An overwhelming abundance of evidence indicates that responsiveness and speed are the two essential factors that determine the website’s performance on all devices. Hence, the primary role of page load speed in responsive themes is to ensure users don’t have to wait for more than a few fractions of a second for a page to [...]
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Are you trying to understand the difference between WordPress widgets vs blocks?
WordPress widgets and blocks are both used to add dynamic content elements to posts, pages, sidebars, and templates. Widgets have been a core part of WordPress for 16 years, while blocks have only been a part of the platform since 2018. They serve similar functions, but they aren’t the same.
In this article, we’ll explain the difference between WordPress widgets and blocks, so you can learn how to use them properly.
Here is a quick overview of the topics we’ll cover in this article.
WordPress widgets are dynamic-content elements that you can add to widget-ready areas like sidebars.
Widgets were introduced in WordPress 2.2 (May 2007). The purpose was to provide users with an easy way to add customizable elements to their website without having to repeatedly insert the same element at the end of blog posts, for instance, or edit their WordPress theme files to create a sidebar and manually code in something like Google AdSense tracking codes.
Users could simply insert content or features using widgets that didn’t have to be part of their overall theme files or blog posts.
Widgets made it much easier for users to create their ideal WordPress blog, letting them easily add banner ads or email sign-up forms.
Gradually, almost all WordPress themes adapted widgets by adding widget-ready areas in their design and layouts. These were most often sidebars and footers.
The WordPress widget editor looked like this until WordPress 5.8 was released in 2021.
Blocks are the elements that users can add to an area using the WordPress content editor. WordPress switched to this block-based content editor in WordPress 5.0.
You may also see it referred to as the Gutenberg editor, which was its development codename.
Blocks are very similar to widgets because each one handles a single element of the page or post. Unlike widgets, however, blocks were introduced only as part of the post and page editor, which means they could not be easily added to areas like the site footer or sidebar.
A block can be inserted into a post or page for any element, including a paragraph, an image, a gallery, a plugin-specific feature like email signups, or a video embed.
There are also blocks to add design layout elements like covers, patterns, tables, columns, groups, and more.
To learn more, see our complete WordPress block editor tutorial which shows how to use the default editor to create beautiful content layouts.
Until WordPress 5.8, the difference between widgets and blocks was quite obvious.
Users added widgets to their theme’s widget-ready areas. They were primarily used to display elements that were not post/page content. For instance, recent posts lists, important links, banner ads, forms, and more.
However, the difference between widgets and blocks has become quite blurry now.
Widgets are self-contained elements that can be used in widget-ready areas like sidebars on a WordPress website.
Blocks are also self-contained elements that you can access through the block editor. They can be used in posts and pages, as well as widget-ready areas. You can also use them in templates if your theme has enabled the full site editor.
Widgets were the first to allow developers to output other elements like contact forms, testimonials, social media feeds, and more.
However, the same can be achieved using blocks. Many of the top WordPress plugins now come with blocks that you can add anywhere.
For instance, WPForms comes with a contact form block that you can add anywhere to display a form.
Similarly, All in One SEO comes with blocks for the table of contents, HTML sitemap, breadcrumb navigation, and more.
WordPress planned to adapt the block editor for editing all areas of your website including the widget-ready areas.
To make this happen, the new block-based widget editor was introduced in WordPress 5.8.
Users were now able to use blocks in widget-ready areas of their themes.
Widgets are still located under the Appearance » Widgets menu.
However, if you are using a block-based theme that doesn’t have any defined widget-ready areas, then you may not see it under there. You will see Appearance » Editor instead.
Many of the legacy WordPress widgets already have blocks that can do the same thing.
Click on the add new block button (+) and you will find a bunch of blocks categorized as Widgets.
These are still blocks, but they are just categorized as widgets so that users can understand that these blocks behave like legacy widgets.
However, if a user still needed to use a legacy widget that doesn’t have an alternative block, then they can do so by using the Legacy Widgets block.
If a WordPress plugin has a block that you can add to the posts and pages, you can now also use the same block in widget-ready areas.
Theme developers can also create custom blocks that users can add to different areas of their websites.
WordPress is moving forward towards using a more intuitive and unified way to edit the content on a WordPress website.
This means that older widgets will no longer be available going forward. WordPress themes and plugin developers are already adapting and adding support for the block editor in their products.
However, many WordPress themes still use older widgets. Similarly, many WordPress plugins still use shortcodes and legacy widgets.
If you still need to use the old widgets, then you can disable block widgets in WordPress.
The simple way would be to do it by using the free WPCode plugin which allows you to customize WordPress without adding dozens of plugins.
It has a pre-made snippets that you can use to disable block widgets.
Alternatively, you can also use Classic Widgets plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, the plugin will simply replace the block-based widget editor with the older widget page.
Note: Classic Widgets plugin will only be supported until 2024. After then, the plugin will not be updated or maintained this is why we recommend using WPCode to future-proof your customization.
We recommend users start using the new block-based widgets editor as soon as possible because that’s the direction WordPress development is heading.
It is easy to use, modern, and more flexible than the previous Widgets screen.
If a WordPress plugin or theme on your website doesn’t support block-based widgets, then you can reach out to the developer and ask them to convert their widgets into blocks.
If they don’t have plans to release an update, then you can easily find alternative plugins or themes to replace them.
We hope this article helped you understand the difference between WordPress widgets vs blocks. You may also want to see our pick of the best block plugins for WordPress or see our guide on the difference between the block editor vs page builders.
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 WordPress Widgets vs Blocks – What’s the Difference? (Explained) first appeared on WPBeginner.
Are you comparing Nextiva vs RingCentral vs Ooma to find out the best VoIP provider for your business?
Many small businesses rely on phone services to communicate with customers and Nextiva, RingCentral, and Ooma are among the top business VOIP providers on the market.
In this article, we’ll compare Nextiva vs RingCentral vs Ooma to help you decide which one is the best small business VoIP provider.
Many small businesses use VoIP phone services for sales, customer support, and team collaboration.
Nextiva, RingCentral, and Ooma are considered among the top VoIP providers for small businesses.
They offer toll-free numbers, virtual numbers, cheaper local and international call rates, easier team collaboration, and more.
Business phone services is a highly competitive industry and all of our top three contenders offer similar features and pricing. This makes it difficult for small business owners to choose one of them for their business.
To make this easier, we’ll do a side-by-side comparison of Nextiva, RingCentral, and Ooma for the best business VoIP service providers.
We’ll look into the following criteria.
That being said, let’s take a look at Nextiva vs RingCentral vs Ooma to find out which one is the best small business VOIP provider.
Pricing is one of the top deciding factors for small businesses looking for a VoIP service provider.
All three of our contenders offer very competitive pricing for similar features. However, they use a variable pricing model based on the number of users, plan duration, and features.
This makes it difficult to decide which VoIP service provider is cheaper for small businesses.
Nextiva Pricing
Nextiva has a variable pricing model where your pricing changes based on the number of users, payment duration, and feature plans.
For instance, you can get started for $18.95 per user each month (paid annually) if you have more than 20 users.
If you have fewer than 4 users, then you can get started for $23.95 per user each month (paid annually).
This means that your costs will go down as your team size grows and you need to add more users to your account.
RingCentral Pricing
RingCentral pricing plans use a slightly different pricing model.
Their Essential plan starts at $19.95 per user each month (paid annually) for up to 20 users.
This means that if you have a smaller team of fewer than 20 users, then you can save some money and have room for growth too.
Ooma Pricing
Ooma offers pretty straightforward fees. Their rates differ based on which plan you choose regardless of the number of users.
This means that if you choose the Essential plan, then you will pay at the same rate when your team grows.
Ooma only offers month-to-month payment plans which means you pay as you go and can easily cancel at any time.
Winner: Tie – All three of our contenders offer similar pricing that is very close to each other.
Perhaps the most important thing when choosing a VoIP provider is the features they offer.
Nextiva, RingCentral, and Ooma all offer a ton of features with each of their business phone service plans.
However, you’ll need to choose one based on your own requirements. For instance, video conferencing may not be important for some small businesses, while it could be a deal breaker for others.
Another important thing to consider is which pricing plan includes the features you need. As all of them offer different sets of features for each VoIP plan.
Nextiva Features
As one of the best business VoIP providers on the market, Nextiva offers a unified communications platform with the most value-to-money features.
Plus, you can share the same number with different team members.
Contact management features make it super easy to follow up on calls and don’t let the leads slip away.
You can also integrate your own CRM software or use Nextiva CRM for better lead management.
Basically, you can run your own small cloud-based call center at the fraction of the cost with highly advanced features to save you time and resources.
RingCentral Features
When it comes to features RingCentral gives tough competition to Nextiva.
They offer all the business phone features that a small business would need and then some more.
RingCentral offers all common VoIP phone features like call forwarding, number sharing, call waiting, call management, and more.
It also has integrations for popular CRM software like Salesforce, Zendesk, and more.
Ooma Features
Ooma Office offers a bunch of features in their VoIP plans that will help you grow your small business.
However, some features are available in their more expensive plans. For instance, you can only get access to the Desktop app and text messaging with their PRO plan.
Following are the features you can expect to get based on the plan you choose:
While Ooma offers the most commonly requested features for a VoIP provider, it does lack several features offered by the other top contenders.
Winner: Nextiva
Integrations help you connect your VoIP phone service to other apps and platforms that you may already be using.
Many businesses need integrations with CRM software like Salesforce, Zendesk, Hubspot, and more. This helps them easily manage customer relationships and can keep track of leads without losing them.
Let’s see how our top contenders stack up when it comes to integrations.
Nextiva Integrations
Nextiva offers comprehensive integrations suitable for all types of small businesses.
It has ready-to-use integrations for all the top CRM software, productivity suites, team communication apps, and more.
This includes Salesforce, Zendesk, HubSpot, Zoho, Microsoft Outlook, Google Workspace, Microsoft Teams, and more.
RingCentral Integrations
RingCentral offers an extensive set of integrations as apps and add-ins that you can add to your account.
They offer several apps for Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Dynamics, and more.
Their integrations also cover the top CRM software that you may already be using including Salesforce, Zoho, HubSpot, and more.
Ooma Integrations
Ooma does not offer as many integrations as Nextiva or RingCentral. Their Pro plan offers integration with Google and Microsoft Office 365.
You’ll need to upgrade to their Pro Plus plan to unlock Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics 365 integrations.
Apart from that, you can still use it with your own CRM software but it will be less efficient to track contact history and manage leads within your phone or CRM software.
Winner: Nextiva
Unlike traditional phones, VoIP phones are a relatively new technology so many small businesses may need a little bit of help to make the most out of it.
This is why customer support is an important aspect to consider when choosing your VoIP phone service provider.
Let’s compare how our top contenders stack up in terms of customer support options.
Nextiva Customer Support
Nextiva customer support is available through 24/7 live chat, email tickets, and phone.
Plus, they have a comprehensive knowledge base that covers all the commonly asked questions by users.
Finding answers in the knowledge base is fast and easiest way to fix things on your own. However, if you need to speak with someone, then you’ll find their phone and live chat support agents friendly and helpful.
Customer support representatives know their stuff very well and wouldn’t mind going to great lengths to help you out.
RingCentral Customer Support
RingCentral offers support through 24/7 phone, live chat, and email tickets. They also have an extensive library of articles, how-to guides, manuals, and more.
Support response times are fast and representatives are well-trained and highly helpful.
Ooma Customer Support
Ooma offers the same customer support options as the other contenders on the list.
This includes 24/7 live chat support, email tickets, self-help articles, and phone support.
Winner: Tie
With many businesses switching to a remote or hybrid work model, it is important to consider the mobility of your VoIP service.
This allows remote teams to stay in touch and never miss a call even when away from the desk.
All three of our contenders offer mobile apps for Android and iOS devices. Let’s see how their mobile apps perform against each other.
Nextiva Mobile Apps
Apart from laptop and desk phone systems, Nextiva also offers apps for iOS and Android smartphones.
These apps come with a sleek and easy-to-use interface that allows you to easily make and receive calls, text with team members, manage contacts, and more.
RingCentral Mobile Apps
RingCentral also offers mobile apps for Android and iOS smartphones. These apps are highly intuitive and allow you to easily manage calls while on the go.
Additionally, RingCentral offers separate apps for Meeting Rooms, which is their video conferencing platform.
Ooma Mobile Apps
Ooma doesn’t offer desktop apps for its Essential plan but it does offer mobile apps for all small business plans including the Essential plan.
The app provides easier contact management, and call and text functions. However, user reviews indicate that it does not work very well for many users.
Winner: RingCentral
We believe that Nextiva is the best small business VoIP phone provider on the market.
It offers competitive pricing, a ton of features, the best call quality, lower rates for international calls, and a wide range of numbers to choose from (local, international, toll-free, vanity numbers, and more).
→ Click Here to Get Started with Nextiva ←
Note: WPBeginner users can use our Nextiva Coupon to get 20% off when they sign up.
RingCentral comes as a very close second. They offer many of the features offered by their competitors and a slightly better mobile app experience. You can use our RingCentral coupon to get a discount.
We hope this article helped you compare Nextiva vs RingCentral vs Ooma to find out which one is the best VoIP service. You may also want to see our pick of the best email marketing services for small business, or see our article on how to get a free business email address.
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 Nextiva vs RingCentral vs Ooma: Which is Better? (Compared) first appeared on WPBeginner.
Are you looking for the best practices to maximize the SEO benefits of internal links?
Internal links play an important role in search engine optimization (SEO). They help search engines discover your content and rank them higher in search results.
In this article, we’ll list the best practices to use for internal linking for SEO.
Internal links are links between posts on your own website. Having internal links is important for your WordPress SEO. They help search engines like Google crawl your website and discover new content to index and rank.
Generally, the more links a page has pointing to it, the more likely it is to rank higher in search results. That means that you can use internal links to point to important pages on your site as a way to increase their traffic.
Internal links also help your visitors easily find related articles and provide a better user experience overall. This can also help increase pageviews and reduce your bounce rate.
That being said, let’s take a look at the best practices for improving SEO by adding internal links in WordPress. Since this is a comprehensive guide, we have included a table of contents for easier navigation.
We recommend that you make a habit of linking to your older articles from your new articles.
It’s a great way to develop a contextual relationship between your new and old posts. It also allows you to pass relevant link juice to your older articles.
Because internal links play such an important role in SEO, we have even made it part of our pre-publish blog post checklist for WPBeginner writers.
You can also edit your older articles to add links to your newer content whenever you publish. Many successful bloggers dedicate time to adding internal links that point to new articles on a weekly or monthly basis.
This will help you boost your pageviews, increase the time users spend on your site, and ultimately will improve the SEO score of your individual blog posts and pages.
WordPress makes it easy to search for your old posts right inside the post editor. Simply select the text you want to link and click on the link button in the toolbar that appears.
A text pop-up will appear below your highlighted words. Then, you can start typing to search for the older articles you want to link to.
To learn more, see our beginner’s guide on how to add a link in WordPress.
It’s helpful to see your website’s SEO performance in terms of links by using a tool such as the Links Report in Google Search Console. This is a helpful starting point for working out how to improve internal linking on your site.
The Links Report will show you how many pages are linking to this page. You can compare it with other pages and see whether pages with more internal links are ranking higher than posts with many internal links.
If you find that posts with more links do rank higher, then you can go ahead and start adding internal links to pages that you want to rank higher. For the details, see our guide on using Google Search Console to effectively grow your website traffic.
Just make sure you are only linking to the article when it makes sense. Adding links where they don’t make sense creates a bad user experience.
Another way to monitor the impact of internal linking is to see which keywords are gaining or losing position. All in One SEO makes this extremely easy with the Search Statistics feature.
Once you connect the plugin with Google Search Console, All in One SEO will fetch your Google Search Console data and present it under All in One SEO » Search Statistics.
The keyword positions chart shows a graph of your site’s keyword positions.
Below this, you’ll see the Keyword Rankings overview box. This shows your top 10 keywords, and if you use them for internal links they are very likely to be clicked.
If you’re not sure which posts you want to link to, then you will often find it faster to add internal links in WordPress using an internal linking plugin.
We recommend using All in One SEO. It includes a unique Link Assistant feature that lets you add links to your old and new content without having to open up the post. Plus, it provides link recommendations, detailed link reports, and much more.
To set up the plugin, see our guide on how to set up All in One SEO for WordPress correctly. After that, simply navigate to All in One SEO » Link Assistant in your WordPress dashboard.
Link Assistant will crawl every link on your website and then show a comprehensive list report.
The report will show you an overview of the links with total counts for internal, external, and affiliate links. It will also show you the number of orphaned posts that have not yet been linked to from another post or page.
You can switch to the Links Report tab for detailed information on all your links. Here you’ll see a list of all your posts and pages with columns for internal, external, and affiliate links.
It will also show a number of suggestions where you can add links.
For more details, you can click on the right arrow button next to a post or page. This will show all links organized in different tabs. From the suggestions tab, you can quickly view link suggestions and add links without directly editing a post or page.
Link Assistant also helps you discover more internal linking opportunities.
You can switch to the ‘Linking Opportunities’ tab to see suggestions about how to improve the internal linking on your website, and also see the list of orphaned posts so you can add links to them.
Another plugin useful for internal linking is Semrush SEO Writing Assistant because it can help you keep track of links inside your article.
For example, it lets you know when your article has too many or too few internal links and also suggests ways you can improve your links.
This tool also comes in handy if you have other authors working on articles. Editors can quickly see if the article includes internal links to other posts on your website.
We show you how to use this plugin step-by-step to improve your SEO in our guide on how to use the SEO Writing Assistant in WordPress.
You can use a WordPress popular posts plugin to point users toward the articles that other users have already found helpful. These plugins automatically create a list of internal links to your most popular content.
Popular posts are usually your most successful content, which means they are more likely to increase user engagement, conversions, and sales. They are also a good opportunity for internal linking to your other less popular articles.
For example, MonsterInsights has a feature that allows you to show your popular articles anywhere on your WordPress site. You can use also use inline popular posts to show articles inside your content.
If you want to show articles in the sidebar or at the end of your content, then you can select the Popular Post Widget. MonsterInsights even lets you display your top-performing products anywhere on your eCommerce store.
You can learn more in our guide on how to display popular posts in WordPress.
Another way to increase the number of internal links on your WordPress blog is to create roundups of your existing content. You do this by creating a new post that mentions your best articles on a certain subject to give a detailed overview of the topic.
In fact, you’re reading a post like that now.
Luckily, there are some plugins that make this job easy. For example, WP Tasty Roundups allows you to quickly repurpose your existing content into beautiful roundup posts that rank in search results.
All you need to do is type one or two keywords into the built-in search functionality, and the plugin will automatically pull images, titles, descriptions, and links from relevant posts into your roundup list.
Sitelinks are a feature on Google search engine results pages (SERPs) where additional sub-pages appear under a website in the search results.
These are often internal links to the most popular pages of that website.
The top 3 spots on Google get the most clicks. When sitelinks are shown for a website, it takes up the same amount of space as three regular search listings.
Having this much screen space dedicated to your site significantly increases your overall click-through rate. Simply put, more visitors will visit your website from the keyword.
While there is no guaranteed way to get Google to show sitelinks for your website, it certainly helps to create lots of internal links to your most important posts and pages.
You can learn more in our guide on how to get Google sitelinks for your WordPress site.
Link preloading is a browser technology that will load links in the background before a site visitor clicks them. This makes your website seem faster, which can improve SEO.
Because loading speed is one of the top indicators for search engine rankings and user engagement, when your internal pages are preloaded, your visitors are more likely to stay on your website longer.
They are more likely to view more pages because they’re loading instantly.
The easiest way to preload links is by using the Flying Pages plugin. It simply adds intelligent preloading to make sure preloading won’t crash your site or even slow it down.
We show you how to set up the plugin step-by-step in our guide on how to preload links in WordPress for faster loading speeds.
Broken links are bad for your website’s SEO. Search engine crawlers find new content on your website by following internal links, so a broken link can stop them from indexing a new post.
They also negatively impact user experience because broken links will return a 404 error. If a visitor clicks on a link and is unable to find a page they’re looking for, then they may leave.
You can easily find and fix broken links on your WordPress website using All in One SEO.
AIOSEO offers a powerful redirection manager that helps track 404 errors on your website and lets you set up permanent 301 redirects to fix broken links.
To learn more, see our detailed guide on how to find and fix broken links in WordPress.
If you ever move your WordPress site to a new domain name, then it is important to update all internal link URLs. Otherwise, you will have lots of broken links.
You should start by changing the WordPress address and site URL by visiting the Settings » General page from your WordPress dashboard.
But you will also need to change the URLs of every internal link added to your posts and pages.
You’ll find the simplest way to do this in our step-by-step guide on how to easily update URLs when moving your WordPress site.
If you want to make internal linking a habit, then it helps to use the most efficient method. Since WordPress 6.0, WordPress has supported standard MediaWiki syntax to quickly add internal links when creating or editing a post.
You can now quickly add links by adding two square brackets followed by the post title. The animated gif below shows you how easy this feature is to use inside WordPress.
The link will automatically add the correct URL to the post, and use the post title as an anchor link.
If you know the title of a post (or even just part of it), then using the double square bracket method is the fastest way of creating an internal link.
One of the best ways to uncover how users interact with your website is to track which internal links your visitors are clicking. Tools such as MonsterInsights can help you see which internal links your visitors are the most interested in.
You can then use these insights to improve the way you add internal links to your posts and pages.
We offer detailed instructions on tracking different types of links in our guide on how to track link clicks and button clicks in WordPress.
You might also like to see our guide on how to track user engagement in WordPress.
Breadcrumb navigation is a term used to describe a hierarchical navigation menu presented as a trail of links.
It’s often used as a secondary navigation that allows users to go up in the website’s hierarchy of pages.
Breadcrumbs are great for internal linking because they define a clean path or trail to the page you are on.
These breadcrumbs also appear in search results giving your site an extra advantage in rankings.
We cover two ways to add breadcrumbs in our guide on how to display breadcrumb navigation links in WordPress. Most users will find Method 1 easier, using All in One SEO.
You can also use All in One SEO to enable breadcrumbs for your WooCommerce products. For details, see the fifth tip in our guide on WooCommerce SEO made easy.
We hope this tutorial helped you learn how the best internal linking practices for SEO. You may also want to see our ultimate WordPress security guide, or check out our list of tips on 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 Internal Linking for SEO: The Ultimate Guide of Best Practices first appeared on WPBeginner.
Do you want to sell audiobooks online?
By selling your books as downloadable audio files, you can make money without having to pay for shipping or printing. You can also sell the same audio file an unlimited number of times.
In this article, we will show you how to easily sell audiobooks online using WordPress.
There are lots of ways to share your experiences or knowledge online. You can create an online course, record a webinar, or even start a podcast.
Another option is recording that information as an audiobook. This is a great way to collect everything you want to say into a single, downloadable file that’s easy to distribute and sell to other people.
Unlike traditional printed books, you don’t have to pay printing or shipping fees for your audiobooks. You also don’t have to worry about physical storage, supplies, or managing your inventory. All of this means lower costs and bigger profits, which makes audiobooks the perfect way to make money online with WordPress.
If you have an ebook, then there are plenty of services that can help you turn it into an audiobook including ACX. Every audiobook you make on ACX will be available on Audible.com, Amazon.com, and iTunes, but it’s also a good idea to add the audiobook to your own website.
With that in mind, let’s see how you can sell audiobooks online. Simply use the quick links below to jump straight to the method you want to use.
The easiest way to sell audiobooks online is by using Easy Digital Downloads. Easy Digital Downloads is one of the best eCommerce WordPress plugins, and it’s designed specifically to sell digital products.
Unlike general eCommerce plugins, Easy Digital Downloads has the specific features you need to promote, sell, and distribute digital products with ease. This means you don’t have to waste time and effort with unnecessary settings, such as configuring your store’s shipping.
Even better, if you’re using SiteGround then Easy Digital Downloads already comes pre-installed on their EDD plan, so you can start using it straight away.
If you’re using a different hosting provider, then you’ll need to install and activate the Easy Digital Downloads plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, go to Downloads » Settings in the WordPress dashboard.
Even though you’re selling audiobooks, you’ll need to set your store’s location. This allows Easy Digital Downloads to auto-fill some fields in the order form, which will help improve the customer experience.
Easy Digital Downloads also uses your location to calculate sales tax.
To add your location, simply open the ‘Business Country’ dropdown menu. You can then choose where your business is based.
Next, find the ‘Business Region’ field.
Here you can open the dropdown and choose the region where your store operates from.
After making these changes, go ahead and click on Save Changes to store your settings.
Next, you’ll need a way to accept credit card payments in WordPress by clicking on the ‘Payments’ tab. Then make sure the ‘General’ tab is selected.
In the Payment Gateways section, check the box next to each gateway that you want to add to your WordPress blog or website.
If you add more than one payment method, then you’ll need to choose a default gateway.
You can use any gateway you want, but Stripe can accept credit cards as well as Apple Pay and Google Pay. This is why we recommend using Stripe as the default payment gateway.
With that done, click on the ‘Save Changes’ button.
You’ll now see some new tabs where you can configure each payment method.
Configuring the payment gateway will be slightly different depending on which gateway you’re using, but Easy Digital Downloads will walk you through the process.
Once you’ve set up at least one payment gateway, you’re ready to start uploading audiobooks to your WordPress website.
To create a digital product, select Downloads from the left-hand menu. Then, click on the ‘Add New’ button.
You can now type a name for the product into the ‘Enter download name here’ field. This will appear on the audiobook’s page, so you’ll want to use something that catches the visitor’s attention and accurately describes the book.
Next, type out the description that will appear on the ebook’s product page. You’ll want to give visitors all the information they need to decide whether this book is right for them.
Many online stores use product categories and tags to help shoppers find what they’re looking for. If you’re selling lots of audiobooks, then these categories and tags help visitors find related audiobooks, which can get you more sales.
You can create new categories and tags in the Categories and Tags boxes.
For more information, see our step-by-step guide on how to add categories and tags for WordPress pages.
Next, you’ll want to set a price by scrolling to the Download Prices section. Here, type in how much visitors will pay to download the audiobook.
You’re now ready to upload the audio file that you want to sell. When it comes to audio, WordPress supports mp3, ogg, and wav. It also supports m4a, although this format may not work on all browsers.
Pro Tip: If you want to sell audiobooks in a file type that WordPress doesn’t support, then see our guide on how to allow additional file types in WordPress.
To add an audio file, simply scroll to the Download Files section.
In the File Name field, type a name for the file that shoppers will get when they buy the audiobook. Then, simply click on ‘Upload a File.’
You can now choose any audio file from the WordPress media library, or you can upload a new audiobook from your computer.
Finally, you’ll need to add a product image, which will usually be your audiobook’s front cover. Simply scroll to the Download Image section and then click on the ‘Set Download Image’ link.
This launches the WordPress media library where you can choose an image or upload a new file from your computer.
When you’re happy with your digital download, click on the Publish button to make it live.
Easy Digital Downloads will now create the audiobook as a downloadable product, but visitors still need a way to access the product page.
This might mean adding the page to your website’s menu, creating a sales page where you advertise all your audiobooks, or even adding the book to a custom home page.
No matter what method you choose, you’ll need to know the audiobook’s URL.
To get this link, simply go to Downloads » Downloads. Then, find the audiobook you just created, and click on its ‘Edit’ link.
You will then find the URL directly below the product title.
Now, you can link to this product page from any area of your website, simply by using its URL. To learn more, see our step-by-step guide on how to add a link in WordPress.
Easy Digital Downloads also creates a ‘Purchase’ button for this particular audiobook. Visitors can click this button to add the audiobook to their cart.
You can add the button for this book to any page, post, or widget-ready area. This allows visitors to start the purchasing process without even Needing to visit the individual product’s page.
To get the audiobook’s shortcode, simply scroll to its Download Settings section. You can then copy the text in the ‘Purchase Shortcode’ field.
For more information on placing the shortcode, please see our guide on how to add a shortcode in WordPress.
Every time someone buys an audiobook from your website, Easy Digital Downloads will send them an email and download link.
While this email has everything the customer needs to access their download, it’s a good idea to customize it. For example, we recommend adding your own logo and branding.
To customize the default email, simply go to Downloads » Settings. Then click on the ‘Emails’ tab.
When you’ve finished making changes, you may want to send a test email so you can see how the message will look to your customers.
To do this, simply click on the ‘Send Test Email’ button and Easy Digital Downloads will send an email to your admin email address.
Have you clicked on the ‘Send Test Email’ button, but haven’t got a test email? If your site isn’t sending emails correctly, then customers won’t be able to download your audiobook.
With that in mind, you can follow our guide on how to fix the WordPress not sending email issue. You can use WP Mail SMTP to make sure the purchase confirmation emails arrive safely in the customer’s inbox.
When you’re happy with how the email looks, you can go ahead and click on the ‘Save Changes’ button.
This is all you need to start selling audiobooks online. However, Easy Digital Downloads has lots more advanced features that can help you sell audiobooks.
For more information on Easy Digital Downloads, please see our guide on how to sell digital downloads on WordPress.
Another option is using your audiobooks to create recurring revenue streams.
For example, you might offer members unlimited monthly or annual access to all your audiobooks for a membership fee. In this way, you can get reliable recurring revenue over a longer period of time.
A membership site is also a great choice if you’re releasing your audiobooks as a series.
If you want to get recurring revenue, then MemberPress is the best WordPress membership plugin. It allows you to accept payments, create an unlimited number of membership levels, restrict access to audiobook pages based on membership subscription, and more.
First, you need to install and activate the MemberPress plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, go to the MemberPress » Settings page to configure the plugin settings.
To start, you’ll need to set up a payment gateway.
Out of the box, MemberPress supports PayPal (Standard, Express, and Pro), Stripe, and Authorize.net. You simply need to select the payment method you want to use and then type in the required credentials, such as your PayPal email address.
You may want to add multiple methods, so members can use their preferred gateway. When that’s done, don’t forget to click on the Update Options button to save your settings.
With the setup out of the way, it’s time to create one or more membership levels. These are the subscriptions that visitors will buy to access your audiobooks, or other content.
MemberPress allows you to offer different content for different membership levels. For example, you might create Bronze, Silver, and Gold memberships and then give members access to different audiobooks.
To create the first membership plan, go to the MemberPress » Memberships page and then click on the ‘Add New’ button.
On the next screen, you’ll need to provide a title for the membership plan and then add details in the post editor.
After that, you can set the pricing, billing type, interval, and expiration under the ‘Membership Terms’ section.
Next, scroll to the Membership Options box below the editor.
Here, you can customize the plan permissions and membership options.
When you’re happy with how the plan is set up, go ahead and click on ‘Publish.’ To create more membership levels, simply repeat the same process described above.
Once you’ve created all the membership levels, it’s time to add some access rules. These allow you to restrict access to your audiobooks based on the user’s membership plan.
Just go to MemberPress » Rules and then click on the Add New button.
Here, you can create all kinds of access rules, but you’ll typically start by selecting the audiobook that you want to restrict access to.
Under ‘Protected Content,’ open the dropdown menu and choose an option from the list. This might be the specific page where you embedded the audio file, content that has a particular tag, or any other option from the list.
After that, open the ‘Access Conditions’ dropdown and choose ‘Membership.’
In the second dropdown menu, select the membership level people will need in order to access this content.
There are more settings that you can configure, but this is all you need to create a simple access rule.
When you’re happy with how the rule is set up, click on ‘Save Rule.’ To create more access rules, simply follow the same process described above.
Now that everything is set up, you’ll need to make sure visitors can buy memberships and log into their accounts. Thankfully, MemberPress comes with ready-made forms that you can add to your site.
We recommend adding the MemberPress login widget to a widget-ready area, so members can log in from any page.
Simply head over to Appearance » Widgets and add the ‘MemberPress login’ widget to the sidebar or similar section.
To learn more, please see our guide on how to add and use widgets in WordPress.
Don’t forget to click on the ‘Update’ button to save your widget settings.
There are a few different ways to add a signup page to your website, but MemberPress automatically creates a registration page for each membership level. This means you can simply add these pages to your main navigation menu.
In your WordPress dashboard, go to Appearance » Menus. In the left-hand menu, simply click to expand the ‘Memberships’ section.
You’ll now see a list of all the different MemberPress levels.
To add a membership to the navigation menu, simply check the box next to it and then select ‘Add to menu.’
For step-by-step instructions, please see our guide on how to add a navigation menu.
When you’re happy with how the menu is set up, click on ‘Save Menu.’
At this point, you’ve created a website where visitors can buy audiobook subscriptions. However, MemberPress has lots more settings you can use to sell audiobooks, grow your brand, and get more members.
For more information about MemberPress, check out our ultimate guide to creating a WordPress membership site.
Easy Digital Downloads makes it easy to sell audiobooks on any WordPress blog or website, without you having to configure lots of unnecessary settings like shipping and handling.
However, if you’ve already created a WooCommerce store, then you can sell digital products like audiobooks using this popular eCommerce plugin.
Although it’s mostly used to sell physical products, you can add support for digital products by going to WooCommerce » Settings and then clicking on the ‘Products’ tab.
Here, click on the ‘Downloadable products’ link.
You can now open the ‘File download method’ dropdown and choose an option from the list.
When you’re selling digital downloads, there is a risk that customers may share the direct link with other people. This allows people to download your audiobook without paying.
‘Force Downloads’ helps to protect your site from direct linking, so it’s the recommended method. However, just be aware that very large files may result in a timeout, especially if your server has limited resources.
If this happens, then you may need to change your WordPress hosting plan or select a different file download method.
You may also want to enable the checkbox next to ‘Allow using redirect mode (insecure) as a last resort.’ If WooCommerce encounters any problems, then this setting will deliver the audiobook via an unsecured redirect link rather than showing an error.
This is a much better customer experience.
The second option is ‘X-Accel-Redirect/X-Sendfile,’ which serves the file directly to the customer. This protects the audiobook from unauthorized downloads without impacting your site’s performance.
However, this method requires you to install and enable the X-Accel-Redirect/X-Sendfile module on your server, so it’s not very beginner-friendly. Depending on your plan, you may also need to speak to your WooCommerce hosting provider.
The final option is ‘Redirect only,’ which uses a direct link to the file. This means your audiobook isn’t protected and anyone can access it using the URL. That said, we don’t recommend the ‘Redirect only’ method.
After selecting a download method, you can choose whether visitors must be logged into an account in order to download the audiobook.
Allowing guest checkout can get you more sales and downloads, but requiring users to register with your online store can help you do lead generation.
To make this decision, either enable or disable the ‘Downloads require login’ checkbox.
By default, customers can download the audiobook while their order is processing.
If you want to wait until the order is complete, then uncheck the following box: ‘Grant access to downloadable products after payment.’
By default, WooCommerce will download the audiobook to the customer’s computer.
Most of the time this is the best customer experience, but you can set the file to open in a new tab instead. The customer can then decide whether they want to save the file.
There are some use cases where this may be the better option. For example, if you’re showing the customer a free sample, or your audiobooks are short enough to enjoy in one sitting.
In this case, you may want to check the box next to ‘Open downloadable files in the browser.’
When you’re happy with the settings you’ve entered, click on ‘Save Changes.’
With that done, you’re ready to add the audiobook as a downloadable product by going to Products » Add New. Here, you can type in a title, add a description, upload a product image, and set the price as normal.
Then, scroll to ‘Product Data’ and check the box next to ‘Downloadable,’ which adds some new settings.
To start, click on ‘Add File.’
You can now either choose the audiobook from your media library or upload a new file from your computer.
After that, type in a filename for the audiobook.
By default, customers can download the audiobook as many times as they want, for as long as they want.
If you want to limit the number of downloads per customer, then type a number into the ‘Download limit’ field.
If you want the download link to expire after a certain number of days has passed, then type a number into the ‘Download expiry’ field.
When you’re happy with how the audiobook is set up, click on the ‘Publish’ button. The audiobook will now appear as a downloadable product on your online store.
We hope this article helped you learn how to sell audiobooks online. You may also want to check out our expert pick of the best WordPress plugins to grow your site, and our comparison of the best email marketing services for small businesses.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
The post How to Sell Audiobooks Online (3 Simple & Easy Ways) first appeared on WPBeginner.
Are you seeing a 500 internal server error in WordPress?
The internal server error is one of the most common WordPress errors. Since the error doesn’t give any other information, many beginners find it quite frustrating.
In this article, we will show you how to easily fix the 500 internal server error in WordPress.
Here is a quick overview of the topics we’ll cover in this article.
The 500 internal server error is a common web server error. It is not specific to WordPress websites and can happen with any website.
The 500 in the error message is technically an HTTP error code. Looking up this code will only show its standard description.
“500 Internal Server Error response code indicates that the server encountered an unexpected condition that prevented it from fulfilling the request.“
This is a generic catch-all error message which means that the server was unable to assign a better more helpful error message when it encountered the issue.
The error page looks different depending on which web server software (Nginx or Apache) your website is using and which browser you are using.
Here is how the Apache error page may look.
It may look different if you are using Nginx and Google Chrome.
It will also look different if Google chrome is unable to find an error page to display:
For beginners, this can be incredibly frustrating. There is no clue or message that would point them in the right direction to quickly fix it.
Asking how to fix an internal server error is like asking your doctor how to fix the pain you’re experiencing without telling them where the pain is.
However, if we know the common causes that trigger this error, then we can try fixing them one by one to resolve the error without breaking anything.
Internal server error in WordPress is often caused by a corrupt .htaccess file, poorly coded plugins, or your active WordPress theme.
Other possible causes of the internal server error in WordPress that we know of are: PHP memory limit or corrupt core WordPress files.
In some conditions, the internal server error may only show up when you are trying to access the WordPress admin area while the rest of the site works fine.
That being said, now let’s take a look at how to go about troubleshooting the internal server error in WordPress.
If you prefer written instructions, then continue reading.
Before you begin troubleshooting, make sure that you have a complete WordPress backup of your website on hand.
If you have access to the WordPress admin area, then you can a WordPress backup plugin to create a complete backup of your website. We recommend using Duplicator to handle this.
On the other hand, if you don’t have access to the WordPress admin area, then you can manually create a WordPress backup using phpMyAdmin and an FTP client.
After that, you can follow the following steps to troubleshoot and fix the internal server error on your website.
Browsers and your WordPress caching plugins can sometimes mistakenly store a cached copy of an error page.
The easiest way to fix this is by first clearing your browser cache.
After that, if you have access to the WordPress admin area of your website, then you can empty the WordPress cache by visiting your caching plugin’s settings page.
For details, see our tutorial on how to clear WordPress cache.
The .htaccess file is a server configuration file that is also used by WordPress to set up redirects.
One of the most common causes of the internal server error is the corrupt .htaccess file.
The easiest way to fix this is by simply visiting the Settings » Permalinks page in the WordPress admin area and then clicking on the ‘Save Changes’ button without making any changes at all.
WordPress will now try to update your .htaccess file or generate a new one for you. You can now visit your website to see if this has resolved the internal server error.
If you can still see the error, then you need to make sure that WordPress was able to generate or write to the .htaccess file.
Sometimes, due to file and directory permissions, WordPress may not be able to create or write to your .htaccess file.
You can now try to manually replace the .htaccess file. First, you need to login to your website using FTP or the File Manager app under your hosting account control panel.
Next, you need to rename your main .htaccess file to something like .htaccess_old. This lets you keep the file as a backup, but WordPress won’t recognize it.
To rename the .htaccess file, you will need to login to your site using FTP or File Manager app in your hosting account’s cPanel dashboard.
Once you are connected, the .htaccess file will be located in the same directory where you will see folders like wp-content, wp-admin, and wp-includes.
Simply, right-click on the .htaccess file and rename it to .htaccess_old.
Next, you need to create a new .htaccess file.
Inside your site’s root folder, right-click and then select ‘Create new file’ option in your FTP client or File Manager app.
Name this new file .htaccess and click OK to save it.
Now, this .htaccess file is currently empty and you need to add default WordPress rewrite rules to it.
Simply right-click on the file and then select View/Edit in your FTP client or File Manager app.
The empty file will open in a plain text editor like Notepad or TextEdit. Now, you need to copy and paste the following code inside it.
# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>
# END WordPress
This code is the default rule set used by WordPress. Don’t forget to save your changes and upload the file back to the server.
You can now visit your website to see if this has resolved the internal server error.
If it did, then give yourself a pat on the back because you fixed the internal server error.
Important: Before you move on with other things, make sure that you go to Settings » Permalinks page in the WordPress admin area and click the save button without making any changes. This will regenerate the .htaccess file for you with proper rewrite rules to ensure that your post pages do not return a 404 error.
If checking for the corrupt .htaccess file solution did not work for you, then you need to continue reading this article.
Sometimes the internal server error can happen if a script is consuming all the PHP memory limit.
The easiest way to increase the PHP memory limit is by editing the wp-config.php file. Be careful when you do this if you’re a beginner. You want to follow these instructions carefully because even small mistakes in WordPress core files can break your site.
To begin, simply connect to your WordPress website using an FTP client or the File Manager app under your hosting account control panel.
You’ll find wp-config.php file inside the main folder of your website. Right-click on it and select ‘Download.’ This will ensure that you have a backup of the file in case something goes wrong.
When you’ve saved that, you can right-click on it and select ‘View/Edit.’
Inside the wp-config.php file, you need to add the following code just above the line that reads ‘That’s all, stop editing! Happy publishing’.
define( 'WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M' );
For more details, see our tutorial on how to increase PHP memory limit in WordPress.
If you are seeing the internal server error only when you try to log in to your WordPress admin or upload an image in your wp-admin, then you should increase the memory limit by following these steps:
If increasing the memory limit fixed the problem for you, then you have only fixed the problem temporarily. You still need to find the cause that is exhausting your memory limit.
This could be a poorly coded plugin or even a theme function. We strongly recommend that you ask your WordPress web hosting company to look into the server logs to help you find the exact diagnostics.
If increasing the PHP memory limit did not fix the issue for you, then you are in for some more troubleshooting.
If none of the above solutions worked for you, then this error is most likely being caused by a specific plugin installed on your website.
It is also possible that it is a combination of plugins that are not playing nice with each other.
If you can access the WordPress admin area of your website, then you can simply go to the plugins page and deactivate all WordPress plugins.
However, if you are unable to access the WordPress admin area, then you can deactivate all WordPress plugins using FTP.
Simply connect to your WordPress website using an FTP client or the file manager app under your hosting account control panel.
Once connected, navigated to the /wp-content/ folder and rename the plugins folder to plugins.deactivated.
WordPress looks for plugins in the plugins folder. If the plugins folder is not found, then it will automatically deactivate all plugins.
You can now try visiting your website to see if this resolved the internal server error on your website.
To restore all your plugins, you can simply rename the plugins.deactivated folder back to plugins.
Your plugins will now be restored but they will still be deactivated.
You can now activate plugins one by one and visit your website to figure out which plugin is causing the internal server error.
For more details, see our guide on how to deactivate all WordPress plugins without WP-Admin.
If deactivating all plugins didn’t fix the internal server error on your website, then continue reading.
One possible cause of the internal server error could be some code in your WordPress theme.
To find out if this is the case, you need to switch your theme to a default WordPress theme.
If you have access to the WordPress admin area, then simply go to the Appearance » Themes page. If you have a default theme already installed then you can simply click on the Activate button to switch theme.
If you don’t have a default theme installed, then you can click on the Add New button at the top and install a default theme (Twenty Twenty-Three, Twenty Twenty-Two, etc).
Now in case you don’t have access to the WordPress admin area, you can still switch to a default theme.
Simply, connect to your WordPress website using an FTP client and navigate to the /wp-content/ folder.
Right-click to select the themes folder and download it to your computer as a backup.
Next, you need to delete the themes folder from your website. Once it is deleted, go ahead and create a new themes folder.
Your new themes folder will be completely empty which means you don’t have any WordPress themes installed at the moment.
Next, you need to visit the WordPress themes directory and download a default WordPress theme to your computer.
Your browser will then download the theme as a zip file to your computer.
Locate the file on your computer and then unzip it. Windows users can unzip file by right-clicking on it and then selecting Extract All. Mac users can double-click on the zip file to extract it.
You’ll now see a folder containing your WordPress theme.
Switch back to your FTP client or File Manager up and upload this folder to the empty themes folder.
Once uploaded, WordPress will automatically start using the default theme.
You can now visit your website to see if this resolved the internal server error.
If this didn’t work, then you can reupload your WordPress themes from the backup or switch back to the theme you were using.
Don’t worry there are still a few more things you can do to fix the error.
If the plugin and theme options didn’t fix the internal server error, then it is worth re-uploading the /wp-admin/ and /wp-includes/ folders from a fresh WordPress install.
This will NOT remove any of your information, but it may solve the problem in case any file was corrupted.
First, you will need to visit the WordPress.org website and click on the Download button.
This will download the WordPress zip file to your computer.
Go ahead and extract the zip file. Inside it, you will find a wordpress folder.
Next you need to connect to your WordPress website using an FTP client.
Once connected go to the root folder of your website. It is the folder that has wp-admin, wp-includes, wp-content folders inside it.
In the left column open the WordPress folder on your computer.
Now you need to select all files inside the wordpresss folder and upload them to your website.
Your FTP client will now transfer those folders to your server.
It will ask you whether you would like to overwrite the files. Select ‘Overwrite’ and then select ‘Always use this action’.
Your FTP client will now replace your older WordPress files with new, fresh copies.
If your WordPress files were corrupted, then this step will fix the internal server error for you.
WordPress comes with a built-in system to keep logs for debugging.
You can turn it on by using the WP Debugging plugin. For more details, see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Once activated, the plugin will turn on debugging logs on your WordPress website.
If you don’t have access to the admin area of your WordPress website, then you can turn on debugging by adding the following code to your wp-config.php file.
define( 'WP_DEBUG', true);
define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true);
Once you have turned on debug logs, you can view these logs by using an FTP client and navigating to the /wp-content/ folder.
You can open the debug log file in a text editor and it will show you a list of errors and warnings that occur on your website.
Some of these errors and warnings can be harmless incidents that may not need fixing. However, if you are seeing an internal server error on your website then these may point you in the right direction.
If all methods fail to fix the internal server error on your website, then it is time to get some more help. Contact your web hosting support team and they will be able to check the server logs and locate the root cause of the error.
If you want to continue troubleshooting on your own, then see our ultimate WordPress troubleshooting guide for beginners.
We hope this article helped you fix the internal server error in WordPress. You may also want to see our complete list of the most common WordPress errors, and our guide on how to choose the best web hosting provider.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
The post How to Fix the 500 Internal Server Error in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.
Do you want to download all the images and media files from your WordPress website?
By downloading your media library, you can easily store a backup of your media files on your computer or, if you have created another WordPress site, then you can also transfer these images from one site to another.
In this article, we’ll show you how to easily download your entire WordPress media library, step by step.
The WordPress media library stores all the media files that you have uploaded to your site. If you want to create a backup of these media files, then you can easily do that by downloading a copy of the media library and storing it on your computer.
You can always use a fully automated WordPress backup solution to back up your entire WordPress site (including plugins, themes, posts, and the media library).
However, most backup plugins do not offer an easy way to just download and upload your media library.
You could also use your WordPress hosting account file manager or FTP to download the media library, but these methods are a bit complicated and confusing for beginners.
With that being said, we’ll show you some easy ways to easily download your entire media library in WordPress.
For this method, we’ll be using a plugin to download the media files.
First, you need to install and activate the Export Media Library plugin. For more details, see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, go to the Media » Export page from your admin area.
Once you’re on the ‘Export Media Library’ page, simply choose the ‘Single folder with all files’ option from the dropdown menu beside the ‘Folder Structure’ option.
Now all your media will be downloaded into one folder. They will be downloaded as the original file types, such as JPG, PNG, or SVG.
If you want your media to be placed into separate folders based on the time of upload, then choose the ‘Nested Folder’ option from the dropdown menu.
After that, simply click the ‘Download Zip’ button, and your entire media library will be downloaded into a zip file on your computer.
If you want to create a backup for your entire WordPress website including the media library, then this method is for you.
We’ll be using the Duplicator plugin which is the best WordPress backup plugin on the market and enables you to create a complete backup of your WordPress website.
First, you’ll need to install and activate the Duplicator plugin. For more details, see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, you need to visit the Duplicator » Packages page from the admin sidebar and click on the ‘Create New’ button.
Next, you need to choose a name for your WordPress backup.
It can be anything that will help you identify the backup once it’s downloaded on your computer.
After that, click on the ‘Next’ button to continue.
In the next step, your website will be scanned for potential errors.
Once the scan is complete, simply click on the ‘build’ button to create your package.
Note: If an error is highlighted by Duplicator during the scan, you would need to solve that error before rescanning and building your package.
Once the package is built, you need to click on the ‘Download Both Files’ button.
Now, your installer and archive files will be downloaded simultaneously.
Your WordPress website backup including media files will now be downloaded and stored on your computer.
If you want to restore a WordPress backup, you may also want to see our guide on how to restore WordPress from a backup.
In this method, we’ll show you how to download your entire media library from your WordPress backend and import it to another WordPress website.
Note: This method allows you to download the media library without using any plugins. However, we do not recommend this method because it exports your media as an XML file.
This method can come in handy if you want to import your WordPress media library to one of your other websites.
For that, head over to the Tools » Export page from the WordPress admin dashboard.
Now that you’re on the ‘Export’ page, simply check the box beside the ‘Media’ option.
If you don’t want to download your entire library, then you can also select a date range for a specific time frame. With this feature, only the images uploaded during your chosen time frame will be downloaded.
Finally, click on the ‘Download Export File’ button.
Now, your WordPress media library will be saved on your computer as an XML file.
Next, you need to install and activate the WordPress Importer plugin. For more instructions, please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
This plugin will allow you to import your XML file to another WordPress website.
First, you need to visit the Tools » Import page from the admin sidebar.
Then you can simply click on the ‘Run Importer’ link below the ‘WordPress’ option.
This will take you to the ‘Import WordPress’ page where you need to click on the ‘Choose File’ button.
Now, you can upload your media library XML file from the computer.
Once you’re done, don’t forget to click on the ‘Upload file and import’ button to upload the media library.
We hope this article helped you download your WordPress media library. You may also want to see our tutorial on how to speed up your WordPress website, and our comparison of the best Instagram plugins for WordPress.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
The post How to Download Your Entire WordPress Media Library (3 Ways) first appeared on WPBeginner.
Do you want to add a full-screen welcome mat to your website?
A welcome mat is a full-screen, dynamic overlay that can help you get more newsletter subscribers, eBook downloads, sales to your products, and more.
In this article, we’ll share how to create a welcome mat for your WordPress site, along with some great welcome mat examples to learn from.
More than 70% of visitors leaving your WordPress website will never return unless you convert them into email subscribers or customers.
A welcome mat is a large, full-screen interstitial that blocks the view of the rest of your website’s content to capture the user’s attention.
That might sound like a bad idea, but it’s a great way to get your message in front of visitors straight away.
If visitors don’t want what you’re offering, then they can simply close the welcome mat.
Of course, you’ll want to give people a good reason to sign up if you’re showing a welcome mat instead of an exit-intent popup, such as a discount code or even a freebie.
For example, you may have seen popular eCommerce stores offer a special discount using a full-screen welcome mat with gamification.
In other cases, you may have seen popular bloggers using a full-screen welcome mat to grow their email newsletter.
That being said, let’s take a look at how to easily add a welcome mat to your website.
The easiest way of creating a welcome mat in WordPress is using OptinMonster. It is the best lead generation software in the world and allows you to easily create optin forms, including welcome mats.
First, you’ll need to visit the OptinMonster website and signup for an account. You will need at least the Basic plan to create fullscreen overlays.
Next, you’ll need to install and activate the OptinMonster WordPress plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
The plugin connects the OptinMonster app to your website. Once you’ve activated the plugin, you’ll see the setup wizard in your WordPress dashboard. Go ahead and click the ‘Connect Your Existing Account’ button.
Next, a new window will open.
Simply click the ‘Connect to WordPress’ button.
Now, you’re ready to create your welcome mat.
You can head to OptinMonster » Campaigns to create a new campaign.
Go ahead and click the ‘Create Your First Campaign’ button to start creating your welcome mat.
A new window will now pop up where you can select pre-built templates or choose ready-to-use campaigns and lead magnets, inspired by successful brands. OptinMonster also gives you the option to hire a specialist to customize your campaigns.
For this tutorial, we will use the ‘Templates’ option.
This will take you to the OptinMonster campaign builder.
Next, choose ‘Fullscreen’ for your campaign type.
You’ll need to choose a template for your campaign. We will use the ‘Entrance’ template, but you can pick a different one if you want.
Once you’ve selected a template, go ahead and enter a name for your campaign and click the ‘Start Building’ button.
Next, you can customize your campaign using the drag-and-drop builder. You can change anything you like here.
There are different blocks that can be added to the campaign, like images, text, buttons, and more. You’ll also want to edit the text to correspond to your offer.
Simply click on any element, and you’ll see that you can edit it in the left-hand pane.
For instance, we will change the headline of the full-screen welcome mat for our demo campaign.
The next step is to let your welcome mat slide in. You can do this by clicking the Settings gear icon on the bottom left-hand side.
From here, you need to toggle the ‘Display a Page Slide?’ option to enable it.
This means your welcome mat will slide down from the top of the screen instead of fading into view.
Next, you need to switch to the ‘Success’ view of your welcome mat. This is what your users will see after they perform the desired action. If you want, you can customize the success view or use the default template.
Once you’re happy with your welcome mat, you can set up how it will display on your site.
You can set how to display your welcome mat popup by switching to the ‘Display Rules’ tab in OptinMonster.
There are lots of personalization and targeting options like users’ location, what items they have in their eCommerce cart, what they have done previously on your site, exit intent, and more.
By default, OptinMonster campaigns display on all pages of your site after the visitor has been there for 5 seconds.
Since this is a welcome mat, you’ll probably want it to display immediately. Just change this value to 0 seconds.
By default, the welcome mat will display on every page of your site. You can easily include or exclude specific pages by using OptinMonster’s personalization rules.
You can click the ‘Next Step’ button when you’re done.
Next, you’ll see more options for displaying your campaign. For instance, you can add an effect or play a sound when the campaign appears on a user’s screen.
For this tutorial, we’ll use the default settings and click the ‘Next Step’ button.
On the next screen, you will see a summary of your display rules settings.
You can edit the settings before publishing the campaign.
Once you are ready to make your welcome mat live, simply go to the ‘Publish’ tab at the top of the screen.
Go ahead and change the Publish Status from ‘Draft’ to ‘Publish.’
Don’t forget to click ‘Save’ to store your changes and close the campaign builder.
Next, you will see WordPress Output Settings for your campaign. Make sure that your campaign is published.
If it isn’t, then simply click the Status dropdown menu and select the ‘Published’ option. Don’t forget to click the ‘Save Changes’ button when you’re done.
To check out your campaign, you can visit your website in a new incognito browser window.
You should see your welcome mat slide in seamlessly from the top of your screen.
Let’s take a look at some welcome mat examples from different industries. For each, we’ll go through what they’re doing well, plus any minor changes we might suggest.
1. Singularity
This welcome mat from Singularity prompted users to sign up and watch the livestream of the Singularity University Global Summit. It was hugely successful and captured over 2,000 new email signups in under 9 days.
We particularly like the great use of the logo, the clear fonts, and the bright “Remind Me!” button.
2. Goins, Writer
This welcome mat from Goins, Writer offers a free guide. It’s a clear, simple offer, and the minimalist design is in keeping with the rest of the website.
We feel that the “Yes” and “No Thanks” buttons are clear and easy to use, and the use of numbers in the headline makes for a compelling offer.
3. AVweb
This welcome mat has a large, clear image of a small airplane. It’s instantly eye-catching.
We like the great image, and the clear “Sign Me Up!” call to action. One small possible tweak would be to shorten the tagline to avoid having it cover the top of the image.
4. Loaded Landscapes
This welcome mat from Loaded Landscapes is a little different from other examples. The background is slightly transparent.
We like the clear offer and the enthusiasm of the red call to action button. The background of the site beneath the welcome mat could be a little distracting, so it might be worth changing it to be fully opaque, however.
5. OptimizeMyBnb
This welcome mat was used on a specific page, which was included as a clickable link inside a book the website owner sold through third-party retailers. These retailers didn’t pass on customers’ details, though. Using a welcome mat in this way helped capture customers’ email addresses.
We feel the very clear headline, subheading, and call-to-action text all worked well, and that the ‘no, thanks’ button is used well to give the user sense of FOMO.
There are dozens more full-screen welcome mat examples that you can see, but we didn’t add them all in this guide.
If you’re looking for more inspiration, here are some things you can do with a fullscreen welcome mat:
If you’re serious about improving your website conversions, then welcome mat and even exit fullscreen interstitials are some of the highest converting elements you can add to your website.
We hope this article helped you learn how to create a welcome mat for your website and that you found the examples inspiring. You may also want to take a look at our comparison of the best email marketing services, and our list of the must-have WordPress plugins.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
The post How to Create a Welcome Mat for Your WordPress Site (+ Examples) first appeared on WPBeginner.
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