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.
Why Would You Want to Download the Media Library?
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.
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.
Method 2. Download the Entire WordPress Backup Including Media Files
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.
Method 3. Download Media Library Using WordPress Settings
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.
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.
Why a Welcome Mat Can Boost Your Conversions
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.
How to Create a Welcome Mat for 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.
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.
Creating a Welcome Mat for Your Website
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.
Displaying the Welcome Mat on Your WordPress 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.
Examples of Great Welcome Mats
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.
If you’re looking for more inspiration, here are some things you can do with a fullscreen welcome mat:
Present a targeted offer or coupon
Showcase new products and services
Let visitors know what to expect from the site
Win new subscribers by highlighting their best content
Point visitors to their social media profiles
Collect email subscribers as part of a prelaunch phase
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.
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Are you looking for the best online content optimization tools for WordPress?
You can increase the search traffic to your WordPress website or blog by optimizing your online content. Luckily, there are plenty of easy-to-use tools you can use to make your content more readable and rank higher on search engine results pages.
In this article, we’ll share the very best online content optimization tools that experts use to grow their website traffic.
What Is a Content Optimization Tool?
When you optimize your posts for SEO, you can improve your search engine rankings and consistently get more traffic to your WordPress website.
That’s why we created a handy checklist of tips to optimize your blog posts for SEO. This is a list of all the steps we use on our own blogs, such as keyword research, crafting effective titles, internal linking, improving readability, and much more.
But even using our checklist, optimizing your content is a lot of work. Luckily, there are handy online tools that can recommend specific steps you should take to improve your content so it ranks higher on search engine results pages.
That being said, let’s take a look at the best online content optimization tools for WordPress.
All in One SEO (AIOSEO) is the best SEO plugin for WordPress websites. It’s beginner-friendly and at the same time, comes with advanced optimization features, and gives you SEO insights from your WordPress dashboard.
Once you finish setting up All in One SEO, it will automatically perform an SEO audit so you can see the overall SEO health score for your website.
It will also give you a detailed report with practical suggestions to improve your SEO score.
AIOSEO will also help you find semantic keywords for your focus keyword, and the headline analyzer tool will give your headline a score and offer tips to make your headline even better.
The plugin’s Link Assistant offers suggestions for relevant posts you can link to and the anchor text to use. Simply click the ‘Add Link’ button, and the link will automatically be added to your post.
All in One SEO will also automatically analyze readability issues and make suggestions for you in the analysis section. It also lets you take your XML sitemaps to the next level and allows you to add schema markup for your WordPress website.
Pricing: Starts at $49.50 for the Basic plan that supports one site. You can also get started using the free plugin which offers fewer features.
SEO Writing Assistant is a content optimization tool created by Semrush, one of the best SEO tools on the market. You can use it to check your content in real-time for SEO suggestions and improve the overall SEO score of the content on your WordPress website.
You start by entering a focus keyword to generate content templates based on the top 10 results for that phrase. After that, you will be given scores on readability, SEO, originality, and tone based on rival results.
Next, you look for ways to improve your content. For example, you can use Writing Assistant to optimize your article headline, include recommended keywords, adjust the article length, make sure the tone sounds natural and casual, and check for plagiarism.
Surfer SEO helps you write articles that read well and rank high. It helps you structure your posts, provides a list of relevant keywords you should include, and offers a content score and real-time feedback on how to optimize your content.
This software offers many of Clearscope’s features at a more affordable price. For example, when you paste your content into the app, it will give you a content score, show you which keywords you are using and which you aren’t, and display an outline of the post’s structure.
Surfer SEO also offers an audit showing actionable steps to improve your content, a keyword research tool, and a page speed comparison so you know whether you need to improve your page’s load time.
Pricing: Starts at $49/month for the Basic plan when paid annually. This plan supports two users. There is a 7-day money-back guarantee if you are not satisfied.
Clearscope offers a wide range of tools that helps you optimize your online content. For example, it can show you the keywords you should use, the questions you need to answer, how to structure the article, how long the post should be, and how to improve readability.
You create a report by typing in a query such as a post title, and Clearscope will analyze relevant content from your competitors to determine which keywords should be included in the post and much more.
Next, you can paste the contents of your article to see how it can be improved. This will show you the length of your post compared with the typical length of your competitors’ posts and the readability level.
You’ll see a list of important keywords, and those you have already included will have a checkmark next to them. In the top left of the screen, you will see a content grade, and you can improve your grade by adding keywords that are not already in the post.
Clearscope also has a Keyword Discover tool. After typing in a keyword, you will see related keywords, questions that are asked related to that keyword, and which keywords are trending.
Pricing: Starts at $170/month for the Essentials plan which is for one user. Business and Enterprise plans have custom pricing. You can request a free demonstration of the software.
Frase is an affordable content optimization tool that identifies relevant content you should include in your post and provides a smart outline for your content.
Once you write or paste your content, smart insights will pop up on the right of the screen. It will also be given a content score so you can see how much it needs to be improved.
The app can autocomplete or rewrite sentences for you using artificial intelligence, suggest transition words that add interest to your writing, and recommend topics to include in your post by analyzing the most popular Google search results.
Pricing: Starts at $12.66/month for the Solo plan when paid annually. A 7-day free trial is available.
MarketMuse is another excellent content optimization tool, but its pricing makes it more suitable for enterprise-level companies than small businesses. It offers applications to help you research, compete, optimize, and more.
You’ll see a personalized difficulty score of your existing content so you can see how your content competes with articles on other sites. It uses natural language rather than keywords to suggest content you should add to your post.
It also offers tools that perform keyword research and competitive content analysis.
This will show you the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors’ content in a chart so you can add content that they are missing.
Pricing: Starts at $600/month for the Standard plan, which supports one user. You can add additional users for $99/month each. The Premium plan costs $12,000/year, and there is also a limited free plan for one user so you can test the software.
Ahrefs is an excellent keyword explorer and rank tracker tool and comes with a site audit tool to optimize your entire website.
Using the Keyword Explorer, you can come up with keyword ideas by simply typing a keyword into the search box. You’ll then see a whole list of keyword suggestions.
Its Rank Tracker feature lets you add the keywords you want to track to your Ahrefs dashboard. It shows you an overview of your search engine rankings. You can see your visibility percentage, average position, traffic, SERP features, and changes in position.
You can also use Ahrefs to see the keywords that your competitors are ranking for, so you can create new content pieces targeting keywords related to those subjects.
The Content Explorer feature finds the most popular content for any keyword or topic. You can see why those posts rank higher and replicate their strategy in your own content.
Pricing: Starts at $99/month for the Lite plan. Pay annually and get two months free.
Headline Analyzer is a free tool that helps you evaluate your headlines and improve the copy to make it more engaging and click-worthy. It provides data-driven insights and suggestions for creating irresistible SEO titles.
It can be tricky for beginners to come up with a headline that instantly captures your users’ attention and gets them to click your website link. This is where you can use the headline analyzer tool.
All you have to do is enter your blog title, and the Headline Analyzer will give it an overall content score along with suggestions on how to improve it.
The tool will also tell you if your title needs to be longer or shorter to make sure it displays properly on SERPs (search engine results pages). It even shows you a preview of how your blog will appear in Google search results.
Vlogging is a powerful way to connect with people and build a personal brand. However, if you simply upload vlogs to third-party platforms like YouTube, then you may struggle to grow your audience, make money, and become a successful vlogger.
In this article, we will show you how you can start a vlog and make money.
Which Is the Best Website Builder for Your Video Blog?
There are many website builders that can help you create a vlog site, but we recommend using WordPress and a separate video hosting platform.
To learn more about why WordPress is such a good choice, please see our complete WordPress review with pros and cons.
There are two types of WordPress software: WordPress.com and WordPress.org. We recommend using WordPress.org, also called ‘self-hosted WordPress.’ This will give you full ownership and control of your site.
Using WordPress.org allows you to install third-party plugins and themes, including plenty that are designed specifically for vloggers.
Also, while you can upload videos to WordPress, it’s far better to use a separate video hosting platform such as YouTube or Vimeo.
Videos take up a lot of your hosting resources, which will slow down your website. Instead, we recommend uploading your vlogs to a separate hosting platform such as YouTube or Vimeo, which has all the server resources you need.
After uploading your vlogs to one of these sites, you can then embed your vlog in a WordPress page or post by simply copying and pasting a link. WordPress has built-in support for most major video hosting platforms.
If you really want to save time and impress your viewers, then you can use a plugin like Smash Balloon to create a video feed that will update automatically every time you post a new vlog.
If you don’t already have a video hosting platform in mind, then don’t worry. Later in this guide, we’ll help you find the perfect platform for your vlogs.
Step 1. Setting Up Your Video Blog Website
To create a video vlog, you’ll need a domain name and web hosting.
Although the WordPress software is free, hosting and domain names are where the costs can really start to add up.
A domain name typically costs $14.99/year and hosting costs start from $7.99/month. This is a lot for hobby vloggers, new creators, or anyone who is working with a tighter budget.
Thankfully, Bluehost has agreed to offer our users over 60% off on web hosting and a free SSL certificate as part of this deal. This is absolutely essential if you plan to sell premium videos and make money from your vlogs. You will also get a free domain name when you sign up!
Simply click the link below to create a vlogging website for as little as $2.75 per month.
Because you get a free domain when you sign up with Bluehost, you’ll need to be sure it’s the right fit for your video blog. For expert tips, check out our guide on how to choose the best domain name.
Once you’ve completed the purchase, you’ll get an email with instructions on how to log in to your web hosting control panel. This is your hosting account dashboard where you can manage your vlog, including setting up email notifications and asking for WordPress support if you need it.
It’s also where you’ll install the WordPress software, so let’s do that now.
Step 2. Install WordPress on Your Video Blog
When you sign up with Bluehost using our link, you’ll get access to a one-click WordPress installer. Simply log into your Bluehost account and click on ‘One Click Install.’
You can now follow the onscreen instructions to set up WordPress.
Once WordPress is set up, you’re ready to start customizing your vlog site.
Step 3. Select a Video Theme
WordPress themes are professionally designed templates that change how your vlog looks and acts.
There are lots of different premium and free WordPress business themes to choose from. You can generally categorize these as multipurpose WordPress themes, or niche industry themes. However, most WordPress themes are designed to show text.
Since we’re starting a vlog, we need a theme that’s designed specifically for videos.
Even if you’re using a separate video hosting platform, embedded videos still take time to load. With that in mind, it’s important to find a lightweight theme that won’t slow down your website. Wherever possible, we also recommend using a theme that has built-in lazy loading.
On top of that, vlogs often need special features such as parallax scrolling, lightbox popups, and fullscreen video backgrounds.
That’s a lot to keep in mind, so you may want to look at our expert pick of the best WordPress video themes.
After installing a theme, you may want to customize it by going to Appearance » Customize in the WordPress dashboard. This will launch the theme customizer where you can fine-tune the theme settings and see your changes in the live preview.
If you’re using one of the newer full-site editing themes, then you’ll need to go to Appearance » Editor instead.
Here, you can fine-tune the theme using blocks.
Just remember that you can customize your theme at any point. You can even completely change your WordPress theme, if you realize it doesn’t quite meet your needs.
This means you don’t need to finalize your site design now. In fact, it may be easier to fine-tune your vlog once you’ve added some content.
Step 4. Create a Custom Homepage
WordPress comes with two content types called posts and pages.
You’ll typically use posts to create articles and blogs, while pages are static “one-off” types of content. For example, you might publish an about page, a privacy policy, or a custom archive page.
There are a few different ways to show videos in WordPress. However, since we’re creating a video vlog you’ll typically embed one or more videos in a blog post.
By default, the WordPress homepage shows your posts in reverse chronological order, so your latest vlog appears at the top of the homepage.
However, you may want to move this blog list to another page, and use a custom homepage instead. This custom homepage can introduce your vlog to visitors and let them know what you have to offer.
You might even create a YouTube gallery of all your best videos, which is a great way to catch a visitor’s attention and make them want to watch more of your content.
Smash Balloon allows you to create all kinds of galleries, including showing a specific YouTube playlist or favorites feed, a single video, or even your latest live stream.
Once you’re happy with the design, it’s time to set it as your homepage. To do this, go to Settings » Reading in the WordPress dashboard.
Here, scroll to ‘Your homepage settings’ and select ‘A static page.’
Next, open the ‘Homepage’ dropdown and choose the page that you want to use.
After that, simply scroll to the bottom of the screen and click on ‘Save Changes.’ Now, if you visit your website you’ll see the new homepage in action.
With that done, make sure you create a separate blog page to display your vlogs.
Step 5. Set Up Your Video Hosting Platform
Before you can start adding videos to your WordPress website, you’ll need to upload them to a separate video hosting platform. In this way, you can show countless high-resolution videos on your website without affecting its performance.
There are lots of different video hosting platforms that you can use, but we recommend YouTube as it’s the most popular choice.
It’s free to create a YouTube account and you can upload as many videos as you want.
YouTube even has a Partners Program that you can join to make money from your videos. This program also offers more benefits like analytics, longer videos, and editing tools.
If you don’t want to use YouTube, then there are many other popular platforms including Vidyard, Wistia, and SproutVideo. For a closer look at all the top video sites, please see our expert pick of the best video hosting sites for bloggers.
After choosing a platform, you’ll need to create an account and upload all the vlogs that you want to show on your WordPress website.
For instructions on how to do this, check out the online documentation for your chosen video hosting platform.
Step 6. Create Your First Vlog
To create your first vlog, simply go to Posts » Add New in your WordPress dashboard.
WordPress has a block-based editor that allows you to create beautiful content layouts for your vlogs. Here, you can add text, images, audio clips, and more.
The easiest way to add vlogs to WordPress is by using the built-in auto-embed feature. If you’re using one of the big video hosting platforms, then you can simply paste the video’s URL into the WordPress content editor, and WordPress will handle the rest.
Just head over to your chosen video hosting platform and find the vlog that you want to show on your WordPress blog. You can then simply copy the video’s URL.
After that, switch back to the WordPress dashboard and paste the URL in the content area. If you paste it into a standard Paragraph block, WordPress will automatically try to place it in the correct block, such as the YouTube block.
Even if you don’t see the platform-specific block, it will use the Embed block and display the video inside the content editor.
As you’re working on the vlog, you can see how it’ll look to visitors by clicking on ‘Preview.’
This will open the page in a new tab.
The WordPress post editor also has sections for Categories and Tags. You can use these to organize your vlogs so it’s easier for visitors to find interesting content. To learn more, please see our guide on how to add categories and tags in WordPress.
When you’re happy with how the vlog looks, go ahead and click on the ‘Publish’ button in the top-right corner of the screen.
To add more vlogs to your website, simply follow the same process described above.
Step 7. Add a Contact Form to Your Vlog
Some viewers might want to contact you directly. This may include affiliate marketers, sponsors, advertisers, and other brands who are looking to build relationships with creators, or other vloggers who want to collaborate.
These people could ring your phone number or send a message to your business email address, but we always recommend adding a contact form to your website.
This makes it easier for potential partners to contact you, so you don’t miss out on any opportunities to grow your brand and make money from your vlogs.
The easiest way to add a contact form to your WordPress website is by using the free WPForms plugin. WPForms comes with a built-in Simple Contact Form template that you can customize using the drag-and-drop editor.
You can then add the form to any page, post, or widget-ready area using the ready-made WPForms block.
Once you’ve added some content to your vlog, it’s a good idea to add a navigation menu so visitors can find their way around the different videos.
The exact location of your menu will depend on your WordPress theme. Most themes have several options, so you can create multiple menus and then show them on different areas of your vlog.
Whether you create a single menu or multiple menus, it’s easy to add navigation to your vlog. For a complete guide, please see our post on how to add a navigation menu.
Menus encourage people to explore your site, but sometimes visitors may want to search for a specific vlog. WordPress comes with a built-in search feature, but it’s quite basic and not very good at finding relevant content.
It is very easy to use and gives much more accurate search results. It allows visitors to search for a keyword in the post or page title, content, URL slug, categories, tags, taxonomies, WordPress excerpts, and even comments.
All of this can help visitors find interesting vlogs, fast.
If you want to get more viewers, then you’ll need to optimize your vlog for SEO. This will help search engines understand your content and show it to people who are looking for videos just like yours.
AIOSEO is the best WordPress SEO plugin on the market and has everything you need to get your vlogs onto the first page of Google, without having to learn any complicated SEO jargon.
AIOSEO comes with the easiest setup wizard that helps you choose the best SEO settings for your business. AIOSEO will even scan your vlogs and show an actionable checklist on how you can optimize that specific vlog.
Additionally, AIOSEO has a video sitemap feature that you can use to show search engines what’s the most important content to index.
Did you know that 70% of people who leave your site will never come back? Thankfully there are lots of ways to turn abandoning visitors into loyal viewers.
To start, it’s smart to create an email newsletter so people who enjoy your vlogs can subscribe. After that, you can email these subscribers every time you post a new vlog.
You can also keep them engaged with your brand by sending them fun surveys and polls, notifying them about any giveaways and contests you’re running, or even simply asking them for feedback on your latest vlog.
All of this can help you create a sense of community and build a stronger relationship with your viewers.
If you do build an email list, then you’ll want to make sure your messages arrive safely in the subscriber’s inbox and not in their spam folder. With that in mind, we recommend using an SMTP service provider to improve your email deliverability rates.
Another option is to use push notifications with software like PushEngage to send targeted, personalized messages to viewers after they leave your vlog.
Push notifications are short, clickable notifications that appear as a popup on the user’s desktop or mobile devices. Some of the biggest websites in the world use push notifications to keep users engaged, including Facebook.
These notifications go directly to the user’s web browser or mobile device so they have a high chance of getting the person’s attention, which makes them perfect for notifying viewers when you post a new vlog.
Creating lots of quality, engaging vlogs takes a lot of time and effort, so you may want to make money from your videos.
If you’ve created a contact form, then potential sponsors and partners already have a way to contact you, which is a great start. However, there are lots more ways to make money online with WordPress.
Here are some of the best ways to make money from your vlog.
Google AdSense
There are many reasons why it’s smart to embed videos on your own website, rather than simply uploading them to platforms like YouTube.
One major benefit is that you can show Google AdSense ads next to your videos.
When you sign up for Google AdSense, Google acts as a middleman between you and the advertiser. Instead of you having to find the right partners for your vlog, Google allows advertisers to bid for keywords matching your content. This allows you to get the best possible rates for the ads on your vlogging website.
Many vloggers make money by recommending products and services to their viewers. For example, many lifestyle vloggers film daily routine videos showing off their favorite skincare or fitness products.
By using affiliate links, you can earn money every time a viewer buys a product or service based on your recommendation.
For the best results, it’s a good idea to only recommend quality items that you already use and trust. If you encourage viewers to buy poor-quality or scammy products, then you’ll damage your band and almost certainly lose viewers.
If you build a strong, positive relationship with your viewers then they may want to support your work as a vlogger. This is particularly true if you’re a hobby vlogger or someone who is just starting out.
Although they’re mostly used by non-profits, some vloggers use donation forms so that viewers can support their work. These forms are often presented as ‘buy me a coffee’ or ‘buy me a beer.’
Most of the time, you’ll want your vlogs to be publicly available so you can get as many views as possible and build your audience.
However, some vloggers may want to create a video membership site in WordPress. This allows people to pay for different perks, such as early access to the latest vlogs, exclusive live streams, or premium members-only videos.
You can also offer perks that don’t involve videos, such as a members-only forum, blog posts, or the ability to chat with you directly on channels like Discord.
The easiest way to create a membership site is by using MemberPress. It is the best WordPress membership plugin on the market and allows you to accept payments, create unlimited subscription levels, restrict access to video pages based on levels, and more.
Sell Your Videos as Digital Downloads
Depending on the kind of vlogs you create, you may decide to sell some of your premium videos as digital downloads. For example, if you’re a health and fitness vlogger then you might create videos teaching your followers different exercise routines.
For some niches, this can be a way to monetize the audience you’ve built from your vlogs.
With Easy Digital Downloads, you have complete control over how you distribute your videos. You can allow customers to download files as many times as they want or restrict file downloads by time or attempt.
Are you looking for the best free autoresponder tools to start sending automated emails?
The good news is that you don’t need to wait until your site starts making money. There are lots of free autoresponders that you can use to grow your email list.
In this article, we’ll take you through some of the best free autoresponder tools, comparing their pros and cons.
Why You Need an Autoresponder Email Service
An autoresponder is any tool or service that sends automated messages to the people on your email list. Smart marketers use autoresponders to create a series of emails and then send those messages automatically based on certain rules, conditions, and user actions.
For example, if you’re designing a coming soon page, then you might ask visitors to register their interest by typing in their email addresses.
You can then use an autoresponder to notify these people when your site goes live. This can get you extra visitors and create a buzz around your site’s launch.
Another option is to use a stand-alone autoresponder. With the right autoresponder, you can create advanced workflows that automatically send the right email to the right person, at the right time.
These automated emails can re-engage disinterested customers and keep them engaged, get you more sales, drive more people to your website, and much more.
Most top email marketing companies offer auto-responders. However, if you’re just starting out then paying for email marketing can add a lot to your website building costs.
With that in mind, let’s look at some of the best free autoresponder tools to help you get started no matter what your budget.
You can sign up for the free trial without entering your credit card details, so you won’t be charged unless you actively choose to continue using Constant Contact.
It’s quick and easy to create an account. Simply click a few options and Constant Contact will show some helpful resources based on your answers.
If you already have a WordPress website, then Constant Contact can create a unique branded email template. Just enter your website’s URL and Constant Contact will create a template using the colors, images, and logos from your website.
Pick from over a hundred ready-made email templates.
The drag-and-drop interface is really easy to use. This is especially helpful if you’re new to email marketing.
The Constant Contact support team is easy to reach through live chat software, phone, and email.
They also have a library of resources and online training. If you’re in the United States, then you can even go to their in-person live seminars.
Cons
Constant Contact doesn’t offer a free-forever plan. After the 60-day free trial, you’ll need to pay if you want to keep using your email list. If you enjoyed the free trial and want to continue, then you can get 20% off using our Constant Contact coupon.
To keep using the automated features after your free trial, you’ll need to pay for the Email Plus plan.
Pricing
Constant Contact’s Core plan starts at $9.99 per month. However, if you want to use the email automation features, you’ll need the Email Plus plan, which starts at $45 per month.
They’re one of the fastest-growing email autoresponder platforms in Europe.
Pros
Sendinblue has a generous free-forever plan that allows you to store as many email contacts as you want. You’re just limited by how many emails you can send each day.
The majority of Sendinblue’s tools are available on their free plan including the marketing automation tools.
You get access to email support on the free plan, so you can contact the support team if you’re having any problems.
Sendinblue’s marketing automation tool has a user-friendly drag-and-drop Workflow Editor. This allows you to create powerful automations without having to write any code or learn complex tools.
Track the actions that each contact takes on your website, and then send emails based on their behavior.
Sendinblue has over 40 responsive email templates that look just as good on mobile and smartphones, as they do on mobile devices. You can also create your own templates using the intuitive drag-and-drop editor.
If you’re creating an email campaign for a client, then they may have provided some ready-made HTML assets. To save time, you can upload these HTML templates to Sendinblue, and then use them as the basis for your campaign.
Cons
All emails sent from a free plan have Sendinblue’s branding, which can make your campaigns look less professional. The paid Starter plan also has the Sendinblue branding, but you can remove it by purchasing a $9 per month addon.
Although the marketing automation tools are included in the free plan, these tools are limited to 2000 contacts on both the free and Starter plans. This can make it difficult to grow your email list.
The free plan has a 300 emails per day limit. This might seem like a lot when you’re just starting out, but you can hit this limit surprisingly fast. With that in mind, you shouldn’t choose Sendinblue simply because they offer a free-forever plan.
Pricing
Unlike some other email providers on the list, Sendinblue‘s free plan is completely free, forever, with no limit on how many contacts you can create.
Need to send more than 300 emails a day? Then you’ll have to upgrade to one of their paid plans, which start at $25 per month.
Just be aware that Sendinblue’s plans are always based on how many emails you send each month, and not on the size of your email list.
HubSpot is a popular marketing automation platform and one of the best CMRs for small businesses. They also have a free plan that’s a perfect introduction to HubSpot’s all-in-one marketing platform.
Pros
The free plan includes a CRM that creates a contact record for each subscriber. You can use this information to create personalized email campaigns that feature the most relevant subject lines, links, attachments, and content.
HubSpot’s free plan includes many tools that can complement your email marketing. This includes a form builder, live chat, ad management, and more.
The email editor has an intuitive drag-and-drop interface that lets you easily create a call to action, add images, and customize the email to match your own branding.
Schedule emails so they arrive in the subscriber’s inbox at the best time, regardless of time zone differences.
Optimize your emails for different devices.
HubSpot has a selection of goal-based templates that you can choose from, or you can build your emails entirely from scratch.
Analyze your campaigns using HubSpot’s email analytics tool.
You can’t remove the HubSpot branding on the free plan, which can make your business seem less professional.
The free plan limits you to 2,000 emails per month and 1,000,000 contacts.
Advanced features like A/B split testing and email segmentation are only included in HubSpot’s higher-tiered paid plans. As your business grows, you may need to upgrade to a paid plan to get the most out of your email list.
Pricing
HubSpot’s free plan allows 2,000 emails per month and a generous 1,000,000 contacts. It also comes with all of HubSpot’s free tools, including the CRM, forms, landing pages, live chat, and more.
If you’re looking for an autoresponder that works across multiple channels, then Omnisend offers powerful SMS, email marketing, and web push notification features.
Omnisend comes with ready-made autoresponders for cart abandonment, purchase follow-up, and other eCommerce workflows.
All of the marketing automation features are included in the free plan.
Use an unlimited number of triggers in your automation workflows.
Personalize your autoresponders with dynamic content.
Create powerful custom workflows using the drag-and-drop Automation Editor.
Pre-built automations that you can use to welcome new signups.
Unlimited segmentation. If you run an eCommerce site, then Omnisend can even segment users based on the different stages of the customer lifecycle.
Sales and performance reports so you can continuously review and refine your autoresponders. This includes open, click, deliverability rates, and revenue data for each autoresponder.
24/7 email and live chat support.
Cons
The free plan limits you to 500 emails per month, 60 SMS, and 500 web push notifications. If you want to send more messages, then you’ll need to upgrade to the Standard or higher plan, which starts at $16 per month.
If you plan to use SMS autoresponders, then the free plan doesn’t come with any SMS credits, so you’ll need to buy these separately.
The free plan comes with a built-in form builder and signup forms, but there’s no option to remove the Omnisend branding.
Pricing
Omnisend’s free plan allows 500 emails per month, up to 60 SMS, and 500 web push notifications. You can also add an unlimited number of contacts to your mailing lists.
If you want to send more emails, SMS, or web notifications then you’ll need to upgrade to the Standard plan ($16 per month) or Pro plan ($59 per month).
Formerly Autonami, FunnelKit Automations is the best marketing automation tool for WooCommerce stores.
You can use this free plugin to create automated emails and SMS campaigns to help you recover abandoned shopping carts, nurture leads, send automated coupons, and more.
Pros
No limit on the number of contacts you can add, or how many emails you can send.
Use any email service provider such as Sendinblue, Mailgun, Postmark, or SendGrid.
Build automations from scratch using the drag-and-drop editor, or import any of FunnelKit’s pre-built automations with a single click.
Re-engage disinterested customers with automated win-back campaigns and first purchase anniversary campaigns.
Upsell to customers by creating automated post-purchase follow-up emails, and cross-sell with recommended product emails.
Build more effective cart recovery campaigns, with detailed information about recoverable, recovered, and lost carts.
Customize all of WooCommerce’s built-in emails using the intuitive drag-and-drop workflow builder.
‘Unsubscribe text’ is pre-inserted into all emails, so you can be confident your autoresponders are GDPR compliant.
Send targeted emails using audience segmentation and personalized merge tags.
Get useful analytics directly inside the FunnelKit dashboard, including email open and click-through rates.
If you’ve already used an email marketing tool or CRM, then you can easily import your contacts with a CSV file.
Cons
The free plugin only gives you access to a limited number of pre-built automations. You can unlock over 20 extra automations by upgrading to FunnelKit Automations pro.
You can’t create conditions-based automations using the free plugin, which can make it more difficult to create personalized autoresponder sequences.
The pro version adds CRM-like features, including detailed contact profiles that show each person’s latest engagement, total spend, last order date, and more.
Many of the more advanced analytic and reporting features are exclusive to the pro version. This includes the ability to see your top-performing automations, most popular emails, total orders, and total revenue.
The pro version integrates with many popular WordPress plugins including LearnDash, WishList Member, AffiliateWP, and more.
Pricing
The free FunnelKit Automations plugin has everything you need to create powerful autoresponders for your WooCommerce store. However, if you want to unlock more automation features, then you’ll need to upgrade to the FunnelKit Marketing Automations Professional or higher plan, which starts at $219 per year.
Founded in 1998, AWeber is one of the most established autoresponder tools. This popular email marketing service has powerful autoresponder features, and also offers a free plan that lets you send 3,000 emails per month to 500 subscribers.
Pros
AWeber’s free plan includes all the features you’d expect from a premium plan, including a drag-and-drop editor, hundreds of templates, and access to thousands of professional stock images.
AWeber’s free plan limits you to 3,000 emails per month and 500 subscribers.
You’re also limited to 1 landing page and 1 email automation.
The free version has the AWeber branding, with no way to remove it.
If you do upgrade, then AWeber definitely isn’t the cheapest option out there. It has more features than some other email autoresponders, but these do come at a price.
Pricing
You can send 3,000 emails per month to 500 subscribers, using the free AWeber plan. If you want to add more contacts or send more emails, then you’ll need to upgrade to the Pro plan, which starts at $16.50 per month when billed annually.
MailerLite has become a popular autoresponder tool over the past few years. They have a generous free plan and lots of great features.
Pros
You can use autoresponders and advanced segmentation on the free plan, without any need to upgrade.
The free plan includes lots of features, such as landing pages, multi-user accounts, and A/B split testing so you see which campaigns get the most conversions.
There’s no limit on the number of emails you can send per day. Instead, there’s a monthly limit of 12,000 emails.
Create personalized email newsletters by segmenting your mailing list, and then assigning different blocks to different target audiences. MailerLite will then show each subscriber the content that’s most relevant to them.
There’s a drag-and-drop editor and pre-built blocks that you can use to create your emails without having to write any code. You can add and remove blocks easily, change fonts and styles, and more.
Built-in triggers for many common actions, so you can automatically send an email when a subscriber joins a group, completes a form, clicks a link, and more.
The free plan doesn’t include any special email templates. However, the drag-and-drop builder has a simple default template with space for a logo, header, image, and other important content.
If your list grows beyond 1,000 people, then you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan.
Your emails will all have the MailerLite logo, which can hurt your brand image.
Although the paid plans have 24/7 support, the free plan only includes Monday-Friday email support.
Pricing
MailerLite has a free plan that you can use for as long as you want. Paid plans start at $9 per month when billed annually, but if you want to add more than 1,000 subscribers, then you’ll need to buy a paid plan. These prices vary depending on how many subscribers you have, but you can expect to pay at least $15 per month for 2,500 subscribers.
ConvertKit has a free plan that allows you to build unlimited landing pages and opt-in forms. It’s a good way to start building your email list, but you can’t use the automation features on the free plan.
Despite this, we’re including ConvertKit in our list as it’s a popular email marketing solution, and you can try the automation features as part of a 14-day free trial.
Pros
The free ConvertKit plan includes unlimited landing pages, email opt-in forms, and one-time email blasts, which are also known as ‘broadcasts.’
Many website owners do lead generation by offering a free digital download to new subscribers. ConvertKit can automatically deliver a digital file every time someone subscribes to your mailing list.
ConvertKit can segment your subscribers in lots of different ways. You can also assign tags to customers based on entry points, interests, actions, and other characteristics.
ConvertKit comes with a drag-and-drop page builder that you can use to create attractive landing pages for your email campaigns.
To help you get started, ConvertKit has 30 fully-customizable templates that you can choose from. All of these templates are responsive, so your emails will look just as good on smartphones and tablets, as they do on desktop computers.
Setting up your free account is really quick and easy. In just a few minutes you can register with ConvertKit and start building attractive landing pages.
Identify the forms and pages that are getting the most email signups, with ConvertKit’s list growth reporting.
Customize and personalize your ‘unsubscribe’ page so people don’t opt out of your mailing list.
Cons
The free plan limits you to 1,000 subscribers.
You can’t use the automation features on the free plan, so you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan in order to create autoresponders. Automation is included in the 14-day free trial though, so you can try before you buy.
Pricing
ConvertKit has a limited free plan. After this, the cheapest plan is $29 per month, which allows up to 1,000 subscribers. The next tier is $41 per month for up to 3,000 subscribers when billed annually.
Bonus: Mailchimp
Mailchimp is a very popular email marketing service with a forever free email marketing service plan.
When it comes to autoresponder features, Mailchimp is quite limited when compared to other providers in our list.
For that reason, we don’t recommend Mailchimp anymore since there are better solutions available in the market, but we cannot create a list of the best autoresponders without including Mailchimp due to the platform’s sheer popularity.
Automatically import the logos, brand colors, fonts, and images from your website, to create branded emails.
Grow your email list with signup forms and landing pages.
Monitor and analyze your campaigns with built-in reports and analytics.
Mailchimp integrates with over 300 apps, including Canva, LiveChat, Help Scout, Stripe, and more.
Built-in drag-and-drop templates that are easy to set up and customize.
Cons
The free plan limits you to 2,500 emails per month. If you reach that limit, then all your email campaigns and autoresponders will be paused automatically.
The free plan only includes email support for the first 30 days. After that, the Mailchimp knowledge base documents will be your main source of support.
The free plan adds the Mailchimp badge to your emails and signup forms, and there’s no option to remove the branding.
You can’t schedule emails, create automated workflows, or add branching points to your email series, without upgrading to a paid plan. This is the major reason why we suggest you use one of our Mailchimp alternatives instead.
Segmentation and dynamic content are premium features, making it difficult to create personalized email campaigns.
Mailchimp’s customer support, pricing structure, and features are definitely not the best out there.
Mailchimp’s automation tools aren’t as powerful as its competitors, which is a big problem if you’re mainly interested in using Mailchimp as an autoresponder.
Pricing
Mailchimp has several different pricing systems, which can be a bit confusing. You can either choose a monthly plan (from $13 per month for the Essentials plan) or you can use “pay as you go” pricing.
Note: Mailchimp’s pricing tiers are based on how many contacts you have. This includes anyone who has unsubscribed and people who haven’t confirmed their email addresses. With that being said, you may end up paying for people who are never going to convert.
Choosing the Free Autoresponder That Suits You Best
So now you might be wondering: which free autoresponder tool should I choose? The answer will vary depending on your business, and how you plan to use the autoresponder.
Small Businesses
When you’re building a business, you need access to quality support and a powerful platform.
For small business owners, Constant Contact is our top pick. Their free trial lasts 60 days which gives you plenty of time to try it out. It’s quick and easy to get started, and there’s lots of support available if you need it.
You’ll have access to all of Constant Contact’s features as soon as you sign up, and you don’t even need to enter your credit card information.
The best part is they offer support via phone agents, live chat, and Twitter. They also have a knowledge base and a support portal where you can get help from the community.
Meanwhile, if you’re an established business with a bigger budget, then we highly recommend looking at Omnisend or Drip.
They offer advanced segmentation and powerful automation, but we didn’t include them in our list above because they don’t have a free option.
Non-Profits and Community Organizations
If you’re a non-profit or community organization, then you’ll probably want an autoresponder and email marketing tool that’s completely free.
SendinBlue is a good option if you have a small email list of 300 people or fewer, who you want to email more than once a week.
Meanwhile, MailerLite is a better choice if you have a larger list that you want to email weekly or less.
If you value phone support, then nothing will beat Constant Contact, and that’s why many non-profits use their platform because it offers all the support they need.
Note: We have tried all the top major email autoresponder software including many that are not in our email platform lists above such as ActiveCampaign, GetResponse, Ontraport, Mailjet, Campaign Monitor, InfusionSoft (now Keap), Klaviyo, Marketo, Eloqua, Pardot by Salesforce, Sendloop, iContact, Emma, TotalSend, SharpSpring, MailPoet, and more.
The email marketing platforms that we’ve chosen to include in our list provide the best automation workflows, deliverability, and pre-built email marketing tools for the best price.
Make Sure Your Emails Make It Through
If you do add an autoresponder or email marketing service to your website, then you’ll want to make sure your emails arrive safely in the person’s inbox, and not in the spam folder.
Here, a good SMTP service provider can improve your email deliverability. You can also use WP Mail SMTP to configure your WordPress emails to ensure they are sent correctly.
Are you looking to download WordPress to create your website?
WordPress is an open-source project, and you can download it for free. Although many web hosting providers now install WordPress for you automatically, you can always download and install it manually on your own server or computer.
In this article, we’ll show you how to download WordPress for free, as well as what you need to do next to get it installed.
Why Is WordPress Freely Downloadable?
WordPress is free for anyone to download and use to build any kind of website without any restrictions. That’s because WordPress is an open-source community project that tens of thousands of talented people contribute to.
There is a core team of developers that lead the project development, but anyone can contribute patches, fix bugs, make features, suggest features, and more.
Note: When we speak of the WordPress open-source project, we’re talking about self-hosted WordPress.org. This is different from the WordPress.com hosting service. For more details, see our comparison between WordPress.com vs WordPress.org.
While the core software is free, there are still costs involved in making a WordPress website. The cost of a website depends on your budget and goals, but it can be quite affordable.
The main costs will be a domain name, which will be your website’s address on the internet, and website hosting, which is where you will store your website files and database.
The good news is that most website hosting providers will automatically install WordPress for you, and you will probably never need to manually download or install it yourself.
However, if you are an intermediate or advanced user, then you always have the option of installing WordPress manually. That’s handy if you wish to do a custom WordPress install, or have WordPress running on your own server or computer.
With that being said, let’s take a look at how to download WordPress for free, along with what you need to do next. Here are the topics we’ll cover in this tutorial:
You can download WordPress and install it yourself as we’ll cover in this article, or
You can set up WordPress automatically with a hosting provider.
We recommend most users take the second option. Reputable hosting providers such as Hostinger, Bluehost, Dreamhost, or SiteGround will install WordPress for you automatically in just 5 minutes. To learn how that works, see our complete guide on how to install WordPress.
But if you’re an advanced or intermediate user and want to install WordPress manually, then go ahead and click the ‘Download WordPress’ button.
This button will also indicate which version of WordPress you are downloading. In this case, it is WordPress 6.1.1.
After downloading the file from WordPress.org, you just need to unzip it. This will create a ‘wordpress’ folder on your computer that contains all the files you need to create a WordPress website.
Now that you have downloaded WordPress for free, you can use it to install or reinstall WordPress on your server or create a local WordPress installation on your computer.
How to Install or Reinstall WordPress Manually on a Web Server
Installing WordPress manually requires a few added steps, but may be easier than you expect. You will need the files you downloaded and an FTP client or a web-based file manager.
Your first job will be to use FTP to upload the WordPress files you have downloaded to your web server. You can think of FTP as file management for the internet.
Most web hosting providers offer an FTP server and send your FTP username, password, and other details via email when you sign up for your WordPress hosting account. You can also find your ‘FTP Accounts’ information in your hosting account’s cPanel or Site Tools dashboard.
As an alternative to FTP, most hosting providers also provide a browser-based file manager application. This can be accessed from your web hosting control panel as pictured above.
We’ll use the FileZilla FTP client because it’s free and works on Windows and Mac.
First, you need to open FileZilla and select File » Site Manager from the menu. Next, you should click the ‘New site’ button and provide a title for your website. Once you’ve done that, you should enter the login details in the ‘User’ and ‘Password’ fields.
From the Protocol dropdown, you should select ‘SFTP’ if your hosting provider supports it, otherwise leave it as ‘FTP.’
Next, you just type your domain name such as ‘example.com’ in the Host field and select ‘Normal’ for the Logon Type.
Once you’ve entered those details, you can click on the Connect button to continue. FileZilla will now attempt to log in to your website using the credentials you entered.
Once connected, you will see two columns of files and folders. The left column lists the Local files on your computer. The right column lists the Remote files on your website. This layout lets you easily transfer files to and from your website.
In the left column, you need to locate the ‘wordpress’ folder that you downloaded and unzipped earlier. In the right column, you need to locate the folder on your website where you need to upload these files:
If you want to install WordPress on your root domain name (like example.com), then you need to upload WordPress files to your website’s root directory. Usually, this directory is called /public_html/.
On the other hand, If you want to install WordPress in a subdirectory (like example.com/blog), then upload it to a folder /public_html/blog/.
Now you simply select all the files on the left. After that, you need to right-click the files and select Upload from the menu, or simply drag the files to the right column.
Your FTP client will now upload the WordPress files to your website.
Creating Your WordPress Database
Once the WordPress files are uploaded, you need to go to your hosting control panel to create a database. We’ll show you how to do that using cPanel, but if your hosting provider has a different control panel, then just look for the ‘phpMyAdmin’ option.
Clicking the ‘phpMyAdmin’ icon will open the phpMyAdmin application in a new tab. In the phpMyAdmin dashboard, click on the Databases tab.
You can now type a name for your database into the ‘Database name’ field. You can name your database anything you want. Make a note of the name because you’ll need it later.
For this tutorial, we will call our database test_db.
After typing your database name, you should click the ‘Create’ button.
PhpMyAdmin will now go ahead and create your database.
Now that you’ve uploaded the WordPress files to your website and created a database, everything is ready to install WordPress.
Installing WordPress
To start installing WordPress, simply go to your website’s URL, such as example.com or www.example.com. This will open the WordPress installation wizard.
You will see the language selection page. You can choose a language here so that the rest of the installation is displayed in your own language. You can also use English for now and then later change the language or add multiple languages.
Next, you can click the ‘Continue’ button to proceed.
You will now see some instructions about the installation process. You will see a list of information you need, including the database name, username, password, and host.
After reading the screen, you should click the ‘Let’s go!’ button to continue. The setup wizard will now show you a form where you can enter the database information you created earlier.
Once you’ve done that, make sure you leave the Database Host field as the default ‘localhost.’ This just means that the database and website are hosted on the same server. Unless you changed the database prefix, the Table Prefix field should say wp_.
After filling in this information, you need to click the ‘Submit’ button. WordPress will connect to your database and show you a success message.
To move on to the next step, simply click on the ‘Run the installation’ button. WordPress will now create tables in your database and then send you to the next step of the installation.
The next screen will ask for some additional information.
You’ll also need to create a username and password. This is the login information you’ll use to access your WordPress dashboard.
You can also type your email address into the Your Email field. This is the address where WordPress will send all of its admin emails.
If you don’t want your website to be visible to search engines at this point, then you can check the box next to search engine visibility.
Later when you are ready you can change this from WordPress settings. If you are unsure about what to do, then simply leave it unchecked.
After completing this form, click the ‘Install WordPress’ button. WordPress will now run the installation and after a few moments, you should see a ‘Success!’ message.
Now you can sign in to your WordPress dashboard by clicking on the ‘Log In’ button.
Congratulations, you have successfully installed WordPress by downloading the core software for free and then installing it manually.
How to Install WordPress Locally on Your Computer
You can also use the WordPress core files you downloaded to install WordPress on your own computer. This gives you the chance to try out WordPress before starting your blog or website. It’s also a great way to experiment with themes and plugins risk-free.
Note: If you install WordPress locally on your computer, then you will be the only person who can see it.
For WordPress to successfully run on your computer, you first need to install the software that WordPress relies on. This includes the PHP server-side programming language, the Apache web server, and the MySQL database management system.
Now, installing all these software independently and making them work with each other sounds like a daunting task.
Luckily, there are free development tools that make it super easy to install them as one package even for non-techy users. Once you install one of these applications, then you will be able to install WordPress using a method similar to the above.
Note: When you’re using Local WP, you don’t need to manually download and install WordPress on your computer. It can help you do that with just a few clicks.
Do you want to show a before and after photo in WordPress?
A before and after photo allows you to show a side by side comparison of two images with minor differences. This is perfect for showing the impact of your products and services, or simply encouraging people to interact with your content.
In this article, we’ll show you how to add a before/after photo to your WordPress website with a slide effect.
Why Show Before and After Photos in WordPress (with Slide Effect)?
A before-and-after image is an interactive picture that typically shows some kind of change.
Visitors can use a slider to switch between the different ‘versions’ of the image in an engaging and interactive way.
If you run an online store using a plugin such as WooCommerce, then a before and after photo can show the effect of your products or services.
You simply need to show a ‘before’ photo that the customer can relate to, and a desirable ‘after’ photo. This will make shoppers want to buy the thing that takes them from the ‘before’ state to the ‘after’ state.
If you’re an affiliate marketer, then showing persuasive before and after photos on your website is a great way to promote your affiliate links, and get more sales.
Before and after photos can also encourage visitors to interact with your content. Dragging a slider to reveal the ‘after’ photo is an easy way to get more engagement, which can keep visitors on your site for longer. This can also help increase your pageviews and reduce bounce rate in WordPress.
With that being said, let’s see how you can create a before and after photo in WordPress using a slide effect. Simply use the quick links below to jump straight to the method you want to use.
The BEA plugin allows you to create horizontal and vertical sliders, and customize the image with different labels and colors.
The first thing you need to do is to install and activate the Ultimate Before After Image Slider & Gallery (BEA) plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, go to Before and After Slider » Add New in your dashboard.
To start, type in a name for the image slider. This is just for your reference so you can use anything that will help you identify it.
With that done, you can add the ‘before’ image by scrolling to the ‘Before Image’ section.
Here, click on ‘Add or Upload Image’ and then either choose a picture from the WordPress media library or upload a new file from your computer.
To help search engines understand this image and show it to the right people, it’s a good idea to add some image alt text. To do this, simply type into the ‘Image Alt’ field.
With that done, scroll to the ‘After Image’ section.
You can now add the ‘after’ image by following the same process described above. Don’t forget to add some alt text to this image, too, since it’s important for WordPress SEO.
You can also show some text below the image, by adding a title and a description.
For example, you might encourage visitors to interact with the slider. This is especially important for visitors who might have never run across a before-and-after photo before.
This is also an easy way to add some context to the image.
To add some text, simply type into the ‘Slider Title’ or ‘Slider Description’ fields.
You can also add a ‘Read More’ URL, which can link to any post or page on your WordPress website, or even an external website. For example, you might send visitors to a page where they can buy the product featured in the slider image.
This link will appear below the before/after image, and also beneath any slider title or description you’re using.
To add a link, type the destination into the ‘Read More Link’ field.
You can then decide whether to open the link in the same tab, or in a new tab using the ‘Read More Link Target’ dropdown.
If you’re linking to another website, then we recommend choosing ‘New tab’ so you’re not sending visitors away from your WordPress blog.
With that done, you can choose whether you want to create a vertical or horizontal slider by clicking on one of the thumbnails in the ‘Orientation Style’ section.
After that, scroll to the top of the screen and click on ‘Options.’
Here, you’ll see the ‘Default offset’ is set 0.5. This means the visitor sees half of the ‘before’ image when the page first loads.
If you want to show more of the before image, then type in a bigger number such as 0.6, 0.7, or higher.
If you want to show the entire before image, then type in 1. This will place the slider at the top or right of the before image, as you can see in the following image.
By default, the plugin shows ‘Before’ and ‘After’ labels when the visitor hovers their mouse over the image.
You may want to replace these labels with something more descriptive.
To do this, simply go ahead and type into the ‘Before Label’ and ‘After Label’ fields.
By default, visitors will move the slider using drag and drop. Some people may find this difficult, especially if they have mobility issues or they’re using smaller devices like smartphones or tablets.
With that being said, you may want to change how visitors move the slider.
If you select the ‘Yes’ button next to ‘Move slider on mouse hover,’ then visitors can move the slider simply by hovering their mouse over the image.
If you select the ‘Yes’ button next to ‘Click to move,’ then visitors can click anywhere on the image to move the slider to that point.
These settings can make it easier to interact with the before/after image, but it’s typically not the way that sliders behave. With that in mind, we recommend using these settings carefully.
Next, click on the ‘Style’ tab.
Here, you can change the colors used for the different labels, backgrounds, headings, descriptions, and the read more button. This can help the before/after image blend in with your WordPress theme, or even stand out from the rest of your website’s design.
After adding the shortcode to your site, simply click on the ‘Publish’ or ‘Update’ button to make the before/after image and slider effect live.
Method 2. How to Show A Before and After Photo Using SeedProd (Advanced)
If you simply want to add a before and after image to a page or post, then the BEA plugin may be a good choice. However, if you’re using the image to promote a product, service, or business then we recommend using SeedProd.
It also has a ready-made ‘Before After Toggle’ block that you can use to create beautiful before-and-after images your users can interact with.
Simply drag the block from the left-hand menu, and then drop it onto any page design that you may happen to be working on, including sales pages.
If you’re using WooCommerce to sell your products, then SeedProd integrates with WooCommerce and even comes with special eCommerce blocks. This is perfect if you plan to use before and after images to promote your WooCommerce products.
Note: There is a free version of SeedProd that allows you to create custom pages no matter your budget. However, we’ll be using the premium version as it comes with the Before After Toggle block. It also integrates with many of the best email marketing services you may already be using on your website.
After creating a page, it’s easy to add a before and after image to your design. In the SeedProd page editor, simply find the ‘Before After Toggle’ block.
You can then drag and drop this block anywhere on your design, to add it to the page layout.
With that done, simply click to select the ‘Before After Toggle’ block. The left-hand menu will now update to show all the settings you can use to create your before-and-after image.
To start, you’ll need to add the picture you want to use as the before image. Under ‘Before Image’ either click on ‘Use Your Own Image’ or ‘Use a Stock Image’ and choose the picture you want to use.
By default, SeedProd shows a ‘Before’ label above this image. However, you can change this to something more descriptive by typing it into the ‘Before Label’ field.
With that done, scroll to the ‘After Image’ section.
You can now add an image and customize the default ‘After’ label by following the same process described above.
SeedProd can add a vertical or horizontal slide effect.
To switch between these two styles, scroll to the ‘Slider Orientation’ section and then click on either ‘Vertical’ or ‘Horizontal.’
By default, visitors will move between the before and after images by dragging the slider. However, some users may find it easier to move the slider by hovering their mouse over the image.
This is particularly true for larger images where the visitor would need to drag the slider a greater distance.
To try this setting, enable ‘Move on Hover’ in the left-hand menu.
Next, you may want to add a colored overlay to both the before and after images. This can help the image blend in with the rest of the color scheme, or stand out from the background.
You can even make the colored overlay semi-transparent, to create a more subtle effect.
To try different colors, click on the ‘Overlay Color’ section and then make your changes in the popup that appears.
With that done, you can customize the slider handle by clicking to expand the ‘Comparison Handle’ section.
By default, SeedProd shows half of the ‘before’ image and half of the ‘after’ image. To change this, simply drag the ‘Handle Initial Offset’ slider.
To display less of the before image, drag the slider to the left so that it shows a lower number. To show more of the before image, drag the slider to the right, which increases the number.
Next, you can change the slider’s color using the ‘Handle Color’ settings.
You can also make the handle thicker or thinner using the ‘Handle Thickness’ slider.
In this way, you can make the handle stand out, or create a more subtle effect.
When you’re happy with the handle, you may want to change the circle. You can make the circle bigger or smaller using the ‘Circle Width’ settings, and change the ‘Circle Radius’ to create sharp or curved corners.
As you make changes, the live preview will update automatically so you can try different settings to see what looks the best.
When you’re happy with the circle, you may want to change the size of the triangles inside that circle. For example, if you’ve made the circle bigger then you might want to increase the size of the triangles too.
To make this change, drag the ‘Triangle Size’ slider until you’re happy with how it looks.
With that done, you can continue adding new blocks and customizing the content on your SeedProd page.
When you’re happy with how the page looks, just click on the arrow next to the ‘Save’ button and then select ‘Publish.’
Now if you visit your website you’ll see your page design with the before-and after-image live.
To say that user experience is an important factor in responsive theme design is like saying human safety is important to the production of car seatbelts. In other words, it’s the very reason it exists and the top concern that should influence every design decision. Of course, that begins with the fundamentals of responsive design, [...]
