CAll Us: +1 888-999-8231 Submit Ticket

The 7 Best Dropshipping Plugins for WordPress & WooCommerce

Dropshipping gained massive popularity in the last few years. It’s known as a great ecommerce business model that can provide high profitability with low initial investment. Although there are a lot of differences between the two, if we compare dropshipping vs. ecommerce, what they have in common is the need for a strong online presence.

Building and managing your ecommerce store is the central part of your dropshipping business. Selling the best dropshipping products requires you to create a great representation of them online and set up a system that will ensure a smooth order fulfillment process.

WooCommerce is among the most popular WordPress plugins for ecommerce that powers more than a million online stores around the world. WooCommerce also makes it possible to use WordPress for dropshipping. In this article, we will review what the best dropshipping plugins for WordPress and WooCommerce are and what features you need to look for when choosing one for your business.

Dropshipping Plugins: 3 Important Features to Look For

With dropshipping growing increasingly popular, you have choices when it comes to tools from all major ecommerce platforms. The search for the perfect dropshipping solution is still ongoing, though. For example, Shopify recently announced that they are moving away from Oberlo, a world famous dropshipping app.

So what do we need to look for when choosing the best dropshipping plugin for WordPress and WooCommerce? Here are the three most important features.

  • Easy integration. A great dropshipping plugin should be easy to integrate into the WordPress/WooCommerce ecosystem and provide customization options.
  • Product import. You need a dropshipping plugin that automates the product import process and allows you to add products in bulk.
  • Order fulfillment. Once a purchase is made, an email containing the order information should be sent to the supplier automatically.

The Best Dropshipping Plugins for WordPress and WooCommerce

Let’s take a look at the seven best WooCommerce dropshipping plugins that can be easily integrated into your WordPress site.

1. Dropified

Dropifed is one of the best dropshipping solutions that can be integrated with a number of ecommerce platforms, including WooCommerce. It is considered one of the best dropshipping plugins for WordPress due to auto ordering, fulfillment, and synchronization with a number of suppliers.

Dropified allows for unlimited product imports and monthly orders. Once the products are imported, you can set a default markup for all or increase prices based on cost tiers by fixed amounts or percentages. There are a great number of other features it provides, including one-click order placement, bulk order processing, and shipment tracking. 

  • Price. $47 monthly.
  • WooCommerce Integration. Your WooCommerce store will need to be connected to the Dropify app.
  • Suppliers. Full synchronization with AliExpress, Alibaba, and eBay. One-click product import with manual ordering from over 80 suppliers.

2. WooShark

WooShark provides a few plugins for WooCommerce that allow business owners to work with suppliers from Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and a number of other marketplaces. At the moment, WooShark has the following solutions available:

  • Wooshark for AliExpress & Woocommerce
  • Wooshark for AliExpress , eBay, Amazon, and Etsy
  • IRivYou — Import AliExpress & Amazon reviews to WooCommerce
  • Wooshark Dropship & Affiliate for eBay & WooCommerce
  • Wooshark Dropshiping & Affiliates for Amazon & WooCommerce

Your features will depend on the plugin option you choose, but all include support for multiple stores. The plugins provide bulk product import, automatic price changes, and inventory sync. Order fulfillment is organized in a way that your customers are automatically directed to the dropshipper’s checkout page to complete the order, so you do not have to send any information to the supplier.

  • Price. Prices start at $29.99, depending on the plugin and the chosen plan.
  • WooCommerce Integration. You will need to add a Chrome extension and connect your store to WooShark by using API keys generated.
  • Suppliers. Amazon, Aliexpress, Etsy, eBay, and more.

3. WooDropship

WooDropship is a dropshipping plugin for WooCommerce that allows you to import products from the best AliExpress suppliers. The solution is focused solely on AlIExpress, making it easy to customize all product information and prices on your storefront.

WooDropship supports automatic price changes and inventory sync. The Chrome extension enables automatic order fulfillment and adding products to your store while browsing AliExpress.

  • Price. $49 one-time.
  • WooCommerce Integration. You will need to add your WooCommerce store to WooDropship and install a Chrome extension.
  • Suppliers. AliExpress only.

4. WooCommerce Dropshipping

The WooCommerce Dropshipping extension allows you to import products in bulk by using a CSV file and it sends notifications to suppliers every time an order is placed. The plugin does not have an extended features list, but focuses on the core functionality that allows you to get your dropshipping business up and running.

The dropshipping dashboard keeps you up to date with the total number of orders, best selling products, and products low on stock. As of now, the WooCommerce Dropshipping extension does not have support for inventory level sync or dynamic pricing. Some additional features are added to the plugin via its Chrome extension.

  • Price. $79 yearly.
  • WooCommerce Integration. It is a WooCommerce extension that can be installed from the WordPress dashboard.
  • Suppliers. AliExpress and Amazon Affiliate.

5. DropshipMe

DropshipMe is one of the best dropshipping plugins for WordPress when working with AliExpress suppliers. DropshipMe allows you to import selected AliExpress products in one click with the product information already edited to highlight the best of what you are going to sell. Real product reviews from the buyers will be automatically uploaded to your store too.

The plugin makes the search for products easier by giving you access to the catalog of the best products carefully selected for you in the chosen category. After the activation, you are given 50 products to import for free. Paid plans allow for more product imports.

Unfortunately, the plugin focuses on product import and does not provide extended functionality. But a  free version available makes it a good option for small shops. You can use the plugin with another solution — AliDropship — to sync your store with AliExpress in real-time and get other useful features.

  • Price. Free version includes 50 products to import. Multiple paid plans, prices ranging from $29 to $199 one-time fee.
  • WooCommerce Integration. You will need to install the DropshipMe plugin from your WordPress dashboard.
  • Suppliers. AliExpress only.

AliDropship

AliDropship is arguably the best WooCommerce dropshipping plugin for selling from AliExpress. While DropshipMe is focused on product sourcing, AliDropship is an all-in-one WooCommerce dropshipping store management solution.

You have access to the same catalog of pre-picked products with the best descriptions and real customer reviews as DropshipMe does, or you can import products manually by browsing AliExpress. There is no limit on the number of products you can import.

AliDropship provides a number of other features, including all product information and stock availability auto updates, one-click order fulfillment, and the creation of advanced pricing markup rules.

  • Price. $89 one-time fee.
  • WooCommerce Integration. You will need to upload the AliDropship plugin to your WooCommerce store after you have purchased it.
  • Suppliers. AliExpress only.

Spreadr

Spreadr is a dropshipping solution for selling products from Amazon that can be integrated into WooCommerce, Shopify, or BigCommerce. Spreadr is one of the best dropshipping plugins for WordPress to work with Amazon.

Spreadr works with Amazon for order fulfillment orders in one of two ways. You can work as an Amazon Affiliate to earn the standard commision by sending customers  to the marketplace to make purchases or receive orders on your store. You can import any non-Amazon Prime products to your WooCommerce store along with all reviews, customize the product information, and add pricing rules to start selling.

The solution comes with the basic plan that allows for unlimited product imports, but starting from $12 monthly you can get Spreadr to auto update price and availability values of imported products and provide you with analytics data.

  • Price. Ranging from $6 to $60 monthly.
  • WooCommerce Integration. You will need to upload the Spreadr plugin to your WooCommerce store after you have purchased it.
  • Suppliers. Amazon only.

You Know What Plugins You Need. What’s Next?

Ecommerce is often associated with all kinds of fees and lack of control over your store, but it does not have to be that way. A great ecommerce store deserves great hosting, so you need to make sure you are choosing the best option. 

Going with an open source ecommerce solution for dropshipping like WooCommerce means you have full control over your website, but at the same time full responsibility for its functionality and performance. Once you choose the best dropshipping plugin for WordPress to make use of on your WooCommerce website, what’s next?

You need to make sure the technology stack used by a web hosting provider is fully optimized for the specific needs of your business, which is not an easy task. Hostdedi provides fully managed hosting that is specifically optimized for ecommerce and WordPress.

Try Managed WooCommerce Hosting with Hostdedi

With managed WooCommerce hosting with Hostdedi, you can forget about hidden fees and poor performance. An enterprise-level technology stack with the best caching options and a built-in CDN will make sure your dropshipping store is there for your customers 24/7.

The best support in the industry included in our fully managed WooCommerce hosting plans will make your ecommerce journey headache free. Check out our plans to get started today.

Source link

5 Best WordPress Contact Form Plugins (2022) | Hostdedi

Using a contact form on your website helps collect leads, reduce spam, and build rapport with the audience. But there are more than 1,500 form builder plugins in the WordPress plugin directory to choose from.

Which plugin among those is the right plugin for your website?

That depends on your requirements. Still, you can’t go wrong with a feature-rich plugin that offers customization, ease of use, and automation.

To help you narrow down the search, we’ve compiled a list of the five best WordPress contact form plugins you can choose from.

Read on to learn more:

WordPress Form Builder Plugins: Features To Look For

There is no single best contact form plugin for every WordPress site. The best plugin for your website depends on the requirements — your skill level, needs, and budget.

Still, here are a few factors you can consider when making your choice:

  • Visual builder: Drag-and-drop functionality makes it easier to build forms. Even if you’re a beginner, you can create simple contact forms to complex forms with styling on the front end.
  • Customizability: You should be able to customize your forms according to your brand requirements without excessive CSS. Look for tools that let you customize the forms according to design and function and help your brand stand out.
  • User-friendly: The plugin should be easy for both you and the respondents. You should be able to embed the form wherever you need it without much difficulty.
  • Conditional logic: Conditional logic helps you adjust your contact forms according to your respondents. You can hide questions that don’t apply to a respondent and streamline your submission process.
  • Responsiveness: More than half of the global web traffic comes from mobile devices. Your contact form should adapt to both desktops and mobile devices to cater to all customers.
  • Spam protection: Web forms receive regular spam from bots or malicious actors. Spam protection — like CAPTCHA — lets you weed out bad responses and keeps your information secure.

Best WordPress Form Plugins

1. WPForms.

2. Ninja Forms.

3. Gravity Forms.

4. Formidable Forms.

5. HappyForms.

1. WPForms

Over 5 million websites use WPForms, making it one of the most popular form builder plugins.

WPForms offers powerful features like conditional logic, file upload, and support for multi-page forms. On top of that, additional features such as signatures, form abandonment, and user registration clear the way for easy form submission.

Key features:

  • Unlimited forms, users, and submissions.
  • Anti-spam.
  • Multi-page forms and conditional logic.
  • 300+ form templates and customization features.
  • Email notifications.

Best WordPress form plugin for: Beginners.

Pricing: WPForms offers four pricing tiers. All plans have 50% off special introductory prices for the first year but renew at full price. The Basic plan is priced at $39.50/year for the first year and renews at $79/year afterward.

2. Ninja Forms

Ninja Forms is one of the best WordPress form plugins in the market today — and for a good reason.

With Ninja Forms, you can quickly create multi-step forms using pre-built templates and customize those forms using the drag-and-drop interface. Besides that, conditional logic lets you sort responses, while spam protection keeps the information safe.

Ninja Forms offers integrations with popular email marketing tools such as Mailchimp and Constant Contact and payment solutions like PayPal and Stripe. Ninja Forms also supports Slack, Trello, and Zapier integrations.

Famous brands using Ninja Forms include Disney, Toyota, and Harvard.

Key features:

  • Drag-and-drop interface.
  • Unlimited forms, submissions, and emails.
  • Spam protection.

Best WordPress form plugin for: Quick setup.

Pricing: Ninja Forms offers four pricing tiers. All plans have a 50% off special introductory prices for the first year but renew at full price. The Personal plan is priced at $49/year for the first year and renews at $99/year afterward.

3. Gravity Forms

Besides form creation, Gravity Forms helps developers build form-related solutions. For instance, you can use it to create registration forms, quizzes, or even web directories. Like other plugins on the list, it also features conditional logic functions and supports file uploads.

While it costs more than other contact form plugins, most premium WordPress themes use it as a built-in contact form builder.

Key features:

  • Unlimited forms and entries.
  • Built-in conditional logic.
  • Multiple integrations.
  • 30+ form fields.

Best WordPress form plugin for: Advanced users.

Pricing: Gravity Forms offers three pricing tiers, with the Basic plan starting at $59/year.

4. Formidable Forms

Formidable Forms offers the most advanced features among all the plugins on this list.

Like Gravity Forms, Formidable Forms works best for advanced developers since it’s not as beginner-friendly as the others.

Formidable Forms lets you create advanced, multi-page forms where respondents can upload files and review their answers before submission.

Lastly, Formidable Forms supports multiple integrations with software such as Mailchimp, Aweber, Zapier, HubSpot CRM, and Salesforce. You can also connect to Google Drive, Instagram, and Shopify using API integration.

Key Features:

  • Unlimited forms and entries.
  • Drag-and-drop form builder.
  • Built-in conditional logic.
  • 170+ form templates.

Best WordPress form plugin for: Creating complex forms.

Pricing: Free (with limited features). Paid plans are offered in four pricing tiers. All plans have 50% off special introductory prices for the first year but renew at full price. The Basic plan is $39.50/year for the first year and renews at $79/year afterward.

5. HappyForms

HappyForms is a free contact form plugin that uses WordPress Customizer — i.e., it has the same user interface as your WordPress website.

HappyForms lets you build different types of forms, from the basic contact forms to multi-page forms. It comes with Google reCAPTCHA to prevent spam and logs IP addresses as a security measure. While it has its pros, it lacks predesigned templates, which may make it hard to use.

Key features:

  • Drag-and-drop form builder — Gutenberg-ready.
  • Spam protection.
  • Integration with email marketing software.

Best WordPress form plugin for: Creating lightweight forms.

Pricing: Free version available (with limited features). Paid plans are offered in three pricing tiers with 7-day free trials. The Basic plan starts at $53.80/year.

Final Thoughts: 5 Best WordPress Contact Form Plugins (2022)

Choosing the right form plugin for your WordPress websites helps gather the leads and run an effective marketing strategy.

But you need an optimized website to encourage the website visitors to fill out a contact form and the leads to try out the product or service.

Sign up for a Hostdedi Managed WordPress hosting plan for your WordPress website today to benefit from increased speed, robust security, and quick scalability.

Source link

How To Configure Table Rates Shipping in Magento 2 | Hostdedi

Real-time shipping cost estimation is a significant challenge for online merchants.

Several factors affect the delivery cost, such as product volume, weight, and delivery distance. An incorrect estimation can lead to charging either too low or too high, which can be bad for business.

Analysis by the Baymard Institute reveals that 48% of online shoppers abandon their carts due to high additional costs such as shipping fees and taxes.

Table rates shipping in Magento 2 allows you to create complex conditional calculations to estimate shipping accurately without risking shopping cart abandonment or profit loss.

Want to learn how? Let’s get straight to it.

How To Set Up Table Rates Shipping in Magento 2

Magento 2 table rates shipping calculates delivery costs using a combination of conditions based on shipping details such as price, shipping address, weight, and quantity.

Here’s how you can configure it on your Magento store.

Note: Some of the settings listed below may be grayed out. Uncheck the Use system value checkbox to override the default configurations as you follow along.

Step 1: Complete the Default Settings for Table Rates

Navigate to Stores > Settings > Configuration > Sales > Delivery Methods in the Magento admin.

Expand the Table Rates section and set Enabled to Yes.

Enter a custom Title to display during checkout. The default title is “Best Way,” change it to something more descriptive like “Road Shipping” or “Courier Fees.”

Enter a Method Name to display next to the shipping estimate on the cart page.

Set the calculation method to one of the following options using the Condition dropdown:

  • Weight vs. Destination.
  • Price vs. Destination.
  • # of items vs. Destination.

Set Include Virtual Products in Price Calculation to Yes.

Virtual products don’t have weight and can’t be used for calculations such as Weight vs. Destination. However, they can be used in the other two conditions.

Optionally, set Calculate Handling Fee to either Fixed or Percent.

  • If you choose Fixed, enter a decimal value for the Handling Fee, such as 10.00 or 9.90.
  • If you choose Percent, enter a decimal value such as 0.25 for 25% of the order value.

You can also override the default error message by entering a custom message in the Displayed Error Message area.

Choose which countries can use this delivery method using the Ship to Applicable Countries option. You can allow all countries using the All Allowed Countries option or choose them individually using the Ship to Specific Countries list.

Set Show Method if Not Applicable to No to prevent Magento 2 table rates shipping from displaying on orders where it is unavailable.

Set the Sort Order to define where the delivery option displays during checkout.

Click Save Config to save the settings.

Step 2: Export the Sample .csv File

Scroll to the top and use the Store View dropdown menu to select a website to configure the Magento 2 table rates shipping costs.

Set the Condition to use for calculating the shipping rate.

Click the Export CSV button to generate a sample file.

Save the tablerates.csv file.

Step 3: Prepare the Table Rates Data

Open the file using a compatible application like Microsoft Excel or import it into Google Sheets to edit its contents.

Configure custom shipping rates for your selected condition. Here are some helpful rules to keep in mind while editing the file:

  • Asterisks (*) act like wildcard operators. You can use them to represent all values in any category.
  • The Country column must contain a valid ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 country code for each row.
  • Arrange the data by Region and State so predefined shipping locations are listed at the top and wildcard locations at the bottom. That ensures rules with absolute values are processed before those with wildcards.

Here’s how you can configure the sample CSV file for two different scenarios:

Scenario 1: Price vs. Destination

COUNTRY REGION / STATE ZIP / POSTAL CODE ORDER SUBTOTAL (AND ABOVE) SHIPPING PRICE
AUS NSW * 100 5
AUS NSW * 50 7.5
AUS NSW * 0 10
AUS VIC * 100 15
AUS VIC * 50 17.5
AUS VIC * 0 20
AUS * * 100 15
AUS * * 50 20
AUS * * 0 25

The above table uses the Price vs. Destination condition to calculate three different shipping rates based on the order value for states in Australia.

For instance, suppose an order over $100 is being shipped to a postcode in New South Wales (NSW.) In that case, Magento will calculate a shipping charge of $5.

However, if the same order is being shipped to a state other than NSW or Victoria, Magento will charge the customer $15.

Scenario 2: Weight vs. Destination

COUNTRY REGION / STATE ZIP / POSTAL CODE WEIGHT (AND ABOVE) SHIPPING PRICE
AUS NT * 15 39.95
AUS NT * 0 19.95
AUS VIC * 15 19.95
AUS VIC * 0 5.95
AUS WA * 15 39.95
AUS WA * 0 19.95
AUS * * 15 29.95
AUS * * 0 9.95

The above table uses the Weight vs. Destination condition to calculate shipping rates based on the order value for Australia.

For example, if you’re shipping heavy items weighing more than 15kgs to a delivery address in Northern Territory (NT), Magento will charge the customer $39.95 shipping on the checkout page.

However, the same order shipped to Victoria will be charged $19.95.

Step 4: Import the Final Table Rates Data File

Once you’ve configured the Magento table rates shipping data file, make sure you save it as a .csv file and return to the Table Rates section in the backend admin panel.

Select the website using the Store View dropdown menu.

Expand the Table Rates section and click on the Choose File button next to the Import option.

After the file uploads, click Save Config.

Step 5: Verify the Shipping Rate Calculation on the Frontend

Navigate to the front end of your Magento store and add some products to your cart. Head to the cart page and verify that table rates shipping displays in the shipping options.

Final Thoughts: Magento 2 Table Rates Shipping

We’ve only described the basic setup process of table rates shipping in Magento 2 in our guide. But you can do a lot more with this Magento 2 shipping method.

You can create advanced shipping cost calculation conditions and configure powerful cart and catalog price rules to provide a user-friendly shopping experience and improve conversions.

No matter how you use it, make sure you experiment with shipping conditions in a development environment before implementing them on a live store.

Don’t have access to a development store?

Sign up for Managed Magento hosting with Hostdedi and access on-demand development sites starting from $5 per month.

Browse our plans to get started today.

Source link

The 6 Best Celebrity Websites | Official Celebrity Websites

Celebrities work constantly on building and maintaining their personal brand using all available means the global web offers. This includes strong social media presence, social network marketing strategies, and of course using modern platforms to create a spectacular celebrity website.

The teams behind celebs are often ahead on the latest web design trends. And you may be surprised, but WordPress is the platform of choice for the vast majority of celebrities due to the unlimited possibilities for customization.

All the impressive designs created by famous people to stay connected to their supporters can teach us a lot when it comes to developing a unique brand identity. Today we are going to take a look at the best official celebrity websites, and see what makes them so eye-catching and popular.

The Best Celebrity Websites

1. Calvin Harris

URL: https://calvinharris.com

Platform: WordPress

Calvin Harris is a big name in the music industry. His celebrity website draws the attention of his fans to his upcoming music releases and show dates. You can find all the latest singles and albums the DJ produced along with their colorful cover art on his website.

The top menu allows you to navigate through pages and turns into a side menu on mobile — a great representation of adaptive design widely used by celebrity websites. But what is so distinguishable about the website is the chosen color palette and abstract illustrations, which appear to be a top website aesthetic trend topping the charts in 2022.

Calvin Harris decided to go with black and white — all-time classics that make the website minimalist and a bit retro in style. The Love Regenerator page is a perfect example of using geometry in web design — geometric shapes are powerful elements that go a long way building a great visual. Using a minimalist approach allows your visitors to concentrate on what you have to offer without being distracted by overwhelming content and flashy designs.

2. Ariana Grande

URL: https://arianagrande.com

Platform: Drupal

The famous pop diva has done a great job building an impressive online presence. Ariana Grande’s website gives fans an opportunity to keep up with the famous singer’s music releases along with the ability to buy her merchandise and subscribe to email updates.

The famous singer decided to go with a pastel color palette and distorted typography to bring attention to her newest albums. The light blue background color conveys a sense of muted sophistication.

But it does not end there. Ariana uses lines to delineate sections on her website, which is especially visible in the mobile version. Linework is considered one of the major web design principles, and is said to give a web page a sense of cleanliness and structure.

3. Reese’s Book Club by Reese Witherspoon

URL: https://reesesbookclub.com

Platform: WordPress

The famous actress does not have a personal celebrity website, but is engaged in multiple projects, including her famous book club. This website provides all the latest updates on readers’ activity and new books added to the club. Reese is known for her optimism and love for everything vivid and eye-catching — so it’s no surprise that she chose bright colors for her book club’s website.

Bright colors have made an elegant return to web design to help keep your viewers engaged with the content. Chosen as the main website design colors, yellow, white, and blue help Reese’s site exude happiness, positivity, and optimism. Bigger and louder topography, combined with colorful illustrations make the content relevant and more appealing to viewers. The website design is perfect for book lovers and other creatives.

4. Rihanna

URL: http://rihannanow.com

Platform: WordPress

Rihanna uses her website to share her music, as well as fashion and makeup trends and advice. Her website is an excellent example of a collage style implementation — the main page features a series of Rihanna’s photos reminiscent of an Instagram account page. Every photo leads to a web page presenting the latest news, music videos, or other information the famous singer would like to share.

Black and white are the most contrasting colors to use in web design, and they make this celebrity website look elegant, luxurious and powerful. Impeccable motion graphics and geometric lines make the website even more chic, which aligns with the famous singer’s personal brand. Overall, the black and white color scheme makes for a timeless combination that will never go out of style.

5. The Weeknd

URL: https://theweeknd.com/

Platform: Crownpeak

The famous Canadian singer made his official website minimal and very retro-style. The Weeknd is considered one of the biggest torchbearers of retro in the music industry in recent years, and his website’s design perfectly aligns with his professional image. It also uses black and white as its main colors, but we can see how different it is from Rihanna’s celebrity website.

The singer chose minimalism, making the web pages simple and well-structured. The pop culture star decided to make use of all modern web design trends, including creative topography, linework, and abstract illustrations.

The photo gallery on the main page deserves our special attention. As we keep scrolling through the singer’s photos, we find ourselves floating through space with the images acting as planets we keep passing by.

6. Leonardo DiCaprio

URL: https://leonardodicaprio.com

Platform: WordPress

Famous actor Leonardo DiCaprio chose WordPress to bring all his web design ideas to life. It is one of the most informative and well-structured celebrity websites — it provides all the latest news on the actor’s professional life and contains links to his social network accounts and the projects he is involved in.

A very interesting feature that definitely catches your attention is the horizontal scrolling menu presenting character quotes from the most famous movies DiCaprio starred in. This provides viewers with an element of nostalgia, and allows fans to instantly remember favorite movie moments.

The actor’s team definitely knows how to use web design trends to his advantage. A dark color palette, responsive design, and nothing that can be described as excessive makes the website one of the best movie celebrity websites online.

Inspired By These Celebrity Websites? Make One Of Your Own

Designing a great website takes a lot of time and effort. It’s hard enough to keep pace with ever-changing web design trends and the latest technologies. But it doesn’t always have to be this way.

WordPress — one of the most powerful platforms used by website creators all over the world — can help you design a website of any kind.

Here at Hostdedi, we love WordPress, and we focus on gathering the best WordPress technologies so you don’t have to. Hostdedi has opened a new page in the history of WordPress managed hosting. It no longer has to be difficult and time-consuming to build, design, and get your website live.

We take care of all technical aspects while you focus on creating the best visitor experience possible.

Check out our Managed WordPress Hosting plans to get started today.

Source link

How To Create a Custom Module in Magento 2 | Hostdedi

eMarketer predicts that retail ecommerce sales will grow from $4.9 trillion in 2021 to $7.4 trillion by 2025. If you want to leverage this growth, learning how to create a custom module in Magento 2 can help you boost sales by adding custom functionality to your online store.

A Magento module is a logical group (directory) of blocks, controllers, helpers, and models related to a specific business function such as shipping or payment. Its primary purpose is to add or extend features without risking the integrity of the Magento codebase.

Here, we’ll teach you the basics of how to create a custom module in Magento 2.

Ready to learn? Let’s get started.

How To Create a Custom Module in Magento 2

1. Create the custom module directory.

2. Create the etc/module.xml declaration file.

3. Create a registration.php file for the module.

4. Register and install the module using the php bin/magento setup:upgrade script.

5. Verify that the module is enabled.

Create the Custom Module Directory

Before you create a folder for your custom module, you need to decide where you will place it. You can place a custom module in Magento 2 in the app/code directory or the vendor/ folder.

If you’re creating a custom module for a single project, you can place it in the app/ directory. However, if you’re building a custom extension to distribute and reuse on other Magento stores, you should use Composer to create it and place it in the vendor/ folder.

Once you’ve finalized the location, you need to name the module based on the PSR-0 standard.

A Magento 2 custom module name must contain the vendor name and the module name. Naming it this way also makes it easy to group modules by vendors in the project directory and allows a single vendor directory to contain multiple module subdirectories.

We’ll create a module directory in the app/code folder for this tutorial and name the vendor directory “Hostdedi” and the module subdirectory “CustomModule.”

To create the module directory structure, log in to the backend Magento server as the filesystem owner and execute the following command from the Magento project root directory:

$ mkdir -p app/code/Hostdedi/CustomModule

This command executes silently in the background. You can verify the folder structure has been created by using the following command:

$ ls -R app/code

If this is your first time adding a Magento 2 extension, the folder app/code may not exist in your Magento project. Using the mkdir command with the -p flag creates parent directories (where they don’t exist) and the target directory in a single command.

Create the etc/module.xml Declaration File

Once you’ve created the new module directory, you need to create the etc/module.xml file to list the module name, version, and dependencies.

The module name is determined by the folders created in the previous step. Since we named the folders Hostdedi/CustomModule, our module will be called ‘Nexcess_CustomModule.’

The module version indicates the current version of the database schema and data. If you make changes to the table schema in your module, updating your module version will ensure it updates across all instances of your code in the Magento application.

We’ll list the initial version for our current module as 0.0.1.

The module dependencies list references any other modules your custom module depends on. We’ll make our simple custom module dependent on Magento’s core catalog module for this guide.

First, create the etc/ folder inside your module directory using the following command:

$ mkdir app/code/Hostdedi/CustomModule/etc

Then, create the module.xml file using the nano text editor as follows:

$ nano app/code/Hostdedi/CustomModule/etc/module.xml

Finally, paste the following code into it:

<?xml version=”1.0″?>

<config xmlns:xsi=”http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance” xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation=”urn:magento:framework:Module/etc/module.xsd”>

<module name=”Nexcess_CustomModule” setup_version=”0.0.1″>

<sequence>

<module name=”Magento_Catalog”/>

</sequence>

</module>

</config>

You can add more module dependencies by adding the <module name=“…”/> node inside the sequence node. Make sure to replace the ellipsis (…) with the default values of your preferred Magento core modules.

Create a registration.php File for the Module

The next step in learning how to create a custom module in Magento 2 is creating the registration.php file in the module folder. This file helps Magento locate the module in its filesystem.

All modules in Magento 2 must contain a registration.php file. Without it, you cannot install a Magento 2 theme or extension on your store.

Use the following command to create the registration.php file using the nano text editor in the module’s root directory path:

$ nano app/code/Hostdedi/CustomModule/registration.php

Then, paste the following content inside it:

<?php

use MagentoFrameworkComponentComponentRegistrar;

ComponentRegistrar::register(

ComponentRegistrar::MODULE,

‘Nexcess_CustomModule’,

__DIR__

);

Register and Install the Module Using the php bin/magento setup:upgrade Script

Now that you’ve created a simple module, it’s time to activate it. This is the final step in learning how to create a custom module in Magento 2.

Run the following command from the Magento project root to install your basic module:

$ php bin/magento setup:upgrade

This command registers the custom module in Magento and upgrades the Magento database schema and data.

Verify That the Module Is Enabled

Generally, when you install a Magento 2 extension, you can verify that it is enabled in the Magento admin. However, because our module is empty, we’ll need to check the Magento configuration file containing the list of modules currently active via the command line.

Run the following command to verify your custom module is active:

$ grep Nexcess_CustomModule app/etc/config.php

You should see the following output:

Alternatively, use this command to check the module status:

$ php bin/magento module:status Nexcess_CustomModule

Congratulations!

You’ve successfully created and installed a custom module in Magento 2. After this, you can take things a step further by adding custom routes, layouts, and templates to alter core modules and enhance front-end Magento functionality.

Final Thoughts: How To Create a Custom Module in Magento 2

Learning how to create a custom module in Magento 2 is only the first step toward customizing the design and functionality of your online store.

The possibilities of what you can do with a custom Magento 2 module are endless. However, you will need PHP, JS, HTML, and CSS skills to push the boundaries of Magento 2 module development.

Hosting your Magento store with Hostdedi doesn’t need any special skills. You can build and run a Magento store in a few simple clicks. You get access to performance-optimized Magento servers, so you can focus on doing what you do best — growing your online business.

Browse our plans to learn more.

Source link

How to Do a WordPress Multisite Setup | Multisite Hosting

As a WordPress user, you’ve probably heard of a WordPress Multisite setup. It might sound complicated at first, as managing multiple WordPress installations can become overwhelming and challenging. How does WordPress Multisite compare to a standard installation? And how can you benefit from using it? Is it actually difficult to set up?

In this step-by-step tutorial, we’ll go over the entire WordPress multisite setup process and answer any questions you might have along the way. Let’s dive in!

Understanding the WordPress Ecosystem

First of all, let’s talk about WordPress. You might be asking, why WordPress? What is WordPress and what is Managed WordPress? And what’s the difference between hosting and managed hosting?

If you’ve ever looked into website creation and hosting, WordPress is the most popular content management system you’ll see. In fact, WordPress dominates 64.8% of the internet, and there’s a good reason for that. Because it’s open source, it’s highly customizable — it’s also easy to use for beginners.

Let’s say you have your website already created. Now comes the question of how to make it accessible worldwide. That’s where WordPress hosting comes in. There are many hosting providers to choose from — and they all have their advantages and disadvantages, so it’s important to vet each one carefully.

With all that covered, let’s now discuss how to do a WordPress multisite setup.

What is a WordPress Multisite?

As the name suggests, a WordPress Multisite centralizes and streamlines the creation and management of an entire network of websites from a single installation.

Throughout WordPress’ history, WordPress multisite setup was commonly confused with WordPress MU (or WordPress multi-user) which dates back to pre-2010. WordPress multi-user is ideal for people who want to set up a large network of blogs.

Nowadays, you have the ability to run multiple sites with a single installation of WordPress. This was not always possible. The ability to install WordPress Multisite first became available in WordPress version 3.0, when the multisite feature was introduced back in 2010.

Benefits of a WordPress Multisite Setup

Management Made Easy

Using the WordPress Multisite setup means that you’ve got a centralized site with a super admin for all your websites, plugins, and themes, making site management a whole lot easier.

If you’d like to divide this and have a user assigned to each of the sites, you can. Just go to My Sites > Network Admin > Users menu, which allows for more in-depth control and management of all users on all sites. Another thing to keep in mind is that choosing the right plugins and themes is crucial to a fast-performing website.

You can check out some of our favorite fastest WordPress themes here.

Hassle-Free Site Creation

Having a central point for your sites, plugins, and themes also means that spinning up new websites is significantly faster and easier. Manual creation of the website, setting up directories and databases, and installing plugins and themes becomes a thing of the past, as this process becomes more or less automated with a WordPress Multisite.

Multiple Sites

The main perk of the WordPress Multisite setup is, of course, having a network of websites in a single WordPress installation. You can choose between setting the sites up as a Multisite Network in:

Sub-directories

  • domain.com/subdir-1/
  • domain.com/subdir-2/
  • domain.com/subdir-3/

Sub-domains

  • blog.domain.com
  • contact.domain.com
  • dev.domain.com

Unique domains — Heavily host dependent and needs WordPress Multisite domain mapping to work. In most cases, large educational establishments, chain stores, non-profit organizations, charities, intranets, personal sites, and subscription sites can benefit from this type of installation the most.

How to Install WordPress Multisite

1. WordPress Preparation Steps

Due to changes that will occur during the creation of the WordPress Multisite network, the first recommended step is to create a full site and database backup of your WordPress installation. Once that’s done, you can disable any active plugins. Once the entire network is installed and enabled, you can enable them freely.

Related reading: How to Backup a WordPress Site >>

2. Enabling the Multisite Menu

The first file that’s going to need changing is your wp-config.php file. In any text editor, open the wp-config.php file. After the line, /* That’s all, stop editing! Happy blogging. */, add the following line.

/* WordPress Multisite */

define( ‘WP_ALLOW_MULTISITE’, true );

3. Setting Up the Network

Log in to the WordPress administrator area, and from the Dashboard menu, select Tools > Network Setup

You can now choose the structure of the setup either with sub-directories or sub-domains.

  • A sub-domain structure is domain-based and uses subdomains.
  • A sub-directories structure is path-based and uses paths instead.

Select the name and the email address for your network and click install.

The installation will be automatically filled out and shown, but you may change any settings as necessary.

4. Enabling the Multisite Network

Create a backup of your wp-config.txt and .htaccess files as we’ll be adding some code to them shortly. Once the files have been edited to what’s shown in the image below, you will have successfully installed the Multisite network. The instructions shown below will differ from what you see on your screen.

Log out of the WordPress administrator area and be sure to clear your browser cookies and cache in order to avoid any caching issues, and log back in.

5. Configuration of the Multisite Administrator Settings

If you’ve done everything correctly, you should now see a new option in the WordPress administrator area toolbar. Navigate to the new dropdown menu My Sites > Network Admin.

You should now see multiple other menus show up as well. The dashboard interface will guide you through the network configuration options available. The sites option will allow you to add, remove, or manage your existing multisite sites. The users menu will allow you to create users for any available domains. The plugins and themes menus will allow management of plugins and themes that are made available to the sites on your network.

Multisite Hosting Considerations

There are a lot of benefits to hosting your sites in a WordPress Multisite setup. However, there are some things to consider before making the decision. As you might already know, there isn’t a single solution made for everyone, so with that in mind, here are some useful things to know.

Let’s say all the sites within your network are on the same server. Some sites can use more server resources than the others, which could potentially mean slow operation of certain sites or in some cases, even crashes.

Certain providers only support certain configuration types while others don’t work with WordPress Multisite networks at all. Moving websites later on can be a difficult undertaking due to all sites having a centralized database. To avoid issues, ensure that there are enough resources made available at all times for your network to use.

Updating all your plugins and themes with a single click is amazing, but make sure you’ve tested everything beforehand and that your themes and plugins are supported in a multisite installation. Plugin issues can easily bring your entire network down as well. So can removing a plugin that was being used somewhere in the centralized network.

WordPress as a platform already is a well-known target for cybercriminals. Make sure to take any and all WordPress hardening and security precautions that you can. Hacker attacks can be painful to deal with even on a single WordPress installation, so Multisite setups can have truly disastrous implications, as this could mean your entire network being under threat.

Consider Hosting Your WordPress Multisite With Hostdedi

Hostdedi took all these considerations in mind, and created a WordPress hosting solution that solves all common Multisite setup issues. Get loads of resources, autoscaling features, 24/7 expert support, and more with our fully managed hosting optimized for WordPress.

Check out our fully managed hosting plans to get started today.

Source link

What is Schema Markup? How To Implement Schema in WordPress

There’s a lot to consider when building your ecommerce website. You want your customers to be able to find your products and information about your company. Implementing schema markup in WordPress can be the key to getting a jump on your competition. Even if your search engine optimization game is on point, there are still ways to show up better in search results, and schema markup helps. Keep reading to learn how to implement schema in WordPress.

What is Schema Markup?

Schema markup is a way to structure your website’s data, so it’s clear to humans and machines what the data is. Using schema markup is like telling someone what kind of information you’re giving them so it can better be categorized. By using schema markup in WordPress, you’re helping search engines better understand the information on your website so they can give it to the right searchers.

Implementing schema markup in WordPress can help structure data around common types of information, like:

  • Articles
  • Events
  • Products
  • People
  • Organizations
  • Local businesses
  • Reviews
  • Recipes
  • Medical conditions

By using schema markup, your website content can appear in search as rich snippets, a visual way of displaying search results, so it’s clear what those results are. For example, if you use schema markup, your events can show up in a Google search as events before someone even clicks on your website. This targeting makes schema markup an excellent tool for improving your company’s visibility.

Benefits of Using Schema Markup in WordPress

Schema markup can better organize the information about your website’s content. But there are other benefits too.

Gives Pages Additional Context

Like targeting keywords in your website’s content, on-page SEO is a great way to attract an audience. When you use a keyword, it tells Google what your content is about. Schema markup works similarly, except instead of telling Google what your site is about, it tells Google the relationship between all the concepts on your site. When Google can understand that sort of thing about your site, it can give searchers better results, like rich cards or rich snippets.

Helps to Rank More Accurately for Search Engines

Officially, there isn’t any evidence that using schema markup in WordPress directly impacts organic search engine rankings. But don’t let that get you down. When you use schema markup, rich snippets allow your website to be more visible than normal circumstances, often with the snippets at the top of the Google search results page. This visibility helps with the click through rate. So, even though you may not see a direct jump in organic ranking when adding schema, you could see more organic traffic to your website.

Improves Search Engine Appearance and Click Through Rate

As mentioned before, using schema markup can enhance your site’s appearance in search results. So if you have an event, Google can display it as one at the top of the results. Or, if you’ve added schema to reviews, people searching for your services can see your five-star reviews before they learn anything else about your business. This feature makes your website stand out among the other search results and has the added benefit of helping you stand out in voice search. Voice-activated assistants, like Google Home, rely heavily on schema to find relevant results to the spoken search requests they receive.

Become More Eligible for SERP Features

While focusing on SEO keywords in your content strategy is a great way to rise to the top of search rankings, using schema markup allows you to be featured in a box separate from your organic search listing. These features are usually above all the organically ranked links. They can be in top stories carousels, video carousels, or information tables. It may also enable your site to have a knowledge graph, a big box on the right of the search results with your business’s most pertinent contact information.

Best Practices for Using Schema Markup

In general, there are some things you can do to implement schema markup in a way that’s beneficial for you and Google. For example, using the most specific class possible and using markup only for what’s on the page are great practices to cultivate.

Use specific classes for:

  • Creative Works. This broad schema category can include books, movies, paintings, sculptures, and even blog posts.
  • Articles. People use this schema markup to show the latest news or blog posts on a particular site.
  • Events. Schema markup for events shows your event’s specific location, date, and time.
  • Organization. Use this markup to introduce the company. Give the official logo, company name, contact information, and social profiles. It usually appears in a box on the right-hand side of Google search results.
  • Person. This type of markup will share basic information about a person mentioned on a webpage. This schema markup usually includes birthdate, death date, occupation, organizations, and relations.
  • Local Business. This markup allows searchers to get specific information about a local company, including their business hours, reviews, menu, if they have one, and their contact information.
  • Product or Offer. This type of markup is to show something for sale. Schema markup will show the product’s price, the type of currency accepted, and whether the product or offer is in stock.
  • Review. Using this markup will show a star rating for your business in the rich result on search engines.
  • Podcast. Using schema markup for podcast episodes allows users to find and play your podcast episodes in their browser. It also shows them the episode number and how long the episode is.

How To Implement Schema in WordPress

There are two simple ways to implement schema markup in WordPress — a theme or plugin.

Installing a theme with schema markup already included is a great way to implement schema, especially if you’re in the early stages of building your site and don’t already have a branded theme in place. Search for schema on the WordPress theme directory, and you’ll get many results. You can also talk to your web designer about the schema themes they recommend.

If you already have a theme and don’t want to change it, you can find tons of schema plugins to add to your site.

Ready to Get Started with Schema?

It’s easy to see how schema markup can be a game-changer for brands that want strong Google search results. So if you’re ready to take your business to the next level, check out our fully managed WordPress hosting.

Build a faster, more secure, and scalable website. Let us manage your WordPress hosting so you can focus on running your business.

Check out our fully managed WordPress hosting plans to get started today.

Source link

How to Create a Landing Page in WordPress: 3 Methods to Try

No matter how long you’ve been a freelance web developer, you’ve probably had several clients ask you to build a landing page. Mastering how to create a landing page in WordPress quickly sets your freelance business up for success.

From ebook downloads to purchasing meal delivery services, landing pages drive many businesses’ leads and revenue generation activities online.

In this post on how to design a landing page with WordPress, you’ll learn:

Elements of a Good Landing Page

What makes landing pages different from other pages on your site? Your homepage has many purposes. Homepages explain what your business is, display your services or products, and introduce your brand. Landing pages have one goal: to entice visitors to take action.

Uses of landing pages include:

  • Selling a product or service
  • Paying for a subscription
  • Lead magnet downloads like white papers or ebooks
  • Scheduling a demo or consultation
  • Registering for a webinar or event
  • Opting into an email list

Landing pages generate sales or leads. To drive these conversions, landing pages include different design and content elements than other web pages.

Common Landing Page Features

  • A Clear Offer. Landing pages often include a design emphasis on the hero section to clearly call out the offer or unique selling proposition of the product. You need to design a page where people want to sign up or buy, based on what they see above the fold without scrolling to the bottom of the page.
  • Call-to-Action. What’s the purpose of the page? From filling out a form or making a purchase, most landing pages need functionality to collect customer information.
  • Social Proof. Nothing motivates like peer pressure. Marketers add social proof to pages to encourage more people to sign up. Examples of social proof include customer reviews, testimonials, certifications, or celebrity endorsements.
  • Benefits. Most landing pages will have a section highlighting the benefits of why someone should buy or sign up for the offer.

Why Freelancers Like Building Landing Pages

Building a landing page in WordPress is an excellent project for freelance web designers or developers. The high demand and relative ease of creating landing pages in WordPress make them ideal for freelancers for many reasons.

Fast and Easy Build-Outs

Unlike website build-outs, freelancers can complete landing pages in less than a day. The payday on a finished website will boost your bank account, but you might have to wait several weeks or months. Simple, smaller projects like landing pages wrap up and get paid quickly.

Templated and Scalable

Landing pages often rely on templates. You won’t have to build or code everything from scratch. Once a client likes their landing page template, you can create new pages using the same template with minimal effort. This makes it easy to scale up your landing page building services.

High Demand

Most marketers need multiple landing pages. Different campaigns have various offers. You might need a page for an ebook on productivity tips and another for signing up for a coaching session. Clients probably won’t stop after the first landing page they request. In addition to hosting and maintenance services, building landing pages is a great way to generate additional revenue after you launch a website.

How to Create a Landing Page in WordPress

When building a landing page in WordPress, you can choose between using the WordPress built-in page editor or a plugin. If you also want tips for building ecommerce websites quickly, check out our guide to a faster way to build WordPress websites.

Option 1: Make a Landing Page in the WordPress Editor

In our beginner’s guide to WordPress, we talked about the difference between posts and pages. Posts are blog entries, and pages are for more static content. You can build a landing page by going to “Pages,” “Add New” in WordPress.

The problem is your options are a bit limited. Many people opt to remove the navigation and footer links from landing pages to decrease the chances someone will leave the page before completing the form or making a purchase. Depending on your theme, customizing the design using the native page editor may be difficult.

Option 2: Use a Plugin

For an easier building experience, consider using a plugin specifically for building landing pages. SeedProd is one of the most popular plugins for creating landing pages in WordPress. After installing the plugin, you can pick from various templates. You have to subscribe to unlock all the templates.

Option 3: Use a Page Builder

If you built your client’s website with a page builder plugin, you could use the same plugin to design and build landing pages.

Popular page builder plugins include:

  • Elementor
  • Divi
  • Beaver Builder
  • WPBakery

Create a new page and then look for template options for landing pages. This option is great because you can import the fonts, colors, and branding of the existing site into the landing page.

Builder Better Landing Pages with the Best WordPress Hosting

Design is only one element of a landing page. You also need a fast-loading site. Slow sites decrease conversions on ecommerce websites and landing pages.

With managed WordPress hosting from Hostdedi, you can trust that your client’s site will always run at top speed.

Sign up for a managed hosting account today or explore our affiliate program for freelancers to start earning commissions on client referrals.

Source link

5 Tips To Improve the WooCommerce Checkout Process

When it comes to ecommerce, conversions and sales matter most.

Anything that deters potential customers from clicking on the “Place Order” button costs you money. 80% of customers are abandoning their carts which costs ecommerce businesses over $18 billion in lost sales revenue annually.

Customers abandon shopping carts for various reasons, ranging from high shipping fees, slow delivery, and complicated checkouts. To combat them, we’ll show you how to improve checkout processes to encourage customers to convert.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

Benefits of Improving the WooCommerce Checkout Process

Besides the lost revenue from abandoned carts, improving the WooCommerce checkout process also brings:

  • A better customer experience. 70% of customers agree that a speedy checkout process affects their willingness to buy from an online retailer.
  • Higher conversions. According to a study by the Baymard Institute, the conversion rate of a large ecommerce store could increase by up to 35% by adopting an optimized checkout process.
  • Repeat purchases. Happy customers are more likely to make repeat purchases.

How To Improve the Checkout Process

1. Optimize your website for mobile.

2. Implement single-page checkout.

3. Ensure the checkout process is secure.

4. Reduce the number of required form fields.

5. Consider checkout flow design.

Proper implementation of these tips will lead to more sales on your WooCommerce website. Let’s see what they’re about.

1. Optimize Your Website for Mobile

Today, 58% of internet users access the internet via their mobile devices and are shopping on them. Insider Intelligence predicts that mobile commerce will account for 43% of all ecommerce sales by 2024.

In that sense, it’s best to upgrade your mobile checkout experience to avoid losing sales.

To start, optimize your mobile ecommerce site for page load speed. It affects multiple aspects: conversion, sales, SEO, and user experience.

For instance, a website that loads in one second has 3x more conversions than one that loads in five seconds, and up to 5x more conversions than one that loads in 10 seconds.

Here are some ways to increase page load speed for your ecommerce website:

  • Use plugins like WP Rocket, Smush, and Imagify to compress heavy files that slow down the website. Compressing images keeps file sizes low while retaining image quality.
  • Minimize unnecessary files. Delete plugins you don’t need.
  • Implement website caching.
  • Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) for quicker delivery of static files like images.

You can sign up for a CDN separately, but Hostdedi WooCommerce hosting comes with a free CDN.

2. Implement Single-Page Checkout

One of the best ways to increase conversions is to make the checkout process as seamless as possible. That’s why Amazon’s one-click checkout gave it an edge over competitors until the patent expired in 2017.

With the average American making 12 monthly impulse purchases and spending up to $3,000 on these purchases annually, Amazon’s seamless checkout resulted in billions of dollars in sales.

Amazon’s patented click and pay technology was eventually licensed to other ecommerce retailers and payment solutions like PayPal, Apple Pay, and Stripe.

If you want to implement single-page checkout on your WooCommerce store, check out these plugins to help you out.

3. Ensure the Checkout Process Is Secure

With different frauds and scams happening today, consumers consider security a top priority for online stores.

Online shoppers feel uneasy about sharing their payment information — 87% admitted they check to see whether a shop is legitimate before purchasing.

Improve the checkout process by giving customers a reason to trust your store. Here are some ways to do so:

  • Install an SSL certificate. Some hosting plans don’t include SSL certificates, so you may have to buy one. Hostdedi plans come with a free SSL certificate.
  • Use trust signals like security badges, and add testimonials and reviews.

4. Reduce the Number of Required Form Fields

When a website visitor is ready to buy something, they’ve already made up their minds. Don’t give them a chance to rethink the decision.

If you can’t implement one-click checkouts, reducing the number of steps improves the checkout process. The Baymard Institute found that websites with fewer form fields have a higher performance rate during checkout.

Here are some things you can try:

  • Implement autofill for address and credit card data. These items take the longest to type out and are the information you need to ship out an item.
  • Don’t ask users to create accounts. You can also implement a social sign-in option. It’s a more accessible alternative to user account creation that enables users to log in using their social media accounts. You can also provide a guest checkout option or let them create an account after making a purchase.
  • Introduce default billing/shipping addresses for returning users so they don’t have to keep inputting their information.

5. Consider Checkout Flow Design

If customers are to buy, they have to navigate to the checkout page — and they can’t do that if your website doesn’t optimize for design.

Here are some ideas to implement:

  • Use responsive WooCommerce themes.
  • Make buttons larger and more clickable, which also helps the mobile version of your site.
  • Ensure call-to-actions are displayed prominently on the checkout page and that headers and footers are distraction-free.
  • Use a progress bar or progress indicator so the customer knows what step they’re at. For example:

Final Thoughts — 5 Tips To Improve the WooCommerce Checkout Process

The main goal of any ecommerce store is to get customers to the end of the checkout process. Customers abandon carts for so many reasons, which translates to lost sales.

Follow these five tips to improve the checkout process, and you’ll soon see increased conversions, sales, and revenue.

Just remember to back up your checkout process improvement efforts with reliable hosting. Sign up for a Hostdedi WooCommerce hosting plan today.

Source link

What is a Sitemap? How to Create Sitemap in WordPress [2022]

What is a sitemap? You’ve probably heard the term being thrown around, but you might not know what sitemaps are and how useful they can be. Keep reading to learn how you can utilize this to your advantage and how to create a sitemap in WordPress.

What is a Sitemap?

A sitemap or item map is a file that has information about the pages, posts, and files on your website as well as their relationships. Search engines use it to follow the links on a page to new pages, and continue to find and follow links on new pages to other pages on your site.

Essentially, a sitemap is a list of pages of a web site within a domain. There are two primary types of sitemaps. We’ll discuss how to create a sitemap in WordPress in more detail later on.

  • Human-visible listings of the pages on a site.
  • Structured listings for web crawlers such as search engines.

Sitemaps are arguably the only true overview of everything on a site. Some navigations offer drop-down menus that let you see options available in each site section, but even these menus only show one section of content at a time.

Why Do You Need a Sitemap?

A sitemap lets you see all available content areas on one page. Sitemaps provide instant access and help users find order in an otherwise cluttered website, with a simple user interface.

The good thing about sitemaps is that they’re a secondary navigation feature. Generating a sitemap in WordPress is easy, and they come in handy, all while incurring little to no cost at all.

Sitemaps also allows you to optimize non-HTML content, which crawlers would otherwise be unable to find. If you have a broken link, crawlers would pick up on it right away to let you know what needs to be fixed, and even provide a temporary remedy for the issue in the meantime. Now that you understand the benefits of sitemaps, let’s go over how to create a sitemap in WordPress.

How to Create Sitemap in WordPress

In this section, we will explain how to create a sitemap in WordPress. The recommended and usually the most simple way to generate sitemap in WordPress is by utilizing a plugin. In this case, we’ll use the All in One SEO plugin and Yoast SEO plugin. Both will generate a sitemap in WordPress with ease, while providing additional SEO functionality.

Utilizing All in One SEO Plugin

1. Installing the Plugin

Navigate to your WP-Admin area. Go to Plugins > Add new >  and search for “All in One SEO.” It should be the first result.

2. Activating the Plugin

After installing the plugin, click the Activate button to activate the plugin.

3. Set Up the Plugin

A new menu has been created for easy navigation in the top bar of your admin area as shown here. Navigate to the sitemaps menu to create a sitemap.

Once there, you should see a lot of sitemap options. We’ll be focusing on the XML sitemap, found under “General Sitemap,” and the HTML sitemap.

Depending on the content type you have on your website, you may want to consider creating a video sitemap, news sitemap, and an RSS sitemap. The video and the news sitemaps currently require you to use the Pro version of the plugin. However, if you’re using RSS feeds to update visitors on newly published content, you can generate this sitemap and publish it to Google, Yahoo, or Bing, which helps bring content to your users without having to visit the site. It also helps your SEO by letting crawlers and search engines index your pages with just one visit to the sitemap.

4. View Your XML Sitemap

Next, you’ll have a preview option once the sitemap is enabled. The preview will take you to https://yourdomain/sitemap.xml, where you’ll be able to see what the XML sitemap looks like.

5. Create & View Your HTML Sitemap

Next, navigate to the HTML sitemap and enable it. There are many options for displaying your HTML sitemap, ranging from a dedicated page to widgets or even directly in the code. Let’s go ahead and create a dedicated page, which also allows you to set a custom URL for visitors to navigate to and easily find any content they might be looking for, or check for any unwanted content to remove.

Utilizing Yoast SEO Plugin

Now, let’s review how to create a sitemap in WordPress using the Yoast SEO plugin.

1. Installing the Plugin

Navigate to your admin area. Go to Plugins > Add new >  and search for “Yoast SEO.” It should be the first result.

2. Activating the Plugin

After installing the plugin, click the Activate button to activate the plugin.

3. Set Up the Plugin

Once activated, a new menu will be available as shown below. Navigate to SEO Settings > General.

From there, select the “Features” tab.

4. View Your XML Sitemap

Once in features, scroll down and you will find the “XML Sitemaps” option. You can click the question mark to expand options and either view or learn more about XML sitemaps.

Advanced: Manually Creating an XML Sitemap

In case you want to elevate your sitemap game, or you’re wondering how to create a sitemap in WordPress without the use of plugins,  here’s a basic overview of the process.

Sitemaps are based on the sitemap protocol, so let’s being by creating a file with an .xml extension and add the following 2 lines of code:

<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″?>

<urlset xmlns=”http://www.sitemaps.org/schemas/sitemap/0.9″>

After that, we’ll need to define the <url> & </url> tag to create an entry for every URL you’d like to include. Here’s an example:

<url>

<loc>http://www.buysomemorestore.tk/</loc>

<lastmod>2022-03-28</lastmod>

<changefreq>weekly</changefreq>

<priority>1.0</priority>

</url>

Let’s talk about what each tag specified does:

  • <loc> (REQUIRED) Provide the full URL of the page, including http/https.
  • <lastmod> Provide the date of last modification, in YYYY-MM-DD format.
  • <changefreq> Possible values including: hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, and never. This is only a pointer for crawlers
  • <priority> Allows suggestions to search engine crawlers on which pages are most important. Ranges can be set from 0.0 to 1.0 (highest) with the default being  0.5.

Once you have all the URLs, you can save the file, upload it if you made the changes locally, and define the sitemap in the robots.txt file with:

Sitemap: <sitemap_location>

<sitemap_location> Should be a complete URL to your site including the http/https. Make sure the URL matches the filename. Example:

Sitemap: https://buysomemorestore.tk/sitemap.xml

You can then submit them directly to Google. Make sure to replace the tag with your URL by going to: http://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/ping?sitemap=<sitemap_location>

Power Your WordPress Site With Fully Managed Hosting

If you have a website, you’ll know how important it is for it to be fast and reliable. If you’ve always had trouble getting the needed support to make everything work properly, or just need your site to be fast right off the bat, you can look into fully managed WordPress hosting and its advantages for your business.

If you need any assistance, you’re always welcome to reach out to our support team with 24-hour assistance any day of the year, by phone, chat or ticket.

With the platform itself, you can take on any amount of traffic with one-click autoscaling, while being comfortable knowing that it has 99.99% uptime, almost instant asset caching, and container add-ons to bring entirely new functionality to your website

Check out our WordPress hosting plans to get started today.

This blog was originally published in October 2015. It has since been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

Source link