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  • How to Add Equipment Rentals to Your WooCommerce Store

    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.

    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.

    An example of rentable equipment, added to the WooCommerce store

    You can also create additional services, such as cleaning and delivery fees, and then add them to your equipment rentals.

    How to Create a Bookable Product in WooCommerce

    First, you will need to install and activate the Bookings for WooCommerce plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

    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.

    Editing a rentable WooCommerce product

    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.

    Adding equipment and party supply rental products to WooCommerce

    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.

    Adding a simple product to an online store using WooCommerce

    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.

    Adding bookable products to WooCommerce

    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.

    Limiting the quantity of units that customers can rent

    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.

    Limiting how many units a customer can rent on a party rental or similar website

    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.

    An example of a rentable product on a WooCommerce website

    Simply go ahead and open the ‘Quantity’ dropdown and then choose ‘Fixed Unit.’

    Now, type in the number you want to use.

    How to change the quantity of equipment or party rental equipment in WooCommerce

    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.

    A new booking notification, on a WordPress website

    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.’

    Requiring admin approval on a party equipment rental or similar website

    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.

    Changing the order status on an equipment rental website using WooCommerce

    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.’

    How to require admin approval on an equipment rental website

    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).’

    How to rent equipment based on hours

    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.

    How to change the duration of rentable equipment in WordPress

    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.

    How to rent equipment based on days and 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.

    How to add a cost to a rentable product in WooCommerce

    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.

    How to add additional costs to a rentable product in WooCommerce

    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.

    An example of a cost breakdown on rentable equipment

    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.’

    Multiply the cost of party equipment based on the number of people

    With that done, click on the ‘People’ tab.

    Here, you need to check the box next to ‘Enable People Option.’

    Multiply the price of rentable equipment based on the number of people

    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.

    An example of the cost breakdown on rentable equipment

    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.

    Adding maximum and minimum limits for rentable equipment in WooCommerce

    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.

    An example of a rentable product with additional costs

    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.’

    The Bookings for WooCommerce WordPress plugin

    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.

    Adding a new booking cost to an equipment rental store

    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.

    Adding booking costs to a party equipment rental or similar product

    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.

    Multiply a booking by duration and the number of people

    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.

    An example of multiple booking costs on a party supply rental website

    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.

    Adding extra costs to an equipment rental in WooCommerce

    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.’

    The 'Additional Costs' box in a WooCommerce product

    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.

    An example of rentable equipment, with additional services

    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.’

    Creating additional services for customers on an equipment hire or rentable website

    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.

    How to add an optional service to a party supply rental or similar website

    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.

    How to add a rentable product to WooCommerce

    You can also make a service optional.

    This means customers can check a box to add the service to their order.

    Offering optional services along with your rentable equipment

    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.

    Making a service optional on an online store

    Another option is to make the service ‘hidden.’

    Hidden services simply appear on the product page as ‘Service Cost.’

    An example of an optional service, created using WooCommerce

    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.

    Adding multiple services to a WooCommerce product

    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.

    The Bookings for WooCommerce settings

    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.

    Multiple bookings services, added to a rentable equipment website

    When it’s time to add a service, simply open the product for editing.

    Then, just scroll to the ‘Additional Services’ box.

    How to add an additional service to a WooCommerce product

    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.

    How to add services to party equipment or other rentals

    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.

    A booking notification in the WordPress dashboard

    Simply click on this notification to see all your bookings.

    You can reach the same screen by going to WooCommerce » Orders.

    How to manage rental orders in WooCommerce

    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.

    Changing the status of an order on an equipment rental or party supplies website

    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.

    An example of a booking calendar for an equipment rental or party supplies rental website

    We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to add equipment rentals to your WooCommerce store. You may also want to learn how to create an email newsletter or check out our expert picks for the best live chat software for small businesses.

    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 Equipment Rentals to Your WooCommerce Store first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • How to Create an Affiliate Product Box (No Coding Required)

    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.

    Creating 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.

    Affiliate product box preview

    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.

    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.

    First, you need to install and activate the Pretty Links plugin. For more instructions, please see our beginner’s guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

    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.

    Install and activate the Product Displays addon

    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.

    Create an affiliate link by typing the target 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.

    Choose a theme and upload product image

    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.

    Add product description and price

    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.

    Add a badge and CTA text

    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.

    Add the PL Product Display box

    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.

    Add the affiliate product 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.

    Product box preview

    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.

    Add the Columns block in the block editor

    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.

    Add the image block and then add product image from the 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.

    Add the Heading block and type 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.

    Add the Paragraph block to type product descriptions

    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.

    For this tutorial, we will be using Pretty Links, which is the best WordPress affiliate marketing plugin.

    First, you need to install and activate the Pretty Links plugin. For more instructions, please see our beginner’s guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

    Upon activation, head to the Pretty Link » Add New page from the WordPress admin sidebar.

    Once you are there, you have to type the product name in the ‘Add Title’ field.

    Next, simply copy and paste your affiliate product URL into the ‘Target URL’ box.

    Create pretty link

    You can now enter a custom URL slug in the ‘Pretty Link’ box. Pretty Links will use this at the end of the affiliate URL that it creates for you.

    Once you are done, click on the ‘Update’ button to generate your affiliate link.

    You will now be redirected to the ‘Links’ page. From here, simply copy the affiliate link from the ‘Pretty Links’ column.

    Copy the affiliate link

    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.

    Add the buttons block in the right column

    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.

    Add an affiliate link

    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.

    Type CTA text

    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.

    Choose a background color for the product affiliate box

    Finally, click on the ‘Publish’ or ‘Update’ button to save your changes.

    This is how the affiliate product box looked on our demo website.

    Product affiliate box preview

    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.

    You can use SeedProd, which is the best WordPress page builder plugin on the market. It helps you create a visually-appealing website without any code.

    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.

    Paste license key in the field

    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.

    Click the Add New Landing Page button

    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.

    Enter your page 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.

    Add the Column Block in SeedProd

    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.

    Choose an affiliate product image from the media library

    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.

    Add the heading block and type product title

    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.

    Add product description and click Save button

    Now it is time for you to create an affiliate link.

    Create an Affiliate Link

    First, you need to install and activate the Pretty Links plugin. For more detailed instructions, please see our beginner’s guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

    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.

    Create an 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.

    Copy the affiliate link

    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.

    Drag and drop the Button block in the product box

    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.

    Add the affiliate link and CTA text

    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.

    Change the affiliate product box background color in SeedProd

    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.

    SeedProd preview of the affiliate product box

    We hope this article helped you learn how to add an affiliate product box in WordPress. You may also want to see our article on how to easily add an affiliate program in WooCommerce and our top picks for the best affiliate tracking and management software for WordPress.

    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 Create an Affiliate Product Box (No Coding Required) first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • How to Create a File Upload Form in WordPress

    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.

    Creating 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.

    Also, your form should automatically save the form data in your WordPress database. That way, you can easily find the submissions, even if you miss or delete an email.

    That being said, let’s take a look at how to create a file upload form in WordPress.

    How to Create a File Upload Form in WordPress

    For this tutorial, we will be using WPForms, which is the best contact form plugin for WordPress.

    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.

    Choose the File Upload form template

    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.

    File Upload form will now be automatically created for you

    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.

    Type file extension type

    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.

    Choose file size and the number of files to be 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.

    Choose the Classic option as the form style from the dropdown menu

    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.

    Toggle the switch to allow the form to store files in the media library

    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.

    Save the form after adding additional fields

    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.

    Change the email address the receives the notifications

    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.

    Check the admin email

    Once you are done, don’t forget to click the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your settings.

    If you want the submitted files to be sent to more than one person, then you may want to see our tutorial on how to create a contact form with multiple notification recipients.

    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.

    Change the confirmation message

    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.

    Locate and add 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.

    Choose the File Upload form from the dropdown menu

    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.

    File upload form preview

    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.

    Edit form

    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:

    Preview of the email you'll receive when someone fills the form

    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.

    Choose the file upload form on the entries page

    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.

    View form entries

    We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to create a file upload form in WordPress. You might also want to check out our expert picks for the best WordPress survey plugins and read our guide on how to create an email newsletter.

    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 Create a File Upload Form in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • How to Add Product Videos to Your WooCommerce Galleries

    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.

    Adding product videos to your WooCommerce gallery

    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.

    Headphone WooCommerce product video preview

    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.

    1. Add WooCommerce Product Video Using YITH WooCommerce Featured Audio & Video Content (Free & Premium)
    2. Add WooCommerce Product Videos Using Really Simple Featured Video (Free)

    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.

    First, you need to install and activate the YITH WooCommerce Featured Audio & Video Content plugin. For more detailed instructions, please see our beginner’s guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

    With this plugin, you can add a video from YouTube, Vimeo, or your own video from the media library to the WooCommerce gallery.

    Note: There is also a free YITH WooCommerce Featured Video plugin. However, it doesn’t allow you to configure most of the video, modal, and gallery settings.

    Configure the Plugin’s General 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.

    Choose the aspect ratio for the product video

    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.

    Configure the General settings for the 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.

    Configure YouTube video settings

    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.

    Configure Vimeo Settings

    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 color settings for the video

    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.

    Configure Modal Settings

    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.

    Choose the WooCommerce Gallery option

    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.

    Show the video in the sidebar

    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.

    Click the Edit link under the products 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.

    Switch to the Video tab and choose By URL option from the dropdown menu

    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.

    For more details, you may want to see our beginner’s guide on why you should never upload a video to WordPress.

    You will then be asked to type a name for the product video into the ‘Video Name’ box.

    Once you have done that, simply paste the YouTube video URL into the ‘Video URL’ box and click the ‘Add Video’ button.

    Paste YouTube video URL

    Finally, click on the ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ button at the top to save your changes.

    You can now visit your online store to check if the video has been added to the WooCommerce gallery of your product.

    This is how the product video looked on our demo website.

    Preview for WooCommerce product video

    Method 2: Add WooCommerce Product Videos Using Really Simple Featured Video (Free)

    If you are looking for a free and simple way to add WooCommerce product videos, then this method is for you.

    First, you need to install and activate the Really Simple Featured Video plugin. For more details, see our tutorial on how to install a WordPress plugin.

    Configure the Plugin’s Settings

    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.

    Toggle the Products switch

    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.

    Toggle the controls switch

    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.

    Edit the products page

    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.

    Choose the Embed option and paste the video URL

    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.

    headphones preview

    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.

    The post How to Add Product Videos to Your WooCommerce Galleries first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • Pretty Links vs ThirstyAffiliates: Which is Right for Your Site?

    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.

    Pretty Links vs ThirstyAffiliates: Which is right for your site?

    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.

    The ThirstyAffiliates affiliate WordPress plugin

    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.

    The Pretty Links affiliate plugin for WordPress

    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 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.

    Adding affiliate URLs to the ThirstyAffiliates dashboard

    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.

    Adding categories to a ThirstyAffiliates affiliate link

    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.

    Managing affiliate links using Pretty 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.

    How to add tags to an affiliate URL using Pretty 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.

    How to organize your affiliate links into tags and categories in WordPress

    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.

    Adding notes to an affiliate URL

    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.

    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.

    ThirstyAffiliates' 404 checker

    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.

    Enabling the auto-link feature

    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.

    Checking for 404 errors using the Health Check tool

    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.

    Enabling the Pretty Links URL health check feature

    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.

    Sending affiliate marketing notifications to a site admin

    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.

    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.

    Scheduling affiliate links to 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.

    How to schedule affiliate links to go live in WordPress

    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.

    Setting an affiliate link to expire using Pretty Links

    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.

    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.

    Redirecting affiliate links using Pretty Links

    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.

    How to set up parameter forwarding using Pretty Links

    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.

    Cloaking URLs in WordPress

    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.

    Adding rel attributes to a ThirstyAffiliates link

    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.

    If you’re creating an Amazon Affiliate Store using WordPress, then it’s easy to uncloak a specific Amazon link.

    ThirstyAffiliates' smart uncloaking feature

    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.

    How to uncloak 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.

    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.

    Auto-inserting affiliate URLs using Pretty Links

    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.

    The auto-link feature in Pretty Links

    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.

    Automatically inserting affiliates disclosures in WordPress

    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.

    Autolinking keywords using ThirstyAffiliates

    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.

    Adding a global limit to your auto-link affiliate URLs

    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.

    ThirstyAffiliates vs Pretty Links: Which is right for your site?

    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.

    The Link Inserted Scanner 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.

    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.

    ThirstyAffiliate's affiliate reporting feature

    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.

    Creating an affiliate report using Pretty Links

    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.

    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.

    The Pretty Links affiliate marketing blog

    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.

    An affiliate marketing support ticket

    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.

    A free support forum on the official WordPress repository

    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.

    An affiliate marketing support portal

    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.

    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.

    The Pretty Links pricing page

    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.

    The ThirstyAffiliates affiliate pricing page

    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.

    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.

    We hope this article helped you decide whether Pretty Links or ThirstyAffiliates is right for your site. You may also want to see our guide on how to create an email newsletter and our expert picks of the best email marketing services for small businesses.

    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 Pretty Links vs ThirstyAffiliates: Which is Right for Your Site? first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • 11 Ways ChatGPT Can Help You As a WordPress Developer

    With the evolution of AI technologies like ChatGPT, many questions linger about the future of WordPress development and how AI can actually help – not hurt – your job or business.

    Sophisticated artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT can perform many tasks that previously required human intelligence.

    If you’re concerned about AI eventually replacing you and taking your job (we’ve written before about how AI will affect the WordPress industry), fear not.

    This article explores some of the many ways that AI, specifically ChatGPT, can actually help you as a WordPress developer.

    After reading this article and trying out some of the applications described below, hopefully you’ll see why an AI tool like ChatGPT can be a valuable assistant to help you get things done faster and more efficiently.

    We’ll cover the following:

      1. Generating Code
      2. Testing
      3. Technical Documentation
      4. Debugging
      5. Comment Generation
      6. Simplifying Complex Code
      7. Data Processing
      8. Engineering
      9. Generating Alternative Code
      10. Model Development and Deployment
      11. Research

    Let’s kick things off with…

    The Rundown on ChatGPT

    ChatGPT, short for Chat Generative Pretrained Transformer, is an AI tool created by OpenAI, an AI research and implementation company.

    This powerful tool has been fine-tuned using reinforcement learning and a supervised learning approach, and serves as a long-form question-answering AI that can effectively respond to complex queries.

    ChatGPT is a type of Generative AI, which means that when it is trained, it can generate outputs similar to the examples it was trained on, although not identical. It can assist you in various tasks, such as coding, crafting essays, generating outlines, and even composing emails.

    11 Ways ChatGPT Can Help You As a Developer

    As a WordPress developer, ChatGPT offers many advantages that you can leverage to enhance your work. Let’s go through some of the ways it can benefit you.

    Note: the examples below were generated using GPT-3 (its free version) — so there’s no cost to experiment with the methods described below.

    1. Generating Code

    ChatGPT is an invaluable tool for WordPress developers when it comes to generating code. By simply providing a few lines specifying the type of code required, ChatGPT can understand and interpret your needs, saving you significant time and effort.

    But it doesn’t stop at basic code generation. ChatGPT possesses the ability to generate intricate code for complex tasks, such as creating entire modules or classes. This means that even if you’re unfamiliar with a particular code, ChatGPT can serve as a crash course, allowing you to grasp its inner workings and learn the essentials.

    To demonstrate ChatGPT’s capabilities, I requested a line of code for an opt-in form where customers can choose from a variety of food items. Remarkably, ChatGPT swiftly generated the necessary code in a matter of moments.

    Line of code example.
    Developing a WordPress site that requires opting-in and food choices? This example shows you how quickly you can generate code for this specific need.

    If you’re not happy with the response, you can regenerate it. It will then give you another option. Additionally, it tells you what exactly is on this form, and you can vote on whether this response is better, worse, or the same.

    Another line of code example.
    The 2nd code option that ChatGPT gave me.

    Freeing up time for your WordPress business by eliminating time-consuming coding can be extremely beneficial to focus on other areas of your business.

    2. Testing

    ChatGPT is also an invaluable tool for WordPress developers when it comes to creating test cases. It offers several ways to assist in this process.

    Firstly, ChatGPT has the ability to analyze and understand the logic and structure of the code you enter in its chat area. This enables it to generate test cases that cover different code paths and edge cases, providing comprehensive test coverage.

    Furthermore, ChatGPT generates clear and easy-to-understand documentation for these test cases. This documentation includes the test inputs, predicted outcomes, and conditions involved. Having such organized information at your disposal greatly simplifies the testing process.

    With this valuable information at hand, as a developer, you can easily update your code and determine the most effective variables to use based on the test case outcomes. This allows for efficient code refinement and optimization.

    3. Technical Documentation

    Technical documentation can be a daunting task for developers. Luckily, ChatGPT can help, thanks to ChatGPT’s natural language skills.

    Simply give ChatGPT a snippet of code, and instruct it to generate documentation explaining the code’s purpose, inputs, and other important information.

    For example, here’s a snippet from the code it generated featuring food items. There was a lot to it, so this is just a short excerpt from the provided documentation.

    A documentation example.
    This was just a small snippet of what was generated.

    You can get even more detailed information, like parameters, returns, error handling, and much more.

    Be sure to check for accuracy. ChatGPT isn’t perfect (which we’ll discuss later in this article); however, using it for documentation – if anything – can provide a great outline to edit accordingly.

    It’s a terrific way to quickly punch up documentation for code and focus on other relevant things in your WordPress business.

    4. Debugging

    If you need to track down bugs or apply good code practices, ChatGPT is extremely beneficial. It can recommend debugging strategies and find bugs.

    Plus, it can examine a piece of code and make suggestions that you can do to find and fix any bug issues. This eliminates hours of painstaking looking for bugs on your own.

    Also, you can recommend code restructuring, which helps by suggesting modifications to improve readability, maintainability, and a bug-free nature, so there are fewer bugs and faster development.

    Example of bug in code.
    An example of a bug in the code and how to fix it.

    Debugging quickly with ChatGPT can save a lot of time (and a headache) when coding for your clients.

    5. Comment Generation

    ChatGPT provides a valuable feature for WordPress developers: code commenting. It helps you gain a clear understanding of what your code does by adding comments and explanations to specific code segments.

    In fact, ChatGPT often offers comments on its own, but you can also request detailed comments as needed.

    This commenting feature greatly aids other developers in comprehending your code more easily. It serves as a form of documentation that provides clarity and context, making it simpler and easier for both you and other developers to understand your code’s functionality.

    Moreover, ChatGPT is capable of providing clarifications and explanations for specific parts of the code. This feature is particularly useful when you don’t require full documentation but still need specific insights and details about certain code segments.

    Code comments.
    A bit of clarification on a line of code.

    6. Simplifying Complex Code

    ChatGPT allows programmers to produce simple language explanations of complicated code areas so that others can maintain the code more easily.

    This works because ChatGPT can automatically generate code comments and documentation, and the AI can simplify code. This helps save a lot of time as a developer.

    Additionally, with the capability of simplifying code, it’s often times even more accurate than what a developer might write.

    Explaining complex code in snippets is extremely useful for developers to understand difficult code and have it explained simply. ChatGPT can even break down what each line of code does, how it works, and so forth.

    7. Data Processing

    Need assistance in data processing? ChatGPT can help by generating code that cleans, transforms, and prepares the data for training and testing models. This includes managing tasks such as encoding categorical variables, dealing with missing values, or imputing missing values with a straightforward strategy.

    Plus, it can create new features from existing data. It generates code that extracts information from unstructured data (e.g. text or images). From this point, it turns that info into structured data used for machine learning.

    This helps make the preprocessing process more streamlined, time efficient, and accurate.

    8. Engineering

    ChatGPT assists in feature engineering for machine learning programming. It does this by offering automated text generation capabilities.

    When you have a machine learning platform with different data and relevance, it can improve performance.

    So, feature engineering assists with reducing the dimensionality of a dataset and enhancing the interpretability of a model – quickly and accurately.

    9. Generating Alternative Code

    This feature is for WordPress developers who want to produce alternative code that improves performance. So, you can take an old piece of code and ask ChatGPT to suggest improvements.

    It may suggest limiting memory usage or perhaps reducing the number of operations.

    For example, here’s a snippet of code for which I asked ChatGPT to make an alternative.

    Alternative code example.
    This isn’t a very complex example. However, ChatGPT can do very complex code alternatives.

    It then answers back.

    A portion of code example.
    This is just a portion of the code.

    There is also an explanation for it.

    Explanation of code.
    This explains exactly what it did with the original code.

    Generating alternative code has never been easier, thanks to ChatGPT.

    10. Model Development and Deployment

    ChatGPT can assist in the preparation and cleaning of text data. This enhances the performance of a model and can create human-like text, which can then be used to mimic human-computer communication.

    This is unique and helpful when you want to develop and deploy conversational AI systems, such as a chatbot.

    Additionally, ChatGPT can create natural language explanations of a model’s predictions. This helps make the model more explainable.

    For natural language, ChatGPT has the power to generate natural language text that can relate and work well with any interaction it has with people.

    11. Research

    For Q&A’s and finding answers, ChatGPT is a great tool for researching as a developer. It can comprehend complex programming questions and deliver answers.

    Basically, you can use ChatGPT as a search engine. Ask it complex questions, and get answers. It’s a way to get an answer quickly and easily instead of combing numerous sources.

    It also provides relevant code examples and snippets with its answers, so you can see for yourself if the answers it gives suffices.

    For example, here I asked it to generate a library that adds a pop-up feature to my website.

    A portion of what ChatGPT can generate for features.
    This is just a portion of what it had to offer.

    AI is not always 100% accurate. However, you can, more often than not, get good, accurate information regarding coding and development answers. Please check elsewhere if you feel it’s not providing accurate information. This being said, you should gain some useful and accurate information more often than not.

    This brings us to…

    Can You Trust ChatGPT’s Responses?

    ChatGPT has some limitations that you should be aware of as a WordPress developer. While it can be a helpful tool, it’s important to understand its potential shortcomings.

    ChatGPT is not always accurate and may struggle with basic logic. It has been known to generate incorrect information or “hallucinate” facts that are completely inaccurate.

    The model’s training data consists of a wide range of written content created by people over time. This means that ChatGPT may exhibit biased behavior and reflect the biases present in the data it was trained on.

    In summary, it’s essential to exercise caution and not blindly accept everything ChatGPT generates as true. The model still has room for improvement before achieving complete accuracy. However, it can offer valuable insights that can complement your skills as a developer.

    Moreover, if you come across any mistakes made by ChatGPT, it has the capability to learn from them, apologize, and make improvements to better cater to your specific needs.

    ChatGPT response acknowledging errors or confusing responses.
    ChatGPT can recognize the error of its ways and learn from its mistakes.

    As a developer, your role remains crucial. ChatGPT can serve as a helpful tool to assist you in your work, but it should not be relied upon to take over entirely.

    Know Why to Use AI

    As AI technology like ChatGPT continues to advance, it’s crucial to stay ahead of the curve and embrace transformative changes. Understanding the benefits of using AI will help you make informed decisions about incorporating it into your workflow.

    Even though it’s far from perfect, ChatGPT can be a valuable tool for WordPress developers. By leveraging its capabilities as shown above, you can save time and concentrate on improving other aspects of your WordPress development business.

    So, instead of worrying about AI replacing your job, consider it as a beneficial technology that, used wisely and with good judgement, can enhance your productivity, cut down costs, and ensure high-quality WordPress development.

    But … don’t take it from us! We’ll let ChatGPT have the final word…

    A poem for WordPress developers generated by ChatGPT
    WordPress developers, don’t fear AI, put ChatGPT to work…and give it a try!

  • Pop Up Your Contact Game: Adding a Form in WordPress

    Are you looking for ways to increase engagement and get more leads on your WordPress website? One simple trick to boost your contact game is by adding a pop-up form. Pop-up forms are an effective way to capture visitors’ attention and encourage them to take action. In this article, we’ll show you how to add a pop-up form to your WordPress website and get more leads.

    Boost Your Contact Game with a Pop-Up Form in WordPress

    Pop-up forms are a great way to grab visitors’ attention and encourage them to take action. Whether you want to collect email addresses, gather feedback, or promote a new product or service, a pop-up form can help you achieve your goals. The good news is, adding a pop-up form to your WordPress website is easy. There are many plugins available that can help you create and customize your pop-up form in a matter of minutes.

    One popular plugin for creating pop-up forms in WordPress is OptinMonster. This plugin comes with a drag-and-drop builder that makes it easy to create custom pop-up forms without any coding skills. OptinMonster also offers various targeting and triggering options, so you can display your pop-up form to the right audience at the right time. For example, you can set up your pop-up form to appear after a visitor has spent a certain amount of time on your website or scrolled down a certain percentage of the page.

    Get More Leads and Boost Engagement with this Simple Trick

    Adding a pop-up form to your WordPress website can help you get more leads and boost engagement. By capturing visitors’ contact information, you can follow up with them and turn them into loyal customers. Pop-up forms also provide a way for visitors to give feedback or ask questions, which can help you improve your website and customer service.

    To make the most of your pop-up form, be sure to offer something of value in exchange for visitors’ contact information. This could be a free ebook, a discount code, a webinar, or a newsletter subscription. By providing a valuable incentive, you’re more likely to get visitors to fill out your form and become leads.

    Adding a pop-up form to your WordPress website is a simple and effective way to boost your contact game and get more leads. With the right plugin and targeting options, you can create a custom pop-up form that grabs visitors’ attention and encourages them to take action. So why not give it a try and see how it can help you grow your business?

  • How to Add a Custom Product Builder in WooCommerce (Easy)

    Do you want to add a custom product builder in WooCommerce?

    A custom product builder allows customers to design products and customize them to their own requirements. This interactive way of customizing product orders can boost sales conversions in your WooCommerce store.

    In this article, we will show you how to easily add a custom product builder in WooCommerce without hiring any developers or writing any code.

    How to add a custom product builder in WooCommerce

    Why Add a Custom Product Builder in WooCommerce?

    Adding a custom product builder in WooCommerce allows your customers to customize the products before placing an order.

    For instance, you can add print-on-demand products and allow customers to add their logos, images, and text to the products.

    A custom product designer for WooCommerce can be used to sell your own products that customers can customize before shipping.

    Alternatively, you also start a dropshipping business and let a third-party vendor take care of customization and shipping.

    That being said, let’s take a look at how to add a custom product builder to your WooCommerce store.

    Adding Custom Product Builder to a WooCommmerce Store

    For this tutorial, we will be using Zakeke. It is a product customizer tool for WooCommerce and offers a seamless product builder experience for your users. The product designer is really easy to use for customers as well as store owners.

    First, you need to visit the Zakeke website and sign up for an account. You can click the ‘Start free trial’ button to get started.

    Zakeke

    Zakeke works with the most popular eCommerce platforms, including WooCommerce.

    To connect your store to Zakeke, switch back to your WordPress website admin area.

    Next, you need to install and activate the free Zakeke plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

    The free plugin acts as a connecter between your website and the Zakeke product builder.

    Upon activation, you will be asked to connect your WooCommerce store to your Zakeke account. Simply click on the ‘Connect’ button to continue.

    Connect Zakeke

    You will be then asked to allow Zakeke access to perform actions on your WooCommerce store.

    Go ahead and click on the ‘Approve’ button to move forward.

    Connect Zakeke to WooCommerce

    This will bring you to the Zakeke dashboard.

    You can now head to the ‘Customizable Products’ option from the menu on your left.

    Go to customizable products

    You are now ready to add products that customers can customize.

    Adding Your First Customizable Product

    Once you are in Customizable Products, go ahead and click the ‘Add’ button.

    Add your custom product

    You can then choose a product from your own store, create a product from scratch, or select a print-on-demand service.

    For the sake of this tutorial, we will choose to add products from our own demo store.

    Choose where to get your product from

    Next, Zakeke will load products from your store.

    You need to choose the product that you want to configure.

    Choose a product from your store

    After that, Zakeke will choose your product image from your store.

    If you want to use a different image, then you can upload it. You can also upload a back side of the product image or add variations.

    Change custom product image

    Once you are satisfied with the product images, click on the ‘Set print area’ button.

    This will bring up a popup where you need to set a ruler by simply drawing a line with your mouse and providing a measurement.

    Make a line with the ruler

    Next, you need to select a shape for the print area and simply draw it on the product image.

    For this tutorial, we will use the rectangular shape.

    Create a rectangular area on your product

    Once you are done, click the ‘Save’ button to continue.

    Next, you need to click the ‘I don’t offer variations, go to preview’ button.

    Go to product preview

    You will now see your product details.

    Don’t forget to click the ‘Save’ button to store your changes.

    View preview and save custom product

    Zakeke will now show a preview of the custom product builder.

    You can test to see if everything is working properly and make changes if needed. There is also an option to place a test order.

    Test the custom product builder

    When you are happy with the changes, simply click the ‘Publish’ button at the top.

    Setting the Print Methods

    The next step is to set print methods. This is where you can choose how you want the design files to be formatted for printing.

    From your Zakeke account dashboard, go to ‘Printing methods’ in the left column and then click the ‘Add’ button.

    Add a printing method

    From here, you can choose what printing features you want to allow your customers to use.

    You can also choose the file types, resolution, and format. If you allow users to add a text box to the product, then you have options to control the text style, font, format, color, size, and more.

    Edit printing method details

    At the bottom, you can choose existing products to which this method would apply.

    Don’t forget to click on the ‘Save’ button to store your changes.

    Select products to apply printing methods

    Using the Custom Product Builder in WooCommerce

    Zakeke will take care of adding the product customization option to all the products that you have added using the product configurator.

    You can simply visit the product in your store, and you will see the option to Customize the product.

    Customize your product

    This will open up the product designer interface with a preview of the product image design tools on the right.

    Users can add text or upload images from their devices or social media accounts.

    Add image to product in the builder

    They can also adjust the image or text within the print area by simply dragging the corners. There are also options to choose different fonts, colors, and styles.

    Once finished, users can download a copy of their design as PDF, save it, or simply add it to the cart.

    After that, customers can check out as they would normally would with a preview of their customized product in the cart.

    View cart with custom product

    Bonus Tip: Selling More Customizable Products in WooCommerce

    Customizable products and a sleek product designer can help you make more sales. However, customers may not know that they can customize and design their products.

    This is where OptinMonster comes in.

    It is the best conversion optimization software on the market that allows you to easily convert WooCommerce visitors into paying customers.

    OptinMonster comes with lightbox popups, slide-in popups, notification bars, countdown timers, and more. All these tools can help you display the right message to your customers at the right time.

    Upsell popup preview

    With its powerful display rules, you can target customers and show them personalized campaigns.

    For instance, you can offer free shipping to customers in a particular area, show a slide-in popup for customizable products, or give a limited-time coupon to recover abandoned cart sales.

    OptinMonster countdown timer

    We hope this article helped you learn how to easily add a custom product builder in WooCommerce. You may also want to see our guide on how to track conversions in WooCommerce to grow your business and our comparison of the best WooCommerce hosting providers.

    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 a Custom Product Builder in WooCommerce (Easy) first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • How to Create a Multilingual Website with Divi and WPML

    In this post, we’re going to show you exactly how you can create your own multilingual site using the popular WPML plugin. While we focus on Divi for this tutorial, you could easily adapt this method to other themes.

    The post “How to Create a Multilingual Website with Divi and WPML” first appeared on WP Mayor.