Ever wondered why Amazon changes its product prices or offers discounts so frequently? The ecommerce giant does this to maximize its profits by charging different prices for the same products, based on demand, supply and inventory, and customer behavior. As a WooCommerce store owner, you too can adopt this pricing strategy that goes by the [...]
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A content management system is your best bet for success if you want to build and create your website. The CMS solution helps filter and optimize the content you want to publish on the internet without writing any code. The ideal example would be a car; not many understand the mechanics behind its functioning, but [...]
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Are you looking for a service to transcribe your voicemails?
Voicemail transcription helps convert your voicemails to text, so you can read them later on your phone or computer. It saves time, as you don’t have to listen to recordings and quickly view the message in text form.
In this article, we’ll show you the best business voicemail transcription services.
Voicemail transcription means converting your audio messages into text format. However, manually transcribing each voicemail is a time-consuming task. Instead, you can use a business voicemail transcription service.
There are a lot of software available that will automatically convert voicemail speech to text. The transcriptions can be sent to you by email or text.
This is more convenient especially when you can’t listen to voicemails. You can quickly read the message anywhere instead of listening to the voice recording.
It also helps streamline your customer support process. Your support staff can search for voicemails from a user and look at previous messages, so they can provide a better customer experience. You can also keep records of your voicemails and connect them to customer relationship management (CRM) software.
That being said, let’s look at the best business voicemail transcription services.
Nextiva is the best virtual phone service in the market that offers powerful features, including voicemail transcriptions. The cloud phone system is easy to use and set up.
It brings multiple communication channels under one roof. For example, you can make HD video calls, send text messages, live chat, voicemails, phone calls, and more from a single place.
Nextiva offers a voicemail to email and text option, where you can receive voicemails inside your inbox. This allows you to respond to customers quickly, even when calls are missed. Once this feature is active, it will automatically transcribe the voicemail.
Besides that, you also get other features like call recording, unlimited calls and texts in North America, toll-free numbers, team chat, auto attendant, call transfer and forwarding, and more.
They also business phone apps for iOS and Android smartphones, so it lets you stay connected with customers anywhere in the world.
At WPBeginner, we use Nextiva for all our business phone needs. We’re huge fans of their platform and the features it offers.
Pricing: You will need the Nextiva Enterprise plan to use the voicemail transcription features, which will cost you $32.95 per user per month.
RingCentral is another top business voicemail transcription service. Their business VoIP phone service offers lots of powerful features and is a perfect solution for remote teams.
With its Voicemail for Business feature, you get to choose how to receive voicemails. For instance, you can access voice messages from the RingCentral online account, desktop app, mobile device, email, and desk phone.
RingCentral offers an option to send voicemails to your email address. You’ll receive an audio attachment and transcription, so you can quickly scan through the message without listening to the voicemail.
Other than that, RingCentral offers features like video conference calls, unlimited calling in the US and Canada, voice-to-text features, toll-free numbers, and other call-handling features.
Pricing: The voicemail-to-text feature is available in the Essentials plan and will cost you $19.99 per user per month.
Ooma is a popular VoIP phone service for businesses of all sizes. It is loaded with features, including voicemail transcription and voicemail-to-email options.
You can configure your voicemails to be automatically sent to an email address when they’re left in your Ooma Office app. You will get an audio recording as an attachment and transcribed text in the body of the email.
Ooma is also easy to use and works out of the box. You get more features like a virtual receptionist, hold music, extension dialing, video conferencing, 1-800 phone numbers, a call center, and more. There are also desktop and mobile apps, so you can call and receive voicemails from anywhere in the world.
Pricing: Ooma prices start from $19.95 per month per user. However, the voicemail transcription feature is available in the Ooma Office Pro and Pro Plus pricing plans.
FreshDesk Contact Center is the next business voicemail transcription service on our list. It was previously known as Freshcaller and is a user-friendly virtual business phone provider.
FreshDesk Contact Center offers an AI-power voicemail transcription feature. Its artificial intelligence engine, called Freddy AI, automatically transcribes voicemails.
You can easily access the transcriptions from the FreshDesk phone system and view key metrics like queue time and IVR time. It also lets you enable voicemail transcription for selected phone numbers and set up voicemail greetings.
Other features offered by FreshDesk Contact Center include a call waiting option, vanity numbers, mobile apps, shared lines, route calls to voicemail, block spam calls, call recording, and more.
Pricing: You will need the Growth plan or higher to use the voicemail transcription feature in FreshDesk Contact Center. This will cost you $15 per agent per month (billed annually). There is also a free version of the software you use to get started, but it doesn’t include voicemail transcriptions.
Grasshopper is one of the best business phone services, and it is perfect for small businesses and startups. The service offers a voicemail transcription feature and allows you to receive the transcriptions in your email inbox.
It is very easy to set up, and you can add email addresses where you’d like the forwarded messages to go. Then using the Grasshopper desktop app or mobile apps, you can read the voicemail messages.
Aside from voicemail transcription, Grasshopper is filled with robust features. For instance, you get simultaneous call handling, call forwarding, extensions, call transfers, VoIP calling, virtual fax, reporting, and more.
Pricing: Grasshopper pricing plans start from $28 per month (billed annually), and all plans include the voicemail feature. Do note that it is only available in the US and Canada.
Google Voice is another business voicemail transcription service you can use for your WordPress website. It is part of Google Workspace and easily integrates with other tools like Google Meet and Calendar.
The service uses Google’s AI to turn voicemails into text automatically. The AI is powerful and converts complex words into easy-to-read text.
Besides that, it is very easy to use and offers free calling to US and Canada, spam call blocking, unlimited text messaging in the US, call forwarding, mobile apps, and more.
Pricing: Google Voice prices start from $10 per user per month and includes a voicemail transcription feature.
Phone.com is a popular cloud-based virtual phone service offering a voicemail feature. You can listen to audio messages from your online account and set up a voicemail-to-email feature.
Phone.com will automatically transcribe your voicemails and send them to you as email or text messages. This way, you can read the message instead of listening to the voice note or forward the transcription to other team members.
With Phone.com, you also enjoy other powerful features. It is a complete virtual phone solution and offers call forwarding, call transfer, analytics, number porting, audio conferences, fax from phone, text messaging, and more.
Pricing: The voicemail transcription feature is included in the Plus users or higher plan, and its prices start from $15.99 per user per month.
In our expert opinion, the best business voicemail transcription service is Nextiva, and after careful research we chose to use it for our own business.
Nextiva is user-friendly and offers lots of features to help you connect with your customers and team members from anywhere. You can easily receive voicemail transcriptions in your email, handle calls, conduct virtual meetings, create workflows, and more.
Plus, Nextiva has desktop and mobile apps, so you are always connected on the go. It also easily integrates multiple communication channels into a single platform.
If you’re looking for other solutions, then we recommend RingCentral and Ooma as alternatives to Nextiva for voicemail transcriptions.
We hope this article helped you pick the best business voicemail transcription service. You may also want to see our comparison of the best email marketing services and best live chat software for small business.
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 7 Best Business Voicemail Transcription Services (Text and Email) first appeared on WPBeginner.
Searching for the best Shopify alternatives? Shopify is a popular e-commerce platform and is widely used by many, but it does not always offer all the features for niche markets and is often too expensive for small businesses. If you’re planning to set up a niche market selling specific products & services to a targeted [...]
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Scalability is central to your traffic growth, meaning you must prioritize it when starting your WordPress blog. Scaling a site requires testing the site’s performance, particularly under pressure. However, you must be strategic enough to get excellent results. You must also understand the best strategies to manage and organize large volumes of content. The following [...]
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A lot of content on the web includes images. However, not many website owners optimize their images for speed or better search rankings.
Even though WordPress comes with the option to add alt text and an image title, often beginners do not understand the difference and how to use them.
In this article, we will share the difference between image alt text vs image title in WordPress, so you can improve your image SEO.
Here’s what we’ll cover in this tutorial:
‘Alt text’ is short for ‘alternate text’ and is an attribute that is added to an HTML image tag. The text describes the image, so visitors who can’t see the image and search engine bots will understand what the image is about.
If an image on your WordPress website can’t be found or displayed for some reason, then the alt text will be shown instead, as you can see in the following screenshot.
Alt text is different from the image’s title. The title will be displayed in a small popup box when you bring your mouse cursor over the image.
Alt text and image titles are also used to improve the accessibility of your website for those with poor vision and who use screen reader devices to read your site’s content.
When the screen reader comes to an image, it will read the alt text. Depending on the user’s settings, it may also read the title text.
For both accessibility and search engine optimization (SEO), alt text is more important than title text. This is why we strongly recommend including alt text for all your images.
WordPress allows you to easily add alt text to your images. You can do this from the block editor, the classic editor, or the WordPress Media Library.
Adding Alt Text in the Block Editor
Simply create a new post or page or edit an existing one, and add an Image block.
If you’re not sure how to add a block or you need some extra help with the block editor, then just check out our tutorial on how to use the WordPress block editor.
Now you need to upload your image or drag and drop it into the Image block. You can then set the alt text on the right-hand side of the page.
Adding Alt Text in the Classic Editor
If you’re still using the classic WordPress editor, then you can add image alt text when adding the image.
First, click on ‘Add Media’ above the posting box.
After that, you should either upload the image from your computer or click the ‘Media Library’ tab to view images you’ve already uploaded.
Next, click on the image you want in order to select it, and then type the alt text you want into the ‘Attachment Details’ of your image.
Adding Alt Text in the Media Library
You can also add alt text to an image by going to Media » Library and clicking on the image to edit it.
Remember, this won’t change the alt text for any instances of that image that you’ve already inserted into posts or pages. However, if you add the image to a post or page after adding alt text here, then the alt text will be included with it.
It’s important to understand that there are two types of titles that you can add to your images.
First, there is the default image title WordPress uses internally to identify media files in the Media Library and attachments pages. Second, there is the HTML image title attribute added to images in your posts and pages.
Let’s take a look at how to add both types of titles.
Adding the WordPress Image Title in the Media Library
You can add WordPress media titles to your images using the Media Library. When you edit an image in the Media Library, you will see a ‘Title’ field.
This title is used by WordPress to identify the image. When you click the ‘View attachment page’ link at the bottom of the screen, you’ll see the title is used as the title on that page.
The WordPress media title isn’t necessary for image SEO or for users with screen readers. While it may be helpful in some cases, it’s not as useful as the image’s HTML title attribute. So how do you create that?
Pro Tip: Would you like to automatically use the WordPress media title as the image’s title attribute in your posts and pages? Take a look at the section below where we show you how to do this using All in One SEO Pro.
Adding an HTML Image Title Attribute in the Block Editor
It’s easy to add a title attribute in the block editor. Simply click the image and then click the down arrow next to ‘Advanced’ to show the advanced image options.
Now you can simply type the title in the ‘Title Attribute’ field.
Adding an HTML Image Title Attribute in the Classic Editor
Adding a title attribute using the old classic editor is similar. You can add the title attribute by clicking on an image and then clicking the pencil icon.
You’ll then see the ‘Image Details’ screen. To set the image title attribute, you need to click the little down arrow next to ‘Advanced Options’ at the bottom.
You can then set the image’s title attribute. Make sure you click the ‘Update’ button at the bottom of the screen when you’re done.
All in One SEO (AIOSEO) is the best WordPress SEO plugin on the market. It will add a proper image sitemap and other SEO features to improve your SEO ranking. It also lets you automatically set your alt text and image titles, and more.
The first thing you need to do is install and activate the All in One SEO plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin. To use the Image SEO feature, you will need the Plus plan or above.
Upon activation, the plugin will launch the setup wizard automatically. You can learn how to configure the plugin in our guide on how to set up All in One SEO correctly.
Now you need to navigate to All in One SEO » Search Appearance and then click on the ‘Image SEO’ tab. After that, you’ll have to click the ‘Activate Image SEO’ button to enable the premium image SEO features.
Setting Image Titles Using All in One SEO
Make sure that you are looking at the ‘Title’ tab of the Image SEO page. Here you can choose tags that will set the format used to automatically generate title attributes for your images.
For example, if you include the ‘+ Image Title’ tag, then each image in your posts and pages will automatically use the WordPress media title in the HTML title attribute.
You can also add other tags, such as your website title, to your image title attribute. All in One SEO can even strip punctuation from the title and change its capitalization.
Setting Alt Text Using All in One SEO
Next, you need to click the ‘Alt Tag’ tab on the AIOSEO’s Image SEO page. Here you can automatically format the alt text of your images.
By default, AIOSEO will simply use the image’s alt text. If you like, you can also add your website’s title and other information to the alt text of each image on your website.
We strongly recommend using alt text for all images. Here on WPBeginner, we also add a title to all images. However, this is less important than the alt text.
Alt text is important because Google focuses on it as a ranking factor for images. It is also used by screen readers to help visitors with impaired vision to fully engage with your content.
You should never just stuff keywords into alt and title tags. It’s important that you make them descriptive and helpful so that they’re useful for visitors who need them. You can use your keywords where relevant, but don’t overdo it.
For example, if you’re writing an article about the best WordPress hosting, then your target keyword could be “best WordPress hosting”.
You might also have a screenshot in your article showing users how to set up an account with a popular web host like Bluehost. Let’s take a look at some good and bad examples of alt text for that image:
We hope this article helped you understand the difference between image alt text and image title in WordPress. You may also want to learn how to optimize images for the web, and check out our list of the best WordPress SEO plugins and tools.
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 Image Alt Text vs Image Title in WordPress – What’s the Difference? first appeared on WPBeginner.
Do you want to add dark mode to your WordPress site?
By adding a dark mode to WordPress, your website will adapt automatically based on the visitor’s browser preferences. You can also add a dark mode toggle to your site, so visitors can easily switch between dark and light modes.
In this article, we’ll show you how to add dark mode to your WordPress website.
Many modern mobile devices and computers use dark mode to minimize the amount of white light that comes from the screen. This can reduce eye strain, especially in low-light conditions.
Some people even believe that it allows you to use computers and mobile devices late into the night without the white and blue light ruining your sleep.
Some devices come with a built-in night mode that simply uses warmer color tones. However, dark mode actually adds dark colors to the device’s background.
If you have an iPhone or Android smartphone, then you may be able to switch to dark mode using a toggle. Some popular websites like YouTube even offer a built-in dark color scheme.
On desktop computers, you can visit websites in dark mode by using a Chrome extension such as Night Eye.
Here’s how the WPBeginner website looks using that extension:
By adding a dark mode toggle to your website, users will be able to choose the mode they prefer without having to install a special browser extension.
Many plugins also allow you to customize how dark mode looks on your website, so you don’t have to use the browser or device’s default settings.
You can even add dark mode to your WordPress admin area. This can be useful if you work on your site in the evenings or at night, or if you’re suffering from eye strain.
With that in mind, let’s see how you can add dark mode to your website’s public-facing front-end, and the admin area of your WordPress website.
Tip: Want to use a dark color scheme, even when the visitor’s device is in normal or daytime mode? Then check out our list of the best dark themes for WordPress.
The easiest way to create a dark mode for your website is by using Droit Dark Mode. This plugin adds a toggle so visitors can enable dark mode on the front end of your site. It can even add a toggle to the admin area, so you can enable dark mode for the WordPress dashboard.
First, you’ll need to install and activate the Droit Dark Mode plugin. For more details, please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, go to Droit Dark Mode » Preset Colors and choose how your dark mode will look to visitors. The free version of the plugin comes with two preset colors, so select the color that you want to use.
After that, click on ‘Display Settings’ and select a style for your dark mode switch.
Next, open the Body Position dropdown and choose where the slider will appear on your WordPress blog or website. You’ll typically want to add it to the top of your site so visitors can easily switch between the different modes.
With the setup out of the way, it’s time to enable dark mode by selecting ‘General Settings.’
To start, you’ll need to activate ‘Enable Front-end Dark mode,’ which will add the switch to your website’s front-end.
At the moment, WordPress will always load your site in regular, light mode.
If you want to make dark mode the default, then simply click to activate the ‘Enable Default Dark Mode’ switch.
With that done, just click on ‘Save Settings.’ Now if you visit your website, you’ll see the new dark mode switch in action.
To enable and disable dark mode, simply give the switch a click.
You can change the admin color scheme in WordPress using the built-in settings. However, none of the default color schemes reduce the white light coming from the screen.
If you work late into the evening or suffer from eye strain, then you can try adding a dark mode to the WordPress admin area.
Simply go to Droit Dark Mode » General Settings and click to activate the ‘Enable Backend Dark Mode’ toggle.
After that, you can choose a color scheme for the admin dark mode. Just open the new ‘Select Color Palette’ dropdown and select either Color 1 or Color 2.
With that done, click on ‘Save Changes.’
Droit Dark Mode will now add a dark mode toggle to the admin toolbar. To see admin dark mode in action, just click the toggle.
If you’re not happy with how dark mode looks, then open the ‘Select Color Palette’ dropdown and choose a new style from the list.
After that, click on ‘Save Settings’ and use the toggle to see the new colors in action.
We hope this article helped you learn how to add dark mode to your WordPress website. You may also want to see our guide on how to create a landing page in WordPress, or see our expert pick 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 Add Dark Mode to Your WordPress Website (Easy) first appeared on WPBeginner.
It’s no secret that when it comes to WordPress, speed matters. Playing a critical role in determining your search rankings and -more importantly- the user experience you deliver, maintaining optimal performance remains a crucial challenge for many WordPress users. Of course, there are countless tools, techniques, and strategies to help you optimize your site for [...]
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Businesses create websites to serve an important function: generate and convert leads. One of the easiest ways to convert more leads through your website is to build it using an appealing WordPress theme. Many WordPress themes are equipped with subscription offers and contact forms, which should improve your conversion rates. These themes are popularly known [...]
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Did you know that you can create an ebook from your WordPress blog posts?
Offering ebook downloads on your WordPress website is a good way to make money online or grow your email list. Writing a book is a big job, but you may discover that you’ve already written enough content for a book on your blog.
In this article, we’ll show you a smart way on how to create an ebook from your WordPress blog posts.
If you publish regular blog posts on your WordPress website, then you have a lot of content that you can repurpose or monetize. One of the best ways to repurpose your content is to turn your blog into an ebook.
Writing an ebook can build your site’s credibility. You can use it to grow your email list, offer it as exclusive content on a membership site, or sell it to make money from your blog.
However, writing a book is difficult, and 97% of people who start to write a book never finish.
The good news is that you may have already written a book. Your most popular blog posts may already contain enough quality content to repurpose as a successful ebook. Or you can use your blog to write a new book one post at a time.
With that being said, let’s take a look at how to create an ebook from your WordPress blog posts. Here’s what we’ll cover in this tutorial:
Your first job is to decide which blog posts should be included in your ebook. If your blog is about a certain topic or niche, then you may just need to find your most popular blog posts. Each post will become a chapter of your ebook.
However, if you wish to create multiple ebooks, then you should choose blog posts that cover more specific topics, such as popular posts in a specific category. You can even consider future ebook ideas when you are planning the content to write about on your blog.
How to Find Your Most Engaging Content to Include in an Ebook
You want to create an ebook that people actually want to read. A good starting point is to find your most engaging and popular blog posts. That way, you already know that your readers are interested in these topics.
If you are not already tracking user engagement on your WordPress blog, then the best way to get started is by using MonsterInsights. It’s the best Analytics plugin for WordPress and helps you configure Google Analytics without writing code.
There’s also a free version of MonsterInsights that you can use as well.
When you install and activate MonsterInsights, you will also set up Google Analytics tracking in WordPress. Once your blog has been tracked for some time, you will be able to view important user engagement metrics such as your most popular content.
You just need to visit the Insights » Reports page in your WordPress admin area and go to the ‘Overview’ report. You can scroll down to see different reports, and you will find your most popular content under the ‘Top Posts/Pages’ section.
You’ll find detailed instructions about how to set up and use MonsterInsights in our guide on how to track user engagement in WordPress with Google Analytics.
Now that you know what your most popular posts are, you need to choose which ones to include in your ebook. They should contain evergreen content that will stay fresh and also fit together logically as chapters to form a complete ebook.
Writing a Series of Blog Posts to Create Content for an Ebook
Another way to come up with blog content for an ebook is to write a series of articles on a particular topic. These blog posts can then be compiled into an ebook.
We do something similar on WPBeginner, where we regularly compile a series of posts into a new article. Here are some examples of articles we have compiled with repurposed content from our existing articles:
In fact, whenever you are writing about a complex topic, it is almost always better to write a series of posts that break the topic up into smaller parts.
You can learn more in our guide on how to efficiently manage post series in WordPress.
Quickly Updating the Posts You Choose for Your Ebook
Once you have chosen the blog posts you wish to include in your ebook, take some time to quickly update them if necessary. By doing that now, you will make sure that both the blog post and ebook are free from errors and contain all of the necessary information.
You can start by making sure there are no spelling or grammar errors in the post. Most likely you did this before publishing each post, but it’s worth checking this again in case something was missed.
You can learn the best ways to proofread your posts in our guide on how to check grammar and spelling mistakes in WordPress.
Also, take time to check the comments on each post. They may identify areas where the blog post isn’t clear enough or is missing important information. Take time to address those issues.
Later in this article, you will make further edits that will be needed in the ebook but not the blog posts.
One of the best ways to create an ebook that looks professional is to use a well-designed ebook cover. Your readers will actually judge your book by its cover.
You could hire a graphic designer using websites such as 99designs or Fiverr. Or you can use graphic design software or web services to do it yourself even if you don’t have design skills.
Before you create the cover art for your book, make sure you first finalize the ebook title. It should be clear and concise, grab the reader’s attention, and describe what the book is about. You may also want to create a subtitle and book description.
One of the easiest ways to create cover art is with Canva, a free online graphic design tool. It comes with easy-to-use tools that allow you to create a book cover from a template.
The basic Canva account is free and gives you access to dozens of ready-made templates. To get the full power of Canva, you may want to sign up for a Pro account. This lets you upload your own fonts, set your brand colors, and more.
After creating your account, simply type ‘book cover’ into the search box and then click on the ‘Book Cover’ search result.
Canva will display a list of thousands of book cover templates. These have the correct width ratio of 1.6 and also a high-quality resolution of 1410 x 2250 pixels.
You can filter the list by clicking the genres at the top of the screen, or by checking one of the styles or themes on the left. This will help you find the most suitable templates quickly.
Once you find a template you want to use for your cover art, you should click it to preview it. You will also see whether it is a free, paid, or pro template. After that, you should click the ‘Customize this template’ button.
Canva will now load its drag-and-drop editing interface. You can point and click on any item in the template to edit it. Make sure you type the correct title, subtitle, and author. You can rotate, resize, crop, and delete items.
You can also add more text, icons, shapes, patterns, and backgrounds to your design from the left column. However, you will often get the best result by making simple changes.
When you have finished creating your cover art, you will need to save it to your computer. Simply select File » Download from the menu at the top of the screen.
You can select a variety of file types from the drop-down menu, including PDF, JPG, and PNG. For this tutorial, we will choose PNG and then click the ‘Download’ button.
You can create an ebook from your blog posts using Google Docs. This requires a little more manual work than our second method, but it’s free and makes it easy for you to edit and customize your ebook.
You need to start by creating a new Google Doc and naming it with your ebook’s title.
After that, make sure that under the View menu, ‘Show Print Layout’ is checked. This will allow you to see how each page of your ebook will look.
Inserting Your Ebook Cover Art
The first thing you need to do is insert the cover art you created earlier.
You can either use drag and drop to place it on the first page, or select Insert » Image from the menu and upload it to your computer.
Once you’ve done that, you should select Insert » Break » Page break from the menu to start a new page.
Creating a Title Page and Table of Contents
On the new page, you should type the title of your ebook. Before you press enter, make sure you format it as a title by selecting ‘Title’ from the Styles drop-down menu.
If you wish to center the title, then you need to select Format » Align & Indent » Center.
You can now press the Enter key several times and type the ebook’s subtitle if you have one, as well as your name or your blog’s name as the author.
You might like to format them using a larger font and center them. Don’t use a heading style, or these lines will be included in your table of contents. You can also use the enter key to space these lines appropriately down the page.
Once you’re done, you should select Insert » Break » Page break from the menu again to start another new page.
On the next page, you will add the table of contents. Google Docs will populate this with headings as you add content to the document.
Start by typing the heading ‘Table of Contents’ and format it with the Heading 1 style.
Tip: If your text is still being centered, then you will need to select Format » Clear formatting from the menu to return to the default formatting.
Now you can press Enter and select Insert » Table of Contents from the menu. You can choose from a version with page numbers and a version with hyperlinks.
At the moment, the table of contents will be quite empty, but it will be updated as you add blog posts to your ebook.
Pasting the Your Blog Post Contents
Now it’s time to start pasting the content from your blog posts into Google Docs. Before you paste each blog post, make sure you insert a new page break (Insert » Break » Page break) so each ebook chapter starts on a new page.
Then, just head to your WordPress website and navigate to your blog post.
Simply highlight the entire post, copy it to the clipboard, and then paste it into Google Docs. After that, insert another page break and repeat until all the blog posts have been copied.
You may also want to set the title of the posts to Heading 2 in Google Docs so they’re included as chapters in your Table of Contents and document outline.
For our demo ebook, we pasted the contents of 7 blog posts into Google Docs to produce a 167-page ebook. Selecting Tools » Word count from the menu shows that the document contains almost 25,000 words.
Editing Your Ebook Contents
Now you should work through your ebook content and make any changes that are necessary. Some things that work well in a blog post won’t belong in an ebook.
For example, you may need to tweak the title of each blog post so it works better as a chapter heading. And if you added a call to action at the bottom of each blog post, then you may need to remove it from each chapter in your ebook.
You may need to replace references to ‘posts’ with ‘chapters’. Also, you should replace internal links to your blog with links to the chapters in your ebook if they are included.
You should also work on the transitions between chapters so your book flows better, otherwise, it might read like a collection of separate blog posts. You might also want to add a stronger introduction and conclusion to the book.
You might also like to add additional material to the book, such as sections on:
Finally, make sure you correct any spelling and grammar errors you find while editing.
Customizing Your Ebook’s Design
Before you export your ebook from Google Docs, consider whether you can improve the design of your ebook.
For example, you can customize the appearance of your headings or normal text.
This is easy to do in Google Docs. You can start by changing the format of a particular heading directly. Just select the font you want, if you want it bold or underlined, or other design choices.
After that, with that text still highlighted, select Heading 1 » Update Heading 1 to match from the drop-down menu to automatically change all other headings to match.
You can also add a header or footer that includes your ebook title and page numbers.
Just select Insert » Headers & Footers and then click ‘Header’ or ‘Footer’ in the menu. You can set up page numbers by clicking the ‘Options’ menu from the header.
When you are happy with the way your ebook is formatted, then it’s time to export it in an ebook format.
Exporting Your Ebook as a PDF
Now that you have finished creating your ebook, you can save it to your computer as a PDF. Simply select File » Download » PDF Document from the menu.
Tip: Before exporting your ebook, we recommend you update the table of contents to include any new chapters you have added. When you click on the table of contents, you will find a button labeled ‘Update table of contents’ at the top.
Google Docs also allows you to download the ebook as an EPUB Publication. This format should be used if you want to make the book available in a marketplace such as Amazon’s Kindle Store.
You can also create an ebook from your blog posts using a plugin. MPL-Publisher is the best ebook creator plugin because it covers everything you need to do in an easy-to-use interface.
You will need to use the premium version to export your ebook as a PDF file. This costs $49 per WordPress site and also offers a cover editor and the ability to store the settings for multiple books. The free version can export in EPUB and Microsoft Word formats, and more.
The first thing you need to do is install and activate the MPL-Publisher plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, you will need to enter the license key that was emailed to you. Simply navigate to MPL-Publisher » Publish eBook on the admin sidebar, then click on the ‘Premium’ tab. Now you can paste the license key into the field provided.
Entering the Book Details
Next, you need to enter some details about your book. Make sure you are looking at the ‘Details’ tab of the MPL-Publisher » Publish eBook page.
From here, you can fill in the book details such as the title, subtitle, author, and description.
Next, you should click on the ‘Meta’ tab where you can enter metadata about the book.
You will find fields where you can fill in the book’s ISBN (or some other unique identifier), language, publication date, publisher name, and copyright information.
You can scroll to the bottom of the page and click the ‘Save’ button to store the book details and metadata.
Inserting Your Ebook Cover Art
Now you can move to the ‘Cover’ tab. Here you can add the cover image that you created earlier.
Simply click the ‘Select Image’ button and you will be taken to your site’s Media Library. From there, you can upload the cover art and then click the ‘Select’ button.
If you haven’t already created your cover art, you can use the plugin’s Cover Editor to create a book cover right from the WordPress dashboard. Note that this is one of the plugin’s premium features.
Customizing Your Ebook’s Design
Now you can switch to the plugin’s ‘Design’ tab to choose how your book will be formatted. Several themes are available, and you simply click on the theme you wish to use.
When you scroll down the page, you can choose whether to include the post’s featured images in the ebook and whether to insert or embed the images in the ebook.
Make sure you choose the second or third option. We recommend you avoid the first option, which is to link the images from your website.
Advanced users can also format their books using custom CSS.
Make sure you scroll down and click the ‘Save’ button to store your progress.
Selecting the Posts to Include in Your Ebook
On the left of the screen, you will see a list of posts on your website. To include a post in the ebook, simply click its checkbox.
If you have a lot of posts on your website, then you make it easier to find the posts you wish to include by filtering the list. You will find filters for type, status, category, month, and year.
For this tutorial, we’ll filter the list to include only posts (not pages) that have been published. We’ll also filter the list by the ‘Blogging’ category.
Simply select the desired criteria from the drop-down menus and then click the ‘Filter content’ button.
Next to each post, you will see a word count and how long the chapter will take to read.
Once you check the posts you wish to include, you can reorder them by dragging and dropping the hamburger icon. That’s the icon that looks like three horizontal lines.
When creating your ebook, MPL-Publisher will automatically create a table of contents containing these chapters.
Editing Your Ebook Contents
You can edit a post by clicking the ‘Edit’ link that appears under the post when you hover your mouse over it. The changes will be seen in both your ebook and the post on your website.
If you want to edit the ebook contents only, leaving the post on your website as it is, then you need to click the ‘Duplicate and Edit’ link. This will create a duplicate of the post with the ‘Book Chapter’ custom post type.
Once you update the book chapter, you will need to uncheck the original post, then locate and check the new book chapter you just created. Book chapters display a book icon beside the title.
If you want to add a new chapter to your book that doesn’t appear on your blog, then you can click the ‘Add New Book Chapter’ button.
This will create a new blank book chapter that will be found only in your book, and not on your blog.
In Method 1 above, we provide a list of additional material you might like to add to your ebook, such as contact information, disclaimers, and more.
Exporting Your Ebook as a PDF
Once you have finished setting up the ebook, you can export it. You need to scroll down to the ‘Output format’ and choose ‘Adobe File (PDF)’ as the file type.
Alternatively, you could select ‘Microsoft Word (DOCX)’ if you plan to continue editing the book or sending it to a professional editor, or ‘EPUB 3.0’ if you plan to make the book available in an online ebook store.
If you like, you can check the ‘Validate content before download’ box. This ensures that the ebook will not contain HTML errors.
Finally, simply click the ‘Download eBook’ button, and MPL-Publisher will compile your ebook and download it in the format you specified.
Now that you have created an ebook from your blog posts, you need a way to promote it, so more visitors can get your ebook. There are a few ways to do this.
The method you choose depends on your business goal. You can giveaway the ebook for free to raise awareness, use ebook as a lead magnet to get more email subscribers, or sell your ebook to make money online.
1. Allowing Free Ebook Downloads in WordPress
You can offer your ebook as a free download using the WordPress file block.
Simply edit the post or page where you want to add your ebook download and then add a ‘File’ block.
This will allow you to upload the ebook to your site, and it will be displayed in the post in a small PDF viewer by default.
For step-by-step instructions, see Method 1 in our guide on how to add ebook downloads in WordPress.
Tip: Want your visitors to be able to search for your ebook’s content on your website? WordPress doesn’t do this by default, so we wrote a guide on how to add PDF indexing and search in WordPress.
2. Using Ebook Downloads to Get More Subscribers
If you’re using your ebook to grow your email list or capture leads, then you’ll want to make sure your visitors can’t access the ebook until they share their email addresses.
You can set that up using OptinMonster, the best lead generation plugin for WordPress. We use it on WPBeginner and have increased our conversions by over 600%.
For detailed instructions, see our guide on how to add content upgrades in WordPress.
3. Selling Ebook Downloads in WordPress
Selling digital products like ebooks is one of the best ways to earn money from your WordPress website.
To sell ebooks, you’ll need a plugin like Easy Digital Downloads, one of the best eCommerce WordPress plugins. This beginner-friendly plugin makes it super easy to sell any type of digital product including ebooks.
Once installed and activated, you can easily add new downloads to your website. It’s easy to add a title and description for your ebook, as well as categories and tags.
The plugin also handles pricing. You can choose variable pricing with multiple options. You may have one option to sell just the ebook and another that includes an additional product. Using EDD, they will both show on the same product page.
You can also simply set a single price for your ebook purchase.
After that, you can upload your ebook and add a cover image that will be displayed on your website.
You can find more detailed instructions in Method 3 of our guide on how to add ebook downloads in WordPress.
Bonus Tips to Promote Your Ebook
The easiest way to promote your ebook is to your existing audience. Both email newsletters and push notifications are an excellent way to spread the word about your new ebook launch.
You can use PushEngage to setup push notification for your blog readers. This has among the highest engagement rates.
For email marketing services, we recommend either Constant Contact or Sendinblue since they’re affordable for new users.
Another proven technique you can use to promote your ebook is giveaways. These help you leverage the power of social media to bring more new users to your blog.
We recommend using RafflePress plugin to create a viral giveaway since it seamlessly connects with all major social media platforms.
We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to create an ebook from your WordPress blog posts. You may also want to learn how to start your own podcast, or check out our comparison of the best WordPress SEO plugins to grow your traffic.
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The post How to Create and Sell Ebooks in WordPress from Start to Finish first appeared on WPBeginner.