Do you want to enable your website visitors to upload files on your contact form?
Maybe you are hiring employees and want to collect resumes, or perhaps you are running a photography contest where you need the applicant to attach files.
In this article, we will show you how to easily create a file upload form in WordPress.
Why Create a File Upload Form in WordPress?
If you want to collect any kind of file from your users on your WordPress website, then a file upload form is a great idea.
You can let users upload images, PDF files, Word documents, or other types of files.
Using a file upload form makes life easy for you and your users. Instead of the email back-and-forth, you can create a form that includes all the fields you need, so you can collect all information at once.
First, you will need to install and activate the WPForms plugin. For more detailed instructions, check out our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Note: WPForms also offers a free version. However, you will need the Pro version of the plugin to unlock the file upload form template.
Upon activation, head to the WPForms » Add New page from the WordPress admin sidebar.
This will take you to the ‘Search Template’ page, where you can start by naming your form. You need to also look for the file upload form template in the search box on the left.
Next, simply click the ‘Use Template’ button under the ‘File Upload Form’ option.
You will now be taken to the WPForms builder, where the File Upload Form will be automatically created for you.
You can use the file upload form template without making any changes, or you can also drag and drop form fields from the ‘Add Fields’ sidebar.
Next, click on the ‘File Upload’ field in the form to open up its settings in the left column.
By default, you can upload different types of files in the form, including:
Image files: .png, .gif, .jpg
Documents: .doc, .xls, .ppt, .pdf
Audio: .wav, .mp3, .mp4
Video: .mpg, .mov, .wmv
All you have to do is type the file formats that you want to accept into the ‘Allowed File Extensions’ box.
For this tutorial, we are going to allow the image formats .png, .gif, and .jpg. Make sure to separate each file format with a comma.
Note: WordPress limits the types of files that can be uploaded to the site for WordPress security reasons. You can add additional file types to WordPress if you want to allow users to upload file types that aren’t normally allowed.
You can also set a maximum file size and a maximum number of files. For our tutorial, we are going to allow people to submit up to 3 photos of up to 50MB each.
If you want to prevent people from submitting the form without attaching their file(s), you can toggle on the ‘Required’ switch. This means the form can’t be submitted unless at least 1 file has been uploaded.
Next, simply switch to the ‘Advanced’ tab from the top.
By default, the File Upload Field uses a modern format that lets users drag and drop their files.
However, if you have limited space for your form, or you prefer a classic upload field, you can change this. Simply select the ‘Classic’ option from the ‘Style’ dropdown menu.
Tip: The classic upload field only allows one file to be uploaded. If you want users to be able to submit more than one file, you will need to add multiple File Upload Fields to your form.
You can also choose to store the submitted files in the WordPress Media Library by toggling on the ‘Store file in WordPress Media Library’ switch. This makes it easy for you to add the uploaded files to a post or page.
For instance, if we are running a photography competition, then we may want to include the best photos when we announce the winner.
Note: The uploaded files will still be saved in your WordPress database, even if you don’t check this box. They are just stored in a separate folder in your WordPress hosting account.
If you want to edit any of the other fields on your form, you can click on them to open the field’s settings in the left column.
You can also add other fields to your File Upload form.
For example, you may want to add a Website/URL field to the form so that users can give you the link to their website.
Once you are happy with your form, click the ‘Save’ button in the top right corner of the screen to store your settings.
Setting Up Your File Upload Form’s Notifications
To change the notification settings for the form, you need to open the ‘Settings’ tab in the left corner. Once you are there, simply click on the ‘Notifications’ tab.
By default, the form sends an email notification to {admin_email}.
If you created your WordPress site by yourself, then this will be your email address. If not, then you can delete {admin_email} and type your own email address here instead.
If you are not sure if {admin_email} is your email address, simply visit the Settings » General page from your WordPress admin dashboard.
Once you are there, look for the Administration Email Address. You can now change the admin email address from here.
Once you are done, don’t forget to click the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your settings.
You can also change the confirmation message that users see after the form is submitted.
To do this, you need to visit the Settings » Confirmations page from the left column. Then, simply type the message into the ‘Confirmation Message’ box. You can also add formatting like bold and italics.
Finally, don’t forget to save your form once you have made the changes.
You can exit the form builder by clicking the ‘X’ in the top right.
Adding the File Upload Form to Your Website
Once you have finished creating your form, you will need to add it to your website.
To do this, you must open an existing or new post or page from the WordPress admin sidebar. For this tutorial, we are going to add the File Upload form to a new page.
Once you are there, click on the Add New Block ‘(+)’ button in the top left corner of the screen and find the WPForms block.
Upon adding the block, you will see a WPForms dropdown menu displayed on the page.
Go ahead and select the File Upload form that you just created.
Finally, click the ‘Publish’ or ‘Update’ button to save your changes.
You can now visit your website to see the File Upload form in action.
You can also make changes to your form anytime by visiting the WPForms » All Forms page from the admin sidebar.
From here, simply click on the name of the form, or hover your mouse over it and click the ‘Edit’ link to open up the form builder.
When you edit your form, it will be automatically updated on your website, so you don’t need to add it to your page again.
Tip: It’s a good idea to test your form to make sure it’s working as expected. If you don’t get an email notification after creating a form entry, then you can read our step-by-step guide on fixing the WordPress not sending email issue.
Viewing or Downloading the Uploaded Files
When someone sends a file using your file upload form, you can see it in your email inbox or your WordPress dashboard.
With each form entry, you will get an email like this:
Just click the links to view or download the files themselves.
You can also easily find the files in your WordPress dashboard. Simply go to the WPForms » Entries page and then click on the name of your form.
You can see the uploaded files in the table of form entries.
Alternatively, you can click the ‘View’ link to see the full details for each form entry.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
Are you looking to add product videos to your WooCommerce product galleries?
Videos can provide more detailed and engaging demonstrations of your products. Additionally, they can help make your WooCommerce store more visually appealing and engaging.
In this article, we will show you how to add WooCommerce product videos to your online store.
Why Add WooCommerce Product Videos to Your Store?
By adding product videos to your WooCommerce store, you can effectively showcase your products in a more detailed and informative way. This can provide your customers with a better understanding of your product’s features and benefits.
This can lead to increased conversion rates because visitors who watch product videos are 73% more likely to make a purchase.
Additionally, showing your products in action through video can help build trust and credibility with potential customers, making them feel more confident about their purchases.
For instance, if you have an online store that sells headphones, then adding a video that demonstrates the sound quality and features of the headset can help you get more conversions.
Furthermore, adding product videos to your WooCommerce galleries can also help increase your website’s SEO rankings because search engines prioritize websites that have multimedia content, including videos. Higher visibility in the search results can lead to more people visiting your store and buying products.
That being said, let’s see how you can easily add product videos to your WooCommerce galleries. You can use the links below to jump to the method you want to use.
Method 1: Add WooCommerce Product Video Using YITH WooCommerce Featured Audio & Video Content (Free & Premium)
For this method, we will be showing you how to add product videos to WooCommerce galleries using a premium plugin. We recommend this method if you want more control over your video display and playback settings.
Upon activation, head over to the YITH » Featured Audio & Video Content page from the WordPress admin sidebar.
This will open up the ‘Video Settings’ page. From here, you can start by selecting an aspect ratio for the product video from the dropdown menu.
If you are using the free version, this will be the only setting that will be available to you.
Next, toggle the ‘AutoPlay’ switch to active if you want the video to start playing as soon as the page loads.
You can also toggle the ‘Loop’ switch so that the video will start over as soon as it ends.
Once you have done that, you need to move the slider next to the ‘Volume’ option to adjust the volume of the video. Then, simply toggle on the ‘Stoppable videos’ switch to allow users to pause a video.
Next, scroll down to the ‘YouTube Settings’ section and toggle the ‘Show Related’ switch on if you want to recommend other YouTube videos from the same channel as your video. This setting is only necessary if you are embedding a product video from YouTube.
After that, you can choose a theme and style for the YouTube video player.
Once you have done that, you need to scroll down to the ‘Vimeo Settings’ section and toggle on the ‘Show Video Title’ switch to display the video title in the Vimeo player. You will only need to change this setting if your product videos are hosted on Vimeo.
Additionally, you can select a playback control color for the Vimeo player.
After that, move to the ‘VideoJS Player Style’ section and choose ‘Custom’ as the ‘Style’ option.
This will open up customization settings, where you can configure the background color, slider color, button color, and more of the video player.
Once you are done, click the ‘Save Options’ button to store your settings.
Configure Modal Settings(Premium Plugin Only)
Now, you need to switch to the ‘Modal Settings’ tab from the top of the page. Keep in mind that this tab won’t be available if you are using the free plugin.
Once you are there, simply toggle the ‘Video in modal’ switch if you want to display the featured video in a modal window. This will show the video within a lightbox in front of the other content on the page.
After you have done that, you can also choose a ‘Modal displaying effect’ from the dropdown.
Next, click the ‘Save Options’ button to save your changes.
Configure Gallery Settings (Premium Plugin Only)
You now need to switch to the ‘Gallery Settings’ tab from the top. This tab is only available in the premium version.
From here, you have to select the ‘WooCommerce Gallery’ option as the ‘Video and Audio gallery mode’ to display the product videos in the WooCommerce gallery.
Alternatively, by selecting the ‘Plugin Gallery’ option, the featured video will be shown in a related gallery.
On the other hand, you can also toggle the ‘Video and Audio in sidebar’ switch if you want to display the product video in the sidebar instead of the WooCommerce or related gallery.
Once you are done, don’t forget to click the ‘Save Options’ button to store your settings.
Add the Product Video to the WooCommerce Gallery
It’s now time for you to add the WooCommerce product video to the WooCommerce gallery.
First, you need to visit the Products » All Products page from the WordPress admin sidebar. Once you are there, simply click the ‘Edit’ link under a product name to open up the ‘Edit Product’ page.
Next, scroll down to the ‘Product Data’ section and click on the ‘Video’ tab from the left column.
Now, you need to select how you want to add the video from the ‘Add Video’ dropdown menu. For this tutorial, we will be choosing the ‘By URL’ option because we will be adding a YouTube video URL.
Alternatively, you can upload a video using the WordPress media library. However, we don’t recommend this method because uploading videos uses a lot of bandwidth.
Upon activation, head over to the Settings » Really Simple Featured Video page from the WordPress admin sidebar.
From here, toggle the ‘Products’ switch to enable video support for WooCommerce. After that, simply click the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your settings.
Next, you need to switch to the ‘Controls’ tab from the top. Here you can configure settings for self-hosted and embedded videos.
Now, just move to the ‘Self-hosted videos’ section and start by toggling the ‘Controls’ switch to add controls to the video player.
After that, you can also toggle the ‘Loop’ switch to keep playing the video on a loop. Additionally, you can also mute the video by default by toggling the switch next to ‘Mute sound’.
Once you have done that, simply toggle on the ‘Autoplay’ switch if you want the video to start playing automatically.
Next, scroll down to the ‘Embed videos’ section, where you will find all these options repeated for embedded video.
Simply configure these settings to your liking and click the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your settings.
Add the Product Video to the WooCommerce Gallery
To add a product video to the WooCommerce gallery, head over to the Products » All Products page from the admin sidebar.
From here, go ahead and click the ‘Edit’ link under a product name to open it.
Once you are there, you need to scroll down to the ‘Featured Video’ section in the left column and select a video source.
If you want to upload a video from your computer or media library, then you need to select the ‘Self’ option. However, to embed a video from YouTube or some other platform, you will have to choose the ‘Embed’ option.
Note: We don’t recommend uploading videos on your website because they use a lot of bandwidth. For more details, you may want to read our guide on why you should never upload a video in WordPress.
For this tutorial, we will be choosing the ‘Embed’ option because we want to add a YouTube video.
Upon selecting that option, a ‘Video URL goes here’ field will be displayed. Simply add the YouTube, Vimeo, or Dailymotion video link into the field.
Finally, click the ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ button at the top to save your changes.
Now you can visit your website to check out the WooCommerce product video.
We hope this article helped you learn how to add WooCommerce product videos to your product galleries. You may also want to see our tutorial on how to schedule coupons in WooCommerce and our top picks for the best WooCommerce plugins to grow your site.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
Do you want to create a custom password reset page in WordPress?
The default WordPress reset password form has the standard WordPress branding and doesn’t change to match your theme. This isn’t the best experience, especially if you run a membership site or client portal.
In this article, we’ll show you how to customize the WordPress reset password page.
Why Customize the Reset Password Page in WordPress?
By default, these pages show the WordPress branding and logo. Sometimes, this isn’t a major problem especially if you or your team are the only people logging into the admin area.
However, if you’re running an online store or membership site, then your customers may also need to log in.
You can provide a much better user experience by customizing these pages to match your website’s design and branding. You might also add extra content such as your logo, or a list of recent posts.
You may have already followed our other guides on how to add a custom user registration form and login page. Now let’s take a look at how to customize the reset password page. Simply use the quick links below to jump straight to the method you want to use.
Method 1: Customizing the Reset Password Page Using Formidable Forms (Easy)
The easiest way to replace the WordPress password reset page is by using Formidable Forms. This plugin lets you replace the default password reset page using a shortcode.
This method doesn’t allow you to edit the password reset form, but you can add your own content around it. For example, you can add text, images, and other content using the standard WordPress post editor.
First, you need to install the Formidable Forms plugin. To learn more, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, you’ll also need to install Formidable Forms Lite. This free plugin provides the core foundation for the premium plugin’s more advanced features.
Once you’ve done that, go to the Formidable Forms » Global Settings page in your dashboard and select ‘Click to enter a license key manually.’
You can find the license key under your account on the Formidable Forms website. After entering this information, go ahead and click the ‘Save License’ button.
Next, you will need to install the User Registration addon by going to Formidable » Add-Ons. On this screen, find the User Registration addon and click on its Install button.
Now you’re ready to create a custom reset password page by going to Pages » Add New.
To start, give the page a title and then click on the + button. In the popup that appears, start typing ‘Shortcode.’
Simply click on the right block to add it to the page.
You can now add the following shortcode: [frm-reset-password].
At this point, you can add any other content you want to show on the password reset page.
When you’re happy with how the page is set up, click on the ‘Publish’ button to make it live.
Finally, you need to tell WordPress to use this page, rather than the default password reset page. To do that, head over to Formidable » Global Settings and then click the ‘Registration’ tab in the menu.
From here you just need to open the ‘Reset Password Page’ dropdown and choose the page you just created.
Don’t forget to click the ‘Update’ button at the top of the screen to store your settings.
You can now visit your WordPress website to see the custom reset password page in action.
Method 2: Customize All Membership Pages Using ‘Theme My Login’
To provide a consistent user experience, it’s a good idea to use the same styling on all your membership pages. Theme My Login is a free plugin that allows you to replace the built-in WordPress dashboard, login, logout, registration, forgot password, and reset password pages.
It’s not the most customizable solution, but all its pages will use your WordPress theme.
The first thing you need to do is install and activate the Theme My Login plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, Theme My Login automatically creates URLs for your custom login, logout, registration, forgot password, and reset password screens. You can see these URLs by going to the Theme My Login » General page.
To replace any of these pages, you simply need to create a new page with this exact URL.
To create a custom password reset page, go to Page » Add New. Here, click on the ‘+’ icon and start typing ‘Shortcode.’
When the right block appears, give it a click to add it to the page.
You can now add any extra content you want to show on the password reset page, such as your logo. When you’re happy with how the page is set up, click on ‘Save draft.’
After that, go to Pages » All Pages and find the password reset page you just created.
Simply hover your mouse over the page and click on the ‘Quick Edit’ button when it appears.
In the ‘Slug’ field, type in ‘lostpassword.’
After that, open the ‘Status’ dropdown and select ‘Published.’
With that done, go ahead and click on ‘Update.’ Now, if you visit your WordPress blog you’ll see the lost password page live.
To replace the other built-in WordPress membership pages, simply follow the steps described above, but make sure you use the right URL slug and shortcode.
For example, if you wanted to create a custom password reset page, then you’d need to use the [theme-my-login action="resetpass"] shortcode. You’ll also need to change the ‘URL slug’ to resetpassword.
Method 3: Create a Password Reset Page Using WPForms (Completely Customizable)
If you want to replace the default password reset page with a completely custom form, then we recommend using WPForms.
This plugin has a ‘User Password Reset Form’ template that you can customize with your own text, images, and branding. You can even add and remove fields, to collect exactly the information you want from members.
Upon activation, head over to WPForms » Settings and enter your license key. You can find this information under your account on the WPForms website.
After entering the license key, you’ll need to install the User Registration addon, which allows you to create custom user registration, password reset, and login forms for your site.
In the dashboard, go to WPForms » Addons and find the User Registration Addon.
Simply click on ‘Install Addon’ to download it, and then click on ‘Activate’ to make it live.
You are now ready to create your own custom password reset form by going to the WPForms » Add New page. Here, type in a title for the new form.
With that done, scroll to the ‘User Password Reset Form’ template and click on its ‘Use Template’ button.
WPForms will now load the User Password Reset Form template.
To customize any field with your own text, label, or description, simply click to select it and then use the settings to make your changes.
For example, the template has a ‘Submit’ button. To show a different button label, simply click to select the field and then type a new message into ‘Submit Button Text.’
You can also change what happens when a user submits their password reset request by going to Settings » Confirmations.
Here, open the ‘Confirmation Type’ dropdown and choose whether to redirect the user to a different page or URL, or simply show a message asking them to check their inbox for a password reset email.
You can also customize the message by typing it into the small text editor. For example, you might remind users to check their spam folders.
Pro Tip: If your emails are regularly getting sent to spam, then we recommend using an SMTP service provider to improve your email deliverability rates.
When you’re happy with how the form is set up, click on the ‘Save’ button at the top right corner of the screen.
To replace the default WordPress password reset page, we’ll need to place the form on a page with the slug ‘onepassword.’ The easiest way to do this is by clicking on the ‘Embed’ button. Then, select ‘Create New Page.’
You can now type in a title for the new page. We’ll be changing the slug in a later step so you can use anything you want.
With that done, click on ‘Let’s Go.’
This takes you to the WordPress page editor, with the form already added to the new page. You can now make any changes to this page, such as adding more text, a custom logo, or categories and tags.
When you’re happy with how the page looks, click on the ‘Save draft’ button.
After that, go to Pages » All Pages and find the password reset page you just created.
Simply hover your mouse over the page and click on the ‘Quick Edit’ button when it appears.
In the ‘Slug’ field, type in ‘lostpassword.’
After that, open the ‘Status’ dropdown and select ‘Published.’
Now, we need to set up a redirect that will send visitors to our custom password reset page, rather than the built-in WordPress page. The easiest way to do this is by using the free WPCode plugin.
WPCode is the best code snippets plugin used by over 1 million WordPress websites. It makes it easy to add custom code in WordPress without having to edit the functions.php file.
With WPCode, even beginners can edit their website’s code without risking mistakes and typos that can cause many common WordPress errors.
The first thing you need to do is install and activate the free WPCode plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Upon activation, head over to Code Snippets » Add Snippet.
Here, simply hover your mouse over ‘Add Your Custom Code.’
When it appears, click on ‘Use snippet.’
To start, type in a title for the custom code snippet. This can be anything that helps you identify the snippet in the WordPress dashboard.
After that, open the ‘Code Type’ dropdown and select ‘PHP Snippet.’
In the code editor, add the following code snippet:
add_filter( 'lostpassword_url', 'my_lostpassword_url' );
function my_lostpassword_url() {
return site_url('/lostpassword/');
}
Next, scroll to the ‘Insertion’ section. WPCode can add code to different locations, such as after every post, frontend only, or admin only.
We want to use the custom PHP code across our entire site, so click on ‘Auto Insert’ if it isn’t already selected. Then, open the ‘Location’ dropdown menu and choose ‘Run Everywhere.’
After that, you’re ready to scroll to the top of the screen and click on the ‘Inactive’ toggle, so it changes to ‘Active.’
Finally, click on ‘Save Snippet’ to make the PHP snippet live.
Now, try visiting the built-in WordPress login screen.
If you click on the ‘Lost your password?’ link, then you’ll be redirected to the custom password reset page you just created.
Depending on how your site is set up, you may need to update the password reset links on other pages.
If you’ve created a custom login page for WordPress using a plugin such as WPForms, then we also recommend adding the new password reset link to this form.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
Are you looking for the best affiliate link management plugin for your website?
The right affiliate URL management plugin will help you add relevant links to your site, so you never miss a chance to make money. They’ll also make it easier to monitor, update, and fine-tune your links to get as many sales as possible.
In this article, we will compare Pretty Links vs ThirstyAffiliates, to help you decide which affiliate plugin is right for your website.
Why Use an Affiliate Link Management Plugin?
Affiliate marketing is where you earn a commission every time someone buys a product using your unique referral link. It’s a great way to make money online without having to create and sell your own digital downloads or physical products.
However, it’s not enough to simply add affiliate links to your site. To get sales, you need to place those links in the right place and show them to the right people.
It’s also important to monitor the number of click-throughs and conversions, identify any broken links, update outdated URLs, and much more.
This can take a lot of time and effort, which is why so many marketers use an affiliate link management plugin. The right plugin can help you better manage your affiliate links, and even help automate certain processes like contextual linking.
In this Pretty Links vs ThirstyAffiliates guide, we’re comparing two of the most popular affiliate plugins to see which is right for your website. Simply use the quick links below to jump straight to the feature you want to compare.
An effective link management plugin is a must-have for any affiliate marketer. With that being said, let’s start with an overview of these two popular link management plugins.
ThirstyAffiliates – Overview
ThirstyAffiliates is an affiliate management plugin that allows you to replace ugly affiliate URLs with branded links.
It has everything you need to make money online blogging with WordPress including link scheduling, Google Analytics integration, automatic keyword linking, geolocation specific links, and an automatic 404 checker.
You can also organize your links into categories, so it’s easier to work with lots of different affiliate partners.
Note: We have been using ThirstyAffiliates on our own websites including WPBeginner for over 5 years.
Pretty Links – Overview
Pretty Links is also a popular affiliate link management plugin for WordPress that’s trusted by over 200,000 websites.
You can use Pretty Links to replace long and complicated affiliate URLs with cleaner, more memorable alternatives. These links are easier to post on social media, podcasts, forums, and many other platforms.
You can even create links that originate from your domain name, so they seem more trustworthy to security-conscious shoppers.
In addition to link cloaking, Pretty Links is a complete affiliate link management tool that has tons of advanced features including automatically adding links to your site and detailed conversion reports.
Affiliate Link Management
Affiliate links are a great way to monetize your WordPress blog or website. However, maintaining those links can take a lot of time and effort, especially if you’re a small team. If you don’t manage your links effectively, then you may miss opportunities to make money.
Here’s a look at how these plugins can help you manage your affiliate URLs.
ThirstyAffiliates – Affiliate Link Management
ThirstyAffiliates allows you to manage your links from a single location in your WordPress dashboard. This can save you a ton of time if you ever need to update those URLs.
For example, if an affiliate partner changes a link, then you can simply edit the URL once in the WordPress dashboard, and ThirstyAffiliates will automatically redirect to the new URL across your entire WordPress website.
ThirstyAffiliates’ also support categories, which work in a similar way to post and page categories in WordPress.
This helps to keep your links organized, no matter how many affiliate partners you work with.
However, there’s no way to add tags to your links.
Pretty Links – Affiliate Link Management
Just like ThirstyAffiliates, Pretty Links provides a single location where you can manage all your affiliate links.
Again, this means you can edit an affiliate link once, and Pretty Links will apply the change across your entire WordPress website.
Although Pretty Links and ThirstyAffiliates handle link management in a very similar way, Pretty Links does have some extra features. To start, you can add both categories and tags to your affiliate links.
It even has a separate section where you can manage all your affiliate tags.
This can be particularly useful if you have lots of different affiliate partners or a ton of links that you need to keep organized.
Pretty Links also has a ‘Notes’ section for each link where you can leave reminders for yourself, or even notes for other people.
In this way, you can communicate with clients, guest bloggers, partners, and anyone else who shares the WordPress dashboard with you.
Winner – Pretty Links
If you’re looking for a tool to help you perform essential link management, then both plugins are a great choice.
Both Pretty Links and ThirstyAffiliates will save you a ton of time with link management, no matter how many URLs you add to your online store, blog, or website. However, Pretty Links has a few extra features that can help you organize your links, so it has a slight edge over ThirstyAffiliates in this area.
Link Checker
Broken links are bad news for any website, but 404 errors cost affiliate marketers money.
When a visitor clicks on an affiliate link, it typically means they’re thinking about buying the product. If they get a 404 error, then you’ve missed out on a potential sale.
As an affiliate marketer, you need a link management plugin that helps you fix broken links before they start costing you money. Here’s what both plugins have to offer.
ThirstyAffiliates – Link Checker
ThirstyAffiliates has an Automatic 404 Checker that scans your site and then reports any problems. It will show information about each link in the ‘404 checker’ area of the WordPress dashboard.
You can check for broken links by visiting this tab, but ThirstyAffiliates will also notify your site admin about any broken URLs it discovers. However, there’s no option to send these email notifications to a different email address, which may be a problem if you share the WordPress dashboard with other people.
The Automatic 404 Checker also isn’t enabled by default, so you’ll need to go into the plugin’s settings to activate it.
ThirstyAffiliates also allows you to check the health of specific links as you’re adding them to your online marketplace or website.
This allows you to verify that a link works before publishing it.
Pretty Links – Link Checker
Pretty Links has a Link Health feature that scans your site and creates weekly reports about any broken links it discovers.
However, just like ThirstyAffiliates, you will need to go into the plugins’s settings to enable this feature, as it doesn’t run by default.
Unlike ThirstyAffiliates, Pretty Links prioritizes the links that get you the most conversions, by scanning your best-performing links first. This feature is particularly useful for large sites that have hundreds or even thousands of affiliate URLs.
You can see the Link Health report in the WordPress dashboard, but Pretty Links can also notify you about broken links via email. By default, Pretty Links will email your site admin but you can change this to any other address in the plugin’s settings.
Winner – ThirstyAffiliates
Both of these plugins allow you to identify and fix broken links without having to manually track 404 pages in WordPress.
However, ThirstyAffiliates lets you check that a link is working before publishing it, simply by clicking a button. This is a quick way to avoid 404 errors happening in the first place, which gives this plugin a slight advantage over Pretty Links.
Link Scheduling
Scheduling helps you create automated workflows for your affiliate website. This is important for busy website owners who don’t have time to enable and disable affiliate URLs manually.
It’s also useful if your affiliate partners run sales and other time-sensitive promotions, as you can organize your campaigns in advance.
Let’s see how these plugins compare when it comes to link scheduling.
ThirstyAffiliates – Link Scheduling
With ThirstyAffiliates, you can set the date and time when your affiliate URLs will go live.
You can also create redirects for any visitors who click your affiliate URLs before they’re active, or after they’ve expired.
For example, you might show a custom landing page explaining the promotion has ended, and suggesting some alternatives affiliate products visitors may want to buy instead.
In this way, you can improve the user experience and possibly even turn 404 errors into sales.
Pretty Links – Link Scheduling
Unlike ThirstyAffiliates, Pretty Links doesn’t allow you to schedule when your links will go live. However, you can set links to expire automatically on a specific date or after a certain number of clicks. This is perfect if you want to use FOMO to increase conversions.
Similar to ThirstyAffiliates, you can automatically redirect visitors after a link has expired. For example, you might use a page builder plugin to design a custom Sorry page, or you can forward them to an alternative affiliate product.
Winner – Tie
If you like to plan your affiliate campaigns in advance, then this is a good reason to choose ThirstyAffiliates over Pretty Links. However, if you want your links to expire automatically after a certain number of clicks, then this is very easy to set up using Pretty Links.
URL Cloaking
Link cloaking is where you replace complicated affiliate URLs with user-friendly links that have your own branding. This makes the links look more trustworthy, which encourages shoppers to click on them.
Cloaked links are often shorter, so they’re also easier to share on social media. In addition, link cloaking hides your affiliate ID, so it’s more difficult for malicious third parties to hijack your links and steal your commissions.
Since it’s such an important feature, let’s compare how ThirstyAffiliates and Pretty Links handle affiliate URL cloaking.
Pretty Links – URL Cloaking
Every time you add a link to Pretty Links, you have the option to set up link cloaking. Simply type in the original link and the cloaked URL that you want to use instead.
You can then choose between various redirection types, including 301 redirects, 307, and JavaScript redirection.
You can then mark the links as no-follow or sponsored, so you’re in complete control of your WordPress SEO.
‘Sponsored’ tells search engines that the URL is a paid placement or advertisement. Although no-follow and sponsored links are similar, ‘sponsored’ helps search engines understand this is an affiliate URL, so it’s a great example of Pretty Links paying attention to the finer details.
Sometimes you may need to pass a parameter to the target URL, such as a coupon code or customer ID. With Pretty Links, this is as simple as checking a box.
ThirstyAffiliates – URL Cloaking
Similar to Pretty Links, ThirstyAffiliates makes it easy to cloak your affiliate URLs. In fact, the process is practically identical as you simply type in the original link and the URL you want to use instead.
You can also easily change whether the cloaked link opens in a new tab, mark URLs as nofollow, and pass query strings to the destination URL.
However, ThirstyAffiliates only allows you to set up 301, 302, and 307 redirects, so you have fewer options compared to Pretty Links.
If you want to mark affiliate links as sponsored, then you’ll need to add this as an additional rel attribute tag in the plugin’s settings.
This is much more difficult than how Pretty Links handles sponsored links.
On the plus side, ThirstyAffiliates has a unique smart uncloaking feature that helps you follow Amazon’s terms and conditions. The Amazon Associates Program forbids using any kind of redirection including link cloaking. If you ignore this rule, then you may get banned from their affiliate program.
Even better, if you add all your Amazon links to the same category, then you can enable automatic clink uncloaking for that entire category.
Now, any Amazon links you add to your website will be uncloaked by default. This is something that Pretty Links doesn’t offer, and it’s a very attractive feature for anyone who uses Amazon affiliate links.
Winner – ThirstyAffiliates
No matter whether you choose Pretty Links or ThirstyAffiliates, you’ll get advanced link cloaking features.
For the typical affiliate marketer, ThirstyAffiliates and Pretty Links have everything you need to create more shareable, user-friendly, and safe links. However, if you plan to use lots of Amazon links, then ThirstyAffiliates’ automatic link uncloaking is a must-have feature.
Automatic Keyword Linking
It’s easy to overlook an opportunity to add affiliate links to your blog posts. This becomes a bigger problem if you run a multi-author WordPress blog or have guest bloggers.
Both Pretty Links and ThirstyAffiliates can scan your site for specific keywords and phrases and then convert them into affiliate links automatically. Let’s take a closer look at how both plugins handle automatic keyword linking.
Pretty Links –Automatic Keyword Linking
When you add a new URL, you can type in an unlimited number of keywords and phrases. Every time you use these words in your posts and pages, Pretty Links will insert the affiliate link automatically.
Even better, Pretty Links will scan your older content for these keywords and phrases. If you’ve already published some content, then you can start earning money from your back catalog without having to manually update any posts.
Pretty Links also has a settings tab where you can control exactly how this auto-linking works on your site.
This includes setting a limit for the number of affiliate URLs that Pretty Links can add to a single page, so the links don’t distract from your content or annoy your visitors.
Pretty Links can also add a disclosure to every page where it auto-inserts an affiliate URL.
Undisclosed links can create a legal nightmare, so Pretty Links can earn you extra income without risking any fines or damaging your reputation.
ThirstyAffiliates – Automatic Keyword Linking
ThirstyAffiliates works in a very similar way, as you can add keywords every time you create a link. ThirstyAffiliates will then automatically add the link to every page or post that features that word.
Just like Pretty Links, ThirstyAffiliates lets you limit how many affiliate links it will add to a single page or post.
However, unlike Pretty Links it allows you to set a global limit in the plugin’s settings and a limit for a specific affiliate link.
In the plugin’s general settings, you can also disable auto-linking on your homepage and archive pages. You can also disable auto-linking for your pages or posts.
Often, sales pages and landing pages have their own clear call to action. Affiliate URLs can distract from that CTA, so this is an easy way to disable them across all your pages.
These extra settings give you much more control over how auto-linking is used on your WordPress website.
Once you’ve set up auto-linking, it can be difficult to keep track of all the affiliate URLs across your website. With that in mind, you may want to look at the Link Inserted Scanner, as it lists every page and post that uses a particular affiliate link.
This is a simple but effective way to keep track of your URLs, even when using the auto-linking feature.
Winner – Tie
Auto-linking can help you earn extra commission so it’s a must-have feature for all affiliate marketers. Although ThirstyAffiliates has some extra settings, both Pretty Links and ThirstyAffiliates have everything you need to automatically add affiliate URLs to your content, while still keeping control over your links.
Affiliate Marketing Reports
It’s important to monitor how your affiliate links are performing. In this way, you can see what’s working and not working, and then adjust your affiliate marketing activities to get the best results.
Let’s see how ThirstyAffiliates vs Pretty Links stack up in terms of affiliate marketing reports.
ThirstyAffiliates – Affiliate Marketing Reports
ThirstyAffiliates has a reporting dashboard that spans multiple tabs. Here, you can see the total clicks on your different affiliate links and identify your top-performing URLs.
Some links may get more engagement from certain geographical locations. To help you spot these trends, ThirstyAffiliates has a Geolocation Report that tracks link clicks based on the visitor’s location.
Depending on the data, you might decide to show different content to users, based on their geographical location.
For more detailed information, we recommend pairing ThirstyAffiliates and Google Analytics. After making this connection, ThirstyAffiliates will send all its data to your Google Analytics profile.
You can even cross-match the information against your Google Analytics data. In this way, you can get a detailed insight into the people who convert, including the devices and operating systems they’re using, and how they arrived at your site.
This is how we use ThirstyAffiliates on WPBeginner to get maximum insights.
Google Analytics is a powerful tool, but it can be difficult to set up. For that reason, we recommend using MonsterInsights. It is the best analytics solution for WordPress users and can show all your ThirstyAffiliates and Google Analytics data inside the WordPress dashboard.
Pretty Links – Affiliate Marketing Reports
Unlike ThirstyAffiliates, Pretty Links doesn’t show you data automatically in a reporting dashboard. Instead, you’ll need to generate custom reports by selecting the links you want to analyze. You can start by generating standard reports, which show the total clicks and unique clicks on each affiliate link.
This is useful to know, but clicks don’t necessarily mean sales and affiliate revenue. With that in mind, you can also create conversion reports, which show the total conversions and the conversion rate for each link.
Unlike ThirstyAffiliates, there’s no way to explore your data based on geographical location by default. However, Pretty Links does integrate with MonsterInsights and Google Analytics.
This allows you to take the built-in Pretty Links reports to the next level and access more detailed information, including where visitors are located.
MonsterInsights will even send real-time data to Google Analytics, so you can track clicks as they’re happening.
Pretty Links also has a unique auto-trim clicks feature that automatically filters known robots and unidentifiable browser clients from your click data, stats, and reports. This can greatly improve the accuracy and quality of your reports.
Winner – Pretty Links
Both of these plugins provide easy access to all the information you need to make decisions based on real data, especially if you’re using a plugin such as MonsterInsights. However, Pretty Links’ auto-trimming feature can significantly improve the accuracy of this information, so it’s our top pick when it comes to affiliate reports.
Professional and Community Support
Both Pretty Links and ThirstyAffiliates are easy to use. However, even experienced affiliate marketers need help from time to time, so let’s compare their support options.
Pretty Links – Professional and Community Support
If you prefer to find answers yourself, then Pretty Links has detailed online documentation and a blog where you’ll find step-by-step guides covering everything from how to use specific Pretty Links features, to general advice on running a successful affiliate site.
If you want one-on-one support, then you can submit a ticket to their Premium Support Request page.
According to Pretty Links, you can typically expect a response within 1-2 business days.
If you don’t have a support license, then Pretty Links encourages you to reach out using their contact form or post to their support forum on the official WordPress repository.
The Pretty Links team members are very active on the free forum and respond quickly to user questions. If you plan to join the conversion, then we recommend reading our guide on how to properly ask for WordPress support and get it.
ThirstyAffiliates – Community and Professional Support
If you choose ThirstyAffiliates, then you’ll have access to a huge knowledge base covering both the free and premium versions of the plugin. There’s also a blog where they regularly post affiliate marketing tips, along with step-by-step guides on how to use ThirstyAffiliates.
Similar to Pretty Links, this may be all the information and resources you need to answer your questions and solve any problems you have.
When it comes to one-to-one support, premium customers can submit a ticket and get a response within 24-48 hours. Again, this is very similar to the level of support we see from Pretty Links.
If you have the free plugin then you can use the ThirstyAffiliates contact form, or post to the ThirstyAffiliates support forum. The ThirstyAffiliates team actively monitors this forum and responds to questions quickly, so this is a great resource for anyone using the free plugin.
Winner – Tie
When it comes to support, both plugins offer plenty of options. After comparing and contrasting all of the free and premium support, we’re confident you’ll have no problems getting the help you need, no matter whether you choose Pretty Links or ThirstyAffiliates.
Price Comparison
To help you build a successful affiliate marketing business, it’s important to find a plugin that fits your budget. Let’s see which plugin offers the best value for money.
Pretty Links – Price Comparison
Pretty Links has three pricing plans, which seem to target beginners, affiliate marketers with multiple websites, and established marketers who have up to 5 websites.
If you’re a new marketer with a single WordPress website, then the Beginner plan ($99.50 per year) has everything you need to get started. In fact, the only difference between Beginner and the more expensive plans is the number of websites you can use Pretty Links on.
If you have multiple websites, then you’ll need to upgrade to Marketer, which allows you to use Pretty Links on two websites for $149.50 a year.
If you own more than two websites, then Super Affiliate is the most expensive plan ($199.50 per year) and allows you to use Pretty Links on up to 5 websites.
ThirstyAffiliates – Price Comparison
Just like Pretty Links, the only difference between the different ThirstyAffiliates plans is how many sites you can use the plugin on.
If you’re a new affiliate marketer with a single website, then the Basic plan should have everything you need, for $79.50 per year.
If you have multiple websites, then ThirstyAffiliates does represent better value for money. Their Plus plan allows you to use ThirstyAffiliates on up to 5 websites, for $129.50 per year.
If you have more than 5 websites, then the most expensive ThirstyAffiliates plan is priced at $199.50 per year, but you can use it on up to 10 websites.
By comparison, Pretty Links’ most expensive plan is also priced at $199.50 per year, and you can only install the plugin on 5 websites.
Winner – ThirstyAffiliates
If you own a single website, then both Pretty Links and ThirstyAffiliates offer similar features, for a similar amount of money. However, if you own more than 2 websites, then ThirstyAffiliates seems to offer the best value for money.
In fact, if you have more than 5 websites, then you’ll almost certainly need to use the ThirstyAffiliates plugin.
Pretty Links vs ThirstyAffiliates – Which is Right for Your Site?
If you’re looking for an affiliate link management plugin with advanced auto-linking features, then both Pretty Links and ThirstyAffiliates are great choices.
Both plugins can help you unlock extra revenue while saving you a ton of time. By allowing you to auto-link keywords and manage your links from a single location, Pretty Links and ThirstyAffiliates make affiliate marketing easy, no matter whether you’re a hobby blogger or an experienced business owner.
The affiliate marketing plugin that’s right for you will vary depending on your website, your affiliate partners, and the specific features you need.
With that being said, each plugin has its own strengths and drawbacks. If you want to schedule links in advance, then we recommend using ThirstyAffiliates. If Amazon is your main affiliate partner, then ThirstyAffiliates’ smart link uncloaking is a must-have feature that can help you comply with Amazon’s terms and conditions.
If you’re worried about bots or malicious third parties affecting the accuracy of your data, then the auto-trimming feature in Pretty Links is perfect. We’ve seen this feature significantly improve the accuracy of affiliate reports, so it’s a must-have if you want precise data.
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With the evolution of AI technologies like ChatGPT, many questions linger about the future of WordPress development and how AI can actually help – not hurt – your job or business.
Sophisticated artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT can perform many tasks that previously required human intelligence.
This article explores some of the many ways that AI, specifically ChatGPT, can actually help you as a WordPress developer.
After reading this article and trying out some of the applications described below, hopefully you’ll see why an AI tool like ChatGPT can be a valuable assistant to help you get things done faster and more efficiently.
ChatGPT, short for Chat Generative Pretrained Transformer, is an AI tool created by OpenAI, an AI research and implementation company.
This powerful tool has been fine-tuned using reinforcement learning and a supervised learning approach, and serves as a long-form question-answering AI that can effectively respond to complex queries.
ChatGPT is a type of Generative AI, which means that when it is trained, it can generate outputs similar to the examples it was trained on, although not identical. It can assist you in various tasks, such as coding, crafting essays, generating outlines, and even composing emails.
11 Ways ChatGPT Can Help You As a Developer
As a WordPress developer, ChatGPT offers many advantages that you can leverage to enhance your work. Let’s go through some of the ways it can benefit you.
Note: the examples below were generated using GPT-3 (its free version) — so there’s no cost to experiment with the methods described below.
1. Generating Code
ChatGPT is an invaluable tool for WordPress developers when it comes to generating code. By simply providing a few lines specifying the type of code required, ChatGPT can understand and interpret your needs, saving you significant time and effort.
But it doesn’t stop at basic code generation. ChatGPT possesses the ability to generate intricate code for complex tasks, such as creating entire modules or classes. This means that even if you’re unfamiliar with a particular code, ChatGPT can serve as a crash course, allowing you to grasp its inner workings and learn the essentials.
To demonstrate ChatGPT’s capabilities, I requested a line of code for an opt-in form where customers can choose from a variety of food items. Remarkably, ChatGPT swiftly generated the necessary code in a matter of moments.
Developing a WordPress site that requires opting-in and food choices? This example shows you how quickly you can generate code for this specific need.
If you’re not happy with the response, you can regenerate it. It will then give you another option. Additionally, it tells you what exactly is on this form, and you can vote on whether this response is better, worse, or the same.
The 2nd code option that ChatGPT gave me.
Freeing up time for your WordPress business by eliminating time-consuming coding can be extremely beneficial to focus on other areas of your business.
2. Testing
ChatGPT is also an invaluable tool for WordPress developers when it comes to creating test cases. It offers several ways to assist in this process.
Firstly, ChatGPT has the ability to analyze and understand the logic and structure of the code you enter in its chat area. This enables it to generate test cases that cover different code paths and edge cases, providing comprehensive test coverage.
Furthermore, ChatGPT generates clear and easy-to-understand documentation for these test cases. This documentation includes the test inputs, predicted outcomes, and conditions involved. Having such organized information at your disposal greatly simplifies the testing process.
With this valuable information at hand, as a developer, you can easily update your code and determine the most effective variables to use based on the test case outcomes. This allows for efficient code refinement and optimization.
3. Technical Documentation
Technical documentation can be a daunting task for developers. Luckily, ChatGPT can help, thanks to ChatGPT’s natural language skills.
Simply give ChatGPT a snippet of code, and instruct it to generate documentation explaining the code’s purpose, inputs, and other important information.
For example, here’s a snippet from the code it generated featuring food items. There was a lot to it, so this is just a short excerpt from the provided documentation.
This was just a small snippet of what was generated.
You can get even more detailed information, like parameters, returns, error handling, and much more.
Be sure to check for accuracy. ChatGPT isn’t perfect (which we’ll discuss later in this article); however, using it for documentation – if anything – can provide a great outline to edit accordingly.
It’s a terrific way to quickly punch up documentation for code and focus on other relevant things in your WordPress business.
4. Debugging
If you need to track down bugs or apply good code practices, ChatGPT is extremely beneficial. It can recommend debugging strategies and find bugs.
Plus, it can examine a piece of code and make suggestions that you can do to find and fix any bug issues. This eliminates hours of painstaking looking for bugs on your own.
Also, you can recommend code restructuring, which helps by suggesting modifications to improve readability, maintainability, and a bug-free nature, so there are fewer bugs and faster development.
An example of a bug in the code and how to fix it.
Debugging quickly with ChatGPT can save a lot of time (and a headache) when coding for your clients.
5. Comment Generation
ChatGPT provides a valuable feature for WordPress developers: code commenting. It helps you gain a clear understanding of what your code does by adding comments and explanations to specific code segments.
In fact, ChatGPT often offers comments on its own, but you can also request detailed comments as needed.
This commenting feature greatly aids other developers in comprehending your code more easily. It serves as a form of documentation that provides clarity and context, making it simpler and easier for both you and other developers to understand your code’s functionality.
Moreover, ChatGPT is capable of providing clarifications and explanations for specific parts of the code. This feature is particularly useful when you don’t require full documentation but still need specific insights and details about certain code segments.
A bit of clarification on a line of code.
6. Simplifying Complex Code
ChatGPT allows programmers to produce simple language explanations of complicated code areas so that others can maintain the code more easily.
This works because ChatGPT can automatically generate code comments and documentation, and the AI can simplify code. This helps save a lot of time as a developer.
Additionally, with the capability of simplifying code, it’s often times even more accurate than what a developer might write.
Explaining complex code in snippets is extremely useful for developers to understand difficult code and have it explained simply. ChatGPT can even break down what each line of code does, how it works, and so forth.
7. Data Processing
Need assistance in data processing? ChatGPT can help by generating code that cleans, transforms, and prepares the data for training and testing models. This includes managing tasks such as encoding categorical variables, dealing with missing values, or imputing missing values with a straightforward strategy.
Plus, it can create new features from existing data. It generates code that extracts information from unstructured data (e.g. text or images). From this point, it turns that info into structured data used for machine learning.
This helps make the preprocessing process more streamlined, time efficient, and accurate.
8. Engineering
ChatGPT assists in feature engineering for machine learning programming. It does this by offering automated text generation capabilities.
When you have a machine learning platform with different data and relevance, it can improve performance.
So, feature engineering assists with reducing the dimensionality of a dataset and enhancing the interpretability of a model – quickly and accurately.
9. Generating Alternative Code
This feature is for WordPress developers who want to produce alternative code that improves performance. So, you can take an old piece of code and ask ChatGPT to suggest improvements.
It may suggest limiting memory usage or perhaps reducing the number of operations.
For example, here’s a snippet of code for which I asked ChatGPT to make an alternative.
This isn’t a very complex example. However, ChatGPT can do very complex code alternatives.
It then answers back.
This is just a portion of the code.
There is also an explanation for it.
This explains exactly what it did with the original code.
Generating alternative code has never been easier, thanks to ChatGPT.
10. Model Development and Deployment
ChatGPT can assist in the preparation and cleaning of text data. This enhances the performance of a model and can create human-like text, which can then be used to mimic human-computer communication.
This is unique and helpful when you want to develop and deploy conversational AI systems, such as a chatbot.
Additionally, ChatGPT can create natural language explanations of a model’s predictions. This helps make the model more explainable.
For natural language, ChatGPT has the power to generate natural language text that can relate and work well with any interaction it has with people.
11. Research
For Q&A’s and finding answers, ChatGPT is a great tool for researching as a developer. It can comprehend complex programming questions and deliver answers.
Basically, you can use ChatGPT as a search engine. Ask it complex questions, and get answers. It’s a way to get an answer quickly and easily instead of combing numerous sources.
It also provides relevant code examples and snippets with its answers, so you can see for yourself if the answers it gives suffices.
For example, here I asked it to generate a library that adds a pop-up feature to my website.
This is just a portion of what it had to offer.
AI is not always 100% accurate. However, you can, more often than not, get good, accurate information regarding coding and development answers. Please check elsewhere if you feel it’s not providing accurate information. This being said, you should gain some useful and accurate information more often than not.
This brings us to…
Can You Trust ChatGPT’s Responses?
ChatGPT has some limitations that you should be aware of as a WordPress developer. While it can be a helpful tool, it’s important to understand its potential shortcomings.
ChatGPT is not always accurate and may struggle with basic logic. It has been known to generate incorrect information or “hallucinate” facts that are completely inaccurate.
The model’s training data consists of a wide range of written content created by people over time. This means that ChatGPT may exhibit biased behavior and reflect the biases present in the data it was trained on.
In summary, it’s essential to exercise caution and not blindly accept everything ChatGPT generates as true. The model still has room for improvement before achieving complete accuracy. However, it can offer valuable insights that can complement your skills as a developer.
Moreover, if you come across any mistakes made by ChatGPT, it has the capability to learn from them, apologize, and make improvements to better cater to your specific needs.
ChatGPT can recognize the error of its ways and learn from its mistakes.
As a developer, your role remains crucial. ChatGPT can serve as a helpful tool to assist you in your work, but it should not be relied upon to take over entirely.
Know Why to Use AI
As AI technology like ChatGPT continues to advance, it’s crucial to stay ahead of the curve and embrace transformative changes. Understanding the benefits of using AI will help you make informed decisions about incorporating it into your workflow.
Even though it’s far from perfect, ChatGPT can be a valuable tool for WordPress developers. By leveraging its capabilities as shown above, you can save time and concentrate on improving other aspects of your WordPress development business.
So, instead of worrying about AI replacing your job, consider it as a beneficial technology that, used wisely and with good judgement, can enhance your productivity, cut down costs, and ensure high-quality WordPress development.
But … don’t take it from us! We’ll let ChatGPT have the final word…
WordPress developers, don’t fear AI, put ChatGPT to work…and give it a try!
Are you looking for ways to increase engagement and get more leads on your WordPress website? One simple trick to boost your contact game is by adding a pop-up form. Pop-up forms are an effective way to capture visitors’ attention and encourage them to take action. In this article, we’ll show you how to add a pop-up form to your WordPress website and get more leads.
Boost Your Contact Game with a Pop-Up Form in WordPress
Pop-up forms are a great way to grab visitors’ attention and encourage them to take action. Whether you want to collect email addresses, gather feedback, or promote a new product or service, a pop-up form can help you achieve your goals. The good news is, adding a pop-up form to your WordPress website is easy. There are many plugins available that can help you create and customize your pop-up form in a matter of minutes.
One popular plugin for creating pop-up forms in WordPress is OptinMonster. This plugin comes with a drag-and-drop builder that makes it easy to create custom pop-up forms without any coding skills. OptinMonster also offers various targeting and triggering options, so you can display your pop-up form to the right audience at the right time. For example, you can set up your pop-up form to appear after a visitor has spent a certain amount of time on your website or scrolled down a certain percentage of the page.
Get More Leads and Boost Engagement with this Simple Trick
Adding a pop-up form to your WordPress website can help you get more leads and boost engagement. By capturing visitors’ contact information, you can follow up with them and turn them into loyal customers. Pop-up forms also provide a way for visitors to give feedback or ask questions, which can help you improve your website and customer service.
To make the most of your pop-up form, be sure to offer something of value in exchange for visitors’ contact information. This could be a free ebook, a discount code, a webinar, or a newsletter subscription. By providing a valuable incentive, you’re more likely to get visitors to fill out your form and become leads.
Adding a pop-up form to your WordPress website is a simple and effective way to boost your contact game and get more leads. With the right plugin and targeting options, you can create a custom pop-up form that grabs visitors’ attention and encourages them to take action. So why not give it a try and see how it can help you grow your business?
Do you want to add a custom product builder in WooCommerce?
A custom product builder allows customers to design products and customize them to their own requirements. This interactive way of customizing product orders can boost sales conversions in your WooCommerce store.
In this article, we will show you how to easily add a custom product builder in WooCommerce without hiring any developers or writing any code.
Why Add a Custom Product Builder in WooCommerce?
Adding a custom product builder in WooCommerce allows your customers to customize the products before placing an order.
For instance, you can add print-on-demand products and allow customers to add their logos, images, and text to the products.
A custom product designer for WooCommerce can be used to sell your own products that customers can customize before shipping.
Alternatively, you also start a dropshipping business and let a third-party vendor take care of customization and shipping.
That being said, let’s take a look at how to add a custom product builder to your WooCommerce store.
Adding Custom Product Builder to a WooCommmerce Store
For this tutorial, we will be using Zakeke. It is a product customizer tool for WooCommerce and offers a seamless product builder experience for your users. The product designer is really easy to use for customers as well as store owners.
First, you need to visit the Zakeke website and sign up for an account. You can click the ‘Start free trial’ button to get started.
The free plugin acts as a connecter between your website and the Zakeke product builder.
Upon activation, you will be asked to connect your WooCommerce store to your Zakeke account. Simply click on the ‘Connect’ button to continue.
You will be then asked to allow Zakeke access to perform actions on your WooCommerce store.
Go ahead and click on the ‘Approve’ button to move forward.
This will bring you to the Zakeke dashboard.
You can now head to the ‘Customizable Products’ option from the menu on your left.
You are now ready to add products that customers can customize.
Adding Your First Customizable Product
Once you are in Customizable Products, go ahead and click the ‘Add’ button.
You can then choose a product from your own store, create a product from scratch, or select a print-on-demand service.
For the sake of this tutorial, we will choose to add products from our own demo store.
Next, Zakeke will load products from your store.
You need to choose the product that you want to configure.
After that, Zakeke will choose your product image from your store.
If you want to use a different image, then you can upload it. You can also upload a back side of the product image or add variations.
Once you are satisfied with the product images, click on the ‘Set print area’ button.
This will bring up a popup where you need to set a ruler by simply drawing a line with your mouse and providing a measurement.
Next, you need to select a shape for the print area and simply draw it on the product image.
For this tutorial, we will use the rectangular shape.
Once you are done, click the ‘Save’ button to continue.
Next, you need to click the ‘I don’t offer variations, go to preview’ button.
You will now see your product details.
Don’t forget to click the ‘Save’ button to store your changes.
Zakeke will now show a preview of the custom product builder.
You can test to see if everything is working properly and make changes if needed. There is also an option to place a test order.
When you are happy with the changes, simply click the ‘Publish’ button at the top.
Setting the Print Methods
The next step is to set print methods. This is where you can choose how you want the design files to be formatted for printing.
From your Zakeke account dashboard, go to ‘Printing methods’ in the left column and then click the ‘Add’ button.
From here, you can choose what printing features you want to allow your customers to use.
You can also choose the file types, resolution, and format. If you allow users to add a text box to the product, then you have options to control the text style, font, format, color, size, and more.
At the bottom, you can choose existing products to which this method would apply.
Don’t forget to click on the ‘Save’ button to store your changes.
Using the Custom Product Builder in WooCommerce
Zakeke will take care of adding the product customization option to all the products that you have added using the product configurator.
You can simply visit the product in your store, and you will see the option to Customize the product.
This will open up the product designer interface with a preview of the product image design tools on the right.
Users can add text or upload images from their devices or social media accounts.
They can also adjust the image or text within the print area by simply dragging the corners. There are also options to choose different fonts, colors, and styles.
Once finished, users can download a copy of their design as PDF, save it, or simply add it to the cart.
After that, customers can check out as they would normally would with a preview of their customized product in the cart.
Bonus Tip: Selling More Customizable Products in WooCommerce
Customizable products and a sleek product designer can help you make more sales. However, customers may not know that they can customize and design their products.
It is the best conversion optimization software on the market that allows you to easily convert WooCommerce visitors into paying customers.
OptinMonster comes with lightbox popups, slide-in popups, notification bars, countdown timers, and more. All these tools can help you display the right message to your customers at the right time.
With its powerful display rules, you can target customers and show them personalized campaigns.
For instance, you can offer free shipping to customers in a particular area, show a slide-in popup for customizable products, or give a limited-time coupon to recover abandoned cart sales.
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In this post, we’re going to show you exactly how you can create your own multilingual site using the popular WPML plugin. While we focus on Divi for this tutorial, you could easily adapt this method to other themes.
Do you want to add custom post types to your main WordPress RSS feed?
By default, the WordPress RSS feed only shows your recent blog posts. However, if you are using custom post types for other content, then you may want to include them in your main RSS feed as well.
In this article, we will show you how to easily add custom post types to your main WordPress RSS feed.
Why Add Custom Post Types to Main RSS Feed in WordPress?
By default, WordPress comes with two commonly used content types called posts and pages. However, you can also create custom post types to add more content types if needed.
For instance, a movie review website may want to create a custom post type using custom taxonomies suitable for that particular content type.
Now, your custom post types can have their own RSS feed, which users can access by adding /feed/ at the end of the custom post type archive URL.
However, these custom post-type feeds are not easily discoverable.
For example, when a user enters your website’s URL into their feed reader, they will only be shown the subscription option for your main WordPress RSS feed, and custom post types won’t be included.
That being said, let’s see how to easily fix that by adding a custom post type to your main WordPress RSS feed. We will cover two methods, so you can use the links below to jump to the method you want to use.
Method 1: Add All Custom Post Types to Your WordPress RSS Feed
This method is for you if you want to add all the custom post types to your WordPress RSS feed.
If you are using an eCommerce plugin like WooCommerce, then using this method will also enable you to include the Products custom post type in the main RSS feed.
You can easily do this by adding custom code to your theme’s functions.php file.
However, keep in mind that making the smallest error when entering code can make your website inaccessible.
That’s why we recommend using the WPCode plugin to add code to your website. It is the best custom code snippet plugin on the market and is the easiest way to add custom code without breaking your site.
Note: The free WPCode plugin is all you need for this tutorial. However, upgrading to the premium WPCode plugin will give you access to a cloud-based snippet library, smart conditional logic, code revisions, and more.
Upon activation, head to the Code Snippets » + Add Snippet page from the WordPress admin sidebar.
From here, click on the ‘Use Snippet’ button under the ‘Add Your Custom Code (New Snippet)’ option.
This will take you to the ‘Create Custom Snippet’ page, where you can start by typing a name for the code snippet.
After that, simply select ‘PHP Snippet’ as the ‘Code Type’ from the dropdown menu on the right.
Next, you need to copy and paste the following code into the ‘Code Preview’ box.
This code will allow you to add all publicly available post types to your main WordPress RSS feed.
function myfeed_request($qv) {
if (isset($qv['feed']))
$qv['post_type'] = get_post_types();
return $qv;
}
add_filter('request', 'myfeed_request');
Once you have done that, just scroll down to the ‘Insertion’ section and choose ‘Auto Insert’ as the insert method.
Now, the code will automatically be executed on your WordPress website once you have activated and saved the snippet.
After that, scroll back to the top of the page and toggle the ‘Inactive’ switch to ‘Active’.
Finally, simply click the ‘Save Snippet’ button to save and execute the custom code on your website.
All the custom post types will now be added to your main WordPress RSS feed.
To make sure that your code is working, you can check your RSS feed by visiting a feed reader.
For this tutorial, we’ll be using Feedly, which is an online tool that allows users to add RSS feeds and websites to their Feedly account, easily organize their content, and receive updates in real time.
Once you are there, simply type your website URL under the ‘Follow your favorite websites’ option.
The custom post type content will now be displayed in your WordPress RSS feed.
Method 2: Add a Specific Custom Post Type in the WordPress RSS Feed
If you want to add a specific custom post type to the main WordPress RSS feed, then this method is for you.
To do this, you will have to add custom code to your theme’s functions.php file. But keep in mind that the smallest error while entering the code can break your website.
That’s why we recommend using WPCode instead. It is the #1 WordPress code snippet plugin on the market. Using WPCode is the easiest and safest way to add custom code to your WordPress website.
Note: The free WPCode plugin is all you need for this tutorial. However, upgrading to the premium WPCode plugin will give you access to a cloud-based snippet library, smart conditional logic, code revisions, and more.
Once the plugin is activated, visit the Code Snippets » + Add Snippet page from the WordPress admin sidebar.
From here, you need to click the ‘Use Snippet’ button under the ‘Add Your Custom Code (New Snippet)’ option.
You will now be directed to the ‘Create Custom Snippet’ page, where you can start by typing a name for your code snippet.
This name won’t be displayed anywhere and is just used for identification purposes.
Next, choose the ‘PHP Snippet’ option from the ‘Code Type’ dropdown menu on the right.
Once you have done that, you need to copy and paste the following code into the ‘Code Preview’ box.
function myfeed_request($qv) {
if (isset($qv['feed']) && !isset($qv['post_type']))
$qv['post_type'] = array('post', 'movies', 'books');
return $qv;
}
add_filter('request', 'myfeed_request');
After adding the code, type the name of the custom post type next to where ‘[‘post_type’]’ is written in the code. In our example, we have ‘post’, ‘movies’, and ‘books’.
This custom post type will be added to your main WordPress RSS feed.
Now, scroll down to the ‘Insertion’ section and select the ‘Auto Insert’ setting.
The custom code will now be automatically executed on your WordPress website upon activation.
Next, you need to scroll back to the top of the page and toggle the ‘Inactive’ switch to ‘Active’.
Finally, don’t forget to click the ‘Save Snippet’ button to save and execute the code on your WordPress website.
To make sure that the custom post type has been headed, you will need to visit a feed reader like Feedly.
Once you are there, simply type in your website’s URL to search for its RSS feed.
The custom post type content will now be displayed in your WordPress RSS feed.
We hope this article helped you learn how to add custom post types to your main WordPress RSS feed. You may also want to see our tips to optimize WordPress RSS feeds and our top picks for the best WordPress RSS feed plugins to boost website traffic.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
WordPress is one of the most popular content management systems in the world, powering over 40% of all websites on the internet. However, many users are unaware of the magic behind WordPress that makes it so powerful and flexible. One of the most important and least understood parts of WordPress is WP-Config. In this article, we will take a deep dive into WP-Config and uncover its secrets.
What is WP-Config and How Does it Power WordPress?
WP-Config is a file located in the root directory of your WordPress installation that contains all of the important settings and configuration options for your site. These settings control everything from your database connection details to your site’s URL and security keys. Without WP-Config, your WordPress site would not be able to function properly.
One of the most important things to understand about WP-Config is that it is a PHP file. This means that it can be edited using a code editor or the built-in WordPress file editor. However, it’s important to be careful when editing WP-Config, as even a small mistake can cause your site to stop working.
Discover the Secrets of WP-Config and Enhance Your WordPress Experience!
Now that you understand what WP-Config is and what it does, it’s time to start exploring its secrets. One of the most useful things you can do with WP-Config is to define custom constants that can be used throughout your WordPress installation. This can be useful for things like defining your site’s language, setting a custom upload directory, or disabling automatic updates.
Another powerful feature of WP-Config is the ability to set up a multisite network. This allows you to create multiple WordPress sites that share a single installation, making it easier to manage your sites and share content between them. To set up a multisite network, you will need to edit your WP-Config file and add some additional code.
In conclusion, WP-Config is a powerful tool that is essential for any WordPress user who wants to take their site to the next level. By understanding the secrets of WP-Config, you can enhance your WordPress experience and unlock new levels of flexibility and customization. So don’t be afraid to dive in and start exploring the magic behind WordPress!
