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Tag: pushengage

  • How to Add Web Push Notifications to Your WordPress Site

    Are you wondering how to add push notifications to your WordPress site?

    Push notifications let you send messages to users even when they are not on your website. This helps you bring back users to your website, increase traffic, and make more money.

    In this article, we will show you how to easily add web push notifications to your WordPress site.

    Add web push notifications to your WordPress site

    We will cover everything you need to know about sending push notifications in our tutorial, and you can use the quick links below to jump to different sections:

    What Are Push Notifications?

    Push notifications are short, clickable notification messages that appear as a popup on users’ desktop or mobile devices.

    They display on top of the desktop or in the notification area on a mobile device. The best thing is that they can be shown even when the user’s browser is not open.

    Here’s an example of a push notification.

    Web Push Notification desktop preview

    Push notifications let you reach users across devices with your latest updates and offers, making them an effective way to convert website visitors into loyal followers and customers.

    Why Add Web Push Notifications to Your WordPress Site?

    Did you know that 70% of people who leave your website will never come back? This is why you need to convert those WordPress website visitors into subscribers and customers.

    You can do this by using multiple channels at once. These can include email marketing, social media, mobile or SMS marketing, and web push notifications.

    Email lists are still the most powerful marketing tools available, with 51% of consumers preferring to be contacted by businesses via email. However, we are finding that push notifications are also very effective.

    On the WPBeginner site, push notifications are consistently one of the top 5 traffic sources.

    Here are just some of the reasons that make push notifications a great marketing tool:

    • Users need to give their explicit permission to receive push notifications. This means they are already interested in what you have to offer and are more likely to engage with notifications.
    • Push notifications are shorter and demand less attention than email or social media updates.
    • There is no algorithm like on social media to limit your reach. Nearly 100% of messages are delivered.
    • Users can control how their devices display notifications. They can snooze them or turn them off entirely.
    • Not as many companies are using push notifications.

    Popular sites, including Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and many others, understand the importance and are already using web push notifications as a marketing strategy.

    Push notifications have a 10X higher open rate than email and a 14X higher click rate. They are more engaging than SMS, email marketing, and social media platforms.

    Having said that, let’s take a look at how to easily add web push notifications to a WordPress website.

    Setting Up Web Push Notifications in WordPress With PushEngage

    PushEngage is the best push notification service on the market that allows you to easily add push notifications to your WordPress site.

    This helps you connect with visitors even after they leave your site with targeted push messages.

    Step 1: Creating Your PushEngage Account

    First, you need to go to the PushEngage website and click the ‘Get Started For Free Now’ button.

    PushEngage

    The free plan covers you for up to 200 subscribers and 30 notification campaigns each month. You will have to upgrade as you get more subscribers and need to send more campaigns.

    After selecting a pricing plan, you will need to create a PushEngage account. You can use your existing Google account to register or create a new account.

    Register for a PushEngage account

    Once you do that, you will be taken to the ‘Setup Your Account’ page, where you have to add your website domain, industry, and company size.

    Your subdomain will automatically be generated according to this information. After that, you will also need to provide your credit card details here.

    Provide website details to complete the signup process

    Upon signing up, you will be taken to your PushEngage dashboard.

    Keep in mind that if you signed up using your Google account, then this is where you will need to provide your website details.

    Once you have done that, just visit the Site Settings » Site Details page from the left column in the PushEngage dashboard.

    From here, you can edit your site name and URL if you want. After that, you myst upload an image that will be used as a site icon for your web push notifications.

    To do this, click the ‘Choose Image’ button.

    Choose an icon image for push notifications

    This will open up a prompt on your screen where you can upload an image from your computer.

    You can also add an image using its URL. Once you have selected an image, just click the ‘Use’ button.

    After that, don’t forget to click the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your settings.

    Upload an image from the computer

    Remember that your image needs to be in PNG or JPG file format, and the recommended size is 192×192.

    You have now completed the key information for your PushEngage account.

    Step 2: Connecting Your WordPress Site With PushEngage

    The next step is to connect your WordPress website to PushEngage.

    To do this, you need to install and activate the PushEngage WordPress plugin. For more details, you can see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

    Upon activation, the ‘Welcome to PushEngage Setup Wizard!’ prompt will open up on your screen, where you have to click the ‘Connect Your Existing Account’ button.

    Click Connect to your existing account button

    This will open the ‘Add Your Site to PushEngage’ prompt in a new window. Here, you have to make sure that the site registered with PushEngage is the same one that you are using now.

    After that, just click the ‘Let’s Get Started’ button.

    Connect PushEngage account to WordPress

    Once your PushEngage account is connected with WordPress, a setup wizard will be launched on your screen that you can configure according to your liking.

    After you are done, just click the ‘PushEngage Dashboard’ button to be redirected to your WordPress dashboard.

    Click the PushEngage dashboard button in the setup wizard

    Now it’s time for you to start creating a web push notification for your WordPress blog or website.

    Step 3: Setting Up Your Push Notification Messages

    To create a push notification, head over to the PushEngage » Campaigns page and click the ‘Add New’ button.

    This will direct you to the ‘Create New Push Broadcast’ screen in your WordPress dashboard.

    Create a new push engage campaign by clicking the Add New button

    From here, you can start by typing a name for your push notification in the ‘Notification Title’ field. Then, type the message that you want to display in the push notification in the ‘Message’ field.

    Next, you need to add your website URL to the ‘Notification URL’ field.

    Upon adding the title and message, you will be able to see the preview of your push notification in the right corner of the screen.

    Type the title, message, and URL for the push notification

    Next, scroll down to the ‘Show Large Image’ section and toggle the switch to active if you want to add an image to your push notification.

    This image will be displayed at the top of your notification and will not disturb the alignment of the notification title and message.

    Add image to the push notification

    Next, you need to scroll down to the ‘Notification Duration’ section and toggle the switch to active.

    Once you do that, you can now check the ‘Keep notification open until interaction’ option. This means that the notification will be constantly displayed unless the user interacts with it.

    You can also customize your push notification duration from the dropdown menus. This setting controls how long the push notification will be displayed for.

    Keep in mind that these features only work for Chrome 47 and above versions and not other browsers.

    After configuring the settings, just click the ‘Save & Select Audience’ button at the top.

    Add duration for push notification

    This will direct you to the next step, where you must select the audience that you want to send push notifications to.

    Here, we will be choosing the ‘Send to All Subscribers’ option so that our push notification will be displayed to all our subscribers.

    Next, click the ‘Send/Schedule’ button at the top to move forward.

    Choose an audience to send push notifications

    In the next step, you need to schedule your web push notification timing.

    For example, if you want to start sending your push notifications immediately, then you can select the ‘Begin sending immediately’ option. However, you can also schedule your notification to be sent at a particular time or be turned into a recurring push notification.

    Although, keep in mind that you will need a paid plan from PushEngage to access these two features.

    Schedule and send your notification to your users

    Finally, click the ‘Send Notification Now’ button to save your campaign and start sending your web push notifications.

    Once you have set up push notifications, it’s best practice to check that they are working as you expected.

    To test your push notifications, open your website on your computer or phone. Here, you should immediately see the web push notification that you just created.

    Here’s ours on a desktop computer:

    Push notification preview

    However, keep in mind that this web push notification will only be displayed to users who are part of your PushEngage subscriber list.

    Create a Subscribers List With PushEngage

    If you don’t already have a subscribers list with PushEngage, then you must visit the PushEngage » Design page from the WordPress admin sidebar.

    Once you are there, simply toggle the switch to active for a popup template that you like. Then, click the ‘Edit Popup’ button.

    Choose popup template

    This will open the PushEngage website dashboard on a new page.

    From here, you can configure the layout, message, and subscription rules for your popup.

    Once you are done, don’t forget to click the ‘Save & Choose Display Options’ button at the top.

    Configure popup design

    This will now show you the display options, where you can choose the cookie duration, enable the subscription trigger, and more.

    Finally, click the ‘Save and Enable Popup’ button to store your settings and activate the popup.

    Save and enable popup

    Now, you need to visit your website using another Google account. Here, you will see a popup at the top of your website asking users to allow it to show notifications.

    Now once the users will click the ‘Allow’ button, they will automatically become a part of your PushEngage subscribers’ list.

    Allow notification preview

    Send Push Notifications to Subscribers Every Time You Publish a New Post on WordPress

    With PushEngage, you can also send push notifications to subscribers every time you publish a blog post in WordPress.

    To do this, visit the PushEngage » Settings page from the WordPress dashboard and switch to the ‘Auto Push Settings’ tab. From here, toggle the ‘Auto Push’ switch to active.

    After that, you need to choose if you want to display the post’s featured image in the push notification and enable multi-action buttons.

    Toggle auto push switch

    With multi-action buttons, you can allow users to interact with your push notifications in multiple ways, like visiting your blog post, subscribing to your YouTube channel, and signing up for your email newsletter.

    You can also use the blog post’s featured image or the site icon as the notification icon image.

    Finally, click the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your settings.

    Now create a new post in the WordPress block editor and scroll down to the ‘PushEngage Push Notifications Settings’ section.

    From here, you can add a title and message for your web push notification and even select an audience for it.

    Add title and message for blog post push notification

    Once you are done, simply click the ‘Publish’ button to save your changes and make your post live.

    Now your subscribers will receive a notification for the new blog post on your website.

    Preview for push notifications for blog post publications

    We hope this article helped you learn how to add web push notifications to your WordPress site. You may also want to see our beginner’s guide on how to build an email list and our expert picks for the best email marketing services for small business.

    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.

    The post How to Add Web Push Notifications to Your WordPress Site first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • 9 Best WordPress Geolocation Plugins (2023)

    Are you looking to use a geolocation plugin on your WordPress website?

    Finding where your visitors are coming from can help you create personalized experiences. You can show marketing campaigns to people from specific countries, boost engagement, and increase conversions.

    In this article, we will take a look at the best WordPress geolocation plugins.

    Best WordPress geolocation plugins

    Why Use a WordPress Geolocation Plugin?

    Geolocation plugins can help you learn about your visitors’ physical locations so that you can create custom user experiences. By using geotargeting in WordPress, you can show relevant and location-specific content and products to people.

    As a result, you will see an increase in engagement, build trust with your audience, and get higher conversions on your WordPress website.

    There are several ways to use geolocation plugins. For instance, you can create marketing campaigns in your eCommerce store and show discounts and shipping offers to customers from specific countries.

    If you have a physical store, then tracking geolocation can help you get more customer reviews for your business. You also display map pins to users that are in your region and direct them to your business.

    Similarly, you can showcase your best content to users from different locations. Let’s say you have a food blog with an article on the best places to eat in Indonesia. Using geotargeting, you can display this content as a popup to people from that region.

    Another advantage of using a geolocation plugin is content locking and preventing unwanted access to your site. With geolocation, you can restrict access to articles or parts of your website to users from different countries.

    If you are running an affiliate website, then geotargeting can also help you show the correct affiliate links or products to visitors based on their location.

    That said, let’s see which is the best geolocation plugin for WordPress.

    1. OptinMonster

    The OptinMonster lead generation tool

    OptinMonster is the best lead generation and conversion optimization software for WordPress websites. It helps you grow your email list, get more leads, and boost conversions.

    OptinMonster offers a drag-and-drop campaign builder and dozens of beautiful templates for your marketing campaigns. You can create popups, floating bars, fullscreen messages, slide-in popups, and more.

    The best thing about using OptinMonster is that it offers powerful display rules. For example, you can use the Physical Location display rule to geotarget your campaigns to users from different countries.

    Select physical location display rule

    The Physical Location rule lets you show relevant content, discounts, and other campaigns to the right audience.

    You can also translate your targeted message into different languages and then display it to users from a particular country.

    Here’s a preview of a campaign by Sportique, where customers in San Fransico get free delivery for orders over $80.

    Geolocation campaign in OptinMonster

    OptinMonster also lets you combine geolocation targeting with other display rules.

    For example, you can use its Exit-Intent technology to show a popup to users who are about to leave your site. Or you can schedule location-based campaigns and display offers to visitors in a particular timezone.

    Besides that, OptinMonster easily integrates with leading email marketing software. Plus, there are lots of customization options in the campaign builder.

    2. WPForms

    WPForms

    WPForms is the best contact form plugin for WordPress. It is a beginner-friendly plugin that offers a drag-and-drop form builder, tons of form templates, customization options, and more.

    WPForms has a Geolocation addon that helps you collect location information with form submissions. You can find out which country, state, and city your users are from.

    Navigate to WPForms » Addons and Install the Geolocation Addon

    This helps you better understand your audience by tracking their journeys and providing personalized experiences. You are able to show targeted messages based on the user’s location and turn leads into customers.

    Using the WPForms Geolocation feature, you can also embed Google Maps into your forms. The feature can autocomplete form entries, making it easier to enter an address quickly. Users can even adjust the location pin on the map to enter their location.

    Autocomplete Makes Typing an Address Faster and More Accurate

    Besides that, WPForms lets you accept file uploads, create multi-page forms, offer user registrations, set up surveys, capture partial form entries, make conversational forms, and more.

    Alternatively, if you need an advanced form plugin that offers the geolocation feature, you might want to consider Formidable Forms.

    3. MonsterInsights

    The MonsterInsights Google Analytics plugin

    MonsterInsights is the best Google Analytics plugin for WordPress. It makes it super easy to add Google Analytics to your WordPress website without editing code or hiring a developer.

    MonsterInsights shows important data using analytics reports inside your WordPress dashboard. For example, you can use its Top Countries report to see where your website visitors are coming from.

    Top countries and referrals report

    Using this data, you can better understand your audience and create content or offers for users from different locations.

    Aside from that, MonsterInsights also helps set up advanced tracking on your website. For example, you can track eCommerce performance and see which products drive the most sales. Similarly, the plugin also helps track form conversions in WordPress.

    Other features offered by MonsterInsights include link and button click tracking, custom dimensions, site notes and annotations, top keywords, and more.

    4. GeoDirectory

    GeoDirectory

    GeoDirectory is the next WordPress geolocation plugin on our list. If you have a directory website and want to show global listings, then this is the right plugin for you.

    It works with popular WordPress themes and page builders. You can easily create business directories with maps, locations, reviews, and addresses using GeoDirectory.

    The plugin also offers different addons. For instance, you can use the location manager to add unlimited locations, easily switch between other locations, add smart search on your website, and more.

    GeoDirectory includes other features, including a powerful events manager, automated business owner claims, spam protection, and integrations with WordPress backup plugins.

    5. PushEngage

    PushEngage

    PushEngage is the best push notification software for WordPress. It is very easy to use, and you can step up push notifications on your website without hiring an expert.

    Push notifications are short messages that appear in your user’s browser. They have a high open rate since people already opt-in to view these notifications.

    Using PushEngage, you can create personalized messages based on the user’s geolocation. The plugin lets you segment your subscribers based on their region. This way, you can send targeted notifications to users from specific regions.

    With PushEngage, you can also A/B test your messages, create automated drip campaigns, send offline notifications, set up smart triggers to send messages, and more.

    6. GeoTargetingWP

    GeoTargetingWP

    GeoTargetingWP is another geolocation WordPress plugin that helps you show content and products to users based on their location.

    The plugin is a great solution for affiliate marketers because you can show country-specific offers. For example, the plugin lets you display particular affiliate products and links based on the user’s location.

    With GeoTargetingWP, you can also restrict access to different content or parts of your website based on geolocation.

    Similarly, you can also use GeoTargetingWP in your WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads store. The plugin will let you restrict access to your products based on the customer’s location. This feature is really helpful if your products can’t be shipped to certain areas.

    Other than that, the plugin will auto-detect the user’s location and help you set up geotargeting based on country, city, state, zip code, or radius. It can also create geotarget menus and widgets for WordPress blogs.

    7. TrustPulse

    TrustPulse

    TrustPulse is the best social proof plugin for WordPress that helps boost conversions on your website by up to 15%.

    The plugin uses the fear of missing out (FOMO) effect to display user behaviors on your website as social proof. This helps build trust with your visitors and increase sales.

    With TrustPulse, you can use geolocation to show a recent purchase to users from specific locations.

    For example, let’s say someone from Boston buys a product on your site. You can then show this notification to other visitors from Boston as social proof.

    TrustPulse Example

    TrustPulse can also help show live notifications for demo registrations, survey completions, email signups, and more based on the user’s location.

    The plugin is super easy to use, and you can set up targeted notifications in no time. It also offers different customization options, conversion rate tracking, analytics reports, and more.

    8. Geolocation

    Geolocation plugin

    Geolocation is a free WordPress geolocation plugin that allows you to add geotags to content on your website. Using the plugin, you can add a location or address to any blog post or landing page.

    Once you have added the geo-information to your content, visitors will see a short description before, after, or at a custom location within the blog post or page.

    Geolocation also lets you add a map with a pin to content on your site. You can use a shortcode to display this map. The plugin works seamlessly with Google Maps and Open Streetmaps.

    9. CloudGuard

    CloudGuard

    CloudGuard is another free WordPress geolocation plugin that uses the power of the cloud and a content delivery network (CDN) to restrict access to the login page.

    The plugin adds an extra layer of security to your WordPress website. It helps protect unwanted login attempts from specific locations. You can select which countries users can log in from and block access from other regions.

    CloudGuard is a lightweight plugin because it uses Cloudflare’s free geolocation service. This means that you won’t have to worry about your website being slowed down by the plugin.

    The plugin also helps you monitor login attempts in your WordPress dashboard. It even displays a world map showing where the unauthorized logins have occured.

    What Is the Best WordPress Geolocation Plugin?

    If you want to run targeted campaigns based on the user’s location, then OptinMonster is the best WordPress geolocation plugin in our experience. It offers powerful display rules and multiple campaign types to choose from. Plus, you can combine different targeting rules to show your campaign to the right audience at the right time.

    On the other hand, if you are looking to learn more about your visitors and find out where they are coming from, then WPForms and MonsterInsights are the perfect plugins for the job. They will help you see the top countries that drive traffic and track user journeys across your WordPress forms.

    Besides that, you can use GeoDirectory to show global listings on your directory website. Or PushEngage can help you send targeted push notifications to users based on their location.

    We hope this article helped you learn about the best WordPress geolocation plugins. You may also want to see top picks for the best virtual business phone number apps and our guide on how to increase blog traffic.

    If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

    The post 9 Best WordPress Geolocation Plugins (2023) first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • How to Write a Great Blog Post (Structure + Examples)

    Do you want to write a great blog post, but aren’t sure how to structure it?

    You can write a compelling and helpful blog post, but without the right structure, only a few people may read it. The people who do visit your blog might even get lost and give up without finishing the post.

    In this article, we will show you how to write a great blog post, even if you’re a beginner.

    How to write a great blog post (structure + examples)

    Why is Structure So Important in Blog Posts?

    According to our blogging statistics research, there are over 600 million blogs. With so much competition, you’ll need to do everything in your power to make your blogs stand out, including using the right structure.

    A well-structured blog leads the reader from one point to the next in a logical way that’s easy to follow and understand. Many people simply skim blogs, so the right structure also helps people find the parts they’re interested in reading.

    A clear structure doesn’t just help visitors understand your content. Search engine bots will also find it easier to crawl your blogs and then show them to the right people. This will improve your search engine rankings and get more visitors to your WordPress blog.

    How to Write a Great Blog Post (Structure + Examples)

    You might be a world-class writer, but without a clear structure your blog posts may still be difficult to read.

    With that in mind, let’s look at how you can write a well-structured blog post, even if you’re a complete beginner. Simply use the quick links below to jump straight to the topic you want to read about.

    Create a Descriptive and Compelling Headline

    Your post’s headline is usually the first thing people see. No matter how good your blog’s content is, you’ll struggle to get readers with a boring title.

    A compelling headline will catch a person’s attention no matter whether they spot it on social media, an RSS feed, in their search engine results, or some other location.

    That said, the headline should describe what the post is about, while also making people want to read it.

    With countless blogs on the internet, it’s hard to cut through the noise. While there’s no magic formula for creating the perfect headline, BuzzSumo analyzed over 100 million articles and concluded that the ideal headline length is between 11 words and 65 characters.

    If you include numbers in your headlines, then research suggests people prefer to share headlines that have single-digit numbers.

    An example of a great number-based headline

    BuzzSumo also found that more people engage with headlines that include the current year.

    Even simply adding a year to the end of a title may be enough to increase your blog traffic.

    An example of a great blog headline

    People are also more likely to share headlines that suggest newness, so you may want to try including phrases like ‘for the first time.’

    Another trick is teasing must-have information by saying things like ‘need to know,’ ‘you need to,’ or ‘the best.’

    How to write a great blog post, with examples

    If you’re writing a ‘how to’ post, then think about the problem your blog solves. What might someone type into a search engine when they’re facing this problem? This is often a great starting point for a compelling ‘how to’ headline.

    After drafting a title, you can enter it into a headline analyzer such as AIOSEO. This plugin will use real data to score your headline and suggest ways to improve it. In this way, even beginners can write a compelling blog headline.

    The AIOSEO headline analyzer

    If you don’t want to install a plugin, then you can use WPBeginner’s free Headline Analyzer.

    For more information, please see our guide on how to use a headline analyzer in WordPress to improve SEO titles.

    Write a Clear and Concise Introduction

    Every great blog post needs a clear introduction that tells visitors what the post is about. This helps people decide whether they’re interested in the topic.

    Just like the headline, it’s not enough to simply state what the blog is about. You also need to make the visitor want to carry on reading.

    People don’t want to waste time on blogs they’re not interested in. Having said that, your introduction should be short and to the point. Ideally, you should aim for 1-3 paragraphs.

    When it comes to creating a tight, focused introduction, a good trick is to try and include your blog’s keyword as early as possible. By sticking to this goal, you’ll be less likely to go off-topic.

    Depending on the kind of blog you’re writing, you may get good results by sharing interesting or surprising statistics in the introduction. This example from MonsterInsights is guaranteed to catch the attention of any online store owner who wants to get more sales.

    An example of a great blog intro

    Another option is to talk about a problem and promise a solution.

    This RafflePress post discusses a problem the user may have: promoting your business on Instagram can be expensive and not everyone has a big budget.

    It then promises a solution: get noticed on Instagram for free.

    An introduction, on the RafflePress website

    Many introductions also use FOMO, or fear of missing out. By adding time pressure, you can make people want to read the post now, rather than risk missing out on a giveaway, event, trip, or anything else the post is talking about.

    This travel blog takes a pretty standard ‘Top Places to Visit’ listicle and turns it into a race against time.

    A time-sensitive blog introduction

    We’ve also seen blogs draw the reader in by sharing a humorous personal story. If this anecdote resonates with the target audience, then it can be a powerful hook.

    For example, this introduction makes it very clear that the author knows exactly what the reader is going through.

    An introduction, with a humorous introduction

    No matter what approach you take, if you’re going to hook your audience, then you need to know all about them. The best way to learn about your audience is by using Google Analytics.

    For step-by-step instructions, please see our guide on how to install Google Analytics. If you’re already a GA user, you may also want to see our ultimate guide to Google Analytics 4.

    Break Up Content with Headings

    A 2022 study by the Policy Institute and Centre for Attention Studies found that most people feel their attention span is shorter than it used to be.

    No matter how good your writing is, all your hard work will go to waste if readers can’t concentrate on more than a few paragraphs.

    That’s why we recommend using headings to break your post into bite-sized chunks.

    Headings help readers skim the post and find the content they’re interested in reading. It also makes it easier for them to revisit sections they want to read again.

    Before you start writing, it’s a good idea to map out all the headings you’ll use and the content you’ll add to each section. This will keep you focused as you write the post.

    Ideally, your headings should summarize each major point you want to make. In fact, readers should be able to understand the flow of your blog simply by scanning the headings.

    Let’s look at an example. Here, we have some tips on how to store coffee beans correctly. Although each paragraph provides useful extra information, you can get all the tips just by reading the headings.

    An example of headings and subheadings in a blog

    After creating your headings, organize them so your content flows logically. For example, if you’re writing a fitness blog then you shouldn’t tell readers how many times to repeat an exercise before showing them how to do it.

    When it’s time to add these headings to your WordPress website, there are six built-in heading tags that you can use.

    The built-in WordPress header styles

    Similar to bullet points and numbered lists, you can use these headings to create a nested structure of headings and subheadings.

    However, we recommend keeping the heading hierarchy as simple as possible, to avoid confusing your readers. This means using H2 headings for main sections, and then H3 for subsections, and so on.

    Add a Table Of Contents

    A table of contents lists the post’s main points and provides links to specific sections. This gives visitors an overview of what the blog covers while allowing them to jump straight to the content they’re interested in.

    An example of blog's table of contents

    This can keep visitors on your website for longer, even if they’re only interested in part of a blog post.

    A table of contents can even improve your WordPress SEO, as Google often uses the table to automatically add ‘jump to section’ links in search results.

    Table of contents links in Google search results

    The easiest way to add a table of contents to your WordPress blog is by using AIOSEO.

    AIOSEO is the best WordPress SEO plugin and comes with a built-in table of contents block.

    The AIOSEO table of contents block

    This block saves you a ton of time by automatically generating a table of contents based on the post’s headings, while also allowing you to customize the table.

    For complete step-by-step instructions, please see our guide on how to create a table of contents in WordPress posts and pages.

    Keep Paragraphs and Sentences Short

    Imagine opening a blog post just to find a wall of text. Chances are, you’d leave the page immediately. That said, it’s important to break your blog into short paragraphs and sentences. These are easier to skim and look much less daunting, especially on mobile devices.

    A good trick is to avoid long and complicated words, intricate metaphors, and flowery language. All of that to say: keep it simple. You’ll lose people if you try to be too clever.

    Ideally, you should aim to make a single point per sentence, using as few words as possible.

    Often, you can break grammatical rules if it gets your point across in fewer words. This may mean starting sentences with things like ‘Or,’ ‘And,’ or ‘But,’ or using more casual language and fragments rather than full sentences.

    How to write a great blog post

    You should also organize your sentences and paragraphs to give the reader the most important information first, and then go into finer detail from there. This makes it easier for the reader to skip sections they’re not interested in.

    In this TrustPulse blog, the writer starts by explaining what eCommerce email marketing is. Then, they give Mailchimp and ActiveCampaign as examples of popular email providers.

    How to write a blog post for beginners

    The next paragraph talks about why email marketing is important, before exploring specific features. As you can see, the section starts with the most important point and then gets more and more detailed.

    Add Images, Video, and Other Media

    Visitors don’t want to feel like they’re reading a novel when they visit your blog. With that in mind, it’s a good idea to add visual content like photos, infographics, screenshots, graphs, and diagrams.

    Immediately, this breaks up your text, but it also helps visitors see what each section is about, at a glance. Each piece of visual content is also another opportunity to grab the reader’s attention as they scroll through your post.

    It even seems like blogs with visual content are more popular. According to our blogging statistics research, posts with more than seven images get 116% more organic traffic compared to posts that have no images. Similarly, blogs with videos get 83% more traffic than those without video.

    If you’re writing ‘how to’ blogs, then images help visitors understand what they need to do. For example, this PushEngage blog uses screenshots to show readers what to click next in order to create a landing page in WordPress.

    How to write a blog post for beginners, with examples

    If you’re promoting an affiliate product, then visuals like images and videos are a great way to show that product in action. This can often get you more affiliate revenue.

    Let’s look at an example. This post about soil-less indoor garden kits shows lots of photos of the different kits available to buy on Amazon, complete with Amazon affiliate links.

    Adding affiliate links to a blog

    Just be aware that lots of high-resolution media can add to your site’s loading time, so it’s important to optimize your images and other media. Readers will also need to scroll past any media they’re not interested in, which can be particularly frustrating for smartphone and tablet users.

    With that being said, all visuals should add value for the reader.

    Wrap Up Blog Posts With a Conclusion

    A good conclusion summarizes all the points you’ve made throughout the blog, without introducing any new information.

    Depending on the topic, you may sometimes want to suggest an actionable solution or share your top pick of all the products, WordPress plugins, travel destinations, and anything else you’ve compared or reviewed throughout the blog.

    However, as a general rule conclusions tend to be pretty short, so don’t worry if your conclusion is one or two sentences.

    End With a Compelling Call To Action (CTA)

    When the reader reaches the end of the post, you need to tell them what to do next. This should be an action that keeps them engaged with your blog or gets them to convert, which is known as a call to action.

    In the following Easy Digital Downloads post, you can see several calls to action on the page.

    An example of a call to action

    A good call to action is clear, asks for the user to take a precise action, and has a sense of urgency. For example, you might ask them to download a PDF or subscribe to your email newsletter.

    Even if you use the same call to action, it’s a good idea to customize it for the individual post. In the following image, interior design blog Decorilla is using its standard call to action, which encourages readers to schedule a free consultation using a booking form.

    However, they’ve tweaked the messaging to suit the blog’s topic, which is how to decorate a child’s bedroom.

    An example of a compelling CTA at the end of a blog

    If you’re not sure what call to action to use, then ask yourself why you’re writing this blog. If you want to get more comments, then you might ask readers to share their opinion or answer a question by posting it in the comment section.

    You might even offer a reward for commenting, such as entering the reader into a giveaway or contest. For example, the example below gives readers a list of books and asks them to comment on which one they want to win.

    An example of a blog, with a competition CTA

    Another option is to suggest some posts the visitor might want to read next.

    For the best results, include links that relate to the current blog in some way, which is exactly what AffiliateWP does on their affiliate marketing blog.

    The AffiliateWP blog

    We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to write a great blog post. You may also want to learn how to make money online blogging, or check out our list of the best SEO plugins and tools you should use.

    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.

    The post How to Write a Great Blog Post (Structure + Examples) first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • 15 Best WooCommerce Automations to Increase Sales

    Are you looking for easy and smart ways to automate tasks and increase sales in your WooCommerce store?

    By automating tasks in your online store, you can save time and money while growing your business and increasing sales.

    In this article, we will show you how to use WooCommerce automations to increase sales.

    15 WooCommerce Automations to Increase Sales

    Why Automate Your WooCommerce Store?

    If you are running a WooCommerce store, then you probably spend a lot of your time performing repetitive tasks. These can be anything from sending marketing emails for your online store to processing customer invoices.

    Wouldn’t it be nice if you could automate all of those tasks and focus on growing sales and your business instead?

    Luckily, you can use the best WordPress automation tools and plugins to automate WooCommerce tasks. By doing this, you will save time, offer a better user experience to your customers, and ultimately increase sales.

    With that being said, here are 15 WooCommerce automations to increase sales:

    1. Use Automation to Personalize Your Email Marketing
    2. Set Up an Automated Marketing Campaign With Push Notifications
    3. Let Customers Track Orders With Automated Transactional Emails
    4. Quickly Update Your Customers With Automated SMS Messages
    5. Automate All Invoicing and Payment Processes
    6. Use Automated Store Activity Notifications to Boost Sales
    7. Automatically Display Your Best Product Reviews
    8. Use an Automated Sales Funnel to Boost Sales Conversions
    9. Reduce Cart Abandonment With Popups and Push Notifications
    10. Send Automated Coupons to Bring Back Customers
    11. Automate Your Social Media Channels
    12. Automatically Display Social Media Content in WooCommerce
    13. Make Your Forms Smarter Using Automation
    14. Automate Live Chat Using Artificial Intelligence
    15. Use Uncanny Automator for Even More WooCommerce Automations
    16. Bonus: Track Conversions to Learn How to Increase Sales

    1. Use Automation to Personalize Your Email Marketing

    Are you keeping in touch with your customers using an email newsletter? You may not be taking advantage of all the automation tools available in your email marketing software.

    For example, the best email services like Constant Contact, Sendinblue, and Omnisend all have integrations with WooCommerce. They allow you to personalize your emails by adding the customer’s name and more.

    They also let you set up a Welcome email series using a drip campaign. This is a sequence of automated emails that will go out automatically to new customers.

    Choose an email automation

    You can learn how to get started by scrolling down to the automated drip emails section of our guide on how to send automated emails in WordPress.

    Additionally, if you are looking for a complete tool that offers WooCommerce email customization and automation, then we highly recommend using FunnelKit Automations.

    Apart from letting you fully customize your WooCommerce emails, it also lets you set up smart, automated follow-up emails and workflows to boost your sales.

    You can get started with FunnelKit Automations by selecting an automation from a library of handy templates.

    Autonami Email Library for WooCommerce

    For example, you can automatically send an email series to new customers, recover abandoned carts, send promotional emails to selected audiences, and more.

    There is also an option to create your own WooCommerce automation from scratch. You will then see a visual email automation builder where you can make any customizations that you need.

    Autonami Marketing Automation Email Analytics for WooCommerce

    For example, the screenshot above shows the workflow for sending out a thank you email after a customer makes their first order. You can even see in-line analytics for each email.

    You can learn more in our guide on how to customize WooCommerce emails. Make sure you scroll down to the section on FunnelKit Automations.

    Tip: We recommend combining FunnelKit Automations with an SMTP service like WP Mail SMTP. This will make sure your emails are delivered to your customers and won’t get lost or end up in the spam folder.

    2. Set Up an Automated Marketing Campaign With Push Notifications

    You can also run an automated marketing campaign using push notifications instead of emails. These notifications go directly to the user’s web browser or mobile device. This means they have a much higher engagement rate, similar to SMS messages.

    The easiest way to set up automated push notifications is with PushEngage. It is the best web push notification software for WordPress, and over 10,000 businesses use it to send targeted messages.

    Create a new drip autoresponder

    For each notification, you can change the title, message, URL, icon image, and more by expanding it.

    There is also a preview of how your notifications will look in the browser.

    Edit your push notifications

    PushEngage also lets you choose when to send each notification. For example, you can immediately send the first notification and select a different time for the following one.

    For more details, see our guide on how to set up automated drip notifications in WordPress.

    3. Let Customers Track Orders With Automated Transactional Emails

    WooCommerce will need to send different transactional emails to your customers. These help them get order confirmations, track their order status, get invoices, and find out more information about your online store.

    You can customize and automate these emails using FunnelKit Automations, which is a popular WooCommerce plugin for marketing automation.

    The FunnelKit Automations dashboard makes it easy to create a new automation. You can simply click on one of the plugin’s many templates.

    Funnelkit Automations WooCommerce Automation Templates

    You can filter the list to quickly find the WooCommerce automation you wish to use. For example, you might want to send automatic thank-you emails to repeat customers.

    You can then customize the automation using the visual automation builder, including the content of the email.

    Funnelkit Automations Workflow and Email Customization

    For detailed instructions, please see the section about sending automated transactional emails with FunnelKit Automations in our guide on how to send automated emails.

    4. Quickly Update Your Customers With Automated SMS Messages

    Many customers prefer to receive text messages to notify them about their orders. Plugins like YITH WooCommerce SMS Notifications or FunnelKit Automations will automatically send SMS messages to your customers.

    Yith SMS Notifications Plugin

    SMS messages are an effective way to keep your customers up to date. They have a 98% average open rate, with 95% of messages being read in the first 3 minutes!

    You can send automatic texts to your customers when their orders are dispatched or their status changes. You can automatically send SMS notifications to your customers or let them opt in at checkout.

    Learn how by following our guide on how to send SMS messages to your WordPress users.

    5. Automate All Invoicing and Payment Processes

    As a business owner, there is a lot to manage. If you are still creating invoices manually, then you can switch to professional invoicing software that automates all invoicing and payment processes. Then, you will be free to focus on growing your business.

    A plugin like WooCommerce PDF Invoices makes it easy to automatically generate invoices, collect orders, and manage your finances.

    WooCommerce PDF Invoices

    You can also save time by accepting recurring payments or adding subscriptions to WooCommerce. These WooCommerce automations will help automate the billing process and can save you time.

    With automatic recurring payments, you don’t have to spend time manually sending invoices and waiting for payments from your customers.

    Plus, adding subscription payments to your eCommerce business will give you a more consistent cash flow, fewer payment errors, and fewer payment delays.

    Creating a recurring payment in WooCommerce

    6. Use Automated Store Activity Notifications to Boost Sales

    Automated FOMO and social proof notifications can also increase sales in your WooCommerce store.

    FOMO, short for fear of missing out, is a marketing technique used to create excitement about a product. It uses psychology to encourage customers to make buying decisions faster.

    Plus, social proof shows visitors that other customers have purchased your products. This can convince users that your online store is trustworthy.

    The best way to add social proof to your website is by using TrustPulse. It is one of the best social proof plugins for WordPress on the market.

    TrustPulse automatically monitors activity on your site. When potential customers are close to buying something, they will see a notification showing that another customer has just made a purchase.

    By simply displaying social proof, you will give your visitors a small push to complete their purchase. To learn more, see Method 1 of our guide on how to use FOMO to increase conversions.

    7. Automatically Display Your Best Product Reviews

    Would you like to automatically display the best reviews of your products from across the internet? You could copy and paste them manually, but that is a lot of work. Plus, there would be a delay before they appear on your website.

    Luckily, Smash Balloon has a Reviews Feed Pro plugin that lets you automatically show off your best reviews from platforms like Google Reviews, Yelp, TripAdvisor, and more.

    Customer reviews, displayed on a WordPress website

    It comes with pre-designed templates, so you can display your reviews in different layouts, including showcases, carousels, grids, and more.

    The Reviews Feed automatically copies your website’s design so that the reviews look like a natural part of your website rather than content embedded from another platform.

    You can follow our guide on how to show Google, Facebook, and Yelp reviews to set up your own automatic review feed in WooCommerce.

    8. Use an Automated Sales Funnel to Boost Sales Conversions

    A sales funnel is the path a user takes on your website to become a customer. It is made up of the specific pages a user may visit before making a purchase.

    For example, a new visitor might land on a blog post, then view a product page, then go through your checkout flow.

    Unfortunately, only 10% of shoppers, on average, will add anything to their carts. After they do, 60-80% of them abandon their carts without completing the purchase.

    Luckily, you can use FunnelKit, the best WooCommerce sales funnel plugin, to change that. You can use the plugin to optimize each step, offer a better user experience, reduce distractions, and nudge users toward completing their purchases.

    For example, it comes with a one-click Upsells feature, which allows users to add products to their carts on their way to the checkout.

    WooFunnels One Click Upsell

    FunnelKit also lets you customize the user journey with pre-checkout offers, custom checkout form layouts, beautiful templates, and more.

    For instance, the FunnelKit Funnel Builder lets you add order bumps to boost profits if someone adds $X to their cart. You can also add one-click order bumps to your checkout page.

    Edit design of your bump offer

    To learn more, see our guide on how to make a high-converting sales funnel in WordPress.

    9. Reduce Cart Abandonment With Popups and Push Notifications

    As we said earlier, 60 to 80% of people who add items to their cart don’t actually buy them. This means if you have an online store, then you are losing out on a lot of sales.

    Luckily, you can use automatic push notifications to reduce cart abandonment rates. For example, you can pop up a notification when a user is about to leave your website and offer a coupon or free shipping.

    Or, if the customer already has discounted items in their cart, they may just need some reassurance that they are making the right decision. Push notifications like these can help you recover 3 to 8% of abandoning cart sales.

    Smash Balloon exit intent popup

    You can learn how to use OptinMonster to add exit-intent popups by following our guide on how to create a WooCommerce popup to increase sales.

    But what if the customer leaves your site before they see the popup? Push notifications can also help you connect with your visitors after they leave your website. These messages will display in your subscriber’s browser even when they are not actively browsing your store.

    Push notification abandoned cart example

    The easiest way to do this is with PushEngage. It is the best web push notification software on the market, and it is used to send over 15 billion push messages every month.

    For more details, see our guide on how to add web push notifications to WordPress.

    You can also significantly reduce cart abandonment by simply improving your online store and checkout process. We share plenty of proven tips with real examples in our guide on how to recover WooCommerce abandoned cart sales.

    10. Send Automated Coupons to Bring Back Customers

    It costs 5 times more to get a new customer than to keep an old one. Over time, people may lose interest in your website, forget about your products, or start shopping with a competitor.

    One way to bring those customers back is to automatically send them a coupon code via email. You can use automation tools to send a coupon to customers who have become disengaged, such as when they don’t place an order for 2 months or have stopped opening emails.

    Scheduling an automated coupon code

    You can learn how in our step-by-step guide on how to send automated coupons in WordPress to bring back customers.

    Another good use for automated coupons is recognizing and rewarding customers when they engage with your online store. For example, you might send a coupon after a customer reviews one of your products.

    This builds loyalty to your store and can get you more sales. It also encourages shoppers to review more products in the future.

    You can also schedule coupons in advance so that they go out automatically on popular holidays like Black Friday, Christmas, New Year’s, Mother’s Day, and Valentine’s Day. This will leave you free to focus on promoting your offers and getting as many sales as possible.

    See our guide on how to schedule coupons in WooCommerce for detailed instructions.

    Additionally, as we mentioned earlier, you can also offer a coupon in a popup. Showing a coupon at the right time makes a huge difference in converting your website visitors into paying customers.

    There are a few ways to do this, and we give you all the details in our step-by-step guide on how to create a coupon popup in WordPress.

    11. Automate Your Social Media Channels

    You can also use automation to post your online store content to your social channels. This lets you keep your social followers engaged with fresh content.

    Uncanny Automator has integrations with all popular social platforms. It will let you publish new blog posts on Facebook, show off your latest product images on Instagram, advertise your sales on Twitter, and more.

    Post a featured image to Instagram from WordPress

    You can learn how to do this step-by-step by following our guides on how to automatically post to Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

    12. Automatically Display Social Media Content in WooCommerce

    Are you looking for ways to show fresh content without doing any extra work? One way to do that is to automatically display your latest social media activity in your WooCommerce store.

    This can save you time and keep your website content fresh and engaging for visitors. Plus, it can boost social proof by displaying your social media followers, comments, and like counts.

    Smash Balloon automates your website content by displaying your latest social media activity. It is a popular social media feed plugin for WordPress that is used by over 1.4 million websites.

    For example, you can add a Facebook feed to WordPress, and new posts will automatically appear in real time. Your customers can also like, share, and comment on your WordPress posts, which is a great way to get more engagement on Facebook.

    An example of an embedded Facebook feed, created using Smash Balloon

    You can change the feed’s color scheme, design a custom header, add ‘like’ and ‘load more’ buttons, and much more.

    If you are posting beautiful photos and engaging videos to Instagram, then it makes sense to post that content to WordPress too.

    An Instagram photo feed, created using Smash Balloon

    You can even show other people’s photos on your site by creating a hashtag feed or displaying the posts that other people have tagged your account in.

    In the following image, you can see an example of an online store that uses a custom Instagram feed to show user-generated content.

    An example of Instagram user-generated content

    For details, please see our step-by-step guide on how to add your social media feeds to WordPress.

    Tip: For more tips on how to use social channels to grow your online store and increase sales, you can see our complete social media cheat for WordPress.

    13. Make Your Forms Smarter Using Automation

    You can use form plugins like WPForms to collect all kinds of information from your customers.

    For example, you can use a form plugin to display a contact form, create a questionnaire, gather testimonials, or build a survey form.

    The best thing is that WPForms easily integrates with many other tools and plugins, so you can easily automate any action after someone fills out your form.

    For example, when someone fills in an order form, you can use conditional logic to send an email notification to the correct department, depending on the product that was purchased.

    WPForms Conditional Logic for Sending Notifications

    You can also send a confirmation email to the customer who filled in the form to let them know you will be in contact soon. This a nice gesture that lets your users know that you have received their information.

    In addition, by using the Google Sheets Addon, you can send any form fields you want to a spreadsheet. This will allow you to use spreadsheet features to analyze the data and collaborate with others in your team.

    Using WPForms' Google Sheets Addon

    To automate your forms further, Uncanny Automator will let you connect WPForms and other form plugins to 100+ third-party services without having to pay fees to services like Zapier.

    For example, you can create an Uncanny Automator recipe to send customer form data to Airtable. Then, your team will be able to access and use the data easily.

    Using Uncanny Automator to Send WPForms Data to Airtable

    To learn more, see our guide on how to create automated workflows with Uncanny Automator.

    14. Automate Live Chat Using Artificial Intelligence

    Automated chatbots are the future of live chat software because they allow you to engage with your customers 24/7. They can free up time by automatically answering common customer questions, generating leads, improving user experience, and making more sales.

    Chatbot.com is the best AI chatbot software for WordPress. It lets you easily automate live chat on your website by setting up your own chatbot using a drag-and-drop builder. You don’t need to do any coding or have any special technical skills.

    ChatBot live chat

    It even comes with pre-built templates that you can use as a starting point to quickly get your AI chatbot up and running. These templates include different scenarios like selling products, customer service, recruitment, bookings, and more.

    For example, you can use the eCommerce bot template to walk your customers through the entire buying process. There are even templates for specific industries, including a coffee shopbot, recruitment bot, and restaurant bot.

    If visitors want to communicate with a real person, then you can easily forward them to your customer support agent, phone support, or any of ChatBot’s live chat software integrations, such as LiveChat.

    15. Use Uncanny Automator for Even More WooCommerce Automations

    This article contains many specialist tools that do specific automation jobs very well. By contrast, Uncanny Automator is a Swiss army knife that allows you to create all types of automation workflows without having to write any code.

    It acts as a bridge so that you can get different WordPress plugins talking to each other, as well as loads of third-party services.

    You create automation by building Uncanny Automator recipes, consisting of triggers and actions. The action will be automatically run when a user or WooCommerce triggers an event.

    Uncanny Automator Triggers and Actions for WooCommerce

    Here are some of the WooCommerce triggers you can use to run a recipe:

    • A customer viewing a product
    • A customer adding a product to their cart
    • A customer paying for a product
    • A payment failing
    • A customer reviewing a product
    • And much more

    Then the recipe can automatically run any of these WooCommerce actions:

    • Creating an order with a product
    • Changing the price of a product
    • Generating and emailing a coupon code
    • Giving an order a specific status

    There are dozens of recipes that you can create, allowing you to save hundreds of hours while running your online store more efficiently.

    For instance, you can use Uncanny Automator to automatically create a new customer account when someone submits a contact form on your website, or send notifications to Slack.

    Bonus: Track Conversions to Learn How to Increase Sales

    To use any marketing automation platform effectively, you will need easy-to-understand reports that tell you exactly what is working for your business and what isn’t.

    MonsterInsights is the best Google Analytics plugin for WordPress. It lets you get a clear picture of what is happening on your site and what you can do to bring in more sales.

    It comes with WooCommerce conversion tracking, form submissions, outbound link tracking, and user tracking.

    Its Reports page has an ‘eCommerce’ tab that shows your most important conversion metrics, including the conversion rate, transactions, revenue, and average order value. Below that, you will see a list of your top products with quantity, sale percentage, and total revenue.

    Ecommerce report in MonsterInsights

    You will also see your top conversion sources. You can use this report to attract more customers and offer exclusive discounts for customers from specific sources.

    For detailed instructions, see our guide on how to set up WooCommerce conversion tracking.

    You can also connect Google Sheets with WooCommerce to easily record and manage your orders and customer data. Once the information is in a Google Sheet, you can easily filter it based on factors like the order total, the customer’s location, coupons used, and more.

    You can then share this information with your team, even if they don’t have access to the WordPress dashboard. For example, you can easily send this data to your suppliers, marketing departments, or other team members.

    You are even able to turn this data into charts and graphs. All of this makes it easier to analyze the information and then use these insights to fine-tune your business and get more sales.

    We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to increase sales using WooCommerce automations. You may also want to see our guide on how to add wholesale pricing in WooCommerce or our expert picks for the best WooCommerce plugins for your store.

    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.

    The post 15 Best WooCommerce Automations to Increase Sales first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • How to Start a Video Blog (Vlog) And Make Money in 2023

    Do you want to start a video blog and make money?

    Vlogging is a powerful way to connect with people and build a personal brand. However, if you simply upload vlogs to third-party platforms like YouTube, then you may struggle to grow your audience, make money, and become a successful vlogger.

    In this article, we will show you how you can start a vlog and make money.

    How to start a video blog (vlog) and make money

    Which Is the Best Website Builder for Your Video Blog?

    There are many website builders that can help you create a vlog site, but we recommend using WordPress and a separate video hosting platform.

    To learn more about why WordPress is such a good choice, please see our complete WordPress review with pros and cons.

    There are two types of WordPress software: WordPress.com and WordPress.org. We recommend using WordPress.org, also called ‘self-hosted WordPress.’ This will give you full ownership and control of your site.

    Using WordPress.org allows you to install third-party plugins and themes, including plenty that are designed specifically for vloggers.

    Also, while you can upload videos to WordPress, it’s far better to use a separate video hosting platform such as YouTube or Vimeo.

    Videos take up a lot of your hosting resources, which will slow down your website. Instead, we recommend uploading your vlogs to a separate hosting platform such as YouTube or Vimeo, which has all the server resources you need.

    After uploading your vlogs to one of these sites, you can then embed your vlog in a WordPress page or post by simply copying and pasting a link. WordPress has built-in support for most major video hosting platforms.

    If you really want to save time and impress your viewers, then you can use a plugin like Smash Balloon to create a video feed that will update automatically every time you post a new vlog.

    An embedded YouTube feed, created using Smash Balloon

    If you don’t already have a video hosting platform in mind, then don’t worry. Later in this guide, we’ll help you find the perfect platform for your vlogs.

    Step 1. Setting Up Your Video Blog Website

    To create a video vlog, you’ll need a domain name and web hosting.

    Although the WordPress software is free, hosting and domain names are where the costs can really start to add up.

    A domain name typically costs $14.99/year and hosting costs start from $7.99/month. This is a lot for hobby vloggers, new creators, or anyone who is working with a tighter budget.

    Thankfully, Bluehost has agreed to offer our users over 60% off on web hosting and a free SSL certificate as part of this deal. This is absolutely essential if you plan to sell premium videos and make money from your vlogs. You will also get a free domain name when you sign up!

    Simply click the link below to create a vlogging website for as little as $2.75 per month.

    → Click Here to Claim This Exclusive Bluehost Offer ←

    Because you get a free domain when you sign up with Bluehost, you’ll need to be sure it’s the right fit for your video blog. For expert tips, check out our guide on how to choose the best domain name.

    Once you’ve completed the purchase, you’ll get an email with instructions on how to log in to your web hosting control panel. This is your hosting account dashboard where you can manage your vlog, including setting up email notifications and asking for WordPress support if you need it.

    It’s also where you’ll install the WordPress software, so let’s do that now.

    Step 2. Install WordPress on Your Video Blog

    When you sign up with Bluehost using our link, you’ll get access to a one-click WordPress installer. Simply log into your Bluehost account and click on ‘One Click Install.’

    Installing the WordPress software

    You can now follow the onscreen instructions to set up WordPress.

    If you’re using a different WordPress website host like SiteGround, Hostinger, HostGator, or WP Engine, then you can see our complete guide on how to install WordPress for all the top hosting providers.

    Once WordPress is set up, you’re ready to start customizing your vlog site.

    Step 3. Select a Video Theme

    WordPress themes are professionally designed templates that change how your vlog looks and acts.

    There are lots of different premium and free WordPress business themes to choose from. You can generally categorize these as multipurpose WordPress themes, or niche industry themes. However, most WordPress themes are designed to show text.

    Since we’re starting a vlog, we need a theme that’s designed specifically for videos.

    A WordPress video theme

    Even if you’re using a separate video hosting platform, embedded videos still take time to load. With that in mind, it’s important to find a lightweight theme that won’t slow down your website. Wherever possible, we also recommend using a theme that has built-in lazy loading.

    On top of that, vlogs often need special features such as parallax scrolling, lightbox popups, and fullscreen video backgrounds.

    An example of a WordPress vlog theme

    That’s a lot to keep in mind, so you may want to look at our expert pick of the best WordPress video themes.

    Another option is to use a landing page builder plugin such as SeedProd. SeedProd is the best drag-and-drop WordPress page builder and comes with more than 180 templates.

    This includes an entire section of ‘Webinar’ templates that are designed specifically to show videos on your WordPress website.

    SeedProd's professionally-designed vlog templates

    SeedProd also has a ready-made ‘Video’ block that you can drag and drop onto any page.

    For more information, please see our guide on how to create a landing page with WordPress.

    The SeedProd page builder plugin

    Once you’ve chosen a video theme, please see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress theme.

    After installing a theme, you may want to customize it by going to Appearance » Customize in the WordPress dashboard. This will launch the theme customizer where you can fine-tune the theme settings and see your changes in the live preview.

    Customizing a WordPress video blog theme

    If you’re using one of the newer full-site editing themes, then you’ll need to go to Appearance » Editor instead.

    Here, you can fine-tune the theme using blocks.

    Customizing a WordPress vlogging theme using the FSE

    Just remember that you can customize your theme at any point. You can even completely change your WordPress theme, if you realize it doesn’t quite meet your needs.

    This means you don’t need to finalize your site design now. In fact, it may be easier to fine-tune your vlog once you’ve added some content.

    Step 4. Create a Custom Homepage

    WordPress comes with two content types called posts and pages.

    You’ll typically use posts to create articles and blogs, while pages are static “one-off” types of content. For example, you might publish an about page, a privacy policy, or a custom archive page.

    There are a few different ways to show videos in WordPress. However, since we’re creating a video vlog you’ll typically embed one or more videos in a blog post.

    By default, the WordPress homepage shows your posts in reverse chronological order, so your latest vlog appears at the top of the homepage.

    A custom homepage on a WordPress vlog

    However, you may want to move this blog list to another page, and use a custom homepage instead. This custom homepage can introduce your vlog to visitors and let them know what you have to offer.

    You might even create a YouTube gallery of all your best videos, which is a great way to catch a visitor’s attention and make them want to watch more of your content.

    Smash Balloon allows you to create all kinds of galleries, including showing a specific YouTube playlist or favorites feed, a single video, or even your latest live stream.

    Adding a YouTube vlog feed to your WordPress website

    For step-by-step instructions on how to create an attention-grabbing homepage for your video blog, please see our guide on how to create a custom homepage in WordPress.

    Once you’re happy with the design, it’s time to set it as your homepage. To do this, go to Settings » Reading in the WordPress dashboard.

    How to set a custom homepage in WordPress

    Here, scroll to ‘Your homepage settings’ and select ‘A static page.’

    Next, open the ‘Homepage’ dropdown and choose the page that you want to use.

    Changing the homepage on a WordPress video blog

    After that, simply scroll to the bottom of the screen and click on ‘Save Changes.’ Now, if you visit your website you’ll see the new homepage in action.

    With that done, make sure you create a separate blog page to display your vlogs.

    Step 5. Set Up Your Video Hosting Platform

    Before you can start adding videos to your WordPress website, you’ll need to upload them to a separate video hosting platform. In this way, you can show countless high-resolution videos on your website without affecting its performance.

    For more on this topic, see our post on why you should never upload a video to WordPress.

    There are lots of different video hosting platforms that you can use, but we recommend YouTube as it’s the most popular choice.

    It’s free to create a YouTube account and you can upload as many videos as you want.

    Uploading videos to YouTube

    YouTube even has a Partners Program that you can join to make money from your videos. This program also offers more benefits like analytics, longer videos, and editing tools.

    Since it’s such a popular platform, there are lots of great WordPress plugins for YouTube. For example, you can use plugins to quickly and easily embed a YouTube playlist in WordPress.

    Adding a YouTube playlist to a vlog using Smash Balloon

    If you don’t want to use YouTube, then there are many other popular platforms including Vidyard, Wistia, and SproutVideo. For a closer look at all the top video sites, please see our expert pick of the best video hosting sites for bloggers.

    After choosing a platform, you’ll need to create an account and upload all the vlogs that you want to show on your WordPress website.

    For instructions on how to do this, check out the online documentation for your chosen video hosting platform.

    Step 6. Create Your First Vlog

    To create your first vlog, simply go to Posts » Add New in your WordPress dashboard.

    WordPress has a block-based editor that allows you to create beautiful content layouts for your vlogs. Here, you can add text, images, audio clips, and more.

    How to create a new vlog post

    For an in-depth look at the editor, please see our WordPress block editor tutorial.

    The easiest way to add vlogs to WordPress is by using the built-in auto-embed feature. If you’re using one of the big video hosting platforms, then you can simply paste the video’s URL into the WordPress content editor, and WordPress will handle the rest.

    Just head over to your chosen video hosting platform and find the vlog that you want to show on your WordPress blog. You can then simply copy the video’s URL.

    After that, switch back to the WordPress dashboard and paste the URL in the content area. If you paste it into a standard Paragraph block, WordPress will automatically try to place it in the correct block, such as the YouTube block.

    Embedding a YouTube video in WordPress

    Even if you don’t see the platform-specific block, it will use the Embed block and display the video inside the content editor.

    For more information, please see our detailed guide on how to easily embed videos in WordPress blog posts.

    How to show a YouTube vlog in WordPress

    As you’re working on the vlog, you can see how it’ll look to visitors by clicking on ‘Preview.’

    This will open the page in a new tab.

    How to preview a vlog in WordPress

    The WordPress post editor also has sections for Categories and Tags. You can use these to organize your vlogs so it’s easier for visitors to find interesting content. To learn more, please see our guide on how to add categories and tags in WordPress.

    When you’re happy with how the vlog looks, go ahead and click on the ‘Publish’ button in the top-right corner of the screen.

    To add more vlogs to your website, simply follow the same process described above.

    Step 7. Add a Contact Form to Your Vlog

    Some viewers might want to contact you directly. This may include affiliate marketers, sponsors, advertisers, and other brands who are looking to build relationships with creators, or other vloggers who want to collaborate.

    These people could ring your phone number or send a message to your business email address, but we always recommend adding a contact form to your website.

    This makes it easier for potential partners to contact you, so you don’t miss out on any opportunities to grow your brand and make money from your vlogs.

    The easiest way to add a contact form to your WordPress website is by using the free WPForms plugin. WPForms comes with a built-in Simple Contact Form template that you can customize using the drag-and-drop editor.

    Adding a contact form to a WordPress vlogging site

    You can then add the form to any page, post, or widget-ready area using the ready-made WPForms block.

    For detailed instructions, see our guide on how to create a contact form in WordPress.

    Step 8. Help Visitors Find Interesting Vlogs

    Once you’ve added some content to your vlog, it’s a good idea to add a navigation menu so visitors can find their way around the different videos.

    Adding a navigation menu to a video blog (vlog)

    The exact location of your menu will depend on your WordPress theme. Most themes have several options, so you can create multiple menus and then show them on different areas of your vlog.

    Whether you create a single menu or multiple menus, it’s easy to add navigation to your vlog. For a complete guide, please see our post on how to add a navigation menu.

    Adding a navigation menu to a WordPress vlog

    Menus encourage people to explore your site, but sometimes visitors may want to search for a specific vlog. WordPress comes with a built-in search feature, but it’s quite basic and not very good at finding relevant content.

    That’s why we recommend using SearchWP, which is the best search plugin for WordPress.

    It is very easy to use and gives much more accurate search results. It allows visitors to search for a keyword in the post or page title, content, URL slug, categories, tags, taxonomies, WordPress excerpts, and even comments.

    All of this can help visitors find interesting vlogs, fast.

    How to improve WordPress search with SearchWP

    For step-by-step instructions on SearchWP, please see our guide on how to improve WordPress search.

    Step 9. Optimize Your Vlog for SEO

    If you want to get more viewers, then you’ll need to optimize your vlog for SEO. This will help search engines understand your content and show it to people who are looking for videos just like yours.

    WordPress SEO is a huge topic that can be confusing for new vloggers. With that in mind, we recommend using All in One SEO for WordPress (AIOSEO).

    The AIOSEO SEO plugin

    AIOSEO is the best WordPress SEO plugin on the market and has everything you need to get your vlogs onto the first page of Google, without having to learn any complicated SEO jargon.

    AIOSEO comes with the easiest setup wizard that helps you choose the best SEO settings for your business. AIOSEO will even scan your vlogs and show an actionable checklist on how you can optimize that specific vlog.

    An actionable checklist for improving SEO

    Additionally, AIOSEO has a video sitemap feature that you can use to show search engines what’s the most important content to index.

    To help you get started, please see our ultimate guide on how to set up All in One SEO for WordPress correctly.

    Step 10. Notify Users About New Vlogs

    Did you know that 70% of people who leave your site will never come back? Thankfully there are lots of ways to turn abandoning visitors into loyal viewers.

    To start, it’s smart to create an email newsletter so people who enjoy your vlogs can subscribe. After that, you can email these subscribers every time you post a new vlog.

    You can also keep them engaged with your brand by sending them fun surveys and polls, notifying them about any giveaways and contests you’re running, or even simply asking them for feedback on your latest vlog.

    An example of an online giveaway or contest

    All of this can help you create a sense of community and build a stronger relationship with your viewers.

    If you do build an email list, then you’ll want to make sure your messages arrive safely in the subscriber’s inbox and not in their spam folder. With that in mind, we recommend using an SMTP service provider to improve your email deliverability rates.

    Another option is to use push notifications with software like PushEngage to send targeted, personalized messages to viewers after they leave your vlog.

    Push notifications are short, clickable notifications that appear as a popup on the user’s desktop or mobile devices. Some of the biggest websites in the world use push notifications to keep users engaged, including Facebook.

    These notifications go directly to the user’s web browser or mobile device so they have a high chance of getting the person’s attention, which makes them perfect for notifying viewers when you post a new vlog.

    To learn more, see our guide on how to add web push notifications to WordPress.

    Step 11. How to Make Money From Your Video Vlogs

    Creating lots of quality, engaging vlogs takes a lot of time and effort, so you may want to make money from your videos.

    If you’ve created a contact form, then potential sponsors and partners already have a way to contact you, which is a great start. However, there are lots more ways to make money online with WordPress.

    Here are some of the best ways to make money from your vlog.

    1. Google AdSense

    There are many reasons why it’s smart to embed videos on your own website, rather than simply uploading them to platforms like YouTube.

    One major benefit is that you can show Google AdSense ads next to your videos.

    Google AdSense

    When you sign up for Google AdSense, Google acts as a middleman between you and the advertiser. Instead of you having to find the right partners for your vlog, Google allows advertisers to bid for keywords matching your content. This allows you to get the best possible rates for the ads on your vlogging website.

    For more details, please see our article on how to properly add Google AdSense to your WordPress blog.

    1. Affiliate marketing

    Many vloggers make money by recommending products and services to their viewers. For example, many lifestyle vloggers film daily routine videos showing off their favorite skincare or fitness products.

    By using affiliate links, you can earn money every time a viewer buys a product or service based on your recommendation.

    For the best results, it’s a good idea to only recommend quality items that you already use and trust. If you encourage viewers to buy poor-quality or scammy products, then you’ll damage your band and almost certainly lose viewers.

    There are plenty of affiliate marketing plugins and tools for WordPress that can help you make money by promoting affiliate products, but we highly recommend PrettyLinks or ThirstyAffiliates to all vloggers.

    To get started, please see our step-by-step affiliate marketing guide for beginners.

    1. Ask for Tips and Donations

    If you build a strong, positive relationship with your viewers then they may want to support your work as a vlogger. This is particularly true if you’re a hobby vlogger or someone who is just starting out.

    Although they’re mostly used by non-profits, some vloggers use donation forms so that viewers can support their work. These forms are often presented as ‘buy me a coffee’ or ‘buy me a beer.’

    An example of a donation form

    To learn more, please see our guide on how to create a donate form in WordPress.

    1. Create a Membership Site

    Most of the time, you’ll want your vlogs to be publicly available so you can get as many views as possible and build your audience.

    However, some vloggers may want to create a video membership site in WordPress. This allows people to pay for different perks, such as early access to the latest vlogs, exclusive live streams, or premium members-only videos.

    You can also offer perks that don’t involve videos, such as a members-only forum, blog posts, or the ability to chat with you directly on channels like Discord.

    The easiest way to create a membership site is by using MemberPress. It is the best WordPress membership plugin on the market and allows you to accept payments, create unlimited subscription levels, restrict access to video pages based on levels, and more.

    Creating video memberships with the MemberPress plugin
    1. Sell Your Videos as Digital Downloads

    Depending on the kind of vlogs you create, you may decide to sell some of your premium videos as digital downloads. For example, if you’re a health and fitness vlogger then you might create videos teaching your followers different exercise routines.

    For some niches, this can be a way to monetize the audience you’ve built from your vlogs.

    Easy Digital Downloads is the best platform to easily sell digital products. You can get started in minutes and accept credit card payments with Stripe, PayPal, Google Pay, and Apple Pay.

    The Easy Digital Downloads WordPress eCommerce plugin

    With Easy Digital Downloads, you have complete control over how you distribute your videos. You can allow customers to download files as many times as they want or restrict file downloads by time or attempt.

    To start selling your premium videos, please see our complete guide on how to sell digital downloads on WordPress.

    We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to start a video vlog and make money. You may also want to learn how to increase your blog traffic or check out our list of the best email marketing services.

    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.

    The post How to Start a Video Blog (Vlog) And Make Money in 2023 first appeared on WPBeginner.