One of these tools is WooCommerce. It is a relatively new software that has already gained recognition as the best eCommerce plugin for free. If you want to create an online store and start selling products online, choosing a WooCommerce WordPress combination is the best option for you. Even though it may seem difficult to know what to start with, this software is designed to easily navigate you through the fundamental components of an online store website creation.

However, to be able to see a bigger picture, let’s start with finding out what WooCommerce is and how it is used in WordPress.

How WooCommerce Helps?

WooCommerce was created by a strong software development team in 2011. Since then, WooCommerce has been advancing as a tool and gained its popularity among website developers and online store owners. Today, it is mostly known as a WordPress plugin for online store creation that offers expanded functionality for free.

Today, WooCommerce is used to help people sell goods and services through their websites. When the website undergoes WooCommerce customization, its owner gets a better opportunity to control stocks, manage inventory, receive and accept payments, ship products, and even calculate taxes. In addition, there are many WooCommerce extensions that help run a professional online store without any extra effort from your side.

For the simplicity of its use and comprehensive nature of the functions it performs, WooCommerce is regarded now as the most popular software solution for online store creation. A study shows that around 25% of eCommerce stores in the world are powered by WooCommerce today.

What Are WooCommerce Main Features?

As an open and free tool, WooCommerce offers a wide range of features. For example:

• WooCommerce helps you sell tangible and intangible goods.
• It allows adding an unlimited number of images.
• You can create product categories and collections if needed.
• It is possible to add ratings or reviews on each of the product.
• WooCommerce helps you adjust your locale settings.
• You can enable filtering and sorting functions for your customers to navigate through the website easily.
• WooCommerce integrates several payment methods for your customers to feel secured when transferring the money.
• You can adjust your shipping options as you find optimal.
• WooCommerce helps you easily manage your orders and keep track of the inventory.

Apart from it, WooCommerce is highly extensible. If you want to upgrade your online store to a new professional level, you can purchase one of the WooCommerce extensions and enjoy even more advanced online store tool.

How to Start with WooCommerce in WordPress?

It all starts with WooCommerce installation, of course. However, before you proceed with furnishing your website with WooCommerce functions, we do recommend you introduce yourself with WooCommerce tutorial. The point is that this eCommerce tool has a lot of features that you may not be aware of. Thus, having a brief guide on WooCommerce functions can really widen your horizons.

However, when you are done with the WordPress part of website creation, including filling out your data, creating a name, performing WordPress customizations, etc., you can proceed with downloading and installing WooCommerce plugin from the plugin directory. When you launch it, you will be guided through the process of creating essential online store pages, including “My Account,” “Balance,” “Checkout,” etc. You can also add your pages if you need some specific ones.

You will be required to set up locale settings for your business, including country, currency, and other related information. Then, you will be transferred to the Tax page since WooCommerce cares much about the correct and timely calculation of taxes. After filling this out, you can choose a payment method that will be offered to your customers as a primary one.

The following steps of your WordPress website customization will refer merely to filling out product information, uploading high-quality images, enabling product categories, and writing a short description for each item. No worries, you will be guided automatically through the entire process, or you can hire a WordPress expert who will save your time and efforts.

WordPress Theme Install

We intentionally omitted the topic of WordPress theme customization because it should be done after you add products to your store. When the most time-consuming part of the job is done, you need to think about the visual appearance. With all product-related information inserted, you can customize from a better perspective.

Regardless of the WordPress theme you choose, they all work well with WooCommerce. However, leaving customization to the end of the process was necessary for you to be able to check the layout of the individual product pages as well. When you are done with the data entry part of website creation, you can make sure that everything looks the way you expected.

However, even though all WordPress theme collection functions perfectly with WooCommerce, it still has to offer some WooCommerce-optimized themes. We recommend you have a look at those ones offered for free because some of them look really great and stylish. WooCommerce design team has taken some customer behavior tricks into consideration to make each theme good-looking and profitable.

Final Words

WooCommerce creates unlimited opportunities for those who only start their online sales business as well as later extends them for medium and big businesses. WooCommerce requires no investment from you before your store actually starts bringing you profit, but it does need you to have some knowledge about the features it offers. In practice, when you start online store creation, all you need to do is to install the plugin and follow a procedure initiated by the program. Once this is done, you need to customize the website look for it to appeal to your customers. WooCommerce can be perfectly integrated with any WordPress theme that makes this tool ideal for WordPress online store creation.

If you don’t have enough technical background to set up your online store, or you simply don’t have time, our e-commerce experts install the store and perform all necessary configuration with great pleasure. Your awesome online boutique will be up and running within the next 24 hours.

What is a landing page?

A landing page is a page where you direct visitors to with the goal of getting them to make a purchase, subscribe to an email, click a link, or do some other activity. A landing page can be an introduction to your site, product or service. It can also be a separate – more salesy – version of your main site.

When someone creates a landing page, they pursue a certain goal, as opposed to creating a visually appealing website without a defined purpose.

How is a landing page different from a website page?

A website and landing page are two different online assets. As mentioned earlier, a landing page has a goal and this goal almost always implies making a visitor perform some sort of action. A website page also has a goal, but instead of promoting action-oriented behavior, a website page permits mindless browsing, information research, and deep analysis.

For example, a company website may contain such information as company description, product benefits, company location, and contacts, as well as a registration form and call-to-actions. All these elements are crucial to customer understanding of the brand, but they don’t necessarily push the user toward action. Even though call-to-actions are present on the main website, you can also find plenty of redundant information there which doesn’t help with the sales process. Still, this seemingly unnecessary at first glance information allows the user to form a comprehensive understanding of the company and its offerings.

Unlike a website page, every element of a landing page has a set goal. The sequence of elements and each element itself are dedicated to achieving that goal. Every element that doesn’t serve a common purpose is ruthlessly eliminated while elements that move the visitors closer to the goal are emphasized and highlighted. So if you want visitors to do something on a website, consider creating a landing page that is characterized by the following:

• it has a structure similar to a sales funnel
• it doesn’t contain any information that doesn’t serve the goal
• it doesn’t have a footer
• it gets to the point right away

How to create a landing page in WordPress

1. Plugins

Plugins can be an easy and inexpensive way to create landing pages in WordPress. There are plugins for everything nowadays and landing pages are not an exception. However, plugin developers also have to earn money so most plugins are free but you do need to pay for premium features once you start using the plugin. Try WordPress Landing Pages plugin which has most basic features and is pretty easy to use.

Plugins are probably the easiest way to create a landing page, but free plugins are also incredibly difficult to find. So read on to the method 2.

2. Theme builder

Unlike a regular WordPress theme, a theme builder allows you to change the positioning and visual style of the elements as you like. In a theme builder you’re still restricted by certain limits (you can’t just design something out of your head without knowing the code) but still, a theme builder gives you a lot more customization options compared to a regular WordPress theme.

Remeber, that theme builder is still a theme only it offers you more creative freedom by integrating a drag and drop functionality into a theme. Unfortunately, not every theme out there has a drag and drop functionality. So if you know you’re going to need a lot of landing pages along with standard company site, make sure you chose the right theme from the very begining.

3. LeadPages templates

If you want a truly custom solution, LeadPages might be exactly what you need. LeadPages often offers free HTML versions of landing pages that can be found on their website. The trick is to download a template and make it WordPress compatible since the template is pure HTML and not a theme. If you know a bit of code you can still make an HTML template work in WordPress. You do this by editing the code at the very top of the template, renaming the index.html file, changing the path to every external file, and editing the PHP file. It all might sound like a lot of work, but in the end, you’ll get a unique beautiful landing page, so it’s worth it.

4. Build a landing page

You can always forgo the three methods mentioned earlier and build a template manually. Of course, this is a very expensive and time-consuming option but it still remains popular. The thing is that a neatly designed landing page can become a gold mine for the business, so creating a landing page that works might be a great investment.

To build a landing page from scratch hire a designer and a front-end and back-end developer. Or do it yourself if you have the necessary skills. With a custom landing page, you really take full control of your sales cycle and how the landing works and performs.

Conclusion

Landing pages have become such an indispensable part of doing business online, that almost every business nowadays does marketing through landing pages. A landing page serves a specific purpose – usually making a sale or getting people leave their contact details. While WordPress as a CMS isn’t intended for the landing page creation, it’s still possible to design a landing page in WordPress. You can create a landing page in WordPress using any method from the four methods listed above, but apart from choosing a method consider identifying a single goal a landing page is intended to achieve, and before you start designing, make a sketch of a landing page structure – a structure that slowly but surely moves the visitors toward the goal.

For a long time, WordPress MU was a separate project, and starting from WordPress 3.0, the MU project became part of the kernel and received a new name Multisite.

What is a WordPress Multisite?

Multisite is a WordPress mode of operation that allows you to use existing kernel files and an existing database to create a network from WordPress sites. In addition, each site on the network has its own settings, and plugins, WordPress theme installation service, and users become common, which provides several advantages:

• Users do not need to create more than one account, you can easily add an existing user to a new site on the network.
• Installing a plugin for each individual site is not necessary, you install the multisite plugin WordPress only once, and activate it on each site as needed.
• If desired, plug-ins can be forced to activate for all sites on the network.
• You need to update the kernel, themes and plugins only once, and not for each site separately.
• You can use a common theme for each site, or do WordPress customization for individual sites on the web.

Sharing data between sites on the network becomes much easier and faster.

In the network mode, there are also its drawbacks, for example, the size of the database, which grows with the addition of each new site. Resources hosting sites become common to all sites on the network, including for example access to it via FTP. Proper network architecture will solve many of these problems.

When to use a WordPress Multisite?

The multisite mode should be used:

• If you are running more than one WordPress site;
• If your company has several departments and each department has its own website;
• When you need to have one account to log in to two or more sites;
• When there is a need to exchange data between two sites;
• If you are developing a multilingual WordPress site;
• If you need additional development and testing environment.

If desired, all this can be organized without using WordPress in the network mode, for example, data exchange between sites can be organized via XML-RPC, and common input using the OAuth protocol. Nevertheless, multisite installation WordPress allows you to solve these and other problems much easier and more efficiently.

When not to use Multisite Installation?

When working in network mode, it is important to understand that the code of the entire site becomes common. This is not suitable if you are developing websites for clients, and provide them with FTP access.

After all, even if you restrict FTP access to one directory, one client can easily upload a .php file that will read any other file or any record in the database in tables of another client — this is not safe.

For everything else, Multisite mode is fine. Even if you are working on a single site, it may be easier for you to test your changes on a subdomain, such as dev.example.org, before applying them to the main site.

Super admin role

In network mode, a new role appears in WordPress – a super-administrator, a user who can manage network settings, create new sites and new users, add users to sites, turn plugins on and off, activate and deactivate themes and much more.

For a super admin in WordPress Multisite, there is a network administration section that looks like a simplified WordPress console.

WordPress multisite installation guide

Setting the network mode in WordPress takes no more than a few minutes and you won’t need to hire a developer.

1. Preparation

Before you do WordPress plugin installation on a live site, do not forget to make a full backup of the WordPress directory, as well as a full copy of the database.

After that, make sure that your installation of WordPress supports “beautiful” links (Options → Permanent links) and deactivate all plugins. They can be activated after the network installation is completed.

2. Set network mode

Open the WordPress configuration file wp-config.php and find the following line:

require_once(ABSPATH . ‘wp-settings.php’);

In any place before this line, insert the following directive, which includes the ability to set the Multisite mode:

/* Multisite */

define( ‘WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE’, true );

After that, go to the WordPress admin panel and in the Tools section, you will see the new item Network Setup. On this screen, you can select the type of network and start the installation. We recommend using Multisite in subdomain mode.

When the installation of WordPress is complete, you will be prompted to add several new directives to the wp-config.php file and several lines to the .htaccess file, after which you need to re-enter the administration panel, already as a super-administrator.

3. Network Administration

After entering the top WordPress menu, a new item “My Sites” will appear, from where you can easily go to the network control panel. There you can add new sites, manage users, install themes and plugins, and manage other network settings.

Note that administrators will no longer be able to install new themes and plug-ins, in network mode only super-administrators can do this. A super-administrator can also give super-administrator rights to any other user on the network while editing his profile.

Domains management in WordPress Multisite

One of the common misconceptions of users is that in the Multisite mode you can only use subdomains of the main site, or subdirectory, but this is not so.

In WordPress Multisite mode, each site on the network can have its own domain, and not one. At the moment, you can attach a new domain to the site, as well as set the main domain using the popular WordPress MU Domain Mapping plugin, and in the future, the developers promise to introduce this feature into the WordPress core itself.

Conclusion

WordPress Multisite is a bit more difficult to use than a regular WordPress installation, but its benefits are obvious. The largest network at the moment is WordPress.com, where today there are more than 50 million sites, but sometimes even small single WordPress sites prefer to switch to web mode.

If you decide to try the network mode, do not forget about the backup. If you have any questions on WordPress Multisite, contact our WordPress experts and we will be glad to help!

A web developer is a person responsible for your site, and your site is an important business asset. A website is, essentially, a face of your business, and a web developer is a person or company that represents you. In such a situation, hiring a wrong person might lead to dire consequences for business. Your site might get hacked, or the check out process might get screwed and you can lose a lot of money.

Here are 5 tips for hiring the right web development person or agency for your business:

1. Look for a perfect match

Don’t assume that every development agency is the same. There are many skilled developers out there but they are all different. What you’re looking for is a perfect DNA match. Their vision and your vision should match, and you should feel comfortable working with them. Some developers prefer a relaxed environment where deadlines are flexible and more emphasis is put on creativity and problem contemplation. Other developers have drive, passion, and are determined to succeed. They are curious about new technologies and are striving to produce great work on time. What kind of developer do you prefer?

A development team that works with small businesses will be leaner and more adaptable as opposed to the team that works on large-scale projects fraught with rigorous planning and fixed list of responsibilities.

Another point to consider is how the development team will work with your team. You probably hired your employees based on a corporate culture, so it’s a certain profile of people you work with. Hiring based on matching brand personalities will help you avoid misunderstanding between your team and the development agency.

Make a list of most desired qualities in the developer and then find someone who matches at least 3 qualities from the list.

2. Test everything

You can’t tell how well the development company works until you test them. Development agency usually is open to doing medium-sized jobs to show the quality of their work. During the test project, observe how the team handles the tasks and whether they deliver the expected results. Look at things like adherence to deadlines, communication, openness to feedback, and, of course, the quality of the finished product.

3. Distinguish a skill set from passion

It’s easy to hire a web developer who knows how to do stuff. It’s a lot harder to find someone who will know how to do stuff when new technology replaces the old one. Technology field is always innovating, and if you want to stay ahead of the game, you need to make sure the development team is passionate about the technology just as they are about the project.

Pick a team that writes about the technology on their blog, attends technology conferences and boasts their programming skills along with their passion for learning.

4. Don’t be afraid to leave

It’s a commonly accepted standard these days to hire slow but fire fast. Don’t be afraid to fire the agency if they are not performing or working too slow. The competition in the field is tough and there are many great agencies that create amazing projects for their clients. Some projects can be so important for the business that not firing an agency quick enough can jeopardize the business. Even if you have good relationships with the agency, evaluate them objectively and if your assessment is negative and true, leave as fast as possible.

5. Ask open-ended questions

There should be absolutely no hesitation on your part when it comes to asking questions. You should be comfortable with asking as many questions as you want before you start working with the agency. And the agency should provide detailed and clear answers. Just be careful when asking questions related to a particular project at the very beginning, as smaller agencies will be hesitant to provide concrete solutions, and this is understandable since their time is unpaid.

Pay attention to not only what they say in response to your questions, but also how they answer the questions. How quick they are in their response and how well you understand each other are the two criteria you should consider.

6. Consider your goals with a particular project

Some agencies are great with building websites from scratch but terrible at redesigning sites. Others specialize in WordPress and can’t handle other CMS, yet another type of agency is focused on the visual aspect but can’t carry out projects with complex business logic. Before you hire an agency, consider your goals. What exactly you want the agency to achieve? What are the websites you like and are there similar websites in the agency’s portfolio? Does your project require a very narrow expertise? Is the agency skilled enough for the project’s specifics?

When everything is perfect but you can’t determine if the agency is a good fit for the particular project, try to look at other websites and find their creators. Agencies would often feature their name at the lower right corner of the website that they created. You can also send a reference website to an agency and discuss how they would approach a similar project.

Final Word

At the end of the day, even the best agency on the market can’t create a perfect project if you don’t express what you want. Understand that you’re forming a partnership with an agency and each side of the partnership brings value to the project. Don’t try to boss the agency around, as they have the right and freedom to leave the project just like you do. But don’t leave everything up to the agency to decide either. They will need some information and guidance from you in order to perform their job well. If they can’t get the information they need, in the end, it’s you who will suffer most as the project would not live up to your expectations.

Lastly, don’t agonize over choosing the right web development agency. Review several options, collect information about the agencies, have introductory meetings, and then chose the agency that matches your criteria. And before long you’ll be working in a productive partnership and create stunning online products meant to bring success to your business.

In this highly saturated digital space, brands need to stand out. Whether you run an organization or a solopreneur, you need a website that sets you apart from millions of other people and companies offering the same thing. Before you can start working on making your website stand out, it’s important to have the basics covered.

You need to have a ‘good’ website that functions properly before anything else. So, what makes a good website? Here are a few key characteristics of websites that perform well.

What We Mean by ‘Good’ Website

When we say a ‘good’ website, we don’t mean it in terms of content. While exceptional content is central to users liking your website, that’s not all that goes into it.

Websites. Source: Pexels

Let us elaborate with an example, the content of your website is like the embellishments you put on a building; the coats of paint, fancy Victorian windows, revolving doors, etc. While this is vital from an aesthetic point of view, your building needs to have a solid foundation; the web design of your building is the bricks, metal frames, and cement that constitute your building.

People need to step into the building and explore it without the ceiling collapsing or the floor being crooked. Similarly, users need to be able to explore the content of your website without encountering technical glitches and bugs.

So let’s get into what you need to do to make sure your users are able to navigate your website to its fullest potential.

1. Speed

You’ve probably heard this rather scary statistic: 53% of mobile users typically click off a website if it takes more than 3 seconds to load! Needless to say, speed is essential to how well your website performs with users.

A high bounce rate is most often caused by low website speed. Although WordPress websites tend to run pretty fast, it’s still a bit tricky to get optimal speed for every region users will access your site from.

You need to ensure that your website is speed-optimized for every region possible, so whether your target audience is in your country or on the other side of the globe, your website opens and runs quickly!

2. Security

Another top priority for website development is web security. That green lock icon next to your URL is important! It shows users that your website is secure and thus, their information is secure with it. Search engines also prefer secure websites when ranking them on search engine results pages.

Your website needs to be secure from potential hackers, which means having an SSL certificate. An SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate. SSL forms an encryption barrier between the link server and the host on a website, protecting data. This makes online transactions on your website secure, protecting user data from hackers and malware software.

3. Accessibility and Responsive Design

Accessibility shouldn’t be overlooked when creating a website you intend to be widely used. A good website has capabilities that allow differently-abled users to access it and use its features as fully as possible.

Additionally, your website needs to have a responsive, ‘mobile-friendly design. That means your website looks just as good on a mobile as it does on a desktop, with no compromise on its features or speed. Search engines like Google rank mobile-friendly websites higher than non-mobile-friendly websites.

So not only do you risk losing traffic through disappointed users, but you also risk losing traffic by simply losing visibility on SERPs.

Creating a speed-optimized, secure, accessible, and responsive website is better left to the professionals. We recommend hiring a web design agency or web design services to do the job right in designing your website.

Alright, now that we’ve discussed the key characteristics that qualify a website as ‘good’, let’s explore how you can achieve this and most importantly, maintain it.

Maintaining a Website

Website maintenance is not an easy task, and it’s not something you want to scrimp on. Website requires regular checkups, treating your website like an expensive car or a child, whatever you’re willing to pay more attention to.

We emphasize being regular because if your website is down or your users are encountering bugs, it doesn’t bode well for your brand image or web traffic. Users might click off and decide against coming back another time. First impressions are often the last impressions with internet users; we’re not exactly known for our attention spans!

Long story short, website maintenance is crucial to retaining a steady flow of web traffic and lead generation online. Brands often tend to overlook website maintenance after the initial completion. This is partly because business owners simply don’t know what to look for and their webmasters’ focus is shifted to driving leads and conversions instead.

The good news is that you don’t have to do it yourself, like most things these days, you can hire someone to do it for you.

What is a Website Audit?

A website audit is a thorough analysis of your website in terms of visibility as well as ease of navigation. There are three main types of website audits that are conducted, typically in tandem with one another. Here’s a quick breakdown!

1. Technical Audit

The technical audit of your website assesses the technical aspects of your website, this pertains to what we discussed earlier; speed, security, etc.

Technical audits also look for anything your site may be missing that keeps it from fulfilling search engine requirements. Search engines only crawl websites that meet their requirements, and only websites that get crawled get ranked.

For example, if your site doesn’t have an XML sitemap, a search engine is unlikely to waste its crawl budget on your website. A technical audit combs through the technical qualities of your website and devises ways for you to fix them.

2. SEO Audit

Similar to a technical audit, an SEO audit analyses how SEO-optimized your site is. This includes backlinking, metadata, if internal or external links are broken, and if the keywords you’re using are effective.

There’s no trick to cracking SEO, even if you’re doing everything right, it will take time for your site to get ranked as high as you want it to. The good thing about a website audit is it lets you know what boxes to check off so you can get started on the right path to a high search engine ranking. Start from on-site SEO, and then go to off-site SEO and backlinks analysis.

3. Content Audit

Content audits assess the content of your website as well as the website design complementing it. It analyses the copy of your site in terms of efficacy, tone, appropriate messaging, consistency, and whether or not your copy is actionable.

Content audits assess analytics such as heat mapping to see which content is performing well, and why. They are typically followed by suggestions on how to create just the right copy for your site that helps your audience through the sales funnel.

Now that we’ve talked about the types of website audits, let’s talk about how they can help you!

How Website Audit Companies Help

Website audits are important for you and your webmasters to see the possible flaws in their work. It’s vital to choose an objective commentator like an agency instead of an in-house team member.

This is because we often tend to see our own products through rose-colored glasses, and it can be hard to find faults in them. This is also because due to lack of experience, we don’t quite know what we need to look for.

You need the eye of a professional or a group of professionals to analyze your website from all possible angles to optimize it to its fullest potential. A website audit also helps you compare your site to your competitors, seeing what they may be doing right and what you may be doing wrong.

A website audit agency after auditing your website can let you know about the following risks that pose a threat to your website.

Why You Need a Website Audit

• Your website isn’t SEO optimized
• It is running slow
• It crashed or has broken links
• Has security threats
• May be penalized by a search engine

Final Takeaway

Your website is always a work in progress. Therefore, it needs to be treated like one. It’s an excellent idea to go back in for routine checkups every now and then. And this is best handled by professionals.

Your website ranking, performance, and functioning are instrumental in maintaining a favorable online presence for your brand. Have your website audited every few months to stay up to date and on top of things.

Many websites and blogs can benefit from the use of newsletter subscription plugins because creating and sending out emails manually can be time ineffective. However, if you use one of the plugins mentioned in the article, you will definitely be happy with the outcome. New technologies are developed daily to make your Internet presence more comfortable. These plugins offer different functions, so you should be selective in terms of what your website really needs.

What Is a Newsletter?

A newsletter is a publication which is used to inform subscribers and customers about the company’s developments. Newsletters’ goal is to convert subscribers into potential customers by letting them know about the company’s news and discounts. Newsletters positively affect your brand awareness levels and are used in every advertising and marketing campaign.

Newsletters are a powerful marketing tool. Many different promotional tools appear and go in oblivion, but newsletters stay at the top. Their main advantage is the opportunity to target a particular group of customers or visitors that increases the chances of converting them into buyers. Thus, even though new marketing tricks proved to be more effective, newsletters stay as an old-fashioned but reliable way to target your audience.

WordPress Newsletter Subscription Plugin Variety

A variety of WordPress subscription plugins will definitely impress you. However, not each of them will fit your theme or function the way you expect. Our WordPress experts have compiled a list of 10 newsletter subscription plugins that are widely recognized as the best among the existing options:

MailChimp

MailChimp is one of the most popular free newsletter plugins that can boast with over 100,000 active installations. Apart from creative newsletter ideas, it also offers a subscription function. However, it comes with a $10 monthly payment. This plugin gained its recognition for seamless integration with other popular services.

MailPoet Newsletter

MailPoet plugin allows to send out an unlimited number of emails to over 2000 subscribers. It may feet small businesses if used for free and big businesses if used with a $15 subscription. MailPoet allows configuring your newsletters designs and send out regimes to make sure they fit your business goals.

Newsletter

Newsletter plugin has a mission of making your life simpler. It serves to send out your emails without your direct participation. You can automate every action you want to be taken with regards to newsletters and be sure it will be conducted on time. This WordPress newsletter subscription plugin is a perfect solution for your email marketing efforts.

Tibulant WordPress Newsletter Plugin

Tibulant WordPress Newsletter Plugin serves to collect visitors’ emails and fulfills all newsletter related needs of business. You can configure it to serve the way that fits your goals best. Apart from collecting information about your visitors, it also provides the best customer experience to them during the subscription process. This piece of software allows you to create and design newsletters WordPress will accept as well as stay on track with your results.

OptinMonster

The motto of this plugin is to convert your visitors into subscribers. This plugin is one of the most popular plugins for WordPress. It became even more recognized when it issued a new version with updated functions. Nowadays, OptinMonster can group and recognize subscribers according to different criteria. However, this software requires regular payment that is $9 per month.

Bloom

Bloom is the OpinMonster’s number one competitor which regularly takes over the first prize in terms of popularity and convenience. This newsletter plugin provides you with over 100 beautiful newsletter design templates. All you need to do is simply insert your text and click a send out button. There are hundreds of other useful functions available to Bloom users once they opt for $89/year subscription.

Sumo List Builder

Sumo List Builder is designed to maximize your customer conversion rates. It collects information about your one-time visitors and offers creative newsletter design to attract and turn them into subscribers. It is created using the most advanced technologies, so its simplicity and functionality will definitely make you satisfied.

Email Subscribers & Newsletters

This plugin is designed to meet all your newsletter subscription and email marketing needs at once. It automatically enables welcome emails to every new subscriber. It also needs very little of your time to create and schedule emails. In addition, this plugin easily integrates with other related plugins that makes it very easy to use.

WP Subscriber Pro

This plugin can please both you and your client with the simplicity of the interface. It is very convenient for both sides to use it for subscription and send out. Apart from sending letters, it can also help you in creating them by providing lots of interesting newsletter design ideas. It can be easily integrated with other plugins to meet all your business goals.

SendinBlue

SendinBlue is famous for its excellent service and reputation in email marketing. It makes it easier to connect with your subscribers and helps in growing your target audience. SendinBlue has no limits and can send your emails to thousands of customers. The plugin is free, but if you want to get some advanced features, you should subscribe for $25 a month.

Final Words

WordPress serves not only to help you create and power your website or blog but also to make sure you get the most of it. It allows adding plugins that would make your work with the system easier. In return, it becomes even more popular among its users. Newsletter subscription plugins are only a small group among a vast pool of other plugin solutions. They help you manage your email communication with your audience as well as make sure you get detailed statistics and analytics of such communication.

Want to promote your project through email campaign quickly and effectively? Hire our experts to launch an email marketing campaign, promote your brand and generate more sales.

WordPress enables its customers to create websites and blogs that can serve different purposes. Some of the most popular products include business and sturtups, portfolios, forums, resumes, social networks, eCommerce shops, etc. However, given this variety, even active may not know all the opportunities WordPress provides. There are some tutorials intended to demonstrate users what WordPress can offer and how all these tools and plugins can be implemented to make a website or blog even better.

In this article, our WordPress experts will answer some of the most popular questions asked in relation to WordPress child theme. Search engine request “wordpress how to create a child theme” is definitely beating all records. Obviously, the opportunity to customize the mirror reflection of the parent theme without making any changes in the original version is a useful technique and a new level in website creation.

What Is WordPress Child Theme?

The questions “What is WordPress child theme?” and “How I can create and use a child theme in WordPress?” are very popular on the Internet forums. Obviously, the child theme offered by WordPress has nothing to do with the customer’s age. It serves as a powerful tool for customization since the changes in the mirror reflection of the original WordPress website are not affecting the parent theme at all. In other words, you can make as many changes as you need to target your website to a particular group of customers without actually modifying the parent website. At the same time, the changes you make in the parent theme are immediately reflected in the child theme. Thus, you can actually update the parent website, but the changes will migrate to all themes created with the use of child theme plugin.

The scope of use of WordPress child theme is wide. This is the safest and the fastest way to update all related websites. Also, if a website created through a child theme plugin stops functioning as you expect or experiences an issue, it can be quickly deactivated without any loss to the parent theme.

A child theme is created in the way that it is actually overlaying the parent theme. A visitor who loads your website sees a child theme that inherits information from the parent theme. However, you can change certain parameters to modify the design and layout as well as add new scripts even if they were not present in the parent theme.

The parent theme becomes a backup theme that includes all key elements. If the upgraded and modified child theme stops working, you can always get back to the parent theme without losing information. At the same time, all changes you make with the parent theme are immediately reflected in the child theme.

How to Create Child Theme for WordPress?

To create a WordPress child theme, you need to follow a simple procedure. First of all, you need to make sure that you have access to the WordPress admin area. Having access to file manager or FTP, which is recommended, will make your path easier.

Creating a child theme is actually much simpler than the work you have performed while creating the parent theme. To begin with, you need to create a directory for the child theme in the existing themes directory. You should name it in the way that will make it easier to distinguish the parent theme from the newly created one. You can use FTP client or File Manager to create a new directory.

The above mentioned it a manual way of creating a child theme in WordPress. You can also use a WordPress child theme plugin to make your task even simpler. In this case, you do not need to manipulate with File Manager or FTP client. All you need to do is to choose one of several plugins offered to you and install it on your site. As an administrator of the website, you should not be having problems with this step. Once it is installed, you can use it to create a new child theme in a few clicks.

After you follow the required actions, you can navigate to Appearance – Themes, choose the newly created theme and activate it. You can edit, re-design and modify what you see and read without making any changes to your original website. This customization should serve a particular purpose. For example, if your parent theme includes merely basic design and text, it is a good idea to add images, colors and other effects to your child theme to attract visitors. You can add and remove features, change text, edit fonts and layouts the way you find appropriate. At the same time, you can always roll back to the original parent theme.

Final Words

A child theme in WordPress is a great tool that serves to protect the job you did when you created the parent theme. That website is original, and it serves as a default. You can always roll back to it since a child theme does not make any changes in its codes, content and directories. At the same time, a child theme allows you to experiment with the design, add-ins and other features that serve to customize your website and make it more user-friendly.

If you need help with creating Child Theme or WordPress development and setup, choose what you need from our web development and SEO  services and contact us to  implement all your ideas!

Want to create a business directory on WordPress? And do not know which WordPress plugin directory is better?

Choosing the right plugin will not be easy, especially for beginners, when there are several options for plugins, both free and paid. In this article, our WordPress experts have selected the best directory plugins to help you save time and money.

Internet directories allow you to browse the catalogue of links, which is divided into various subsections, categories and areas. A great example of an online directory is your phone book.

Best plugins for business directory

WordPress provides several related plugins and themes that will allow you to create an online catalogue. However, in this article we will show you a method with a plugin, so you can use it on any WordPress site. This article will be useful for both beginners and experienced developers who works on WordPress plugin development.

Business Directory Plugin

This is a free plugin for creating a business directory in WordPress. While the basic functionality is available for free, there are other features that require the purchase of paid add-ons.

With over 20,000 active installations, the plugin offers a complete set of functions for launching a web directory for WordPress in several languages. You can even make money by adding sites to the directory, or by creating a directory of companies, making it paid. You can also sort the entries by categories and tags, create additional entries, customize the input-form, etc.

The plugin works with any WordPress theme and compatible with WordPress search engine optimization plugins. The catalogue layout is fully responsive and it doesn’t affect WordPress performance optimization.

Connections Business Directory

Connections Business Directory is a powerful directory plugin that is used by most of WordPress SEO experts. Basic functionality is available for free. If necessary, you can purchase paid add-ons available on the plugin’s official website.

Using it is very easy to create a WordPress catalogue site. It comes with a wide range of custom fields that can be used to create almost any kind of online catalogue. The plugin also has privacy settings, where administrators or users themselves can set the privacy level of some user fields, such as phone numbers and IMS.

Displaying a directory is very easy and it won’t affect the WordPress site optimization too much. You just need to add a shortcode to the desired page. There are also many short-code options that you can use to customize the look of the directory. The plugin also supports templates, so for your posts, you can choose a layout from ready-made catalogue templates for WordPress.

GeoDirectory

As its name suggests, GeoDirectory allows you to create geo-directories (directories with a location), such as a directory of organizations with a map. The basic functions of the plugin are available for free, but for 100% use, you need to acquire additional functionality.

GeoDirectory comes with a powerful feature set for creating a geo-catalogue. It has an easy-to-use interface where you can easily add entries and mark them on a map, and users can search for places, businesses, districts, etc. on the map. Also, the plugin is perfectly compatible with most of eCommerce WordPress themes.

Simple Directory

Simple Directory is another free WordPress directory creation plugin. With it, you can easily create a business or personal catalogue. The plugin has 2 templates for the announcement and the page of the archive of announcements. This makes the plugin very easy to configure if you know how to work with WordPress theme templates.

For best performance, Simple Directory requires the installation of the Piklist plugin and recommends the Categories Images plugin. There is also an extended version of the plugin which has some additional and advanced features.

Directories Pro

Directories Pro is a WordPress plugin that allows you to create any type of directory, such as a local community-based business directory, such as Yelp.com, Google+ or Yahoo! Local, the user directory, the online classified directory, the property directory, etc. This is the most versatile and versatile directory creation plugin you can find for WordPress.

Directory Pro is a WordPress plugin for creating directories of any type and complexity.

Plugin Features:

• Payment gateway;
• Paypal, Stripe, Woocommerce Payment;
• Mailchimp for storing email;
• WPML support;
• 13 language files;
• Integration with WPBakery Page Designer.

What do you think of our list? Do you use any of these plugins? Perhaps you have your own preferences? Leave your answers in the comments, it will be very useful to us!

If you need help with WordPress performance optimization, contact our WordPress development company and we will implement all your ideas!

WordPress CAPTCHA is a special test to remotely distinguish a person from a machine, program, or script created for the passage of registration forms, commenting, etc. In other words, the lowest level of person verification on the site that can be a part of the WordPress development services.

Types of captcha for WordPress sites

Rebus

The most difficult, rarely seen type is captcha. Everyone knows about Google services. In the picture, a captcha will offer you to choose three pictures with a typewriter or fruit.

Alpha

The alphabetic or alphanumeric captcha will force you to repeat a set of numbers and/or letters in the captcha window. Numbers may be distorted.

Maths

Here, the user will be asked to solve a mathematical example, often simple. To complicate matters, the numbers can be Roman or written in words (one plus three).

Where do you need to install captcha?

This plugin might come in handy as well as WordPress SEO optimization or WordPress theme installation service. For global protection, which can be called paranoid, Captcha is needed in all forms of site interaction with the user. Namely:

• During registration;
• In the forms of comments;
• In authorization forms;
• In the form of subscription third-party plug-ins;
• In feedback;
• In the form of a password and username reminder;
• Custom form.

WordPress System Captcha

CMS WordPress does not have an internal Captcha tool. All forms of user interaction are open to machine registration.

Note: Do not confuse machine registration with site hacking attempts. These are different actions, although often related to each other.

As a rule, massive, machine registration of a pseudo-user is a prelude to hacking, aimed at finding security vulnerabilities.

Captcha WordPress Plugins

Again, the WordPress system does not have the Captcha tool, so the desire to protect against machine registration of captcha needs to be completed by installing a profile plugin.

It is worth noting. You can protect yourself from machine registration without WordPress Captcha plugins by installing more serious security plugins that cut off suspicious users. The most famous Akismet plugin, recommended by WordPress.org. All the plugins of this review are constantly updated, which indicates the possibility of continued use by WordPress experts.

Google Captcha (reCAPTCHA)

As you can tell from the name, Google Captcha uses the all-new Google reCAPTCHA technology to protect your site from spam and unwanted users. To use this plugin, you first need to register your website with Google and get the Site Key and Secret key. This free plugin protects all the default forms like the registration form, comments form, login form, etc.

Moreover, the plugin also has a pro version that includes the following features:

• Select Google Captcha (reCAPTCHA) language manually;
• Change size: normal or compact (for version 2);
• Configure all subsites on the network;
• Get answers to your support questions within one business day;
• Compatible with WooCommerce, BuddyPress, Divi, and others.

Captcha Plus

Captcha Plus, developed by BestWebSoft WordPress plugin creator, is one of the best security plugins that help you save your site from possible attacks. This plugin can be used for login, registration, password recovery, comments forms, etc.

Captcha plus is a simple, easy to use a plugin that lets you add a captcha to various pages, Choose your captcha types, Hide Captcha for Registered users in the comments form, Whitelisted IP addresses, Set captcha submission time limit, Add custom code via the plugin settings page, etc. This captcha for Contact Form 7 is an ideal match.

HumanCaptcha

HumanCaptcha uses a rather unusual approach to differentiate humans from bots. Unlike other plugins which use images or math problems, the plugin asks questions that require human logic to answer. If the answer is correct, they pass the Captcha test. The plugin comes with a few predefined questions for a quick start. But if you want to, you can add your own questions and answers.

Every day, a huge number of new sites are created, and each resource needs reliable protection. In this article, we looked at the tools for the top-priority protection of your Internet resource, and we hope that one of them will help you solve problems with potential attacks and unwanted messages.

Hire a developer to install Captcha on your WordPress site

If you still face any issue with WordPress plugin installation, you can always hire a developer from our professional team, who will be happy to help!

WordPress customization needs plugins which may be not compatible

We all love WordPress, but sometimes it just drives you crazy. Regardless of whether it’s a terrifying white screen of death, a PHP error not known, caused by a problem with the server or a plugin that causes the site to crash, it is never fun.

But whenever WordPress customization decides to let you down, you don’t have to worry, because from this post you will find out that there is a solution for any problem and become real WordPress experts. So do not rush to hire a developer!

1. Use WordPress plugin conflict detector

There are tens of thousands of plugins to implement any functionality on the site. However, there is no guarantee that a WooCommerce setup plugin created by one developer will not conflict with WordPress SEO optimization plugin on your site.

Causes of errors on the site:

• Conflict between two plugins.
• Conflict between your theme and a new or updated plugin.
• The conflict between the plugin and the current version of WordPress your site.

What are the symptoms:

• Either your site starts working once, and the plugin refuses at all.
• Or, after the next update or installation of the plug-in, a white screen of death appears.

2. How to eliminate the conflict of plugins WordPress?

Each plugin from the official WordPress.org site and other directories has a detailed description:

• specifications
• date of creation and update
• customer reviews
• forum
• rating

This information is especially useful for users who do not know how to work with the code, but want to find out if there are any potential problems that you need to know about. Do not forget to check this data when you do WordPress theme installation service or plugin.

3. What to do if the plugin stops working, an error message appears on the site or you see a white screen of death?

Option number 1: The site is working, the plugin does not work.

If one of the plugins does not work correctly or does not work at all, but you still have access to the site, check the availability of the update plug-in. Perhaps an error in CSS or JavaScript.

Update the plugin and check the site. If the problem is solved, the plug-in developer knew about the conflict and corrected it.

Option number 2: After the installed or updated plug-in site works with errors.

Just turn off the suspicious plugin and return to your site. Everything is good? If yes, then you can inform the plugin developer so that he can correct the error and look for another plugin.

Option number 3: After the automatic update of the plug-in site does not work.

If the plugin or theme does not work correctly or an error message is displayed on the screen. Good news! You have access to the admin panel.

Now you need to check the following:

• Check your latest backup. If this happened before the update was made, restore it. Then go to test each plugin, one by one.
• If you do not have a saved backup, go to WordPress and deactivate all the plugins.
• Check out the site. If earned correctly – the problem is in the plugin.
• Switch the current theme to the default WordPress theme. (But be prepared for the fact that all the settings might disappear.)
• Updating a topic can sometimes be the cause of errors. For example, if the developer added a new feature that is already bolted to the site using another plugin.
• Look at the site again. If everything works, it remains to check each of the plugins one by one.
• Start by restoring your main plugin, for example, if you have an online store or you provide paid access to content (subscriptions).
• Then add plugins one at a time and check the site for errors. Be sure to deactivate the one you just checked before activating the next one.
• Once you find a plugin conflict, deactivate it and report it to the developer in the official WordPress directory or write to tech support for a premium plugin.
• You can use the previous version of the plugin (which did not cause errors), but I do not recommend it. Sooner or later you will still encounter an error, and the site, in principle. Should work on the latest version of the theme and plugin.

4. If you see the white screen of death

A runaway screen of death is a scary prospect for every WordPress user. However, if the reason is in the latest update, then everything is solved quickly.

1. If you see a white screen, you will not be able to access WordPress and manage plugins. In this case, go to the control panel and use SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol) to access the files on your site. You can use FileZilla.
2. Deactivate all plugins. You can do this by renaming the “Plugins” folder. If you just want to delete all the files (the plugins are deactivated by the machine), first save them in a different place. Now you can reload the saved plugins into the same folder – they are not activated, but simply return to your server.
3. Now you need to go to the admin panel and check all the plugins one by one. (see steps above).
4. If you still see a white screen, the reason is in the subject of the site.
5. To disable the theme, do the same thing as with the plugins: change the name of the “Theme” folder or delete and reload the theme file into the folder. Then go back to the admin area and switch the topic.

5. How to avoid conflict of WordPress plugins in the future?

Here are some tips:

• No need to install everything. The fewer plug-ins you use, the less chance of an error.
• Always look for information about the plugin: technical data and reviews, as well as read the forum with the tickets.
• Do not forget to update the plugin.
• Update plugins one by one to notice a possible error in time.
• If you have an automatic update connected, make sure that you back up first and use the secure update technology.
• If the plug-in tech support does not work, and the last update was six months ago, find a new plug-in.
• Make a backup copy of the site. Regularly!
• Use the hosting emulator for a copy of the site. There you can test a new theme or plugin before installing it on the main site.
• Start learning HTML, PHP and JavaScript. You can always add the desired functionality without installing plug-ins, just using the code.

I hope the article was useful to you. Now you know all the details about the conflict of plugins WordPress. Though, if you are still facing the issue with plugins, you can always order our WordPress development service and we will be glad to help!