Are you looking for an easy way to create roundups and showcases on your WordPress blog?
A roundup post lets you quickly create a new blog article by repurposing your existing content. This list post allows your readers to easily find related content on your blog while improving your website’s internal linking and SEO.
In this article, we will show you how to create a roundup post in WordPress the easy way.
Why Create Roundup Posts in WordPress?
A roundup or list post features your best articles on a certain subject to give a detailed overview of that topic. Sometimes called ‘listicles,’ these posts offer a collection of helpful content on a particular topic or industry.
For example, you can create a showcase post of your most popular recipes of the year, your best advice for small businesses, or the best reviews on your WordPress website.
Roundup posts are a great way to promote your older articles. They can also showcase the best products in a certain category or solutions to a specific problem.
Plus, these roundups and listicles have another benefit for your WordPress blog. They will improve your internal linking, which in turn will improve your site’s SEO.
With that being said, let’s take a look at how to create a roundup post in WordPress.
How to Create a Roundup Post in WordPress the Easy Way
WP Tasty Roundups is the easiest way to repurpose your existing content into beautiful roundup posts that rank in search results. Even though the plugin is designed with food blogs in mind, it can be used for any blogging niche or industry.
Upon activation, you will need to navigate to Settings » Tasty Roundups in your WordPress admin dashboard to enter your license key and configure the plugin’s default settings.
Simply paste your license key into the field at the top of the screen. You can find it in the email that was sent to you after buying the plugin. After that, just click the ‘Save license key’ button.
While you are on this page, you can also configure the default style for your listicles. For example, you can display images at the left, top, or right of each post and choose whether to number each post in the list.
By default, the roundup will follow the formatting of the WordPress theme you are using. However, you can customize its text, number, button, and block styles.
Once you have configured the plugin, simply click the ‘Save Changes’ button at the bottom of the page to store your settings.
To make a roundup post, you will need to either create a new post or open an existing post where you want to add the listicle.
After that, you should click the ‘+’ button at the top of the screen and locate ‘Tasty Roundup’ in the Widgets section. Then, you can drag the block where you want it to appear in your post.
Next, you can use the block to add posts to the roundup from your own blog or other sites.
Each post will have a simple design, consistent formatting, and clear links to your source posts. This creates a good user experience and allows readers to scan your content easily.
Adding a Post From Your Blog
Your list posts will usually include posts from your own WordPress blog, and WP Tasty Roundups makes this easy. Simply type one or two keywords into the built-in search feature, and a list of matching posts will display on your screen.
All you need to do is click on the name of the post or the ‘+ Add’ button next to it.
That post will be immediately added to your roundup. The plugin will automatically pull images, titles, descriptions, and links from the post into your roundup list. Later in this article, we will show you how to customize this information.
You can add more blog posts to the list post by repeating these steps.
Adding a Post From Another Blog or Website
You can also add posts from other blogs or websites, though this takes a little more work.
When you click the ‘+ Add Post Manually’ button, a blank roundup item is added to the bottom of the Tasty Roundups block.
Now, you need to manually type the post title and description. You can also use the buttons in the image area to upload a new image or add one from the media library.
Once you have done that, you need to add the article’s URL by clicking the ‘Add link’ icon in the toolbar. Simply paste the article’s URL into the box and press the Enter key or click the ‘Apply’ icon to the right of the URL box.
You can see more options by clicking the ‘Link Settings’ down arrow icon on the right. For links to other websites, we recommend enabling the ‘Open in new tab’ toggle. You can also type ‘nofollow’ into the ‘Link Rel’ box so that you don’t pass on your link authority to other sites.
After adding the link, a ‘Read More’ button will appear in the article. Clicking this link will take your readers straight to the article.
Customizing Your Roundup
Once you have finished adding all of the articles to your list post, there are a few ways you can customize the roundup.
For example, you can change the order of the posts by selecting a post and then clicking the ‘Move Up’ or ‘Move Down’ buttons on the toolbar. You can also use drag and drop.
You are also able to individually customize each post in the roundup.
For example, using the toolbar buttons, you can change whether the image is displayed on the left, top, or right. You might like to have some posts with the image on the right and others with the image on the left.
It’s also possible to edit the title and excerpt. You can format this text using the ‘Bold’ and ‘Italics’ icons in the toolbar. You can even edit the button text.
Additionally, you can change the image displayed in the roundup by clicking the ‘Replace’ button in the toolbar. This will let you upload a new image or choose one from the media library.
Once you have finished creating and customizing your roundup post, you can publish it using the ‘Publish’ or ‘Update’ button at the top of the page.
After that, you can visit your website to see how your roundup post or showcase looks. Here is a preview of our sample roundup.
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Do you want to preview the mobile version of your WordPress site?
Previewing the mobile layout helps you see how your website looks on mobile devices. When your site is under development or even when it’s live, it’s often easier to view the mobile version on a desktop computer. Then, you can quickly make changes and see their effect.
In this article, we will show you how to view a mobile version of the WordPress site from a desktop.
Why You Should Preview Your Mobile Layout
More than 50% of your website visitors will be using their mobile phones to access your site. Around 3% will be using a tablet.
This means that having a site that looks great on mobile is very important.
In fact, mobile is so important that Google is now using a mobile-first index for its website ranking algorithm. This means that Google will use your site’s mobile version for indexing. You can learn more by reading our ultimate guide to WordPress SEO.
Even if you are using a responsive WordPress theme, you still need to check how your site looks on mobile. You might want to create different versions of key landing pages that are optimized for mobile users’ needs.
It’s important to keep in mind that most mobile previews will not be completely perfect because there are so many different mobile screen sizes and browsers. Your final test should always be to look at your site on an actual mobile device.
That said, let’s look at how you can view the mobile version of your WordPress website on a desktop.
We are going to cover two different methods for testing how your site looks on mobile using desktop browsers. You can click the links below to jump to any section:
Simply log in to your WordPress dashboard and go to the Appearance » Customize screen.
This will open up the WordPress theme customizer. For this tutorial, we will be using the Astra theme.
Depending on what theme you are using, you may see slightly different options in the left-hand menu.
At the bottom of the screen, simply click the mobile icon.
You will then see a preview of how your site looks on mobile devices.
This method for previewing the mobile version is particularly useful when you haven’t yet finished creating your blog or when it’s in maintenance mode.
You can now make changes to your website and check how they look before you push them live.
Method 2: Using Google Chrome’s DevTools Device Mode
The Google Chrome browser has a set of developer tools that let you run various checks on any website, including seeing a preview of how it looks on mobile devices.
Simply open the Google Chrome browser on your desktop and visit the page you want to check. This could be the preview of a page on your site, or it could even be your competitor’s website.
Next, you need to right-click on the page and select the ‘Inspect’ option.
A new panel will open up on the right-hand side or at the bottom of the screen.
It will look something like this:
In the developer view, you will be able to see your site’s HTML source code, CSS, and other details.
Next, you need to click the ‘Toggle Device Toolbar’ button to change to the mobile view.
You will see the preview of your website shrink to the mobile screen size.
Your website’s general appearance will also change in the mobile view. For instance, the menus will collapse, and additional icons will move to the left instead of the right of the menu.
When you hover your mouse cursor over the mobile view of your site, it will become a circle. This circle can be moved with your mouse to mimic the touchscreen on a mobile device.
You can also hold down the ‘Shift’ key, then click and move your mouse to simulate pinching the mobile screen to zoom in or out.
Above the mobile view of your site, you will see some additional options.
These settings let you do several extra things. You can check how your site would look on different types of smartphones.
For example, you can select a mobile device like an iPhone and see how your site will appear on the device.
You can also simulate your site’s performance on fast or slow 3G connections. You can even rotate the mobile screen using the rotate icon.
Bonus: How to Create Mobile-Specific Content in WordPress
It’s important that your website has a responsive design so that mobile visitors can easily navigate your website.
However, simply having a responsive site may not go far enough. Users on mobile devices are often looking for different things than desktop users.
Many premium themes and plugins let you create elements that display differently on desktop versus mobile. You can also use a page builder plugin like SeedProd to edit your landing pages in mobile view.
You should consider creating mobile-specific content for your lead generation forms. On mobile devices, these forms should ask for minimal information, ideally just an email address. They should also look good and be easy to close.
Another great way to create mobile-specific popups and lead-generation forms is with OptinMonster. It is the most powerful WordPress popup plugin and lead-generation tool on the market.
OptinMonster has specific device-targeting display rules that let you show different campaigns to mobile users vs desktop users. You can even combine this with OptinMonster’s geo-targeting feature and other advanced personalization features to get the best conversions.
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 add equipment rentals to your WooCommerce store?
By renting equipment to your customers, you can keep making money from the same product. You can also connect with a new audience who want to rent products rather than buy them.
In this article, we will show you how to add equipment rentals to your WooCommerce store.
Why Add Equipment Rentals to Your WooCommerce Store?
By renting equipment to your customers, you can buy a product once and then turn it into an ongoing revenue stream.
If you already have a WooCommerce store selling digital products or physical items, then equipment rentals can be another way to make money.
For example, if you sell party hats and paper plates, then your existing customers might also be interested in larger party equipment rentals, such as a bouncy castle or audio speakers.
You might also be looking to start a completely new equipment rental business. By creating a WooCommerce store that’s optimized for SEO, you can help potential customers discover your business.
Even better, customers can browse your catalog and reserve equipment online. This convenient customer experience will keep people coming back to your equipment rental business rather than switching to a competitor.
With that in mind, let’s see how you can add equipment rentals to WordPress.
How to Add Equipment Rentals to Your WooCommerce Store
In this guide, we are going to assume you already have a WooCommerce store. If you don’t, then you can see our complete guide on WooCommerce made simple.
The easiest way to add equipment rentals to your store is by using Bookings for WooCommerce. This WooCommerce plugin allows you to turn any WooCommerce product into a bookable item that customers can rent for a certain number of days or hours.
You can also create additional services, such as cleaning and delivery fees, and then add them to your equipment rentals.
Upon activation, you can turn any WooCommerce product into a bookable product. If you have already added the product to your online store, then simply go to Products » All Products.
Here, simply hover over the item that you want to turn into a bookable product, and click on the ‘Edit’ link when it appears.
You can also add the equipment as a new product by going to Products » Add New. Here, you can type in the product’s name, upload a photo, add product categories and tags, type in a description, and more.
For more information on how to set up a WooCommerce product, please see our WooCommerce made simple guide.
No matter whether you create a new product or edit an existing one, you can turn it into a bookable product in exactly the same way.
Simply scroll to the Product Data box and open the dropdown menu that shows ‘Simple product’ by default.
You can now select ‘Booking Product.’ This gives you access to lots of new settings where you can configure the bookable product.
Set How Many Units Customers Can Rent
You can either offer a set number of units or let the customer choose how many units to rent, using the ‘Quantity’ dropdown.
To let customers rent multiple units, select ‘Customer can choose.’
By default, customers can rent as many units as they want, but you can also add a limit. If a customer types in a higher number, then WooCommerce will show an error message.
This is useful if you have limited stock or equipment that’s in high demand.
To set a limit, type a number into the ‘Max Booking Per User’ field.
Another option is defining how many units the customer can book. For example, if you rent large or expensive equipment such as heavy farming machinery, then customers may only need to book a single unit.
By setting the quantity in advance, you can remove a step from the booking process and improve the customer experience.
Simply go ahead and open the ‘Quantity’ dropdown and then choose ‘Fixed Unit.’
Now, type in the number you want to use.
Require Admin Approval For Equipment Rentals (Optional)
Next, you can decide whether to approve all rental requests automatically or put them on hold until you can manually approve them.
If you have a smaller inventory, then requiring approval can help you avoid rental overlap. It can also help you spot any problems with rental requests before you take any payments.
If you enable admin approval, then you will get a notification every time someone submits a rental request.
Click on this notification, and you will go to WooCommerce » Orders.
Here, you will see all the orders on your WordPress website, with any new bookings marked as ‘On hold.’
You can now click on a new order to see all the information about that booking.
If you want to change the order status, then you need to open the ‘Status’ dropdown and choose an option from the list.
For example, if you are approving the booking, then you might select Pending Payment, Completed, or Processing, depending on your workflow.
With that done, click on ‘Update’ to save your changes.
As you can see, admin approval gives you more control over your equipment rentals. To require approval, check the box next to ‘Booking Confirmation.’
Offer Hourly or Daily Equipment Rentals in WooCommerce
By default, customers can rent your equipment for one or more days. However, sometimes you may want to rent equipment based on hours.
To make this change, just open the ‘Booking Unit’ dropdown and select ‘Hour(s).’
You can then choose the start and end time for the booking period, using the ‘Daily booking…’ dropdown menus.
In the following image, customers can only rent equipment between 9 AM and 5 PM.
After making this change, WooCommerce will add a section where customers can choose a start and end time.
This is perfect for equipment that people only need for a very short period of time. For example, if you provide party equipment rental, then customers may only need the party supplies for a few hours.
Add Base and Additional Costs
When you are happy with the information you have entered so far, you need to click on the ‘Costs’ tab.
To start, just type in the Booking Unit Cost, which is the price of booking a single unit.
After that, you can add an optional additional cost by typing into the ‘Base Cost’ field.
This might be a booking fee, cleaning fee, or any other cost linked to renting the equipment.
If you add a base cost, then customers will see it as part of the cost breakdown.
In the following image, the product is $50 to rent per day, with a base cost of $10.
Depending on the kind of equipment you rent, you may want to multiply the fee based on how many people plan to use the equipment. This can help you cover additional wear and tear when lots of people use the same product.
To multiply the price based on people, start by checking the boxes next to ‘Booking Unit Cost Per Person’ and ‘Base Cost Per People.’
With that done, click on the ‘People’ tab.
Here, you need to check the box next to ‘Enable People Option.’
With that done, customers will see a new field where they can type in how many people plan to use the equipment.
WooCommerce will also show this information in its cost breakdown.
You may also want to set the minimum and maximum number of people who can use the equipment in a single booking. This can help to avoid customers misusing your equipment.
For example, you may not want an entire workforce to use the same product.
If you have large equipment that’s expensive to deliver or clean, then setting a minimum number of people can help to keep your profit margins healthy.
To set these limits, simply type numbers into the ‘Minimum No. of People’ and ‘Maximum No. of People’ fields.
How to Publish Equipment Rentals to Your WooCommerce Store
Although there are some extra settings you may want to configure, this is all you need to add equipment rentals to your WooCommerce store.
With that being said, you can click on ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ to make the product live on your WooCommerce website. Now, people can rent this equipment directly from the WooCommerce product page.
How to Set Up Services and Additional Costs for Your Equipment Rental Store
Sometimes, you may want to create additional costs and services for your equipment rental store. For example, you might offer to deliver the equipment for an extra fee.
With that in mind, let’s see how you can set up additional costs and services for your WooCommerce store.
How to Add Additional Costs in WooCommerce
Additional costs are fees that WooCommerce adds to one or more products automatically. This feature is useful if there are different costs associated with different pieces of equipment.
For example, you may need to refuel some products after use, while others might need fresh oil.
By adding these costs in the WordPress dashboard, you can easily apply them to different products. It also provides a single location where you can change the cost.
For example, if petrol gets more expensive, then you can update your Refueling cost once, and this change will be applied across your entire online marketplace or store.
As you can see in the image above, additional costs simply appear in the cost breakdown as ‘Additional Costs.’ If you want to give the shopper some more information about these charges, then we recommend creating a service instead.
To register an additional cost, you need to go to WP Swings » Bookings for WooCommerce. Here, simply click on ‘Configuration Settings,’ followed by ‘Additional Costs.’
To start, type in a name for the additional cost. This is just for your reference, so you can use anything you want.
After that, you need to type in the slug you want to use for the additional cost.
With that done, you can type in an optional description. This typically won’t appear on your website, but some WooCommerce themes show it.
Next, simply type the cost into the ‘Booking Cost’ field.
By default, the additional cost gets added to an order once.
However, you can multiply the additional cost based on the booking duration or how many people plan to use the equipment. To do this, click to activate the ‘Multiply by No. of People’ or ‘Multiply by Duration’ toggles.
When you are happy with the information you have entered, simply type in ‘Add New Booking Cost.’
To create more additional costs, simply repeat the same process described above.
With that done, you can add this cost to any WooCommerce product.
Simply open the product for editing, and then scroll to the ‘Additional Costs’ box.
You can now type in the name of the additional cost.
When the right option shows up, give it a click and then select ‘Add.’
You can click on ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ to save your changes. Now, when someone rents this equipment, the additional cost will be applied automatically.
How to Create Additional Services in WooCommerce
You can also create additional services. Unlike additional costs, the name of the service will appear in the cost breakdown.
This helps customers understand your extra fees, so we recommend using services for more expensive charges. It’s also a good idea to use services if you need to add multiple charges to an order so that customers can see a detailed cost breakdown.
You can also make services optional, so the customer can choose whether to add them to the order. This allows you to offer premium additional services such as next-day delivery.
To add services to your WooCommerce store, you need to go to WP Swings » Bookings for WooCommerce. Here, click on ‘Configuration Settings,’ followed by ‘Additional Services.’
You can now type a name for the service into the ‘Name’ field.
This will be shown to customers, so you will want to use something that helps shoppers understand the extra charge.
After that, you have to type in a slug, an optional description, and how much the service will cost by following the same process described above.
Again, you can choose whether to multiply the fee based on the duration of the booking or the number of people who plan to use the equipment.
You can also make a service optional.
This means customers can check a box to add the service to their order.
This gives shoppers more control over how much it costs to rent equipment from your WooCommerce store.
To make a service optional, simply click to enable the ‘If Optional’ toggle.
Another option is to make the service ‘hidden.’
Hidden services simply appear on the product page as ‘Service Cost.’
To make a service hidden, click to activate the ‘If Hidden’ toggle.
Next, you may want to enable the ‘If has Quantity’ slider. This allows shoppers to add the same service to their order multiple times.
After clicking to enable the ‘If has Quantity’ slider, you may want to set a minimum and maximum quantity.
Simply type a number into the ‘Minimum Quantity’ and ‘Maximum Quantity’ fields.
When you are happy with the information you have entered, click on ‘Add New Booking Service.’
To add more services to your online store, simply follow the same process described above.
When it’s time to add a service, simply open the product for editing.
Then, just scroll to the ‘Additional Services’ box.
You can now type in the name of the additional service you want to add.
When the right option shows up, simply select it and then click on the ‘Add’ button.
With that done, click on ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ to save your changes.
How to Manage Equipment Rentals on Your WooCommerce Store
After adding equipment to your website, you will need a way to manage your rental bookings.
Every time you get a new booking, you will see a notification in the WordPress toolbar.
Simply click on this notification to see all your bookings.
You can reach the same screen by going to WooCommerce » Orders.
To see more information about an order, go ahead and click on it. This takes you to a screen where you can see detailed information about the order and the customer, including their email address and phone number.
You can also change the order status, including canceling or refunding the rental request.
The Bookings for WooCommerce WordPress plugin also comes with a calendar that shows all your bookings at a glance.
To see this calendar, simply head over to WP Swings » Bookings For WooCommerce. Then, click on the ‘Bookings Calendar’ tab.
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 a text to speech feature in WordPress?
Text to speech feature allows you to add an audio version of your articles using artificial intelligence. This is particularly useful for long reads and helps users who prefer audio content while exercising or traveling.
In this article, we’ll show you how to easily add text to speech in WordPress.
What is Text to Speech in WordPress?
Text to speech is a technology that uses artificial intelligence to convert any text into natural-sounding speech. It is provided as a cloud-based service by several companies including Google Cloud and Amazon AWS.
Adding text to speech to your WordPress website allows users to listen to your articles while going through their daily activities like exercising, cooking, and traveling.
Text to speech can also help grow your audience by making content more accessible for the visually impaired and for people with reading difficulties.
This is where BeyondWords comes in. It is a popular AI-based audio publishing platform that allows you to easily add a text to speech feature to your website using a WordPress plugin.
It is a freemium service that comes with different pricing plans. There is also a free plan, which allows you to convert up to 30,000 characters into audio every month.
That being said, let’s see how you can add text to speech in WordPress using BeyondWords.
Upon activation, go to the Settings » BeyondWords page from the admin dashboard.
To fully integrate your account with WordPress, you’d need to give your BeyondWords API key and project ID.
For that, head over to your BeyondWords project dashboard and go to Settings » General from the sidebar.
Now, scroll down to the ‘Credentials’ section and simply copy the API key and project ID.
After that, you need to head over to the WordPress dashboard and then paste your credential details.
Now, scroll down to the ‘Content Settings’ section.
If you want to include excerpts in the audio version of your content, simply check the ‘Process excerpts’ option.
After that, scroll down to the ‘Generate Audio Settings’ section and check the boxes for ‘Posts’ and ‘Pages’ if you want to generate audio for both of them.
You can also uncheck either of the boxes if you don’t want to generate audio for posts or pages.
Don’t forget to click the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your settings.
Step 3. Adding Text to Speech in a Post
First, you need to edit the post or page where you want to display the text to speech audio player.
In the block editor, simply click the BeyondWords tab under the Post Settings panel.
Now, you need to check the ‘Generate Audio’ box and then click the ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ button to save your changes.
You can now visit that post or page to view the text to speech audio player in action.
We hope this article helped you learn how to easily add text to speech to your WordPress site. You may also want to see our guide how to create an email newsletter to grow your traffic, and our expert pick of the best WordPress plugins.
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 an affiliate product box in WordPress?
A product box allows you to showcase your affiliate products in a more attractive and eye-catching manner. It can capture your user’s attention and increase the chances of them clicking on your affiliate links.
In this article, we will show you how to easily create an affiliate product box in WordPress.
Why Create an Affiliate Product Box in WordPress?
An affiliate product box is used by marketers on their WordPress websites to showcase and promote specific products to readers.
This box usually contains a product title, images, description, and a call to action (CTA) to promote clicks and purchases.
It is a popular affiliate marketing strategy that can boost sales, increase brand exposure, and save time and resources.
You can easily add an affiliate product box to a blog post to attract potential customers and earn a commission on any resulting sales.
That being said, let’s see how you can easily create an affiliate product box in WordPress without using any code.
Method 1: Create an Affiliate Product Box Using Pretty Links
You can easily create a product affiliate box using Pretty Links. It is the best affiliate marketing tool that makes it super easy to create and manage affiliate links on your WordPress website.
Note: Pretty Links also has a free version. However, you will have to purchase the pro version to use the Product Displays addon.
Upon activation, visit the Pretty Links » Add-ons page from the WordPress admin sidebar.
From here, simply install and activate the ‘Product Displays’ addon by clicking on the ‘Install Add-on’ box button.
Once the addon has been activated, just head over to the Pretty Links »Add New page to start creating an affiliate link.
First, you will have to type the affiliate product name into the ‘Add Title’ field at the top. This title will be displayed as a heading in your product affiliate box.
After that, go ahead and type the affiliate URL into the ‘Target URL’ box.
Next, type the link slug into the ‘Pretty Link’ box. This will be the last part of the affiliate URL.
After that, simply switch to the ‘Product Display’ tab from the sidebar on the left.
Once you are there, you can start by choosing a theme for your product affiliate box from the ‘Theme’ dropdown menu.
Next, click on the ‘Update Image’ button to upload the product image from the WordPress media library or your computer.
After you have done that, simply type the product description into the ‘Description’ box.
Next, go ahead and set a price for the product in the ‘Price’ box.
You can also add a badge at the top of your product affiliate box. For example, if the item you are promoting is currently on sale, then you can show this to customers.
To add a badge, simply type the text for it into the ‘Badge Text’ box.
After that, enter a CTA for the affiliate product into the ‘Primary Button Text’ box. This will be the text displayed on the button within the product affiliate box.
The affiliate link we created will be automatically added to the CTA button.
If you have written a review of the affiliate product on your blog, you can add the post’s URL to the ‘Review URL’ box. Readers who click on it will be taken to your review post.
To add a CTA for the review button, simply type some text in the ‘Review Button Text’ option.
Once you are done, click on the ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ button at the top.
Add the Product Affiliate Box to a Page or Post
Now, you need to add the product affiliate box to a page or post on your WordPress website. For this tutorial, we will be adding the affiliate product box to a post.
First, you need to open up a new or existing post from the WordPress admin sidebar.
Next, click on the ‘Add Block’ (+) button at the top left corner to locate and add the PL Product Display block to the block editor.
After that, click on the ‘Add Display’ button.
This will open up a ‘Product Display’ prompt. From here, simply choose the ‘Single Link’ option from the dropdown menu.
Once you do that, you will have to search for the affiliate link you created in the search box.
Upon clicking on the affiliate link, the product display box will be automatically added to your post or page.
Finally, click on the ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ button to save your changes.
Now you can visit your website to check out the product affiliate box in action.
Method 2: Create an Affiliate Product Box in the Block Editor (Free)
For this method, we will show you how to easily create an affiliate product box using the block editor.
First, you need to open an existing or new post from the WordPress admin sidebar.
Once you are there, click on the Add Block ‘(+)’ button in the top-left corner to open the block menu. Next, simply look for and add the Columns block to the post.
Once you have done that, a list of column variations will be displayed. Simply click on the 50/50 variation to continue.
This will add two side-by-side blocks to your post.
You can start by clicking on the ‘+’ button on the left side of the screen to open the block menu.
From here, simply choose the Image block and then add your affiliate product image from the WordPress media library.
After that, you need to click on the ‘+’ button in the right column.
Once the block menu opens up, add the Heading block and type in the product title.
Next, simply click on the ‘Select Column’ icon from the block toolbar and then click on the ‘+’ button at the bottom. This will open up the block menu again.
From here, locate and add the Paragraph block and type a product description into the box.
Now, to complete your product affiliate box, you will have to add a CTA along with an affiliate link for the product.
To do that, you will need to exit the block editor.
Don’t forget to click on the ‘Save Draft’ button to save your changes before going back to the WordPress admin dashboard.
Create an Affiliate Link
There are many affiliate marketing tools that you can use to create and manage affiliate links on your WordPress website.
You will now be redirected to the ‘Links’ page. From here, simply copy the affiliate link from the ‘Pretty Links’ column.
Add an Affiliate Link to the Product Box
Next, you need to head back to the blog post where you were creating the affiliate product box.
Once you are there, just click on the right column of your Columns block to open up the block toolbar, followed by the ‘Select Columns’ button. This will open the block menu.
Next, simply add the Buttons block.
To add a link, click on the ‘Link’ icon in the ‘Buttons’ block toolbar. This will open a popup box where you must paste the affiliate link you copied from the Pretty Links page.
You can also search for the affiliate link using the search bar in the box.
Lastly, you will need to add some text to your CTA button.
Make sure to add an exciting phrase as your CTA to encourage customers to click on the link.
You can also style your affiliate product box using block settings. To do this, simply click on the ‘Styles’ icon in the Block Settings column.
From here, you can choose the background and text color of your affiliate product box using the Color Picker.
Finally, click on the ‘Publish’ or ‘Update’ button to save your changes.
This is how the affiliate product box looked on our demo website.
Method 3: Create a Product Box For Affiliate Landing Pages Using SeedProd
If you want to create an aesthetically-pleasing product box for custom affiliate landing pages, then this method is for you.
First, you need to install and activate the SeedProd plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Note: SeedProd also offers a free version. However, we will be using the premium version because it offers more design features.
Upon activation, you must visit the SeedProd » Settings page to enter the plugin license key.
You can find this information in your account on the SeedProd website.
Next, simply head over to the SeedProd » Landing Pages section from the WordPress admin dashboard and click on the ‘Add New Landing Page’ button.
For this tutorial, we will be adding an affiliate product box to a landing page.
You will now be taken to the ‘Choose a New Page Template’ screen.
From here, you can choose any of the pre-made templates offered by SeedProd.
After you have made your choice, you will be asked to enter a page name and choose a URL. Go ahead and click on the ‘Save and Start Editing the Page’ button after entering the details.
This will launch SeedProd’s drag-and-drop page builder.
From here, find the Columns block in the left sidebar and drag it onto the design interface on the right.
Upon adding the block, you will be asked to choose a column layout. You need to simply click on the 50/50 variation to add two side-by-side blocks.
You can now start by dragging and dropping the Image block into the left column.
Next, click on the Image block to open up its block settings in the sidebar. From here, simply click on the ‘Use Your Own Image’ button to select the affiliate product image from the media library or upload it from your computer.
After that, just drag and drop the Heading block into the right column and add the affiliate product title.
You can adjust the alignment and font size using the settings in the left sidebar.
Once you have done that, you need to drag and drop the Text block under the product title. You can add a description for the affiliate product you are promoting.
After that, simply click on the ‘Save’ button to store your changes.
Now it is time for you to create an affiliate link.
Upon activation, go to the Pretty Link » Add New page from the admin sidebar.
Here, you can start by typing the product name in the ‘Add Title’ field to make it easy to find the affiliate link. Simply enter the name of the affiliate company or the product itself.
Next, add the affiliate link next to the ‘Target URL’ option.
After that, type a slug into the ‘Pretty Link’ box. This slug will appear at the end of your affiliate link.
Finally, go ahead and click on the ‘Update’ button to generate the link.
You will now be redirected to the ‘Links’ page. From here, simply copy the affiliate link from the ‘Pretty Links’ column.
Add the Affiliate Link to the SeedProd Product Box
After copying the affiliate link, you need to open the SeedProd landing page where you are designing the affiliate product box.
Once you are there, simply drag and drop the Button block under the product description.
Next, you need to click on the button to open up its block settings in the left sidebar. Here, you must copy and paste the affiliate link into the ‘Link’ box.
After that, just enter some text for the CTA into the ‘Button Text’ box.
To style the affiliate product box, you need to select the Columns block to open up its settings in the left sidebar.
From here, you can choose a background color or even add a background image to your product box. You can also adjust the width and alignment of the Columns block according to your liking.
Once you are done, click on the ‘Save’ button to store your settings.
This is how the affiliate product box looked on our demo website.
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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.
Do you want to create a digital product marketplace in WordPress?
A digital marketplace is a website where other people can sell their photos, artwork, music, ebooks, spreadsheets, online courses, or other digital downloads. Luckily, WordPress makes it easy to create a secure online marketplace for multiple vendors.
In this article, we will show you how to easily create a digital product marketplace using WordPress without hiring a developer.
What Platform Should You Use for Your Digital Product Marketplace?
A digital product marketplace is a website where users can sign up to sell ebooks, images, videos, and other downloadable content.
If you want to create a digital marketplace, you will first need to choose your eCommerce platform. Some platforms are better suited for selling physical goods than digital ones.
Plus, some don’t have the features you need for a multi-vendor marketplace. Moving to a different platform in the future can be hard and time-consuming.
That means you want to be sure you are choosing a solution with features that protect your digital downloads, including proper licensing and subscriptions.
WordPress is the best website builder on the market, used by over 43% of all websites on the internet.
Now, it’s important to know that there are two types of WordPress software, and you don’t want to choose the wrong one.
First, there is WordPress.com, which is a blog hosting platform. Then, there is WordPress.org, which is also known as self-hosted WordPress. For a detailed comparison, you can see our guide on the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org.
You need to use the self-hosted WordPress.org platform because it gives you full control over your website. It provides complete freedom to sell any type of digital product by using a plugin like Easy Digital Downloads.
Easy Digital Downloads (EDD) is the best WordPress eCommerce plugin for selling digital products, and it has all the features you need to set up a multi-vendor marketplace.
In fact, we use this plugin ourselves to sell many of our premium WordPress plugins, which are downloadable files restricted to members only. Easy Digital Downloads also comes with license keys built-in.
However, in this article, we will show you how to set up a multi-vendor marketplace where other people can sell digital goods on your WordPress website.
That being said, let’s look at how to easily set up your WordPress digital marketplace site with Easy Digital Downloads.
Step 1: Setting Up Your WordPress Website
To start selling digital downloads with WordPress, you will need a domain name, web hosting, and an SSL certificate.
A domain name is your website’s address on the internet. This is what visitors will type into their browsers to reach your website, such as ‘wpbeginner.com’.
Web hosting is a service that will store your website files and digital downloads. To help you out, we have hand-picked some of the best WordPress hosting that you can buy.
An SSL certificate is needed to create a secure connection between your website and users so that you can accept online payments.
One of our top recommended hosting providers, SiteGround, offers managed WordPress hosting for Easy Digital Downloads. It comes with a free SSL certificate, EDD preinstalled, and optimization features. Plus, you get a huge 73% off!
Basically, you can create and run your website for less than $5 per month.
Let’s walk through how to purchase your domain, web hosting, and SSL certificate.
Go ahead and open the SiteGround website in a new tab so that you can follow along. The first thing you need to do is click on the ‘Get Plan’ button.
After that, SiteGround will ask you to enter a domain name for your website. If you don’t already have a name in mind, then you can see our guide on how to choose the best domain name.
Lastly, you will need to add your account information.
You will also be able to purchase some optional extras. You can always add these at a later date if you need them. If you are unsure, then we recommend skipping this step.
After entering your payment details, SiteGround will send you an email with instructions on how to log in to your hosting account. This is a web hosting control panel where you can manage your new website.
Simply log in to your SiteGround account, and you will see that SiteGround has already installed WordPress for you. It has also preinstalled Easy Digital Downloads.
You can then click on the ‘WordPress Admin’ button. This will take you to your WordPress site’s dashboard.
If, for some reason, you don’t want to use SiteGround, then you can also install WordPress on other hosting companies like Bluehost, Hostinger, and WP Engine by following a similar process.
Step 2: Creating an Online Store With Easy Digital Downloads
By default, WordPress doesn’t include eCommerce functionality out of the box, so you will need a plugin to sell digital downloads.
Plugins for WordPress sites are like apps for your phone. They add all kinds of different features and functionality to your website.
We will be using the Easy Digital Downloads plugin to add the multi-vendor eCommerce features we need.
If you claimed our SiteGround EDD Hosting deal in the previous step, then Easy Digital Downloads is already installed on your website. You can move on to the ‘Entering Your Business and Location Information’ section below.
Note: Although you can use the free Easy Digital Downloads plugin for selling digital products online, you will also need a Professional Pass or higher to turn your website into a digital product marketplace. Later in this tutorial, we will show you how to set this up.
Entering Your Business and Location Information
Upon activation, you need to visit the Downloads » Settings page in your WordPress admin area. This will start the Easy Digital Downloads setup wizard.
On the setup wizard’s first page, you will be asked to enter your business name and location.
You might wonder why your location is needed if you are not selling physical products. This is because when a customer makes a purchase, Easy Digital Downloads will use the country and state information to auto-fill some fields.
Also, your location may be used to calculate sales tax.
To add your location, open the ‘Business Country’ dropdown menu. You can now choose the country where your business is based.
Next, find the ‘Business Region’ field. Here you can type the state or province where your store operates from.
Depending on your location, you may also want to customize the currency used on your website. By default, Easy Digital Downloads shows all of your prices in US dollars. It also places the dollar sign before the price, so five dollars is shown as ‘$5.’
To change the default currency settings, scroll down to the Currency section and open the ‘Currency’ dropdown. You can now choose a new currency.
Just be aware that some payment gateways may not accept every currency. If you are not sure, then it’s a good idea to check the website for your chosen payment gateway. Most payment gateways have a list of the currencies that they support.
Once you are finished, you will need to click on the ‘Save & Continue’ button. This will bring you to the next page, where you can set up your payment methods.
Setting Up Your Payment Methods
If you want to sell digital products, then you will need a way to collect online payments.
Stripe is one of the top payment companies that does not require going through a long process to sign up for a merchant account. They allow anyone with a legitimate business to accept credit card payments online.
To quickly get started with Stripe, simply click on the ‘Connect with Stripe’ button.
If you need, you can add more payment gateways later. Just take a look at the options on the Easy Digital Download extensions page, such as PayPal, Braintree, Authorize.net, and more.
When you are done, just click the ‘Save & Continue’ button at the bottom of the screen.
Configuring Your Receipts
Every time someone buys a digital download, Easy Digital Downloads will send them an email.
This email has a link that the customer can use to download the file they just purchased.
You can configure that email by adding your own text and branding. Strong branding can make your business look more professional and inspire loyalty.
To add a logo to your emails, click on the ‘Attach File’ button and upload or choose an existing image from your WordPress media library.
You can also add a ‘From Name.’ This name will be shown in the customer’s inbox. You will want to use something that immediately lets customers know who you are, such as your website’s name.
You will also need to add a ‘From Email.’ This email will act as the ‘from’ and ‘reply-to’ address. Since customers may reply to your messages, you will want to use a professional email address that you check frequently.
Once you are happy with your email branding, you might like to edit the content of the email receipt. Keep in mind that the default message will work well for most marketplaces.
Once you are happy with your changes, make sure to click the ‘Save & Continue’ button.
Selecting Conversion and Optimization Tools
The setup wizard will now offer to install some free tools to help boost conversions and optimize your digital store.
These tools include:
Auto Register is an Easy Digital Downloads extension that optimizes the checkout experience by automatically creating user accounts for new customers.
We recommend keeping all of the boxes checked. However, you can uncheck the boxes of any tools you don’t want to install.
You will also find a toggle button where you can help improve Easy Digital Downloads by sharing anonymous usage data with the developers. You can learn more in our guide on giving permission for WordPress plugins to collect data.
Once you have made your selections, just click the ‘Save & Continue’ button at the bottom of the page.
Adding Your First Product
You are now on the last page of the Easy Digital Downloads setup wizard. Here you can add your first product to your website.
If you are ready to add a new product now, then you can enter its details into the form and then click the ‘Save & Continue button.
Otherwise, feel free to click the ‘Skip this step’ button to finish the Easy Digital Downloads setup wizard.
Congratulations, you have now completed the initial setup of your online store. The next step will be to turn it into a multi-vendor marketplace.
Step 3: Turning Your Online Store Into a Multi-Vendor Marketplace
Now that you have created an online store using Easy Digital Downloads, you will need to add extra features to turn it into a multi-vendor marketplace.
This includes allowing others to add digital products to your site, plus the ability to split the payments between your store and the vendor. If software will be sold on your site, then you will also need to manage license keys.
Purchasing a Professional Pass
To do all of these things, you will need to purchase a Professional Pass or higher and install the extensions you need. You can buy the pass from the Easy Digital Downloads website.
Once your purchase has been completed, you will be taken to a confirmation page that displays your license key.
You must copy this key so you can paste it into the Easy Digital Downloads plugin on your WordPress website.
Now, simply return to your website and navigate to the Downloads » Settings page in the WordPress admin area.
You must paste the key into the ‘Paste license key’ field. After that, you will need to click the ‘Verify License Key’ button.
On the next page, simply click the ‘Connect and Install Easy Digital Downloads (Pro)’ button to continue.
The plugin’s Pro features will be unlocked, and a’ Success’ message will be displayed.
Once you click the ‘OK’ button, you will be redirected back to the Easy Digital Downloads Settings page.
Now you are ready to configure the Pro extensions to allow multiple vendors to sell digital products on your website.
Configuring the Frontend Submissions Extension
The first Easy Digital Downloads extension you need to install is Frontend Submissions. This will allow multiple vendors to add their digital products to your site. It also lets you approve their products before they become available for sale.
Just navigate to Downloads » Extensions and search for Frontend Submissions.
Once you find it, simply click the ‘Install’ button. Once the extension is installed, it will be automatically activated.
Now you need to navigate back to the Downloads » Settings page and then click on the ‘FES’ tab that has been added. Here, you can configure the Frontend Submissions extension.
The terms’ vendor’ and ‘product’ will work for most digital product marketplaces. However, if you wish to use different terms, then you can type them into the first two fields on this page.
Next, you can scroll down to the Vendor Announcement field. This will be the message your vendors see when they log in to your site and land on the Vendor Dashboard page.
Simply type the message you wish them to see into the text box.
Make sure you click the ‘Save Changes’ button at the bottom when you are finished.
Configuring the Commissions Extension
Next, you need to install a second Easy Digital Downloads extension. The Commissions extension will allow you to configure what percentage of each sale goes to the vendor and what percentage goes to your store.
You need to navigate to Downloads » Extensions and install the Commissions extension. Once the extension is installed, it will be automatically activated.
Now, you need to head back to the Downloads » Settings page and click on the Extensions tab. In the ‘Commissions Settings’ section, you will find options for the default percentage your vendors will be paid and more.
The first option is the ‘Default rate’ that your vendors will make from a sale. The default is 60%, but you can change this to any number you like.
The default settings for the other options will work for most digital marketplaces, so you only need to change them if you have a specific need.
Once you have finished setting up the extension, don’t forget to click the ‘Save Changes’ button at the bottom of the screen.
Tip: Make sure to add all the information potential vendors need to know to your website. Don’t forget to include the commission rate the vendors will be earning.
Optional: Configuring the Software Licensing Extension
If you are planning to allow users to sell license keys for software and other digital products in your marketplace, then you will also need the Software Licensing extension.
This can be installed from the Downloads » Extensions page.
You can set up this extension by going to Downloads » Settings » Extensions.
Then, open the the Software Licensing tab.
The options you choose will depend on the needs of your marketplace and the types of downloads being sold.
You can learn more on the Software Licensing page of the Easy Digital Downloads website.
Step 4: Customizing Your Digital Product Marketplace Emails
Easy Digital Downloads includes default emails for when your users sign up to become a vendor, make a sale, and more.
While the default messages will work well for most marketplaces, you might like to customize them to match your style and branding.
To do this, you will need to navigate to the Download » Settings page and click on the ‘Emails’ tab. You will find links along the top for different types of emails, including emails for ‘Commission Notifications’ and ‘Frontend Submissions’.
When you click on the ‘Frontend Submissions’ link, you will see a list of emails.
These include ‘Vendor Application’, ‘New Product’, ‘Edited Product’, ‘Application Received’, and more.
You can customize each email by clicking on its title.
For example, if you click on ‘Vendor Application’, then you can customize the notification email you will receive whenever someone applies to become a vendor.
If you would rather check for new vendor applications manually, then you can select ‘Disabled’ from the Status dropdown.
Note: By default, all vendor applications are automatically approved, and the Vendor Application email will not be sent. You can change this setting by navigating to Downloads » Settings » FES » Permissions and unchecking the ‘Automatically Approve Vendors?’ box.
Alternatively, you might like the email to tell you more information about the person who is applying to become a vendor. You can do this by editing the ‘Email Body’ field.
To add personal information about the applicant, you must insert markers for their name, email address, site name, and more. Simply click the ‘Insert Marker’ button, and choose the tags from the popup.
Once you have finished customizing the email, don’t forget to click the ‘Save’ button to store your settings.
You can also customize the email your vendors will receive when they have made a sale by clicking on the ‘Commission Notifications’ link at the top of the page.
The email body is blank by default, meaning the vendor will receive the default notification email.
The default commission notification email looks like this.
If you wish to change the wording of the email, then simply type your content into the ‘Email Body’ field.
You can customize the email using the template tags listed at the bottom.
Make sure you click the ‘Save Changes’ button at the bottom of the screen to store any changes you have made.
Step 5: Selecting and Customizing Your WordPress Theme
A WordPress theme controls the appearance of your online marketplace site, including its layout, typography, color, and other design elements.
You might like to use the Vendd theme for your digital goods marketplace because it is designed for digital downloads. This free theme works together with Easy Digital Downloads to give you a lot of options and features for your online marketplace.
If you purchased SiteGround EDD hosting as we recommended earlier, then Vendd was installed and activated automatically when you installed WordPress.
Otherwise, you will need to install and customize the theme yourself. For more information, see our beginner’s guide on how to install a WordPress theme.
However, there are thousands of other WordPress themes available. For example, both the Astra theme and the Coaching Pro theme are fully compatible with EDD.
Another option is to create your own custom theme from scratch.
It is the best website builder plugin in the market and is used by over 1 million websites. You can use SeedProd to create beautiful layouts that are professionally designed and optimized for conversions and sales.
SeedProd also comes with lots of ready-made templates. These include designs that are perfect for promoting your digital downloads.
Step 6: Adding the Vendor Dashboard Page to the Navigation Menu
When you installed the Frontend Submissions extension, a new page was created on your website called the Vendor Dashboard. This is an important page that you want vendors and potential vendors to find easily.
When the user has not signed in to your website, this page will display a registration page where they can apply to become a vendor on your website. It will also show a login form where your vendors can sign in.
Once a vendor has signed in, this page will be the dashboard where they can add new products, view their earnings and orders, and more.
You can make sure that the Vendor Dashboard is easy to find by adding the page to your navigation menu.
Head over to Appearance » Menus and make sure the right menu is selected at the top of the screen. After that, you should look for the ‘Vendor Dashboard’ page under Pages.
Now all you need to do is click the ‘Add to Menu’ button, and the Vendor Dashboard will be added to the menu. You can drag the menu item up and down to place it where you want in the list.
If you can’t find Appearance » Menus in the admin sidebar, then you are probably using a block theme.
To learn how to add the Vendor Dashboard page to a block theme’s menu, see the ‘Adding Navigation Menus in Full Site Editor’ section of our beginner’s guide on how to add a navigation menu in WordPress.
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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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