Weekly WordPress News: Don’t Race To The Bottom With Your Business

jetpack, Security, WordPress News, WP Shout

After the excitement of WordPress 4.9.6 , this week was a bit quieter. Kinsta has a good article on why you should never compete solely on price with your business. And Fred @ WPShout shared his thoughts on the small-business WordPress developer’s code of honor. Other than that, Wordfence highlighted how WordPress.com accounts with weak ... Read moreWeekly WordPress News: Don’t Race To The Bottom With Your Business

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How to Allow Users to Upload Images in WordPress Comments

media in wordpress comments, wordpress comment form, wordpress comment images, wordpress comments, WordPress Plugins

Images and comments are both powerful tools to boost user engagement on your site. This is one of the reasons why Facebook allow users to upload images with their comments. What if we tell you that you can add the same functionality to WordPress comments? Depending on your site’s niche and target audience, this can significantly increase user engagement on your site. In this article, we will show you how to allow users to upload images in WordPress comments.

How to Allow Users to Upload Images in WordPress

Allow Users to Upload Images in WordPress Comments

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

Upon activation, you need to go to Settings » Discussion page in your WordPress admin area and scroll down to Comment Attachment section.

Comment Settings

On this page, you can manage the settings to display image attachment field in the comments section of your WordPress posts and pages. These settings include the position of comment field, field title, required option, file types, image attachment size, and more.

You can also allow your users to attach a document, PDF, powerpoint presentation, excel spreadsheet, and more. Simply check the file type options in the comment attachment settings.

Allowed File Types

Once you are done, click on the Save Changes button to store your settings.

After that head over to any post page on your WordPress site, and you will see an image upload field in the comments area like the screenshot below:

Add Attachment in Comment

All images uploaded by users are stored in your WordPress media library. If you want to delete an image uploaded by a user, then you need to go to Media » Library, locate the image, and then delete it.

Note: This will delete the image from the comment without affecting the comment text.

It will be good to add some comment posting guidelines on your site to let users know what kind of attachments they can upload. You can check WPBeginner’s comment policy page for an example. You can then add a link to your comment policy text in the WordPress comment form.

Due to the nature of images, you may want to moderate all comments before they appear on your site. You can do this by enabling comment moderation and notify users when their comment is approved on your site.

You can also display the total number of comments to engage more users on the WordPress posts or pages.

To further boost media capabilities in your comments, you can enable oEmbed support for comments in WordPress. This will allow your users to embed YouTube videos, tweets, flickr photos, and more alongside with the images they upload.

We hope this article helped you learn how to allow users to upload images in WordPress comments. You may also want to see our tips on getting more comments on your WordPress blog posts .

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 Allow Users to Upload Images in WordPress Comments appeared first on WPBeginner.

5 Best WordPress LMS Plugins To Create And Sell Courses

Learning Management Systems, lms, LMS Plugins, WordPress Plugins

Looking for the best WordPress LMS plugin to launch an online course? eCourses have exploded over the past few years, and you can find all kinds of success stories about everyone from solo bloggers to businesses running successful courses. That popularity has led to the development of a number of quality WordPress LMS (learning management ... Read more5 Best WordPress LMS Plugins To Create And Sell Courses

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How to Create an Event Registration Page in WordPress

create an event registration page, create an event registration page in wordpress, event registration page, how to create an event registration page in wordpress, WordPress Plugins, wpforms

Do you want to add an event registration page on your WordPress site? Recently one of our readers asked if they can allow users to sign up and buy tickets online for their events. In this article, we will show you how to easily create an event registration page in WordPress and sell tickets online.

Creating an event registration page in WordPress

Why Create an Event Registration Page in WordPress?

There are plenty of third-party event registration and ticketing tools available in the market. You can also add Facebook events to your WordPress site.

However, many third-party event registration and ticketing services will charge a small fee for each ticket you sell. This quickly adds up, and you could end up paying a lot more than expected.

You will have limited options to promote your event on social media and even on your own website. Some event management services will insist on displaying their branding in your event emails, widgets, and tickets.

You can avoid some of these issues by creating your own event registration page in WordPress. This will allow you to collect online payments directly, store attendee information on your website, and use your own brand name when promoting the event.

That being said, let’s take a look at how to easily create an event registration page in WordPress.

Creating an Event Registration Page in WordPress

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

WPForms is a paid plugin, and you will need at least their PRO plan to access the PayPal add-on, which we will be using in this tutorial.

Upon activation, you need to visit the WPForms page in your WordPress admin area and click on the Add New button.

Add New Form

On the form builder, first you need to enter a title for your event registration form. Below that, you will see a list of ready-to-use form templates that you can select. Click on the Billing / Order Form template to continue.

New Event Registration Form

This template will set up a basic online order form asking users for their information like name, email, phone, address, available items, and more.

You can point and click on any field to edit or delete it. You can also add new form fields from the column on your left.

Billing / Order form template

To add tickets, click on the available items field and change it to attendees or tickets.

Add Tickets / Attendees Details

Your users will see the calculated price in the Total Amount field. Next, you need to set up the payment method.

Let’s go ahead and connect your event registration form to a payment service provider.

You need to click on the Payments tab in the left column and then click on the ‘Addons page’ link.

Note: You can also visit the addons page from your WordPress admin area by going to WPForms » Addons.

Install Payment Addon Service

This will take you to the addons page. WPForms comes with addons for PayPal and Stripe. You can install either or both of them.

Note: In order to use Stripe, your website must have HTTPS / SSL enabled.

Click on the install button below the addon and then click on the activate button.

Once activated, you need to go back to Payments section to configure payment services on your form. Select your payment service and enable it.

You need to add the details like PayPal email address, mode, payment type, cancel URL, and more.

Edit Payment Service

If you are using Stripe, then you will need to enter the API keys. For detailed instructions see how to use the Stripe addon with WPForms.

You will also need to enter a credit card field to your form before you can set up Stripe. Simply switch to the ‘Fields’ section and add a credit card field.

Add a credit card field to the form

After setting up payments, let’s set up notification emails for both you and your users.

Simply go to Settings » Notifications and click on the Add New Notification button.

Add New Email Notification

In the Send To Email Address section, you need to select user’s email from Smart Tags to send the ticket receipt.

Add Users Email

Now you need to scroll down to the Message section and add your custom message with the fields that you created for the registration from using Smart Tags.

Custom Message for Tickets

Once you are done, you can save your changes and close the form builder.

You can display this form on any page on your WordPress site. Let’s create a new event registration page in WordPress to display the form.

On the page edit screen, you will see a new button labeled ‘Add Form’ just above the editor.

Add form button

Clicking on it will bring up a popup where you will be able to select and insert the event registration form you created earlier.

Insert event registration form

The plugin will now add the required shortcode to your page editor. You can save your changes and click on the preview to see your event registration page in action.

Event registration form preview

We hope this article helped you learn how to create an event registration page in WordPress. You may also want to see our list of the best WordPress booking 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.

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20 Best WordPress Events Plugins: Calendars, Lists, Tickets + More

Calendar, Event, Events

Are you looking for a fully-functional WordPress events plugin that will help you display upcoming events effectively? Some of the functionalities these plugins offer you include guest management, event submission forms, and automated email notifications. If you want to display basic events on your site, a free plugin might suit your needs. On the other ... Read more 20 Best WordPress Events Plugins: Calendars, Lists, Tickets + More

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Ultimate List of WordPress Stats, Facts, and Other Research

Beginners Guide, wordpress by numbers, wordpress facts, WordPress Stats, wordpress usage stats

Recently one of our readers asked us to provide some WordPress stats, facts, and research to help convince their boss on why they should use WordPress. Even though WordPress is the most popular website builder in the world, sometimes popularity alone is not enough for users to make up their mind. In this article, we have compiled an ultimate list of WordPress stats, facts, and other research that will help you convince others to start using WordPress.

List of WordPress stats, facts, and other research

The Basics: What is WordPress?

WordPress is an open source software that allows users to make a website. It is available for download as a free software and can be installed on any WordPress hosting company.

It’s important not to confuse WordPress (the software) with WordPress.com which is a hosted solution. To learn more, see the difference between WordPress.com vs WordPress.org in our side-by-side comparison.

WordPress basics

It all started when two users of a blogging software called b2/cafelog decided to take the software in a new direction. The idea was coined by Matt Mullenweg who was then joined by Mark Little and together they released the first version of WordPress on May 27, 2003.

First WordPress release

Since then, WordPress has evolved from a simple blogging software to a CMS, website builder, eCommerce platform, and more. To learn more, see our article about the history of WordPress.

WordPress is a community software and thousands of users from all over the world have contributed to it by submitting code, fixing bugs, translating, testing, and helping others use it.

Let’s take a look at some WordPress stats and facts to see how WordPress is helping people do great things on the internet.

How Popular is WordPress?

WordPress usage

WordPress is immensely popular and is used by millions of people all over the world. Here are some numbers to put things in perspective.

  1. WordPress powers more than 30% of all websites on the internet.
  2. It also holds nearly 60% of CMS market share. No other website builder software comes close.
  3. WordPress powers websites for big name brands including Disney, Sony, Facebook, and more.
  4. 14.7% of top 100 Websites are powered by WordPress.
  5. More than 22% of all new domain names in the United States are running WordPress.
  6. Each day more than 1014 WordPress sites and 496 WooCommerce stores join the top 10 million websites tracked by W3Techs.

WordPress Plugins

WordPress plugins

Plugins are like apps for your WordPress website. You can install them to add new features to your site and extend its functionality. To learn more, see our guide on what are WordPress plugins and how do they work?.

Here are some mind-blowing facts about WordPress plugins, which show just how massive the WordPress ecosystem is.

  1. There are more than 50,000 free WordPress plugins on WordPress.org plugin directory alone.
  2. 3 of those plugins are installed on 5 million+ websites.
  3. 19 top WordPress plugins are installed on more than 1 million websites.
  4. The most popular eCommerce plugin, WooCommerce is installed on more than 3 million websites with 43 million all time downloads.

These stats are from WordPress.org plugin directory alone. Many plugin developers sell premium versions of their plugins from their own websites.

With a healthy plugins ecosystem, it means that you can add custom functionality to your website at a fraction of the cost of custom development.

WordPress Themes

WordPress themes

Themes control the appearance of a WordPress website. These are WordPress specific website design templates that you can install on your website to change its look.

There are thousands of free and paid WordPress themes available offering WordPress users an endless combination of design, layout, color schemes, and features.

  1. Themes were first introduced with WordPress 1.5 back in 2005, with the first new default WordPress theme called Kubrick
  2. Just like plugins, there are both free and paid WordPress themes that you can install.
  3. WordPress.org’s free theme directory has more than 5,800 free WordPress themes.
  4. According to Builtwith, Genesis theme framework is the most popular theme used by 17% of websites analyzed by their service.
  5. Thousands of themes are sold by Commercial WordPress theme shops with an average price of $40 per theme.

WordPress Security

WordPress is the most commonly used CMS software in the world, which also makes it a common target of hacking attempts, DDOS attacks, malware, and trojans.

  1. According to Sucuri, a leading website security company, 83% of all CMS based websites that were hacked in 2017 were running WordPress. This number isn’t surprising considering that WordPress holds 60% of CMS market share.
  2. Sucuri also reported that 39% of hacked WordPress websites were using an outdated version of the software. That’s why you should always use the latest version of WordPress on your website.
  3. Nearly 50% WordPress sites are affected by a security vulnerability caused by an outdated or poorly coded WordPress plugin or theme
  4. Around 8% of WordPress sites were hacked due to a weak password.

You can make your WordPress site as secure as possible by following some basic security best practices. To learn more, see our complete WordPress security guide for step by step instructions.

Often the stats above cause WordPress to get a bad reputation, but the reality is that WordPress itself is not insecure. WordPress core goes through rigorous security audits, and it’s more secure than many other platforms out there.

The only fault WordPress has is that it’s popular which leads to stats like above.

WordPress Community

WordPress community

WordPress has a massive user base spread across all over the world. It is used by not just businesses, but also governments, schools and colleges, non-profits, and more.

As an open source project, WordPress is driven by a global community of users. This means that anyone can contribute to the project in many different ways.

  1. WordPress translation community has it fully translated into 56 languages, partially translated in dozens more.
  2. In 2017, WordPress communities around the world organized 128 WordCamp events, in 48 countries, and sold 39,625 tickets.
  3. In 2017, Local WordPress communities organized 4,379 meetups in 73 countries

If you want to contribute to WordPress, then see our guide on how to get involved with WordPress project.

The WordPress Economy

WordPress economy

WordPress has a thriving billion dollar ecosystem that creates thousands of jobs all over the world. This also includes freelancers, developers, and companies that sell WordPress related products and services.

  1. At the time of writing this article, freelancer.com website alone had 564,010 WordPress jobs posted out of these 13,680 were open.
  2. Thousands of WordPress jobs are currently open on many popular freelancing websites.
  3. Average hourly rate for WordPress developers can be anywhere between $20-$100 per hour depending on their expertise and job at hand.
  4. A custom WordPress theme with its own unique design and plugins can cost $10,000 and it may increase depending on project’s requirements.
  5. There are hundreds of small and large businesses, agencies, and developers selling WordPress related products. See our list of the most influential WordPress businesses and companies and what they do.

We hope this article helped you discover some new WordPress stats, facts, and interesting research. You may also want to see our article + infograph on 25 interesting facts about WordPress.

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

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25 Best Free WordPress Themes of May 2018

free themes, free wordpress themes, WordPress Themes

We’re at the end of the month May, so it’s time for a look at the best Free WordPress Themes that have been released. Let’s check what themes we have got in this month. Clean Fotografie Clean Fotografie is a wonderful child theme from Photography WordPress theme. It’s a photography WordPress theme for creating photography ... Read more25 Best Free WordPress Themes of May 2018

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How to Register a Domain Name (+ simple tip to get it for FREE)

Beginners Guide, domain name, domain names, how to buy domain name, register a domain name

Often when starting a blog, users ask us about how to register a custom domain name, and which are the best places to register a domain. In this article, we will show you how to easily register a domain name, and share a tip on how to register a domain name for free.

How to register a domain name

But before we get started, let’s cover the basics so we’re on the same page.

What is a Domain Name?

A domain name is the address of your website that people type in the browser to visit your website. For example, wpbeginner.com.

In simple term, if your website was a house, then your domain name will be its address.

The whole internet is a giant network of computers. Each computer is assigned a number which is called an IP address, and it looks like this:

66.249.66.1

Now, this is not an easy to remember address. Imagine if you had to use this kind of addresses to visit your favorite websites.

To fix this problem, domain names were invented. Domain names can have alphabets and numbers, which helps website owners create easy to remember brandable words for their website’s address.

How domains work?

To learn more about domain names, see our beginner’s guide on domain names and how do they work.

When Do You Need to Register a Domain Name?

Each day, over 44,000 new .com domain names were registered in the first quarter of 2018. Currently, there are over 134 million .com domain names already registered.

This means that all the good ones are being registered as we speak. Chances are that someone may register a domain name that you’re thinking of, so it’s smart to register a domain name as soon as you think of an idea.

This is why all tech-savvy entrepreneurs pro-actively register domain names even before launching a business. Domain names are cheap, and you can register them for a year. If you decide to not pursue the business, then you can let them expire.

If you are serious about building a business, then you should register a domain name right away. It will help you protect your brand identity, business name, and even future business ideas.

How much does a domain name cost?

Normally, a .com domain name costs $14.99 / year. Other domain name extensions cost varies based on each extension. Some are even more expensive than this. We don’t recommend using anything but .com domains because everybody remembers a .com domain, and your smartphone keyboards have a pre-built key for .com.

Do I Need a Website to Register a Domain Name?

No. You don’t need a website to register a domain name. You can register a domain name and make a website later. You can also register a domain name and set up a temporary website.

A lot of entrepreneurs treat domain names like digital real-estate, so they register a good domain name and hold it for the right buyer to purchase it from them.

How to Choose The Best Domain Name?

Domain names play a very important role in your website’s identity, and its success. You want to spend some time and do your research before registering a domain name. However, it’s also important to not overthink it otherwise you will never get past the research phase.

Here are some general tips to keep in mind.

  • Make sure that your domain name is easy to pronounce, spell, and as short as possible.
  • Stick with the .com extension, most users find them easier to remember than other domain extensions.
  • Use your keywords and brand name in the domain name. For example, stargardeninghouston.com is more search engine friendly, than stargardeningcompany.com
  • Do not use numbers or hyphens in your domain name. It makes them harder to pronounce and difficult to remember.

Need more advice? See our article on how to choose the best domain name for more tips.

How to Register a Domain Name (Step by Step)

There are multiple ways to register a domain name. You can choose from several top domain registrars that are authorized by ICANN to register domain names for you.

We will show you the most popular ways to register a domain name, and you can choose the one that best fits your needs.

1. How to Register a Domain Name for Free

If you want to register a domain name to start a blog or make a website, then this is the best option for you.

Normally, a domain name costs $14.99 / year and website hosting plans start from $7.99 / month. This is a lot of money if you are just starting out.

Luckily, Bluehost has agreed to offer our users a free domain name, SSL Certificate, and 60% discount on web hosting.

→ Click Here to Get Free Domain with Bluehost ←

Bluehost is one of the biggest hosting companies in the world. They are in business since 2003 and host more than 2 million websites. Not to mention, they’re officially recommended by WordPress.

To get started, you need to visit the Bluehost website and click on the Get Started button.

Getting free domain name with Bluehost

This will bring you to the pricing page. Their Basic and Plus plans are popular among our users.

Choose a plan

Click on the ‘Select’ button below a plan to continue.

On the next page, you will be asked to choose a domain name. Simply type the domain name in the “New Domain” box because that will get you a free domain name.

Select domain name

If the domain name you entered is available, then you will be taken to the signup page. From here you need to enter your account information like name, address, email, etc.

Below the account information, you will notice some hosting extras. We don’t recommend buying them, so you can safely uncheck them for now. If you feel that you need them, then you can always add them later.

Uncheck hosting extras

After that, you can enter your payment information to finish the purchase.

Bluehost will now register your domain name, setup your hosting account and send you an email with a link to your hosting control panel.

Since you need a web hosting to start a website, it makes no sense to purchase a domain name separately when you can get it for free with the Bluehost combo offer.

If for some reason you don’t want to use Bluehost to get a free domain name, then you can use InMotion Hosting or GreenGeeks, both are top WordPress hosting companies that are offering a free domain name with web hosting to WPBeginner readers.

Related: See the difference between domain and web hosting to understand why you need both to build a website.

2. How to Register a Domain Name with GoDaddy

If you only want to register a domain name at the moment without creating a website, then GoDaddy is your best option.

Godaddy is the largest and most popular domain name registrar in the word. They currently manage over 72 million domain names for 17 million users from around the globe.

GoDaddy offers an easy way to manage your domain name without creating a website. Once you are ready, you can just point the domain name to your preferred WordPress hosting company.

Here is how to register a domain name with GoDaddy (step by step).

First, you need to visit the GoDaddy website and enter the domain name you want to register in the search box.

Search domain name on GoDaddy

If your domain name is available, then you will see a success message with your domain name listed on top. You can now go ahead and add it to the cart.

Add domain name to the cart

Next, click on the continue to cart button to check out.

GoDaddy, will now show you some additional services that you can purchase with your domain name. You can skip those by selecting ‘No thanks’ and click on the continue button.

Continue to the cart

On the next page, you will see your domain name and its registration period. You can change the registration period to up to 10 years if you want.

However, we don’t recommend that. You can always renew your domain name before it expires, so if you want to save money, then you can select just 1 year registration period.

Domain name registration period and amount

You will need to create a Godaddy account to proceed.

After you have created an account, you will be able to enter your billing address and make a payment for your domain name.

GoDaddy will now register your domain name, and they will send you an email with a link to your domain control panel.

Pro Tip: You should make sure that auto-renew on your domain is turned on, so Godaddy can automatically bill your account and renew your domain name. This way you won’t lose your domain if you forgot to renew it.

3. Other Ways to Register a Domain Name

There are plenty of other domain name registrars that you can choose from. Prices for domain name registrations are pretty much the same on all those registration services. However, their user interface and domain management tools can be lacking at times.

If you don’t want to use GoDaddy for some reason, then we recommend trying out either NameCheap as the best alternative.

If you want a free domain name with website hosting but don’t want to use Bluehost, then you can use InMotion Hosting or GreenGeeks, both are listed among the best WordPress hosting providers in our list.

Domain Registration FAQs

Since we have helped over 130,000 people start a website, we have gotten just about every question you can possibly think of. Below are the answers to some of the top domain name questions:

Which is the best domain name registrar?

We believe that Godaddy is the best domain name registrar given their long history. However it’s a smarter money decision to get a free domain with web hosting like Bluehost. You can always transfer your domain name if you decide to switch hosting provider.

How can I buy a domain name permanently?

You cannot buy a domain name permanently. Domain names registration is done on a yearly basis. However you can pre-pay for up to 10 years which guarantees that you will have a domain name for 10 years.

How can I reserve a domain name without buying it?

There is no way to reserve a domain name without purchasing it. You have to buy it if you want to reserve it. Considering the low cost of a domain name, it’s a small investment for a business.

Is there a way to buy an existing domain name?

Yes, you can use brokerage like Sedo.com to potentially acquire an existing domain name. However it’s not guaranteed that you will get the domain name that you want because the seller may not want to sell it or ask for an outrageous price.

We hope this article helped you learn how to register a domain name for your website. You may also want to see our tips on how to make money online with your new domain name and/or how to create a professional email address with your 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 How to Register a Domain Name (+ simple tip to get it for FREE) appeared first on WPBeginner.

How Post Relationships Can Help Build Advanced Sites – Doctors And Patients Example

Post Relationships, Repeatable Fields, Toolset, WordPress Plugins

Tools which help you save time are generally a precious commodity – for developers they are priceless. Toolset has added two new features which will not only see you working smarter than ever before but will also make it easier to create websites which look more professional than ever. The first is the addition of ... Read moreHow Post Relationships Can Help Build Advanced Sites – Doctors And Patients Example

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