How to Add a Facebook Giveaway in WordPress to Boost Engagement

04.01.2023facebook giveaway techniques, how to create facebook giveaway campaigns using wordpress, how to do giveaways in facebook, smashballoon, social media plugin, Tutorials, wordpress and facebookEditorial Staff

Do you want to add a Facebook giveaway in WordPress to boost engagement?

A contest can get more people to visit your Facebook page and interact with your content. If these people like what they see, they even decide to start following your page or group.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to easily add a Facebook giveaway in WordPress to boost engagement, and get some extra followers.

Why Run a Facebook Giveaway in WordPress?

Social media contests can help you reach a new audience and grow your following across different plaforms.

However, unlike some other platforms, Facebook doesn’t allow you to offer a prize for liking or following your page. This is a big problem if your goal is to get more Facebook followers.

The good news is that the guidelines don’t stop you from asking people to visit your Facebook page or interact with a particular post.

For example, visitors might enter a contest by liking your most recent Facebook post or commenting on a picture.

This can get more traffic to your group and will boost engagement for a particular post on your Facebook page. If your page has lots of great content then these people may even decide to follow your page.

In this way, you can grow your Facebook following without breaking any rules.

If you use a flexible giveaway plugin, then you can often add multiple entry methods to a single competition. For example, visitors may be able to enter your contest by liking your Facebook post or subscribing to your email newsletter.

This means you can still get the person’s contact information and do lead generation, even if they choose not to follow you on Facebook.

Running a Facebook Giveaway in WordPress

The easiest way to run a Facebook contest in WordPress is by using RafflePress. It’s the best WordPress giveaway plugin and lets you create all kinds of competitions using a simple drag-and-drop editor.

You can add a prize photo, schedule the start and end times, choose a winner at random, and use templates to quickly launch new giveaway campaigns.

RafflePress comes with social entry methods so you can direct users to your Facebook page. You can also have multiple entry methods and make certain methods mandatory so anyone who wants to join the contest must engage with your Facebook content in some way.

RafflePress also comes with social logins and integrates with the most popular email marketing platforms, so you can also use them to grow your email list faster.

With that said, let’s create your first Facebook giveaway campaign using RafflePress.

Step 1. Creating Your First Facebook Giveaway Campaign

The first thing you need to do is install and activate the RafflePress plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Note: There is a free version of RafflePress that has everything you need to create a simple giveaway in WordPress. However, in this guide, we’ll be using the premium plugin since it has more features, templates, and giveaway actions including entry methods that allow you to create a photo contest in WordPress.

The first thing you need to do is install and activate the RafflePress plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you’ll see the RafflePress welcome screen in the WordPress dashboard. You can now go ahead and enter your license key.

You’ll find this information in your account on the RafflePress website. After that, click on the ‘Verify Key’ button.

Now, you’re ready to create a Facebook giveaway in WordPress by going to RafflePress » Add New.

On the next screen, you’ll need to give your Facebook contest a name.

You can use anything you want, but it’s a good idea to choose a name that helps you identify the Facebook giveaway in the WordPress dashboard.

Adding a title to your RafflePress contest

Next, choose the template that you want to use. RafflePress has ready-made templates for specific goals such as running a social media contest to grow your site.

You can select the template that best suits your goals, but for this guide, we’ll be using the ‘Classic Giveaway’ template as it lets us create a Facebook giveaway from scratch.

Simply hover your mouse over the ‘Classic Giveaway’ template and then click on the ‘Use this Template’ button when it appears.

This opens the template in RafflePress’ drag-and-drop builder.

We’re going to start by adding the prize to our Facebook contest. Simply click to select the headline area, which shows ‘My Awesome Prize’ by default.

You can now go ahead and type a title into the ‘Name’ field. To encourage visitors to enter the Facebook contest, you’ll typically want to talk about your prize in the headline.

After that, type in a description, which will appear below the headline. For example, you may want to add some more information about your competition, such as why visitors will want the prize, how much it’s worth, and why you’re running the Facebook giveaway.

It’s also smart to add a photo of the prize, so people can see what’s on offer just by glancing at the giveaway. If your prize is digital then you can easily create professional-looking images to promote your prize using web design software such as Canva.

To add a photo or graphic, simply click on ‘Select Image’ and then either choose a file from the WordPress media library or upload a new image from your computer.

Once you’ve done that, you can set the start and end date for the Facebook giveaway. If you plan to run lots of contests, then it’s a good idea to schedule them in advance as it guarantees that the competition will start and end on time, no matter how busy you get.

By scheduling your Facebook contest in advance, you’ll also have time to promote the giveaway properly. This helps you build a sense of excitement and anticipation before the contest goes live.

To schedule the Facebook giveaway, simply enter a date and time into the ‘Giveaway starts…’ and ‘Giveaway ends…’ sections.

When you’ve finished making changes to this section, click on the ‘Done Editing’ button.

Step 2. Adding More Actions to Your Facebook Giveaway

Now let’s add some actions, which are the ways that visitors can participate in the contest, such as subscribing to your podcast, joining your email newsletter, or visiting a WooCommerce product on your online store.

To see the different actions that you can add to your Facebook contest, click on ‘Actions.’

To add an action to your giveaway, simply give it a click.

Since we want to boost Facebook engagement, you’ll want to add actions such as Visit us on Facebook, Like our Page, View a Facebook Post / Video, or Share on Facebook.

How to create a Facebook competition in WordPress

Giving visitors multiple ways to participate can get you more entries, so you may want to add multiple actions.

There may also be some people who complete all the actions in order to give themselves the best possible chance of winning. In this way, you can get lots of Facebook engagement from a single participant.

Even though we want to boost engagement on Facebook, you may want to consider adding some entry methods that aren’t related to Facebook. This will allow more people to enter your contest, including people who don’t have a Facebook account.

After adding an action, click to select that action in the giveaway preview. You can now configure the action using the settings in the left-hand menu.

For example, if you’re adding the ‘Visit us on Facebook’ action, then you’ll need to enter your page’s URL into the ‘Facebook Page URL’ field.

Similarly, if you’re using ‘View Facebook Post / Video’ then you’ll need to enter the URL of the post or video that you want people to visit.

Each action also has some basic settings. You can type in a title, make an action mandatory, and even allow users to submit daily entries.

After that, you need to assign a value to the action, which is the number of entries users will earn for performing that action. By default, all actions are worth 1 entry.

If you have several entry methods, then you can use the value settings to make certain methods more attractive to visitors. For example, if your goal is to get more Facebook followers then you might make the ‘Like our Page’ action worth 2 entries.

Changing the entry value for your Facebook contest

Once you’ve filled in these settings, you can click on the ‘Add Actions’ tab and add more entry methods to your competition.

It’s also a good idea to arrange your actions based on your campaign goals. For example, if you want to get more shares, then we recommend placing the ‘Share on Facebook’ action at the very top of the ‘Entry Methods’ list.

Simply hover over the action in the editor and then grab the dotted button that appears to the left of the action. Then, move the entry method using drag and drop.

When you’re happy with how the Facebook giveaway is set up, don’t forget to click on ‘Save’ to store your changes.

Step 3: Design your Facebook Giveaway to Stand out

Now that your Facebook giveaway is set up, you can change how the contest looks.

Simply switch to the ‘Design’ tab, and you will see options to select a new button color, change the fonts, and more.

RafflePress lets you embed the Facebook contest in a page or post, or publish it as a separate landing page.

If you’re going to post your Facebook giveaway as a standalone page, then you can add a background image or change the background color.

To add an image, scroll to the ‘Background Image’ section and click on ‘Select Image.’ You can now either choose an image from the media library or upload a new file.

Adding a background image to a Facebook competition

Another option is to change the background color by clicking on ‘Page Background Color.’

You can now make your selection from the popup that appears.

When you’re happy with how the giveaway looks, click on ‘Save’ to store your changes.

Step 4. Fine Tuning Your Giveaway Settings

Now that your giveaway looks great, let’s check its settings by switching to the ‘Settings’ tab.

Most of these settings are self-explanatory, but we’ll go through them one by one. First, we’ll look at the ‘General’ settings.

Here, you can set the basic options for your giveaway including whether you’ll show the giveaway winners and the total number of entries.

Next, you can create the rules for joining the Facebook giveaway by selecting the ‘Giveaway Rules’ tab.

RafflePress comes with a Rules Generator that will create rules for your campaign using a sample template. To get started, click on the ‘General Rules’ button.

This will open a form where you can type in some information about the Facebook contest.

In most cases, you or your company will be the contest’s sponsor. This means you’ll need to type in your company name and your business email address.

RafflePress will then use this information to create some basic rules for the giveaway.

Every area has its own rules about Facebook contests, so it’s a good idea to review these automatically generated rules and add any missing information.

If you’re using the contest to do lead generation or get more email subscribers, then it’s a good idea to only accept entries from people who verify their email addresses.

To do that, select the ‘Email Verification’ tab and then click on the ‘Contest must Confirm Their Email’ toggle to turn it from ‘No’ to ‘Yes.’

Enabling email verification for an online contest

You can also use these settings to change the verification email that users will get when they enter your giveaway.

If you want to add Google Analytics or other tracking codes like Facebook pixel, then RafflePress allows you to track users who have successfully entered your giveaway.

To do this, click on the ‘Success Tracking’ tab and then add your Google Analytics script or Facebook retargeting pixel code.

When a visitor enters your Facebook contest, it’s not the end of the process. You may want to redirect the person to a thank you page, your top-performing blog, or some other page.

To create a redirect, select the ‘Success Redirect’ tab and then click the ‘Enable Success Redirect’ toggle.

In the ‘Redirect URL’ field, type in the URL where you want to send participants.

Since we’re creating a Facebook giveaway, you may want to give visitors the option to enter your contest using their Facebook accounts. This can be quicker and easier than asking them to type in their email address, so this may get you some more entries.

To enable Facebook login for your contest, simply select the ‘Social Logins’ tab and then click to enable the ‘Allow logging…’ toggle.

Activating social login for your Facebook contest

After that, click on the ‘GDPR’ tab. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a European Union (EU) law that gives EU citizens more control over their personal data.

If you break GDPR then you could get a fine or even jail time. To help you comply with GDPR, RafflePress can ask for the visitor’s consent before they enter your giveaway.

To add this checkbox, simply click on the ‘GDPR Consent’ toggle to turn it from ‘No’ to ‘Yes.’

Adding GDPR contest to your Facebook contest

RafflePress has a default GDPR disclaimer that it will show to visitors, but you can edit the disclaimer to add any missing information. For more information on the topic, see our ultimate guide to WordPress and GDRP compliance.

Spammers and bots can make it harder to achieve your contest’s goals. With that in mind, you may want to protect your Facebook giveaway with an invisible recaptcha.

Regular captchas usually ask users to complete a puzzle, which makes it more difficult for visitors to enter your Facebook giveaway. The good news is that invisible recaptchas run in the background so you can block spammers without adding friction to the user experience.

To add an invisible recaptcha to your Facebook contest, click on the ‘Repatcha’ tab. After that, activate the ‘Enable Invisible Recaptcha’ toggle.

Adding an invisible reCAPTCHA to Facebook contest

For more information, see our guide on how to add recaptcha to WordPress.

When you’re happy with how the Facebook contest is set up, click on the ‘Save’ button to store your changes.

Step 5. Add Your Facebook Giveaway to a WordPress Post or Page

There are a few different ways to add a RafflePress giveaway to your WordPress website.

You can add the contest to any page or post using the RafflePress block. This is a great choice if you want to embed the Facebook contest in a blog post or other page.

To start, simply open the page or post where you want to include the giveaway. Then, click on the ‘+’ button and type in ‘RafflePress.’ You can then select the right block when it appears.

After adding the block, open the dropdown and choose the Facebook giveaway you created earlier. The RafflePress block will now load a preview of your giveaway widget inside the WordPress block editor.

You can then either publish or update the page to make the contest live on your WordPress blog or website.

You can also add the giveaway to any page, post, or widget-ready area using the shortcode. This is particularly useful if you want to show the Facebook contest in a sidebar widget so that it appears across your website.

In the RafflePress giveaway editor, go ahead and click on the ‘Publish’ tab. From here, click on ‘WordPress Shortcode’ and RafflePress will show the shortcode you can use.

Adding a contest to WordPress using shortcode

Simply copy the code and then add it to any page, post, or widget-ready area. For more details, please see our guide on how to add a shortcode in WordPress.

Another option is to create a giveaway landing page. This is a great option if you want a standalone page that you can easily share on social media or add to your email newsletter.

In the RafflePress editor, select the ‘Publish’ tab. Then, choose ‘Giveaway Landing Page’ and select the ‘Click here…’ link.

In ‘Page Permalink,’ type in the URL where you want to publish your giveaway landing page.

After that, simply click on the ‘View’ button.

RafflePress will now publish your giveaway as a landing page.

If you’re using the SeedProd page builder plugin, then you can design a landing page using ready-made templates, blocks, and a drag and drop editor. You can then add your giveaway using a special Giveaway block.

This block integrates with RafflePress, so you can simply drag and drop it onto the page.

Then, choose the RafflePress giveaway you created earlier.

SeedProd will now show the giveaway inside your beautifully designed landing page.

For more information on SeedProd, please see our step by step guide on how to create a landing page in WordPress.

A competition landing page, created using SeedProd

Step 6. Promoting Your Facebook Giveaway

If your Facebook contest is going to be a big success, then it’s smart to start promoting the contest before publishing it. By putting in some hard work before publishing your giveaway you can increase the chances of your campaign going viral, which will help you get more entries and achieve your goals.

You can start by sending an email newsletter to your subscribers and announcing the Facebook competition on your other social media profiles.

Another option is creating a floating bar with a link to the giveaway using a plugin such as OptinMonster. You can even use FOMO on your WordPress site to get more entries, by adding a countdown timer to the floating bar.

You might even send web push notifications asking your subscribers to enter the competition or refer any friends or family members who might want to take part in the Facebook giveaway.

Step 7. Announcing The Giveaway Winners

Once your giveaway closes, you need to pick a lucky winner. RafflePress automates the whole process, so simply go to RafflePress » Giveaways.

If you scheduled the contest to end automatically, then you can simply find the giveaway and click on the ‘Need Winners’ link.

If you didn’t set an end date for the Facebook giveaway, then you can close it manually by hovering your mouse over the competition and selecting ‘End Now.’

After that, just click on the ‘Need Winners’ link that appears.

On the following page, RafflePress will show all the people who entered your Facebook contest. Just type in the number of winners you want to pick and choose whether you want to allow unverified emails to win.

Choosing a winner automatically in WordPress

If you plan to contact the winner via email, then you’ll typically want to make sure only people with verified emails can win.

After that, just click on ‘Choose Winners Now’ and RafflePress will show the winner highlighted at the top of the list.

We hope this article helped you learn how to easily add a Facebook giveaway in WordPress to boost engagement. You may also want to see our guide on how to get more traffic to your WordPress website or our pick of the best WordPress Facebook plugins.

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

The post How to Add a Facebook Giveaway in WordPress to Boost Engagement first appeared on WPBeginner.

How to Host Local Fonts in WordPress for a Faster Website

04.01.2023google fonts in wordpress, host local fonts, omgf plugin, Tutorials, wordpress gdpr complianceEditorial Staff

Do you want to add third-party fonts to your website without slowing down your website speed?

Custom fonts improve the typography and user experience of your website, but they take longer to load. The good news is that you can host your fonts locally to ensure your website is always fast.

In this article, we’ll show you how to host local fonts in WordPress.

How to Host Local Fonts in WordPress for a Faster Website

Why Host Fonts Locally in WordPress?

While typography and custom fonts can improve the overall website aesthetics, they do have a negative impact on your WordPress performance. For example, if you are using a custom font from Google fonts, then they’re loaded from third-party services which will slow down your website.

Luckily, there is a way to use custom fonts without slowing down your site. A new Webfonts API was introduced in WordPress 6.0. This allows you to host fonts locally so they load faster.

Another reason to host Google Fonts locally is to stay GDPR compliant. That’s an important legal consideration if you have website visitors from the European Union.

When someone visits a website that uses Google Fonts, their IP address is logged by Google when the fonts are loaded. Because this is done without their permission, the EU now considers that a breach of privacy regulations, and you may be liable for damages.

That being said, let’s take a look at how to host local fonts in WordPress for a faster website. We’ll cover two methods, and the first method is recommended for most users.

Method 1: Hosting Local Fonts in WordPress With a Plugin

The first thing you need to do is install and activate the OMGF (Optimize My Google Fonts) plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

OMGF is one of the best WordPress typography plugins. It offers a beginner-friendly way to improve performance and GDPR compliance by hosting Google Fonts locally.

Upon activation, you need to visit Settings » Optimize Google Fonts to configure the plugin. You should be looking at the ‘Optimize Fonts’ tab.

Notice the statement under the ‘Optimize Google Fonts’ heading that you just need to use the default settings to automatically replace your Google Fonts with locally hosted copies.

That means that as you scroll down the settings page, all you need to do is make sure that the ‘Font-Display Option’ has the default setting of ‘Swap (recommended)’ selected.

All you need to do now is click the ‘Save & Optimize’ button at the bottom of the page.

You’ll see a message at the top of the screen that says ‘Optimization completed successfully.’

Congratulations! Your Google Fonts are now hosted locally. Your website will load faster and you have reduced the risk of European lawsuits.

Method 2: Hosting Local Fonts in WordPress Manually

You can also host fonts locally without using a plugin by using the @font-face method from our guide on how to add custom fonts in WordPress. While this method requires more work, it allows you to use any font that you like on your website.

You need to download the fonts you wish to use in a web format. There are many places to find great free web fonts, such as Google Fonts, Typekit, FontSquirrel, and more.

If you do not have the web format for your font, then you can convert it using the FontSquirrel Webfont generator.

Now you need to store the fonts on your WordPress hosting server. You can upload the files using FTP or using your host’s cPanel File Manager.

You should create a new folder called ‘fonts’ in the directory of your theme or child theme and upload it there.

Once you have uploaded the font, you need to load the font in your theme’s stylesheet using custom CSS. You can add the code directly to your theme’s style.css file, or by using the Additional CSS section of the theme customizer.

You can do that using CSS3 @font-face rule like this:

@font-face {
    font-family: Arvo;
    src: url(http://example.com/wp-content/themes/twentytwentyone/fonts/Arvo-Regular.ttf);
    font-weight: normal;
}

Don’t forget to replace the font family and URL with your own.

After that, you can use that font anywhere in your theme’s stylesheet or the Additional CSS section of the theme customizer. The CSS you use will depend on your theme and where you wish to use the local font. Here’s an example from our demo website:

h1 {
font-family: Arvo, Arial, sans-serif;
}

As you can see, our heading is now using the locally hosted Arvo font.

Adding Custom CSS With the Theme Customizer

We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to host local fonts in WordPress for a faster website. You may also want to learn how to increase your blog traffic, or check out our list of must have WordPress 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 Host Local Fonts in WordPress for a Faster Website first appeared on WPBeginner.

How to Get Email Notification for Post Changes in WordPress

03.01.2023email notifications, email post changes in wordpress, monitor user activity, post changes notifications in wordpress, sms, WordPress Plugins, wordpress post revisions, wp mail smtpEditorial Staff

Do you want to get email notifications for post changes in WordPress?

By default, WordPress doesn’t send notifications when posts are changed by a user. If you run a multi-author WordPress site, then you may want to stay informed about post changes on your website.

In this article, we will show how to get email notifications for post changes in WordPress.

How to Get Email Notification for Post Changes in WordPress

Why Set Up Email Notifications for Post Changes in WordPress?

If you’re the only one working on your own WordPress website, then it is easier to keep an eye on everything that is happening on your website.

However, if you have other authors writing blog posts, or SEO specialists optimizing blog posts for SEO, then you may want to keep an eye on the changes they make.

For instance, you may want to be alerted when a new post is published or if changes were made to an older article.

This also helps all team members be accountable. If they make a mistake, then it can be easily caught and remedied quickly.

That said, let’s take a look at how to get email notifications for post changes in WordPress. We’ll cover two methods so you can choose one that works best for you. We’ll also show you how to undo post changes and make sure your notification emails are delivered.

Method 1: Getting Notifications for Post Changes Using WP Activity Log

This method is recommended for all users as it is easy, powerful, and flexible.

The first thing you need to do is install and activate the WP Activity Log plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you’ll be asked to enter your license key. You can find this information under your account on the WP Activity Log website.

Next, you’ll be given the option to run the setup wizard. You can answer a few quick questions to set up important monitoring and logging features.

All these things can be changed later in plugin settings too.

Setting Up Email Notifications for Post Changes in WordPress

After that, you need to visit the WP Activity Log » Email & SMS Notifications page and switch to the ‘Content Changes’ tab.

Installing the Helper Plugin in WP Activity Log

You will see a message that a helper plugin is needed to enable SMS notifications.

If you want to receive SMS notifications as well as email notifications, then simply click the button labeled ‘Install the helper plugin’. You will finish setting up SMS notifications in the next step.

Now you need to select the events that will trigger notifications. The plugin comes with three default notifications covering most content changes.

Setting up content change notifications in WP Activity Log

Next to each event, you need to enter the email address the notifications should be sent to. In the next step, you will also add a mobile phone number if you want to get SMS notifications for post changes.

Finally, click on the ‘Save Notifications’ button to store your changes.

Setting Up SMS Notifications for Post Changes in WordPress

WP Activity Log allows you to easily receive SMS notifications for post changes and other WordPress activities. To do that, you’ll need a Twilio account and a phone number.

Twillio is a paid service with a pay-as-you-go pricing model for SMS messages. Pricing starts at $0.0079 per SMS, and you’ll also need to purchase a virtual phone number which will be used to send messages.

Simply go to the Twilio website and signup for a free trial account.

After setting up your account, you’ll reach the Twilio Console.

Here, you can copy your Account SID, Auth Token, and get a trial phone number.

Copy and paste these values to a text editor or leave this browser tab open.

Next, you need to switch back to your WordPress website admin area and visit the WP Activity Log » Settings page. From here, switch to the SMS Provider tab and enter your Twilio Account SID, Auth token, and number.

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

Now you can navigate back to WP Activity Log » Email & SMS Notifications and switch back to the ‘Content Changes’ tab. Here you can add a mobile phone number to get SMS notifications for post changes.

Entering the Phone Number for SMS Notifications

Testing Post Change Notifications with WP Activity Log

WP Activity Log allows you to easily test your post change notifications.

First, make sure you are on the ‘Content Changes’ tab of the WP Activity Log » Notifications page.

Test notifications in WordPress Activity Log

Now you can scroll down and click the ‘Test Notifications’ button.

This will bring up a popup window where you can enter an email address and a mobile phone number to send notifications.

WP Activity Log will then send test notifications. If you do not receive an email notification right away, then you can jump to the section below on troubleshooting email notifications.

If you fail to receive SMS notifications, then check your Twilio credentials to make sure they are correct.

Method 2: Getting Notifications for Post Changes With Better Notifications for WP

This method is easy to use, but it doesn’t come with ready-made templates. While this method will send an email notification when a post is changed, you will have to write the email yourself and investigate the activity on your own.

First, you need to install and activate the Customize WordPress Emails and Alerts – Better Notifications for WP plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to visit the Notifications » Add New page to create your first custom notification.

First, you need to provide a title for the notification. After that, you can choose a ‘Notification For’ option from the drop-down menu. This is the event that will trigger this notification, such as ‘Post Updated’ in the screenshot above.

If you like, you can check the ‘Additional Email Fields’ box so you can enter custom email addresses for the sender, cc, and more. If this option is left unchecked, then the plugin will simply use your default WordPress email settings.

Next, you need to select the users or user roles that will receive this notification under the ‘Send To’ option. Below that you can write the email subject and the message itself.

The Better Notifications for WP plugin doesn’t come with a template for post changes. This means you’ll need to write your own email message.

The plugin comes with a bunch of shortcodes that you can use to customize your notifications. You can view all of them by clicking on the ‘Find Shortcodes’ button.

Lastly, you need to click on the ‘Save’ button to store your email notification. Once you’ve done that, you’ll be able to click on the ‘Send Me a Test Email’ button to see if it is working.

Better Notifications for WP is not an activity monitoring plugin. This means you’ll need to set up multiple notifications to cover different types of content changes in WordPress.

For instance, you may want to set up a ‘Post Published’ notification or another one for when a category or tag is changed.

The plugin also allows you to create custom notifications or modify default WordPress notifications as well. For more details, see our article on how to create better custom notifications in WordPress.

Revising and Undoing Post Changes in WordPress

Once you have received an email notification for post changes, you may want to see what changes were made, who made them, and when.

WordPress comes with a built-in revision management system that keeps track of all changes made to an article.

Simply edit the post or page that you want to review and then click on the ‘Revisions’ tab under the ‘Post’ settings from the right column.

Open revisions for a post or page in WordPress

This will bring you to the post revisions screen.

You can check the ‘Compare any two revisions’ box and then move the slider below to compare the changes.

When you scroll down the post, you will see the changes between the two revisions highlighted in red and green colors.

If you don’t like the changes, then you can simply click on the ‘Restore This Revision’ button to undo them and return to the previous version.

For more details, see our guide on how to undo changes in WordPress with post revisions.

Troubleshooting Email Notifications in WordPress

By default, WordPress uses the PHP mail() function to send emails. This method does not use proper authentication (login or password) which means it can be easily misused. This is why most spam filters mark such emails as spam or block them altogether.

To fix this, you need to use a proper SMTP service provider to send out WordPress emails. There are even free SMTP servers like SendLayer, Gmail, Sendinblue, Sendgrid, and more that you can use with WordPress.

To set up SMTP, you need to install and activate the WP Mail SMTP plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

WP Mail SMTP allows you to connect your WordPress site to your SMTP service provider and send all your WordPress emails with much higher deliverability.

Upon activation, you need to go to the WP Mail SMTP » Settings page in your WordPress admin area to set up the plugin.

First, you need to enter your license key. You can find this information under your account on the WP Mail SMTP website.

After that, scroll down to the ‘Mailer’ section to select your SMTP service provider. WP Mail SMTP will show all top SMTP service providers. You can click on your provider and then enter the required information below (usually an API key).

If your mailer is not listed, then you can simply choose ‘Other SMTP’ option and enter the required information.

To learn more, see our tutorial on how to fix WordPress not sending email issue.

We hope this article helped you set up email notifications for post changes in WordPress. You may also want to see our tips on getting more traffic to your blog and the best WordPress SEO plugins and tools to grow your website.

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 Get Email Notification for Post Changes in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.

Why Blog? 14 Benefits of Blogging in 2023

03.01.2023Beginners Guide, benefits of blogging, blog hosting, blogging, why blog, why start a blogEditorial Staff

We are often asked by users why they should blog and what are the benefits of blogging.

Blogging has been around since 1993 and has become an essential marketing tool for many businesses. But is it still relevant in the age of social media?

In this article, we’ll talk about why you should blog. And what are the benefits of blogging?

What are the benefits of blogging and why you should blog

Top Reasons and Benefits of a Blog

Blogs began as a way for individuals to write about their passions, day-to-day life, and things they found interesting. They were like online journals or diaries.

However, blogging quickly became an important part of the marketing strategy for businesses due to its benefits.

Currently, there are 1.9 billion websites in the world, and over 600 million are blogs. That means that the blogging industry makes up a third of the web.

For more information, see our guide on what is a blog and how is it different from a website.

Out of these, WordPress powers more than 43% of all websites, which makes it the best website builder and the best blogging platform.

It is used by both individuals and businesses to promote their ideas, brands, stories, products, and more.

Let’s dig deeper and take a look at some of the most important benefits of blogging and why you should consider starting a blog.

1. A Blog Brings Traffic to Your Website

A typical business website consists of a few important pages. You may have a homepage, landing pages for your products/services, a contact page, and a few more.

Search engines may not find your website more important than thousands of other much older websites in the same industry.

Adding a blog allows you to publish additional content which over time will help you bring more traffic to your website.

For instance, let’s say you sell gardening hoses on your website. There are thousands of companies selling similar products and users may never find your website on their own.

However, with blogging, you can add more content relevant to the topics they’re searching for.

For instance, you can write about ‘Environment-friendly gardening tools’ or ‘water preservation.’ You can also write guides on how to maintain small lawns and gardens and more.

Writing content for a blog opens a doof for more traffic to your website, allowing you to reach more customers, gain a wider audience, and even poach business from big-name brands.

2. Blogging Helps you Generate More Leads and Conversions

Now bringing traffic to your website by creating a blog was the easy part. The more complex part is to convert that traffic into sales and growth for your business.

More than 70% of people visiting your website today, will never find it again. That’s because there is so much content and information on the internet.

A blog helps you convert website traffic into potential leads, convert them into subscribers and social media followers, and allow you to reach out to them later.

Tools like OptinMonster, help you build an email list and grow your social media following.

Add push notifications to your blog, and you can send targeted messages to your blog visitors and bring them back to your website.

3. Helps you Repurpose Content for Other Marketing Channels

To build an active marketing presence, you need to actively promote your business online.

However, the problem with a static website is that there is no new content for you to share.

Adding a blog to your website allows you to actively use blog content across your other marketing channels.

For instance, here are some ways you can reuse blog post content.

Share the link to your blog post on social media
Use the blog post content in your email newsletter
Make a YouTube video based on blog post content
Edit YouTube videos to create content for TikTok, Instagram Stories, and more.

These are all the ways that we reuse WPBeginner content across our social media and marketing channels and it works really well.

4. Helps you Build Authority in Your Industry

It is harder to prove your expertise and authority on a subject if all you have is a five-page website selling your products/services.

Adding a blog allows you to regularly publish content on topics related to your industry. This helps you establish authority and win users’ trust.

If you are consistently publishing new content, you’ll become the go-to place for your users and other businesses interested in those topics.

Whether you are a business or an individual, this trust is an invaluable asset. It will unlock tremendous growth opportunities.

5. Helps You Strengthen Brand Recognition

A blog helps you strengthen your brand identity. It gives you more opportunities to use your custom logo across your website, your social profiles, search results, and more.

This brand recognition when combined with customer trust and authority adds enormous value to your digital assets.

As an individual, you get recognized by industry leaders, influencers, and enthusiasts. This opens doors to many opportunities.

Similarly, as a business, your brand becomes more valuable and this weight will be considered by any potential buyer if you want to sell your business in the future.

6. Helps You Build an Engaging Audience

A static website doesn’t leave much room for a conversation. It is uninspiring and often quite boring.

Adding a blog to your website helps you bring the conversation to your website. Now users can engage with your blog posts by leaving a comment, sharing it on social media, writing about it, and more.

We recommend all our users engage with comments and other user activity on their blogs.

It helps you build a community around your business which is extremely useful.

When people leave a few comments on your blog, they develop an affinity with your brand which pays off when they are looking to make a purchase.

These users are also more likely to recommend your products/services to their friends and family.

On a typical static website, it is hard to share your business news, announcements, sales events, and more.

A blog on the other hand makes it super easy. In fact, you can get into more details, add context, and write more persuasive content.

For instance, if you are launching a Black Friday sale, you can promote it with a blog post. And then promote that blog post across your website with a floating header or footer banner.

You can make it more rewarding for your regular users and offer a special coupon code to your blog readers.

8. Helps You Improve Long Term SEO

A static website has fewer pages and even if they are ranking high you are still limited to a fixed set of keywords.

Adding a blog allows you to target related keywords and cover more ground by writing on different but related topics.

Over a period of time, you will have multiple posts ranking top on several keywords. Each of these pieces of content is like a soldier in your army.

If you properly optimize WordPress SEO with All in One SEO, then you can gradually build a whole army of content.

It not only helps you rank for secondary keywords with such authority even your home page and other pages start ranking higher.

9. Beat Competition in Organic Search Traffic

A big part of keyword research is to find out what keywords your competition is ranking for.

This helps you see which keywords bring them more business, and then you can just go ahead and create your own content targeting that keyword.

Having a blog provides you plenty of room to beat your competition in organic search traffic.

For more details, see our tutorial on how to do an SEO competitor analysis in WordPress.

10. Allows You to Educate Customers

When asked why they read blog posts, 33% of people said they wanted to learn something new.

Blog posts allow you to educate customers about different ways they can use your products.

You can utilize this opportunity to compare your product with competitors, showcase product features, inform users about benefits, and more.

This makes your blog posts highly valuable even for your existing customers. They can use blog articles to learn about new features that they may not be using.

Basically, it is an opportunity for you to provide real value to your users while promoting your products/services at the same time.

11. Build Additional Revenue Streams for Your Business

Blogs provide many opportunities to generate additional revenue for your business and make money online using your WordPress blog.

For instance, you can display ads in your blog posts using Google AdSense. You can also promote affiliate products and make money with affiliate marketing.

You can even use your blog to sell premium content using MemberPress or Easy Digital Downloads.

12. Helps You Learn Online Marketing

Adding a blog provides you with more opportunities to expand your marketing skills. You’ll have more content to promote which may be suitable for even more marketing channels.

For instance, you will find more opportunities to promote new posts on social media websites. You will also have more useful content to include in your newsletter.

As you explore different opportunities to promote each piece of content, you get to learn more marketing skills to reach new audiences.

13. Unlocks Partnerships and Opportunities for Growth

Blogs are a magnet to attract partnership opportunities to boost your business growth.

With all the activity going on with your blog, you will attract the attention of individuals and businesses looking for mutually beneficial opportunities.

For instance, new vendors may reach out to offer you better pricing or wholesale pricing, smaller shops may want to sell your products, large businesses may want to partner with you regionally, and more.

Similarly, if you sell services or just promoting your personal brand, then your blog may help you get the introduction to the right people. You’ll be able to gradually grow your network and influence.

14. Helps You Find Your Dream Job

Your blog may eventually lead you to find your dream job. Blogging is a popular tool to build a personal brand and promote your services and skills online.

You can show your passion, skills, and knowledge in your specific interests. This may get the attention of businesses looking for talented individuals like you.

Even if businesses don’t reach out to you, you can reach out to them. Your blog will help you see your interest, passion, and expertise in a more interesting way than a plain CV.

How to Get Started with Blogging Right Away

Getting started with a blog is quite easy.

First, you need to choose the right platform. We recommend using WordPress which is the world’s most popular blogging platform.

Now when we say WordPress, we mean WordPress.org and not WordPress.com.

See the difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com in our detailed comparison.

To start a WordPress.org blog, you’ll need a domain name and a hosting account.

Our friends at Bluehost are offering WPBeginner users a free domain name with a generous discount on hosting. Basically, you’ll be able to get started with just $2.75 per month.

→ Click Here to Claim This Exclusive Bluehost Offer ←

Once you have signed up for a domain name and hosting, Bluehost will automatically install WordPress for you.

Need more help? See our complete beginner’s guide on how to start a blog with step-by-step instructions.

We hope this article helped you learn why you should blog and the benefits of blogging. You may also want to see our list of popular online business ideas or take a look at our guide on starting an online store with your blog.

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 Why Blog? 14 Benefits of Blogging in 2023 first appeared on WPBeginner.

How to Easily Embed Instagram in WordPress (Step by Step)

02.01.2023Embed, instagram, instagram feed, instagram feed block, oembed, smash balloon, social feed, TutorialsEditorial Staff

Do you want to embed Instagram feeds in WordPress?

Showing Instagram photos and videos on your website helps keep your content fresh, increases user engagement, and builds trust. It’s also a great way to promote your Instagram account and get more followers.

In this article, we will show you how to embed Instagram in WordPress, step-by-step.

How to easily embed Instagram in WordPress (Step by step)

Why Embed Instagram on Your WordPress Site?

With over 1.21 billion monthly active users, Instagram is a great place to promote your products and services, build brand awareness, and grow your audience.

However, people won’t see your Instagram content if they just visit your website. With that in mind, it’s smart to embed your Instagram feed in WordPress, so everyone can see it.

This is an easy way to promote your social media page and encourage more people to follow you on Instagram. It can also keep your WordPress website fresh, since new Instagram posts will appear on your site automatically.

All of this new content can improve the search engine optimization (SEO) of your site, and encourage visitors to keep coming back to check the latest posts.

You can even display reviews in WordPress, show hashtag feeds, and embed any posts you’ve been tagged in. All of this is powerful social proof that can build trust and get you more sales.

With that being said, let’s see how you can embed an Instagram feed in WordPress.

How to Install an Instagram Photos Plugin

The best way to embed Instagram in WordPress is by using the Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed.

This free plugin lets you show photos from one or more Instagram accounts, in a fully customizable feed.

An example of an embedded Instagram feed, created using Feeds for Instagram

In this guide, we’ll be using the free version of Smash Balloon as it has everything you need to add an Instagram feed to your WordPress website. However, there’s also a pro version that allows you to display hashtag feeds, add Instagram shoppable images, and more.

Before getting started, you’ll need to connect your Instagram account to a Facebook page. If you have a personal Instagram account, then you may also want to turn it into a business account as this allows Smash Balloon to show your Instagram bio and header automatically.

For step-by-step instructions on how to do both of these things, see the FAQ section at the end of this guide.

When you’re ready, go ahead and install and activate the Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed plugin. For more details, see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

How to Connect an Instagram Account to WordPress

After activating the plugin, your first task is connecting your Instagram account to WordPress. Simply go to Instagram Feed » Settings and then click on ‘Add New.’

How to create a new Instagram feed in WordPress

With Smash Balloon pro, you can create feeds from tagged posts and hashtags, or even create a social wall with content from lots of different social media websites.

Since we’re using the free plugin, simply select ‘User Timeline’ and then click on ‘Next.’

How to add an Instagram timeline to your WordPress account

Now, simply choose the Instagram account where you’ll get the photo feed from.

To get started, click on the ‘Add Source’ button.

Adding an Instagram account as a Smash Balloon source

On the next screen, choose whether you want to show photos from a personal or business Instagram account.

If you check the box next to ‘Personal’ then Smash Balloon won’t include the Instagram avatar and bio in your header by default. However, you can always add the Instagram avatar and bio later in the plugin’s settings.

Adding a personal or business Instagram account to WordPress

After choosing ‘Personal’ or ‘Business,’ go ahead and click on ‘Login with Facebook.’

You can now select the Instagram account that you want to feature on your WordPress website, and click on ‘Next.’

Choose an Instagram account to use with Smash Balloon

After that, check the box next to the Facebook page that’s linked to your Instagram account.

When you’ve done that, click on the ‘Next’ button.

How to add a Facebook page to your WordPress website

You’ll now see a popup with all the information Smash Balloon will have access to and the actions it can perform.

To restrict Smash Balloon’s access to your Instagram account, just click any of the switches to turn it from ‘Yes’ to ‘No.’ Just be aware that this may affect the photos and videos that you can show on your WordPress blog or website.

With that in mind, we recommend leaving all the switches enabled.

When you’re happy with the settings, click on ‘Done.’

How to change the Instagram permissions with Smash Balloon

You’ll now see a popup with the Instagram account you just added to your website.

Simply check the box next to that account and then click on ‘Add.’

Choosing an Instagram account to add to your WordPress website

Smash Balloon will now take you back to the Instagram Feeds » All Feeds screen.

To create a feed, simply check the box next to the Instagram account that you want to use. Then, click on ‘Next.’

How to create an Instagram feed using Smash Balloon

The plugin will now create an Instagram photo feed that you can add to any page, post, or widget-ready area.

However, before embedding the Instagram feed you may want to customize how it looks and add any missing information.

How to Customize Your Instagram Photo Feed

By default, Smash Balloon will open your feed in its editor ready for you to customize.

On the right, you’ll see a preview of your Instagram photo feed. On the left-hand side are all the settings you can use to customize the photo feed.

Most of these settings are self-explanatory, but we’ll quickly cover some key areas.

To start, you can change the Instagram photo layout and add padding by selecting ‘Feed Layout’ from the left-hand menu.

As you make changes, the preview will update automatically so you can try different settings to see what looks the best.

Changing the layout of an Instagram feed in WordPress

By default, Smash Balloon shows the same number of photos whether the users are on desktop computers or mobile devices.

You can preview how the Instagram feed will look on desktop computers, tablets, and smartphones using the row of buttons in the upper-right corner.

Previewing how the Instagram feed layout looks on smartphone and mobile

Smartphones and tablets typically have smaller screens and less processing power, so you may want to show fewer Instagram photos and videos on mobile devices.

To do this, just type a different number into the ‘Mobile’ field under ‘Number of Posts.’

Showing a different number of posts on desktop and mobile

By creating different layouts for smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers you can make sure the feed looks great, no matter what device the visitor is using.

By default, the plugin feed shows fewer columns on smartphones and tablets, compared to desktop computers. This helps your photos and videos fit comfortably on smaller screens.

To change these default settings, simply type new numbers into the ‘Columns’ settings.

Showing a different number of Instagram columns on desktop, smartphone, and tablet

After making your changes, click on the ‘Customize’ link.

This will take you back to the main Smash Balloon editor, ready for you to explore the next settings screen, which is ‘Color Scheme.’

By default, Smash Balloon uses a color scheme inherited from your WordPress theme, but it also has ‘Light’ and ‘Dark’ themes that you may want to use instead.

Another option is creating your own color scheme by selecting ‘Custom.’ Once that’s done, simply use the controls to change the background color, change the text color in WordPress, and more.

Changing the Instagram column scheme using Smash Balloon

By default, Smash Balloon adds a header to the Instagram feed, which is your profile picture and the name of your page. To change how this section looks, click on ‘Header’ in the left-hand menu.

On this screen, you can change the size of the header, add a new color, or show your Instagram bio.

Customize the Instagram header on your WordPress website

Sometimes, you may want to show a different profile picture. For example, your Instagram avatar may not stand out from your theme so you want to show a custom logo instead.

To change the profile picture, click on ‘Add Image’ under ‘Show custom avatar.’ You can then either choose an image from the WordPress media library or upload a new photo.

You can also add a different bio. For example, you might encourage people to visit your profile on Instagram or to simply follow your account.

To create a unique Instagram bio, simply type into the ‘Add custom bio’ box.

Adding a custom Instagram bio to your WordPress website

Smash Balloon automatically analyzes your Instagram photos and shows them at the best resolution. We recommend using these default settings, but you can make the Instagram images bigger or smaller if you need to.

To change the image size, click on ‘Posts’ from the left-hand menu. Then, select the ‘Images and Videos’ option.

Changing the resolution of embedded Instagram photos and videos

You can now choose between thumbnail, medium, and full-size images using the dropdown menu that appears.

If you’re unhappy with how the feed looks, then you can go back to this screen at any point and select ‘Auto-detect (Recommended)’ from the dropdown.

How to auto-detect the resolution of your Instagram feed

By default, Smash Balloon adds a ‘Load More’ button to the bottom of your Instagram feed so visitors can scroll through your photos and videos.

You can change how this button looks by selecting ‘Load More Button.’

Customize the Instagram Load More button in WordPress

Here, you can help the ‘Load More’ button stand out by changing its background color, text color, and hover state.

You can also try adding your own messaging to the button, by typing into the ‘Text’ field. This way your visitors will be more inclined to click.

Adding custom messaging to the Load More button

While we do recommend leaving this button enabled, you can remove it. For example, you might encourage people to visit your Instagram by limiting the number of photos they can see on your site.

To remove the button, simply toggle the ‘Enable’ slider to turn grey.

How to easily embed Instagram in WordPress

If visitors like what they see, they may decide to subscribe using the ‘Follow on Instagram’ button that appears below the embedded feed.

Since it’s such an important button, you may want to add some custom styling to help it stand out.

You can do this by selecting ‘Follow Button’ in the left-hand menu. Here, you can change the button’s background color, hover state, and text color.

Customizing the social media Follow button

By default, the button shows a ‘Follow on Instagram’ label.

You can replace this with your own call to action by typing into the ‘Text’ field.

Customizing the Follow Us On Instagram button

When you’re happy with how the Instagram feed looks, don’t forget to click on ‘Save’ to store your changes.

You’re now ready to add the Instagram feed to your WordPress website.

How to Embed Instagram Feed in WordPress

You can add the Instagram feed to your website using a block, widget, or shortcode.

If you’ve created more than one feed using Smash Balloon Social Photo feed, then you’ll need to know the feed’s code if you’re going to use a widget or block.

To get this code, go to Instagram Feed »All Feeds and then look at thefeed=""part of the shortcode. You’ll need to add this code to the block or widget, so make a note of it.

In the following image, we’ll need to usefeed="1"

Getting the code for a custom Instagram feed

If you want to embed the Instagram feed in a page or post, then we recommend using the Instagram Feed block.

Note: If you’re using a block-enabled theme, you can follow the instructions below to add the block anywhere on your site using the full-site editor.

Just open the page or post where you want to embed your Instagram photo and video feed. Then, click on the ‘+’ icon to add a new block and start typing ‘Instagram Feed.’

When the right block appears, click to add it to the page or post.

The block will show one of your Smash Balloon feeds by default. If you want to show a different Instagram feed instead, then find ‘Shortcode Settings’ in the right-hand menu.

Here, simply add thefeed=""code and then click on ‘Apply Changes.’

Adding an Instagram feed code to WordPress

The block will now show the photos and videos from your Instagram account. Just publish or update the page to make the feed live on your website.

If you’re using a theme that does not use full-site editing, you can add the Smashballoon Instagram Feed to any widget-ready area, such as the sidebar or similar section so visitors can see it anywhere they go on your site.

Simply go to Appearance » Widgets in the WordPress dashboard and then click on the blue ‘+’ button.

Adding an Instagram feed to a WordPress widget

In the search bar, type in ‘Instagram Feed’ and select the correct widget when it appears.

WordPress has a built-in ‘Instagram Feed’ block, so make sure you choose the one that shows the official Instagram logo.

How to add an Instagram Feed to a widget-ready area

After that, simply drag the widget onto the area where you want to show the Instagram feed, such as the sidebar or similar section.

The widget will automatically show one of the feeds you created using Smash Balloon. If you want to show a different Instagram feed, then just type the feed’s shortcode into the ‘Shortcode Settings’ box.

As long as you are adding the shortcode to the ‘Shortcode Settings’ box, you do not need to include the brackets around it.

After that, click on ‘Apply Changes.’

Adding the Instagram Feed block to a sidebar or other widget-ready area

You can now make the widget live by clicking on the ‘Update’ button. For more information, please see our step-by-step guide on how to add and use widgets in WordPress.

Another option is embedding the Instagram feed on any page, post, or widget-ready area using a shortcode.

Simply go to Instagram Feed »All Feeds and copy the code in the ‘Shortcode’ column. You can now add this code to any Shortcode block.

For help placing the shortcode, please see our guide on how to add a shortcode.

Finally, if you have a block-enabled theme, then you can use the full-site editor to add the Instagram Feed block anywhere on your site.

In the WordPress dashboard, simply go to Appearance » Editor.

By default, the full-site editor will show the theme’s home template. If you want to add the Instagram feed to a different template, then click on the arrow next to ‘Home.’

You can then choose any design from the dropdown, such as the footer template.

Choosing a template in the WordPress FSE (full-site editor)

If you don’t see the template in the list, then click on ‘Browse all templates.’

The full-site editor will now show a list of all the templates you can edit. Simply click on the template where you want to show the Instagram feed.

How to add an Instagram feed to your WordPress website

After choosing a template, just hover your mouse over the area where you want to add the Instagram photo feed.

Then, click on the blue ‘+’ button.

How to add an Instagram block using the full-site editor and a block-enabled theme

After that, start typing in ‘Instagram Feed.’

When the right block appears, click to add it to the template. This will be the one with the official Instagram logo.

Adding a social media feed using the WordPress full-site editor (FSE)

As always, Smash Balloon will show a feed by default if you do not add a specific shortcode. You can change this feed by adding a shortcode following the same process described above.

FAQs About Embedding Instagram in WordPress

Smash Balloon makes it easy to show Instagram photos and videos on your website. That being said, here are some of the most frequently asked questions about adding an Instagram feed in WordPress.

How Do I Create an Instagram Business Account?

Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed can display photos from either a personal or business Instagram account.

However, Smash Balloon can’t automatically fetch the Instagram avatar and bio from a personal Instagram account. With that in mind, you may want to check whether you have a personal or business account, and then switch to a business account so Smash Balloon can fetch your avatar and bio automatically.

To check, just visit your Instagram account and click on the three-lined icon in the side menu.

How to check whether you have a personal or business Instagram account

After that, select ‘Settings.’

If you don’t have a business account, then this screen will show ‘Switch to professional account’ in the left-hand menu.

How to switch to a personal Instagram account

If you currently have a personal account and want to switch to a business account, then simply give this link a click.

How Do I Connect a Facebook Page to an Instagram Account?

Before you can add an Instagram feed to WordPress, you’ll need to connect your Instagram account to a Facebook page.

To do this, head over to the Facebook page that you want to use and then click on ‘Settings’ in the left-hand menu.

After that, click on ‘Linked Account.’ You can now select ‘Instagram’ and click on the ‘Connect’ button.

Facebook will now show all the information it will be able to access, and the actions it can perform on Instagram.

If you’re happy to go ahead, then click on the ‘Connect’ button.

Giving Smash Balloon access to your Instagram account

Just be aware that anyone else who manages your Facebook page will be able to see your Instagram messages, and respond to them. If you want to keep your Instagram messages private, then click to disable the option.

When you’re happy and ready to move on, click ‘Confirm.’

How to configure your Instagram permissions using Smash Balloon

This opens a popup where you can type in your Instagram username and password.

After that, go ahead and click on ‘Log In.’

After a few moments, you’ll see a message saying that your Instagram and Facebook accounts are now connected.

We hope this article helped you learn how to easily embed Instagram in WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on how to create a custom Facebook feed in WordPress, or see our expert pick of the best social media 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 Easily Embed Instagram in WordPress (Step by Step) first appeared on WPBeginner.

SEO Title vs H1 Post Title in WordPress: What’s the Difference?

02.01.2023aioseo, all in one seo, Beginners Guide, title optimization, wordpress post titleEditorial Staff

Did you know that every WordPress post or page can have two titles, and they are used for different purposes?

These different post titles help you attract potential readers by showing them what your content is about in a clear and interesting way. They are also used by search engines when it comes to SEO rankings.

In this article, we’ll explain the difference between SEO titles and H1 post titles, so you can better optimize your content for higher rankings.

SEO Title vs H1 Post Title in WordPress: What's the Difference?

Here’s what we’ll cover in this tutorial:

What’s the Difference Between SEO Titles and Post Titles?

Every post and page on your WordPress website will have two titles, one that visitors will see at the top of the post, and one that search engines use when indexing your site. While these are two completely different use-cases, the two titles will most often be the same.

The title that is displayed at the top of every WordPress post is called the H1 post title, because WordPress will surround it with <h1> HTML tags to show that it is the most important heading in the post.

This title should let your visitors know what the post is about and attract their attention, so they click on the post and read it.

Search engines like Google pay close attention to your <h1> header tags, but they also look for a different title, one enclosed in HTML <title> tags. This is your post’s SEO title and is also known as the meta title.

The SEO title is used when search engines rank your page and display it in search results.

Example of an SEO Meta Title on a Search Engine Results Page

Your visitors won’t see the SEO title anywhere on your website. However, it will be used as the page title in the browser tab, and other websites may use it when linking to your post.

By default, the SEO title will follow the following template: ‘Post Title — Site Title’. This will work fine for most blog posts. However, if you wish to customize the SEO title of a post or page, then you will need to use a WordPress SEO plugin.

With that being said, let’s take a look at how to add H1 post titles and SEO titles in WordPress.

How to Add H1 Post Titles in WordPress

Adding a title to your post is simple. When you add a new post in WordPress, the block editor will ask you to add a post title, and then allow you to create blocks where you can add the content of the post.

Empty Post in the WordPress Block Editor

If you’re new to the block editor, then you can learn how to use it step-by-step in our guide on how to use the WordPress block editor.

You can add a post title by simply typing it on the first ‘Add title’ line of the post.

Adding an H1 Post Title in the WordPress Block Editor

Your website visitors will see this title displayed at the top of the post on your blog, and it will also be used in the post list on your blog’s home page.

When you view the HTML source of the post, you will notice that WordPress has wrapped the title in <h1> tags to identify it as the post title.

The <h1> tag is the most important heading tag, and should be used only for the post’s title. If you use subheadings in your post, then you should use less important heading tags, such as <h2>, <h3>, and <h4>.

How to Add SEO Titles in WordPress

The easiest way to add and customize SEO titles is with the All in One SEO (AIOSEO) plugin. AIOSEO is the original WordPress SEO plugin that’s used on over 3 million websites including our own.

In this tutorial, we’ll use the free version of All in One SEO because it allows you to customize the SEO title. However, AIOSEO Pro offers even more features to help you rank better in search engine results pages.

The first thing you need to do is install the free All in One SEO Lite plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you will need to configure the plugin using the AIOSEO setup wizard. For detailed instructions, see our guide on how to set up All in One SEO for WordPress correctly.

Now, when you are adding or editing a post or page, there will be an ‘AIOSEO Settings’ section below the post content. Here you will find a section labeled ‘Post Title’ where you can customize the SEO title.

Notice that the default SEO title is the H1 post title followed by a separator and the site title.

You will also see a preview of how the title will look in a Google search and the number of characters you used. This will help you create a title that is not too long. The recommended length of an SEO title is 60 characters so it isn’t cut off on search engine results pages.

You might like to leave the default SEO title as it is, or you can customize it using smart tags (more on that later) or by simply typing a new SEO title like this:

Entering a Custom SEO Title Using All in One SEO

When you view the HTML source of the post, you will notice that WordPress has used <title> tags to identify it as the SEO title.

Visitors to your website will see the H1 post title at the top of the post. They will see the SEO title in their browser tab and on search engine results pages.

Example of an H1 Title in the Post and SEO Title in the Browser Tab

How to Customize the Default SEO Title in WordPress

You can customize the default SEO title used for posts and pages using the All in One SEO plugin.

First, you need to navigate to the All in One SEO » Search Appearance page and then click the ‘Content Types’ tab.

Near the top of that page, you will see the ‘Posts’ section. Make sure you’re on the ‘Title & Description’ tab and you will see the default SEO title used for posts next to ‘Post Title’.

You Can Change the Default SEO Title Using All in One SEO

By default, you will see smart tags for the post title, a separator, and the site title. You can customize the default SEO title by adding or removing smart tags.

For example, to make the SEO title just the post title without the site name at the end, simply delete the ‘Separator’ and ‘Site Title’ smart tags. You can do this with the backspace key on your keyboard, or by clicking on a smart tag and then clicking the trash icon on the popup.

Deleting Smart Tags in the Default SEO Title

You can also easily add smart tags to the default SEO title. You can do this by clicking the buttons for commonly used tags found above the Post Title field, or clicking the ‘View all tags’ link to see a list of all smart tags.

Adding Smart Tags to the Default SEO Title

Simply click on a smart tag to add it to the SEO title. When finished, make sure you click the ‘Save Changes’ button at the top of the screen to save the new default post title.

You can customize the default page title in a similar way by scrolling down to the ‘Pages’ section below.

Tips for Creating the Best Post Titles in WordPress

Choosing the right title for your blog post can help it rank higher in search results. It can also motivate users to click on your article when they see it in the search results thus boosting your CTR (aka click through rate).

Here are some tips on how to write more effective post titles.

Write Your Posts Titles for Users, Not Search Engines

When you think of a title to use for your post, keep your users in mind, not just search engines.

When you write a title for users, you’re likely to come up with something that’s more engaging, and it will lead to more clicks.

You want to make sure that your title is readable, understandable, memorable, and clearly describes the content of the post.

Make Sure the Title Is Not Too Long

The length of an SEO title is important because if it is longer than 600 pixels, then Google will not be able to display the full title in search engine results. Because of this, we recommend keeping your SEO titles shorter than 60 characters.

You can check the length of the SEO title and see a preview of how it will look in a Google search when you customize it using All in One SEO.

Include the Focus Keyword in the Title

You can make your blog post title more SEO-friendly by using your focus keyword in the title. We also recommend making it catchy and click-worthy. That’s because your organic click-through rate (CTR) plays an important role in SEO.

The best way to improve your titles is with the AIOSEO headline analyzer tool. This will evaluate your headline, give it a score, and offer tips to make your headline even better.

For more details, see our guide on how to use a headline analyzer in WordPress to improve SEO titles.

Rank Even Higher by Adding a Meta Description and Keywords

Now that you’ve taken time to craft an effective title, you should also add keywords and a meta description to help your post rank even higher. You can learn how to do this step-by-step in our guide on how to add keywords and meta descriptions in WordPress.

When Should You Use a Different SEO Title?

In most cases, your H1 post title and SEO title will be the same. However, there are times when you may want to customize the SEO title so that it is different from the H1 post title.

A More Engaging SEO Title

For example, you may want to tweak the SEO version of the title, so it is more engaging to potential visitors and more likely they will click on it in a Google search. You could then display a more detailed and descriptive H1 title on your website.

A Shorter SEO Title

Another reason to change the SEO title is if you have created the perfect H1 title for your post, but it is longer than 600 pixels. In that case, Google will not have room to display the full title in the search results, and you should create a shorter SEO title.

A Longer SEO Title

On the other hand, if your H1 title is very short, then you can take the opportunity to make your SEO title longer by adding relevant keywords that will improve your page ranking.

Warning: Google Regularly Changes Your SEO Title

There’s one last thing about titles we should warn you about. Google is likely to rewrite your SEO title to try to make it more suitable for those performing searches. In fact, a study has found that Google is changing more than 60% of post titles to improve search quality.

This can be frustrating if you have worked hard on crafting the perfect SEO title.

What we have found is that your title is more likely to be changed when your SEO title is different from the H1 title. When these two titles match, the study found that Google rewrites the title only 20% of the time. This is a good reason to use the same title in both places if you can.

We hope this tutorial helped you learn the difference between SEO titles and H1 post titles in WordPress. You may also want to learn about what are push notifications and how you can use it to grow your traffic, or check out our list of must-have WordPress 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 SEO Title vs H1 Post Title in WordPress: What’s the Difference? first appeared on WPBeginner.

Best of Best WordPress Tutorials of 2022 on WPBeginner

30.12.2022Best of 2022, Best Tutorials, best wordpress tutorials, Showcase, WPBeginner TutorialsEditorial Staff

2022 is about to come to an end, and like every year it brings us an opportunity to look back at our accomplishments and goals.

This year, slow economic activity drove many people to start a new website or online business. A large number of users took advantage of WPBeginner’s free resources to launch their businesses online.

We are grateful for the continued support of our users, which provides us with inspiration and energy to move forward.

To keep up with our tradition, in this article we’ll share our staff pick of the best of best WordPress tutorials on WPBeginner.

We’ll also share an overview of 2022 from our CEO to gain some perspective and reflect upon the progress.

Yearly roundup of the best WordPress tutorials on WPBeginner

WPBeginner Recap 2022 by Syed Balkhi

2022 has been a wonderful year, and it was full of new experiences.

This year, I definitely pushed myself to new limits when it came to time management, balancing priorities, and business growth.

I turned 32, visited 8 countries including a trip to the Arctic circle and an African safari where I saw a black Rhino, bought a few companies, launched new products, and overall I’m ending the year stronger than ever.

None of this would be possible without the support of my wife, Amanda, and my family.

We accomplished a lot in 2022, and like always I learned a ton of lessons.

Note: I did a personal 2022 year end review on my blog that has more lessons and insights along with my goals for 2023.

This year WPBeginner turned 13 years old which means we officially have a teenager on our hand.

We spent a lot of time this year creating new content, but most importantly updating hundreds of previously written tutorials to ensure they’re all up to date.

I’m really proud of the work our team has done. Aside from the content side, our software products passed the milestone of 20 million active installs. We celebrated it with a NASDAQ billboard in Time Square.

This was a pretty huge moment for our entire team — going from a blog to being on Time Square in New York City!!!

Awesome Motive NASDAQ Billboard - WPBeginner

For me personally, it was a dream come true moment, and this is proof that hard work does pay off.

Our WPBeginner Engage community on Facebook passed 90,000 members, and it’s the largest WordPress facebook group (it’s free to join).

WPBeginner YouTube Channel passed 282,000 subscribers, and we passed 43 million video views.

We launched the WPBeginner podcast this year, and we got over 29,000 views on YouTube as well as over 4000+ downloads. This is a new content experiment for us, and I can see our monthly downloads continue to grow steadily.

Please let me know your thoughts on the podcast and make sure to subscribe on Apple Podcast, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube.

WPBeginner – Fun Fact:

Our team has now grown to over 230+ people across 45 different countries. We’re hiring for full-time remote positions. If you’re interested, check out our Careers page.

Our growth is a direct result of the incredible growth of WordPress. It is the world’s most popular website builder used by over 43% of all websites.

I shared 3 trends that I believe will help WordPress market share grow to 50% and beyond.

https://twitter.com/syedbalkhi/status/1572939935245647872

We have a lot free tools in the works for WPBeginner readers, and I can’t wait to share them with you over the next two months.

One of the questions I often get from new readers is how does WPBeginner make money? Well, it’s through our suite of premium plugins and SaaS application. I did a brief overview of WPBeginner income, but here’s a quick recap of our various products.

AIOSEO

All in One SEO (aka AIOSEO) is one of the most popular WordPress SEO plugins that’s now being used by over 3 million websites. This year the team worked really hard to make it by far the best SEO toolkit in the market.

If you want to improve your SEO rankings, then you should use AIOSEO.

We added a powerful Link Assistant feature to help automate the internal linking process. It also lets you see which domains you’re linking out to, which posts have no links, and so on. This is great for both SEO pros and business owners.

I had this feature built to help our businesses improve our content marketing, and also do SEO cleanups when we acquire new businesses.

We also introduced the Next-Gen Schema generator to help you level up your on-page SEO game. Basically you can generate custom schema templates to improve your SEO rankings without writing any code.

AIOSEO Custom Schema Generator for WordPress

Aside from that, we added the headline analyzer to help you write better headlines, we created an automated table of content block that’s actually customizable, and so much more.

There is a reason why AIOSEO has seen the level of growth that we did this year as more people are switching away from legacy WordPress SEO plugins to AIOSEO. Here are 9 reasons why you should switch to AIOSEO.

There’s also a free version available too which is plenty powerful.

WPForms

WPForms is the fastest growing online form builder for WordPress with over 5 million active installs. It’s now the #7 most popular plugin in the WordPress.org plugin directory. Here’s a link to the WPForms free version.

This year we added several powerful features to help you improve your workflow and save time. For example, we introduced Form Revisions which adds version control for online forms. We also added form tags, ability to recover deleted forms, form locator, and form search to make managing forms a breeze.

WordPress Form Version Control by WPForms

We added a form layout field to allow you to create multi-column form layouts without any code. This was a much requested feature, and I’m glad the team was able to get it out.

Aside from that, we added a native integration for Google Sheets (no need for Zapier). We also added integrations for HubSpot and PayPal commerce along with introducing more powerful anti-spam settings.

WPForms is continuing to raise the bar, and I’m really proud of our team.

The WPForms team also did their own 2022 Year in Review post which is far more interactive and super cool.

WPCode

We launched a new product called WPCode which is a WordPress code manager to future-proof your website customizations using smart code snippets.

WPCode is like the ultimate Swiss-Army knife tool that will help you replace dozens of existing WordPress plugins while making your website faster. My ultimate goal here was to help website owners save time and hassle while managing website customizations.

WPCode - Best WordPress Code Snippets Plugin

The idea came mainly from our users because about a decade ago in 2012, I created a free plugin called Insert Headers and Footers. This plugin made it easy for you to add code in WordPress header or footer area such as Google Analytics script, FB pixel, other tracking codes, and such.

Over the years, the plugin grew to over 1 million active installs. Every month, I would get requests from users to add more functionality such as the ability to conditionally load scripts on certain pages, ability to add code snippets in other areas of the website, and so on.

So we rebranded the plugin to WPCode (much better name), and we made it 100x more powerful. Best of all we kept most things free.

I can say it’s by far the MOST POWERFUL plugin you’ll install on your WordPress site, and I’m not exaggerating. You can read my full announcement here or watch this video on WPBeginner channel to see why I am so excited about this plugin.

We have big plans for it. Just last month, we launched the Private Cloud Snippets library to improve developer workflow. You can now save all your code snippets to cloud and re-use them across multiple client projects.

We also added code revisions (aka version control) to WordPress admin area, built deeper integration for WooCommerce & EDD, created device-specific snippet rules, and a whole lot more.

You can expect a lot of great things coming from WPCode in 2023.

SendLayer

SendLayer is another new product that we launched this year. It’s an email delivery platform that helps you get your website emails into your user’s inbox with maximum deliverability, reliability, and scalability.

You can use SendLayer with WordPress or any other platform that you prefer because it’s a powerful SMTP email service API. It gives you reliable email delivery while protecting your domain reputation from spam filters and giving you detailed email logs along with open & click analytics.

2023 will be a big year for SendLayer — we’re planning some big announcements in the next couple months.

I shared more details in our announcement post on why I’m so excited about this.

WP Simple Pay

Last year, we acquired WP Simple Pay as part of the Sandhills product acquisition. It’s a simple yet powerful solution that helps you accepting one-time and recurring payments on your WordPress site without setting up a shopping cart.

We redesigned the website to highlight the features it offers, and we also added tons of other powerful features like the ability to add Buy Now Pay Later, Automatic tax calculation based on user location, flexible coupon management, pre-made payment form templates along with deep integration with WordPress page builders, a brand new onboarding wizard, and so much more.

There’s a free version available as well that you can use to accept payments securely on your website with mobile-optimized forms, card validation, and more.

I’m really proud of how this product is evolving, and we have some big features coming next year.

Other Notable Product Highlights

OptinMonster which is the #1 popup and conversion optimization plugin that I created for our business added revenue attribution this year, so now you can see exactly how much revenue you generate from each popup campaign. We also added dozens of new templates, smart blocks, field mapping, and deeper integrations.
MonsterInsights is the best WordPress analytics plugin in the market used by over 3 million websites. This year we introduced a new WordPress User Journey feature for eCommerce which shows you all the steps the user took before making a purchase.
Easy Digital Downloads team launched version 3.0 which was a major re-factor. Now includes support for block editor, multi-currency, improved checkout forms, better reporting, and more. This is the eCommerce plugin that I use to sell our digital products.
MemberPress which is the best membership plugin for WordPress added certifications, so now you can offer certificates to students upon completion of the course. MemberPress continues to be the leading solution for creating membership sites & LMS sites.
Smash Balloon is the most popular social media feeds plugin for WordPress. This year the team completely revamped all the plugins to add a much improved social feed customizer with live preview and more.
Uncanny Automator, the leading WordPress workflow automation plugin now has over workflow 100+ integrations to help you automate your WordPress site. This plugin can help you eliminate Zapier so you can save more money and time with website automations.

Acquisitions and Investments

This year we did few really great acquisitions & investments. Here are the new products that have joined the WPBeginner family

FunnelKit (formerly WooFunnels) is a leading sales funnel builder and marketing automation platform for WooCommerce. Over 18,000+ smart store owners use FunnelKit to create high-converting checkouts, order bumps, one click upsells & automations that are proven to boost profits.

They also have a really powerful email automation and CRM product called FunnelKit Automation (formerly Autonami). It’s basically an ActiveCampaign alternative for WordPress which gives you the email marketing & SMS features for a fraction of the cost.

You can read the full story to see screenshots, animations, and more.

We also acquired WP Charitable, a popular donation and fundraising plugin. Over 10,000+ non-profit organizations and website owners across the world use Charitable to create fundraising campaigns and raise more money online (see the full story).

End of November, one of the WPBeginner Growth Fund companies, Strategy11, acquired WP Tasty and Nutrifox.

Strategy11 is the team behind Formidable Forms, Business Directory Plugin, and Advanced Classified. Steve & Steph Wells joined the WPBeginner Growth Fund in 2018, and we have seen tremendous growth in the business since then.

When the opportunity presented itself, we decided to acquire the WP Tasty plugin suite which offers a suite of tools for food bloggers including a WordPress recipe plugin, a smart roundup plugin, affiliate management plugin, and a better Pinterest integration.

Nutrifox is a SaaS nutrition label generator for food bloggers as well food brands who’re looking to show nutrition labels for compliance reasons on their website.

Aside from these, we have recently acquired few other businesses, but the announcement is not public yet, so I will be sharing those likely in January or February

Want us to acquire or invest in your business? Learn more about the WPBeginner Growth fund where I invest in WordPress and SaaS companies.

With that said, let’s take a look at 2022’s best WordPress tutorials on WPBeginner.

January

How to Display Your Form in a Single Line in WordPress (Easy Way ) – Not all forms need multiple fields and some may even look good in a single line. In this tutorial, we showed how to easily display forms in a single line in WordPress.

How to Fix ‘Comments Are Closed’ in WordPress (Beginner’s Guide) – A common WordPress issue that is often caused by misconfigured WordPress settings. In this article, we showed how to easily resolve the ‘Comments are closed’ issue in WordPress.

How to Create a Video Membership Site in WordPress – WordPress makes it easier to sell on-demand and members-only content. In this tutorial, we walked users through the steps to build a video membership website in WordPress.

What Are Web Push Notifications and How Do They Work? (Explained) – We published an explainer about web push notifications for beginners. The article talks about web push notifications and how beginners can use them to grow their businesses.

How to Easily Create a Custom WordPress Theme (Without Any Code) – Ever wanted to make a custom WordPress theme exactly to your liking? In this article, we showed how to easily create a custom WordPress theme without writing any code.

February

How to Increase Your Landing Page Conversions by 300% – Landing pages are an important marketing tool to boost sales. In this article, we shared proven tips that help users increase their landing page conversions.

How to Create a Facebook Ads Landing Page in WordPress – If you are running Facebook ads, then you would want to direct users to a properly optimized landing page. In this tutorial, we showed how to easily create a beautiful Facebook ad landing page in WordPress for higher conversions.

How to Disable Widget Blocks in WordPress (Restore Classic Widgets) – WordPress replaced the widget screen with new widget blocks. However, many users have themes built for legacy widgets. In this article, we showed how to disable widget blocks and use legacy classic widgets.

How to Add Nofollow Links in WordPress Navigation Menus – Adding nofollow attribute to external links is helpful for SEO but how do you add it to a navigation menu link? In this tutorial, we showed +how to easily add nofollow links in navigation menus.

March

How to Add IndexNow in WordPress to Speed Up SEO Results – IndexNow is a new SEO feature that allows websites to get their new content indexed by popular search engines. In this tutorial, we explained how to add IndexNow in WordPress to improve SEO.

How to Properly Use Focus Keyphrase in WordPress – Optimizing your content for a focus keyphrase helps you improve SEO rankings. In this article, we explained how to properly use focus keyphrase in WordPress to improve search rankings.

18+ Best ClickFunnels Alternatives – ClickFunnels is a website builder tool for marketers to create sales funnels and boost conversions. In this article, we discussed its pros and cons and shared the best ClickFunnels alternative that are actually better and less expensive or free.

How to Fix ‘The Site Is Experiencing Technical Difficulties’ in WordPress – This is a vague and common WordPress error that may be very frustrating for beginners. In this article, we showed how to easily fix ‘The site is experiencing technical difficulties’ issue in WordPress.

April

Best Internal Linking Plugins for WordPress – Internal linking is critical for better SEO rankings and higher pageviews. In this article, we showcased the best internal linking plugins for WordPress that you can use to automatically or manually add internal links.

How to Accept Apple Pay in WordPress – Apple Pay is a convenient payment solution for customers and small businesses. In this article, we showed how to easily accept Apple Pay in WordPress without hiring developers.

Elementor vs Divi vs SeedProd (Compared) – Users often ask us about which is the best page builder among the top contenders. In this article, we compared Elementor vs Divi vs SeedProd to figure out which is the best site builder tool for WordPress beginners.

How to Accept Recurring Payments in WordPress – Many online businesses rely on recurring payments instead of one-time payments. In this beginner’s guide, we shared four methods to easily accept recurring payments in WordPress.

May

Beginner’s Guide: How to Use WordPress Block Patterns – Block patterns are a new WordPress feature that allows site owners to quickly insert common layouts into their pages using the Gutenberg content editor. In this article, we explained WordPress block patterns and how to use them.

How to Easily Add a Download Link in WordPress – Adding a download link in WordPress makes it easier for your customers to download files. In this tutorial, we showed multiple ways to easily add a download link to WordPress.

How to Add Collaboration in WordPress Block Editor (Google-Doc Style) – For multi-author WordPress websites, collaboration can become quite complicated. In this article, we showed how to easily add Google Docs style collaboration in the WordPress block editor.

How to Accept Google Pay in WordPress (The Easy Way) – Google Pay is another convinient payment option for mobile customers. In this article, we showed how to easily accept Google Pay on a WordPress website.

How to Limit the Number of WordPress Form Entries – Do you want to limit the number of entries users can submit using a WordPress form? In this tutorial, we showed how to easily limit the number of WordPress entries.

June

How to Add Text on Top of an Image in WordPress – We have been often asked by users about how to add text on top of an image in WordPress. In this article, we showed multiple ways to easily add text on top of an image in WordPress.

How to Display WordPress Form Entries on Your Site – Some website owners want to collect data via forms and display it on their website. Whether is a survey, feedback, or other user generated content. In this article, we showed how to easily display WordPress form entries on your website.

Best Call Center Software For 2022 – Many users like to talk to a business on the phone instead of email. Adding a call center software for your support and sales team can help convert those users into paying customers. In this article, our experts picked the best call center software for small businesses.

How to Create a Reddit-Like Website with WordPress – Reddit is a popular online community with millions of highly engaged users. In this article, we showed how you can easily create a Reddit-like website with WordPress.

July

How to Make a Multi Vendor Ecommerce Website with WordPress – Do you wanto create a multi-vendor eCommerce platform? In this article, we showed how to easily make a multi-vendor eCommerce website in WordPress.

How to Create an Author Website in WordPress (Step by Step) – WordPress is quite popular among best-selling authors. In this article, we showed how to create a professional author website in WordPress.

How to Connect Multiple WordPress Sites Together – Do you want to connect multiple WordPress websites to automate everyday admin tasks? In this article, we shared 3 easy ways to connect multiple WordPress sites together.

How to Sell Digital Art and Graphics Online – WordPress makes it super easy to sell anything online. In this article, we talked about how to easily sell digital and graphics online using WordPress.

August

How to Easily Integrate Shopify with WordPress (Step by Step) – Do you want to use Shopify and WordPress together? In this article, we showed how to easily integrate Shopify with WordPress and take advantage of both platforms.

How to Set Up Automated Drip Notifications in WordPress – Drip notifications allow you to send scheduled notifications to subscribers via email or push notifications. In this article, we showed how to set up automated drip notifications in WordPress.

How to Customize WooCommerce Emails – Default WooCommerce emails are quite plain and boring. In this article, we showed two ways to easily customize WooCommerce emails to make them more useful.

How to Customize the Search Results Page in WordPress – The default WordPress search is too basic for most websites. In this tutorial, we walk you through the steos you can take to customize WordPress search results page with better results and user experience.

September

Best Monthly Web Hosting Plans – Are you looking for a monthly web hosting plan? In this showcase, our experts picked the best monthly web hosting plans (starting at $4.95 per month).

The Ultimate Guide to GA4 in WordPress for Beginners – With the current version of Google Analytics being sunset on July 1, 2023, we got a ton of questions from users about the new Google Analytics 4 (GA4). In this beginner’s guide, we explained Google Analytics 4 for WordPress users.

How to Create a Table of Contents in WordPress Posts and Pages – a Table of Contents improves user experience for longer articles and can also help with SEO when used properly. In this tutorial, we showed how to easily create a table of contents in WordPress posts and pages.

2022 Blogging Statistics, Trends & Data – For this article, our research tream collected the most interesting and significant blogging statistics, trends, and data. This information can help you analyze some of the latest trends in blogging and how it has evolved over time.

October

Reasons Why We Switched from Yoast to All in One SEO – On WPBeginner, we switched from Yoast to All in One SEO for WordPress. This article explained top reasons why we switched from Yoast to All in One SEO.

How to Speed up WooCommerce Performance – Speed is crucial for the success of an online store. In this guide, we shared easy to implement tips to speed up WooCommerce performance.

How Much Traffic Can WordPress Handle? – One of the common misconceptions about WordPress is that it is harder to scale for large traffic. In this article, we debunked this myth by explaining how much traffic can WordPress handle.

In October, our research team published three new resources:

Ultimate Web Hosting Statistics and Market Share Report (2022) – A comprehensive resource of web hosting statistics, trends, and market share data.
Internet Usage Statistics and Latest Trends for 2022 – A detailed resource of internet usage statistics, trends, and data.
2022’s CMS Market Share Report – A look at the market share of different Content Management Systems with stats, data, and latest trends.

November

The WordPress SEO Crawl Budget Problem and How to Fix It – Search engine bots set a crawl budget for each website, and your website may end up wasting it on unnecessary pages. In this article, we explained the SEO crawl budget problem and how to easily fix it.

How to Offer an Ad-Free Version of Your WordPress Site to Subscribers – Want to remove advertisements for paid subscribers of your website? In this tutorial, we showed how to easily offer an ad-free version of your website to subscribers.

GoDaddy Website Builder vs WordPress – Which One is Better? – GoDaddy offers a basic website builder tool to quickly create simple websites. In this article, we compared GoDaddy website builder vs WordPress to show which one is better.

How to Easily Add Browser Tab Notification in WordPress – You may have noticed some websites with tabs highlighted with animations, icons, and text. In this tutorial, we showed how to easily add browsser tab notification in WordPress.

How to Add a Buy Now Button in WordPress – Do you want to add a quick buy now button in WordPress? In this tutorial, we showed 3 ways to easily add a buy now button in WordPress.

December

How to Sell Excel or Google Spreadsheets in WordPress – Excel and Google spreadsheet files are popular items sold online. These can be templates, printable workbooks, and more. In this tutorial, we showed how to easily sell Excel or Google spreadsheets in WordPress.

What is Headless WordPress and Should You Use It? – A headless WordPress website separated WordPress from the front-end. In this guide, we explained headless WordPress with pros and cons.

A History of Blogging (1993 – Present Day Timeline) – Our team compiled and updated a useful resource about blogging. In this resource, you’ll see a comprehensive history of blogging from 1993 to present time.

How to Enable Maintenance Mode for WooCommerce – Worried about misplaced orders when you are performing maintenance tasks on your WooCommerce store? In this tutorial, we showed how to enable maintenance mode for WooCommerce to safely execute maintenance tasks.

How to Add Venmo in WordPress & WooCommerce – Venmo is a popular and convinient payment gateway. In this guide, we showed how to easily add Venmo in WordPress and WooCommerce as a payment method.

These were some of the best WordPress tutorials on WPBeginner in 2022. We hope that you found them helpful.

We want to thank all WPBeginner users, who visited our website, offered feedback, left comments, and shared it with others. We truly appreciate you.

We look forward to adding even more useful WordPress tutorials in 2023. Have a Happy New Year.

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 Best of Best WordPress Tutorials of 2022 on WPBeginner first appeared on WPBeginner.

How to Send Automated Coupons in WordPress to Bring Back Customers

29.12.2022advanced coupons, funnelkit, funnelkit automations, Tutorials, uncanny automator, woocommerce, wp mail smtpEditorial Staff

Do you want to send automated coupons in WordPress to bring back customers?

By sending the right coupon to the right person at the right time, you can re-engage customers who are losing interest. This can get you more sales, create brand loyalty, and help you keep your best customers.

In this guide, we’ll show you a few different ways to send automated coupons in WordPress, and bring back customers.

How to send automated coupons in WordPress to bring back customers

Why Send Automated Coupons to Bring Back Customers?

You may have heard the saying that it costs five times more to get a new customer than keep an old one.

While lead generation will help grow your business, you also need to keep your existing customers happy. Over time, people may lose interest in your website, forget about your products, or start shopping with a competitor.

That’s where automated coupons come in.

The best WordPress automation tools and plugins can watch your customers for signs they’re becoming disengaged. For example, a customer may not place an order for 2 months or stop opening your emails.

One way to bring those customers back is to automatically send them a coupon code via email. By creating this automated workflow in WordPress, you can retain customers without having to do all the hard work yourself.

Pro Tip: If you send coupons via email, then you’ll need to make sure those messages land in the customer’s inbox and not in the spam folder. Here, a good SMTP service provider is essential for improving your email deliverability. We also recommend using WP Mail SMTP as it allows you to easily send WordPress emails using any SMTP service provider.

With that being said, let’s see how you can send automated coupons in WordPress and bring back customers. Simply use the quick links below to jump to the method you want to use.

Method 1. Using FunnelKit (Best for WooCommerce Users)

One way to send automated coupons in WordPress, is by using FunnelKit Automations.

FunnelKit is a WordPress sales funnel builder and optimization plugin that allows you to create powerful customer winback campaigns. It also lets you create unique, personalized coupons, which can really catch the shopper’s attention.

FunnelKit integrates with WooCommerce and has lots of features that are designed to grow your online store. With that in mind, FunnelKit is a great choice if you already use WooCommerce to sell products and services online.

How to Set up the FunnelKit WordPress Plugin

First, you’ll need to install and activate the free version of FunnelKit Automations, as it provides the base for the premium plugin’s features. For more details, please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

After that, you’ll need to install and activate the FunnelKit Automations Pro plugin.

After activating both plugins, go to FunnelKit Automation » Settings. You can now go ahead and add the license key to the ‘License’ field.

Adding a license to the FunnelKit Automations WordPress plugin

You’ll find this information in your account on the FunnelKit website. After adding this information, click on the ‘Activate’ button.

How to Create an Automated Coupon Workflow for WordPress

Now, we’re going to create a workflow that will generate a personalized coupon and send it to the customer via email. This workflow will run once 30 days have passed since the customer’s last order.

To create the workflow, go to FunnelKit Automations » Automations (Next Gen) in the WordPress dashboard. Then, click on the ‘Add New Automation’ button.

Creating a new WordPress automation with FunnelKit

You’ll now see all the different automation templates that you can use.

Since we want to create our own workflow, select ‘Start from Scratch.’

Creating a custom automated workflow in WordPress

In the popup that appears, type in a name for the automation. This is just for your reference, so you can use anything you want.

With that done, click on ‘Create.’

Add a name to your FunnelKit automation workflow

Now, we need to choose the action that will kickstart the workflow, so click on ‘Select Trigger.’

In the left-hand menu, choose ‘WooCommerce’ and then click to select ‘Customer Win Back.’

Adding a 'customer winback' trigger to an automation workflow

With that done, click on ‘Done’ to add the trigger to your automation workflow.

Back in the main editor, click on the ‘Customer Win Back’ trigger.

Adding a trigger to the FunnelKit automation editor

In the ‘Customer Last Ordered Period’ section, you can type in how long FunnelKit will wait before running the workflow.

For example, in the following image the workflow will run when 30 days have passed since the customer’s last order.

FunnelKit will repeat this automation once every 24 hours, so it’s important to only run it for a short period of time. For this reason, we’ve set the workflow to stop when 35 days have passed since the customer’s last order.

Adding an order period to the automation recipe

In this way, you won’t annoy customers by sending them dozens of emails.

Next, you can set the time when the automation will run, using the ‘Schedule this….’ fields. FunnelKit will use your store’s timezone, so you may want to change your online store settings if you want to use a different timezone instead.

With that done, click on ‘Save.’

Back in the main workflow editor, click on ‘+’ and then select ‘Action.’

Adding actions to an automated workflow in WordPress

In the popup that appears, select ‘WooCommerce’ and then click on ‘Create Coupon.’

Simply click on ‘Done’ to add this action to the workflow.

How to create an automated coupon using FunnelKit

Back in the main FunnelKit editor, click on the action you just added. This opens a popup where you can customize the ‘Create Coupon’ action.

To start, type a name for the coupon into the ‘Coupon Title’ field. This is just for your reference so you can use anything you want.

Creating a winback customer automation workflow in WordPress

After that, choose the type of coupon that you want to create, using the ‘Discount Type’ dropdown menu.

FunnelKit supports percentage discount, fixed cart discount, and fixed product discount. Most of the time, you’ll want to select ‘Percentage Discount’ to make sure all customers get a similar benefit, no matter how much they spend or what products they buy.

After that, type an amount into the ‘Amount’ field. For example, you might offer customers 20% off, or a $5 discount on all purchases.

How to create an automated percentage discount coupon

FunnelKit automatically creates a unique coupon code for each contact. However, you can add a prefix to the start of the coupon, which can either be plain text or dynamic tags. FunnelKit will replace these tags with real text every time it creates a code, so this is a great way to create personalized coupons.

Since we want to bring shoppers back in, you may decide to include the customer’s name in the coupon. This can catch their attention, and also makes your code easier to remember.

To add plain text as a prefix, simply type into the ‘Coupon Code Prefix’ field.

Adding a prefix to the automated coupon code

To add one or more tags, click on the ‘Merge tags’ icon.

This is the button that has curly braces.

Adding dynamic text to the automated coupon code

Now, you’ll see all the tags that you can use in the automated coupon.

We’re going to use the {{contact_first_name}} tag, but you can use any tags you want.

How to create a personalized coupon code with merge tags

Simply copy each tag and then paste it into the ‘Coupon Code Prefix’ field.

As you can see in the following image, you can use a mix of plain text and tags.

How to create a personalized and dynamic coupon code

By default, the coupon will never expire. A sense of urgency and FOMO can push customers to use a coupon, so you may want to select the radio button next to ‘Expire after Specific Days’ or ‘Expire on Specific Date.’

You can then use the controls to specify when the coupon will expire.

Adding a coupon expiration date to your WordPress coupon

Finally, you can choose whether the coupon gives customers a free shipping discount.

Shoppers love free shipping, so you may want to consider adding this to your coupon by selecting the ‘Yes’ radio button under ‘Allow Free Shipping.’

How to create a free shipping discount for your online store

When you’re happy with how the coupon is set up, make sure you copy the small pieces of code under the ‘Coupon Title.’

You’ll need this coupon code for the email we’ll be creating in the next step, so store it somewhere safe.

Creating an automated coupon to win back customers

With that done, click on ‘Save’ to store your changes.

Now we have a coupon, it’s time to create the email that FunnelKit will send to your customers. To add an email action, click on the ‘+’ button and then select ‘Action.’

Add an email action to win back customers

If it isn’t already selected, then click on ‘Messaging’ in the left-hand menu.

Then, select ‘Send Email’ and click on ‘Done.’

Choosing an action in the FunnelKit automation plugin

You can now create an email by typing in a subject and preview, and adding body text.

Similar to creating a coupon, it’s best to use a mix of plain text and tags. To add dynamic tags, click on the ‘Merge Tags’ icons that appear next to the To, Subject, and Preview Text fields.

How to create a personalized email to win back customers

If you want to add tags to the email body, then you can click on the ‘Merge Tags’ button.

To add your coupon code, simply paste or type in the {{wc_dynamic_coupon id= code we copied in the previous step.

Create a personalized email to bring back customers

When you’re happy with how the email looks, click on ‘Save & Close.’

That’s it. When you’re ready to make the automation live, click on the ‘Inactive’ slider so it turns to ‘Active.’

Now, FunnelKit will automatically send the coupon to any customer who hasn’t purchased from you in the past 30 days.

Method 2. Using Uncanny Automator (Over 100 Integrations)

Another way to send automated coupons in WordPress, is by using Uncanny Automator. It is one of the best WordPress automation plugins on the market and lets you create powerful workflows to save time and help you respond to customers more quickly.

Uncanny Automator works seamlessly with WooCommerce, plus all of the must have WordPress plugins and third-party tools. If you’re already using lots of different software on your online store, then Uncanny Automator may be a good choice for you.

There is a free Uncanny Automator plugin that lets you automate many common tasks. However, we’ll be using Uncanny Automator pro because it works with WooCommerce.

To start, you’ll need to install Uncanny Automator pro, plus the free plugin as it provides the base for the premium version. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, go to Automator » Settings and enter your license key into the ‘Uncanny Automator Pro license key’ field.

Adding an Uncanny Automator license to your WordPress website

You’ll find this information under your account on the Uncanny Automator website.

Uncanny Automator is a powerful and flexible plugin, so there’s lots of different ways that you can bring customers back to your site. Let’s take a look at a few options.

Automatically Send Coupons to Logged-Out Customers

It’s smart to let customers create an account with your online store, as it encourages brand loyalty and makes it easier for shoppers to buy from you in the future.

User registration can also help with lead generation. If you get the shopper’s email address, then you can target them with email marketing, personalized ads, an email newsletter, and much more.

If you’re using WooCommerce, then this plugin automatically creates all the pages customers need to create and manage an account. WooCommerce also adds a new Customer role, which it automatically assigns to any shoppers who register with your store.

Are you using a different eCommerce solution that doesn’t support customer registration? Then see our guide on how to allow user registration on your WordPress site.

After that, you can simply create a new role for your customers. For detailed instructions, please see our beginner’s guide to WordPress user roles and permissions.

If you allow user registration, then you can track when a shopper logs out of their account, as this suggests they’re losing interest in your store. You can then send a coupon to encourage them to log back in.

To create this recipe, simply go to Automator » Add new in the WordPress dashboard.

Uncanny Automator will now ask whether you want to create a recipe for logged-in users, or everyone. Go ahead and select ‘Logged-in users,’ then click on the ‘Confirm’ button.

Creating a logged-in automation recipe with Uncanny Automator

Next, you can give the recipe a name by typing into the ‘Title’ field. This is just for your reference so you can use anything you want.

Once you’ve done that, click on ‘WordPress’ in the ‘Select an integration’ area.

You can now choose a trigger, which is anything that kickstarts the recipe.

In the dropdown menu, start typing the following ‘A user logs out of a site’ and then select the right option when it appears.

Choosing a trigger for the automated coupon recipe

We only want to run the workflow when someone with the ‘Customer’ user role logs out of their account.

With that in mind, click on the ‘Add filter’ button.

How to create an automation workflow for your WooCommerce customers

In the popup that appears, click on ‘WordPress.’

Next, find ‘The user has a specific role’ in the dropdown menu.

Filtering your users based on WordPress role

Open the ‘Role’ dropdown and select the role you’re using for your customers.

After that, go ahead and click on ‘Save filter.’

Sending an automated coupon to your WooCommerce customers

Now it’s time to specify the action that Uncanny Automator will perform every time this workflow runs.

We’re going to send the customer an email containing a coupon, so go ahead and click on ‘Add action.’

Since we want to send an email, select ‘Emails’ as the integration.

In the dropdown that appears, click on ‘Send an email.’

Send automated coupons in WordPress to bring back customers

This adds all the fields that you can use to create the email.

To start, we need to make sure the message goes to the right user, by clicking on the asterisk next to the ‘To’ field. Then, select ‘Common’ and ‘User email.’

You can now create the email by adding a subject line and body text.

Here, you can use a mix of plain text and tokens, which are placeholders that Uncanny Automator replaces with real values automatically. For example, if you want to use the customer’s name, then you can click on the asterix and select ‘Common.’

Simply select the ‘User first name’ token to create the personalized greeting.

Adding a dynamic user name token to the coupon workflow

You’ll also need to create a coupon and add it to the email.

The easiest way is by using the Advanced Coupons plugin, which is the best WordPress coupon code plugin on the market. It lets you create lots of different advanced coupons to get more sales and grow your business.

For a step-by-step guide, please see our post on how to create smart coupons.

After creating a coupon, you can simply add it to the email.

Sending an automated coupon email in WordPress to bring back customers

When you’re happy with how the email looks, click on ‘Save.’

After that, it’s time to set a delay. This is how long Uncanny Automator will wait after the customer logs out, before sending them the coupon.

To add a delay, hover your mouse over the ‘Email’ action. When it appears, click on ‘Delay.’

How to add a delay to an automation workflow

You can then add your delay in the popup that appears.

Once you’ve done that, go ahead and select ‘Set delay.’

Adding a time delay to the automated coupon recipe

When you’re happy with how the recipe is set up, it’s time to make it active.

In the ‘Recipe’ box, click the ‘Draft’ switch so that it shows ‘Live’ instead.

That’s it. Now, when a customer logs out of their account, Uncanny Automator will wait for the specified amount of time before sending them a coupon code.

Automatically Send Coupons for a Specific Product

Sometimes a shopper may look at a product multiple times. This suggests they’re interested in the item, but something is stopping them from making a purchase.

In this case, you may want to send them a coupon, which will encourage them to splash out on the product.

To get started, create a new recipe for logged-in users following the same process described above. After that, click on ‘WooCommerce’ in the ‘Select an integration’ area.

Adding WooCommerce as an integration in Uncanny Automator

Next, choose a trigger by typing the following ‘A user views a product.’

When the right trigger appears, give it a click.

Get more sales with an automated coupon recipe

By default, this trigger is set to ‘Any product.’

If you want to link the recipe to a specific product, then open the ‘Product’ dropdown and choose that product from the list.

Choose a WooCommerce product from the dropdown menu

Once you’ve done that, click on the ‘Number of times’ button.

By default, the recipe will run every time a customer looks at a product. You should change this, so the customer has to look at the product multiple times before triggering the recipe. To do this, type a different number into the ‘Number of times’ field.

Triggering a workflow when the customer views a product multiple times

When that’s done, click on ‘Save’ to store your settings.

This recipe should only run when a customer views a product, so click on ‘Add Filter.’ In the popup that appears, click on ‘WordPress’ and then choose ‘The user has a specific role.’

Adding WooCommerce features to an automation recipe

After that, open the ‘Role’ dropdown and select the role you’re using for your customers.

When you’re ready, click on ‘Save filter.’

Now it’s time to add the action. There are a few different ways to send automated coupons from your WordPress website.

To email a code to your customers using Uncanny Automator and Advanced Coupons, simply follow the same process described above.

Another option is to generate the code using WooCommerce. To do this, click on ‘Add Action’ and then select ‘WooCommerce’ as the integration.

Selecting the WooCommerce eCommerce plugin as an integration

In the search bar, start typing ‘Generate and email a coupon code to the user.’

When the right option appears, give it a click.

This will add some new settings where you can create the coupon code.

To generate a code automatically, simply leave the ‘Coupon code’ field blank.

How to create a coupon for your WooCommerce online store

In the ‘Discount type’ field, choose the kind of coupon that you want to create, such as a fixed cart discount or percentage discount.

For this guide, we’ll select ‘Percentage discount’.

How to create a percentage discount code

After that, type the percentage discount into the ‘Coupon amount’ field.

In the following image, we’re offering customers a 30% discount on their purchase.

In the next field, you can set an expiry date for the coupon, either by using the YYY-MM-DD format or typing in the number of days until the coupon expires.

For example, in the following image the coupon will expire after 7 days.

Adding an expiration date to an automated coupon code

You can also set a minimum and maximum spend for the coupon. We’ll leave these fields blank so the customer can use the code with any purchase.

You may also want to check the ‘For individual use only’ box so customers can’t use this code in combination with other coupons.

Next, scroll to the ‘Usage limit per coupon’ section. The shopper should only be able to use the coupon once, so type in ‘1.’

There are lots of other settings you can change for the coupon. It’s a good idea to look through these settings to see whether you want to make any more changes.

When you’re happy with how the coupon is set up, scroll to the ‘Email’ section. To start, find the ‘To’ field and then click on the asterisk next to it. Then, click on ‘Common’ and select ‘User email.’

Creating an automated coupon email to bring back shoppers

With that done, you can add a subject line and change the text in the email body.

To create a more personalized email, it’s a good idea to use a mix of plain text and tokens, by following the same process described above.

Adding a coupon to your WooCommerce email

When you’re happy with the email, click on the ‘Save’ button to store the recipe.

After that, you can make the recipe live by clicking the ‘Draft’ switch so that it shows ‘Live.’

Making an Uncanny Automator recipe live on your WordPress website

Now, every time someone views a product multiple times, it’ll trigger the recipe workflow.

We hope this article helped you learn how to send automated coupons in WordPress to bring back customers. You may also want to check out our guide on how to create a WooCommerce popup to increase sales and the best WooCommerce plugins for 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 Send Automated Coupons in WordPress to Bring Back Customers first appeared on WPBeginner.

How to Export Email Addresses from WordPress Comments

28.12.2022export comment authors emails, export commenters email address, export email address from WordPress comments, export list of commenter email address, WordPress PluginsEditorial Staff

Do you want to export email address from your WordPress comments?

The people who comment on your site are already engaged with your content, and that makes them the perfect audience for email marketing or retargeting ads. As long as you get the right permissions, you can target these users by exporting their contact information.

In this article, we will show you how you can export email addresses from the WordPress comment section.

How to export email addresses from WordPress comments

Why Export Email Addresses From WordPress Comments?

There are a few different reasons why you may want to export email addresses from WordPress comments but the most common is to build an email list.

However, according to digital privacy guidelines, you must have permission to contact the people who comment on your website. The default WordPress comment form doesn’t give users a way to opt into your email updates, which means you can’t simply add these people to your mailing list. One easy fix is to add custom fields to the comment form in WordPress so that anyone who leaves a comment can opt into getting emails from you.

The following screenshot shows an example of how this might look on your website.

When the person posts their comment, their response is added as comment meta data. You can then export the meta data along with the email address, and see whether you have permission to email that person.

In the following image, you can see an example of a spreadsheet containing one comment author who has opted into getting email updates and one author who doesn’t want to receive any messages from you.

This allows you to build a mailing list without breaking important privacy rules such as GDPR.

There may also be some sites where you already have permission to email anyone who comments on your content. This often includes private WordPress blogs such as a classroom website or a family blog. In this case, simply exporting the list of email addresses may be easier than asking every single person for their contact information.

With that in mind, let’s see how you can export email addresses from WordPress comments.

How to Export Email Addresses from WordPress Comments

The easiest way to export email addresses from your WordPress comments is by using WordPress Comments Import & Export.

This plugin lets you export different information from the WordPress comment section including email addresses and any meta data that was added via a custom field.

To begin, you’ll need to install and activate the plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, go to Comments » Comments Im-Ex.

The WordPress Comments Import & Export plugin

By default, the plugin will export data from all the comments that people have posted across your website.

Depending on your site, this might be a lot of information for you to read through.

With that being said, you may want to filter the comments that the plugin exports. One option is to only export comments that were posted within a particular timeframe.

To set a time limit, scroll to the ‘Date’ section. You can then click on each date field and then choose a start and end date from the calendar popup.

You can also export comments from a specific post only. For example, you might be running a giveaway or contest where everyone who comments on a particular post gets entered into a prize draw.

You can then export the email addresses from this post and pick your winner.

To limit the export to a specific page, click on the box next to ‘Articles’ and then select any post from the list.

Once you’ve done that, scroll to the ‘Columns’ section which lists all the information you can include in the export.

By default, the plugin exports all the data from each comment, so you’ll typically want to uncheck the information you don’t need. For example, if you’re not interested in the author’s IP address then you can click to uncheck the comment_author_ip box.

You can check or uncheck any boxes you want. However, since we want to export a list of email addresses it’s important to check the comment_author_email box.

Did you add a custom opt in field to the comment form? Then make sure you check the comment_meta box so you can see whether the author opted into receiving email updates.

Exporting custom meta data from WordPress comments

When you’re happy with how the export is set up, go ahead and click on the Export Comments button.

The plugin will now export all the email addresses and you can download that CSV file.

Next, open the file using any app or program that supports the CSV format, such as Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets, as you can see below.

You can now filter the comments based on whether these people opted into receiving emails.

How to Get the Most Out of Your Exported Email Addresses

After exporting the email addresses from your WordPress comments, there are a few different ways that you can use them.

If the comment author opted into getting email updates from you, then you might add them to your email newsletter. You can then send these people news, tips, and updates about your business or website.

You can also add the users in your CRM to do regular personal reach outs to build your network.

Another use for your exported email addresses is for Facebook retargeting ads. Facebook lets you upload a list of email address so you can target only those users with your ad campaign.

We hope this article helped you learn how to export email addresses from WordPress comments. You may also want to check out our guide on how to allow user registration on your WordPress site and the best contact form plugins.

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

The post How to Export Email Addresses from WordPress Comments first appeared on WPBeginner.

Why Run a Facebook Giveaway in WordPress?

Running a Facebook Giveaway in WordPress

Step 1. Creating Your First Facebook Giveaway Campaign

Step 2. Adding More Actions to Your Facebook Giveaway

Step 3: Design your Facebook Giveaway to Stand out

Step 4. Fine Tuning Your Giveaway Settings

Step 5. Add Your Facebook Giveaway to a WordPress Post or Page

Step 6. Promoting Your Facebook Giveaway

Step 7. Announcing The Giveaway Winners

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Method 1: Hosting Local Fonts in WordPress With a Plugin

Method 2: Hosting Local Fonts in WordPress Manually

Why Set Up Email Notifications for Post Changes in WordPress?

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Revising and Undoing Post Changes in WordPress

Troubleshooting Email Notifications in WordPress

Top Reasons and Benefits of a Blog

1. A Blog Brings Traffic to Your Website

2. Blogging Helps you Generate More Leads and Conversions

3. Helps you Repurpose Content for Other Marketing Channels

4. Helps you Build Authority in Your Industry

5. Helps You Strengthen Brand Recognition

6. Helps You Build an Engaging Audience

7. Share Business News, Announcements, Sales, and More

8. Helps You Improve Long Term SEO

9. Beat Competition in Organic Search Traffic

10. Allows You to Educate Customers

11. Build Additional Revenue Streams for Your Business

12. Helps You Learn Online Marketing

13. Unlocks Partnerships and Opportunities for Growth

14. Helps You Find Your Dream Job

How to Get Started with Blogging Right Away

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How to Connect an Instagram Account to WordPress

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FAQs About Embedding Instagram in WordPress

What’s the Difference Between SEO Titles and Post Titles?

How to Add H1 Post Titles in WordPress

How to Add SEO Titles in WordPress

How to Customize the Default SEO Title in WordPress

Tips for Creating the Best Post Titles in WordPress

When Should You Use a Different SEO Title?

WPBeginner Recap 2022 by Syed Balkhi

WPBeginner – Fun Fact:

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Why Send Automated Coupons to Bring Back Customers?

Method 1. Using FunnelKit (Best for WooCommerce Users)

Method 2. Using Uncanny Automator (Over 100 Integrations)

Why Export Email Addresses From WordPress Comments?

How to Export Email Addresses from WordPress Comments

How to Get the Most Out of Your Exported Email Addresses