The post How to Connect Salesforce to Your WordPress Forms first appeared on IsItWP - Free WordPress Theme Detector.
]]>SalesForce is a powerful CRM that can help build and maintain customer relations. It does this by automating sales & marketing and improving customer care through its cloud-based applications.
As a result, integrating Salesforce with your WordPress forms automates lead capture and syncs data in real time. This can streamline your marketing and sales processes, allowing you to scale.
In this article, we will look at the best way to connect Salesforce to WordPress forms. We will walk you through the process step-by-step and show you the simplest way to do this WordPress Salesforce integration.
Salesforce is a leading customer relationship management (CRM) tool on the market. It manages your company’s relationships and interactions with leads.
It can store and organize user information, allowing you to streamline customer communication and provide personalized support. This will help you better understand your users.
By doing so, Salesforce can also help you retain more customers, reducing your acquisition costs.
Here are other reasons to integrate Salesforce with WordPress.
As you can see, Salesforce WordPress integration is great at streamlining customer management. But, at the same time, the connection between Salesforce and WordPress forms takes it a step further, offering additional advantages such as:
Now that you understand the advantages of connecting Salesforce to WordPress and the merits of integrating WordPress forms into Salesforce, let us show you how to do it.
Even though connecting WordPress forms and Salesforce has many advanced features and advantages, it is easy to integrate the two. But, it is also important to add that the simplicity of the process depends on the tools you select.
For example, some people may choose to connect WordPress and Salesforce with Zapier, but this can be confusing for beginners.
That is why we use WPForms for our WordPress Salesforce form integration!
WPForms is the best WordPress custom form builder plugin. It comes with over +1500 form templates that you can further customize with a drag and drop builder. You can create anything from Contact Us forms to survey forms, newsletter forms, and registration forms without coding experience.
Plus, forms built by WPForms are super easy to add to your WordPress site, making this plugin great for beginners and small businesses.
But most importantly, it is super easy to connect Salesforce to WPForms in WordPress.
With that said, let us see how to connect Salesforce to WordPress forms using WPForms.
The first thing you need to do is install the WPForms plugin on your WordPress dashboard. WPForms offers several plans, each with different features and addons.
So, to allow for the Salesforce WPForms integration, select the Elite Plan.
The Elite Plan is great because , other than allowing you to connect WordPress forms to Salesforce, it also allows you to use WPForms on unlimited websites and gives you access to all addons and features.
For more details on this package and others, check out the feature breakdown for each plan on the WPForms Pricing page.
Once you purchase the Elite plan, log in to your WPForms dashboard and navigate to Downloads.
Here, download the plugin’s ZIP file to your PC. Then, still, on this page, copy the License Key so that you can use it to activate the Elite plan in WordPress.
Next, go to your WordPress dashboard and proceed to Plugins » Add New Plugin.
On the next page, select “Upload Plugin,” which will open the plugin upload area. Here, drag and drop the ZIP file you copied earlier and hit “Install.”
Once WPForms Elite installs, select “Activate.” This will result in a new menu option appearing in your WordPress dashboard called “WPForms.
Remember, this is the same process you will use to install any plugin. So, if you have any problems, check out this article on how to install WordPress plugins here.
Now, still, in your WordPress dashboard, go to WPForms » Settings to configure and set up this WordPress Salesforce forms plugin.
Next, find the License Key text bar in the General tab and paste the code you copied earlier from your WPForms dashboard.
Finally, hit “Verify.”
And just like that, you have fully installed and activated WPForms.
But, to connect your custom forms to Salesforce, you need to install the WPForms addon Salesforce.
To do this, go to WPForms » Addons in your WordPress dashboard.
Then, on the addons page, use the search bar to find the “Salesforce” addon or scroll through the tools until you locate it.
Once you find it, hit Install Addon. Then, use the toggle button to activate the addon.
WPForms uses addons instead of adding all its features in its base WordPress plugin. This ensures you only install what you need, keeping both the plugin and site lightweight and ensuring the best website performance.
With that, the WPForms plugin and its SalesForce addon are ready to be used.
Next, we will now connect Salesforce to WPForms.
To do this, head to WPForms » Settings in your WordPress dashboard and go to the “Integrations” tab.
Here, you will find a list of different integrations you can make with WPForms, such as Salesforce, Constant Contact, ActiveCampaign, Authorize.Net, AWeber, Brevo, and more.
Next, hit Salesforce on this page to open and select the “Add New Account” button.
After this, text boxes for the Consumer Key and Consumer Secret should appear. Below this, you will also find the Callback URL. Copy this URL as you will use it in the next step to connect WPForms to Salesforce.
We recommend you open Salesforce in another tab so that both pages are open at the same time.
First, you will need to make sure your SalesForce plan allows you to create form connections using API access.
Since this CRM offers many packages, below are the Salesforce plans that give you access to API form integration.
The easiest way to determine your Salesforce edition (plan) is to log into your account and look at the browser tab for more information while in Lightning Experience mode. This should show you what edition you use without taking extra steps.
If you do not see this information in the browser tab, select your profile icon and Switch to Salesforce Classic.
Then, at the top of the next page, select “Setup.”
Follow this by going to the Administer menu on the left of the next screen. In the Administer dropdown options, find “Company Profile” and select the small arrow next to it.
This will open a dropdown list with additional options. Here, select Company Information, so that Salesforce can display all your organization’s details.
Next, look for “Organization Edition” so that you can view what Salesforce plan you are currently using.
Now that you’re using an edition with API access, it’s time to move forward and begin the integration.
For this step, you need to set up a Salesforce app so that WPForms can connect to your site.
So, go to your Salesforce account and ensure you’re on Salesforce Classic mode using the process demonstrated in step 2.
Then, select “Setup” in the Navigation menu after this.
Next, scroll down the left-side menu of the Setup page and locate the menu option “Build.” Once you are in this section, go to Create » Apps.
After this, scroll down the new screen to the “Connected Apps” section and hit “New.”
You’ll be redirected to a new screen where you have to fill out information about your new app.
First, fill out the mandatory fields highlighted with a red stripe. For starters, where it says “Connected App Name,” choose an easy-to-remember name.
After this, the “API Name” will automatically be generated from the app name you create.
Make sure you don’t edit the API Name further after this, just leave it as it is. Then, in the “Contact Email” field, type in your email.
Remember, you do not need to enter the logo image, icon, info URL, or description when you are simply connecting a new app. You only need to fill out this information if you publish an app.
When this is complete, move to the next section on this page, and check the box “Enable OAuth Settings” to open the OAuth settings, which you can then customize.
Next, paste the CallBack URL you copied from your WPForms settings in your WordPress dashboard.
Then, scroll down to “Selected OAuth Scopes,” where you will select the permissions to give to your app.
You will add 2 permissions from the Available OAuth Scopes list on the left of your screen.
To move them, Hold down the CTRL key (in Windows) or the Control key (in MacBook), then left-click your mouse to select and highlight the permissions.
While they are highlighted, hit the Add button. These commands should automatically move to the “Selected OAuth Scopes” list on the right.
Finally, hit Save at the bottom.
Then, Salesforce will ask you to wait 10 minutes for the changes to take effect. Once you wait for the time period to elapse, hit Continue, and you will be redirected to your “API information” page.
But for added security, Salesforce will first log you out and send you a confirmation email before you can access the “API information” page. So, copy the code from the email confirmation and paste it on the confirmation page, then hit “Verify.”
Then, on the app management page, scroll to the API (Enable OAuth Settings) and select the “Manage Cunsumer Details” button.
You will be redirected to the “Consumer Details” page where you can access the Consumer Key and Consumer Secret.
Next, copy these codes and paste them on the WPForms Integration page under Salesforce which you left open in another tab earlier.
Finally, select “Connect to SalesForce.”
Then, you will be asked to log in to Salesforce by inputting your username and password.
On the next popup, give WPForms permission to access the identity of URL Service, Manage User Data via APIs, and perform requests at any time.
Once this is complete, you will be redirected back to your WordPress WPForms Integration page. Here, a message will display letting you know you have successfully integrated Salesforce with WPForms.
With WPForms, you can create and connect any type of form you want to Salesforce. This ensures you do not bloat your site with many form plugins since WPForms can do it all.
To add to this, you can also create them with different form objectives, including:
For this example, we’ll create a lead magnet from our contact form.
But first, you will need to create a contact form by going to WPForms » Add New, and you will be redirected to the Template page.
Here, search for the contact form template or scroll through the page until you locate it. But you can also use the category filters on the left of this page to make it easy to find the form template you want.
These categories include Business Operations, Calculator, Education, Entertainment and more.
If you don’t see a template you want to use, you can also decide to start building your custom contact form from the blank canvas.
But, for this example, we will use the “Simple Contact Form.” All you have to do is hover over the template, and then select “Use Template.”
If you aren’t familiar with creating custom contact forms, check out this post on creating forms in WordPress for an in-depth step-by-step tutorial.
Now, once you decide on the template, you will be redirected to the WPForms drag and drop form builder. Its form builder page has well-arranged fields on the left, which you can move to the preview window on the right.
The WPForms form builder is so reliable because you can drag and drop the fields anywhere you want on the preview window. To add to that, they will appear exactly where you placed them on the live form.
Just a quick tip: it is important to add all the relevant fields to your contact form. But at the same time, make sure it is not long, as this often leads to form abandonment.
But the good news is that WPForms has some amazing tools to help reduce form abandonment.
For example, you can add a Rich Text field, which allows your users to add links, images, and styling when filling out the form. This can help keep your users engaged, improving the chances that they will complete the form. At the same time, it can help provide better form data, helping you understand your users better.
You can also use Smart Conditional Logic with WPForms.
This feature changes how the form behaves based on the user’s response. In other words, the user will see a different field based on the input they provide.
As a result, you can keep the user more engaged and get better feedback. This also reduces the chances of the user dropping off somewhere while completing the form.
That’s it! You can now create a custom contact form with both Rich Text and Conditional Logic.
Once you are satisfied with the form you have created, select Marketing from the far left menu on your form-building page. You will find this menu option below Fields and Settings.
Here, you will see a long list of apps and tools you can integrate with WPForms.
So from the options provided, select Salesforce » Add New Connection.
Then, in the popup that appears next, give your connection a nickname that’s easy to remember later.
Follow this by selecting your Salesforce Account and Salesforce Object from the dropdown menus.
This will lead to new dropdown options based on the Salesforce Objective you have selected.
It’s important to remember that the “Custom Field Name” is the name of the field in your Salesforce account. On the other hand, the “Form Field Value” is the name of the field in the form in WPForms.
With that in mind, you need to select the correct “Form Field Value” to ensure data is sent from your WordPress form to Salesforce lands in the proper categories.
To add to that, you can also add new Salesforce fields to the form by using the Plus(+) or remove fields using the Minus(-) icons.
Hit Save once you have connected the relevant fields between Salesforce and WPForms.
Now for the most exciting part: publishing the integration onto your WordPress website.
Though it sounds complicated, WPForms ensures it takes just minutes.
To make it more convenient, WPForms allows you to publish your form in 3 simple ways so you can select one that is most convenient for you.
For the first form publishing method, you only need to select “Embed” at the top of the form builder page.
A popup window will appear next, asking if you want to add the form to an existing page or create a new one.
For this first demonstration, select Create New Page.
After this, type in a name for your page and hit the Let’s Go button. Doing so means WPForms has created a WordPress webpage embedded with your form.
This form page will have all the fields exactly where you placed them using the drag and drop builder.
Now, all that’s left to do is hit Publish.
Now, let’s see how to add a form to an existing page.
This method is great for eCommerce stores that already have pages created. It will ensure that your pages are not duplicated, which can affect your SEO.
So first, on the form building page, select “Embed,” as you did before. Then, hit Select an Existing Page from the popup window that will appear next.
Then, from the dropdown menu, choose the page you want to add to the contact form and hit Let’s Go.
This will redirect you to the block editor of the page you select.
First, find the “WPForms block,” by searching for it on the bar provided. Then, drag and drop it in the area on the page where you want the form to appear.
Next, on the WPForms block, select the dropdown menu to see a list of all the forms you have built with this plugin. Then, select the form you want, and it should automatically appear.
But, WPForms also allows you to add a form through shortcode.
This method is great if you want to add multiple forms to the same page or to a widget or footer of the page.
To get started, go to WPForms » All Forms in your WordPress dashboard. Here, you will find a list of all the forms you have built with WPForms.
Next, locate the form you want to add to a page and copy its shortcode.
After this, go to Pages » All Pages to open all your existing pages. Then, locate the page you want to add the form to and Hit “Edit.” This will open the page’s block editor so that you can add your form.
On the page’s block editor, first, use the search bar to locate the shortcode block. Next, drag and drop the shortcode block to the location of the page you want your form.
After this past the form’s shortcode you copied earlier to the shortcode block and select ‘Update.”
After hitting Update, go to the live page, and you should see your form as you designed it using WPForms.
Congratulations! You can now connect Salesforce to your WordPress forms.
We hope you found this step-by-step tutorial helpful and easy to follow. If you have any more questions, check out the FAQs below.
Is Salesforce free?
No, Salesforce is not free, but it does offer a 30-day free trial you can use to test out the CRM. The best part about this is that it does not require you to enter your credit card or payment details. You just need to create an account, and you are free to use all the features of Salesforce according to the plan you selected.
Is WPForms free?
Yes, WPForms offers a forever free version of the plugin. WPForms Lite is great at creating and publishing basic forms. But if you want to integrate WPForms with Salesforce, you must select the Elite plan.
Can I use my WordPress forms for marketing?
Absolutely! Even though WPForms is the best form builder, you can integrate it with Bravo, Constant Contact, Salesforce, Uncanny Automator, and so much more. These connections can help you collect and nurture leads organically, which can help your email marketing efforts.
Can I create conditional logic forms in Salesforce?
Indeed, you can create forms with conditional logic using Salesforce’s Visual Workflow or Process Builder. These tools allow you to set up criteria-based actions, triggering specific actions based on specified conditions. But, this process can be a little confusing for a beginner. The best way to create custom forms with conditional logic is by using WPForms because all you will need to do is use checkboxes and dropdown menus.
Is there a Constant Contact Salesforce integration?
Yes, Constant Contact can integrate with Salesforce. This allows you to auto-sync contacts and leads from Salesforce to Constant Contact. You can connect your Salesforce account by going to Tools > Apps & Integrations in your Constant Contact account. Then, find Salesforce from the list of apps and connect it. Once set up, you can utilize targeted messaging, create customized contact segments, and send automated communications like welcome emails and thank you series.
If you enjoyed this post, check out our article on the best WordPress CRM plugins for small businesses. It will help you decide on customer relationship management software that is perfect for your business and its needs.
To add to that, here are other articles you may be interested in reading.
The first article lists the best form builders with conditional logic. The next post teaches you how to reduce form abandonment and boost conversion rates. While the last link walks you through how to save form data in a WordPress database
The post How to Connect Salesforce to Your WordPress Forms first appeared on IsItWP - Free WordPress Theme Detector.
]]>The post 12 Best WordPress Backup Plugins Compared (2024) first appeared on IsItWP - Free WordPress Theme Detector.
]]>Backups act like a safety net for your website. Whenever your website crashes for any reason, you can quickly restore your site. But you need to make sure your backup has the latest changes or you could lose important data. A good backup plugin will make sure your backup copy is as recent as it can be.
Below, we’ve selected the best WordPress backup plugins in the market. We’ll also help you choose the right one for your website.
Many people tend to take backups with their hosting provider. You can do that especially if it’s a part of your web hosting package or is included for free. But it’s always better to have an independent backup.
In the event that there’s a problem with your hosting server or you’re unable to access your wp-admin panel, you’ll want your own backup to restore or migrate your site.
This is why you should always use a backup plugin. There are plenty of backup plugins available for WordPress but it’s easy to spot the great ones if you know what to look for.
A good backup plugin not only makes it easy to backup your site but also makes it easy to restore it when the time comes.
Aside from that, here’s what we recommend in a good backup plugin:
Keeping these factors in mind, it’s time to take a look at the best WordPress backup plugins on the market.
Below are the best backup plugins that are reliable and feature-rich to give you peace of mind knowing that your live site is always safe.
Duplicator is hands down the best backup plugin for WordPress. It’s user-friendly and affordable. It makes it easy to back up all your WordPress files in zip format, so you can download them offline and store them locally. The plugin also supports cloud storage to Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, Amazon S3, and more.
Duplicator allows you to schedule backups, send them to cloud storage, and send yourself email notifications. This makes it great for both beginners and advanced WordPress users.
It’s also one of the best plugins to migrate across the same or different servers. Once you create a Duplicator package, you can use it to overwrite an old site with just 1 click. Your new pages will be published on your new domain and ready to browse in an instant!
One of the unique advantages of using Duplicator is its ability to clone your pre-configured sites.
Rather than manually configuring your favorite themes or plugins, Duplicator allows you to configure a single site and bundle it up. This way, you can migrate your pre-configured WordPress sites to different locations and carry out one-click restoration, eliminating the need for reworking. As a result, Duplicator is the best WordPress multisite backup plugin.
The plugin is one of the most popular backup solutions with 1+ million active installs.
Key features
Cost: You can get a free version in the WordPress.org repository. Duplicator Pro starts at $49.50 per year for the basic plan.
Get started with Duplicator today.
UpdraftPlus is another good WordPress backup plugin on the market because of its ease of use. It’s been rated the most popular backup solution for WordPress and is trusted by over 3 million WordPress sites.
Even with the free version of the plugin, you can easily set up manual or scheduled backups of your website – files, database, plugins, and themes included. This is a great option for beginners, but as your website grows, you’ll want to enhance the core functionalities with their premium version.
With Updraft Plus Premium, you’ll get incremental backups that are stored in multiple offsite backup locations. It will even automatically back up your website before you run any updates.
When you need to restore your site, you can do it with minimal technical knowledge.
Best of all, it supports multiple cloud storage options including Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Microsoft Azure, Rackspace Cloud, Dropbox, and Amazon S3. And it lets you encrypt sensitive databases to keep your information safe. You can also choose to password-protect UpdraftPlus so only trusted users can access your backups.
Key features
Cost: The basic version is free. Premium plans start at $70 per year.
Get started with UpdraftPlus today.
Solid Backups, formally Backupbuddy, has been around since early 2010, protecting half a million WordPress websites.
With just a few clicks, this SolidWP product enables you to back up your entire website from your WordPress dashboard. You can schedule automatic backups, send your backup files to a remote secure location, and restore your files quickly.
The ability to repair and optimize your database is one of the unique features Backupbuddy (now Solid Backups) offers. With every plugin purchase, you will get 1 GB of free Stash Live storage (5GB on the Agency plan).
Stash Live continuously backs up your database changes such as new or modified posts, putting your mind at ease. Best of all, Stash Live works perfectly well even if your site is hosted on cheap shared hosting.
Key features
Read more: Solid Backups’ Full Review »
Cost: Starts at $99 per year for a single site license and 1GB of Stash storage space.
Get started with Solid Backups today.
Jetpack Backups by Automattic is an automated backup plugin for WordPress. It automatically saves your site changes in the backup, so when your website crashes, you do a full site restore to the most recent version with one click.
Added to that, Jetpack Backups has a mobile app that lets you restore your website from anywhere at any time.
With this backup tool, your website will be back to normal in just a few minutes. If you don’t like the updates on your site, you can also revert changes to an earlier version.
It even provides an activity log to record the actions taken on your site. This way, you’ll know who’s responsible for breaking it.
Jetpack Backups is one of the best options for WooCommerce sites. It lets you restore your site to any past state while keeping all orders and products up to date.
It’s worth mentioning that in 2016, VaultPress merged with Jetpack. So all VaultPress subscriptions were combined with Jetpack and you can only subscribe directly to Jetpack now.
Key features
Cost: The pricing for backup plans start at $4.77 per month if you bill annually. The complete Jetpack suit costs $47.97 per month (billed annually). Monthly plans come with a 7-day money-back guarantee
Get started with Jetpack Backups today.
WP Time Capsule is a perfect solution for you if you want to back up only your recent files, and not your entire WordPress site. You’ll be able to back up your website to your favorite cloud storage sites like Google Drive, Dropbox, or Amazon S3.
The main benefit of WP Time Capsule is that it consumes considerably fewer server resources since it doesn’t compress and zip your backup files.
To get started with this plugin, you’ll want to register for an account on WP Time Capsule, install the free plugin, and then connect the cloud app with your plugin so that you can send your WordPress backup files to your preferred location. After completing a full backup, you can schedule a time for backing up your recently changed files.
Key features
Cost: You can get started for free for 30 days. Paid plans start at $49 per year. One-time payments are available starting at $149.
Get started with WP Time Capsule today.
BackWPup is an all-in-one backup solution for WordPress offering powerful features.
There’s a lite version that lets you back up your site but with very limited access to its features. The premium version allows you to encrypt and store backups to multiple storage locations like Google Drive and Amazon Glacier.
BackWPup comes with an automatic process for both backup and restore. This makes it a great choice for beginners.
Key features
Cost: The basic version is free. Pro version starts at $69 per year for one WordPress installation and renews at $39 making it quite affordable in the long run.
Get started with BackWPup today.
BlogVault is a reliable backup plugin that’s gaining popularity. It’s a backup Software as a Service (Saas) rather than a WordPress plugin.
What sets this platform apart is once you sign up, you’ll get access to an independent dashboard where you can manage backups for multiple websites. You can view your website’s uptime, schedule backups, and restore your website in 1 click. The step-by-step backup process is really easy to follow, even for beginners.
This means if you lose access to your website and hosting account, you can still restore your website because the platform is separated from both. BlogVault even lets you take an entire site backup on demand and download a zip file that you can use to restore your site at a future date.
Next, BlogVault uses incremental technology to optimize your website’s performance and speed. Plus, it encrypts your backup copies and stores them on safe offsite servers and you can download a copy any time you want.
Added to this, if you want to investigate problems on your site, there’s a changelog where you can quickly identify what went wrong.
Key features
Cost: BlogVault starts at $89 per year.
If you opt for the Plus plan or higher that starts at $149 per year, you’ll also get access to their sister plugin MalCare to scan and protect your site against malware.
Get started with BlogVault today.
Total Upkeep by BoldGrid is a powerful plugin that lets you take automated backups. It comes with tools to restore your site or automatically roll back failed updates.
Once you install the plugin, you can set a date and time and backups will automatically run as scheduled. You can even manually create a backup any time with just the click of a button.
There are plenty of remote storage options that include Amazon S3, Google Drive, FTP/SFTP, and more.
Total Upkeep comes with a toolset to prevent website crashes from happening in the first place. It also monitors your site for errors that could cause a crash and sends you an email so you can take action.
With this plugin, you can set up automated updates where Total Upkeep will take a backup first and then auto-update your website theme and plugins.
Key Features
Cost: Total Upkeep by BoldGrid costs $2.50 per month (billed annually). You can use the license on unlimited websites.
Get started with Total Upkeep today.
BackUpWordPress is an easy-to-use backup plugin because it doesn’t require any setup configurations on your end. Upon activation, it backs up your files directly out of the box.
By default, backup files are stored in /wp-content/backups location of your website, but you can easily change the path if you want to. Since all files, including your non-WordPress files, will be backed up in your WordPress site root folder, it’s strongly recommended to change the path so it’s secure.
The plugin can work on Linux and Windows servers alike. It also enables you to exclude the files you don’t want to back up.
BackUpWordPress now supports the free version with occasional updates. Premium add-ons have been discontinued.
Key features
Cost: Free.
Get started with BackUpWordPress today.
Backup Migration is a free WordPress backup plugin for manual and automated backups. After the installation, you can click on the create backup button to get started with backups.
It also lets you schedule backups on a daily or monthly basis. The Backup Migration plugin has several premium-like configurations to define which files/databases to include in the backup, backup location, name of your backup file, and so on.
Key Features
Cost: The free version is limited to backups of 2GB in size. The premium version, BackupBliss, starts at $29.98. There’s a 14-day money-back guarantee.
Get started with Backup Migration today.
WP Database Backup is a free WordPress plugin, however, it only backs up your database.
It takes less than a minute to configure the plugin. Then you can create and restore backups with just a single click making it really easy to use. The plugin lets you set up automated backups or take manual ones when you need them.
There’s support for plenty of storage locations like Dropbox, email, Google Drive, and Amazon S3. Plus, you’ll get backup reports sent straight to your email.
Key Features
Cost: Free. The pro version WP All Backup ranges between $9 and $159 for 1 year. You can get a lifetime license for $199.
Get started with WP Database Backup today.
WPVivid is a WordPress backup plugin that offers basic features of backup, migration, and staging for free. You can send your backup files to remote storage locations and use the files to migrate your site.
One thing that stands out about WPVivid is that it lets you clean up unused images before you backup your site. This way, your backup files will be smaller and free from clutter. The backup and restore process becomes faster and lighter.
If you run a multisite network, this plugin lets you migrate a child site to a single WordPress install. This is really helpful if you want to remove a site from the network and run it independently.
Key Features
Cost: The basic version is available for free. Paid plans start at $39.2 per year and $79.2 for a lifetime.
Get started with WPVivid today.
And there you have it. That’s our list of the best WordPress backup plugins in the market. All of these plugins help you take automated backups so you’ll always have a secure copy of your website as a safety net.
Before we wrap up, we’ll give you our recommendation on the best backup plugin for any WordPress site.
Without a doubt, Duplicator is the best WordPress backup plugin and THE complete backup solution that comes with all the essential features, right out of the box. Best of all, even the free version offers an abundance of features that take care of your backup needs.
However, if you decide to choose a premium WordPress backup plugin that offers live backup whenever your files get changed, then you can use UpdraftPlus or SolidWP. With SolidWP, it also allows you to scan and repair common issues, which is a huge plus. With its Stash feature, the plugin saves a lot of your server resources as well.
We hope this article helped you find the best WordPress backup plugins for your needs. If you have any more questions, check out our FAQs below.
What is the best free plugin for WordPress backup?
Duplicator is the best free WordPress backup plugin. The free version allows you to backup an entire site and migrate it to another location. If you want to access all of its premium features, you will need to purchase Duplicator Pro.
Does WordPress have a built-in backup?
No, WordPress does not offer an inbuilt backup system. Instead, you will need to install a plugin to help you with this. Some hosting providers also offer backup options. But you will have to request them, and they do not keep your files stored for you for long.
Can I back up WordPress locally?
Yes, You can store your WordPress files locally on your PC by using plugins like Duplicator and Solid Backups. These plugins also allow you to store your files offsite on cloud services like Google and Dropbox.
Where does WordPress backup?
Typically, WordPress stores your backup files in your database and file system. To access them, you will need to access your Cpanel or FTP client, which can be complicated for beginners. The best alternative is to use a WordPress backup plugin like Duplicator. This plugin allows you to store your backups on your PC or offsite, on a cloud.
To further secure your WordPress site, you might also want to check out these resources:
These posts give you the right tools and measures you can take to secure your website and keep hackers out. The last post will help you grow your site and boost traffic by optimizing for SEO.
The post 12 Best WordPress Backup Plugins Compared (2024) first appeared on IsItWP - Free WordPress Theme Detector.
]]>The post How to Set Up Google Analytics eCommerce Tracking for WooCommerce first appeared on IsItWP - Free WordPress Theme Detector.
]]>ECommerce tracking is the best way to track store performance and gain insights into your WooCommerce site. It can help you identify the most popular products, where your customers are coming from, the conversion paths they took, and more.
Most importantly, Google Analytics eCommerce Tracking can help you use data to make the right business decision.
In this step-by-step guide, we will look at how you can set up Google Analytics eCommerce Tracking for your WooCommerce store.
Site metrics are great at helping you understand your business better. But if you have a WooCommerce online store, the analytics are more important because they directly relate to the business.
Because of this, you need to understand your user behavior and where you get your traffic. This data can help you capitalize on different opportunities and grow your business.
To add to that, here are other reasons to set up WooCommerce reporting:
As you can see, tracking your site metrics can help you improve in different areas of your business. So, it is important to set up WooCommerce analytics in a simple way that you can quickly understand. Plus, you need a tool that can simplify complex data, ensuring you can interpret the data and understand the steps you need to take.
Google Analytics (formerly Universal Analytics) can help you with this. But, the reality is that GA-4 is hard to use, especially if you are a beginner. First of all, its interface can be intimidating, with numbers and complex graphs that may be hard to understand.
You will also need to go back and forth between the Google Analytics 4 dashboard and your WordPress dashboard, which can also be frustrating.
But, even though it can be difficult to use, there are not many Google Analytics alternatives that offer what it does. As a result, it is better to find a better way to integrate Google Analytics into your site.
That is why MonsterInsights is the perfect solution!
MonsterInsights is the best Google Analytics plugin because it is easy to install and use. In fact, you do not need coding experience or Google Tag Manager to set it up. Plus, it allows you to see all the Google Analytics metrics right in your WordPress dashboard.
It also simplifies complex numbers and graphs into easy-to-understand data, making it perfect for WooCommerce reporting.
The best part about MonsterInsights is you can use it to track WooCommerce eCommerce metrics with just a few clicks.
Let us show you how.
It goes without saying that you need to have your eCommerce store ready before you set up WooCommerce reporting.
Luckily, the Woo plugin is free, and you can install it from your WordPress repository.
Next, you need to set up a Google Analytics account as well. If you need help with this, check out this tutorial on how to set up Google Analytics 4 in WordPress.
Once you have a Google Analytics account you can “Enable Enhanced Measurement.”
But, since we are using MonsterInsights, you can skip this step. This analytics plugin will do all this for us.
Just to mention, Google Analytics Enhanced Measurements help track elements like page scrolls, site search, outbound links, and more.
To set Enhanced Measurements, first Access the Admin section in your Google Analytics 4 account. Then, navigate to the Property Settings tab and select “Data streams.” This will open your “Web Stream” details.
Next, choose the data stream for your site and toggle the button to enable Enhanced Measurement for advanced tracking. But, you can keep the default eCommerce settings as they are or customize them.
So, to customize these settings, select the “Setting Gear” icon under Enhanced Measurement and choose the specific events you want to track.
Now, once configured, save your preferences to enable enhanced eCommerce measurements. This will give you a better understanding of user interactions and site performance.
For a more detailed step-by-step guide, check out this tutorial on how to Enable Enhanced Measurement in Google Analytics.
Next, install the MonsterInsights plugin in your WordPress dashboard. As mentioned, MonsterInsights is the most powerful Google Analytics plugin. That is why its creators are confident enough to offer a free version to ensure you test it out before you decide to purchase it.
But, to set up WooCommerce reporting, you need the MonsterInsights Pro plan or higher. So, start by going to its official website and purchasing the required plan.
Then, in your MonsterInsights dashboard, go to Account, select the “Downloads” tab, and download the plugin’s ZIP file to your PC. While you are on this Downloads tab, also copy the license key; you will need it later to activate this WooCommerce plugin.
Once you’ve done this, proceed to your WordPress dashboard and go to Plugins » Add New Plugin. Then, drag and drop MonsterInsights to the install tab and hit Install Now.
You will then activate the plugin like you would any other, and a new menu option called “Insights” will appear. Now, go to Insights » Settings to activate the pro version of Monsterinsights.
On this page, select the “General” tab and locate the License Key bar. Then, paste the code you copied earlier into this text bar and hit “Verify.”
Next, while still on the Settings » General page, scroll until you find “Launch Setup Wizard.” This will help you set up and configure Monsterinsights to ensure it is easy to use moving forward.
The setup wizard will walk you through the process step by step and help you easily configure the plugin settings from the start. All you have to do is provide the requested information, and that’s it.
Remember to check “ECommerce” when selecting the website category since you are tracking a WooCommerce store.
Next, integrate Google Analytics with MonsterInsights through the setup wizard by selecting “Connect MonsterInsights.”
You will be redirected to a list of all the Google accounts you have signed in with on your PC. On this page, select the one you used to sign up for Google Analytics. After this, give MonsterInsights Google Analytics permissions by hitting the “Allow” button.
Then, on the last page of the setup wizard, use the checkboxes provided to tell MonsterInsights which analytics metrics you would like to track.
Even though it should already be on because of the information fed to the setup wizard, make sure that eCommerce Tracking is one.
Once you complete the setup wizard process, head back to Insights » Settings and proceed to the General tab.
Then, in the “Google Authentication” section, you will notice that MonsterInisights has fetched your Google ID and Measurement Protocol API from your Google Analytics account.
These tracking codes help you source data from Google Analytics to your WordPress admin dashboard.
Without Monsterinsights, you would need to manually obtain the tracking ID from Google Analytics 4, which can be time-consuming and complicated.
With MonsterInsights connected to Google Analytics, the next step is to install the eCommerce addon to help with WooCommerce Google Analytics integration.
To do this, go to Insights » Addons in your WordPress dashboard, where you will see many MonsterInsights addons you can use.
You can scroll through the page until you find the eCommerce addon, or search for “eCommerce” in the search bar provided.
When you locate the eCommerce addon, install and activate it so that you can use it with MonsterInsights.
But, before you move from this page, you can also install the User Journey addon.
All you have to do is search for the “User Journey” addon and install it as you did with the eCommerce addon.
This is an optional step, but it can help you better understand your visitors by tracking the paths they take to reach your site and make a purchase.
That’s it! You can now track Woocomerce Google Analytics metrics with MonsterInsights.
Next, confirm that you have completed the setup process correctly. To do this, go to Insights » Settings, then proceed to the “eCommerce” tab.
If you have completed the process without errors, MonsterInsights will automatically detect WooComerce and switch on the toggle button: WooCommerce has been detected and eCommerce data is being tracked.
Now, let’s see how to access your WooCommerce eCommerce reports in WordPress.
To do this, go to Insights » Reports.
Here, you will see different data tabs that you can access, such as Traffic, Publishers, Search Console, Forms, Real-Time, and more.
But for this WooCommerce tutorial, go to the eCommerce dropdown. When you select it, you should see Overview, Funnels, and Coupons.
To view all the site metrics, select Overview.
On this page, you first view individual visits for your WooComerce site under Sessions. This can help you find out the total number of visitors to your site.
When you select Pageviews, you will see the total number of pages your users have looked at on your site. This can help you determine the average page views your visitors look at on your WordPress website.
But don’t worry, you do not need to do any sort of calculations to get these numbers. Instead, MonsterInsights displays different metrics below the graph such as Conversion Rate, Transactions, Revenue, and Avg. Order Value.
To add to that, you can add “Site Notes” directly in your WordPress dashboard.
This ensures you do not need a pen and paper or a separate tool to keep records about your WordPress site metrics. As a result, you can streamline your workflow and ensure you do not miss or forget anything.
Below this is the Top Products section, where you can see your products ranked according to their performance. This section will also tell you the total number of each product sold, what percentage of your total sales it accounts for, and total revenue.
You can use this information to determine which product is performing well so you can prioritize it. It can also help you know which product is not performing well so you can change your marketing approach or scrap it completely.
Next on the page is Top Conversion Sources.
In this section, you will see the best sources of your traffic, the number of visitors brought in through these sources, the percentage of visits each source accounts for, and the revenue each brings.
Finally, at the very bottom of the page, there are additional metrics displayed. These numbers include Total Add to Carts, Total Removed from Cart, New Customers, and Abandoned Checkouts.
These metrics can help you understand your customer behavior so that you can improve sales, conversion rates and reduce abandoned carts.
Now, let’s move to the “Funnels” tab next.
As mentioned, “Funnels” can be accessed by going to Insights » Reports under the eCommerce dropdown.
Here, you will see a visual breakdown of different metrics through funnels. It can help you identify how many people View Items, Add to Cart, and Purchase. It also comes with percentages of these WooComemrce reports, ensuring you also have accurate numbers with the visual aids.
If graphs are not for you, MonsterInsights also breaks down these numbers as a list. This gives you an opportunity to select the most convenient way to view your data.
Next, if you run a WooCoomerce site, it is likely you also run promotions.
So, in the eCommerce dropdown, move to the “Coupons,” where you can track the coupon name, revenue, transactions, and average order value. This information can help you analyze if your promotions and coupons are actually working.
But other than the eCommerce data you get, you can also access other metric reports with MonsterInsights such as:
But as mentioned you can also track User Journey with MonsterInsights with the “User Journey” addon.
To do this, go to Insights » User Journey to access this information.
First, you will see dropdown menus that include Date Ranges, Campaigns, Mediums, and Sources to help you easily narrow down the user journey you want.
To add to this, you can search for a particular user using the search bar provided. Below this, MonsterInsights breaks down metrics for different elements such as Transaction ID, Purchase, Date UTM Campaign, UTM Medium, UTM Source, Order Total, and Steps to Purchase.
You can use this information to properly analyze what paths your customers use to get to your WooCommerce website, what they purchase most, and more. This data can help you further streamline your online store and grow your business.
To add to that, understanding your customer’s user journey better can also help you know what phrases they used to find your site from a Google search. As a result, you can use this information to improve your SEO.
But you can also check your eCommerce metrics directly in Google Analytics.
The easiest way to access the eCommerce section in your Google Analytics is to first go to Insights » Reports » eCommerce and then go to the “Overview” dropdown in your WordPress dashboard.
Here, scroll to “Top Products” and select the View Full Products Report button. This will be redirected to the eCommerce section of your Google Analytics dashboard.
That’s it! We hope you enjoyed learning how to set up Google Analytics eCommerce Tracking for WooCommerce. If you have more questions, check out our FAQs below.
Can I track User Journey in WooCommerce?
Certainly! You can use MonsterInsights, the most powerful Google Analytics plugin, to gain insights into how visitors navigate your site. This WooCommerce plugin allows you to track various elements, including transaction details, purchase steps, and more. By analyzing the user journey, you can optimize your website to create a better customer experience and ultimately boost sales.
Are Google Analytics and MonsterInsights the same?
No, Google Analytics and MonsterInsights are not the same, but they work together. Google Analytics is a web analytics service that provides in-depth insights into website traffic and user behavior. On the other hand, MonsterInsights is the best WordPress plugin to help make Google Analytics integration easier. It simplifies the event tracking process and presents Google Analytics data directly in your WordPress dashboard, making it more user-friendly.
Can I add eCommerce tracking to Google Analytics?
Yes, you will need to set up “Data Streams” and Enable Enhanced Measurements to do this directly in Google Analytics. But you can also use the MonsterInsights eCommerce addon to view all these metrics without ever needing to leave your WordPress dashboard. It is also extremely easy to set up eCommerce analytics in WordPress using MonsterInsights, as you do not need any coding experience or Google Tag Manager.
Can I get a form tracking report in Google Analytics?
Absolutely, you can track form submissions in Google Analytics by setting them up as a goal. But, this can be a difficult process. The best way to track form data is to use the MonsterInsights Forms addon. It helps you view all this data straight in your WordPress dashboard.
Congratulations! You can now track your WooCommerce reports in your WordPress dashboard without hiring an expert. Check out this article on how to set up a loyalty program in WooCommerce if you want to learn about how to get more repeat customers.
To add to that, here are other articles you may be interested in reading.
The first article teaches you how to notify your customers about a price drop in the right way. The next post talks about how to move your site from Shopify to WooCommerce. While the last article lists the best WooCommerce alternatives.
The post How to Set Up Google Analytics eCommerce Tracking for WooCommerce first appeared on IsItWP - Free WordPress Theme Detector.
]]>The post How to Set Up a Loyalty Program in WooCommerce first appeared on IsItWP - Free WordPress Theme Detector.
]]>A loyalty program is one of the best ways to increase engagement and sales on your site. By setting a goal for your customers and rewarding them with points for actions they take on your site, they are more likely to stay longer and buy your products.
To add to this, if you reward them for things that they were already going to do anyway, such as making a purchase, they will feel more appreciated. This can help you build customer loyalty, improve your conversion rate and increase return sales.
In this step-by-step guide, we will learn how to set up a loyalty program in WooCommerce. We will walk you through setting up the necessary tools and show you how to automate your reward program.
It is not a coincidence that almost every company has a reward system in one way or another for its clients. This is because it is a simple way to market products without heavily affecting your budget. It is also very straightforward for your customers to understand the concept, ensuring they can quickly get involved.
As a result, a loyalty program leads to more proactive visitors as they are more motivated to take action on your site.
Here are other reasons why a points system is great for your customers.
But it is not just the customer who benefits from a loyalty program; so does your company!
Something that is not talked about enough is how a loyalty program can help your customers talk about your products.
When someone feels valued and respected, they often feel the need to reciprocate that treatment in some way.
A good way to utilize this psychological marketing technique is through a reward system. If they enjoy the shopping experience with you and are rewarded for it, they are more likely to tell their friends and family about it.
This can lead to word-of-mouth customers, without the need to create a referral program, who are easier to convert to customers. To add to this, they are more likely to leave reviews, which can lead to social proof. You can then display them on your social media and testimonial pages to get even more customers.
Here are other ways your company benefits from a loyalty program.
As you can see, a loyalty program is an amazing marketing strategy. But it can be complicated to set up and automate without coding experience, especially on WooCommerce.
Luckily Advanced Coupons is the perfect solution!
Advanced Coupons is, without a doubt, the best loyalty program WordPress plugin. It is simple to set up and use and you will not need to add a single line of code, making it great for beginners. On top of this, it easily integrates with WooCommerce to ensure your loyalty program works together with your online shop to increase subscriptions, sales and repeat customers.
This is one of the best WooCommerce loyalty program plugins because it comes with an easy-to-use dashboard. With this, you can monitor each of your customers’ points, point sources, money spent, and more.
It can also help your customers earn points beyond the money they spend. With Advanced Coupons, your customers can get points for signing up, leaving a comment or review, completing their first order, and more.
This can be a great way to show your customers you value them as individuals and not just for the money they bring in. As a result, it can help build strong customer loyalty and, in some cases, lifetime customers.
On top of that, Advanced Coupons is not just amazing at helping you create a loyalty program. You can also use this plugin to create coupons, buy-one-get-one (BOGO) offers, gift cards, shipping discounts, and more.
But, for this tutorial, we will only focus on how this plugin can help you build a loyalty program in WooCommerce.
Step 1: Install and Activate the Required Plugins
Before anything, you need to make sure that the WooCommerce plugin is installed and activated.
The Woo plugin is free and easy to use. To install it, go to your WordPress repository and use the search to locate it. Then, install and activate it like any other plugin.
Next, still in your WordPress repository search for and install “Advanced Coupons for WooCommerce Free.” This plugin is also required to help you create a loyalty program.
If you experience any issues, check out this article on how to install a plugin.
Finally, you will need the premium Advanced Coupon plugin called “Loyalty Program for WooCommerce.”
To get this pro plugin, go to the Advanced Coupon official website and sign up for the Loyalty Program for WooCommerce plan.
Once you pay for this specific package, go to your Advanced Coupons “Account” and download the plugin’s ZIP file. While here, make sure you also copy the activation code. You will need it later to activate the pro plugin.
Next, go to your WordPress dashboard, install this premium plugin, and activate it as you would any other plugin.
Finally, go to Coupons » License and select the “Loyalty Program” tab. Then, use the license key you copied earlier and the email address you used to sign up to activate the pro version.
So, let’s recap on the plugins you need to set up your WooCommerce loyalty program. You will need to first install and activate:
Step 2: Set up your Loyalty Program
Now, with all 3 plugins mentioned above ready, the next step is to go to Coupons » Loyalty Program in your WordPress dashboard. Then, in “Settings,” select the General tab.
The first thing to set up here is the Price to Points Earned Ratio (Global)
Since Advanced Coupons is highly customizable, it allows you to set the value of your loyalty program points.
In other words, you can define the ratio of points earned for each dollar spent. So, if you place “1” in this field, that would be a 1:1 ratio. Meaning a customer will earn 1 point for every $1 spent. If you place a value of “3,” that would be a 1:3 ratio. This means 3 points will be earned for every $1 spent.
Below this is the Points to Price redeemed ratio box.
Here, you will set the worth of your redeemed points. In other words, you will define how many accumulated points earn your user $1. So if you place a value of 1, that means that 1 point is equal to $1. On the other hand, if you place a value of “5,” that means that 5 points can be redeemed for $1.
Next, name your points so that they match your brand and are unique to other loyalty programs.
This can be the perfect opportunity to let your creative side out and name your points, something that will both grab your user’s attention and excite them. For us here at IsItWP, we thought of going with the name “IsItWPoints.”
Below this section, customize “My Points Page URL Endpoint,” helping you improve your user experience and SEO.
Finally, use a toggle button, “Disallow Earning Points When a Store Credit Discount is Applied on Cart.” This way, if a visitor uses another coupon, they cannot also apply the loyalty points discount.
This is because one of the biggest problems with loyalty programs is customers using multiple offers at the same time. For example, a user may combine an offer they received from a separate promotion with discount coupons from the loyalty program. This can lead to losses and users taking advantage of the flaw in the system.
Step 3: Set Up How Users Earn Point
As mentioned, many companies enroll their subscribers in a loyalty program only after they spend money. Sometimes, this may leave the users feeling more like a number than a person. A better approach would be to nurture them with loyalty points as they take different actions on your eCommerce website.
Luckily, Advanced Coupons makes this super easy!
So, still, in the Loyalty Program Settings page, head over to “Points Earning” to set up points calculation. First, using toggle buttons, you can decide if the following should be included in the loyalty points program:
Since discounts, taxes, shipping, and fees can greatly affect the loyalty points awarded, you can set the above up to ensure your users earn more or fewer points.
Next, to give you more control over the point distribution system, use the toggle button “Always use regular price.” This ensures points are awarded based on the regular price and not on discounts or sales prices.
Below this, set “Minimum threshold to earn points.”
You should set an amount that best suits your business. This will ensure that your users buy a minimum number of products or spend a certain amount before being rewarded.
Next, also set the “Order-related points waiting period.”
This is an effective way to prevent people from manipulating your system by asking for refunds after using your points to get discounts.
Next, and still on the same page, set up “Actions that earn points” using the toggle buttons.
With Advanced Coupons, you can award points for:
Then, below this, set the number of points you want to award for each action you enabled with the toggle buttons above. Remember to give more points for harder actions such as making a purchase or leaving a product review.
Next, use the “Spending Over a Threshold (Breakpoints)” text box to add a breakpoint. This way, when a customer spends a certain amount over the threshold, they are awarded extra points.
Here, you will also define the breakpoint by deciding on the number of points to award if someone meets this spending threshold. This is a great way to encourage more spending on your site without lowering your prices.
After this, set up “Extra Points to Earn During Period.”
You can add the duration of the period and also how many points to award during this period. This can be a great way to promote a new product, give your users an additional incentive during sales, or encourage impulse buying.
Step 4: Customize your Loyalty Program
With your loyalty program created, the next step is to personalize it for your users.
While still in the Loyalty Programs Settings page, go to “Emails” to set up “Earned Points Notification.”
Here, you can automatic notifications to help your users confirm recently earned points. This is a great way to validate the points for your users, showing them they are real and encouraging them to use them.
To do this, first, set the time you want the notification to go out.
Then, select “Edit Email Content,” and you will be redirected to your WooCommerce » Settings » Emails so that you can customize this message.
After that, select “Click to Preview Email,” and you will be redirected to see a notification similar to the one your users will get. You can adjust it and ensure that it is easy to understand and can grab their attention quickly.
Below this section, set up “Loyalty Point Reminder.”
This is an automatic email sent to remind customers of their unused loyalty points. It can help them remember your company and make repeat purchases. Most importantly, it can help your company stay top of mind.
Here, you can set the duration of the reminders and also when they should be sent out on the day. Just like with the “Earned Points Notification,” you can also edit and preview the email you will send out.
Check out the screenshot below for an example of the email notification preview your users will receive.
Now that we have talked about email alerts, let us look at on-page notifications.
To set this up go to the “Messages” tab in the Loyalty Programs Settings page once more.
First, set up notifications “For Logged-in Users.“
Here, personalize Points to Earn Message in Cart, Points to Earn Message at Checkout, and Points to Earn Message in Product.
Below this section, set up the messages “For Guests.”
This will be sent out to users who have not logged in. But it is important to point out that you can use a toggle button to “Hide Points Earn Message for Guests.”
If you want to show them their points, customize similar message fields as you did for logged-in users.
Next, let’s see how to add restrictions to your loyalty program.
To do this, head over to the “Restrictions” tab.
Here, you can restrict certain User Groups from accumulating points, such as Admins and Editors, using a dropdown menu. Then below, you can also restrict specific users from accumulating points by adding their usernames.
Finally, head over to “Redemption & Expiry.”
Here, set up the minimum points needed for redemption and the maximum points allowed for each store credit redemption.
Then, follow this up by setting up how many days the points remain active after a user is inactive. To ensure the user understands that the points have an expiry date, add a “Points expiry message” as well.
Then, In the “Points Redemption additonal Info” customize a message telling your users that the points accumulated can be used as online store credits in the next purchase. This is a great way to improve user experience and encourage return customers.
Your customers need to register for an account to be able to collect points from your program. If they choose to check out as a guest, they can’t save their points.
You can set up WooCommerce to automatically create customer accounts once they make a purchase.
On your WooCommerce settings page, click the Accounts and Privacy tab:
If you don’t want customers to check out as guests, uncheck the box that says Allow customers to place orders without an account.
After customizing our settings, they look like this:
We want customers to be able to create an account during checkout and on the My Account page, so those boxes are checked off.
With these settings, customers will receive an email after checkout to give them access to their account.
Once you save your settings, your loyalty program is now set up and ready to go.
When a customer reaches their cart about to make a purchase, they’ll see how many points they’re earning:
Once customers have earned loyalty points, they can redeem them as coupons under My Account» My Reward Points.
Customers can decide how many points they want to redeem as well as how much the coupon is worth. Clicking Redeem will create the coupon.
In this example, the customer created a $5 off coupon by redeeming 500 of their points. That means they have a points balance of 550 to redeem.
And that’s all there is to it! You’ve now successfully set up a loyalty program for your WooCommerce store. You have also seen why Advanced Coupons is the best WooCommerce points and rewards plugin. If you have any questions check out our FAQs below.
What is the best loyalty plugin for WooCommerce?
Advanced Coupons is the best loyalty plugin for WooCommerce. It is easy to set up and use, requiring no coding experience. It seamlessly integrates with WooCommerce and offers features like a user-friendly dashboard to monitor customer points and handy customization options.
Is Advanced Coupons Free?
Yes, Advanced Coupons offers a free version. The lite version of this plugin can help you with Buy One Get One Free (BOGO) coupons, URL coupons, store credit, and more. But, if you want to use its advanced functions you will need to sign up for Advanced Coupons Pro.
What plugin enhances brand and customer loyalty?
Customer loyalty is the repeat business from individual customers, while brand loyalty involves customers consistently choosing a particular brand over others. Advanced Coupons helps with customer loyalty through reward points for purchases and reviews. For brand loyalty, it offers exclusive perks, personalized offers, and early access, encouraging positive experiences and word-of-mouth referrals.
What’s the between loyalty points and rewards?
Loyalty points encourage repeat customers and engagement through gamification of actions like purchases. Rewards are exclusive perks and personalized offers. They contribute to positive experiences and brand loyalty.
We hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Be sure to check out our post on the best WooCommerce wholesale pricing plugins so you can adapt prices and rewards for people who buy your products in bulk.
To add to that, here are other articles you may be interested in reading.
The first article talks about how to alert your customers about a price drop in WooCommerce. The next post lists the 7 best WooCommerce checkout plugins to increase sales and improve UX. While the last teaches you how to move from Shopify to WooCommerce in the right way.
The post How to Set Up a Loyalty Program in WooCommerce first appeared on IsItWP - Free WordPress Theme Detector.
]]>The post Solid Security (iThemes Security) Review 2024: Is This The Best Security Plugin? first appeared on IsItWP - Free WordPress Theme Detector.
]]>Are you looking for a reliable WordPress security plugin?
WordPress is one of the most popular Content Management Systems (CMSs) today with nearly half of the websites we have today running on it. As a result, there are many potential threats from cybercriminals looking for vulnerabilities.
To protect your website you need a good WordPress security plugin that is easy to use and reliable.
In this article, we will review Solid Security, one of the best WordPress security plugins today. We will discuss different areas such as ease of use, how to set it up, key features, and more.
As mentioned, almost half of all the websites on the internet today use WordPress as their CMS. With such a large pool of websites, the number of threats and cybercriminals targeting the platform is high.
Most of these criminals target WordPress websites for 2 reasons.
The first and most common is data theft.
When someone registers on your site, they often provide their name, email address, and password, among other information. Cybercriminals collect this information and sell it to other parties for monetary gain.
To add that, they can use the email addresses and passwords obtained from your site to try to access your clients’ financial accounts.
This is because, many people often use the same email and password across multiple sites, even though it is not recommended. It is just easier to remember one password for everything rather than have separate ones.
Cybercriminals know this and are banking on it, quite literally.
On the other hand, if you run an eCommerce website, cybercriminals may target your user’s payment information such as PayPal details or credit card information. Once they have this information, they may sell it on the dark web or simply use it themselves.
The second most popular reason for a cyber attack is ransom.
Some cybercriminals will steal a website and lock you out. They will then reach out and tell you to give them a certain amount of money if you want your site back.
This can be very frustrating as even after the payment, these criminals can decide to still keep your site and ask for more money, creating an endless loop. Many people simply opt to open a new site and start afresh.
As you can see, a lack of WordPress security, at the very least, can expose your users’ information. And at the very worst, can destroy your business completely.
Here are other reasons to uphold WordPress security.
The good news is Solid Security can help protect your website without the need for expert assistance or coding experience.
Let’s see what this security plugin is all about.
Solid Security was formally called iTheme Security, a product from iThemes. iThemes was a company that designed beautiful themes that had a good reputation for security. But, they have since changed their business model and that is a big reason for the name change.
Today, iThemes is called SolidWP, and iTheme Security is now Solid Security. Here is what their other products are now called.
But for this review, we will only be focusing on Solid Security.
So, with that said, what exactly is Solid Security?
This is a 3-in-1 security plugin that can help you secure your site, create site backups, and help with site management. It has easy-to-use features to help you prevent brute force attacks and unauthorized people from gaining access to your site.
Solid Security also improves your site security by protecting your user signing page, the most common way brute force attacks happen. It does this by creating a passkey, which can be biometric or manual, and adding a 2-factor authentication process for your users.
To add to this, you can set it up so that your users are automatically required to create a strong password. This adds another layer of protection without you ever needing to get involved.
You can also use Solid Security to scan your site for vulnerabilities through its partnership with Patchstack. This partnership allows for automatic virtual fixes of vulnerable software before it becomes a problem.
Now, let’s see if the name change from iTheme Security to Solid Security has affected the quality of this plugin. We have broken down the review into several sections to help you follow it better.
Solid Security makes it super easy to install both its free version and premium plugin straight from its official website. On its site, you will see a Basic and Premium tab displayed, which allows you to move between the two easily.
If you select the “Basic” plan, you will be redirected to WordPress.org where you can download Solid Security Lite. You can also download the free version by going to your WordPress dashboard and accessing your plugin repository.
Now, for the premium version, Solid Security will charge you according to the number of sites you have, unlike most plugins which have standard packages. This allows you to pay for exactly what you need, saving you money.
To install Solid Security Pro, you will first download the Zip file from its official site. Then, follow the same steps you would to install any other plugin.
If you experience any problems, check out this article to learn more about how to install a plugin.
With the plugin installed and active, the next thing we will look at is its setup process.
As mentioned, security is a sensitive WordPress area. It can be difficult for beginners to keep track and not miss anything.
That is why Solid Security aims to ensure that once you configure the plugin, you don’t need to worry about anything else. It will help you with monitoring and fixes.
So once the plugin is activated, you will be automatically redirected to its setup wizard. Here, the plugin will ask you a few questions about your website. This will help Solid Security set up your website security in the best way.
The first question is if your site is an eCommerce, network, non-profit, blog, portfolio, or brochure. This will help the plugin determine the next steps of your website security setup.
You will also disclose if you are setting up the website for yourself or a client. If you are setting it up for a client, it will allow you to add restrictions on what security features your clients can access.
This is because Solid Security understands that some clients may not be experienced in WordPress, and giving them access to such sensitive information may create vulnerabilities.
Next, using a toggle button, you can decide if you want to add a password policy for all your users. This will ensure that they do not create a weak password or one they have not previously used.
To add to this, you will add authorized IPs in the text box provided and specify how Solid Security will identify users’ IP addresses.
You can set it up so that Solid Security carries out a scheduled automated or manual security check scan. This feature ensures Solid Security accurately identifies malicious IPs attacking your website in the best way for you.
Still, with the setup wizard, you can also enable most of the security features you want.
Of course, you can do it later. But if you are a beginner, this is a great opportunity to set them up in one go.
When you get to the “Features” step in the setup wizard, you will see several tabs, which include Login Security, Firewall, Site Check, and Utilities.
Each of these tabs open to a set of toggle buttons which allows you to activate the feature. Once you enable a feature, Solid Security will open more options underneath it so you can customize further.
You will also set up “User Groups” using the setup wizard to define the role of every member on your site.
This can make it easier to enforce security rules, tightening what each member can access or do on your site.
Some examples of common User Groups include Admins, Editors, Authors, and more. But if your users do not fit into any of these groups, this security plugin, allows you to create Custom User Groups.
Finally, in the setup wizard, you will set up “Notifications.”
You do this by adding a “From Email” and marking a checkbox next to the Admin you want to receive them. It is important to pay close attention to this step, as this is how Solid Security will alert you or your team members of any vulnerabilities or attacks.
Once you set up notifications, you should have the plugin ready to go!
With the setup process complete, Solid Security makes it easy for you to take the next step by giving you the option to either go to Solid Security’s “Dashboard” or “Settings.”
To customize this plugin, go to Settings.
On this page, the first thing you will notice is a vertical menu on the left that consists of Global Settings, Features, User Groups, Notifications, and Advanced. Even though some of the functionality you see here, you may have already configured with the setup wizard, you can still adjust them if you want.
First, let’s look at the “Global Settings” menu.
The first thing you will customize on this menu is to allow Solid Security to automatically write on wp-config.php and .htaccess with a checkbox. This will allow the plugin to determine how WordPress interacts with your database and cache and handle security.
Below this checkbox, you will set up lockout options to tell the plugin what to do in case of failed login attempts.
So, you will first set in minutes how long an IP or user account will be locked out when they reach the maximum login attempts. The plugin recommends 15 minutes as any higher could prevent hackers from getting banned.
Next, you will state in days how long you would want Solid Security to remember lockouts. You can follow this up by using a checkbox to enable the plugin to ban repeat offenders. Below this, you can also add a threshold to ban repeat offenders permanently on your site.
Another interesting feature we noticed about Solid Security is it allows you to display “Lockout Messages.”
This feature allows you to show an explanation as to why the subscriber cannot log in, improving the user experience for genuine people. But at the same time, this message can help deter hackers as it will tell them they have been found out, your site is protected, and you have been notified of the attempted hack.
Below the Global Settings menu is the “Features” menu.
Here, you will find 4 tabs like you did during the setup wizard, which include Login Security, Firewall, Site Check, and Utilities. Let us discuss each of these tabs in detail below.
The first is the “Login Security” tab.
On this tab, you can enable a 2-factor authenticator with a checkbox. But with Solid Security, you can set what type of 2-factor authentication you want.
So, below this box, click on the down arrow to open the options.
You can allow all methods, all methods except email, or select them manually. The authentication methods provided by Solid Security are:
Next, you can use a checkbox to disable first login 2-factor authentication. What this means is that the first time a user activity logs into your website after registering, they will not go through two-factor authentication. This simplifies the process and ensures more users complete the signup process.
Finally, on this tab, you can customize an onboarding message to welcome new users in a friendly way or offer instructions for the next step. This can help you start building a relationship with your visitors turning them into loyal users while growing your brand.
Next, in the Features, is the “Firewall” tab.
Here, the first thing you can do is “Ban Users” with a toggle button. Then, below it, you can mark the Default Ban checkbox. This is a blacklist of potentially harmful IPs flagged by HackRepair.com which you can use as a starting point to protect your site.
To add to this, you can also enable the “Firewall Rules Engine” with a toggle option. With this, you can state the maximum number of violations per IP before a ban and the minutes to remember an IP.
Finally, you will enable Local Brute Force with a toggle button to lock out hackers trying to guess your username and password.
Here, what stands out is that you can use a checkbox to immediately lock out any user who tries to sign in with the user name “Admin.” This is because most hackers usually try to log in to WordPress sites by guessing the password and username. And the guess “Admin” is usually at the top of that list.
So locking out anyone as soon as they attempt to use this term will ensure they are locked out before they make any progress or try to use more advanced hacking methods.
Below this, you can state how many login attempts a user or an IP can attempt before being locked out. And the number of minutes in which bad logins should be remembered.
Next is the “Site Check” tab.
On this tab, you can enable the File Change toggle option. Then, below it, you can add which files and folders to exclude from getting a notification for unexpected file changes. Here, you can add cache files or folders that are often affected by other plugins and themes in your site to reduce the number of alerts you get.
You can then use another toggle button to enable Site Scan Scheduling. When on, Solid Security will carry out a site scan twice every day, to ensure everything is running smoothly.
Now to the “Utilities” Tab next.
Solid Security allows you to activate Enforce TLS and SSL certificates to ensure all connections to your site are secure. Below this, you can state if you want manual or automatic database backups. Then, you can state if you want the backup sent to your email, stored locally, or both.
Next, let us move to the “Advanced” menu.
As the name suggests, the Advanced menu is used to make complex changes to your site. The good thing is Solid Security has simplified this process to allow you to make these advanced changes by marking checkboxes.
To add to this, beneath each checkbox, you get a simple, yet detailed explanation of how that option will affect your site.
With that said, there are two areas we would like to mention in this tab.
The first is the Users section.
Here, you can decide if you want users on your site to log in with an email, username, or both. By selecting only one option, either email or username, you can add an additional layer of protection. This is because the hacker will have a harder time finding the additional information.
Below this, you can force the user to create a unique nickname to help prevent bots or hackers from scraping usernames from comments or author bios.
Another helpful security feature you can set up here is “Hide Backend.”
This feature allows you to change your WordPress login slug from login, admin, wp-login, or any other common login URL. Instead, it helps you create a unique login page slug that hackers cannot easily locate.
Another interesting thing about this feature is that if someone attempts to find your login page from these common options, they will be redirected to another page. On this page, you can display a message to deter the hacker, letting them know you are on to them.
Matters WordPress security is one of the most complex subjects you can face as a website owner. This is because it involves many advanced features that can be confusing.
But what really stood out to us is how easy it is to use Solid Security.
As mentioned, when you complete the setup wizard, you will be asked to either go to “Settings,” which we have reviewed in the customization section. The other button you can select is “Dashboard” which we will review now.
You can also access the Solid Security dashboard by going to Security » Dashboard in your WordPress backend.
The Solid Security dashboard gives you a visual look at the security state of your website. This allows you to see what you need to do, what the plugin has done for you, and what you have done well.
First, at the far right corner, you will see an “Alert” button which will display all the notifications from Solid Security. These alerts include security threats, vulnerabilities identified, changes in logs, and more.
You can fix them by simply selecting the message, and the plugin will tell you what it is about and how to remedy it. The best thing about this Alert bar is that, it appears across all the Solid Security menus, allowing you to stay in the loop even if you do not visit the dashboard.
Next to the Alert icon, you will find the Settings button, which will redirect you back to the Solid Security settings menu, where you can customize the plugin when you want.
Next, below these icons is the “Edit Dashboard Cards” button.
This allows you to reorganize, add, or remove the options in the dashboard. You can completely remove features that are not a priority to you, or add others that fit your needs.
To add to this, you can also drag and drop the different sections on this screen to where you want them to appear. This ensures your dashboard is not only unique to you but all the most important features and metrics appear where you prefer.
So, let’s discuss the Solid Security dashboard in its default format.
The first thing you will notice is the latest Solid Security News. This section updates you on the latest news involving WordPress security and everything around it.
For example, Solid Security will compile weekly reports for you about what vulnerabilities were found and where they were found. They discuss the specific plugin, theme, or tool that led to the vulnerability so you can avoid it or be more careful handling it.
Below the news section, Solid Security conveniently places the vulnerabilities it detected on your site. This section is prominently placed on this dashboard to ensure it is one of the first things you notice, because of how important it is to your site.
Next, you will see the “Ban Overview” graph.
It details Login attempts, Logins Attempts Using “Admin,” and CAPTCHA. You can use this information to quickly tell if anyone attempted to access your site using “Brute Force” and how they tried to do it. As a result, you can better protect your site using the information you get from this section.
Next, we have the Backups section, which also displays the backup size. To add to this, you can quickly create a new backup or view your logs here with a click of a button.
The Threats Blocked section is the most prominent tab displayed on this dashboard, and for good reason.
This section monitors attempts on your site and blocks them through the firewalls you have set up through the plugin. It displays the action taken, the firewall rule that led to this action, the IP that was blocked, and a details button.
Below this, is the “Lockout” graph.
Here, Solid Security displays lockouts based on IPs, users, and Usernames. You can use this information to know what is the most common way hackers try to access your site. Then, next to this tab is the “Active Lockouts” section, which lists all the current people who cannot access your site in real time.
The next section displays a list of all “Banned IPs.”
You can search for a specific banned IP and add notes next to each entry. This can help you understand your site security better. To add to this, you can quickly add more IPs to the ban list one at a time or, if you have a long list, in bulk.
Finally, at the very bottom of your Solid Security dashboard, is the Vulnerability Software section powered by Patchstack.
This is a feature only available for premium users, so you will need to buy a plan before using it.
This feature scans for vulnerabilities in real-time. Then, it lists the type of vulnerability, what it causes, how it affected your site, the severity and if it was able to fix it or not. If the plugin is not able to fix the vulnerability, it will provide you with steps to fix it manually.
Solid Security from SolidWP has one of the best and easy-to-follow malware scanners we have seen. It lists all the areas in your site that can be vulnerable, such as Inactive Users, Rogue Install, Plugins, Themes, WordPress Core Files, Google Safe Browsing, Two Factor, And Password.
If you’re unsure why the plugin is scanning a specific part of your site, just hover over it in the scanning timeline, and you’ll get more details.
Now, Solid Security scans all these areas individually and lets you know if it detects any security issues. It then lists the Type, Scan Info, Severity, and Action of each vulnerability it spots, helping you take action.
To add to this, if the plugin picks up on something that it feels is a vulnerability but it is not, you can mute those results. This allows you to only see the issues that matter and not get constant notifications from the plugin.
One of the most powerful features of Solid Security (formally, iThemes security) is its firewall functionality.
First, it displays a log of all threats blocked in real time, helping you act quickly before your site is compromised. To assist with this, Solid Security comes with Virtual Patching from its partnership with Patchstack.
This feature helps you analyze incoming traffic for any malicious activity and quickly blocks it before it reaches its intended target. This can help block any hacking attempts as soon as the hacker reaches your site.
What really stands out about the firewall feature is that you can “create rules” to automate your site security.
To do this, begin by specifying the area of your website you want the rule to impact in the “Field” box. The dropdown menu in the “Field” box provides options such as Content Type, URL, Request Method, Header, Cookie, and IP Address.
Next, in the “Operator” dropdown, indicate when the rule should take effect. Choose from options like Equals, Contains, Does Not Contain, Is In, or Is Not In. Then, in the “Value” field, input the specific target, such as a URL or an IP address, that you want to focus on.
Finally, specify what Action the plugin should take. When a situation arises when the rule applies, should it Block, Redirect, Log Only, or Allow?
The best thing about firewall rules from Solid Security is you can use them to make exceptions and allow certain things, not just for blocking.
Now, the firewall feature also comes with an “IP Management” Tool.
Here you can view banned IPs and add to the list one by one or in bulk. You can also add notes for each banned IP to help you keep track of them better.
Plus, the IP Management tool makes it super easy to monitor active lockouts. It allows you to view, ban, or release locked-out users and IP addresses.
To add to this, you can also add a list of authorized IPs. Or use a checkbox to authorize the plugin to temporarily authorize IPs automatically.
This ensures that Solid Security will not block the last IP the administrator used for the next 24 hours. As a result, this can make it easier for you to use a device other than yours if you cannot access your default PC, making it more convenient for you.
Another thing that stands out about Solid Security is that it does everything with so much detail. And one feature that really showcases this, is User Security.
Here, this security plugin lists all the users on your site at an individual level. It breaks down their role, last seen, password strength, age of the password, and if the user has two-factor authentication.
One of the most common places a site gets vulnerabilities from is its users. This is because not many are keen to follow the best security protocols to protect your site.
But with the User Security “Edit User” Section, you can send the user an email to remind them to set up 2-factor authentification. To add to this, if you feel the password they have is outdated or not strong enough you can force them to change it.
Now, sometimes forcing them to change their password may not be the best option, especially if they present an active threat. So Solid Security from SolidWP can force them to log out immediately, stopping them in their tracks. If another drastic measure is needed to protect your site better, or a user has been inactive for too long, Solid Security allows you to delete their account.
User Security is not just about taking measures on individuals. You can also use it to add a user to a group, such as an author, editor, admin, and more. This gives you a quick way to edit user roles without following the default WordPress method.
As you have seen above, Solid Security is very easy to use. But every good plugin needs good support and documentation to assist its customers further.
So, the moment you get to the SolidWP homepage you will quickly notice that they take a step further in helping you learn how to use their products better.
First, they offer Solid Academy, a free resource that contains tutorials and guides to teach you how to use WordPress as a whole. They also host a live monthly session on YouTube where peers discuss the latest WordPress news.
But if you are an advanced user, they offer premium courses that get in depth on everything WordPress. To add this, you get certification once you complete their premium courses to show that you have completed their course.
Another unique resource you can use is the weekly vulnerability report, which helps you keep track of the latest plugin or theme vulnerabilities that have been documented. To access this newsletter, you can simply sign up for it, and you do not need to have an active install of the plugin.
But if you are using the plugin, you can access this weekly vulnerability report in the Solid Security dashboard in your WordPress backend, as discussed earlier.
Speaking of your Solid Security dashboard, you can also get help while logged in to your WordPress dashboard. All you have to do is select the Help icon in the far right corner of the plugin’s dashboard, and you will be redirected to the “Solid Help Center.”
To access the Solid Help Center, if you are not logged in, you can go to the SolidWP homepage and then go to Resources » Support. Then, on the next page, select “Online Documentation.”
On the Solid Security Help Center page, you will see the documentation arranged in tabs for the different products from the company.
All you need to do is click on a specific tab, and you will be redirected to a page listing all the help resources. This makes it super easy to find what you are looking for.
But, you can also use the search option to help you find the exact topic you are looking for. The beauty of this is the search results will also display breadcrumbs to show you the path taken to reach the result. This can help you find more information about the topic from their resource center.
Now, if you do not find the information you are looking for in the Solid Help Center, you can submit a ticket.
You can submit a ticket whether you are their client or just looking for more information about the topic. To help ensure you don’t spend much time trying to reach them, the form is short and to the point.
All you have to fill out is your email address, a description of the issue and an attachment of a screenshot or something similar to better tell them your problem.
Pros:
Cons:
Solid Security from SolidWP offers a free plan that you can first use before making a purchase. This free version is incredibly powerful and can help most small business maintain their security. But if you want to access all its features, you will need to purchase a plan.
Solid Security offers 5 plans that you can select with a sliding bar, making it fun and easy to use. All the premium plans have the same upgrades; the only difference is the number of sites you can use the plan on.
Some of the premium features you get on the paid plan and not the free version include:
For example, the cheapest package is the 1-site package for $99. This is great for someone who just owns one site. While the most expensive plan is $499 for 50 sites. This is great for agencies that want to help their customers protect their websites.
If you have more than 50 sites, you should reach out to solidWP for a custom quote.
But we should point out that you can purchase Solid Security as part of the Solid Suite. This way, you can buy all of the SolidWP plugins in one go. The pricing for Solid Suite starts from $199 for one site.
Searching for the best security plugin for your website?
Sucuri stands out as the go-to alternative for Solid Security.
Sucuri is one of the best security plugins because it offers a strong defense system for your WordPress site and is easy to use.
It goes the extra mile with its DNS-level firewall for effective brute force protection and stopping any DDoS before they become a concern. Unlike Solid Securty, Sucuri’s 1-click hardening ensures quick WordPress security, simplifying the security processes for you.
To add to this, Sucuri Security has a friendly user-friendly interface. Since it comes with many proactive security measures, it is perfect for beginners and small businesses.
It also comes with continuous monitoring, file integrity checks, and post-hack security measures, providing comprehensive ways to protect your site. This means even after an attack is dealt with, Sucuri Security will continue to monitor the situation and ensure it does not happen again.
What makes Sucuri shine is its 24/7 support, guaranteeing quick responses to security threats as soon as you spot them.
If you want to learn more about this security plugin, check out our complete Sucuri review here.
Another Solid Security alternative you can consider is WordFence Security.
Wordfence Security is another amazing free security plugin that can help safeguard your site from hackers.
After testing both plugins, we found that, while WordFence Security may be a good basic security plugin, it puts a significant load on your server and has a clunky user interface. (See our full WordFence Security review for more details.)
Solid Security does have some features that may slow down your site, such as the File Change Detection features, but overall, it works better. Keep in mind: any plugin that carries out continues malware scanning will take up resources.
However, because Security Security is so customizable, you can pick and choose which features to enable. You can easily avoid the ones that may slow down your site, or only run them during low traffic periods.
After using this security plugin ourselves we can say that without a doubt, Solid Security is one of the best tools to help you protect your site. It can assist you set up everything from the moment you install it with its setup wizard, ensuring every part of your site is fully protected.
It is also super light, meaning it does not affect your site speed or performance, making it great for SEO as well.
This WordPress plugin also ensures that many of its processes are automated, meaning once you set it up you do not need to touch it again.
What was also really impressive is that the free version of Solid Security had many powerful features. This can help reduce the WordPress security budget without compromising on quality.
If you want an easy-to-use security plugin packed with features, then you should definitely consider Solid Security.
That’s it! We hope you enjoyed our review on Solid Security. If you have any more questions, check out our FAQs below.
Is Solid Security free?
Yes, Solid Security offers a forever free plugin that you can download from their official website or from your WordPress repository. If you want to unlock all its features you will have to purchase a premium plan.
Does Sucuri remove malware?
Absolutely! Sucuri specializes in removing malware from websites. It can detect and eliminate malicious code, providing a thorough cleanup to ensure your site is free from malware.
Is WordPress secure?
Yes, WordPress is a secure Content Management System (CMS), but its security depends on users taking the necessary precautions. Being one of the most popular CMS platforms, WordPress is a common target for hackers. So, to enhance your security you should use security plugins like Sucuri and Solid Security.
What is a firewall in WordPress?
A WordPress firewall is a protective barrier that monitors and filters incoming and outgoing traffic to and from a WordPress website. It acts as a security layer, helping prevent unauthorized access, malicious attacks, and potential threats. But, it can be hard to set it up without WordPress security experts. But a good security solution for this is to use Solid Security which will allow you to configure a custom firewall without coding.
Congratulations! You can now make a better decision on which security plugin to use on your site. If you are running an eCommerce site, here is an article on How to Protect your WooCommerce Site (Steps + Security Tools).
To add to that, here are additional articles you may be interested in reading.
The first article will walk you through everything you need to learn about WordPress security through a beginner-friendly guide. The next post discusses the 8 best WordPress firewall plugins. While the last article teaches you how to perform a WordPress security audit.
Now that you have tested Solid Security and reviewed it, we can confidently give it 4 out of 5 stars. Here’s the breakdown of our review scores:
The post Solid Security (iThemes Security) Review 2024: Is This The Best Security Plugin? first appeared on IsItWP - Free WordPress Theme Detector.
]]>The post 7+ Best Google Business Sites Alternatives in 2024 first appeared on IsItWP - Free WordPress Theme Detector.
]]>Google announced that they will be getting rid of all mini-sites created by Google Business Profiles(formally Google My Business).
This creates a problem for businesses that use these free Google websites to get their local leads.
The good news is that there are plenty of alternatives you can choose.
In this article, we have listed the 7+ best GBP site alternatives for 2024. We go a step further and identify both paid and free platforms you can use to ensure you make a decision within your budget.
Bluehost is the best hosting solution in 2024 because it is affordable and has plenty of features to help you build your own website. It comes with different packages that allow you to select a plan within your budget and right for your business. This makes it a great Google Business Profile site alternative.
Even though you need to pay to use Bluehost, it comes with a free domain with every plan. This reduces your budget, allowing you to channel those funds to other areas of your business.
Now, Bluehost comes with a drag and drop builder that you can use to create landing pages, contact us pages, and more. As a result, you can buy a cheap hosting plan and have a site ready in minutes.
Bluehost also understands that not every business owner has the experience to carry out local SEO by themselves. That is why you can hire their SEO Team, to help you with local SEO.
This service allows Bluehost to help you with both onpage and off-page local SEO such as adding your site to directories and populating it with secure high authority links.
But as you can imagine, this can be expensive since it is a custom service.
Instead, a cheaper and highly effective solution is All in One SEO.
AIOSEO is, without a doubt, the best local SEO plugin. It comes packed with Local SEO features guaranteed to improve your listing. You do not need expert assistance setting it up or using it, ensuring you save on cost and have better control over your site’s SEO.
To add to this, AIOSEO Lite is a forever-free version of the plugin. This allows you to test it out first, before investing in the tool.
This SEO plugin allows you to optimize your content with local keywords right in your WordPress post or page editor. It gives a score from 1-100 to your content and you can see this number change in real time as you write or edit your content.
It comes with a headline analyzer that also gives you a score from 1-100. With this feature, you can optimize your page or post title by adding local elements. This will allow your post to get more clicks in search results and also communicate to Google where to place your site in local searches.
In addition to this, AIOSEO allows you to add opening times, closing times, maps, and other business information using separate blocks on your page.
This means you can customize how your business information is displayed on your site however you want. All you have to do is drag and drop the blocks in the exact position on the page you want, and that’s it.
If you want to learn more about this local SEO plugin, check out our complete All in One SEO review here.
Get started with Bluehost here.
Check out our Bluehost review here.
SeedProd is the best website builder because it comes with over 200 beautiful and professionally designed templates you can start building from. You can style your site by changing the fonts, colors, borders and so much more.
It is important to note that SeedProd is a website builder, so you will need to first purchase hosting and a domain name.
But, what makes SeedProd the perfect Google Business site alternative is its ability to create both complex and simple sites. With its drag and drop builder, you can recreate a similar site to the one on your Google Business Profile or design a larger site with more pages.
Plus, with SeedProd’s front-end text editor, you can add the existing content from your GBP site by simply copy-pasting.
You can also add beautiful and high-converting lead capture forms, something that you cannot do on Google Business sites. This can allow you to grow your mailing list and build relationships with your customers in a better way. To make your lead generation process better, SeedProd also offers you features like popups and countdowns which you can place anywhere on your pages.
Now, when you build a website with SeedProd, you need to add local elements to it so that you can rank for local searches. SeedProd comes with plenty of customizable blocks that you can use to help you with this.
For example, SeedProd comes with blocks for Google Maps, Business Reviews, Star Ratings, business hours, team members, and more.
If you want to add social proof to your site, SeedProd offers blocks like Facebook comments, Twitter(now X) embeds, a Facebook page, a gallery, and more.
But, even though SeedProd allows you to add your local business information in a simple way, you may need to add something extra that its blocks don’t offer.
Luckily SeedProd easily integrated with All in One SEO.
As discussed, AIOSEO can help you insert local SEO elements in a beautiful and easy way. So, this connection allows you to add AIOSEO blocks already populated with your business information using SeedProd’s drag and drop builder.
This can help you style your pages better and, at the same time, make the whole process easier.
Get started with SeedProd here.
Check out our complete SeedProd review here.
Thrive Suite stands out as a GBP site alternative because it is a set of different plugins and tools all designed to help you create the perfect website for your business.
It has many ready-to-use themes that allow you to create simple or complex websites for local businesses. For example, it comes with templates for restaurants, service businesses, finance, construction, electricians, and more.
To add to this, Thrive Suite comes with a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface that allows you to customize the templates for your specific business.
Now, Thrive Suite is made with marketers in mind, ensuring everything it does is geared toward conversion even when it comes to local SEO.
For starters, it can help you improve your local SEO through easy integrations with top SEO plugins like RankMath, Yoast, and All In One SEO. These plugins can help you optimize your site for location keywords while also helping you create easy-to-read content for your visitors.
It goes further by supporting a 1-click AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages) setup so that you can easily improve mobile optimization through faster load time. The better the mobile experience the more likely you will get more clicks in local search results.
But, as mentioned, when it comes to local SEO you should fill out your business information accurately and consistently everywhere.
To help with this, Thrive Suite comes with an easy way to add “Global Fields” throughout your site.
With this feature, you can add all your business information, and update brand colors and fonts universally from one place. So, once you make these changes in the Global Fields they are added consistently throughout your site.
On top of that, you can automate customer testimonials through Thrive Ovation.
This gives you the perfect opportunity to showcase what your past customers thought about your products while also offering social proof. Good testimonials can help you increase conversions in a similar way to Google reviews and increase engagement.
To add to this, Thrive Suite comes with Thrive Leads which can help you grow your email list. It uses high conversion marketing tools like slide-ins, 2-step optin forms, inline forms, sticky ribbons and more to help you capture leads the right way.
As a result, it can help you nurture leads, turn them into customers, and help grow your brand in the local community.
At the same time, you can also integrate WooCommerce with Thrive Suite to help turn your site into an online store for the local community. This allows you to showcase your products in a similar way to your physical store, making it more convenient for your customers.
Get started with Thrive Suite here.
Wix is one of the most popular website builders because it offers a complete solution from hosting to site design. It comes with a simple drag and drop builder that allows you to place each page element exactly as you would like it to appear.
To add to this, it makes it super easy to start your website-building process because of AI integration. All you have to do is tell Wix what type of website you want to build, such as an online store, portfolio, blog, and more.
Then, its AI will ask you a few questions about the site, such as your goals, your target audience, and so on. After this, Wix will use this information to create a website profile for you.
This site builder will help you find the right templates, generate appropriate AI content, and design the site for you. It will also help you design a mobile responsive version of your site to give users on smaller devices a good experience. This can help you improve your local SEO because a lot of these queries are made on mobile devices.
To help make it easier for beginners, Wix comes with an easy-to-use dashboard.
Here, you will find analytics tools that allow you to check advanced metrics like site speed, uptime, and security.
To add to this, it also comes with marketing features that you can activate and customize straight from its dashboard. These tools can help you find clients through social media, regular SEO, email marketing, and more.
Now what makes Wix the perfect Google Business site alternative is its SEO features.
For start, from the information you feed its AI in the initial setup, Wix will create a personalized SEO checklist for you to use for site optimization. Once it creates your checklist, you can view errors and recommendations on how you can improve your SEO. As you make these changes, you can keep track of all of them in your completed SEO tasks section.
Now, Wix makes it easy to add local SEO elements to your site, such as maps, meta information, and robot.txt files, straight from the dashboard as well, making it easy for beginners.
You can also add the location and the keywords of your business using the SEO checklist. This gives you the perfect opportunity to add local keywords to kickstart your local SEO process.
The interesting thing about using Wix is that you can create a beautiful website and get these SEO features on the free plan. This means, just like with your Google Business website, you will not need to pay for anything.
To add to this, you get plenty of ways to optimize your site, unlike with a GBP website.
Check out our complete Wix review here.
Squarespace is one of the best Google Business Profile website alternatives because it is an all-in-one service. First, it offers you premium hosting and domain registration solutions. At the same time, it comes with amazing site-building features to help you build a professional website quickly and easily.
Squarespace is known for its professional and beautiful websites. To help you with this, it comes with plenty of sharply designed templates that you can further customize with its drag and drop builder.
Squarespace creates Schemas automatically for different types of content on your site. This allows your content to be displayed in a more visual way in local search results.
On top of this, this GBP site alternative comes with an SEO panel.
The SEO panel gives you more control over individual page SEO elements. For example, you can localize the page URL, meta title and description, and more. This allows you to display your business information to Google in a quick and easy way. You can also add keywords to the SEO Panel so that Squarespace can help you optimize for them quickly without hiring an expert.
Most importantly, Squarespace comes with an SEO checklist as well. It will list down everything you need to do and give you recommendations to fix them. This step-by-step process allows you to improve your local SEO without forgetting anything.
Get started with Squarespace here.
Shopify is the best eCommerce solution that can help you sell your products both physically and online. It is not just an online shop builder, it is a business management system. This makes it an awesome Google Business site alternative.
Shopify’s multichannel selling enables you to reach customers across physical and online spaces. This balance and exchange of information can improve local SEO, ensuring you take advantage of both situations.
To add to this, Shopify integrates with various sales channels, including physical retail stores, online marketplaces, and social media. This allows you to expand your reach and optimize your online presence.
To add to that, Shopify’s POS system supports in-person sales and integrates easily with online stores to ensure consistency. By taking advantage of multichannel selling, Shopify can boost visibility, customer engagement, and overall sales, making it a valuable tool for local businesses.
Shopify POS can also help you manage your inventory, track payments, and get real-time business insights to streamline your company for the local market further.
Such flexibility can make your company more dependable, helping you build trust with the local community.
Get started with Shopify here.
Check out our complete Shopify review here.
Google Sites are a great Google Business profile website alternative because they are free and easy to use. To add to this, you can connect it to a custom domain so that you have more control over the customization of your site.
But, the merit of connecting a custom domain to your Google Site is you do not need to buy hosting, it comes free. This makes it more affordable while also ensuring you do not need to increase your marketing budget.
The biggest advantage Google Sites have over other entries on this list is it is also a Google product.
This means that they are quickly indexed and can rank in no time for local SERPs. To add to this, they can also integrate with other Google products like Google Docs and Google Forms easily. This ensures you enjoy the Google Apps ecosystem even on your free site.
Since Google Maps is also part of the Google ecosystem, you can easily add it to your site. This allows you to show your users your location, and tell Google where your business physical location is.
Now, Google Sites come with a simple builder that allows you to use a drag and drop interface to customize your design. It also comes with a couple of templates that you can customize by changing basic page elements like fonts and colors.
But even if it has limited theme customization features, Google Sites allows you to create and save a custom theme. This can help you style and personalize your site further, making it unique.
It is important to point out that when you add too much content to a site, it can end up loading slower. It can also make your site look spammy reducing the quality of the user experience.
But Google Sites have a solution for this.
They allow you to create collapsable text groups within a page. With this feature, you can add plenty of text and hide it on the page. Your users can access it only by clicking on the dropdown arrows.
This can be very advantageous for local SEO as it allows you to add plenty of content on a page without it being saturated or overwhelming. To add to this, all this content is indexable, meaning Google can see it even if it is not visible on the page.
Get started with Google Sites here.
As it stands, Google has not given much detail as to why they are shutting down GBP sites.
But, as SEO experts, we have always expected another drastic change since the move to Google My Business back in 2022. To many, this was a signal of major changes to come as far as this Google product is concerned.
They followed this up by also discontinuing the Google My Business app and encouraging small companies to use Google Maps for single-location businesses. On the other hand, Google stated that the GMB web portal was primarily going to be used to serve large and multi-location businesses.
Now, with GBP sites completely closing, here are our speculations as to why this is happening.
Expensive to Maintain the Free Google Sites
Since Google Business profiles are essentially one-page sites, they need a server and hosting. As you can imagine, hosting over 20 million websites is no small fit as it can be very expensive.
Google may have decided to end the product because providing the free hosting services just became too expensive for them.
But if this is the reason, it is curious to know why Google did not consider introducing a monthly maintenance cost or an annual flat fee to help offset Google Business Profile’s hosting and server costs.
Poor Return on Investment
Sometimes, companies use a free or cheap product that leads to losses to attract customers to their main products. This is called the loss leader pricing strategy.
The idea behind this strategy is to draw customers in with free or cheap products to build brand loyalty so that they can purchase your other products. But for a while, most Google products have been marketed separately, making it harder to use the loss leader strategy.
Shift of Strategy
Over the past year, new technology has affected Google. For example, more and more people are using AI applications like ChatGPT instead of using Google to search for queries.
Even though Google is still at the forefront of AI technology, the fear is they can easily be left behind if they do not adapt soon.
As a result, they could be opting to reduce the number of products they have and divert those funds to what they consider the future of the company, i.e., AI.
Remember, before you make this shift, it is important to choose a platform that offers the following advantages.
We hope you enjoyed learning about the best Google Business site alternatives. If you have any more questions check out our FAQs below.
Are Google Sites and Google Business Profile sites the same?
No, they are not the same. Google Sites are normal websites that you can create through Google and can appear in regular search results like any other website. On the other hand, sites created through Google Business profiles can only appear in map results. They are specifically made for the local SERPs.
Can I use Google My Business without a website?
Yes, you can use Google My Business (now Google Business Profile) without a website. But, you will have a lower chance of appearing in the Local Pack. On top of this, Google will not have anywhere to redirect the people who are interested in your business. As a result, you should always link your website to your GBP.
Should I create a self-hosting site for my local business?
Absolutely! With Google removing all sites created by GBP, it is now more important than ever to create a self-hosting website. A self-hosted website gives your local business a permanent online home. This will reduce your reliance on Google, make you more independent of external factors, and give you peace of mind.
Which is the best site builder for my local business?
SeedProd is your go-to! It has 200+ customizable templates, and you can tweak fonts, colors, and borders to match your branding. Plus, it also comes with conversion features such as lead forms, popups, countdowns, and local elements (Google Maps, Reviews, etc.). This makes it perfect for a personalized and effective local business site!
Congratulations! You now have a better understanding of the best Google Business website alternatives you can work with. Now, if you want to grow your local business in 2024, here is an article on how to maximize your local SEO after Google Business sites shut down.
To add to that, here are other articles you should read.
The first article lists the 6 best local SEO tactics beyond Google Business Profiles. The next post talks about the 9 best social proof plugins for WordPress. While the last article teaches you how to set up WordPress conversion tracking.
The post 7+ Best Google Business Sites Alternatives in 2024 first appeared on IsItWP - Free WordPress Theme Detector.
]]>The post 12 Best WordPress Plugins for Affiliate Marketers (2024) first appeared on IsItWP - Free WordPress Theme Detector.
]]>Affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to make money online. With the right set of affiliate marketing WordPress plugins, you can increase the revenue from your website exponentially.
In this article, we’ll share some of the best WordPress plugins for affiliate marketers.
We also created a list of the best WordPress plugins that every website needs to maximize features. You should check them out too.
Affiliate marketing is one of the most reliable ways to make money online. With affiliate marketing, you choose products you like, promote them online, and earn commissions when someone purchases the products through your referral link.
Having the right set of plugins in your toolbox makes affiliate marketing easy and also helps you earn more revenue from your site.
In this post, you’ll find plugins for…
AffiliateWP is the best affiliate management plugin for WordPress. It’s developed by the same folks behind the renowned Easy Digital Downloads plugin, which is listed as one of our best WordPress eCommerce plugins.
If you’re selling a product on your WordPress website and want to create a fully-fledged self-hosted affiliate program, then AffiliateWP is the answer.
AffiliateWP is easy to set up and even allows you to add your affiliates manually or automatically, making it great for beginners and bloggers.
It comes with an easy-to-use dashboard.
Here, it provides you with all the important affiliate marketing metrics conveniently in your WordPress backend. With it, you can track your conversion rate, the number of visitors, actual referrals, and more.
You can also track referral links and affiliate coupons and keep track of cross-domain promotions without coding experience. These metrics also help make it easy to create an affiliate marketing funnel so that you can streamline your processes.
Now, as mentioned, AffiliateWP allows you to automate affiliate registration or do it manually. We should also mention that you can customize their registration, onboarding, and payment processes as well.
But the customizations for this WordPress plugin for affiliate marketing do not end there. With it, you can also customize and brand your affiliate’s team dashboard. This allows you to show them only the affiliate metrics that apply to them.
Since the affiliate dashboard provides you with information on each affiliate member, you can authorize one-click payouts.
This ensures your affiliate team gets their money instantly.
But, for added convenience, AffiliateWP comes with smart commission rules. With this feature, you can set up 1-time payments, recurring payments, tired payments, lifetime payments, and more.
Now, if you want to motivate your top affiliate marketers, AffiliateWP allows you to create competitions on your WordPress site. You can also showcase a leaderboard where everyone can easily see who ranks the highest. This can also help you be more transparent with your team as everyone can see how the other is performing.
On top of this, AffiliateWP can create custom affiliate landing pages that can help you convert. This is the perfect opportunity to showcase your products in a straightforward way, making AffiliateWP perfect for high-ticket affiliate marketing products.
But, most importantly, AffiliateWP comes with smart fraud detection to help you protect your investment and avoid losses. This feature tracks all your affiliate links and ensures nobody attempts to manipulate them.
Price: $149.60/year
Check out our AffiliateWP review here.
Get started with Affiliate WP today!
Pretty Links is a powerful WordPress affiliate plugin that enables you to easily cloak the affiliate links you promote on your website. This can help you display branded links increasing your conversion rate. At the same time, the shorter affiliate URL ensures your site does not look spammy. Because of its features, Pretty Links is one of the best link management tools to help you keep track of all your affiliate activities.
It even allows you to easily set up server-side redirection, including permanent 301 and temporary 302/307 redirects.
Moreover, Pretty Links also helps you create short links automatically for your posts and pages and share them on your Twitter with a customizable message.
Price: $99.60/year
Check out our Pretty Links review here.
Get started with Pretty Links today!
ThirstyAffiliates is a must-use WordPress affiliate plugin for marketers that lets you organize all your affiliate links in a single place. With ThirstyAffiliates, finding and replacing your affiliate links won’t be a hassle.
For example, whenever you want to change an affiliate link, you don’t need to dig deeper into your site and manually alter those URLs. Instead, you simply do that in your ThirstyAffiliates panel, which will automatically change all the published URLs.
It also allows for link cloaking, turning your ugly-looking long URLs into shorter, pretty-looking links. The other neat thing about ThirstyAffiliates is that it can automatically replace any keyword with an affiliate link, allowing you to earn more from your site.
Price: $99.60/year
Check out our ThirstyAffiliates review here.
Get started with ThirstyAffiliates today!
OptinMonster is the best lead generation and WordPress popup plugin for your affiliate website.
With OptinMonster, you can show a personalized popup campaign based on individual visitors’ behaviors, making your messages more likely to convert. For example, on a product review page, you can show a popup with an affiliate link promoting the same product.
Below are a few reasons why OptinMonster is a must-use solution for your affiliate website:
Price: Starts at $9 per month.
Check out our OptinMonster review here.
Get started with OptinMonster today!
WPForms is one of the best contact form plugins for WordPress and it allows you to easily create contact forms on your affiliate website.
Potential customers are more likely to purchase a product recommended by people they know. By having a contact form on your site, you’re making it easy for your visitors to reach out to you. WPForms also lets you easily integrate your form with the best email marketing services, so you can build connections with your visitors.
By building a connection with your visitors, you can recommend products and convince them to make a purchase.
Price: $49.50 per year.
Check out our WPForms review here.
Get started with WPForms today!
Want to start with the free version instead? Try WPForms Lite.
AdSanity provides an easy way to insert affiliate banners inside posts or sidebar widgets. You can manage your affiliate campaigns and ads within your WordPress admin panel.
The main benefit of using AdSanity is you can display affiliate banners only during a specified timeframe on your website. With its performance report, you can easily track the performance of each banner you publish on your site.
Price: $59/year.
Check out our AdSanity review here.
Get started with AdSanity today!
MonsterInsights is the best Google Analytics plugin for WordPress, but it also lets you enable affiliate link tracking on your website with ease.
With affiliate link tracking enabled, you’ll get data-driven insights in your Google Analytics that help you generate more revenue from your affiliate website.
With MonsterInsights, you can also track your AdSense earnings, eCommerce transactions, and download tracking in your Google Analytics account.
Price: Free. The premium plugin starts at $8.29 a month.
Check out our MonsterInsights review here.
Get started with MonsterInsights today!
Want to start with the free version instead? Try MonsterInsights Lite.
Thrive Suite is THE most powerful conversion-optimization platform for affiliate websites. With its conversion tools, you can convert casual visitors into paying customers.
You’ll get premade themes and an intuitive builder with drag and drop functionality to design your website. Then, there are tons of conversion optimization tools to build lead generation forms, quizzes, online courses, and more.
You can also create evergreen scarcity campaigns to boost your sales like never before. You can add countdown timers and ribbons to your site and show them to everyone or only specific people.
The plugin works with any WordPress theme and is compatible with all popular WordPress plugins.
Price: Starts at $149 per quarter.
Get started with Thrive Suite today!
SeedProd is a powerful website and page builder that comes with smart blocks like social sharing, countdown timers, optin forms, and more.
You can also design and customize landing pages quickly. You can create lead squeeze pages, splash pages, product pages, and more to promote your affiliate products and really shine the spotlight on them.
It comes with powerful elements to help you get new potential leads and increase your revenue.
Over 1 million business websites are using SeedProd to create landing pages. It offers 9+ themes and 200+ landing page templates, including sales pages, coming soon and maintenance mode pages, webinar pages, optin pages, and so on.
Price: Starts at $31.60 per year.
Get started with SeedProd today!
Check out our SeedProd review here.
WP RSS Aggregator allows you to conveniently fetch content from your affiliate networks into your WordPress website. For example, retailers like Amazon let you create product feeds with your affiliate ID.
With WP RSS Aggregator, you can set up product pages by importing the feeds or even create auto blogs with ease. This way, you can automatically fetch products as posts into your WordPress blog. Plus, it’s always updated with the latest changes.
Price: Free. Pro plugin starts at $79 per year.
Get started with WP RSS Aggregator today!
All in One SEO is the best and most powerful SEO plugin on the market. It allows you to easily optimize your WordPress site to rank on search engines and beat the competition.
It’s beginner-friendly so anyone can optimize their site without hiring an SEO specialist.
You can audit your site’s SEO right from your WordPress dashboard to find errors and areas of improvement.
It has features for on-page SEO such as keywords, rich snippets, and headline tools. Plus, it takes care of technical SEO with features like smart sitemaps, robots.txt, and canonical tags.
In addition, it lets you optimize for local SEO as well as eCommerce SEO.
Price: Free. Paid plans start at $49.60 per year.
Check out our All in One SEO review here.
Get started with All in One SEO today!
Easy Affiliate is a popular affiliate management plugin for WordPress. It’s a complete solution that allows you to add an affiliate marketing program to your website.
This helps monitor and manage your clicks, sales, payments, and more. Easy Affiliate is a user-friendly plugin that takes a few minutes to set up without editing any code.
It has an intuitive and user-friendly dashboard so it’s easy for anyone, including beginners, to create an affiliate program for their small businesses.
We hope this article helped you find the best WordPress plugins for affiliate marketers. We believe that all of the above plugins are essentials and must-haves for anyone involved in the WordPress affiliate marketing business.
Price: Starts at $99.60 per year.
Get started with Easy Affiliate today
We hope you enjoyed reading about the best WordPress plugins for affiliate marketers. If you have more questions check out the FAQs below.
Is affiliate marketing a good side hustle?
Yes, affiliate marketing is considered one of the best online side hustles. This is because affiliate marketing does not need you to own a product, a website, or any other digital assets. You just need to help others sell their product, and you get a cut for it.
Can I do affiliate marketing without social media?
Absolutely! You can do affiliate marketing without social media. You can share your affiliate links anywhere you want online from forums to your affiliate website. As long as the product owner is using a good affiliate marketing tool like AffilateWP, they can monitor your links in real time to ensure you get paid.
Is affiliate marketing a pyramid scheme?
No! Affiliate marketing is not a pyramid scheme. It is a marketing technique where product owners use affiliate marketers to help them sell their products. Every time, an affiliate marketer makes a sale, they get a commission from the product owner. A good example of this marketing system is the Amazon affiliate program.
Best free WordPress plugin for affiliate marketing?
Pretty Links is the best free affiliate marketing plugin you can use. It offers you powerful features with its free version that you can use to cloak your affiliate URL in a quick and simple way. But, if you want to unlock all its key features, you can purchase a plan from their official website.
That’s our list of the best WordPress affiliate plugins. You may also want to take a look at the 11+ Powerful WordPress Lead Generation Plugins Compared.
To add to that, here are other articles you may be interested in reading.
The first article will show you how to drive more targeted traffic, which is essential to increasing your affiliate revenue. The next post discusses how to track affiliate links in WordPress using Google Analytics. While the third article lists the 7 best Amazon Affiliate WordPress plugins and compares them.
The post 12 Best WordPress Plugins for Affiliate Marketers (2024) first appeared on IsItWP - Free WordPress Theme Detector.
]]>The post 6+ Best Local SEO Tactics Beyond Google Business Profiles first appeared on IsItWP - Free WordPress Theme Detector.
]]>Google just announced that they are shutting down all Google Business sites (formally, Google My Business sites). Even though they are not closing Google Business Profiles, just the sites they made, this still affects many businesses.
Plus, we just don’t know what this search engine giant will do next, seeing that this was a very sudden decision.
This is scary for many businesses because many use Google Business sites to get local leads and customers.
With that said, it is evident that Google is not afraid to make big search engine optimization changes. So, the best thing you can do to move and stay ahead of the competition is to reduce reliance on Google.
In this article, we will look at 6+ best local SEO tactics you can use beyond your Google Business profile.
Local SEO is a combination of strategies meant to help your business show up in local search engine results. It helps optimize visibility for the people living close to or around your business.
SEO localization has grown over the past couple of years as more people look for convenient ways to get products or services around them.
In fact, 46% of all Google searches have local intent, meaning almost half the people looking for something online, first consider how close the business is. To add to this, 76% of people who do a local search visit a store within a day.
These statistics show that by optimizing your business for the local community, you are better placed to get more leads, sales, and conversions.
Now, keywords with purchase or conversion intent are usually very difficult to rank in regular SERPs. After all, these keywords are the ones that make money for companies. Which means there is stiff competition for them.
As a result, most local businesses cannot compete for such keywords. On top of this, if Google uses the same criteria for local search as it does regular SERPS, it would make it difficult for users to find a business near them easily.
For this reason, Google focuses on three main areas for local rankings:
As you have seen, Local SEO has three main pillars: proximity, prominence, and relevance. When you want to improve your local SEO, these are the main areas you would want to focus on.
So, with this in mind, here are the ranking signals you should focus on to improve your local SERPs.
It is important to mention that a well-optimized GBP listing can help you with most of the factors listed above. But, just optimizing your Google Business Profile may not be enough to rank in competitive local SERPs.
So, here are 6+ local SEO tactics beyond your Google Business Profile (formally, Google My Business).
Before you start working on anything, it is important to know what your competitors are already doing. The main aim of this is to see what strategies other local businesses are using and then outdo them with your implementation.
Competitor analysis helps you see what is already working for others so you can build on it. Think of competitor analysis as the initial planning phase, where you will identify everything you need to do beforehand.
Remember to select at least 3 businesses for the analysis. This ensures you have enough data, making it easier to interpret the information.
Here are what you should look for on your local competitor websites.
Now that you know what you need to look at when doing a competitor analysis for the local market, here are the tools you need.
The first tool you should consider is SEMRush.
SEMRush is one of the best SEO analysis tools and the perfect way to first identify your competitors. It can compile all your competitors by looking at niches, types of content, keywords, intent, and more. Then, create a list of competitors for you to work on.
While it is easy to look at similar small businesses in the community and simply say: “Companies X and Y are my competition,” SEMRush will give you the actual numbers to back it up.
It will also help you identify what keywords your competitors are using so that you can copy them.
This will help you borrow important keywords from other local businesses before you do your own keyword analysis. You can even use this list of competitor keywords to get similar phrases not used by your competitors, and with better search volumes.
On top of this, SEMRush can help you identify your competitors’ backlink profiles. You can then use the common links, directory entries, and citations you find from your competitors to kick-start your backlink strategy.
Sadly, SEMRush is a premium tool that can be pricey for beginners.
So Instead, you can use Similar Web, one of the best free websites and competitor analysis tools. It can help you see how much traffic a site is receiving. To add to this, you can also find out where they are getting their visitors from and so much more.
It also comes as a browser extension which means you do not need to use its website to run your analysis, making the process easier.
If you are still unsure of the competitor analysis SEO tool to use, you can check out this article on SEMRush vs Ahrefs.
Once you identify what your competitors are doing and the keywords they are using, it is time to carry out your own keyword analysis.
The aim of a keyword analysis is to identify phrases that are most likely to drive traffic to your site. But there are probably dozens of businesses in your area offering the same services. This means you are competing to rank the same keywords.
To help you do a proper keyword analysis you should focus on the factors below.
Carrying out a keyword analysis is very similar to a competitor analysis. The biggest difference is that the focus is on your site and needs, not on others.
With that in mind, SEMRush is still one of the best keyword analysis tools.
You can easily identify the best keywords for your campaign because of how well the tool has arranged all the data. The first thing you will notice is that there is a column for different metrics next to each keyword.
For example, there is a column for “Keyword Intent,” which is very important for local SEO.
This helps you to quickly learn what users are actually looking for when they search for something. In turn, it can help you intentionally structure your content better.
So, to apply this practically, keywords with Informational Intent consist of “How to,” “What is,” and other similar phrases. On the other hand, Local Intent keywords consist of phrases like “Restaurants near me” and “Plumber in [City].”
SEMRush will also display the search volumes, the keyword difficulty, and the pages that rank well for the phrase. All this local information will help you create a SEO report comprising the best keywords to use.
If you want to learn more about this SEO tool, check out our complete SEMRush review here.
But as mentioned, SEMRush is a premium tool. So, you can use the following free tools to brainstorm for local keywords as well.
Improving local SEO is easier when you work on on-page and technical SEO together. This is because many of the techniques that help one also benefit the other.
Let us explain.
On-page SEO is the process of optimizing individual pages to improve search visibility. On the other hand, technical SEO is the process of optimizing the technical side of your site. This improves your chances of appearing in local search results.
When doing local SEO, a holistic approach is a great way for a beginner to ensure you do not leave out anything.
Here is what you should focus on when optimizing On-page local SEO.
Now let’s look at what to consider when doing technical local SEO.
As mentioned, the best way to approach technical and on-page SEO is to tackle them at the same time. This way, you can have both these tactics improving your local SEO at the same time.
So, it makes more sense to get one SEO plugin that can carry out both functions.
Luckily, All in One SEO is the best solution.
AIOSEO is the best local SEO plugin because it can handle both on-page and technical SEO. It makes these processes simple, taking you through everything step by step. This means you do not need to hire an expert or have coding experience, saving you money and helping you become more independent.
First, let us see how AIOSEO can help you with local on-page SEO optimization.
As we mentioned, on-page optimization is more about your content. It is about creating compelling content that appeals to your audience. And at the same time, it is about using keywords in a natural way, allowing Google to rank you better in the local SERPs.
So, to make it easy for you to create amazing and optimized content, AIOSEO easily integrates with your WordPress editor. This allows you to quickly optimize your content as you create it, saving you time and making it more convenient.
First, to optimize your title, AIOSEO comes with a “Header Analyzer” with a score of 0-100. The higher the score the better the title.
The title score is obtained from the use of header elements like uncommon words, common words, emotional words, power words, and more. But what makes this score system really work is that AIOSEO also provides you with suggestions and SEO tips on ways to improve the header.
Plus, if you want to experiment with different titles first before making changes to your current header, this SEO plugin also offers a “Try New Header” feature.
Now, just like the Header Analyzer, All in One SEO also comes with a Content Score feature as well.
Here, this plugin analyzes SEO content elements to give your content a score between 0-100. These factors include readability, external and internal links, content length, paragraph length, subheading distribution, Flesch score, and more. These factors ensure your text is easy to read and more user-friendly.
The best part is that the scores change in real-time as you write and edit the content. This gives you an opportunity to change it on the spot so you don’t forget, streamlining your work better.
To add to this, you can optimize a focus keyword and other additional keyword phrases in the content.
AIOSEO will tell you how many times and where you should add your keywords. Other than optimizing for text search, this feature also helps you optimize voice search through long tail keywords. You can use the “Add Additonal Keyphrases” feature to check how naturally these phrases fit into your content
Now, once you optimize your content, you can go below your WordPress editor, where you will find AIOSEO Settings.
Here, you can add a meta description and title for Google, helping you do some of the technical SEO techniques right in your WordPress editor immediately after your content is ready. To add to this, you can also use tags to make meta title and description creation easier.
Now that you have seen how this plugin can help with on-page SEO, let’s see how it can help with technical SEO.
To improve the technical side of SEO, it is important to have a starting point so that you can see how your website improves after.
Because of this, you can use AIOSEO Overview to help you identify what SEO practices you have done well and what needs improvement. To add to this, AIOSEO provides an “SEO Site Score” which rates your website from 1-100. This scoring system comes with a circle graph, which helps you visually understand the site’s score.
Now, this SEO plugin will walk you through how you improve your score by first carrying out an SEO audit and showing you recommendations.
These SEO tips help you identify important issues that need to be fixed. Some of the issues you may need to fix include; page requests slowing your site down, ALT texts not present in your images, Meta information, links, and more.
As part of technical local SEO with AIOSEO, you can change how your entire site appears on search results, not just for a single post. This simplifies technical SEO for you, ensuring you complete the process faster.
You can also go a step further and customize how posts or pages appear in search results. And on top of that, you can decide to add a post to search results by turning on or off a toggle button. This can help you organize your site better and help present your content better in local search results.
Now, AIOSEO allows you to create different types of sitemaps, such as Video Sitemaps, News Sitemaps, HTML Sitemaps, and RSS Sitemaps. You can also state how often you want your sitemaps updated and how many links should be in.
This means you can use All in One SEO to optimize any type of website and conversion metric. This includes adding local elements and URLs to your sitemaps so that you can optimize your site for the local search.
To help you further with technical SEO, AIOSEO comes equipped with a Robots.txt Editor that overrides the default file that WordPress creates.
This gives you better control to communicate to Google which pages you want crawled. You can customize your Robot.txt file with a simple dropdown menu, allowing you to index your location pages better.
It is important to point out that some of the local SEO features can only be accessed with a premium version of the plugin. To learn more about this check out this article on All in One SEO Free vs Pro.
Plus if you are looking for an alternative SEO plugin, check out this post on AIOSEO vs Rank Math.
Schema markup is also referred to as structured data. It is a way you communicate to search engines where all your important business information is. This data can help Google create Rich Results, which include maps, reviews, recipes, ratings, and more.
Rich Results are an amazing way to improve click-through rates because they offer additional information that captures a user’s attention.
Take, for example, this ordinary Google search snippet. It does not offer much information or much visual appeal. This can make it less likely to get clicks.
On the other hand, here is an example of a Rich Result snippet. As you can see, it offers a star rating, which immediately gives you more information about the product, making it more likely to get clicks.
Here are other reasons to set up your local business Schema.
It is important to point out that if you structure your local Schema properly, there is a higher chance of it appearing in the featured snippets section at the top of the search results. This can position your WordPress website as an authoritative source and improve its visibility and click-through rate.
We will turn to All in One SEO once again to add the local business schema because of how easy this plugin makes the process.
First, you can access any post’s Schema right in your WordPress editor page. In AIOSEO Setting, below the page text box, you will see the “Schema Setting” tab. Here, you can add one using the many Schema templates provided by AIOSEO.
Some of the templates you can expect include articles, products, software, events, music, videos, fact checks, how-to, courses, services, and many more. If you do not find a template you want to use, AIOSEO allows you to add a custom Schema in JSON-LD Format.
This SEO WordPress plugin offers a way to validate the Schema and ensure it works perfectly without breaking anything on the live page with a click of a button.
As mentioned, Google uses your local Schema to help organize your content better and show rich results in SERPs.
But, what if you could use a similar idea to help your users navigate your site with AIOSEO?
Breadcrumbs are a navigational aid displayed on a website, often near the top of a page. They help show the user’s path from the homepage to the current page. This can help your users go back and forth between pages on your site and understand content hierarchy better, improving your user experience.
The best part about adding breadcrumbs with AIOSEO is that you can choose the placement method most convenient for you. You can decide to add them using Gutenberg Blocks, shortcode, widgets, or PHP code.
If you want to learn more about this local SEO plugin, check out our full review on All in One SEO here.
One of the best ways to improve local SEO is to have a well-optimized Contact Us page. This is because a structured contact page is an important local search ranking factor to the Google algorithm.
It serves as the main page that both Google and searchers use to get more information about your company.
For example, when users search for your local business, they often use specific terms related to contact information, such as “near me,” “contact,” or “phone number.” This means, having a clear and easy-to-access contact page ensures that your business information can be found quickly.
Other reasons to have a contact page on your website include:
An informative contact page is one of the best ways to build trust with your users. It assures them that they can easily reach out to your business, even if they have an issue with the product. This is particularly important for local businesses that rely on local customers.
When creating your Contact Us page, you should consider an easy-to-use drag and drop builder. This visual builder should allow you to design the page easily, and in any direction you want. You should also select one that allows you to add Local SEO elements without touching a line of code.
With that in mind, SeedProd is the perfect solution!
SeedProd is the best page and site builder because it has an amazing and easy-to-use front-end editor. Its drag and drop builder allows you to place your page elements exactly where you would like them to appear.
To add to this, it comes with plenty of page templates you can start building from without any coding experience.
You can also create page templates which you can use to build other pages or sites faster. On top of this, you can also create a custom theme and make your site even more unique and customized.
With just a few clicks, SeedProd allows you to quickly name your Contact Us page and give it an SEO-friendly URL to help with local searches. To add to that, you can add different local element blocks such as Google Maps, Navigation menu, Team Members, business hours, and more. You can also easily add a Contact Us form, allowing your users to email you from your Contact page easily.
Even though SeedProd can help you create a Contact Us page with a few local elements, it may not help you add them all.
To add all local SEO elements to your Contact Us page, you will need the AIOSEO plugin.
AIOSEO comes with many local SEO blocks that seamlessly integrate with the Gutenberg WordPress Editor. These local SEO blocks from AIOSEO include Local Business Info, Opening Hours, Maps, Breadcrumbs, HTML Sitemaps, Location Categories and more.
You can structure your NAP on this page in any way you want because AIOSEO provides separate blocks for each piece of information.
But, if Gutenberg blocks are not for you, AIOSEO allows you to add your NAP in different ways, including shortcode, widget, or PHP code.
Plus, you can also customize your maps to display in different styles. You can use Roadmap, Hybrid, Terrain, or Satellite. You can also upload a custom map as an image if you want to offer a unique way to show directions.
Another page that is very important for local SEO is a review or testimonial page.
In the past, people in the same area would ask their neighbors, family, or friends where to get a certain service. Or if they find a service, they would ask around to know who in their group has used the company before and their experience with it.
Such recommendations helped improve trust and spread news about a business through word of mouth.
Today, reviews and testimonials still serve a similar purpose. They show your potential customers what your past customers think about your business all in one place. This can improve trust and lead to more sales.
To add to that, reviews are a top local SEO factor. Google looks at the number and quality of reviews you have received to determine your prominence in the local SERPs.
Here are other reasons to have a testimonial page for your Local SEO.
Another way reviews and testimonials help improve your business in the local market is by using FOMO. Positive reviews can create the Fear Of Missing Out which can lead to more people buying your product.
When you are looking for the best way to create a testimonial page, it is important to find one that can help you easily collect and manage them from different review pages.
That is why Thrive Ovation is the perfect testimonial solution!
Thrive Ovation is the best testimonial plugin because it can help you get reviews from different platforms like Yelp and Google Reviews and add them to your testimonial page. In fact, it can help you import social media and site comments as well to a testimonial page with 1 click.
But it doesn’t just collect testimonials for you, it can also help you build a stunning testimonial page with integration with Thrive Architect, the best landing page builder. To add to that, you can customize the entire testimonial page or just individual reviews with different styles, layouts, fonts, and more.
Now, you don’t need any design or CSS skills to use this plugin. Thanks to its user-friendly drag-and-drop builder and many customizable templates you can simply move different page elements.
To add to this, you can manage your testimonials through a dedicated dashboard. Here, you can review, approve, reject, tag, and do so much more with your testimonials.
It also allows you to easily seek approval for past customers’ reviews as testimonials. This removes any legal implications of using someone else’s image or likeness.
It does this by sending an email directly from your WordPress dashboard. Once your past customer gives you consent, the plugin automatically moves it to the “ready to use” column. After this, you can add it to your testimonial page.
Another tool you can use to add testimonials to a page is SeedProd!
As mentioned, Seedprod comes with many local SEO blocks to help you build your pages.
One of these blocks is SeedProd’s Testimonial block, which allows you to add the information manually. With it, you to add the name, picture, position, and the review itself directly to the page.
Now, with SeedProd’s review block, you can integrate Google reviews into any page you want.
This website builder plugin makes it super easy to do this as all you need to do is add your Google Places API Key and Google Places ID. You can filter out the reviews you don’t want displayed by using the rating or the review date, ensuring you get the best testimonials.
To add to this, you can set the minimum star rating of the review so that it appears on your testimonial page. This lets you automate your testimonial page so it can update according to your customization settings.
To help you customize your reviews even more, you can personalize everything from the review date color to the reviewer name font style and image sizes. You can also set a character limit to create a preview of the review. If your users want to read more of it they will need to click on “Read More.” This can help you add more reviews to the page without making it look crowded or spammy.
Congratulations! You now know more about the best local SEO tactics beyond Google Business Profiles (formally, Google My Business Profile). If you have more questions, check out our FAQs below.
What free local SEO plugin can I use?
The best free local SEO plugin is undoubtedly All in One SEO. This plugin can help you optimize your site with local keywords straight in your WordPress editor. It can help you set up how you want to appear in the local results page. But, to access all its features, you will need to purchase one of their plans.
Can I do my own Google local SEO?
Yes, you can do your own local SEO optimization. But, you will need experience in carrying out keyword research and optimizing your pages. Luckily, today there is AIOSEO, the best Local SEO plugin that can walk you through everything you need to do to rank in a particular area.
Is on-page optimization important for local SEO?
Absolutely! On-page local SEO involves adding keywords related to a specific area, making it very different from regular SEO. You also need to add local meta information to ensure Google understands that you are a business in the area. You can use All in One SEO to help you implement both local on-page and technical SEO.
Should I connect my Google reviews to my website?
Most Definitely! Google reviews are one of the best ways to show authority and build trust. But, some people may not see them since they are on your Google Business Profile. To add to this, Google reviews are a great way to also get local citations. You can use a tool like Thrive Ovation to import them to your site with 1-click.
That’s it! We hope you enjoyed reading this article. You can follow this up by reading about how to maximize your local SEO after Google Business Sites shut down.
To add to this, here are more posts you may be interested in.
The first article lists 8 of the best online content optimization to help you improve your SEO. The next post compares All in One SEO and Rank Math, two of the best SEO plugins. While the last article talks about the 10 best tools to help grow your site traffic.
The post 6+ Best Local SEO Tactics Beyond Google Business Profiles first appeared on IsItWP - Free WordPress Theme Detector.
]]>The post Beaver Builder Review: Our Hands-On Insights for this Page Builder first appeared on IsItWP - Free WordPress Theme Detector.
]]>Are you looking for an easy-to-use page builder?
Beaver Builder is one of the most powerful drag and drop page builders today. Its front-end editor makes it super convenient to create any type of page. Plus, it comes with plenty of modules and templates to help you design. With these, you can also create and save your own page templates that you can use elsewhere on your site.
As a result, Beaver Builder can help you create any type of page, such as a contact page, blog page, about us page, and more. with just a few clicks and no coding experience.
The best part is that you can use Beaver Builder on unlimited sites, helping you keep your site building costs down.
In this review, we will look at the features that set this front-end page builder apart. In the end, you will learn if it is right for you.
When you’re looking for a theme for your WordPress website, you can buy a theme that looks closest to what you have in mind. You will have to rely on the theme’s features to customize it.
Or, you can hire a WordPress developer to work out a theme exactly as you’ve imagined. This will be costly and may not work out as nicely as you’d hope.
Last, you can use a page builder plugin to build your website block by block. This will give you the freedom to use any layout you want, making it more user friendly and great for SEO. Use multiple layouts for different pages and sidebars, and use your own colors, styles, and content anywhere on your site.
There are plenty of page builder plugins. Some of them are very difficult to use, and some of them have too much bloat packed into them.
The perfect page builder plugin for WordPress should allow you to create your website in live mode. It should be fast and easy to use. If you ever decide to use something else, it should not leave a mess behind.
Luckily, Beaver Builder checks all these boxes. Next, let us look at why you should try out Beaver Builder.
Beaver Builder is one of the best drag and drop page builders today. It is perfect for beginners because it can help create fully responsive pages with no coding or CSS experience.
As mentioned, this page-building plugin also offers over 30 prebuilt templates that can help you create different types of websites. These templates provide a starting point for beginners, helping them structure their pages and ensuring a professional look without starting from scratch.
At the same time, it is perfect for advanced WordPress users because it allows them to add custom code to their designs through CSS. This flexibility enables developers to add complex functionalities or design elements, not just the standard drag-and-drop features.
Plus if you want to build more than just pages, you can try out Beaver Themer. This Beaver addon can help you create an entire site by helping you add headers, footers, archive pages, and more. It does this by helping you edit the theme files without coding.
Whatever your experience level, it is clear Beaver Builder can cater to you. This is because of its balance of user-friendly features and advanced functions for experienced developers and designers.
Now that you understand Beaver Builder better, here is how we have broken down the review to help you understand this WordPress page builder plugin better.
When looking for a convenient page builder plugin, the first thing you should consider is the ease of installing it and setting it up.
With this in mind, Beaver Builder offers both free and premium. The free version comes with basic page-building features and is a great way to test out the plugin before making a purchase.
Getting started with the Beaver Builder Lite is very simple.
All you have to do is go to your WordPress dashboard and head over to Plugins » Add New Plugin. Once you are in your plugin repository, use the search bar and find “Beaver Builder.” You will then install and activate the plugin as you would any other.
That’s It! At this point, you are ready to use Beaver Builder for free.
To use the Beaver Builder Pro you will need to purchase a plan.
To do this, head over to the official website and sign up. This page builder plugin offers 4 plans, meaning you can find one that suits both your budget and needs.
Once you have paid for your plan, go to “My Account” in your Beaver Builder dashboard and download the plugin’s ZIP file to your PC.
Remember to also copy the “Activation Key” as you will need it to activate the premium version of the plugin.
Now, in your WordPress dashboard, first, delete the free version if you have it installed. This will ensure that there is no plugin conflict.
Then, head over to Plugins » Add New Plugin as before. But instead of using the search bar, hit “Upload Plugin.”
You will then drag and drop the Beaver Builder file you downloaded early to the upload area and “Install.” Once it installs, follow this up by hitting the “Activate” button.
Then, when the plugin activates, it will automatically redirect you to Settings » Beaver Builder under the “License” tab.
Now, paste the Activation Key you copied earlier, and just like that you are ready to use Beaver Builder Pro.
As you can see, it takes a really short time to install this plugin. If you need any help, check out this article on how to install a plugin.
With Beaver Builder installed, let’s see how to set it up!
What we really like about this plugin’s setup process is that Beaver Builder has separated its “Settings Menu” from its “Feature Menu.”
As you have seen, Beaver Builder settings are under your WordPress Settings menu. This ensures you do not get confused when you want to set up the plugin.
To add to this, Beaver Builder settings options are well arranged in a vertical tab, making it even more convenient to find what you are looking for.
Now, when you go to Settings Beaver Builder, you are able to set up the following.
As you can see, Beaver Builder ensures that you have everything set up in a very simple way before you start building pages.
This ensures you do not need to go back and forth between your WordPress dashboard and Beaver Builder front-end editor while you are building pages. As a result, you can enjoy a better user experience.
Speaking of user experience, let’s look at Beaver Builder’s ease of use next.
You may recall from Beaver Builder’s settings that you can switch on or off the front-end editor for posts and pages. So, before you get started, it is important to ensure that you have switched on the page builder for the content you want to edit.
For this Beaver Builder review, we will focus on the page builder for pages. But remember it is the same for posts as well.
There are 3 main ways to access Beaver Builder in your WordPress dashboard.
The first is going to “All Pages” where you will see a list of all your pages. Here, hover over the page you want to edit, and the “Beaver Builder” option will appear. Once selected, you will be redirected to the front-end editor.
The next way you can access Beaver Builder page builder is by selecting “Edit” on a new page or an existing one. By default, you will open the block editor (Gutenberg Editor), but remember we want to use Beaver builder to build the page.
So you will use the Plus(+) icon to search for the “Beaver Builder Block.”
Then, when you find the block, you will place it anywhere on the page. The block will then give you the option to use the Standard Editor(Block Editor) or Launch Beaver Builder.
All you have now is to hit “Launch Beaver Builder” to open its live editor.
Now, the third way you can launch Beaver Builder is by opening any page while you are logged in to your WordPress dashboard. There are plenty of options at the top, such as Edit Site, Edit Post, Caching, and so on.
You will also notice the Beaver Builder Icon here. Select it, and you should be redirected to the visual page builder.
You may wonder why the creators of Beaver Builder found it necessary to have so many ways to access their visual builder.
But, Beaver Builder is all about making page building convenient for you. So, wherever you are on your site, be it in the front end or back end, you can launch this drag and drop builder with 1 click.
Let’s take a look at the actual front-end editor for Beaver Builder works.
The first thing we noticed is that Beaver Builder offers a full-screen preview screen unlike most page builders today. This makes it more user-friendly as you can see the entire page at a glance, which makes page building easier.
The Customization menu has been tucked neatly at the side, and to access it, you will need to first click on the section you want to edit. The Customization menu has been divided into Modules, Templates, Rows, and Saved.
To edit your page, all you have to do is select any of these options and, using the drag and drop interface, move it to where you want on the page.
By default, the Customization menu is on the right. But you can move it permanently to the left if it makes more sense for you, making your page-building efforts more convenient.
Now, to access the Tools menu, hit the down arrow next to the Beaver Builder icon on the left. The Tools menu consists of options to Publish Layout, Save Template, Preview Layout, and more. This can help you quickly make adjustments to the live page without moving from the drag and drop visual builder.
We should also mention that though Beaver Builder is very easy to use, we had issues finding the “Undo” or “Redo” buttons. These options are usually well displayed on other page builders as they make it easy to go back when you make an error or go forward if you want to redo something.
Instead of getting these buttons straight on the preview window, you will have to go to the “Tools” menu and access History. Here you will see a list of your past editing actions you can select and undo. While this is a good Undo Redo feature, it may not be practical in all situations.
Next, let’s look at how to use Beaver Builder to edit or create a page.
A feature that really caught our eye is how easy it is to adjust the size or number of columns and rows without using the Row tab in the Customization menu.
First of all, when you hover over a section on the page, 2 borders will appear around it. The outermost is the row border, and the innermost is the column border. On top of each border, you will see options to edit, duplicate, remove, or move the section.
Now, when you move your mouse to the side column border, you will be able to easily adjust the width by using the drag and drop feature. This allows you to better place your column exactly how you envisioned it.
To add to this, if you add a new module to the page, the visual editor will automatically adjust to accommodate the new page element by creating a new column or row. This ensures that your Beaver Builder modules fit easily on your page without you needing to carry out additional steps.
Now that you know how to add and edit the page modules, rows, and columns, the question is, how do you edit the page text?
As you have seen by now, Beaver Builder loves giving you options. And when it comes to adding content, it is no different. With that said, Beaver Builder gives you two ways to add content to the page.
The first and most straightforward is adding content directly to the page itself.
When you select a column, you can edit the content just as you would any other module on the page. So, you can just delete what is presently there and add the new content you want.
But, the biggest problem with this content-adding method is limited styling options. Even so, you can add bold, italics, underline, links, and text alignment.
Now the second method you can add content using Beaver builder is through the Text Editor in the Customization menu. Here, you can simply delete and add content like with the other method.
But on top of that, you can add media, change the font style, add text shadow, change margins, and so much more. You can even edit the content page in HTML or add header tags with Beaver Builder’s Text Editor.
Since the Text Editor is still part of the front-end editor, it gives you the perfect opportunity to make any type of text adjustment and still view the page as it would look live.
Now, once you make all the content and column adjustments to the row as you would like, Beaver Builder allows you to save it as a module. This means you can use the row again on other pages, making your site-building process easy.
To add to that, you can also save the module as “Global,” ensuring that the module is added across all your pages automatically.
But, other than saving a module, Beaver Builder also allows you to easily create and save templates.
All you have to do is go to Beaver Builder » Templates. This will open a page where you see all the templates you have created. On top of this, each template has a shortcode which you can use to add it to any page.
Next to each template you also have the option to edit it by launching Beaver Builder page build.
Now, below the Beaver Builder Template submenu, you also get Saved Rows, Saved Columns, And Saved Modules. You can use these submenu options to view saved items and use them on other pages.
To add to this, you can simply hit “Add New” which will allow you to create a new template. On this page, you will also see a dropdown that you can use to add a saved row or module.
Beaver Builder will also give you the option to add the row or module to “Global.” This means the row or module will be added across your site not just to a specific page. This makes it super easy to build consistent pages with similar spacing, layouts and styles.
On top of that, you can also create and save categories easily from the backend. You can use these categories to classify your content and pages later with your front-end page builder to help improve user experience and navigation for your visitors.
Now that you understand more about the drag and drop builder, Beaver Builder’s main feature, let us look at what else it can do.
Whether you’re a WordPress beginner or a seasoned professional, you’ll love the powerful capabilities and intuitiveness of the Beaver Builder plugin.
1. Dozens of Creative Page Templates to Choose From
Beaver Builder comes with over 30 stunning page templates. The Beaver Builder plugin works on all WordPress themes, so you don’t have to change your favorite theme to start using the plugin. In case you find any compatibility issues with your WordPress theme, you can reach out to their friendly support team and get the issues sorted out.
As long as you’re using a responsive WordPress theme, all the pages you create will be 100% responsive, meaning they look great on all devices.
You can use all Beaver Builder templates with any of your premium plans, with no hidden charges. To add to this, you can find templates for small businesses, eBooks, law firms, and many more.
You can also find many inner page templates such as contact pages, newsletter signups, about pages, pricing tables, and a lot more.
To save even more time, the plugin also allows you to save an infinite number of templates in the builder. Similarly, you can save both the raw and modules in the builder.
2. Position Your Content With Great Precision
Positioning images and text in your default WordPress page editor is a pain. With Beaver Builder’s frontend drag and drop page editor, you can easily position your content with great precision. Once you’ve finished editing, you can save the changes directly from the frontend or revert back to the last published state.
3. Get Complete Control of Your Content
Beaver Builder allows you to switch your theme without losing your content. If you decide to stop using Beaver Builder, your content gets ported right back into the WordPress editor.
4. Available as Both a Plugin and a Theme
Beaver Builder is available as both a plugin and a theme. The theme is a perfect balance of settings and functionality. You can customize the theme just as you edit your pages.
The Beaver Builder theme allows you to make live edits via the WordPress customizer. All your theme settings can be found in the customizer. That way, you can live-preview any of your theme settings changes.
The theme also comes with a wide variety of presets. With the click of a button, the presets automatically update the theme settings to create dozens of different styles.
Beaver Builder makes its documentation super easy to access whether you are a customer or not. First off, on its official website home page, You will see a menu option called Learn. This opens a dropdown menu that consists of a Blog, Knowledge Base, Videos, courses, and an About Us page.
The Learning menu is static on most pages on the Beaver Builder website, making it convenient to access it wherever you are on their site. Here is what it consisted of.
On the other hand, Beaver Builder makes it possible for you to access their documentation in your WordPress dashboard. This ensures you do not need to visit Beaver Builder’s website to access the documentation, once you log into WordPress.
All you have to do is go to Settings Beaver Builder in your WordPress dashboard. Next, you will access all the information you need under the tab Welcome.
Now, if you do not get help from the documentation, your first course of action should be to check out the forums and the Facebook groups to see if the issue has already been discussed. If not, you can contact support through a ticketing system to get assistance.
But to access Beaver Builder’s support, you first need to be a customer because you are required to log into your Beaver Builder account to fill out their contact form.
Unlike most WordPress page builders available on the market, Beaver Builder allows you to download a lite version of the plugin for free from the official WordPress repository.
If you don’t have a budget for all the premium features, you can get started with the lite version of Beaver Builder. The lite version comes with limited features and support.
The premium version of Beaver Builder is available in 4 different plans: Standard, Pro, Agency, and Ultimate. All plans allow you to use the page builder for unlimited sites and also offer world-class support for one year.
The only difference is that the Standard plan doesn’t come with the Beaver Builder theme. The Pro plan is shipped with the theme and multi-site capability. The Agency plan gives you all the features of the Pro plan. Plus, it enables you to white-label the builder. That way, you can build websites for your client sites while changing all instances of the words Page Builder and Beaver Builder in the WordPress admin area.
Take a look at the different Beaver Builder pricing plans (per year) here:
For the best deal, check out our Beaver Builder coupons!
Pros:
Cons:
The best alternative to Beaver Builder is SeedProd.
SeedProd is an awesome website theme builder and landing page builder.
It’s incredibly easy to use, making it a great choice for beginners.
First, it comes with built-in coming soon and maintenance mode. So you can hide your website while it’s under construction.
You can display a beautiful placeholder page with your logo and branding.
Next, there are plenty of themes to choose from to create pages, custom post types, and even an entire website.
Then, there’s a drag and drop builder to customize your site. There are so many blocks to choose from, including animated headlines, countdown timers, optin forms, and more.
In a nutshell, here’s SeedProd’s highlights:
Want to know more? See our complete SeedProd Review.
You may also want to check out more options here: The Best WordPress Page Builders.
We believe that Beaver Builder is one of the best and easy to use drag and drop page builder plugins for WordPress. Without a doubt, it’s one of the most downloaded WordPress page builders in existence and is best suited for websites of all sizes. Its easy-to-use user interface makes it convenient for anyone to build a highly customized WordPress website. It comes with all the powerful page-building features you could ever ask for.
We hope you enjoyed learning about Beaver Builder. If you have any more questions, check out the FAQs below.
Is Beaver Page Builder free?
Yes, Beaver Builder offers a free Lite version with limited features. But to access all its features and advanced functionalities, you will have to purchase the premium version of the plugin.
How do I add a PDF to Beaver Builder?
First, you will need to upload the PDF to your media library as you would any video or image. Then you will add a “Button” module with the Beaver Builder editor and customize it to match your branding or site style. Finally, you will add the PDF link to the Beaver Builder button module. That’s it! You can now add a PDF with Beaver Builder.
How do I open the Beaver Builder in WordPress?
You can open Beaver Builder by navigating to the page or post you want to edit in your WordPress dashboard. Then, all you have to do is select the “Page Builder” tab, which is located above the
content area, to launch the Beaver Builder interface.
Can I use third-party widgets with Beaver Builder?
Yes, Beaver Builder supports third-party widgets. In fact, they will show up in the Beaver Builder’s widget menu along with other default WordPress Widgets.
Now that you understand Beaver Builder in detail and you are ready to use it, here are 15+ best Beaver Builder themes for WordPress you can get started with.
To add to that, here are other articles you may be interested in.
The first article lists over 8 best WordPress page builders and themes. The second one talks about the 7 best Divi Builder alternatives to help you create a WordPress site. While the last post guides you on how to create a custom WordPress layout, step by step.
With that said, we give Beaver Builder 4.2 out of 5 stars. Here is a breakdown of our scoring system:
The post Beaver Builder Review: Our Hands-On Insights for this Page Builder first appeared on IsItWP - Free WordPress Theme Detector.
]]>The post 9 Best Social Proof Plugins for WordPress (Compared) first appeared on IsItWP - Free WordPress Theme Detector.
]]>A social proof plugin can help you display your interactions with past customers. This can help your future prospects make a decision on whether to purchase from you.
The reason social proof works so well is that the feedback about your product is not coming from you or from a marketer’s point of view. Instead, it is coming from someone who has first tested the product. To add to that, they have no reason to be biased or lie about your product.
So, a social proof plugin basically helps you tell your prospects: My clients were in the same situation you are now, and they chose to make a purchase from me. My product was so good that they went out of their way to offer reviews or testimonials.
As a result, social proof marketing is one of the most effective and easy-to-use conversion tools.
In this article, we have compared and ranked the best 9 social proof plugins we have tested. We discuss their key features, how to use them, and their pros & cons.
As mentioned, social proof tools are the best way to show potential clients what your clients think of your product.
They can help give your site visitors a better feel for your product without needing to purchase it first. This is especially important for digital products which can be hard to get a feel for before making a purchase.
But, at the same time, social proof is great for physical products. This is because past customers often describe properties such as quality, durability, ease of use, design, and so much more. And so, their reviews can help your prospects see if the product is right for them.
Now, it is not just prospects who benefit from such user-generated content. As a business owner, you can use social proof concepts, such as customer reviews and testimonials, to improve both your company and your product. It is important to listen to the feedback you get since your customers are the ones actually using your product and know what they need.
Here are other reasons why you should consider a social proof plugin.
As you can see, social proof tools give you an edge against your competitors. They can help improve your conversion rate by adding an element of FOMO to your marketing strategy.
But, just so you know, there are different types of social proofs you can capitalize on. Each type of social proof can give you an advantage in a different way.
Some social proof examples include:
Now that you understand what is social proof and how you can use it to your advantage, let’s dive in and discuss the best WordPress social proof plugins we have tried and tested.
If you want to view a particular plugin on the list, click on one of the links below to jump to that section. This will help you easily navigate through this in-depth article.
TrustPulse is the best social proof plugin because it helps create FOMO in real time around your site or product.
This FOMO plugin creates a sense of urgency by sending real-time eye-catching, bubble notifications to your visitors. These recent activity notifications could be about purchases, form submissions, signups, the number of people on a page, and any other metric you would like to share with your users.
The best part about TrustPulse alert bubbles is that they are not intrusive, meaning they do not get in the user’s way.
One of the best things we noticed about this social proof tool is that it can automatically detect your online store and share recent transactions. This removes the headache of updating your bubbles and keeping your content fresh all the time.
TrustPulse is also user-friendly and easy to customize.
You can personalize the bubbles so that they match your brand by changing the image, background color, text style, and more. You can follow this up by making the bubble clickable by adding a link. To add to this, you can also set them up on specific pages or across your entire WordPress site if you want.
As a result, you can use TrustPluse as a social proof plugin but also for event signups, product launches, newsletter signups, and more.
Now, TrustPulse allows you to set up a delay for the bubble.
This allows your user to view the page for a specific period before the alert bubble shows up. To add to this, you can set up how long the bubble should appear. This ensures your user is not distracted by the alert notification before they look through the page.
But, even though TrustPulse is a simple WordPress plugin to use, it comes packed with features.
One of its stand-out features is “Smart Targeting.”
This allows you to target the right visitor at the right time. With this feature, you can personalize the product name, user name, cost, message, and the timing of the popup notification. As a result, you can improve engagement and your conversion rate by using this simple automation process.
Another feature that caught our eye is “On-Fire.”
This feature allows you to show the total number of site visitors who completed a specific task over a period of time. In addition to this feature capitalizing on the fear of missing out, like with the real-time notification feature, the On-Fire notification can also help your visitors trust your brand more.
For example, you can use this feature to display a popup notification like: “100 People Made a Purchase in the Last 7 Days.”
This immediately tells your potential clients that plenty of people trusted you in the past 7 days alone, giving you credibility and improving your odds of making a sale.
But, you can also improve your site engagement by “Gamifying” your TrustPulse notifications.
As mentioned, this plugin allows you to delay the bubble notification, set durations, what pages the bubbles appear on, and optimize the alert appearance.
With this in mind, you can use these features to create a contest or challenge. For example, you can ask your visitors to look out for easter eggs or promos on your site through the bubbles. This can help them stay longer on your site, and have fun while at it, improving your engagement.
The best part is that other than WordPress, you can also use TrustPulse on Squarespace, Shopify, Woocommerce, BigCommerce, and more.
Pros:
Cons:
Check out our TrustPulse review here.
Get started with TrustPulse here.
Pricing: The basic plan starts from $5 per month, billed annually. You also get a 14-day money-back guarantee, no questions asked.
Thrive Ovation is the most powerful testimonial plugin, making it the perfect social proof tool. The best part is that it can convert your social media and site comments into testimonials with 1 click.
To simplify this process further, it also automatically collects the user name and picture of the reviewer, making the testimonial more authentic.
Now, Thrive Ovation makes it super easy to build a page and add testimonials to it through Thrive Architect, the best landing page builder. If you do not want to build a testimonial page, you can add your testimonials to any existing page through shortcodes.
To add to that, it comes with plenty of templates you can start building from so you do not need any design experience to use it. Plus, you can also customize the testimonials page to fit your brand with a drag and drop builder.
Thrive Ovation allows you to add and customize columns, grids, slides, text, style, background color, and more. It even comes with standalone templates to personalize individual testimonials.
Without Thrive Ovation, you will need to use manual processes like screenshots and copy-paste to move comments from social media, your other sites, or pages to your testimonial page.
Instead, you can import comments directly from social media with Thrive Ovation.
You can also get comments from your other sites and pages by using shortcodes, Thrive Leads, or Thrive Architect.
But this testimonial plugin also gives you the default method of manually adding testimonials by copy-pasting them directly from other platforms and saving them.
Then, Thrive Ovation will store them in its dedicated dashboard right in your WordPress backend, ready to be used as testimonials.
This powerful dashboard not only automatically collects testimonials in one central place, but helps you manage them. If you want only specific comments collected, don’t worry because this plugin can assist you with that as well.
To add to this, the testimonial library allows you to approve, request approval, decline, leave pending, and do so much more.
Plus, the Thrive Ovation dashboard comes with a tag system.
This makes it easy to filter out testimonials and display dynamic content, improving user experience.
Other than this, you can add tags manually if you imported them from other sites. Or, create an automatic tag if they are user-submitted, making the setup process easy and helping you manage your testimonials better.
Now, one of the biggest issues with testimonials is getting user consent.
Some of the reviews you get may be in the form of calls, texts, emails, and so on. As you can imagine, it can be difficult to ask such reviewers for permission to use their words.
Thrive Ovation has the perfect solution for this!
It allows you to use a mailing system of your choice to ask for permission to use the comments. Once the reviewer gives you the OK, Thrive Ovation will automatically move it to the “Approved” list. This lets you know it is ready for use as a testimonial.
To improve user experience, You can direct your reviewer to different pages depending on the answer they give. This gives you the perfect opportunity to thank them if they say yes, or convince them further if they say no.
Pros:
Cons:
Get started with Thrive Ovation here.
Pricing: Starts from $49 a year. Or get Thrive Suite at $299 per year and access all Thrive Themes plugins. You also get a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Smash Balloon is undoubtedly the best feeds plugin, making it excellent for social proofing. It can help you display your social media feeds in real time, showing your visitors the most current social media content and brand mentions from these platforms.
Feeds are an important social proof indicator because the information displayed is directly pulled from a third-party site you do not own. In other words, it simply aggregates your posts and user-generated comments from social websites like Facebook, making them more trustworthy.
To add to that, your visitors can also comment, tweet, and interact with these social posts right from your website.
This means they do not need to leave your site to engage with your social media content, leading to better dwell time. Remember that the more time people spend on your site, the more Google sees they are interested in your content. As a result, this can help you improve your SEO and rankings.
Plus, Smash Balloon offers infinity scrolling, which allows your users to scroll through your feeds as much as they want, spending even more time on your site.
Now, Smash Balloon feeds are highly customizable.
You can personalize the feed style, layout, background colors, text style, and so much more to match your brand and preferences with a drag and drop builder. This also ensures that the feeds do not look out of place, making your site look spammy and affecting user experience.
That’s not all, it comes with different ways to add your feeds.
For example, you can use a block, embed, or shortcode to add feeds, which allows even beginners to easily use this social media plugin with ease. This also ensures you can add the same feed to different pages or have multiple feeds on the same page.
You may be wondering how one plugin can cater to all social media platforms.
But Smash Balloon is a collection of plugins, each designed for different social media platforms.
Smash Balloon offers multiple plugins instead of one tool to do it all. This way, you only install the specific plugin you need, saving space and ensuring that Smash Balloon won’t impact your site’s performance.
To add to this, each of these plugins comes with unique features designed to ensure you create the best feed for a particular social media platform.
For example, Twitter Feed Pro from Smash Balloon allows you to create a feed from one specific user or multiple users on your feed. In fact, you can add up to 10 accounts to a single feed. You can also create feeds from hashtags to ensure you show trending content. Such flexibility, allows you to display many different testimonials and reviews through your feed.
On the other hand, Facebook Feed Pro allows you to add pages, groups, albums, events, Facebook reviews, and more to your feed. Again, this can help you show social proof by displaying comments about your product from people who have already purchased your product. Plus, it will automatically choose the best image sizes, ensuring your feed pictures are uniform, and your site speed is also not affected.
You can also use the following Smash Balloon plugins to help with social proof.
Now, even though Smash Balloon offers different feed plugins for different social media platforms, you can still combine them into one. Smash Balloon offers a Social Wall that allows you to add feeds from different social media platforms. This ensures that your visitors can view content from all social media platforms in one place.
Pros:
Cons:
Check out our Smash Balloon review here.
Get started with Smash Balloon here.
Pricing: Starts from $49 for one plugin. Get the All Access Bundle for $299. You also get a 30-day money-back guarantee.
OptinMonster is the best lead generation and conversion plugin. It can help you create beautiful optin forms that actually convert without being pushy or intrusive.
You can display different types of campaigns such as Popups, Fullscreen Welcome Mat, Slideins, Floating Bars, Inline Forms, and more.
Because of this, OptinMonster is the perfect social proof tool to help you visually display key features, case studies, influencer endorsements, testimonials, Industry awards and trust certificates, and more.
Since OptinMonster campaigns are built for conversions, they can also help you get more subscribers and leads while displaying social proof.
Take a look at a popup example by Syed Balkhi that leverages social proof to encourage form submissions.
But, its many customization properties are what make it the perfect social proof plugin.
First of all, OptinMonster comes with over 100 templates that can help you build an optin campaign.
Each of these templates has been designed to help you achieve something specific, such as growing your mailing list, getting more likes on social media, showing social proof, and many more.
To add to this, you also get templates for special days and celebrations such as Christmas, New Year, and more. This allows you to capitalize on the occasion and connect better with your users.
You can then customize these templates further to fit your brand with a drag and drop builder. This makes it super easy and convenient to create your social proof campaign.
But, if you do not get a template that works for you, OptinMonster allows you to create a social proof optin form from scratch with its drag and drop builder.
Now, to make your social proof campaign more effective, OptinMonster allows you to set display rules.
For example, the Exit-intent technology the plugin uses can notice when your user is about to leave your site and trigger an optin form. This can be the perfect opportunity to show them a case study or a testimonial wall to help build trust and keep them on your site.
You can also trigger such campaigns by:
Since you can set different targeting rules, you can create different social proof campaigns according to your user behavior and help increase conversions.
But, you can also use OptinMonster to collect social proof, not just display it.
This social proof and conversions plugin comes with amazing optin forms to help you collect visitor information such as name, phone number, and email address. But you can also use these forms for other purposes such as collecting reviews and testimonials.
To add to this, OptinMonster offers countdown timers to help you capitalize on FOMO and give your visitors a sense of urgency to complete the testimonial. Not only that, you can also gamify the campaign with spin-the-wheel optin forms to help improve engagement and ensure your visitors stay longer on your site.
Pros:
Cons:
Check out our OptinMonster review here.
Get started with OptinMonster here.
Pricing: Starts from $9 per month, billed annually for the basic plan. You also get a 14-day money-back guarantee.
WPForms is the best review and testimonial form builder, making it perfect for social proof. It does not only help you get more reviews and testimonials for your business but also helps you display them.
WPForms comes with over 1400 form templates for you to choose from. You can customize these templates with a drag and drop form builder to create the perfect testimonial or review form.
To create a review form all you have to do is launch the review template after installing the plugin.
You can then customize it as you want to match your brand or style. WPForms allows you to do this by dragging and dropping various fields into your review form template.
As a result, you can easily place them exactly where you want them to appear on the live page. And to top it off, you can add fields like user name, email address, a file upload field, and a review text box with just a few clicks.
Now, getting user consent to use comments and feedback as testimonials can be difficult and time-consuming. But, luckily WPForms allows you to bypass this problem by adding a “Checkbox” field to your review form.
You can even customize the checkbox message to ask for consent directly. For example, the checkbox can ask something like: “Mark this box to give permission to use your feedback for marketing efforts,” i.e., displaying it as a testimonial.
Now, once you set up the form you can add a “Preview Field” option to ensure your users don’t make a mistake while filling out the review. This way they can view their form and make any changes before submitting it.
Another approach is to use Rich Text. With this feature, you will not need to add fields like an upload file option; Rich Text will automatically add that for you.
On top of that, this feature also allows your users to style the text, add links, quotes and more. This ensures your forms are more engaging and makes it more likely your users will complete them.
You can also create a testimonial form with WPForms.
But to do this you will need the WPForms addon Post Submissions first installed and activated.
With this in mind, all you have to do is select the WPForms testimonial template and add fields to collect information, such as name, email, company, job title, and feedback.
You can even enhance the form by adding additional elements like a star rating or Rich Text fields.
As you can see it is very easy to create review and testimonial forms with WPForms. But, it is also just as easy to display them on your page, as you will just embed them.
To add to that, you can use Smart Tags to help automate notifications to you.
This way, you’ll receive an alert every time you have a review or testimonial submission.
This allows you to reach out to your user and say thank you, introduce yourself, or even offer a coupon. As a result, you can better build a relationship with your audience, leading to them speaking more good things about your company online. And hopefully, get a testimonial from them.
Pros:
Cons:
Check out our WPForms review here.
Get started with WPForms here.
Pricing: The basic plan starts from $39.60 per year. You also get a 14-day money-back guarantee, no questions asked.
Share Count is one of the best social proof plugins because it can help you add multiple social buttons like Twitter, Email, Facebook, Pinterest, etc, with ease.
It can help you display the share count on your post so that your site visitors can easily tell what posts other users are most interested in. At the same time, displaying the share count also encourages more users to share the content as well.
Apart from the social shares from Share Count offering social proof, they can help you reach new audiences and get more free traffic to your site.
But, a low share count may not be very advantageous, and displaying it can do more harm than good for your social proof. So instead, Share Count allows you to hide the share count until it meets a certain threshold.
On top of this, you can customize the share buttons easily to match your style. That way, they do not appear out of your place and result in your site looking spammy.
Share Count also allows you to place these buttons at different parts of your page. This ensures that you place the share count and buttons in the best location for your audience.
Pros:
Cons:
Get started with Share Count here.
Pricing: Free
Constant Contact is one of the best email marketing tools. It can help you build your email list by creating beautiful optin forms and landing pages with a drag and drop builder. Just like with OptinMonster, you can use the optin forms and landing pages to showcase your social proof, like case studies, as you collect new email subscriptions.
To add to this, Constant Contact allows you to display the number of subscribers you have on the lead magnets you create with it. The subscriber count is primarily used to encourage others to also sign up for the newsletter. But it is also an excellent way to show social proof.
On the other hand, you can also show social proof through your newsletters and emails once they subscribe.
Email marketing is still one of the most effective ways to communicate with your audience. But, it should also be used to tell your brand story, showcase success stories through case studies, encourage people to connect with you on social media, and more.
All these approaches could help show social proof and further build trust and credibility.
Pros:
Cons:
Check out our Constant Contact review here.
Get started with Constant Contact here.
Pricing: The basic plan starts from $12 a month.
Notification X is one of the best social proof plugins because it can help you set up alerts each time someone on your site takes an action. These can be anything from commenting, submitting a form, completing a survey, downloading a product, and more.
It also allows you to add these alerts to the entire site or specific pages, ensuring that the notifications are relevant and personalized. You can also add a timer to the notifications to create a sense of urgency and encourage your users to take action.
Notification X comes with an inbuilt analytics tool, helping you see which alerts are performing well. This can help you understand what type of alerts work best for your audience so you can focus your social proof marketing strategy around them.
This FOMO plugin integrates with WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, Zapier, MailChimp, LearnDash, and other popular plugins, allowing you to streamline your workflow better.
Pros:
Cons:
Get started with Notification X here.
Pricing: The basic plan starts from $39.
WPfomify is another excellent on-page notification plugin that makes it ideal for showing social proof. It can help you show recent sales and signups. On top of it, it can help you display the total number of people currently on the page.
This can help show your visitors that other people are also interested in the same content or product at the exact same time. As a result, you can capitalize on FOMO and, at the same time, make your visitors more confident in your product.
Speaking of the fear of missing out, you can create countdown notifications with WPfomify. This allows you to display time-limited offers to help boost conversions.
To add to this, you can also track how effective your alerts are as this WordPress plugin comes with UTM fields you can add to your Google Analytics. This creates a simple way for you to view all your other site metrics while also seeing the performance of your notifications.
Pros:
Cons:
Get started with WPfomify here.
Pricing: The basic plan starts from $99 a year.
That’s it! We hope you enjoyed learning about the best social proof plugins. If you have any more questions check out our FAQs below.
What are social Proof Examples?
Some of the best examples of social proof include reviews, case studies, testimonials, social media mentions, influencer endorsements, industry awards, and trust certificates.
Do I need a testimonial page?
Definitely, creating a testimonial page on your website is an excellent way to show your prospects what others think about your business and products. Many customers simply purchase a product because they see others speak highly of it. You can use Thrive Ovation to automatically compile testimonials from different places to your testimonial page.
Do I need consent to share a testimonial?
Yes, you need permission to use someone’s name or likeness in your testimonials. If they provide a review through a form it is important to add a checkbox that states that you may use the review for marketing purposes. Amazing social proofing tools you can use to help get testimonial consent include WPForms and Thrive Ovation.
Can I show social proof using a FOMO plugin?
Absolutely, you can use a FOMO plugin like TrustPulse to show social proof. It can help create a sense of urgency or show the scarcity of your product, which is great for social proof. On the other hand, it can motivate more users to make the purchase simply because others are buying it as well.
Congratulations! You are now in a better position to select the best social proof plugin for your business. But if you are looking for more marketing tools to boost sales, check out our Top 9 FOMO plugins to skyrocket conversions in WordPress.
To add to that, here are more articles we feel you might be interested in.
The first article lists the best push notification tools to help you grab your users’ attention. The next post discusses the best lead-generation plugins to help you grow your mailing list. While the last article focuses on how you can use social proof notifications to grow your email list.
The post 9 Best Social Proof Plugins for WordPress (Compared) first appeared on IsItWP - Free WordPress Theme Detector.
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