The goal of this article is to bring you the latest opinions on Full-Site Editing Themes in WordPress and whether FSE is gaining footage in the WordPress ecosphere. I’ve been following the development of FSE for a while now and I’m happy to say that there has been a lot of progress over the past year.
The post “Full-Site Editing Themes in WordPress; Are They There Yet?” first appeared on WP Mayor.
Google is the most popular search engine worldwide, but it isn’t the only potential source of traffic. If you want to bring more people to your website, it’s worth focusing on alternative search engines such as Qwant. Just what is Qwant, and how can you create a SEO strategy for it?
In today’s guide, we’ll explore the characteristics of Qwant. Then we’ll outline some tips to help you optimize your content for this search engine. Let’s get started!
Qwant is a French search engine first launched in 2013. It’s now the default search engine for the French government, and it processed roughly 18 billion search requests in 2018:
Qwant’s interface looks pretty similar to Google’s. When searching for a term, you can filter according to categories such as News, Images, Videos, and Music. Moreover, you can choose the country and language for your results and select the freshness of the content:
Like DuckDuckGo, Qwant is a privacy-focused search engine. It doesn’t use any cookies to track your actions and searches, either for advertising purposes or to provide curated content. Additionally, it bills itself as an ethical search engine because it doesn’t sell your data to third-party companies.
Qwant uses unique algorithms and indexing methods that don’t rely on private data. Furthermore, it has a commitment to supplying impartial and balanced information.
Alongside its search engine, Qwant includes a Maps application similar to Google Maps:
Additionally, there is a Qwant Junior version available. This is a child-friendly search engine designed for educational and safe search results:
Additionally, although Qwant is designed primarily for the French market, it offers results tailored for various countries in Europe, Asia, the Americas, and Oceania. These include Great Britain, the United States, Canada, and Australia.
Qwant is ideal for users worried about internet privacy and their personal data. These are valid concerns when you consider that many search engines (including Google) sell user data to third-party advertising companies and deliver targeted results.
Moreover, Qwant doesn’t save your search history. Although this can be frustrating if you need to find something you looked for before, you might prefer to know that the search engine isn’t recording your online activity.
Additionally, this search engine is perfect for finding French-based content. Whether you’re learning the language, are a native speaker, or looking for businesses in France, Qwant has it covered.
Qwant is also an excellent search engine for parents with younger children. Similar to Google’s Safe Search, Qwant Junior filters pages to present age-appropriate results. It also has educational resources built-in, such as kid-friendly news, games, and leisure activities.
There is very little information available about Qwant’s algorithms and ranking criteria. However, you can follow some general guidelines if you want your content to rank well in this search engine. Let’s take a look at five best practices.
Many search engines enable you to submit XML sitemaps to list your website’s content quickly. Unfortunately, Qwant doesn’t come with a Search Console like Google or similar feature.
This search engine automatically scans the internet for new content, and typically lists new websites within a few weeks. However, if your site isn’t showing up, you can contact Qwant directly and report the issue:
Then it’s just a matter of waiting for a response from the search engine. In the meantime, you might also want to focus your efforts on Yahoo, Yandex, and Ecosia.
As we discussed earlier, Qwant is a French search engine. Although it has translations and content in English-speaking, Asian, and European countries, it still focuses on the French market.
Therefore, it could be worth translating your content into French to attract more visitors to your website. Fortunately, you don’t have to do this manually. Plugins such as WordPress Multilingual (WPML) can help you translate your posts and pages into more than 40 languages, including French:
WPML can translate all of the elements on your website, including posts, pages, taxonomies, and menus. Additionally, it’s compatible with most leading WordPress themes, including Divi.
Although Qwant is a relatively new and smaller search engine, it claims to have more than 20 billion web pages indexed on its servers. However, in some cases, it uses Microsoft Bing to retrieve search results when Qwant doesn’t have enough relevance or capacity for heavy images:
Therefore, it could be worth optimizing your content for Bing as well. You can do this by submitting your sitemap to Bing Webmaster Tools and using that interface to analyze your rankings.
It’s also worth registering your brick-and-mortar business on Bing Places, and growing your social media presence. Unlike many other search engines, Bing considers your search engine followers and engagement when ranking your content.
Most search engines value high-quality content. They use complex algorithms that can identify if posts are informative, well-written, and valuable to readers.
As such, it’s worth following some best practices when creating new content for your website, such as:
Remember that content isn’t just about words. Including high-quality images and videos in your posts can engage your readers, convey additional information, and break up walls of text.
Finally, we recommend following SEO best practices (also known as white hat SEO) to optimize your content for both search engines and readers. Although these tips aren’t Qwant-specific, they are generally applicable to most search engines:
It might also be worth running an SEO audit on your website. This process can identify areas for improvement and provide actionable advice for enhancing your content.
Here are some SEO techniques you can start using right now.
Qwant is a French search engine that focuses on privacy. It doesn’t collect or store user data, making it a great Google alternative for anyone worried about online privacy.
To recap, you can optimize your content for Qwant by following these tips:
Do you have any questions about Qwant? Let us know in the comments section below!
Featured image via eamesBot / shutterstock.com
The post What Is Qwant? How to SEO for the Privacy-Minded Search Engine appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.
Points systems can reward loyal customers who frequently interact with your content or purchase items from your online store. They’re great for gamification and loyalty programs. However, WordPress doesn’t support this feature natively. Therefore, you might be wondering if the myCred WordPress plugin is a viable solution for implementing a rewards program.
In today’s post, we’ll review the myCred plugin and explain how you can use it to create a rewards system in WordPress. Let’s get started!
myCred is a freemium plugin that enables you to add points and rewards to your WordPress website. With this plugin, you can gamify your content, maximize brand loyalty, and monetize your site:
For instance, you might offer points to customers whenever they make purchases in your store. Once they reach a particular balance, you can reward them with a discount on their next purchase or even a free item.
Alternatively, you could add a points program to your online courses. You might design a system in which students can accrue more points when they complete assignments or perform well on quizzes. Then, you can create a leader board and encourage friendly competition among eager learners.
Apart from points, myCred also enables you to allocate rankings and badges to your users. Plus, you can allow visitors to buy more points and use them to purchase other items in your store or even redeem them for cash.
myCred’s free plugin has all the basic features you’ll need to add a rewards system to WordPress. Furthermore, its premium plans include various add-ons, including:
Premium plans start at $149 per year for two sites. More expensive plans include additional integrations and support for a higher number of websites.
Now that you understand more about myCred and why you might want to use it, let’s look at how you can use the plugin can add a rewards system to your website!
Firstly, you’ll need to install and activate the plugin. You can do this in your WordPress dashboard by navigating to Plugins > Add New and searching for “mycred”:
After you locate the plugin, click on Install Now followed by Activate. If you purchased a Premium license, you can now add it under myCred > License:
Finally, click on Save. The plugin is now ready to go!
myCred can feel a little overwhelming when you first install it. You’ll see a long list of plugin settings across multiple menus in your WordPress dashboard, both under myCred and Points:
Under General Settings, you can configure display options for your badges and social sharing buttons. You can also configure settings for buying and selling points to your users, email notifications, coupons, and point transfers:
Since there are so many settings, we recommend clicking on the Documentation button at the top of the page. Then, you can refer to extensive myCred tutorials for setting up your rewards system.
At this point, you should also consider setting up your payment gateways for buying and cashing in points. You can do this under buyCred Gateways and cashCred Gateways. However, these settings are optional and not essential to your rewards program.
Now, jump across to Points > Settings. Here you can choose labels, icons, and security settings for your points. You can also configure some caching options and rankings for users on your site:
It’s best to take your time configuring your settings to meet the needs of your rewards system. Also, make sure to save your changes as you go.
Now it’s time to determine which user actions will earn points on your website or online store. You can do this by navigating to Points > Hooks. Here you’ll see a series of hooks on the left-hand side that award or deduct points based on:
To activate a hook, simply click on it and then select Add Hook:
You’ll then be prompted to allocate a specific number of points to the action and save your settings:
You can remove a hook by simply clicking on Delete. Furthermore, when you select Hook Documentation, you can access detailed tutorials for using the hook in question.
Now it’s time to configure add-ons for your rewards program. Note that the available extensions will depend on which myCred plan (free or premium) you have installed on your website.
Head to myCred > Add-ons. Here you’ll see built-in, free, and premium extensions for your WordPress rewards program:
To start using an add-on, hover your mouse over it and then click on Install. If it’s a premium extension, you’ll be directed to the myCred store to purchase it. For free add-ons, you’ll be sent to the core WordPress plugin to install it on your site.
Here’s a quick rundown of some of the most useful myCred add-ons:
Let’s look at an example. You might install myCred LearnDash to integrate the Learning Management System (LMS) with points and rewards for completing lessons, quizzes, or entire courses:
Then, it’s simply a matter of installing and activating the add-on as you would with any other WordPress plugin. However, note that new add-ons will come with more specific configurable settings.
Now that your rewards system is set up on your WordPress site, you can track user points and achievements from Points > Log. This is where you can monitor progress from Today, Yesterday, This Week, and This Month:
Note that you can also limit the number of total points by heading to Points > General Deposit. Here, you can choose to allocate points from a central fund with a limited number of rewards:
Furthermore, under Ranks, you can set rankings for your users. You can specify the number of points needed to progress to a particular rank, add a logo to distinguish it, and name it:
Now your rewards system is completely ready to go! You might consider advertising it to customers through promotional banners, email marketing messages, or popup forms.
myCred is an extensive plugin with many customization options. Here are some of the advantages of using the tool:
However, myCred also has some disadvantages. Here’s a quick overview of the plugin’s cons:
Overall, you might consider using the free version of myCred and seeing if it fits your needs. Then, you can purchase add-ons or upgrade your membership if you want to take your rewards system to the next level.
A rewards system can incentivize users to interact with your content and earn points. Furthermore, it can recognize customer loyalty and encourage consumers to purchase more frequently from your online store.
With the myCred WordPress plugin, you can quickly set up a rewards system for your WordPress website. It comes with multiple customizable settings and integrations to reward or penalize different actions. Although the learning curve can be a little steep, the payoffs can be significant.
For more great tools for your business, check out our best free WordPress plugins for business websites.
Do you have any questions about creating a rewards system with myCred? Let us know in the comments section below!
The post How to Use myCred to Add a Rewards System to WordPress appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.
Running a website is a big responsibility and knowing how to create anchor links in WordPress will be an important skill as you create content your visitors love to read. Anchor links will help you direct your readers to the exact place they need to be on your website. Using anchor links can also improve user experience and even give you a slight SEO advantage.
In this article, we’ll show you how to easily create anchor links in WordPress and in what situations you might want to use them.
Here’s what we’ll cover:
Technically speaking, an anchor link is a link (or hyperlink). In fact, in HTML, the anchor element (represented as the a tag) is common for all links that make the web as we know it possible. That said, the term “anchor link” is commonly synonymous with the term “jump link”, a link that jumps to a specific element on a page. So the main difference between anchor links (or jump links) and regular links is the destination. Traditional hyperlinks send users to a page while anchor links send users to a specific section of a page. Anchor links can link to a section on the same page or to a section of a different page. But it seems the former is more prevalent.
Anchor links are often useful for long-form articles. But, they can also be used for single-page navigation menus or for creating a table of contents on posts or pages.
Image Elements by Vector Stock Pro and Paul Craft / shutterstock.com
Similiar to any hyperlink in HTML, there are two major components that make an anchor link work.
To link to a specific piece of content (the anchor), you’re going to have to give that anchor element a unique ID so that the anchor link has a location to jump to.
This is an example HTML snippet for a heading (h2 element) with an anchor ID that we can use for an anchor link (ID in blue):
<h2 id="your-anchor-link-id">Example Heading</h2>
With this, we can create an anchor link that jumps to this heading element. The key to an anchor link is the unique href attribute value. Instead of a normal URL, you must include a pound sign “#” before the corresponding anchor ID. In HTML, that would look like this:
<a href="#your-anchor-link-id">Click Here to Jump to Heading</a>
Notice that when linking to the anchor ID you are must include a “#” at the beginning. But when naming the anchor element with an anchor ID you do not include the “#”. Furthermore, the anchor ID name should be exactly the same for both the link and the heading (besides the “#” of course). If it’s not, the link won’t work.
Also, if you wanted to add an anchor link to a specific section of an external page, you would need to include the URL of the page before the anchor ID as follows:
<a href="https://website.com/page/#your-anchor-link-id">Anchor Link</a>
That’s the basics of it.
There are various ways of accomplishing this same effect in WordPress and will depend on the configuration of your site. Before we look into how to create these anchor links (our favorite way being anchor links in the Divi Builder), let’s look at why you’d want to consider using them.
We’ll take a closer look at a few major reasons for using Anchor Links in WordPress including:
When creating a website, it’s important to think about the user experience (UX). One way to improve UX is by using anchor links.
Anchor links help improve user experience (UX) because they allow users to navigate the page more easily. They help users find specific information on a page with very little effort. When used properly, anchor links can make your website more user-friendly and improve the overall experience for visitors.
Anchor links are commonly used on one-page websites and stand-alone landing pages. There are a few reasons why using anchor links can be beneficial in these instances.
First of all, it can be a little jarring for a visitor to visit a website with no menu navigation. Even on one-page sites. Since people are so used to seeing this element it is a great idea to still include one even though there are no other pages to link to.
Anchor links to the navigation menu are also helpful for getting people down the page to the appropriate content very quickly. Landing pages often employ this to take potential customers to the exact information they believe they are missing.
Anchor links are used as a navigational tool on websites and can improve your website’s click-through rate. CTR is an important metric for website optimization and conversion rate optimization (CRO). By adding anchor links to your website, you can improve the user experience and make it easier for users to find the content they are looking for. This will ultimately lead to improved CTR and ROI for your website.
Anchor links are used to quickly jump to specific sections within a long document or web page. By clicking on an anchor link, the reader is automatically brought to the section of the page that the link corresponds to. This can be extremely useful when navigating through a table of contents (TOC) with many chapters and subsections.
A table of contents without anchor links is helpful in allowing the site visitor to scan the content quickly. But using anchor links on the TOC itself allows them to quickly summarize themselves and dip into the content that they need most.
Overall, anchor links are a helpful tool for organizing and navigating long-form content. By providing quick and easy access to specific sections of a document, anchor links can help make complex information more accessible and user-friendly.
Anything we can do to help out visitors and customers!
Anchor links can also play a role in your SEO linking strategy. They are important for SEO content because they provide context for users and search engines and help with understanding the content of a page at a glance.
By using anchor links, you can help users find the content they are looking for quicker. This may have a positive impact on bounce rate which may improve your website’s overall ranking. The better a page is at capturing the attention of real users, the more SEO-friendly your content becomes. For best results, make sure those anchor links have optimized anchor text so Google will know how to index it properly.
Anchor links may also be used by Google and other search engines to create a more interesting and useful rich snippet for SERPs.
When Google finds that an internal anchor link is helpful to display to searchers, they may include popular anchor links in the search snippet. This lets the visitor have more information to make the decision to look at your article or web page.
The more useful Google finds your website, the better it can rank — which is good news for you.
Plus, equipping your page with anchor links gives other sites the option to link to a specific piece of content on your page that is more relevant to their readers. This is perhaps more useful for third parties than providing a link to a long-form blog post that users have to scroll through to find the relevant information. So, in a way, anchor links could aid in your link building strategy for more backlinks.
The main consideration in using anchor links is knowing if they’d be helpful to your visitors within a particular piece of content. If it isn’t helpful then the pros and cons of using anchor links do not matter. But, if they would help site visitors navigate your article or page then it is worth knowing the pluses and minuses.
Pros:
Cons:
There are different ways of creating anchor links in WordPress.
Below, we’ll explore 5 different ways that you can set up anchor links no matter how your website is configured. We’ll show you how to create them on single pages, across pages, in your navigation, with plugins, and very easily using Divi Builder.
An anchor link is a link that allows you to jump to a specific section on a page. To create an anchor link in the WordPress block editor, you will need to do the following:
In the WordPress block editor, add a heading block and type in your heading text.
In the heading block settings (found on the Advanced tab of the Headings Block), add an HTML ID to the Heading field. This will be used as the anchor link target.
Once the ID for the heading element is set, we can select some text and add a hyperlink. Instead of a web address, we can add a pound sign (#) plus our element ID. Press enter and the link will apply to that text.
Save your changes and preview your page to test out your new anchor link.
If you want to create an anchor link in the WordPress classic editor, you’ll need to add a bit of HTML. But don’t worry, it’s not difficult. First, you’ll need to find the heading you want to link to. In the code for your post or page (text tab next to the visual editor tab), look for the heading tag around the text you want to link to.
For example, if you want to create an anchor link to a header that says “Learn About Me”, you would look for an H2 tag (heading two) around that text.
Look for:
<h2>About Me</h2>
Once you’ve found the heading tag, add an id attribute to it. The value of the id attribute should be unique, so choose something that won’t be used anywhere else on the page. For our example, we’ll use “about-me”.
Change the heading tag to:
<h2 id="about-me">About Me</h2>
Next, you’ll want to find the text that you want your visitors to click on that will take them to your anchored section. You have the option of typing out the HTML for the new anchor link or you can use the Classic Editor’s add a link function. We’ll use the WYSIWYG editor found on the Visual tab to quickly create the link.
Select the text (or image) that you wish to add the link to. Click on the chain-link icon in the editor’s toolbar. Add “#about-me” to the link input field and press enter to finish creating the link.
Click “Publish” or “Preview” to see your anchor link in action.
There are quite a few plugins in the WordPress repository that may help you quickly create a Table of Contents with automatically created anchor links. You can find Table of Contents plugins in the repository.
Though you can choose from a few different options, we’ll work through how to use Easy Table of Contents by Magazine3.
Installing Easy Table of Contents right off the bat gives you a Table of Contents based on Page and Post headings. No need to configure any settings to see how it will look. Load up the plugin and then take a look at your most recent post.
After looking at what it can do, it’s smart to jump back into its settings to tailor them to your needs. For most people, only enabling the TOC to show up on Posts is probably all you’ll need. You’ll see that Easy Table of Contents recognizes all your custom post types and various templates which you can toggle on/off for.
There is a score of other options for you to try out, but that is all dependent on your website and needs. We’d suggest starting out by creating TOCs using only H2 through H3 or maybe H4 headings. If there are too many items in the TOC then it won’t be as helpful as you had hoped for.
They offer a pro version with more features. It also works perfectly with Divi!
Again, there is other “Table of Contents” plugins that could serve you well. Do your research and test a few out to get the best features that fit your needs.
One-page websites and landing pages with limited navigation menus can pack a lot of punch. Oftentimes, site masters use anchor links in the navigation menu to jump visitors down the page.
This is very useful when a website doesn’t have a need for many pages but still wants to give the visitor a chance to look at exactly the information they need.
Creating anchor links for navigations is exactly the same as we’ve already worked through except for the actual link. The link will go into your navigation.
Before adding anchor links to your navigation, you will still need to add the anchor ID on the heading (or anchor element) you want to jump to. Reference the how-tos above for inserting an Anchor ID in the WordPress editor.
Once you have that set, you are ready to add your link to the menu navigation.
Open Appearances > Menus to see your site menus. Make sure you are editing the correct menu, then select “Custom Links”. In the URL field, add your first HTML anchor ID preceded by the “#” (#example-anchor-link). Give your menu item a name by filling in the Link Text field. This will be displayed in the menu itself. Click Add to Menu and Save Menu.
Repeat the process of adding additional unique anchor IDs to headings and anchor links to your menu as needed.
You can see your changes on the front end of your website to see how it looks.
If you want to add an anchor link to a specific section of an external page you would need to include the entire URL of the page followed by the “#” and the anchor ID.
An anchor link to a specific heading on an external page would need to be structured like this:
<a href="https://website.com/page/#your-anchor-link-id">Anchor Link</a>
This would redirect the user to the page and also to the specific heading on that page.
Divi is an incredible theme and page builder that makes it easy to design a website in WordPress. In Divi, you can create anchor links to any element with ease and without having to worry about HTML.
To add anchor links in Divi, open your page editor and Divi’s visual builder. The first thing that we’ll do is assign a section an anchor ID. We do this by opening the section settings, navigating to the Advanced tab, and clicking on “CSS ID & Class”. You can add an anchor ID to any Divi element, but linking to a section can be a better user experience than linking to a header tag.
We’ll add our ID to the CSS ID field and save our changes. For this example, we’ve given our section the ID of “offer”.
Once we have set up our section with an ID we can link to create our link. In this example, we’re using our main CTA in the hero section. This button will scroll the user down to the “Subscribe for Special Offer” section.
Edit the button and click into the section labeled “Link”. For our link, instead of a URL, we are adding an anchor link. Do this by typing in the pound sign (#) and our wanted CSS ID. For this example, the link will be “#offer”.
Publish the page changes and then navigate to the page on the front end. You can click your button and watch as it scrolls down to the desired section. Here is our example in action:
As you can see, it is very easy to manage multiple anchor links on a single page with Divi. Assigning sections and individual modules an ID is a snap.
Sometimes the scroll-to position may be inaccurate. Divi has a Theme Option that you can toggle for Divi to use an alternate method. Open up the Theme Options, go to the Navigation Tab, and Toggle the “Alternative Scroll-to-Anchor Method”.
To learn more about what Divi can do with Anchor links, check out these cool things you can do with Anchor Links!
Every second a visitor spends on your website is precious. People have short and demanding attention spans. The competition for all the same attention is constantly growing. You only have but a mere few seconds to hook readers and get them the content they were looking for. Otherwise, you are delivering a forgettable website experience and bouncing traffic.
As we’ve learned, anchor links are a great way to direct your readers to specific parts of your content. You can keep your site visitors’ attention with the content that they want most want to see. These anchor links may even link to other parts of your site, or to external sources that have specified HTML IDs.
You can now create better user experiences for your customers and improve how search engines understand and rank your web pages. And anchor links in WordPress help you do this!
Have you had experience using anchor links in WordPress or have some helpful tips? Let us know in the comments below!
Featured Image via BestForBest / shutterstock.com
The post How to Create Anchor Links in WordPress: A Complete Guide appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.
WordPress and HighLevel are both great options for building websites, however, there are some differences. WordPress is a content management system (CMS) while HighLevel is an all-in-one platform that includes a website builder. HighLevel enables users to build feature-rich websites easily on their all-in-one platform, but they don’t always provide the same options or flexibility as an open source CMS like WordPress. In this post, we’ll look at WordPress vs HighLevel to determine the differences between the two. Additionally, we’ll discuss the features of both platforms so that you can decide which is best for your business.
Both WordPress and HighLevel are very different in terms of built-in features and available add-ons.
WordPress got its start as a blogging platform in the early 2000’s. Over the years, WordPress has developed into a the most popular CMS, housing some of the largest corporate websites. For example, Sony Music, Time Magazine, CNN, and the White House are all built on WordPress. WordPress is open source and free, but will involve additional cost to get a WordPress website up and runner. Users should factor in the cost of hosting, premium themes, and plugins. Those things can drive the price to hundreds of dollars. However, those add-ons add functionality and allow for unique websites. Because of this, WordPress is best utilized by anyone who needs a website — small or large.
High Level is an all-in-one marketing platform geared more towards the agency professional. Like HubSpot, HighLevel is a SaaS platform, which means it is a fully capable Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system for business professionals who need an all-in-one platform. Things such as scheduling appointments, 2-Way SMS, landing pages, payment solutions, sales funnels, and analytics are all built in. Similar platforms such as HubSpot offer these features, but as an add-on. With HighLevel, you’ll get everything you need to make your website a fully functional business website and marketing solution for a fraction of the cost of the competition.
One of the most important aspects of any CMS or website builder is how easy it is to use. Both WordPress and HighLevel have a learning curve. Let’s discuss each platform to determine which has the advantage.
WordPress can be a simple platform to learn. This is especially true if you are only needing to build a small information website. It can become a bit more cumbersome when needing to integrate other software or functionalities to make it what you need for your business.
Beginners will be inundated with content across the web to help them get started. There are dozens of websites completely dedicated to learning the in’s and out’s of WordPress. For instance, our Elegant Themes blog is packed full of tutorials and resources to assist WordPress users of any skill level. Additionally, prospective WordPress users won’t have any trouble finding helpful videos. That’s one of the best things about WordPress — the wealth of available information.
HighLevel has a similar learning curve. If a new user needs to build a website and/or set up their CRM, they can easily do so in an hour or less — at least that’s what their website says. One of the things that HighLevel prides themselves on is how easy it is to get started. They have a good knowledge base to assist new users, and provide 24/7 customer support to assist when problems arise. We found the learning curve to be a bit steeper than that, especially when being used to different platforms.
The dashboard is fairly easy to navigate. Scheduled appointments, messages, calendars, contacts, payments, automation and websites are all clearly marked and fairly easy to set up. That being said, agencies who plan to use HighLevel should utilize their 14 day trial period to familiarize themselves with the platform. Depending on how much of it you plan to utilize, it could take quite a bit of time to get the hang of.
WordPress and HighLevel have many customization options. However, WordPress has the most customizations available to users.
WordPress is the clear winner in the customization department. With thousands of plugins and the ability to add custom code, building a unique website isn’t hard. In addition to the free plugin options, you can install premium ones from third party vendors. WordPress also integrates seamlessly with page builders like Divi to give you complete control over the web design process with a visual builder.
WordPress uses its proprietary Gutenberg editor. Users can add columns and elements such as icons, text, videos, social media, and more to customize their site easily.
HighLevel doesn’t require any plugins. It works great out of the box. The site builder comes with tons of elements to use including text modules, galleries, video, and more.
Users can easily interact with their customers in HighLevel. For example, elements such as calendars, surveys, and forms are standard with a HighLevel account.
Both WordPress and HighLevel utilize templates to change the look and feel of your website. However, one platform stands out because of the number of choices available.
WordPress is king when it comes to themes. There are thousands of free themes available on the WordPress repository alone. That being said, most of the free themes don’t allow for much customization. That’s ok if you just need a small cookie-cutter website and don’t mind your site looking similar to others out there. Here are some of the best free WordPress themes available.
In addition to the freebies, there are thousands of premium themes available for purchase. Here are some of the best themes for bloggers. Some themes, like the Divi Theme, go well beyond the standard features of WordPress to give users the most customizable website imaginable, including hundreds of premade layout packs.
Like WordPress, HighLevel offers free funnel templates. HighLevel doesn’t have thousands of templates to choose from, but there are some helpful options. This is especially useful for people who don’t have the time or expertise to build a site or page(s) on their own. Templates can be loaded directly within the HighLevel platform easily. Additionally, a marketplace with premium templates is available.
The marketplace offers several categories to choose from including business, services, technology, and more. Additionally, there are third party vendors who offer templates for HighLevel websites and sales funnels. Prices for premium themes vary. Users can expect to pay at least $99.
Both WordPress and HighLevel have eCommerce options. Let’s take a look at each platform to get a better idea of how selling products work on each solution.
WordPress doesn’t come with eCommerce natively. However, adding a plugin such as WooCommerce allows for an easy setup. WooCommerce is free, and integrates with WordPress seamlessly. Setting up a shop, adding products, and connecting a payment gateway are done in a snap.
That being said, features are limited with the free option. In order to truly customize your customer’s experience, you’ll need to add functionality that can quickly escalate costs.
HighLevel ships with the ability to add products and take payments out of the box. Users can add products, set up a payment gateway, and begin taking orders quickly. HighLevel is an all-in-one solution, so no plugins or extra subscriptions are needed. Also, single payment purchases and subscription based products are possible. If you plan to offer memberships or online courses, HighLevel has you covered there, too. Account users can send emails and 2-way SMS messages to streamline the ordering process and increase customer engagement.
Both WordPress and Highlevel make it possible to create a blog. However, one needs a little extra help.
WordPress is the leading software used by bloggers today. It primarily started as a blogging tool and has evolved into a lot more over the years. That being said, its blogging roots run deep. Creating a post can be accomplished in two ways. The first option is using the classic editor. The classic editor functions much like a word processor, so those unfamiliar with WordPress shouldn’t have any problems using it.
The second is the Gutenberg editor. Beginning in 2018, WordPress began using Gutenberg to replace its classic editor. It utilizes blocks, which gives users the ability to add columns, and elements such as video, html, image galleries and more. Additionally, WordPress users can create layouts for blog posts to help deliver their message in a more unique way.
Publishing blogs and posts is the only area where HighLevel falls short. They don’t natively offer a traditional blog experience. Users can create pages as posts, but they don’t offer a Blog element to bring in posts dynamically like a CMS. In order to create a blog on HighLevel, users will need to utilize a third party vendor such as Drop In Blog. While this may not be a deal breaker, it is an additional expense that should be considered when comparing WordPress vs HighLevel.
Security is quite possibly the single most important feature of a CMS or website builder. Between ransomware, Denial of Service (DoS) attacks, malware, and bots, there are many things that can take a website or server down — costing your business revenue.
WordPress is a popular platform, so it’s essential to have security measures in place. Thankfully, there are good security plugins that can help keep your website safe. WordFence, Sucuri, and Jetpack are a few highly rated examples. In addition to plugins, hosting providers play a critical role in website security. Cloudways, Flywheel (or WPEngine), Pressable, and SiteGround all offer excellent security. Features such as SSL certificates, Malware protection, TLS 1.2 and 1.3, bot protection, and backup capability are standard.
As a cloud based provider, HighLevel adheres to GDPR compliance. All data transferred to and from the HighLevel platform is protected. They use end-to-end encryption on their servers, as well as TLS 1.3 to ensure safe data transfer. Additionally, they run backups and scan for malware and other cyber threats on a daily basis. Each site hosted on HighLevel comes standard with an SSL certificate with every plan.
After an in-depth comparison of WordPress vs HighLevel, it’s obvious that they are both good options for any agency looking to grow their revenue. Both offer the features needed to communicate with clients, sell products, and get their message out to the masses. Choosing between the two comes down to a few things. Cost, features, and expertise.
If you are an individual, freelancer, or agency wanting to build a business that has complete control over settings, customizations and integrations, WordPress is likely the right choice. The possibilities are endless with WordPress due to the highly customizable nature of the platform. Additionally, with all of the plugins and themes available, users will have no trouble making their site look exactly the way they want.
On the other hand, if your business will require frequent interaction with clients, full-automation marketing solutions, and reporting, HighLevel should be considered. With no plugins or special integrations needed, HighLevel could be a good solution for those looking to save time and money on developing a custom solution to serve their needs.
Do you use HighLevel or WordPress? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
The post WordPress vs HighLevel appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.
Whether you run a travel blog, a business directory site, or want to build an online store, interactive maps can make it easier for users to find particular locations. These visual tools can also make your contact page and other content more engaging and interesting. Therefore, you may be looking for the best interactive map plugin for WordPress.
In this post, we’ll take a closer look at interactive map plugins and how they work. Then, we’ll review some of the best options on the market. Let’s get started!
An interactive map is a visual element on your site that can highlight particular locations. For example, if you write a hiking guide on your blog, you can include a map of the trail.
Likewise, if you publish city itineraries, you can use maps to mark must-see attractions, restaurants, and more:
If you have a WordPress site or WooCommerce store, you can use a plugin to display interactive maps on your pages. Depending on the tool you choose, you should be able to integrate your site with Google Maps. (If not, you can check out these top Google Maps Plugins.) Also, most will allow you to create custom maps with your own markers and offer different views of your locations.
Using an interactive map plugin can provide more value to your visitors. It enables readers to locate places and plan their trips more efficiently. Additionally, if your online business has multiple physical store locations, a user-friendly map will make it easier for customers to find and visit your outlets.
Now, let’s look at some of the best interactive map plugins for WordPress. We based our selections on several criteria, including features, ease of use, and customization options.
As the name suggests, Interactive Geo Maps enables you to create interactive maps of continents and the world. You can also display country maps and highlight different regions.
This plugin comes with a user-friendly interface. You can start by selecting the region you wish to display, then customize the appearance of your map from the visual settings. You can also add round colored markers to pinpoint specific locations.
Interactive Geo Maps is for you if…
Interactive Geo Maps Pricing: Free, with a premium version that starts at $2.49 per month.
Moving on to the next plugin, Maps Marker Pro is a premium option that offers a wide range of features. It allows you to create multilingual maps easily by integrating with translation plugins like Polylang and WPML. Moreover, the plugin enables you to enhance the interactivity of your maps with polyline shapes such as polygons, circles, and rectangles.
Furthermore, Maps Marker Pro includes GPX tracks functionality, which allows you to showcase routes complete with optional metadata like distance, duration, pace, or elevation. Additionally, you can create customized filters to let visitors view precisely what they want on the map, and use the cluster marker feature to save valuable space. To top it off, the plugin supports geolocation, letting you display a user’s current location and movements on the map in real time.
Maps Marker Pro is for you if…
…you need an interactive map solution with multilingual support, filtering, and geolocation capabilities.
Maps Marker Pro Pricing: €49 one-time fee.
Next on the list is Mapify Pro, which comes in both lite and pro versions. The lite version allows you to add up to 10 locations and use it freely across unlimited websites. It also enables you to customize your maps with your preferred image, and users can easily pan and zoom the maps. Additionally, the lite version offers click tooltips that show embedded videos, images, and text, among other interactive features.
If you opt for the pro version, you’ll be blown away with all the features at your disposal. One of the standout features of Mapify Pro is the ability to add an unlimited number of locations to your maps. It also includes customizable markers, allowing you to create markers that are unique and match your brand or website design. You can choose from over 50 marker icons or upload your own custom marker icon, making it easy for users to differentiate between different types of locations on the map.
Additionally, it integrates with popular services like WooCommerce and Advanced Custom Fields, giving you more options for displaying data on your maps. Plus, Mapify Pro allows you to create advanced tooltip content, including images, videos, and HTML, to provide users with more detailed information about a particular location.
The interactive map legend is another standout feature of Mapify Pro that enhances the user experience. The map legend provides a key to the different markers and locations on the map, allowing users to easily identify and differentiate between them. With Mapify Pro, you can create an interactive map legend that is fully customizable and responsive, making it easy for users to access from any device.
Mapify Pro is for you if…
…you want the ability to feature any type of content in your interactive maps, as well as animated icons, tooltips, and WooCommerce integration.
Mapify Pro Pricing: Free, with a pro version for $19 per month.
WP Store Locator is an easy-to-use interactive map plugin that enables you to display an unlimited number of stores. Your visitors can filter the results by radius and view directions to your outlets.
Once you install the plugin on your site, you can start adding stores to your map. For each shop, you can specify its exact location and opening hours. Furthermore, you can provide additional information like contact details and the website.
WP Store Locator is for you if…
WP Store Locator Pricing: Free, with add-ons starting at $19 per year.
RVM – Responsive Vector Maps lets you create responsive vector maps for your WordPress site. It has several interactive features, including linkable markers and a mouseover tooltip effect.
RVM lets you make a simple world map. Then, you can add a link, create a label popup, and change the background color for each country.
RVM is for you if…
RVM Marker Pricing: Free
If you’re a Divi user, you can add a custom interactive map to your site without the need for an extra plugin. Thanks to our Divi Map Module, you can easily embed an interactive map anywhere on your page with clickable pins, popups, and multiple locations.
With our Divi Map Module, you can customize the design of your map elements with built-in options including color, map hue and saturation, and more.
The Divi Map Module is for you if…
Divi Pricing: $89 per year.
Adding interactive maps to your site can make your content more engaging and interesting. These maps can highlight landmarks, stores, hiking trails, and more.
| Plugin | Price | Free Option | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 🥇 | Interactive Geo Maps | Free, $2.49 per month | âœ”ï¸ | Visit |
| 🥈 | Maps Marker Pro | €49 one-time fee | ⌠| Visit |
| 🥉 | Mapify Pro | Free, $19 per month | âœ”ï¸ | Visit |
| 4 | WP Store Locator | Free, $19 per year | âœ”ï¸ | Visit |
| 5 | RVM – Responsive Vector Maps | Free | âœ”ï¸ | Visit |
| 6 | Divi Maps Module | $89 per year | ⌠| Visit |
As for our top choices, each has interactive functionality. It all depends on what you want your maps to do. If you operate a multi-national business and want to showcase where your business operates, then Interactive Geo Maps is a solid choice. That being said, if you need a more robust solution with user-filtered searching capabilities, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better option than Maps Marker Pro.
Do you have any questions about choosing the best interactive map plugin for WordPress? Let us know in the comments section below!
The post 6 Best Interactive Map Plugins for WordPress in 2023 appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.
Running a website is a full-time job. Besides publishing new content, you’ll also need to ensure that your site performs quickly and smoothly. Therefore, you might be looking for the best WordPress speed optimization services to help reduce your workload.
The post 5 Best WordPress Speed Optimization Services & How to Pick One appeared first on ThemeIsle Blog.
Three weeks ago, Elegant Themes attended WordCamp US. This WordCamp was highly anticipated as it’s been almost three years since its last inception (thank you, pandemic). WCUS finally went west and was held in San Diego proper at the Town & Country resort in Hotel Circle. At roughly 650+ attendees, this was the smallest WordCamp US to date. But, that did not stop it from delivering a much-needed boost of community connection.
The WCUS 2022 venue – Town and Country Resort
Our team looked a bit different this year as we had only a few seasoned folks. Half of our team was brand new to Elegant Themes and brand new to WordCamps. Our Elegant Themes WordCamp US team was as follows:
Nathan B. Weller – Content Manager
Raquel Landefeld – Community Manager
Jason Champagne – Blog Category Editor
Chris Morris – Blog Author
Christina Gwira – Blog Author
Deanna McLean – Blog Author
Ethan Mills – Video Creator
We had a blast getting to know each other and getting to know the WordPress community.
Deanna, Chris, Ethan, and Jason meet at the airport for the first time
Some of the team at brunch
Noice Chris
Hosting our Divi WCUS morning meet-and-greet
WCUS Divi morning coffee meet-and-greet
Jason and Nexcess in the WCUS Sponsor Hall
Nathan and Divi Fam
Raquel reppin’ ET as an emcee
It was such a delight finally having some IRL facetime with the WordPress community. As always, this is the best part of attending WordCamps. Honestly, I think most of us forgot what it was like. Thankfully, WordCamp US 2022 gave us a healthy reminder. We cannot wait to see the community again! Next stop; WordCamp Phoenix. See you there!
Your WCUS 2022 Elegant Themes Content Team
Your silly WCUS 2022 Elegant Themes Content Team
The post WordCamp US 2022 Recap appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.
WordPress is undoubtedly impressive, but where it shines is as a content management system. For websites that have to go beyond being blog-centric, you may find that out-of-the-box WordPress is lacking. But, there’s no need to switch site builders. With the best free WordPress plugins for business websites, you can create a full-blown business website that caters to your customers exactly the way you need it to.
Free WordPress plugins for business websites help you grow your website without spending more money than necessary. They cover various branches of business, from creating editorial calendars and talking in real-time with customers to making sure your website runs fast and is SEO-optimized. The purpose of business plugins is twofold. First, they automate some of your workload so you barely have to think about it. Second, they make it easier to carry out the work that still needs your focused attention.
There’s an almost endless amount of plugins for business websites, many free, some paid, and plenty with free versions that you can give a try before you upgrade for more features. In this article, we’ve rounded up the top free WordPress plugins for business websites so that you can upgrade your site without having to budget for it.
If booking and managing appointments is integral to your business, there’s no reason to rely on someone who has to answer the phone all day long. Instead, use a plugin so that visitors can book their appointments themselves at any time, even if your business is closed for the night.
Easy Appointments is for you if…
Easy Appointments Pricing: Free | Learn More About Easy Appointments
Check out our best WordPress Booking Plugins for more free (and premium) options.
If you’re only selling digital products, not physical ones, consider using Easy Digital Downloads (as opposed to WooCommerce, which we’ll talk about in a bit). This shopping cart plugin offers different options for customers to download files they’ve purchased. You can also create discount codes for products you’re trying to push.
Easy Digital Downloads is for you if…
Easy Digital Downloads Pricing: Free with paid add-ons | Learn More About Easy Digital Downloads
We also have more shopping cart plugins to check out.
If your business website has a lot of content going up all the time, you need an editorial calendar to keep track of it all. This plugin lets you customize an overview of your publishing calendar, and it integrates with your WordPress dashboard so you can see it right when you log in.
Editorial Calendar is for you if…
Editorial Calendar Pricing: Free | Learn More About Editorial Calendar
For more, check out these best editorial calendar plugins.
If your business website relies on a lot of images – maybe you run a photography studio or a retail shop – you’ll need a way to juggle all that media without sacrificing website performance. Envira Gallery lets you create galleries that are optimized for speed.
Envira Gallery is for you if…
Envira Gallery Pricing: Free or Pro starting at $26 per year | Learn More About Envira Gallery
We also suggest Soliloquy if you need to create image and video sliders – this plugin has pre-designed themes and templates, too.
HubSpot is a one-stop shop for a lot of the tools you need to run a business (and a business-oriented website) including a CMS like WordPress. You can manage your contacts, see how they’ve engaged with your company, connect via forms and live chat, monitor marketing performance – basically, you can do everything you need to stay in sync with your audience.
HubSpot is for you if…
We’ve written an article on how to integrate HubSpot with WordPress.
HubSpot Pricing: Free | Learn More About HubSpot
The myCred plugin is a points management system that lets you gamify your website. Gamification keeps visitor attention for longer and incentivizes certain actions. You create a points and rewards system for visitors, doling out digital prizes like badges and ranks – and also letting people use what they’ve earned toward real purchases.
myCred is for you if…
myCred Pricing: Free; membership starts at $149 per year | Learn More About myCred
The myCred plugin is also listed as one of the best gamification plugins for WordPress.
Some business websites have the need for print-friendly pages. For example, if you want customers to be able to print out directions for using your products or services, having a print-ready page is a must.
Print-O-Matic is for you if…
Print-O-Matic Pricing: Free | Learn More About Print-O-Matic
If Print-O-Matic doesn’t have the features you’re after, we have a few more options in this article.
Answering the same questions about your business over and over can eat up a lot of time. Creating a frequently-asked-questions page means that visitors can find answers to pressing questions themselves, leaving you free to handle more intensive troubleshooting.
Quick and Easy FAQs is for you if…
Quick and Easy FAQs Pricing: Free | Learn More About Quick and Easy FAQs
Really Simple SSL is a super lightweight plugin that detects your website’s settings and configures it to be safer. (Learn more about HTTPS and SSL) Business websites that don’t have the basics of security covered won’t be trusted by visitors, and that can have a major impact on traffic and conversions.
Really Simple SSL is for you if…
Really Simple SSL Pricing: Free or Pro starting at $29 | Learn More About Really Simple SSL
These days you may not need a plugin at all. Learn more about how to get a free SSL certificate.
Some business websites function as a business in themselves, allowing users to pay for VIP access to upgraded content and access. RegistrationMagic lets you onboard new members and decide which content they can see versus what non-members can see.
RegistrationMagic is for you if…
RegistrationMagic Pricing: Free | Learn More About RegistrationMagic
We also like the WP-Members Membership Plugin if you’re looking for an alternative.
If you have products or services that you want customers to review – or anything that you want reviews for, actually – consider installing this plugin. You have a lot of control over who can leave reviews, and when a new one comes through, you’ll get a notification. (We have a lot of other ratings and reviews plugins rounded up here, too.)
SiteReviews is for you if…
SiteReviews Pricing: Free with paid add-ons | Learn More About SiteReviews
If you have a brick-and-mortar location (or several), integrating maps with your website is key for helping people get there. Markers show exact locations, and polygons give a broader view of the general area where your stores are located.
WP Go Maps is for you if…
WP Go Maps Pricing: Free; Pro starts at $39.99 | Learn More About WP Go Maps
Check out these other Google Maps plugins, too.
If you want to sell products online, WooCommerce is among the best (or the best) e-commerce platforms for WordPress sites. You have total control over how your store looks and functions, and you can sell pretty much anything you want, physical or digital, setting product variations as needed.
WooCommerce is for you if…
WooCommerce Pricing: Free | Learn More About WooCommerce
You may also want to check out the Customer Reviews for WooCommerce plugin.
To make your business website legit and legal, you need different types of text to protect your company – and to let visitors know how you’re protecting them, too. The WP Legal Pages plugin generates this text for you using your specific business information.
WP Legal Pages is for you if…
WP Legal Pages Pricing: Free or $39 per year for Pro | Learn More About WP Legal Pages
This plugin lets you add any counters to your website that you want, both serious and silly. Your visitors can see important stats about your business, like how many sales you’ve made, products you’ve created, clients you have, newsletter subscribers are signed up, cups of coffee you’ve consumed, etc. The fun stat(s) will communicate that you run a lighthearted and/or modern brand, but the real stats will instill a bit of FOMO and get potential customers to act.
Counter Number is for you if…
Counter Number Pricing: Free; Pro is $12 | Learn More About Counter Number
Check out more fun and weird WordPress plugins here.
There are a lot of other great free plugins out there for Business websites we’ve featured on our blog. Here are a some other important plugins and tools to check out:
If you are just getting started, small businesses might benefit from a no-code solution by building a business website with Divi which has a lot of built-in features already. But for those looking to expand their existing business website with additional functionality, the free plugins covered in this article are a great start. Our best advice is to pick and choose the plugins you need based on what you’re missing, not what’s out there. You could end up adding bloat with plugins and features you don’t actually have a use for. WordPress can do a lot out of the box, so make sure you’re only installing plugins that will add to your experience or the user experience. And whenever possible, choose plugins that roll multiple features you want into one solution.
Do you have a business plugin that you can’t live without? Tell us about it in the comments!
The post 15+ Best Free WordPress Plugins for Business Websites appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.
The marketing strategies and tactics being used across WordPress businesses have changed over the years, but it’s not all positive. We’ve seen one-time payments evolve into subscriptions and renewal discounts have been phased out. But, as some folks in the WordPress community have pointed out, there are some questionable marketing tactics growing in popularity, and it’s a shame.
The post “Is Deceptive Marketing Ruining WordPress’ Reputation?” first appeared on WP Mayor.