How to Create and Sell Ebooks in WordPress from Start to Finish

01.02.2023Beginners Guide, blog to ebook, create an ebook, Easy Digital Downloads, EDD, mpl-publisher, offer pdf downloadsEditorial Staff

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.

Why 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:

Choosing Which Blog Content to Use in Your Ebook

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.

The MonsterInsights Google Analytics plugin

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.

Creating Professional-Looking Cover Art for Your Ebook

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.

Searching for Book Cover Templates in Canva

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.

Filtering the Ebook Cover Templates in Canva

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.

Method 1: Turning Blog Posts Into an Ebook Using Google Docs (Free)

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.

Selecting the Title Style in Google Docs

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.

Inserting a Table of Contents in Google Docs

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:

How to use this book
What you’ll find in this book
About the author
Contact information
Copyright information
Disclosures
Resources and links
Footnotes and sources

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.

Customizing Heading 1 Style in Google Docs

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.

Adding Page Numbers to the Header in Google Docs

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.

Exporting a Google Doc as a PDF Document

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.

Method 2: Turning Blog Posts Into an Ebook Using a Plugin

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 a Premium License Key in MPL-Publisher

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.

Entering the Book Details in MPL-Publisher

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.

Entering the Book Metadata in MPL-Publisher

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.

Embedding or Inserting Images in MPL-Publisher

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.

Editing or Duplicating Posts in MPL-Publisher

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.

Identifying the Book Chapter Post Type in MPL-Publisher

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.

Exporting Posts as a PDF in MPL-Publisher

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.

How to Promote and Monetize Your eBook in WordPress

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.

add file block and click on media library

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.

Adding a download to Easy Digital Downloads

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.

Creating variable pricing for an ebook in WordPress

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.

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

The post How to Create and Sell Ebooks in WordPress from Start to Finish first appeared on WPBeginner.

How to Limit or Disable Automatic Empty Trash in WordPress

31.01.2023Beginners Guide, change trash empty time in wordpress, disable trash in wordpress, stop wordpress from deleting trash, wordpress trash, wordpress trash scheduleEditorial Staff

Do you want to change how often your trash is emptied on your WordPress website, or stop WordPress from emptying the trash automatically?

By default, WordPress will automatically delete anything that has been in the trash for 30 days. However, some users might like the trash to be emptied more or less often, or prefer to empty the trash manually.

In this article, we will show you how to limit or disable the trash being automatically emptied in WordPress.

How to Disable Auto Empty Trash in WordPress

What Is Trash in WordPress?

WordPress added a trash feature way back in version 2.9. It works just like the recycle bin or trash on your computer.

In other words, your deleted posts aren’t removed permanently but are sent to the trash instead so they can be recovered for a time. Anyone can delete a post accidentally. That’s why WordPress makes it easy to restore deleted posts and pages.

You can view them by going to Posts » All Posts from your WordPress dashboard and then clicking the ‘Trash’ option.

Your WordPress website will automatically delete anything in the trash after 30 days so that it doesn’t pile up.

What if you don’t want WordPress to automatically delete items from the trash? Or you’d prefer it to be emptied more or less often than once a month.

Let’s have a look at how you can have it automatically emptied as often as you like. We’ll cover three methods below. The first method is the easiest for most users. You can use the links below to jump to your preferred method.

Method 1: Changing when WordPress Trash Is Emptied with a Plugin

First, you need to install and activate the Change Empty Trash Time plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you should visit the Settings » General page of your admin dashboard. Once there, scroll to the bottom of the page, and you will find a new ‘Time to empty trash (in days)’ setting.

Simply type in the number of days that WordPress should take to empty the trash. For example, you can type 1 for daily, 7 for weekly, or 30 for monthly.

If you type 0, then deleted posts and pages will be deleted permanently instead of being placed in the trash.

Note: Be very careful about setting the time to empty to 0. It can be difficult to recover permanently deleted posts and pages. Make sure you’re using a backup plugin, just in case.

Don’t forget to click the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your settings.

Method 2: Changing when WordPress Trash Is Emptied with Code

You can also configure how regularly the trash is emptied by the use of a code snippet. This method is not recommended for beginners, so if you’re not familiar with code, then you should use Method 1 instead.

For this method, you’ll have to edit your wp-config.php file.

If you haven’t edited the wp-config.php file before, then take a look at our guide on how to edit wp-config.php file in WordPress.

You can simply add the following line of code to your wp-config.php file.

define('EMPTY_TRASH_DAYS', 1 ); //Integer is the amount of days

You should paste it near the end of the file, just before the line that says, ‘That’s all, stop editing! Happy blogging.’

If you leave this code snippet as it is, then your trash will be emptied every day. Feel free to change the number 1 to some other number, and the trash will be emptied after that number of days.

If you don’t wish to use the trash feature at all, then you should set the number to 0. Deleted posts and pages will then be deleted permanently without being placed in the trash.

Make sure you have a backup plugin set up first, just in case you need to restore any accidentally deleted pages.

Don’t forget to save the wp-config.php file once you have made your changes.

Method 3: Stopping WordPress from Automatically Emptying Trash

Do you want to stop WordPress from automatically deleting items from the trash?

Simply add the little code snippet below into your theme’s functions.php file. If you’re not used to editing your core WordPress files, check out our guide on copying and pasting code snippets from the web.

Now, we don’t generally recommend editing your site’s theme files directly. The slightest mistake can break your website. A better way of adding code snippets is by using WPCode.

First, you’ll need to install and activate the free WPCode plugin. For more details, please see our guide on how to install a plugin.

After that, you can go to Code Snippets » + Add Snippet from your WordPress dashboard and then select the ‘Add Your Custom Code (New Snippet) option.

Next, you will need to enter a title for your code snippet.

Then, copy this snippet and paste it into the box labeled ‘Code Preview.’

function wpb_remove_schedule_delete() {
    remove_action( 'wp_scheduled_delete', 'wp_scheduled_delete' );
}
add_action( 'init', 'wpb_remove_schedule_delete' );

This code simply removes the action that deletes trashed items when their time is up.

Don’t forget to click the ‘Code Type’ dropdown menu and select the ‘PHP Snippet’ option.

After that, you can scroll down to the ‘Insertion’ section to view more options, such as how and where you’d like to insert the code.

We recommend using the default options. The plugin will Auto Insert the code and run it everywhere on your site.

Select the default Auto Insert method in WPCode

You can then click the toggle to make your code snippet Active.

Once that’s done, simply click the ‘Save Snippet’ button at the top.

Now when you send an item to the trash, it will remain there until you view your trashed files.

From here, you can manually click on the ‘Empty Trash’ button to delete any post.

We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to limit or disable automatic empty trash in WordPress. You may also want to learn how to get a free SSL certificate or check out list of must have plugins to grow your site.

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 Limit or Disable Automatic Empty Trash in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.

10 Website Marketing Data You Must Track on Every WordPress Site

31.01.2023Beginners Guide, ecommerce, google analytics, marketing analytics for wordpress, tracking marketing data, tracking marketing data in wordpress, website analyticsEditorial Staff

Are you wondering which marketing data you should be tracking on your WordPress website?

After launching a website, most small business owners rely on their best guesses to make important marketing decisions. Not only does that add huge risk, but it also significantly slows down growth.

In this guide, we will share the top website marketing data that you must track on every WordPress site, so you can make data-driven decisions to grow your business.

Website marketing data you must track on WordPress site

Why Do You Need to Track Marketing Data in WordPress?

We believe it’s easy to double your traffic and sales when you know exactly how people find and use your website. Most business owners do not realize how easy it is to track important marketing metrics on your WordPress site.

For example, with a few clicks, you can find out who your visitors are, where they are coming from, and what they do on your website. You can learn which of your articles are getting more visits and which pages on your site are not getting any views.

If you run an online store, then you can see what’s your website conversion rate, which page drives the most sales, what are your top referral sources, and more.

You can use all this marketing data to make informed business decisions and grow your business with confidence.

That said, let’s take a look at the top website marketing stats that you must track on every WordPress site. You can click the links below to quickly jump to any section you’re interested in:

1. Set Up Google Analytics in WordPress

The best way to track marketing data on your WordPress website is by using Google Analytics. It is the most popular website analytics software in the world and is loved by businesses, bloggers, and marketers because it provides a treasure trove of information.

For example, you can use Google Analytics to learn:

The number of visits and pageviews on your website
Who is visiting your website (visitor location, browser, operating system, screen size, and more)
How they found your website
How users interact with your website
And a whole lot more

Google Analytics is an essential tool in our own business. However, you’ll need to add a tracking code to your website, which requires editing code. This can be tricky for beginners, and the slightest mistake can mess up your tracking.

An easier way of setting up Google Analytics is using MonsterInsights. It is the best WordPress Analytics plugin and helps you set up advanced tracking in WordPress without editing code.

See our step-by-step tutorial on how to install Google Analytics in WordPress.

2. Track Outbound Links Using Google Analytics

Any link that takes users away from your website is called an outbound link. If you use affiliate marketing to make money from your website, then those outbound links are also known as affiliate links.

Tracking these outbound links help you see how much traffic you are sending to other sites, and you can use this data to build stronger partnerships with those sites.

As a blogger, you can see which affiliate links are clicked more often by your visitors. This information can help you make a proper affiliate marketing strategy and boost your referral earnings.

The easiest way to track affiliate links in WordPress is by using MonsterInsights. It tracks outbound links and affiliate links on your site out of the box.

You also get easy-to-understand reports inside your WordPress dashboard, including your top affiliate and outbound links.

For detailed instructions see our guide on how to track outbound links in WordPress.

3. Enhanced Ecommerce Tracking with Google Analytics

If you run an online store, then you need to enable enhanced eCommerce tracking in Google Analytics. This would allow you to track the following customer information on your online store.

Shopping behavior of your customers
Checkout behavior and tracking the abandoned cart information
Product lists performance
Uncover top conversion sources
Sales performance

Setting up enhanced eCommerce tracking on your WordPress store can be difficult. However, MonsterInsights makes it easy for you and it literally takes a few clicks to configure with no coding needed.

It works seamlessly with the best eCommerce plugins for WordPress, like WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, LifterLMS, MemberPress, and more.

The best part is that you get to see eCommerce reports in your dashboard. It shows how your online store is performing, which products are getting the most sales, where your customers are coming from, and more at a glance.

For details, see our guide on how to enable customer tracking in WooCommerce with Google Analytics.

4. Track User Engagement Data with Google Analytics

User engagement shows you what users do when they arrive on your website. It helps you identify patterns of highly engaged user behavior which leads to more conversions and sales.

For example, you may find out that users visiting a specific page are 10 times more likely to make a purchase. You can then use this insight to send more users to that page, or replicate a similar experience on other pages of your website.

Basically, you will be tracking data about how users interact with your website. For example:

Tracking your most popular content
Form submission tracking
Ecommerce tracking
Ads tracking to understand how users interact with ads on your website
Monitoring engaged users
Time users spend on your website

For detailed instructions, follow our step-by-step guide on how to track user engagement in WordPress.

5. Track Campaign Links with UTM Codes

Google Analytics is really good at tracking where your website traffic comes from. It can even categorize your traffic based on their source, including organic search, organic social, referral, email, and more.

However, when you’re running paid ad campaigns, email marketing campaigns, or social media promotions, you need detailed campaign tracking.

That’s where UTM tracking comes in.

Campaign-level tracking allows you to see exactly which email, ad, or specific call-to-action link helped you get the most traffic or sales.

To make it easy for you to generate UTM links, MonsterInsights comes with a free campaign URL builder, so you can get more detailed reports. You can enter custom campaign parameters like the source, medium, campaign name, and more to create a custom URL.

These tags include native analytics parameters which are tracked by Google Analytics and are included in your reports. You can then see exactly which link users clicked and how your campaigns are performing.

6. Track and Improve Facebook Retargeting Campaigns

Did you know that Facebook allows you to display targeted ads to people who have visited your website in the past? Yes, it’s called retargeting.

You can install a Facebook pixel and display targeted ads to anyone who visits your website. However, if you install Facebook retargeting pixel today, then you will only be able to show your ads to people who visited today and onward.

Even if you are not running a Facebook advertising campaign right now, we recommend installing the retargeting pixel, so you have a built-in audience when you’re ready to get started.

For detailed instructions, see our guide on how to install Facebook remarketing/retargeting pixel in WordPress.

If you run pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns using Google AdSense, then you can easily see how your ads are performing in the AdSense dashboard. However, these reports only tell you how users interact with your ads not what they do after that.

For that, you’ll need Google Analytics which comes with built-in integration with your AdSense account. This integration enables you to easily track your paid traffic conversions.

You can see our guide on how to properly add Google AdSense to your WordPress site.

8. Monitor Your Site with Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a set of free tools offered by Google to give publishers a look at how their website is seen by the search engine.

It provides immensely useful information like how your pages rank for different keywords (more on this later), the overall performance of your site in search engines, and any errors Google crawler found on your website.

Keeping an eye on Google Search Console can help you boost your site’s search engine visibility. To learn more, see our guide on tips for using Google Search Console to grow your traffic.

For example, here is a report showing errors that occur when a user views the site on their mobile devices. Without Google Search Console, it will be very difficult to pinpoint such issues and quickly resolve them.

For detailed instructions, see our guide on how to add your WordPress site to Google Search Console.

9. Track Your Keyword Rankings

Keywords are the phrases users enter in search engines to find what they’re looking for. To get more traffic from search engines, you need to know exactly which keywords are bringing you the most traffic to your website, so you can focus on what’s working.

We have a complete WordPress SEO guide that you can use to learn how to optimize your content for specific keywords.

Normally, beginners rely on manually entering keywords in Google search to see if their site is ranking. This is highly inefficient as you would miss out on thousands of keywords where your site can be easily ranked.

Google Search Console is a free tool that provides you with valuable keyword data with the average position. You can see which search terms are ranking high, search impressions, and how many average clicks you get.

If you’re using MonsterInsights, then you can view the Search Console report inside your WordPress dashboard.

However, it only allows you to see your own site’s keyword data. If you want to research your competitors, then you’ll need SEMRush. This incredibly powerful SEO tool allows you to view in-depth keyword data for any website.

For more on this topic, please take a look at our guide on how to track keyword rankings for your WordPress site.

10. Track Your Email List Growth and Performance

Most popular email marketing services come with stats and insights that you can track. These reports provide useful data like open rate, click-through rate, unsubscribe rate, and more.

You can also see the traffic coming from your email campaigns to your website in your Google Analytics 4 reports under Acquisition » Traffic acquisition.

From here, you can see how well your email newsletter traffic converts, and what you can do to improve.

Tracking email marketing data helps you grow your email list. You can create new email forms, change form placements, and use popups to boost subscribers.

While there are definitely other marketing metrics that you can track, we believe these are the top marketing data that every business owner must track on their WordPress site.

We hope this article helped you track the right website marketing data on all your WordPress sites. You may also want to see our step-by-step guide to boost WordPress speed and performance, and our comparison of the best business phone services 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 10 Website Marketing Data You Must Track on Every WordPress Site first appeared on WPBeginner.

7 Best Chatbots for Your WordPress Website in 2023

30.01.2023WordPress NewsTeam WPLift

After creating a WordPress website, you might think your work is over. But in reality, it’s not. Because visitors have many questions regardless of the size & type of your website, they usually avoid digging around and prefer getting their questions answered quickly. If you want your website to survive & thrive, you need to [...]

YayExtra Review: Give Your Customers Extra Options for Product Personalization

30.01.2023blogging, WordPress Plugins, WordPress Tips & TutorialsTeam WPLift

Picture this: You’re shopping for a smartphone cover and stumble across a beautiful online shop. This shop has the cover for your specific smartphone model, but it’s only in one color—yellow—and has no design. You prefer to have it in red and feature a quote, but don’t see an option to personalize the product. And [...]

How to Prevent Fraud and Fake Orders in WooCommerce

30.01.2023ecommerce, Fraud Prevention, funnelkit, Online Stores, Stripe, Tutorials, woocommerceEditorial Staff

Do you want to prevent fraud and fake orders on your WooCommerce store?

Fraud and fake orders can cause serious losses for an online store. Luckily, there are effective tools to prevent spam and block fraudulent orders.

In this article, we’ll show you how to easily prevent fraud and fake orders in WooCommerce.

blocking fake and fraudulent orders in WooCommerce

Why Do You need to Prevent Fraud and Fake Orders in WooCommerce?

Fraudulent and fake orders can cause serious financial losses to a business. This is why you need to monitor your online store and prevent fraud and fake orders.

Last year, online stores lost more than $20 billion in revenue due to fraudulent payments, chargebacks, and fake orders.

For some eCommerce stores, the total fraudulent order costs were higher than 4% of total revenue.

A large number of fake orders are usually spam that can be easily prevented. Some orders are more malicious and are placed just to annoy or harass an online business.

The rest of the fraudulent orders are scammers trying to make a few quick bucks.

That being said, let’s take a look at how to prevent fraud and fake orders in WooCommerce.

Here is a quick overview of all the tips we’ll cover in this guide.

1. Use a WooCommerce Fraud Prevention Plugin

The easiest way to prevent fraudulent and fake orders in WooCommerce is by using an anti-fraud plugin.

First, you need to install and activate the WooCommerce Anti-Fraud plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to visit WooCommerce » Settings page and switch to the Anti-Fraud tab.

From here, you can set a minimum and high-risk threshold score.

Below that, you can change the order status based on the risk score. For instance, you can set the score when an order will be automatically canceled and set a score to put an order on hold.

Don’t forget to click on the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your settings.

Next, you need to switch to the Rules tab. From here, you can configure the rules and assign them a risk score.

For instance, you can set a 5-point score for a customer who is placing their first order.

You can set scores for suspicious IP addresses, emails, unsafe countries, matching IP addresses to geographic locations, and more.

Carefully review the rules and their assigned scores and make changes if necessary. If you are unsure, then default settings would work for most eCommerce websites.

If you are using PayPal as a payment option on your store, then you can switch to the PayPal tab. From here, you can require users to verify their PayPal email addresses.

The plugin also allows you to connect with third-party fraud detection service Maxmind.

This paid service uses a global database to collect data about suspicious payment details, emails, IP addresses, and more.

You can then add this score to your plugin risk score and choose what to do when this score is higher.

Once you are satisfied with your settings, don’t forget to click on the ‘Save Changes’ button to store them.

Viewing Fraud Detection Activity

The plugin comes with an easier dashboard where you can see plugin activity in an easy-to-understand format.

Simply click on the Anti Fraud menu item in your WordPress admin sidebar. From here, you can see statistics about all your orders.

View fraud detection activity on your store

The anti-fraud plugin will help you catch most of the fake and fraudulent orders on your WooCommerce store.

However, if you need more strict measures then continue reading for additional WooCommerce fraud prevention tips.

2. Use Stripe Radar and 3D Secure to Automatically Block Fraud

Stripe is the most popular online payment solution in the world. There is a WooCommerce Stripe gateway by FunnelKit that helps you properly connect WooCommerce with Stripe, so you can take advantage of SCA as well as 3D Secure payments option by default.

This method would require you to use Stripe as your main payment gateway in WooCommerce. First you’ll need to install and activate the Stripe for WooCommerce plugin by FunnelKit. Once that’s configured, it will guide you to set up Apple Pay, Google Pay, and other settings to help you protect against fraud transactions.

Aside from that, Stripe also offers a feature called Stripe Radar to help fight against fraudulent transactions. This is a powerful set of algorithm that reduces chargeback risks for your business.

Basically Stripe uses machine learning to block orders. Their machine learning is trained on data across millions of companies worldwide that use Stripe.

We use Stripe Radar on our own eCommerce websites to help reduce fake and fraudulent orders.

Aside from their machine learning algorithm, you can also set custom rules with allow and block lists, and more.

Unfortunately not all WooCommerce gateways have these robust features. If you’re looking to switch to Stripe, then we recommend talking with FunnelKit team as they’re WooCommerce experts who can help.

3. Using the Cash on Delivery Payment Option Carefully

In many countries, ‘Cash on Delivery’ is a popular payment option. However, these stores find themselves more vulnerable to fake and fraudulent orders.

Users are able to place an order with a fake address, refuse to accept the order, or cancel an order that is already shipped.

Once you have shipped an order, you will pay out of pocket for shipping and return of that package.

We recommend not using the ‘Cash on Delivery’ option when possible, as that can lower the number of fake orders you may get.

Try to offer alternate payment options for users to pay before you can ship the order.

4. Sell in Specific Countries

WooCommerce allows you to easily restrict orders from specific countries. This helps you prevent fake orders from countries where you don’t sell or ship to.

Simply go to the WooCommerce » Settings page and select the countries you want to sell / ship to under the General tab.

You can also restrict certain WooCommerce products to specific countries in WooCommerce as well.

Note: Geographical restrictions may reduce fake orders but users can simply use VPN to change their location and provide fake information to place an order.

5. Require Users to Create an Account

Another useful trick to slow down and prevent fake orders is by requiring users to create an account before they can checkout.

Simply go to WooCommerce » Settings page and switch to the Account and Privacy tab. From here, you need to uncheck the box next to the ‘Allow customers to place orders without an account’ option.

Below that, you can check options that allow users to create an account during checkout or from the My Account page.

Asking users to create an account also allows you to easily block customers who placed fraudulent or fake orders.

6. Use a Web Application Firewall and Custom Rules

Many scammers use disposable email addresses, fake IP addresses, and dummy data to place spam or fake orders.

A WordPress firewall helps you block this before it even reaches your website.

We recommend using either Sucuri or Cloudflare, both are among the best WordPress firewall plugin on the market. They comes with powerful security features, CDN servers, and a malware removal service.

In Cloudflare, you can also setup custom page rules to trigger CAPTCHA, or even automatically block users with suspicious activity. We use Cloudflare enterprise on our larger eCommerce stores which comes with all bots anomaly detection and threat response.

If you’re running a large eCommerce store, then it’s worthwhile exploring Cloudflare Enterprise tools.

7. Require Customers to Verify Their Email Addresses

Another way to reduce fake orders and fraudulent activity is by requiring new customers to create an account and then require them to verify their email addresses.

Simply install and activate the Email Verification for WooCommerce plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to visit the WooCommerce » Settings page and switch to the Email Verification tab.

From here, you can configure the plugin settings to your own requirements.

For instance, you can switch to the Email tab and delay the default WooCommerce new user email until the user verifies their account.

Don’t forget to click on the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your settings.

The plugin will now send a verification email to new WooCommerce customers to verify their email addresses.

It’s important to make sure that if you’re setting up email verification that your WooCommerce store actually have reliable email deliverability. Otherwise this can block real customers from purchasing your products.

We recommend using WP Mail SMTP along with SendLayer to improve your WooCommerce email delivery rates. Over 3 million websites use the WP Mail SMTP plugin to fix WooCommerce not sending email issue.

There’s also a free version of WP Mail SMTP that you can use as well.

We hope this article helped you prevent fraud and fake orders in WooCommerce. You may also want to see our complete WordPress security guide to make your online store more secure or take a look at our expert pick of the best WooCommerce plugins to grow your store.

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 Prevent Fraud and Fake Orders in WooCommerce first appeared on WPBeginner.

YaySwatches Review: Give Your WooCommerce Products an Extra Edge

30.01.2023WordPress Newsdeveloper

Does your WooCommerce product showcase consist of items with different attributes? Then you should consider using variation swatches to ensure you aren’t leaving any gaps in the customer experience. These elements help store owners attract more customers with color options and images. A customer might want to see your product from a different angle before [...]

Squarespace vs WordPress – Which Is Better? (Pros and Cons)

29.01.2023Opinion, squarespace, squarespace vs wordpress, wordpress and squarespace comparisonEditorial Staff

Are you looking for a Squarespace vs WordPress comparison to figure out which one is better?

Squarespace and WordPress are two popular website builders that allow you to easily make a website without coding.

In this article, we will compare Squarespace vs. WordPress with the list of pros and cons for each platform. Hopefully, it will help you decide which one is better for your needs.

Note: This comparison is between Squarespace vs self-hosted WordPress (not WordPress.com). See the difference between self-hosted WordPress vs WordPress.com.

Since we want to create the most detailed WordPress vs Squarespace comparison, we have broken down the article into multiple in-depth sections.

We will look at each section and see which platform offers the most benefit to a beginner-level user.

Ready? Let’s get started.

Ease of Use and The Learning Curve

Most business owners and beginner-level users are not familiar with HTML, CSS, and other code-related things.

They want a website builder that is beginner friendly and helps them make a website without hiring a developer.

Let’s see how both WordPress and Squarespace stack up in this category.

WordPress

WordPress is the top choice among users who want to start a blog or small business owners building a DIY website.

WordPress is the best website builder on the market. More than 43% of all websites on the internet use WordPress

While WordPress is fairly intuitive and easy to use, there is a slight learning curve.

Beginners will need to familiarize themselves with WordPress terminology and concepts such as the difference between posts vs pages, categories vs tags, and understanding themes and plugins.

The default WordPress content editor is fairly easy to use.

It comes with blocks to add common content elements to your pages so that you can build beautiful layouts with media-rich content.

Despite the slight learning curve, in our experience, most users quickly adapt to WordPress.

Need an even more flexible way to create pages?

WordPress gives you access to drag-and-drop page builder plugins like SeedProd. This allows you to create your own custom designs from scratch without writing code.

SeedProd a popular WordPress page builder plugin

Squarespace

Unlike WordPress, Squarespace does not come with a lot of choices.

This lack of choice makes it very simple and user-friendly. Even absolute beginners can quickly write content and publish it.

Squarespace also uses a block editor similar to WordPress. Adding images, videos, and audio files is simpler than WordPress.

There are plenty of content blocks, and each block has multiple layout control choices.

Squarespace lets you customize your templates and pages using a visual editor.

However, you are limited to the options available in the customizer, since it is a controlled environment.

Conclusion

Squarespace fares a little better than WordPress out of the box in terms of ease of use for absolute beginners. However, its limited features might not be ideal for all business owners.

On the other hand, WordPress users will get a lot of options right from the beginning, which might be confusing at first, but it is a lot more flexible in the long run.

Winner: Tie

Costs of Using Squarespace vs WordPress

Knowing how much each platform cost is important in making a business decision.

Let’s look at how much Squarespace costs vs. how much WordPress costs.

WordPress

WordPress itself is free. You are free to download, use, and build upon WordPress. It is open-source software with a GPL license which gives you all the freedom and control.

In order to build your website with WordPress, you will need to register a domain and signup for a web hosting account.

Depending on your needs, you can choose a shared hosting plan, VPS hosting, or even managed WordPress hosting.

Shared hosting plans work for most personal and small business websites.

See our guide on how to choose the best WordPress hosting.

The cost of web hosting and domain name vary depending on your hosting provider. You are in charge of how many resources you need for your website and how much you will pay for it.

For instance, you can start with Bluehost. They are offering WPBeginner users 60% off and a free domain name with SSL certificate.

→ Click Here to Claim This Exclusive Bluehost Offer ←

If you can spend a little more, you can upgrade to SiteGround.

One of the reasons for WordPress’ popularity is that the overall cost of building your website with WordPress is very low.

Apart from that, you can change your hosting plan as your site grows. This means you will only pay for the resources you use, so it’s easier to control the cost of your website.

We have a detailed article on the cost of building a WordPress website and how to keep it under budget.

Squarespace

The personal plan for Squarespace starts from $16 per month (billed annually) or $23 month to month. That’s a little more than a shared hosting plan for WordPress.

However, unlike a shared WordPress hosting service, this Squarespace plan comes with limited features.

You can only add only two contributors to your site, and you cannot sell products.

Whereas you can start an online store with WordPress for less than that.

Squarespace business plan starts from $23 per month (billed annually) or $33 month to month.

It includes eCommerce support, but they charge a 3% fee on each transaction. This is separate from the fee charged by your payment processor.

The business plan comes with unlimited contributors, pages, and additional advanced features.

They also have separate plans for online stores starting from $27 per month with no additional transaction fee.

Conclusion

As an open-source platform, WordPress beats Squarespace with flexible pricing plans available from a variety of web hosting providers. Squarespace pricing is higher than WordPress and with less flexibility.

The cost depends on how many resources you use, and you get access to all WordPress features right out of the box.

Winner: WordPress

Design and Templates

WordPress and Squarespace come with ready-made templates and design tools to make it easy for you to create a custom website.

Let’s see which offers you more choices and tools to create well-designed websites.

WordPress

WordPress offers access to thousands of free and premium themes (website templates). These templates are highly customizable, allowing you to use your website logo, colors, upload your own images, and more.

Many WordPress themes come with multiple layout choices, a drag-and-drop editor, sliders, photo galleries, and tons of other features.

No matter what kind of web design you need, you will find hundreds of professionally designed templates for the job.

Many beginners find this abundance of choices a bit overwhelming. Here are some of our expert picks of the best WordPress themes for different kinds of websites.

For more on this topic, see our article on how to choose the best WordPress theme for your website.

Alternatively, you can also start with the SeedProd. It is a drag-and-drop WordPress website builder that allows you to design a custom WordPress theme from scratch without coding.

Squarespace

Squarespace offers ready-made website templates neatly organized into different categories.

There are Squarespace templates for all popular website categories, with professional designs that look good on all devices.

You can easily select a template for your Squarespace website and modify it using the built-in customizer.

However, this is a big area where Squarespace seriously falls behind.

The number of pre-made templates is very limited, and your design options are also limited to the set of features available in the Squarespace customizer.

Themes come with a limited number of layout choices with each template. You can still tweak colors, fonts, website logos, and other things, but these templates are not as customizable as WordPress themes.

Conclusion

WordPress comes out as a clear winner in terms of design choices, customization options, and flexibility. Squarespace offers great-looking templates, but they are limited in numbers and are not very flexible.

Winner: WordPress

Extensions and Integrations

All website builders come with a collection of built-in features. As your website grows, you would want to add more features and connect your site to work with third-party tools and services.

Let’s see how WordPress and Squarespace perform in this regard.

WordPress

The real power of WordPress comes from its massive ecosystem of plugins. These plugins are like apps for your WordPress site that you can install to add new features or change the default behavior of your site.

There are currently more than 60,000+ free WordPress plugins listed in WordPress.org plugin directory alone. There are also thousands of premium WordPress plugins available from third-party websites.

If you can think of a feature, there is a good chance that you’ll easily find a WordPress plugin that does it.

WordPress plugins are so robust that many of them are full-fledged platforms with their own add-on plugins and a thriving community built around them.

We have a list of the essential WordPress plugins that every website should have.

Then you have specialized plugins to create ecommerce websites, build membership communities, sell online courses, and more.

To learn more, see our article on how to choose the best WordPress plugin.

Because WordPress is the most popular website builder, most third-party services and tools have their own WordPress plugins which integrate their services to a WordPress website.

WordPress also has integrations available for all popular social media platforms.

All top email marketing services, SEO tools, live chat software, and lead generation tools offer seamless integration with WordPress.

Squarespace

Squarespace comes nowhere close to WordPress when it comes to extensibility and integrations.

They do offer a very limited set of extensions and integrations. However, unlike WordPress, Squarespace doesn’t have powerful APIs that developers can build upon.

The available integrations are often limited in functionality and you cannot use them as freely on Squarespace as you can do on WordPress.

For eCommerce, you can use their built-in platform, but you cannot extend it in any way.

Squarespace lacks the functionality to allow custom websites you might need for your online business idea.

Conclusion

WordPress is the clear winner with an incredible ecosystem of thousands of plugins and integrations at your fingertips.

Squarespace, on the other hand, has very few integrations and many of them are very limited.

Winner: WordPress

E-commerce Comparison – Squarespace vs WordPress

Are you building an online store? Let’s compare the eCommerce functionality of WordPress vs. Squarespace.

WordPress

WordPress allows you to integrate and use any payment processor or platform.

Many WordPress plugins allow you to easily accept online payments using credit cards via Stripe, PayPal, Google Checkout, 2Checkout, Payoneer, Skrill, and even Bitcoin.

Selling products in WordPress with WooCommerce

WordPress has plenty of eCommerce plugins that can turn your website into an online store within minutes.

The world’s most popular eCommerce platform, WooCommerce, is a WordPress plugin.

WooCommerce comes with its own ecosystem of WooCommerce add-ons and thousands of WooComemrce ready themes.

There is no limit on how many products you add to your website, how you display them, or how you sell them.

You can run your own affiliate program and use all the tricks to grow your sales without any restrictions.

Squarespace

Ecommerce features are quite limited on Squarespace. You can only use Stripe and PayPal for payment processing, both of which are only available in select countries.

There is no other payment system available, which restricts your ability to accept payments from a larger global audience.

For a growing business, starting with such limitations is not a great idea.

Apart from that, you can only sell products in Business or Commerce plans. Due to transaction fees, Squarespace users need to upgrade to an eCommerce plan to save on that.

Let’s say you want to sell only one product, you will still have to pay for the Business plan, and the yearly costs of hosting a site with just one product to sell will be way higher than a shared hosting plan or VPS for WordPress.

As for third-party services, there are very few external services that you can integrate with your Squarespace site.

This affects how you promote your website and the things you can do to make more sales and grow your business.

Conclusion

WordPress is way ahead of Squarespace when it comes to running an eCommerce website. The limitations of Squarespace can affect the growth of an online business.

The neat part about WordPress is that you can also use it alongside Shopify. See our comparison of Shopify vs WooCommerce.

Winner: WordPress

Data Portability

When signing a business agreement, you always have safety clauses such as, if you’re not happy, then you can leave without any hassle.

This concept extends to online businesses as well, and it is called data portability.

If you’re not happy with the platform, then you should be able to take all your work and move it somewhere else.

Let’s look at how WordPress and Squarespace compare in data portability and the freedom to switch.

WordPress

WordPress comes with built-in tools to easily export all your data.

Not just your content and images, but you can also back up your themes, plugins, and the entire database. See our list of the best WordPress backup solutions.

You can then easily move this content to any other Content Management System you want. You can store your content anywhere else and change web hosts at any time you want.

Squarespace

Just like everything else, the export feature on Squarespace is also very limited.

You can only export certain parts of your content in an XML file. This includes your pages, galleries, and one blog page with all its posts.

Your product pages, album pages, text, audio, and video blocks will not be exported.

Conclusion

The content you create on your site is yours, and you should have the freedom and tools so that you can move it elsewhere.

WordPress again beats Squarespace with easy-to-manage tools to export your entire site.

Winner: WordPress

Languages and Internationalization

We live in a global world and many businesses cater to a multilingual audience in different geographical locations.

Let’s see how Squarespace and WordPress handle languages, multi-lingual content, and geographical locations.

WordPress

WordPress is fully translated into dozens of languages. Users on a WordPress site can choose their own language from their profile settings.

Most WordPress themes are translation-ready and all popular WordPress plugins are also translated into many languages.

You can build a WordPress website in any language you want. You can even translate WordPress yourself if your language is not yet available.

WordPress does not come with multi-lingual functionality out of the box. However, there are excellent plugins to create multilingual websites that are SEO-friendly and incredibly feature-rich.

Squarespace

The Squarespace platform is fully translated into six languages (English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese). It also partially supports a few more languages.

You can change your site language and choose a different timezone / country.

You can only use currencies supported by Stripe or PayPal for your store products.

You can create multilingual pages by basically duplicating your pages. You will have to manually create a site structure or different sites for each language (You will be billed for each site separately).

Alternatively, you can pay for Weglot, a third-party service to manage translations. Pricing for Weglot starts at $9.99 per month for one language.

Conclusion

WordPress is way ahead in terms of languages and localization options. Squarespace again comes out as very limited and not suitable for creating multilingual websites.

Winner: WordPress

Summarizing Squarespace vs WordPress Comparison

WordPress is a far superior platform to Squarespace when it comes to building a website. Our CMS market share report shows that WordPress powers over 43% of all websites while Squarespace is only used by 2.1% of websites.

Here is a quick breakdown of pros and cons of both platforms.

Pros of using Squarespace

Easier to use for small websites
Polished user experience
Hassle-free website setup
Customer support via Twitter, Live Chat, and email support.

Cons of using Squarespace

Costs higher than a website on shared hosting
Limited design choices
Limited set of features
Limitations put you at disadvantage in growing your business

Pros of using WordPress

Easy to use with a slight learning curve
Incredibly flexible to create any kind of website
Massive collection of themes and plugins
Truly powerful eCommerce platform
Can be started at a very low cost
Community support via online forums

Cons of using WordPress

You’ll have to install updates and make backups
You’ll have to manually scale resources by upgrading your hosting as your business grows
You’ll be responsible for managing your website security

Weighing the pros and cons, we can confidently say that WordPress is a better platform to start a website.

The freedom to grow your website as you see fit is important for all businesses.

You should not trade that for any cost. WordPress provides this freedom at a much lower cost than all other platforms.

Frequently Asked Questions about Squarespace vs WordPress

Following are some of the most commonly asked questions about Squarespace vs WordPress.

1. Is WordPress better than Squarespace?

Yes, WordPress is better than Squarespace because it gives you more freedom and flexibility to build any kind of website.

Squarespace is easy to use but it offers a free limited set of features and flexibility. It is comparable to platforms like Wix or Weebly which are also fully hosted site builders with similar limitations.

2. Is WordPress better for SEO than Squarespace?

Yes, WordPress is better for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) than Squarespace. With WordPress you can use SEO plugins like All in One SEO for WordPress, which allows you to add powerful sitemaps, schema markup, meta title and descriptions, and more.

With Squarespace, you are limited to the SEO functionality baked into the platform and cannot extend it.

3. How can I move my site from Squarespace to WordPress?

Squarespace offers limited export options but you can still switch from Squarespace to WordPress. See our tutorial on how to easily move from Squarespace to WordPress for step-by-step instructions.

4. Squarespace vs WordPress which one is better for bloggers?

WordPress is the better platform for bloggers. It started out as a blogging platform and still has the best blogging tools than any other site builder on the market.

We hope this article offered you a side-by-side comparison of WordPress vs Squarespace. You may also want to see our complete WordPress review for a detailed overview of the platform.

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 Squarespace vs WordPress – Which Is Better? (Pros and Cons) first appeared on WPBeginner.

9 Best Google Optimize Alternatives (Free and Paid)

27.01.2023a/b testing in wordpress, add google optimize, funnelkit, google optimize, google optimize alternative, optinmonster, Showcase, split testing, thrive optimize, vwo, woofunnelsEditorial Staff

Recently one of our readers asked us for our suggestion on the best Google Optimize alternative?

Google Optimize is a tool that lets you conduct experiments on your website. However, Google recently announced that the Optimize tool will be sunset in September 2023, and your experiments will stop after this date.

This has left many business owners and marketers scrambling to quickly find a Google Optimize alternative for their A/B testing needs.

In this article, we will share the best Google Optimize alternatives, so you can choose the solution that works for your needs. We will also share what we’re going to be switching to as well.

What is Google Optimize and Why Use an Alternative?

Google Optimize is a free tool by Google that allows you to split test pages on your WordPress website and improve user experience.

You can set up conversion experiments using the tool and see if making changes to a landing page increases conversions. For example, you can A/B split-test two versions of a sales page, use different headlines, or change the color of the call to action (CTA) buttons to see which one works the best.

However, Google announced that they will sunset Google Optimize on September 30, 2023. After this date, the tool will no longer be available, and all your experiments and personalizations will end on that date. Besides that, you won’t be able to access data after the sunset date.

You can use a Google Optimize alternative to continue experimenting and testing your site. There are many tools in the market that let you conduct A/B tests with ease, require no coding to set up, and offer powerful features.

Let’s look at the best Google Optimize alternatives especially the ones that works seamlessly with WordPress websites, but several of these Google Optimize competitors will work on all website platforms.

1. Thrive Optimize

Thrive Optimize is the best Google Optimize alternative for WordPress that is super easy to use. It is part of the Thrive Theme suite, which includes an ecosystem of WordPress plugins focused on boosting conversions on your site.

With Thrive Optimize, you can conduct experiments and A/B test landing pages without editing code. Unlike Google Optimize, the plugin is beginner friendly, as there is no need to add code snippets to your site.

You can get started in no time. Simply create a landing page using the visual builder and then create a variant. After that, pick a conversion goal, which includes page visits, opt-in form submissions, and revenue. Once that’s done, go ahead and run the test.

Thrive Optimize Visual Split Testing for WordPress

The best part is that you don’t have to switch between tabs or windows to view the results of your experiments. If you’re using Google Optimize, then you’d have to jump back and forth between tabs to see the results.

Instead, Thrive Optimize shows a report inside your WordPress dashboard. You can quickly view which variant is converting the best. Besides that, you can create as many variations of a landing page for testing as you want. The plugin also picks a winner and shows the best variant.

Pricing: Thrive Optimize is part of the Thrive Themes suite which costs $299 per year and includes 9 other powerful conversion tools. You can also purchase Thrive Optimize bundle for $199 / year.

2. OptinMonster

OptinMonster is the best WordPress popup plugin and lead generation software in the market. You can create campaigns like floating bars, welcome screen mats, and popups to grow your email list, increase conversions, and get more leads.

OptinMonster offers an A/B testing tool that lets you test different popup and modal campaigns. It makes a great Google Optimize alternative because it’s very easy to use. You can customize and create different variants using the drag-and-drop campaign builder.

Once you’ve created a split test, OptinMonster will randomly show the variations to your visitors and pick a clear winner. You can then see in-depth stats about conversions inside your WordPress dashboard and find out which campaign performs the best.

Pricing: You will need the OptinMonster Plus or higher plan to use the A/B testing feature, with prices starting from $19 per month.

3. VWO Testing

VWO Testing is a popular A/B testing tool and a great alternative to Google Optimize. You get more features than Google Optimize, as it allows you to run multiple experiments on your website, products, apps, and server side.

It comes with a visual builder to change different elements on your webpage, like text, images, shapes, backgrounds, and more. After making the changes, you can run split tests and see which variant performs the best.

VWO Testing offers an AI-power copywriting tool. This way, you can automatically select different headlines, CTA copies, and product descriptions to test.

It also lets you run tests based on user segments and behavior. For instance, you can select a target audience based on time spent on a page, scroll depth, exit intent, and when someone clicks on elements.

Pricing: VWO offers a free plan that you can use for up to 50 thousand users per month. If you have more users, then you can upgrade to their premium plans.

4. FunnelKit

FunnelKit, formerly known as WooFunnels, is the best WordPress and WooCommerce sales funnel plugin. You can use the plugin to create funnels to generate leads, offer seamless checkouts, 1-click upsells, and more.

FunnelKit is another Google Optimize alternative that comes with an A/B testing feature specially for WooCommerce. You can split-test your product prices, page layouts, messages, designs, and funnels without editing code.

The plugin is beginner friendly and helps you set up experiments within minutes. You can test headings, images, prices, product descriptions, and every other component on a page. FunnelKit also helps declare a winner once there’s enough data to see which funnel converts the best.

Besides that, FunnelKit also offers other features. For example, it offers FunnelKit Automation which allows you to set up automated emails and SMS campaigns.

Pricing: FunnelKit offers multiple pricing plans. To use the A/B Testing feature, you’ll need the Plus plan. It will cost you $179.5 per year.

5. Convert.com

Convert.com is a proven A/B testing tool to help you boost conversions. It provides fast & flicker free A/B testing experience and is known for their speed.

They are a perfect Google Optimize alternative because it gives you access to all the features you’re accustomed to with Google Optimize and then some more.

Convert also let you seamlessly integrate your tests with Google Analytics as well as other tools like Hotjar, Heap, Segment, HubSpot, and more.

Their onboarding is a bit slow, but once you’re up and running, you can create unlimited tests and quickly deploy changes.

Pricing: Convert.com prices start from $99 per month, and you get a 14-day free trial.

6. Crazy Egg

Crazy Egg is a popular heatmap tool in the market. You can use heatmaps to see how users behave on your website, where they click, and how they move the mouse cursor and scroll through pages.

Crazy Egg offers an A/B testing tool that you can use to run experiments on your website and boost conversions. What makes it a great Google Optimize alternative is the features it offers along with A/B testing.

You get heatmaps, recordings of visitors using your website, error tracking, surveys, and traffic analytics. Plus, you can configure it without editing code, which isn’t possible if you’re Google Optimize.

Crazy Egg offers a multivariate engine where all you need to do is choose the elements you want to test and add your ideas. The engine then does the heavy lifting and conducts the test for you.

The best part is that it is easily integrated with website builders, including WordPress, Shopify, Squarespace, Wix, and more.

Pricing: Crazy Egg offers different pricing plans starting from $29 per month. You get unlimited A/B tests in each pricing plan, and there is also a 30-day free trial to get started.

7. Adobe Target

Adobe Target is an enterprise-level solution to run split tests on their website and is part of Adobe Marketing Cloud. It is more powerful than Google Optimize and offers an omnichannel approach to the A/B test.

What this means is that instead of running isolated experiments, Adobe Target lets you run tests on every channel. This way, you get to see how users behave with different variants coming from other channels, like social media, organic traffic, paid search, and more.

The software is easy to use and set up. Plus, its AI-powered automation helps you test multiple experiences and then personalize them for each visitor.

On the downside, Adobe Analytics is only available for users that have Adobe Analytics. If you’re looking for a complete marketing solution with an A/B testing feature, then you can use Thrive Optimize instead.

Pricing: You will need to request a quote and get Adobe Target pricing according to your business needs.

8. Optimizely

Optimizely is one of the most popular Google Optimize alternatives in the market. Their digital experience platform allows you to create every kind of A/B testing experiment for your website.

You can use their visual editor along with advanced targeting features to optimize your A/B testing campaigns. Optimizely works on all website platforms and is a platform of choice by many large brands.

We have used Optimizely in the past when they had a free plan, and it’s an extremely powerful tool for what it does, however the prices are no longer small business friendly.

Pricing: Optimizely does not reveal it’s prices anymore and require that you submit a form to request a quote.

9. Kameleoon

Kameleoon is the next Google Optimize alternative on our list. It offers powerful solutions and lets you conduct different types of experiments.

For starters, you can run web experiments and A/B test your website and mobile apps. You can assign a business goal to your tests and see which variant is increasing conversions, retention, or engagement.

Kameleoon also offers A/B testing features to advanced users and developers. You can run server-side experiments to improve your product. It easily works in different development languages and frameworks, like PHP, Java, Ruby, Flutter, and more.

Besides that, it offers AI-power personalization. You can provide unique experiences to each visitor, target different segments for testing, and comply with privacy laws like GDPR and CCPA.

Pricing: You will need to request a demo and get a quote for Kameleoon pricing.

Which is the Best Google Optimize Alternative (Expert Pick)

The best Google Optimize alternatives are Thrive Optimize, VWO Testing, and FunnelKit.

If you’re looking for a WordPress A/B testing tool, then Thrive Optimize is our first pick. It gives you all the powerful features, and it’s very affordable. Since it’s part of the Thrive Suite, you also get other solutions like a quiz builder, popup form builder, WordPress page builder, and more.

If you’re looking for an all-around SaaS alternative for Google Optimize that works on all platforms, then we recommend using VWO Testing. They have a generous free plan that should work for most small business owners.

And if you are an eCommerce store owner looking for the best Google Optimize alternative for WooCommerce, then we recommend using FunnelKit. They have deep integration with WooCommerce and allow you to customize every step of the funnel including adding custom 1-click upsells, order bumps, and more to help boost your average order value.

We hope this article helped you find the best Google Optimize alternative. You may also want to see our ultimate WordPress SEO guide to improve your SEO ranking, and see our comparison of the best push notification software with A/B testing features to boost your traffic.

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

The post 9 Best Google Optimize Alternatives (Free and Paid) first appeared on WPBeginner.

Why Create an Ebook From Your WordPress Blog Posts?

Choosing Which Blog Content to Use in Your Ebook

Creating Professional-Looking Cover Art for Your Ebook

Method 1: Turning Blog Posts Into an Ebook Using Google Docs (Free)

Method 2: Turning Blog Posts Into an Ebook Using a Plugin

How to Promote and Monetize Your eBook in WordPress

What Is Trash in WordPress?

Method 1: Changing when WordPress Trash Is Emptied with a Plugin

Method 2: Changing when WordPress Trash Is Emptied with Code

Method 3: Stopping WordPress from Automatically Emptying Trash

Why Do You Need to Track Marketing Data in WordPress?

1. Set Up Google Analytics in WordPress

2. Track Outbound Links Using Google Analytics

3. Enhanced Ecommerce Tracking with Google Analytics

4. Track User Engagement Data with Google Analytics

5. Track Campaign Links with UTM Codes

6. Track and Improve Facebook Retargeting Campaigns

7. Tracking Google AdSense Campaigns

8. Monitor Your Site with Google Search Console

9. Track Your Keyword Rankings

10. Track Your Email List Growth and Performance

Why Do You need to Prevent Fraud and Fake Orders in WooCommerce?

1. Use a WooCommerce Fraud Prevention Plugin

2. Use Stripe Radar and 3D Secure to Automatically Block Fraud

3. Using the Cash on Delivery Payment Option Carefully

4. Sell in Specific Countries

5. Require Users to Create an Account

6. Use a Web Application Firewall and Custom Rules

7. Require Customers to Verify Their Email Addresses

Ease of Use and The Learning Curve

Costs of Using Squarespace vs WordPress

Design and Templates

Extensions and Integrations

E-commerce Comparison – Squarespace vs WordPress

Data Portability

Languages and Internationalization

Summarizing Squarespace vs WordPress Comparison

Frequently Asked Questions about Squarespace vs WordPress

What is Google Optimize and Why Use an Alternative?

Which is the Best Google Optimize Alternative (Expert Pick)