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 [...]
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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 [...]
The post <strong>YayExtra Review: Give Your Customers Extra Options for Product Personalization</strong> appeared first on Learn WordPress with WPLift.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 [...]
The post <strong>YaySwatches Review: Give Your WooCommerce Products an Extra Edge</strong> appeared first on Learn WordPress with WPLift.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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
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
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.
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
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
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
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
Cons of using Squarespace
Pros of using WordPress
Cons of using WordPress
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.
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.
Yoast SEO, the popular SEO WordPress plugin, is launching its new version 20.0 today. The major update includes a revamped user interface for the settings section, making it easier, more intuitive, and fun to use. This release is now available for all Yoast SEO users on WordPress. New features include: According to Yoast’s founder Joost [...]
The post Weekly WordPress News: Experience the new and improved Yoast SEO version 20 with a revamped user interface for settings. Easier, more intuitive, and fun to use. Upgrade now! appeared first on Learn WordPress with WPLift.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Do you want to import and export WooCommerce products with images?
Importing or exporting WooCommerce products with images allows you to easily move your store or add new products in multiple stores.
In this article, we will show you how to easily import and export WooCommerce products with images.
Many users need to import and export WooCommerce products for a number of reasons.
Now normally if you are moving your website to a new server, then you can just duplicate your entire website and set it up on your new host.
We have a complete step-by-step guide for that, see how to easily move WordPress to a new host or server.
On the other hand, if you only want to move products, then this tutorial will help you learn how to properly export and import WooCommerce products with images and other product data.
We’ll show you two methods, you can choose one that works best for you.
WooCommerce comes with built-in functionality to easily import and export products with images, but without using any additional plugins.
First, you need to visit the Products » All Products page in your WordPress admin area. There, you will see two buttons at the top to ‘Import’ or ‘Export’ products.
Let’s first check out how the export feature works.
Exporting WooCommerce Products without Using a Plugin
Simply click on the ‘Export’ button at the top to continue.
On the next screen, you’ll see a bunch of options to choose what data you want to export.
For instance, you can choose to only export certain columns from product data. You can also choose to export specific product types or products in specific categories.
To export all products with images and all other data, you can leave these options unchecked.
Optionally, you can check the ‘Export custom meta.’ If you are unsure, then it’s better to check it so that you have the data.
Go ahead and click on the ‘Generate CSV’ button to continue.
WooCommerce will now prepare a CSV file and download it to your computer.
What is a CSV File?
CSV is short for Comma Separated Values, and it is file type of plain text that separates different columns or fields of data with a comma.
You can open it with any spreadsheet software like Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel. Here is how it would look:
Importing WooCommerce Products without Using a Plugin
Simply go to the Products » All Products page and click on the Import button at the top.
If your WooCommerce store is empty, then instead of the buttons at the top, you will see buttons at the center of the page.
Click on the ‘Start Import’ button to begin the import.
This will bring up the import wizard.
First, you need to click on the ‘Choose File’ button to select the WooCommerce export CSV file you downloaded earlier.
Click on the continue button to upload the CSV file.
WooCommerce will now check to see if your CSV file is in a compatible format. After that, it will ask you to map that data to existing WooCommerce product data.
The default settings here will work for most WooCommerce stores.
However, you still need to review and if a column is missing, and then click on the drop-down menu next to it and select a matching field if available.
Particularly, if you are using variations attribute for products, then make sure to scroll down to the attributes columns and match fields.
This will allow you to ensure that the fields in your CSV file match the corresponding WooCommerce fields.
Click on the ‘Run’ the Importer button to begin.
WooCommerce will now start importing data from CSV file. It will also download any images attached to your products.
Once finished, you can visit the Products » All Products page to see the imported products.
Make sure to visit your shop and product pages to check that everything is working as expected.
For this method, we’ll be using a plugin to import and export WooCommerce products.
The advantage of this method is that it offers more flexible options and also allows you to export / import product reviews.
Plus, it allows you to import / export WooCommerce products in batches which comes in handy if you have a large store with many products and images.
Exporting WooCommerce Products with a Plugin
First, you need to install and activate the Product Import Export for WooCommerce plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
The plugin comes as three separate addons. You’ll need to download and install all of them.
Upon activation, you need to visit the Webtoffee Import Export (Pro) » Export page and select the ‘Product’ as the post type you want to export.
On the next screen, you need to select an export method.
The default Quick Export method automatically selects all your products for export.
Optionally, you can also choose ‘Advanced Export’ which allows you to filter products by category, tag, and status.
You can also exclude individual products manually.
Click on the Export button to continue and the plugin will start preparing your product data.
Once finished, you’ll be prompted to download the export file to your computer.
Importing WooCommerce Products with a Plugin
Now that you have your export file ready, you can use it to import products on another WooCommerce store.
Simply install and activate the Product Import Export for WooCommerce plugin on the store where you need to import the products.
After that, go to the Webtoffee Import Export (Pro) » Import page and select ‘Product’ as the post type you want to import.
Click on the ‘Step 2: Select import method’ button to continue.
Next, you need to select an import method and upload the exported file you downloaded earlier to your computer.
Click on the ‘Step 3: Map and Import Columns’ button to continue.
On the next screen, you’ll see a list of fields and the matching fields from your import file. If you see an empty field, you can choose a matching field for it in the next column.
If you are using product variations like sizes and colors, then make sure to click on the Attributes tab to match attribute fields.
However, if you are not using any products with variations or custom attributes then you can use the default settings.
Click on the ‘Step 4: Advanced Options / Batch Import’ button to continue.
On the final screen, you’ll see advanced options. For instance, you can choose to match products by ID or SKU, choose what to do if a product already exists, and more.
If you are importing products into an empty WooCommere store, then you can use the default settings.
Finally, click on the ‘Import’ button to run the product import process.
You’ll see the progress of the import on screen. Once finished, you can click on ‘View Products’ to check if everything has been imported correctly.
The plugin also allows you to import and export Product Reviews.
If you want to import or export the product reviews too, then simply choose ‘Product Reviews’ post type on the import or export page.
If you find yourself doing a lot of manual work around your WooCommerce store and want to save time, then we recommend using Uncanny Automator for workflow automation.
Uncanny Automator helps you connect over 100+ plugins and apps with a simple no-code visual builder. You can use it to create automated workflows for things that you normally do without writing any code.
There’s a free version that you can try out, and it’s already used by over 20,000 websites.
Aside from workflow automation, if you’re looking for a marketing automation tool for WooCommerce, then we recommend using FunnelKit Automation. It will help you grow your sales and improve conversions without the high costs.
We hope this article helped you learn how to easily import and export WooCommerce products with images in WordPress. You may also want to see our pick of the essential WooCommerce plugins or see these practical tips on recovering abandoned cart sales in WooCommerce.
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 Import & Export WooCommerce Products with Images first appeared on WPBeginner.
Are you seeing the ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED error when trying to access a website or when viewing a website resource using your browser’s inspect tool?
This error message appears when your browser is unable to connect to the website you’ve requested. You might also see it in your browser’s inspect tool when you are exploring why a certain resource on the website won’t load.
In this article, we’ll show you how to fix the ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED error in Chrome.
The ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED message is displayed in Google Chrome when it is trying to open a web page or website resource but is unable to do so. This error code is usually included inside an error message such as:
There are lots of common WordPress errors, but this error may stop you from visiting your own website and logging in to the WordPress admin area. You’ll typically want to solve this problem as quickly as possible.
Often when you see this error message, your WordPress website is still working, but something is stopping the browser from accessing it. In many cases, you will only need to fix a problem with your own browser or internet connection.
With that being said, let’s take a look at how to fix the ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED error in Chrome. First, we’ll look at how to fix the error when you can’t access an entire website, then we’ll show the solution for when you can’t access a specific file or resource on a website.
Usually, this message is displayed when you can’t access an entire website.
You will see the Chrome error message ‘This site can’t be reached’ along with the ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED error code. The message may even suggest a few things to try to fix the error, such as checking the connection, proxy, firewall, and DNS configuration.
Other browsers will display similar messages, such as:
There are many things that can interfere with your connection to the website, and you will need to follow some troubleshooting steps to identify and fix the problem.
We’ll briefly cover the steps you should take below. For detailed instructions, see our guide on how to easily fix the ‘This site can’t be reached’ error in WordPress.
Check Your Internet Connection
The simplest fix is to check that you’re connected to the internet and restart your modem and router. Resetting your internet connection may be all it takes to reconnect to your website.
If not, you should check to see whether your website is working. Simply visit the Website Uptime Status Checker website, then enter the URL of your own site.
If your site is down, then you should contact your WordPress hosting provider to let them know your website is down.
Clear Your Browser Cache
Your web browser stores files and data from the websites you visit, so it doesn’t have to download them again. However, this can cause problems if the cached files become outdated or corrupt.
You can easily clear the browser cache in Google Chrome by clicking on the three-dotted icon in the upper-right corner and then selecting ‘More Tools,’ followed by ‘Clear Browsing Data…’
In the popup that appears, check the box next to ‘Cached images and files’ and then click the ‘Clear data’ button.
Now try revisiting the website to check whether you can access it.
Troubleshoot the Software on Your Computer
Some of the security and networking software you run on your computer may be interfering with your connection to the website. This can include your firewall, antivirus software, VPN, and proxy server.
We offer detailed instructions on how to troubleshoot each of these in our guide on how to fix the ‘This site can’t be reached’ error.
Troubleshoot Your DNS Settings
Similar to the browser cache, your computer stores the IP addresses of all the websites you visit. This means the browser doesn’t have to look up the same IP address multiple times.
By flushing your DNS cache, you’ll get the very latest information about a website, including its new domain name or address.
To help you out, we’ve created a complete guide on how to clear your DNS cache for Mac, Windows, and Google Chrome.
If you still can’t access the website after doing this, then you can try changing your DNS server as well. You can follow the detailed instructions in the change the DNS server step of our guide on how to fix the ‘This site can’t be reached’ error.
Reset the TCP/IP Settings
Finally, if there’s a problem with how your internet connection is configured, then renewing your TCP and IP protocol will return the connection to its default settings, which may solve the problem.
You can learn how to do this step-by-step in the reset the TCP/IP settings section of our guide on how to fix the ‘This site can’t be reached’ error.
You might notice that, while your website loads, a certain resource or file doesn’t. This file could be an image or other media file, JavaScript, or a CSS stylesheet. A missing resource can cause your website to misbehave or not function properly.
When that happens, the browser will add a notice in the error console for debugging purposes.
In most cases, you would see this error in your browser’s error console when using the Inspect tool. You might see the error message Failed to load resource: net::ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED.
This error message happens when your website’s code mentions the file, but your browser is unable to download it. This can happen when there is a problem with the file itself, or the URL that points to it.
To fix the problem, you will need to either replace the resource in question or fix the URL. We offer detailed instructions for both of these in our guide on how to fix the ‘Failed to load resource’ error in WordPress.
We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to fix the ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED error in Chrome. You may also want to see our ultimate WordPress security guide, or check out our list of easy ways to increase your blog traffic.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
The post How to Fix the ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED Error in Chrome first appeared on WPBeginner.
Do you want to create a custom homepage in WordPress?
By default, WordPress shows your latest blog posts on the homepage. However, you can often create a better first impression by designing a custom homepage that highlights your site’s most popular content, products, services, and more.
In this article, we will show you how to easily create a custom homepage in WordPress.
A homepage is the first page visitors see when they type in your domain name. For many people, this homepage is their introduction to your business, blog, or website.
A good homepage will make visitors want to learn more about your WordPress website. It will also provide easy access to the links, search bars, menus, and anything else that can help visitors find interesting content.
By default, WordPress shows your latest blog posts on the homepage.
This may be a good fit for personal blogs or hobby bloggers. However, many WordPress blogs and websites can benefit by replacing the standard homepage with a custom homepage.
The good news is that WordPress makes it easy to show a custom page as your homepage, rather than the default list of recent posts.
In this guide, we’ll show you a few different ways to create a custom homepage. However, afterward, you’ll need to let WordPress know that it should use this page as the homepage.
To do that, simply go to Settings » Reading in the WordPress dashboard.
Here, scroll to ‘Your homepage settings’ and select ‘A static page.’
You can now open the ‘Homepage’ dropdown and choose the page that you want to use as the new homepage.
Then, simply scroll to the bottom of the screen and click on ‘Save Changes.’ You can now visit your site to see the new custom homepage live.
If you have a blog, then make sure you create a separate blog page to display your posts. If you don’t, then visitors will struggle to find your latest blogs.
With that being said, let’s see how you can design a custom homepage in WordPress. Simply use the quick links below to jump straight to the method you want to use.
If you’re using a block theme, then you can design a custom homepage template using the full site editor.
This method doesn’t work with every theme, so if you’re not using a block-based WordPress theme then we recommend using a page builder like SeedProd or Beaver Builder instead.
To start, simply create a new page or open an existing page that you want to use as the homepage. Then, click on the ‘Page’ tab in the right-hand menu and click to expand the ‘Template’ section, if it isn’t already open.
WordPress will now show which template this page is currently using.
To create a custom homepage template, just click on the ‘New’ link.
In the popup, give your template a name. The name is just for your reference so you can use anything you want.
After that, go ahead and click on ‘Create’ to launch the full site editor.
The template editor works similarly to the standard WordPress block editor.
To add blocks to your custom homepage, just click on the blue ‘+’ button. You can then drag and drop any block onto your layout.
Since we’re creating a custom homepage, you’ll typically want to start by adding a big hero image such as your website’s logo or banner.
To do this, simply find the ‘Image’ block in the left-hand menu and then add it to your layout using drag and drop.
You can now either choose an image from the WordPress media library or upload a new file from your computer.
To get more engagement, you may want to show recent comments on your homepage by adding a ‘Latest Comments’ block.
For more information, please see our guide on how to show comments on the homepage of your WordPress theme.
A good homepage helps visitors find interesting content. With that being said, it’s a good idea to add a ‘Navigation’ block to your custom homepage.
To learn more, please see our step-by-step guide on how to add custom navigation menus in WordPress themes.
After adding a block, make sure you click to select it in your layout. You can then configure the block using the settings in the right-hand menu and the buttons in the mini toolbar.
To build your custom homepage, simply keep adding more blocks and then configure them using the full site editor settings.
For example, you may want to add blocks such as Latest Posts, Search, Social Icons, Cloud Tag, and more.
When you’re happy with how the template looks, click on the ‘Publish’ button.
The page you created earlier will now be using the new homepage template. You can now tell WordPress to use this page as your homepage by following the process described above.
The WordPress block-based editor allows you to create a custom homepage using the tools you’re already familiar with. However, it doesn’t work with all themes and is limited in flexibility and features.
If you want to create a completely custom homepage that works with any WordPress theme, then you’ll need a page builder plugin.
For this method, we’ll be using SeedProd. It is the best page builder plugin on the market and allows you to create a custom homepage using a simple drag-and-drop editor.
It also comes with lots of professionally-designed templates and ready-made blocks that you can use on your homepage.
Note: There is a free version of SeedProd on available on WordPress.org but we’ll be using the Pro version since it has more templates, blocks, and features.
The first thing you need to do is install and activate the SeedProd plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, you need to enter your license key.
You can find this information under your account on the SeedProd website. After entering the license key, go ahead and click the ‘Verify Key’ button.
Next, you need to visit SeedProd » Pages and click on the ‘Add New Landing Page’ button.
After that, it’s time to choose a template for your custom homepage. SeedProd has lots of professionally-designed templates that you can customize according to your website’s needs.
To select a template, simply hover your mouse over it and then click the ‘Checkmark’ icon.
We’re using the ‘Juicy Sales Page’ template in all our images, but you can use any design.
Next, go ahead and type in a name for the custom homepage. SeedProd will automatically create a URL based on the page’s title, but you can change this URL to anything you want.
When you’re happy with the information you’ve entered, click on the ‘Save and Start Editing the Page’ button.
Next, you’ll be taken to the SeedProd drag-and-drop page builder, where you can customize your template.
The SeedProd editor shows a live preview of your design to the right and some block settings on the left.
The left-hand menu also has blocks that you can drag onto your layout.
For example, you can drag and drop standard blocks like buttons and images or use advanced blocks such as the countdown, contact form, social sharing buttons, and more.
To customize any block, simply click to select it in your layout.
The left-hand menu will now show all the settings you can use to configure that block. You can also change background colors, add background images, or change the color scheme and fonts to better match your brand.
To start, you’ll want to replace any placeholder images with your own photos or custom logo. To do this, simply click to select any Image block in the live preview.
In the left-hand menu, click on the ‘Select Image’ button.
You can now either choose an image from the WordPress media library or upload a new file from your computer.
SeedProd also comes with ‘Sections,’ which are collections of blocks that are often used together. For example, SeedProd has a header, hero image, call to action, testimonials, contact form, FAQs, features, footer sections, and more. These can help you create a custom homepage, fast.
To look through the different sections, simply click on the ‘Sections’ tab. To preview any section, just hover your mouse over it and then click on the magnifying glass icon.
To add the section to your design, simply click on ‘Choose This Section.’
This will add the section to the bottom of your homepage.
You can move sections and blocks around your layout using drag and drop.
When you’re happy with how the homepage looks, don’t forget to click the ‘Save’ button to store your changes.
SeedProd makes it super easy to connect your homepage to popular email marketing services like Constant Contact or Mailchimp.
To do this, simply click on the ‘Connect’ tab and then select your email service provider.
SeedProd will now show you how to integrate the homepage with your email provider.
If your provider isn’t listed, then don’t worry. SeedProd works with Zapier which acts as a bridge between SeedProd and more than 3000+ other apps.
Once you’ve done that, you’re ready to publish your custom homepage. Simply click on the ‘Page Settings’ tab.
There are more options under the Page Settings tab that you may want to look at. For example, you can change the SEO settings, edit the page title, and connect a custom domain.
When you’re happy with how the page is set up, go ahead and select the ‘General’ tab.
You can now click on the ‘Page Status’ toggle to change it from ‘Draft’ to ‘Publish.’
Now, you simply need to head over to Settings » Reading and set this page as your new custom homepage.
You can also create a custom homepage using code. However, this method is complicated and coding mistakes can cause all kinds of common WordPress errors.
That being said, we don’t recommend this method for beginners.
Your WordPress theme is made up of many different files. Some of these files are called templates and they control how different areas of your website look. For more information, please see our WordPress template hierarchy cheat sheet.
One of these templates is called front-page.php.
If your theme has this template, then WordPress will automatically use it to show your homepage. This means you can create a custom homepage by editing this file or replacing it with a new file.
To get started, you’ll need an FTP client such as FileZilla, or you can use the file manager supplied by your WordPress hosting provider.
If this is your first time using FTP, then you can see our complete guide on how to connect to your site using FTP.
After connecting to the server, go to /wp-content/themes/ and then open the folder for your current WordPress theme.
If this folder already has a front-page.php file, then you can go ahead and open that file in any text editor, such as Notepad. You can then make any changes you want by editing the code.
If your theme doesn’t have a front-page.php file, then you can create a new file with the name front-page.php.
After that, you just need to upload front-page.php to your current theme’s folder on your WordPress hosting account.
As soon as you upload this file, WordPress will start using it to display your homepage. However, since the file is completely empty, you will see a blank page as your homepage.
To fix this, just open the file in a text editor app and start adding HTML code.
If you’re starting with an empty file, then you can save yourself some time by using the existing code and templates in your WordPress theme.
For example, it usually makes sense to include the theme’s header and footer.
In the following sample code, we’ve removed the content and sidebars while fetching the header and navigation templates from the theme.
<?php /*
This page is used to display the static frontpage.
*/
// Fetch theme header template
get_header(); ?>
<div id="primary" <?php astra_primary_class(); ?>>
<div class="custom-homepage-container">
You custom homepage code goes here
</div>
</div><!-- #primary -->
//Fetch the theme footer template
<?php get_footer(); ?>
The homepage is your site’s most important page. People will visit this page to learn more about your business, products, and services.
To help visitors find what they’re looking for, we recommend keeping your homepage design as simple as possible and avoiding any clutter.
It’s also a good idea to place your most important content at the top of the page so it’s the first thing visitors see.
Before designing your page, it may help to write down the goals you want to achieve. You can then design every part of the homepage to help you reach this clear target.
Many businesses and blogs want to convert visitors into customers. To achieve this, we recommend adding OptinMonster to your custom homepage.
OptinMonster is the best WordPress popup plugin and lead generation software. It allows you to create all kinds of popups, floating bars, full-screen welcome mats, slide-in scroll boxes, inline personalized lead forms, gamified spin to win optins, and more.
Next, you’ll want to track how your custom homepage is performing. You can then use this insight to fine-tune the page design and get even more conversions.
MonsterInsights is the best plugin for Google Analytics. It allows you to easily install Google analytics in WordPress and shows you helpful reports directly in the WordPress dashboard.
The best part about using MonsterInsights is that you can add the Google Analytics tracking code without editing code or hiring a developer. Plus, it has a Dual Tracking feature, which makes it super easy to switch to Google Analytics 4.
You should also make it easy for visitors and potential customers to contact you. For this, we recommend WPForms which is the best WordPress form plugin on the market.
Finally, it’s a good idea to look at your competitors and other popular sites in your industry or niche. While it’s never a good idea to copy, you can use them as inspiration or learn best practices that you can then apply to your own homepage layout.
We hope this article helped you easily create a custom homepage in WordPress. You may also want to see our proven tips to increase your blog traffic and our expert pick of the best social proof plugins for WordPress.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
The post How to Create a Custom Home Page in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.