.

They also offers free illustrations from designers that you can use for your site among other helpful resources.

8. OptinMonster

OptinMonster is the best WordPress popup and lead generation software. It helps you grow your email list, get more leads, increase sales, and optimize your site for conversions.

With the OptinMonster blog, you can learn how to use the plugin and get the most out of it. There are detailed tutorials on setting up different marketing campaigns, configuring targeting rules to show popups at the right place and time, and more.

Besides that, you can get knowledge about content marketing, email marketing, and lead generation in WordPress by following the blog.

What makes OptinMonster blog different is its case studies. You can learn how other companies are using the plugin to get more email subscribers, which display rules they’re using to target new audiences, how they’re converting traffic into leads, and more.

9. Post Status

Post Status is a membership community for people looking to work and grow in the WordPress ecosystem. It offers premium memberships and access to different content about WordPress.

You can get the latest news about WordPress, learn about new plugin features and acquisitions, and read blogs about different Post Status members. For example, there are blog posts called Membership Spotlight, where you get to know about Post Status members, their experience in working in WordPress, and more.

It is also an excellent resource for anyone who wants to connect with founders of WordPress plugins, developers, and other WordPress enthusiasts. There are plans for individuals, agency owners, product founders, and partners.

With Post Status premium memberships, you get important WordPress news and events in the weekly newsletter, access to the Slack community, members-only content, and a weekly members hurdle.

The website also has a podcast and videos to get insights about WordPress. As a partner, you can also post WordPress job openings for your company on the Post Status website.

10. Torque Magazine

Torque Magazine is another top WordPress blog you should follow. It is a publication by WP Engine but maintains complete editorial independence.

The website covers extensive articles on WordPress. It has divided its content into different categories: development, tools, business, community, videos, and ebooks.

For example, you can find useful guides like CSS best practices and troubleshooting WordPress issues under the development section. You’ll also find interviews with industry experts, step-by-step tutorials, plugin suggestions, marketing and SEO tips and tricks, and more in Torque Magazine.

Best WordPress Plugin Blogs

There are many WordPress plugins that have a great blog section. They cover extensive topics on WordPress and share useful tips and resources.

You can follow these blogs to get more information about WordPress and learn how to use a specific plugin.

11. MonsterInsights Blog – MonsterInsights is a popular WordPress analytics plugin used by over 3 million websites. Their blog contains helpful marketing tips like how to setup website tracking, and make data-driven decisions to grow your business.
12. All in One SEO Blog – AIOSEO is the best WordPress SEO plugin used by over 3 million websites. Their blog covers SEO tips and WordPress tutorials to help you improve your SEO rankings.
13. WooCommerce Blog – WooCommerce is a popular eCommerce plugin for WordPress. Their blog covers eCommerce tutorials to help boost your online sales.
14. Yoast SEO Blog – Yoast SEO is a popular WordPress SEO plugin. They also have a blog focused on SEO optimization tips to help you boost your SEO rankings.
15. Smash Balloon Blog – Smash Balloon is a leading WordPress social media plugin used by over 1.4 million websites. Their blog has tips on how to improve your social media engagement.
16. PushEngage Blog – PushEngage is the best web push notification software to help you boost your traffic. Their blog has tips on how to grow your traffic, conversions, and user engagement.
17. Easy Digital Downloads Blog – EDD is the best plugin for selling digital downloads in WordPress. Their blog covers tips for online creators to help you increase your sales & revenue.
18. SeedProd Blog – SeedProd is a popular page builder for WordPress. Their blog covers tips on how to improve your website design and tips to improve your website customization workflow.
19. AffiliateWP Blog – AffiliateWP is the best WordPress affiliate plugin for WordPress and WooCommerce. Their blog covers tips on how to create and grow your affiliate program.
20. WP Simple Pay Blog – WP Simple Pay is a leading payments plugin for WordPress. Their blog cover tips on securely accepting payments as well as other WordPress tutorials.
21. RafflePress Blog – RafflePress is the best WordPress giveaway plugin. Their blog cover tips on how to unlock viral traffic growth for your website to get more traffic, subscribers, and sales.
22. ThriveThemes Blog – ThriveThemes is a popular conversion optimization suite for WordPress. Their blog covers marketing tutorials and tips to improve your converisions.
23. WP Mail SMTP Blog – WP Mail SMTP is one of the must have plugins for WordPress used by over 3 million websites. Their blog covers tips on how to improve your email deliverability along with other WordPress tutorials.
24. WPMU Dev Blog – WPMU Dev offers a suite of WordPress plugins and tools. Their blog covers a vast number of topics from how-to posts, product reviews, news, and more.

Blogs by WordPress Founders and Influencers

You can also learn a lot about WordPress from different founders and influencers. You get to read about their journey, experiences, and how they’re growing their business in the WordPress space.

25. Syed Balkhi – Syed Balkhi is the founder of WPBeginner and a well-known entrepreneur. His blog shares tips on his entrepreneurship journey.
26. Matt Mullenweg – Matt Mullenweg is the co-founder of WordPress. His blog is always full of his latest experiences and entrepreneurship journey.
27. Chris Lema – Chris Lema is a well-known speaker and blogger who writes about various topics from communication, eCommerce, LMS, and more.
28. Tom McFarlin – Tom McFarlin is a WordPress developer who loves writing, building, and sharing WordPress-based projects. You can follow his blog to learn about WordPress, PHP, databases, and other backend technology.
29. Joost de Valk – Jost is the founder of Yoast and now serves as the head of WordPress strategy for Newfold Digital (parent company of Bluehost).

Popular Marketing and SEO Blogs to Follow

There are other great resources out there that help not only help you learn about WordPress but also allow you to grow your website.

You can learn tips on growing your traffic, boosting search engine rankings, uncovering different marketing techniques, and more from marketing and SEO blogs. These blogs also cover WordPress’s latest news and guides, which is really useful.

30. Neil Patel Blog – Neil Patel is a top SEO influencer who regularly creates detailed SEO tutorials, guides, case studies, and more to help you learn SEO.
31. Search Engine Roundtable – Search Engine Roundtable is the go-to WordPress blog for staying up to date with SEO news, Google algorithm changes, and more.
32. Search Engine Journal – Search Engine Journal is another popular SEO blog although their coverage on WordPress topics are generally extremely biased and misinformed. We only recommend following their SEO tips but for WordPress related news, you should avoid them.
33. Digital Marketer – Digital Marketer provides marketing tutorials, guides, and best practices on how to grow your online traffic and sales.
34. ShoutMeLoud – ShoutMeLoud is a blog created by Harsh Agrawal. He’s a well-known blogger who shares his blogging journey, WordPress tips, and more to help you grow your online presence.
35. Blogging Wizard – Blogging Wizard is a popular resource that you can use to learn proven strategies for growing your WordPress blog.
36. Ahrefs Blog – Ahrefs is a popular SEO tool. Their blog is full of useful guides to improve your website’s SEO ranking.

Which is the Best WordPress Blog to Follow?

The best WordPress blogs to follow are WPBeginner, IsItWP, Blog Tyrant, and WP Tavern.

After being in the WordPress industry for the last 16+ years, we recommend you follow multiple WordPress blogs. Each of the top 10 blogs listed in our post will help you expand your knowledge about WordPress and pick up new ways to grow your business.

The easiest way to follow these WordPress blogs is by either adding them to your RSS feed reader or joining their free email newsletter.

We hope this article helped you pick the best WordPress blog to follow. You may also want to see our guide on how to create your email newsletter, and our expert pick of the best WordPress plugins for all websites.

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The post 36 Best WordPress Blogs You Should Read & Follow (in 2023) first appeared on WPBeginner.