Tag: tutorials

Pointing domains… nameservers… figuring out DNS… it can all feel daunting! Fortunately, WPMU DEV makes it easy, whether you’re working with a domain purchased from us or from another provider. We break it all down in this article.

Keep reading to learn how to easily connect your domain to our hosting service.

Here are the topics we’ll be covering:

• Connecting Your Domain To WPMU DEV Hosting
• Prepping for a Change in Domain Nameservers
• Importing Your Domain Records to WPMU DEV
• Putting WPMU DEV Nameservers in Your Domain Registry Records
• Double-Checking Your Changes
• The Benefits of Pointing Domains to WPMU DEV Nameservers

Connecting Your Domain To WPMU DEV Hosting

With our new domain service recently rolled out, you can directly purchase domains and register them through WPMU DEV – in which case we automatically do the DNS hookup (i.e., the pointing part) for you.

If you purchased your domain through another DNS provider and are hosting with us, the tutorial below will show you exactly what you need to do and explain why this is also a great choice.

Prepping for a Change in Domain Nameservers

Nameservers are often referred to as the phone book of the internet, sending you to the correct domain when you type in a web address.

There are two primary components to making your website accessible to the public:

1. Your domain name (purchased from a registrar)
2. Nameservers (provided through a host)

The first must point to the second to connect the two.

The registrar you purchased your domain from also has its own nameservers (if it offers hosting), however if you want them managed elsewhere you must change the DNS records.

Doing it all from a single location is ideal, as it cuts out the middle agent and puts the same quality that powers your sites behind your DNS.

DNS propagation is the term for your site’s nameservers and other records (e.g., A, AAAA, CNAME, MX, etc) updating across the web. This process can take anywhere from a few minutes to a couple days to finalize.

If your site was already live, it might become briefly inaccessible to visitors during the nameserver change. You could create a temporary page with info regarding the approximate downtime, then publish it just prior to the server change. (Remember to change it back once the process is complete).

It’s also helpful to handle nameserver changes during a period when traffic volume is typically on the low end.

Importing Your Domain Records to WPMU DEV

Alright, we’re ready to start our edits. The first thing we’re going to do is navigate to The Hub on WPMU DEV.

Click on Domains from the top menu bar, then Connected Domains from the submenu, then the Connect Existing Domain button.

The Add New Domain modal will pop up. Here you will enter your domain name in the text field – making sure to include the extension (e.g. .com, .net, .xyz) – then click the blue button.

The Hub DNS Manager will run a scan for common DNS records, then automatically import and list them for your verification.

Here you’ll see the summary of record information, which will include:

• Type – A, CNAME, MX, TXT
• Hostname – @ for root; www for www. subdomain
• Value – if record is an alias, directs, or returns
• TTL (seconds) – Time To Live is how long the DNS query caches before expiring and needing a new one. (The lower this number, the better/faster.)

You can remove any records, if you want to exclude them from being imported, by clicking on the Trashcan icon.

You can also manually add any records that are missing. See Add or Edit DNS Records for details.

If you’re in any doubt as to whether records should be added or deleted, just reach out to support (any time, day or night) and they’ll happily walk you through it.

Once you’re satisfied with the populated DNS records, click the blue button once more.

After the ellipsis bounce, the page will load with the imported information specific to your domain.

WPMU DEV nameservers are listed towards the top of this page, where you’ll see there are three of them.

Keep your Hub page open, as we’ll be copying & pasting the nameservers in the next step. (Or, do what I do, and just copy the first one, then replace the “1” with “2” then “3” as you paste each, since these ordinal numbers are the only difference.)

Putting WPMU DEV Nameservers in Your Domain Registry Records

Now that we’ve imported your domain details into WPMU DEV, the next step is to overwrite the nameserver records of your registrars with ours.

There are a lot of registrars, so how your domain details are kept and displayed will vary, but they should all have the same key elements. We cover more than a dozen of the most popular ones here.

In the case of registrars that serve as hosts, what they permit when it comes to allowable changes in nameservers can vary. For example, pointing nameservers to another host is not permissible for a Wix-purchased domain. However, you can transfer your domain away from them (although it involves a different process).

Assuming your domain registrar allows for pointing nameservers away from them, or that you’ve taken any necessary prior steps in preparation, login to their website and locate the records for your domain.

Popping back over to the Hub, copy that first nameserver, then head back to your domain registrar details page, pasting it in the appropriate text field. Do this for all three nameservers, then save your input.

Depending on your registrar, you’ll probably get a confirmation message with time estimates on how long it will take the DNS hosting server to update.

It’s rare, but on the outside chance your domain registrar requires identifying our nameservers by IP address, you can find them here.

Double-Checking Your Changes

As with any significant edit, verifying everything is working as it should is an important last step.

Some registrars will send you an email notifying you that the propagation is complete. With others, you might need to revisit the site and continue checking.

Either way, we can verify things through The Hub. Let’s head there, and navigate to Domains > Connected Domains.

For the domain name in question, if you see the green check marked Propagated correctly under Nameservers Status – you’re good to go. If it says Pending, click on the vertical ellipsis icon to the right, and select Manage DNS from the dropdown.

If everything was done properly and the process has completed, you’ll see a row of green highlighted text, confirming Your nameservers are propagated correctly. If that message isn’t displayed, click on the Check nameservers button.

You’re all set! Your nameservers are successfully pointing to WPMU DEV as your acting DNS provider.

If you don’t get a confirmation or see an error message, check out our detailed documentation, or reach out to our always-on-call support team.

As an additional option, you can use this DNS propagation checker to verify the current IP address and DNS record information for your domain name(s).

The Benefits of Pointing Domains to WPMU DEV Nameservers

Nameservers are essential in directing internet traffic as they locate and translate hostnames into IP addresses.

If you host your own or your client sites with WPMU DEV, pointing your domains to our nameservers has definite advantages.

For starters, subpar nameservers will experience difficulties more often, and your visitors could get “DNS server not responding” messages. Quality nameservers, like ours, can limit or avoid that altogether.

Additionally, pointing your domains to our nameservers allows you to keep the settings with your current email client as is, eliminating the hassle of making a bunch of changes in that regard. (Just make sure existing MX records are imported during the DNS record setup.)

Finally, with the ability to purchase domains now directly through WPMU DEV, managing client sites becomes even more centralized, as your hosting provider and domain provider will be one in the same.

This gives you all of your domains in one place/one dashboard, with auto renewal, free protection, and a built-in grace period; priced incredibly low for Agency members.

Not a member yet? Give us a go, and see how much our hosting has to offer. If you’re not thrilled, we’ll refund you 100%; simply cancel within 30 days. Chances are good you’ll find our value and service are unmatched.

There’s more to choosing a domain provider than just the price of registering domains. Sure, the cost is something to consider; however, many factors come into play. This article shows you what to look for.

There are some questions you should consider when picking a domain provider. Like, do they offer bulk domain purchases for your agency? Or, can you quickly transfer a domain? What about customer support? And more…

So, how do you determine which domain provider to go with?

We have a breakdown in this post, along with some insight on what registering a domain entails, to help you make a good decision. Plus, we’ll show you a glimpse of why you should consider choosing WPMU DEV (wink, wink) for your domains!

We’ll be looking at domain-related topics, such as:

• What a Domain Provider Does
• Factors When Determining the Best Domain Provider

1. 1. Paid or Free Domain Protection
   2. Extension Options
   3. Simple Domain Transfer
   4. Purchasing Domains in Bulk
   5. Include Hosting with Domain
   6. Expired Domains Policy
   7. Support
   8. Reputation
   9. Registration Period
   10. Price
   11. Domain Managment Console

• Average Cost of Domain Name
• Domain Extension Differences
• Why WPMU DEV is a Good Choice for Domains

By the end of this article, you should have a good idea of what to look for before registering your domain(s) with a specific company — and feel good about your choice!

But, before we begin, let’s quickly touch on…

What a Domain Provider Does

In a nutshell, a Domain Provider is a company or business that handles the reservation of domain names and the assignment of IP addresses for those domain names.

They permit the purchase and registration of domain names that are accredited by ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers). ICANN supports domains by helping companies apply for accreditation to become domain registrars and sell them to the public.

Domain name registration is allowed by ICANN to make adjustments to the domain name’s information in the database on your behalf.

There are over a thousand domain registrars available for this service.

Factors in Determining the Best Domain Provider

With all of the options for domain providers – how are you supposed to choose? There’s a lot to think about, so let’s break down some components that might help you make a clear decision.

Here are the main factors to consider:

1. Paid vs Free Domain Protection

There are precautions to take when purchasing a domain, so luckily, there is Domain Protection. And depending on your domain registrar, it’s either free or it comes at a price.

Just for context, signing up for a domain also includes providing specifics for a WHOIS directory– a resource database of all the registered domains in a country. It’s available to lookup users who have purchased a domain and/or created an IP address – including the contact info, name, and more.

It’s so that the public can find information about any person with a domain name. So, spammers are big fans of this directory. It grants them easy access to different people all around the world.

With WHOIS Protection, the WHOIS data about your contact information will be hidden. However, it doesn’t hide any DNS records or IP addresses.

When determining the right domain provider, you may want to consider if there’s a fee for WHOIS Protection – or if it’s included. Many other providers have it set up automatically as well.

However, if it’s not included, expect to pay an extra $12-$15 a year for protection.

2. Extension (TLDs) Options

When it comes to domain name extensions (TLDs — Top Level Domains), like .info, .bike, .shop, etc. – make sure the company you’re with has plenty of options or specific ones you want to use.

A good domain provider should have ample extensions to choose from.

3. Simple Domain Transfer

Ensure that the domain company you decide on makes it easy to transfer domains.

It’s probable that you will transfer your domain (or many) at some point. Making sure that the domain company that you’re with has a clear path for domain transfer is vital.

Remember that transferring a domain can take a while, and very few domains don’t charge a transfer fee (about 5%). Though there’s usually a fee when you transfer a domain name, you get an extra year of registration along with the transfer.

4. Purchasing Domains in Bulk

Bulk purchasing domains are the norm if you own a web development company. Therefore, check and see if the domain company has bulk purchasing options. Also, see about a bulk discount.

If they do, make sure it’s simple to do. Plus, ensure there are no upsells or hidden fees.

5. Include Hosting with Domain

Many companies offer to host services with domains as bundles – or discounted rates.

Though getting a discount is tempting, be careful lumping the two together. When doing so, you lose some flexibility that you may want down the road. For example, if you ever want to change web hosts or domain registrants, you may encounter some complications.

However, there can also be advantages of having everything under one company, such as it’s easily manageable and accessible.

Be sure to know how simple it would be to transfer services (e.g. domains) to a new company if you ever decide to do so and how it would affect the price.

6. Expired Domain Policy

Considering domains are registered for a specific amount of time, be sure you know what happens when they expire with your company, and there’s a grace period.

In most cases, features like autorenewal can prevent expired domains, but look into the domain company’s expiration policy. Do they have an ample grace period?

Also, what’s their redemption period? The domain might be released to the general public when the redemption period is over.

Rules can differ for this, but this process of expired domains is generally the norm. So, make sure you know the guidelines on this to prevent any mishaps down the road.

7. Support

Does the company you purchase domains through offer good support? You shouldn’t need them in most cases (if transferring, implementing, purchasing, etc., is simple to do – which it should be); however, ensure that they are accessible if needed.

24/7 support is the best bet and shows a dedicated company’s seriousness about its domain business.

8. Reputable

Make sure that the company you’re with has a good, established reputation. Look for things, like Trustpilot, on their website. Or reviews from other sources. After all, you’re looking for a long-term relationship when it comes to domains, you want to ensure that you – and the domains – are in good hands.

9. Registration Period

Check and see what type of registration period the domain company offers. For example, do they have it, so you can register a domain for more than a year? Also, do they have convenience, like auto-renewal?

Most domains can be registered for up to 10 years at a time, so ensure that you have some flexibility when registering.

(And, if you didn’t know, you can’t permanently purchase a domain. Think of them as a lease – not permanent — unless you renew regularly.)

10. Price

Many companies offer a low price to get clients “hooked” into purchasing a domain and then become sticker shocked once up for renewal. Make sure you read the fine print and ensure the renewal price won’t break the bank.

All of this information should be easy to find in any good domain registrar. Plus, a good business model is not to hike up the prices tremendously (or at all) upon renewal.

11. Domain Management Console

Easily managing domains and having them under one roof in a domain management console is great for running your WordPress development agency.

Any management system that allows you to bill, renew, edit contact information and more can save you a ton of time and streamline the domain management process.

This is especially useful if you’re managing multiple domains for numerous clients as an agency.

What Are the Average Costs of a New Domain Name?

Now that you know what to look out for, it’s good to be aware of what a fair price to pay for a domain is as you decide which company to go with.

They all vary by companies and extensions, so there’s no exact figure for them; however, for a regular .com domain, prices tend to range from as cheap as $7 to $15 per year.

Also, some offer package deals, such as a free domain with hosting. Or discounts and promos are often available (especially for new customers). Additionally, discounts can be added if you pay annually instead of monthly.

All this being said, often, renewing a domain can cost more. Hence, if you know you want a domain for the long term, it’s usually a good idea to purchase for an extended length of time (e.g. ten years) right away.

A Note on Premium Domains…

If you purchase an existing domain, the owner can determine the price. This can become very expensive, depending on the domain and business. It’s different from buying a brand-new domain at a regular price.

Domain Extension Differences

We mentioned that it’s important to see what extensions a domain provider includes if you wish to use some specific ones other than .com. That being said – what’s the difference between them?

The most popular is .com. Then some other popular TLDs include .org, .net, .edu, and .gov. There are thousands of others to choose from.

A big difference between them all (as we touched on earlier) is the expense. Some extensions (such as the ever-growing .io and .co) are becoming more popular, thus, more expensive.

Also, some extensions are restricted, and you can’t purchase them unless you meet specific requirements. Several of these include .edu and .gov because they are related to education and government.

Probably the biggest reason for various extensions is to be unique to your site. Have a dance studio? You might want a .dance to fit in with your business.

An extension often won’t make or break a website, but that being said, they do make a difference and should be unique to your specifications.

Why WPMU DEV is a Good Choice for Domains

We’ve covered quite a bit of information in this article (whew!), and we’d be doing ourselves a disservice if we didn’t mention our domains here at WPMU DEV. Why? Because we check a lot of the boxes on what to look for when choosing a domain provider.

After all, our main goal IS to be the best domain provider around, so we want to make sure we have as much covered on our end, and make you aware of it, too.

Here’s a rundown of what we offer.

Paid or Free Domain Protection: Our domains automatically come with WHOIS protection, so it’s covered without additional costs.

Extension Options: We have over 120 extensions — and will be adding another 100-150 very soon.

Simple Domain Transfer: Coming soon, you’ll be able to quickly and easily transfer 3rd party domains to WPMU DEV, and if you need to transfer out of our platform, that will be simple, too. Stay tuned for updates on this…

Purchasing Domains in Bulk: Considering we sell our domains purely at cost, we don’t need a bulk domain discount. They’re already as low priced as they can get. You can purchase as many domains as you need.

Hosting & Domain: Though they are two different features (domains are not included with hosting), we have fully dedicated hosting and credits with our Agency plan.

Expired Domains Policy: An expired domain will enter into a 40-day grace period and can be renewed during that time by simply paying the renewal costs. Then, the domain enters a 30-day redemption period.

Support: We offer 24/7 support.

Reputation: We’ve been around for a while (since 2006!) and have extremely high marks from Trustpilot. Additionally, we’ve been a repeatedly “Top Choice” for web developers, won awards for our plugins, and have high reviews from over 5,000 places worldwide.

Registration Period: Domains can be registered for 1-10 ten years (except for a few examples, like .co — which can only be registered for five). Read more about registration periods in our documentation.

Price: As mentioned earlier, with purchasing domains in bulk, we charge purely at cost and won’t sticker shock you on renewal. We offer domains exclusively through our Agency Plan, so we can keep them at a discounted rate. It’s strictly for our members’ benefit to have domains; we’re not in it for profit.

Domain Management Console: All domains are in one place in The Hub. From here, you can set up auto-renewal, edit information, set registration periods — and much more. Be sure to read our article about setting up domains from WPMU DEV.

For more about our domains, be sure to visit our domains page for more info — or to get started!

Providing You Info for the Right Domain Provider

Hopefully, this article answered some questions and helps you understand what to look for in a domain provider. Whether it’s price, the convenience of a domain console, or support — whatever it is, it’s important to choose the right company to go with. After all, there are over a thousand options out there, and it’s not always simple to decide on a single platform.

On top of that, you got a glimpse of what we can offer regarding domains here at WPMU DEV. We’re proud to be able to offer them at cost with our Agency plan and provide the best in many categories when it comes to domains. If you’re not a member yet, give us a trial run (for free!) today!

Make sure that whatever domain provider you go with, make sure it’s (dot)amazing!

Donations are a great way to show support, providing businesses and nonprofits with a monetary contribution to assist in the continued creation of goods or services that they deem important or valuable.

It’s pretty much the norm in today’s service industry to have tip jars prominently displayed at counters and checkouts. Customers will often throw in a little extra in appreciation for quality service – using that jar for cash & coins, or rounding up a small percentage on their credit/debit transactions.

Either way, it’s common practice to give monetary thanks for a job well done. This applies online as well, and not just as a result of specific transactions, but as a way to say, “I really like what you’re doing here, and would like to help keep it going”.

Of course when you’re online, cash, coins, and tipping jars don’t exist, so monetary gifts have to go through some sort of payment platform.

In the case of micro-donations, where amounts are typically on the low end, it’s important to choose an option that doesn’t absorb the majority of your gift in processing fees.

We’re going to look at some payment portals that are ideal for micro-donations via WordPress websites.

Continue reading, or jump ahead using these links:

• Defining Micro-donations
• A Fraction of Your Funding
• Qualities to Look for In a Micro-donation Solution
• Recommended Micro-donation Plugins
• Payment Portals and Their Associated Fees
• Giving Feels Good and Getting Brings Gratitude

Let’s dive in.

Defining Micro-donations

Incremental amounts anywhere up to ten dollars are typically considered micro-donations, and are making micro-philanthropy a significant portion of the fundraising landscape.

Historically, businesses effectively used micro-donations through the collection of spare change at the checkouts of their brick & mortar locations. However, with the growth of the internet and increased time spent on the web, online and mobile donations have become the dominant source of this form of philanthropy.

Millennial and Gen-Z donors top the leaderboard when it comes to micro-donations. Thanks to the popularity of smartphones and social networks constantly within reach, these younger donors can be tapped into through effective use of social media.

A Fraction of Your Funding

An interesting phenomenon is that most individuals are more willing to give a little bit a lot of the time, than to give a lot all at once.

Consider this coffee shop example… If a friendly, skilled barista asked for a $35 monthly donation upfront, most people would balk. However, those same customers buy a cup of coffee every morning for $3.50, pull out a five dollar bill, and toss the remaining change into the jar. Let’s say after taxes they’re tipping $1.25 each time. Add that up over 4 weeks – and there’s your $35.

This is the benefit of micro-donations; small, incremental amounts that become significant over time, especially if they come from a number of people, and/or are given on a repeated basis.

Using this same formula, many of you who are running WordPress websites could also benefit from micro-donations, whatever type of businesses they might be.

Perhaps you want to support philanthropy on your site by collecting and contributing to a charitable cause. Or, maybe you’re a writer hoping to get a little financial bonus for the time-consuming creative content you produce for your readers. Or, could be you’re a coder who could really use supplemental funds to cover the development & distribution of your plugin.

Most hard-working online creators are appreciative of a little boost in income. Why not present the opportunity to your audience? They might be ready and willing… you just need to make them able.

Qualities to Look for In a Micro-donation Solution

What exactly makes for a good micro-donation platform?

Most importantly, it has to be simple to use, quick to submit, and recognizable. Any transaction method that requires significant time to complete will cause potential donors to bounce. Likewise if the payment platform they’re considering opening up their wallet for is something they’ve never heard of.

Secondly, transaction fees should be relatively low. If the user is only contributing a few bucks, it’s important that most of that isn’t eaten up by a processing fee – or worse, actually costs you money.

So which micro-donation plugins fit the bill? Let’s take a look.

Recommended Micro-donation Plugins

We researched what was available in the arena of WordPress donation plugins, and are sharing the ones we thought were best. Bonus: they’re all free.

Here’s the list of reviewed plugins:

• Forminator: Review | Download
• GiveWP: Review | Download
• Accept Donations with PayPal: Review | Download
• Paymattic: Review | Download
• Charitable: Review | Download
• Seamless Donations: Review | Download

Forminator

Forminator is much more than a simple donation plugin, but earns a spot here because it handles this specific task quite well. And hey, why not use a plugin that has more than one function? You’ll cut down on resources, and your learning curve.

In addition to being an all-around form building wiz, Forminator does feedback widgets, interactive polls (with real-time results), buzzfeed-style quizzes (no wrong answer), and service estimators – including the option to include payment elements.

It’s easy to use, appealing to look at, and has a proven track record for successful leads and conversions.

We have some great articles on the blog specific to Forminator on form creation walkthroughs and details on its other fantastic capabilities, so I won’t go through the setup in detail here.

Instead, I’ll just quickly demonstrate how things look on the front end using a donation form I created.

Forminator helped me create a donation form in minutes.

When creating in Forminator, Fields, Appearance, Email notifications, Integrations, and Settings are all editable, with a significant amount of options.

This allows you to make the content, format, look, and behaviors of your forms customizable to the smallest detail.

Payment gateways Stripe and PayPal are included in the free version, as well as every other powerful feature Forminator offers (minus, the e-signature field). And of course, it includes a testing mode.

There’s also a Submissions section, so you can easily track all the donations that come in, along with their associated details.

Forminator has 5/5 stars, and the pro version is available with a WPMU DEV membership, along with all of our other premium plugins, managed WP hosting, and our site management maestro “The Hub”.

GiveWP

This plugin is smooth and polished from the starting line, with a setup wizard that gets things going as soon as you activate it.

Almost everything is customizable, from text to images to the process itself (choose defined amounts or allow the donor to enter) – and it’s all very nice to look at.

Options allow you to create a number of different donation forms, all with their own format, features, and content. You can view or edit a form’s content at any time, as well as keep tabs on actual donation information.

The free version allows you to connect with PayPal or Stripe, and make test payments.

GiveWP has 4.5/5 stars, and offers paid individual addons or tiered plans with preselected features (like Recurring Donations and more payment platforms).

Accept Donations with PayPal

This plugin does a nice job of putting basic donation options on your site. Instructions are easy to follow, and you can place your PayPal Donation button anywhere on your site with a simple embed code.

As you can tell from the name, this connects to your PayPal account, so you have to have one (or create one for free). The process is quick, and allows for a fair amount of flexibility – you can choose from different button types (including making your own), create a sandbox account to test in, designate custom redirect URLs for Cancel and Return pages, and choose predetermined currency amounts (or allow for free entry at time of donation).

Additionally, there is a section with details on all donations that come in, including info like payment amount & fee, transaction ID, date, and payer email.

This plugin works with any WP theme, and the developer is an official PayPal partner.

Accept Donations with PayPal has 4.5/5 stars, and offers a premium paid version with additional features (such as Recurring Donations).

Paymattic

Formerly known as WPPayForm, this plugin allows you to build your own donation form.

It comes with a selection of prebuilt forms (which are editable), to help you get started.

Creating a form from scratch works similarly to the WP block editor, but with fields. You can select from general fields (name, email, dropdowns, radio field, text area, etc), donation & product fields (payment item, item quantity, etc), and payment method fields.

Stripe is the only payment method included in the free version, but the premium upgrade includes an additional 8 gateways (plus an offline option).

There isn’t much in the way of customizing the look; colors and fonts are locked into the plugins’ default selections. You can add a checkout image in the Stripe setup, and choose the wording for your text fields and form name.

It allows for payment testing, and provides a full listed summary of donations made.

Paymattic has 4.5/5 stars, and offers paid plans with additional features (like Advanced Reports & Analytics, and pro support).

Charitable

Charitable touts itself as The WordPress Fundraising Toolkit.

Forms are added and created as campaigns, which are basically WordPress pages.

You can add multiple suggested donation amounts (as well as a custom donation field), extended descriptions, and change the creator of the campaign if desired.

Emails are available for donor, admin, and user, and include options like donation receipt (donor), donation notification (admin), and password reset (user), among others.

Design options are included, and work as if you’re in a theme. You can select any color (affects links and button backgrounds), choose where your form will show (separate page, same page, or in a modal), and whether or not to show required fields only.

You can use their prefab text for Privacy and Terms & Conditions fields, or edit to suit your preferences.

Making a test donation in Charitable.

Stripe, PayPal and offline donations are all available in the free version, and testing mode is included.

There is also a donation summary list with assorted details (e.g., amount, donor name, campaign name, and status ) to keep tabs on the status of donations.

Donation Forms by Charitable has 5/5 stars, and offers paid plans with additional features (like unlimited campaigns, no transaction fees, and additional payment gateways).

Seamless Donations

This plugin works by placing a single embed code on any page or post. There are no additional arguments or options, but it’s been designed so that extensions can add features to the main shortcode.

Seamless donations automatically keeps logs on system information and Cron data, both of which are viewable from the plugins dashboard menu in WordPress.

By default, it uses the Stripe payment platform, which initializes in sandbox mode for testing. Also readily available is the option for PayPal, which you can set up in Live or Test mode.

There are six predefined donation amounts (referred to as ‘Giving Levels”), which you can select or deselect, but cannot edit.

Options for which form fields and sections you’d like to display include repeating donation, employer match, anonymous donor checkbox, and more.

As for styling options, there are two defaults built-in: classic or modern (or you can go with none). Or, you can purchase from the premium add-ons, which include a library of 35 additional form designs with customizable images.

Emails have a Thank You template which is editable, and can include four available placeholders for personalized text. Sections include name, email address, message body, designated fund, anonymous donations, closing, and more. A separate Thank You message page can also be set up.

As with the other plugins reviewed today, Seamless Donations keeps a summary of donations, each with associated details, like date, name, payment platform, and amount. However, this one also keeps two additional summary sections, for donors and funds.

Seamless Donations has 4/5 stars, and offers seven premium add-ons with additional features and benefits (such as Giving Level Manager, Basic Widget Pack, and Thank You Enhanced).

Payment Portals and Their Associated Fees

Fees are dependent on what payment portal you are using, and the country that is associated with any given donation.

Because of the variance in these deciding factors, and the knowledge that they are subject to change at any time, we’re not going to include specific amounts in this post.

If the donations you will be accepting are strictly nonprofit, it is possible to get discounts from PayPal, Stripe, and Mollie. (Sidebar: Mollie is currently not supported in the U.S., but available in about 30 other countries.)

Some of the plugins we selected offer add-ons that can offset overhead transaction fees (ex: GiveWP’s Stripe Premium add-on or Seamless Donations Donors Pay Fees), providing additional savings if you’re getting a large overall amount of donations.

Your best bet is to do a little math in advance. Using the associated fees of any given payment platform, determine what base figure wouldn’t cause you a transactional loss, and set your lowest donation option to that amount. You can always change it later if rates should fluctuate higher or lower.

A quick disclaimer: When it comes to the status of a business entity – LLC, Inc, 501(c) nonprofit, etc – there are financial and legal implications regarding how you report different types of income (including donations). Make sure to check with a certified, licensed attorney or other legitimate lawful source. WPMU DEV does not claim to give nor are we qualified to give legal advice.

Giving Feels Good and Getting Brings Gratitude

Micro-donations are a fantastic way to collect small monetary gifts that can add up to substantial gains.

Amazon is a great example of micro-donations. Through its Amazon Smile website, 0.5% of total spend amounts are made to the nonprofit of a customer’s choice. Given how much business Amazon does, these can and do make a huge impact over time.

But even on a smaller scale, you can benefit from the generosity of others. That might be collecting to contribute to a cause you believe in, or allowing your customers to tip you when they’re feeling generous.

With so many options for adding donation capabilities to websites, it’s as simple as choosing one you like and setting it up. Even if no one ever donated, it doesn’t cost you anything – assuming you’re using a free plugin. And if donations did start to really pick up on your site, you could always add premium features to improve the process.

If you’re a WPMU DEV member and have any questions about Forminator – or any of the plugins we reviewed – just reach out to our excellent support team, and they’ll get you sorted in no time. If you’re not a member yet, get your free trial on, and see what you’ve been missing. 🙂

Register, manage, and connect unlimited affordable domains directly from WPMU DEV – making creating websites for you and your clients easier than ever!

Domain registration is all done right from WPMU DEV’s Hub. It just takes a few clicks, with unlimited options for picking top-level domains.

As you’ll see, domain management has been streamlined for web developers on our Agency Plan. Especially when managing domains for multiple clients.

In this article, we cover everything you need to know about using domains with WPMU DEV, including:

• • Register a New Domain
  • Add Domain to Hosted Site
  • View Your Registered Domains
  • Confirm Your Registrant Information
  • Domain Management in The Hub
  • Domain Overview
  • Contact Information
  • Manage DNS
  • Filtering Domains
  • Connected Domains
  • Client Association

If you’re a member, you can get started here. Not a member yet? Get started with a trial of our Agency plan today!

Now that you’re ready to go let’s…

Register a New Domain

Registering a New Domain is quick and simple. Whatever domain you’re looking for, we have 120+ extensions — whether it be .com, .org, .shop — you name it! They’re all affordable. (And P.S. — We’ll be adding another 100-150 TLDs VERY soon.)

It’s also important to note that domains are for Agency Plan members ONLY. We can only offer this kind of service at wholesale pricing by making it exclusive (just as we did with Quantum hosting).

We provide domains purely at cost (purchase and renewal), with no margin for us (except to cover transaction fees) so that you can resell them to your clients with your own markup and save money on your existing provider.

So, now that you know the gist of our domains, here’s…

Where to Begin

Registering a new domain starts from the Domains tab and Register New Domain. Just type the domain name you want to use.

Once you type in the domain name you prefer, a list of options will appear with various prices.

In this example, I’d like to register the name ‘awesomewebguy.’ As you can see, many top-level domain options appeared (e.g. .org, .net, .online, etc.) under Matches.

Want to see other options? Click Load More, and you’ll get others.

WPMU DEV domains also have Suggestions for a new domain based on your search criteria.

Once you have a domain name, click Buy Now. And that’s it!

You’ll be directed to a registration page. From this page, you pick out the Registration Terms. This includes the Registration Period, Renewal Price, and Auto-Renew.

To start, select a Registration Period. This can be anywhere from one to ten years!

Choose between 1-10 years in a click.

Also, determine whether you’d like to auto-renew or not (you can always change this later – as you’ll see).

Just to note, Domain Privacy is automatically incorporated with every domain.

Next, enter the Registrant information. From here, you can also associate the registrant information with a client from the dropdown (we’ll have more on associating domains with a client later in this article).

This is information about you as the domain owner. None of this information is publicly shared or on WHOIS.

Once your domain is successfully registered, you can automatically add DNS records by clicking connect to a hosted site. If you don’t want to connect your domain to a hosted site – no biggie. Click Skip for Now.

That being said, let’s say you want to connect domain to a hosted site. Here’s how it’s done…

Add Domain to Hosted Site

Adding a domain to a hosted site with WPMU DEV doesn’t take much at all to set up.

You can do this while creating your domain or after the domain is verified and completed. Just select from the dropdown what site you would like the domain to be hosted on.

Add your domain to a hosted site at any time. From the Domains tab, you’ll see by your site a Link Icon.

Just click Connect to a Hosted Site, and select from the dropdown what site you’d like to use.

Click Save, and you’ll see your domain’s DNS status. It may take a little while to complete. You can recheck your status by tapping Settings (the ellipsis).

Below this area, you’ll also see the DNS information for the site you’re using with your domain. It includes the CNAME Record, A Record, and AAAA Record.

Note: if you use the Connect Domain feature, you don’t have to manually add any DNS record.

Ready to go live? We have an awesome guide that takes you through how to do it step by step.

View Your Registered Domains

Once you register a new domain, it will be located under Registered Domains. If you view it soon after registering a domain, you’ll see that its Registrant Status maybe be ‘verifying.’

A message will appear indicating that as well.

So, how do you go about verifying the registrant status?

Confirm Your Registrant Information

Once you register your domain, you’ll receive an email. This is to ensure that you are who you say you are regarding your domain ownership and to complete your registration.

Whatever email address you include in your Registrant Information is where this email will be sent. Once opened, this is what it says:

It contains two links: one is to review ICANN’s Policy, and the other is to continue on with verification.

When verified, you’ll get notified immediately.

Please keep in mind that if you don’t verify within 15 days, the domain will be suspended until you verify it. So, make sure to complete this important step.

Domain Management in The Hub

All of your domains are in one place in The Hub under Domains. This is your one-stop area where you can new, update, manage, and more.

By clicking on the ellipsis by individual domains, you instantly have access to key features, such as:

• Manage Domain
• Renew Domain
• Update Contact Information
• Update Nameservers
• Update DNS

To make it easier for you and your clients, you can activate Auto Renew in one click.

Click on the name or status of the domain to get to the Domain Overview page. From the Overview, you can view a ton of information. Everything from Domain Status, Registration Date, GDPR status- – and more!

Be sure to check out our documentation for an in-depth look.

Domain Overview

Get a 360-degree view from the Domain Overview.

This is an overlook where you can see the domain status (active or inactive), expiration date, whether auto-renew is activated – and more!

Perform tasks from this area as well, such as renewing a domain, activating auto-renew, and implementing transfer lock.

Find out more in our documentation.

Contact Information

All the contact information regarding the domain Owner, Admin, Billing, and Tech are in the Contact Information tab. You can always adjust, add, and delete information.

Manage DNS

All of the current DNS records are located in the Manage DNS area. From you, you can add a Subdomain, email, or custom DNS records.

Learn a lot more in our guide on how to add a Subdomain.

Filtering Domains

Filtering domains is a way to quickly and easily find specific domains, organize the list of domains you want to view, find who’s registered for domains, and more!

Once clicking Filter, you have options for:

• Domain Status
• Registrant
• Registrant Status
• Auto Renew
• Hosted Site Status

Each option has different varibles in their dropdowns. For example, if you choose Domain Status, the dropdown includes Active, Suspended, and Expired.

Connected Domains

View all of your Connected Domains in one place. This section displays all your connected domains and their status (e.g. propagated correctly or pending).

You can Manage DNS, Recheck DNS, and Delete on the ellipsis.

If you click Manage DNS, you can add the Nameservers and view Records (e.g. AAAA and A). It also displays the TTL for each record.

It also indicates where it directs to by each type of DNS record.

Client Association

The Client Association feature lets you associate a domain with a client from your Clients & Billing portal. Additionally, it allows you to easily change or remove the client that you may have associated with the domain when you registered it.

By associating a client with a domain, it automatically populates the Owner Contact Information of that domain with the client’s information, making it quick and less time-consuming to input. Also, this can be edited at any time.

The Client Assocationa section is located under any specific domain. Or, as mentioned earlier, you can select this from the dropdown when creating a new domain.

Click Add Client to get started.

From there, there’s a dropdown where you’ll choose the client to associate with the domain.

That’s it! Your client is now associated with this domain.

You can remove clients at any time, and also, if you have granted the client a Client Role that includes View Domains, they can do just that and also change information — if allowed. For more information, be sure to read our documentation.

Domain Management Made Simple

You can see how simple and easy it is to set up, implement, and manage domains with WPMU DEV and The Hub! With a new domain, you can be up and running in just a few clicks.

Plus, coming soon in 2023 — you’ll essentially be able to create your own GoDaddy! More on that to come…

So, what are you waiting for? To get started, if you haven’t tried our Agency plan, start your 7 day no obligation free trial today. And if you are already an Agency member, begin registering domains immediately!

When it comes to WordPress sites, we’ve all got the need for speed. But our web developer members actually have the tried & true methods to best accomplish this, and we’re passing these on to you.

We’ve dipped into the collective wealth of experience that our web developer members have, and compiled the results of their top picks for getting blazing fast site speed.

In this article, we’re going to share their recommendations, along with the details of what makes these efforts so effective in real (online) world use.

Here’s what we’ll be looking at:

• The Benefits of Boosting Your Speed
  • Creating and Growing Your Engagement
  • Getting and Handling More Traffic
  • Upping Your SEO Rank
• Recommended Tools And Services That’ll Get You Going Faster
  • Caching & CDNs
  • Image & File Optimizers
  • Plugins & Themes
  • Quality Hosting
  • Grab Bag (Miscellaneous) Tools & Tips
• The All Important Aspects of Testing
• Improve Your WordPress Website Performance

Since this is all about speed, let’s hit the ground running!

The Benefits of Boosting Your Speed

Most of us buy into “the faster, the better” motto, but might not fully understand why that is, or how to get there.

The benefits of WordPress performance optimization are numerous, and we’re going to examine each one carefully.

Creating and Growing Your Engagement

Countless studies have shown slow sites are the number one reason people will leave without interacting.

People are simply unwilling to wait around while their cursor spins. We’re talking a matter of seconds – as in two or less. According to Google, that’s how fast your website should load.

Everyone knows there are endless choices for online activity, so they won’t hesitate to bounce without a second thought.

Getting and Handling More Traffic

Greater speed is directly related to more traffic, which means the potential for interactions and conversions to climb exponentially is higher.

If you’re lucky enough to get visitors to your site – established ones coming back, or new ones getting their first look – you’ve got to set things up so the inevitable increase on your resources doesn’t negatively impact anyone’s experience.

Upping Your SEO Rank

There’s a lot that goes into SEO, but site speed is definitely a big factor.

Google’s search ranking algorithms consider site speed a signal, and page performance is also a search engine ranking factor.

Ergo, the faster your site, the more likely you’ll rise in the SERPs – an ideal goal to reach for.

Recommended Tools and Services That’ll Get You Going Faster

As mentioned above, we spoke to the web dev experts in our member collective to get their thoughts on site speed.

They shared their combined knowledge on the subject, as well as specific tools and services they use to get (and keep!) their sites operating at peak performance.

Let’s see what they had to say.

Caching & CDNs

Caching topped the submissions, and with good reason.

Caching minimizes the number of queries that are sent to your server, which means page performance, load time, and user experience all improve.

Additionally, when your site’s data is cached closer to user locations, it consumes fewer resources, thus lessening the load on your server.

Content delivery networks (CDNs) provide cached content from a network location closest to a user to speed up its delivery, with architecture designed to reduce network latency caused by carrying traffic over long distances and across several networks.

This all equates to improving your site speed and performance.

“I use Smush and all the CDNs that come pre-packaged with your [wpmudev] hosting!” – JD

“Hosting with CDN makes a lot of the difference for speed for WordPress sites.” – Matthew Forse

“The difference between images optimized on a CDN (vs not) is ENORMOUS” – JD

Top Recommendations:

CDNs

Cloudflare

Trusted by millions, Cloudflare is a global network designed to make everything you connect to the Internet secure, private, fast, and reliable.

QUIC.cloud

QUIC.cloud CDN is one of few that can cache both static and dynamic WordPress content. Maximize page speed scores with Online Services, Image Optimization, Critical CSS, Unique CSS, and Low-Quality Image Placeholders.

Caching Plugins

Hummingbird

Hummingbird gives flight to your site with expert caching and compression. In addition to being a full caching suite (Page, Browser, Object, Gravatar, & RSS), Hummingbird also delivers asset optimization at every level.

“I use Hummingbird on all my sites, it’s the reason I became a WPMU DEV member.“ – kahnfusion

“I use the Speedy function [in Hummingbird], but I optimize the files manually on the largest projects. I have achieved very good results, even on “heavy” sites. – Isidoros Rigas

LiteSpeed Cache

LiteSpeed Cache for WordPress is an all-in-one site acceleration plugin, featuring an exclusive server-level cache and a collection of optimization features.

WPRocket

WP Rocket offers a set of advanced options to boost your performance, including delaying JavaScript execution, removing unused CSS, minification, and LazyLoad.

NitroPack

NitroPack features caching, image optimization, and a CDN ready to go out of the box. No 3rd party plugins or complex setups needed.

Image and File Optimizers

Another element that significantly impacts site speed is asset optimization.

There are two categories when it comes to these assets – files and images – though methods to optimize them overlap somewhat.

We’ll look at a number of ways to get peak performance for each.

File Optimization:

• Enable Gzip (text compression)
• Lazy load comments and smaller posts
• Cache site elements (e.g. page, browser, gravatar, RSS)
• Minify files (strip unnecessary CSS & JS code)
• Combine smaller files (fewer files = fewer requests)
• Defer CSS (defer loading above-the-fold content)
• Preload & defer Javascript (fix JS execution time & deliver smaller payloads)

Image Optimization:

• Reduce image size with compression (lossy or lossless)
• Choose the best file type (PNG, JPEG, etc)
• Use progressive loading for JPEGs
• Use next-gen file types (Webp)
• Lazy load offscreen images
• Optimize image delivery (serve through a CDN)

What seem like small tweaks can and do add up to noticeable speed improvements.

Top Recommendations:

Hummingbird

Aside from being an overall caching wizard, Hummingbird handles a large degree of optimization features, like better organizing assets, viewing file size reductions, Gzip Compression, compressing web pages and stylesheets, and reducing file transfer time.

With automations and single-click settings, setup is a breeze.

Oh, and Hummingbird is free.

Smush

Smush put us on the map. With 1 million plus active installations & 5 out of 5 stars, this powerhouse performer is dressed to impress.

Optimize unlimited images (Bulk Smush, Super Smush=2x compression), lazy load, automatic resize, compress, backup or bulk restore original images, and resolve Google PageSpeed recommendations – all from one simple and intuitive dashboard.

Smush is free, too.

“If I want close to perfect performance I code my templates, replace most plugins by wpmudev plugins and the result is great (mostly A with GTmetrix and close to 100% with google page speed).” – Antoine

“Smush and Hummingbird go into every site. I have no requests for Smush whatsoever – it’s a champ.” – Tony G

“I use both (Hbird & Smush) on every site and I don’t have anything to change: ever since plugin setting templates have come out, I just set it and forget it!” – Phil

“Smush I have always found to be excellent. I really, really like it. It’s very impressive what it can do with just a few clicks.” – Matt

“Smush seems perfect already … I don’t see how you could make it better.” – Isidoros Rigas

EWWW

Optimize images using tools on your own server, and offload the CPU-intensive process of optimization to their specialized servers for more compression.

Images are automatically compressed, scaled to fit the page and device size, lazy loaded, and converted to the next-gen WebP format.

ShortPixel

Uses minimal resources and works well with any shared, cloud, VPS or dedicated web hosting. Optimize any image on your website, even images that aren’t listed in the Media Library.

Both lossy and lossless image compression are available for the most common image types plus PDF files.

Plugins & Themes

Most of our web devs agreed: while the number of plugins being used can definitely affect speed, it’s the quality of those plugins that matters most.

Top Tips:

• Limit plugins to the most essential ones, and delete any you’re not using.
• Use as lightweight a theme as possible.
• Clean up your WP databases, to get rid of unnecessary files left behind by unused plugins.

“It comes down to minimizing plugins, over and over and over. A year ago I used to use an average of 20. Now (other than the WPMUDEV standards) I barely use 5. My sites are just as functional but 10x the speed!” – JD

“Always try and minimize the number of plugins used.” – James

Top Recommendations:

Elementor + Hello Elementor

Elementor is the #1 website platform for WordPress. From landing pages, and eCommerce stores, to full-blown websites – build it all with Elementor’s live drag-and-drop editor.

Hello Elementor is the minimal vanilla theme specifically designed to pair with the Elementor page builder. Topping the charts soon after its release, it has more than a million active installations, with 4.5/5 stars.

Divi

Divi takes WordPress to a whole new level with its incredibly advanced visual builder technology.

A website building platform that replaces the standard WordPress post editor with a vastly superior visual editor, it gives you the power to create spectacular designs with surprising ease and efficiency.

Bricks

A faster, more customizable & performant tool to visually design your entire site from header to footer, and anything in between. Insert dynamic data, and edit & preview multiple breakpoints for a fully responsive website optimized for mobile.

Breakdance

With 120 built-in elements, a modern UI and workflow, and deep WooCommerce integration, Breakdance is the ultimate website builder plugin for WordPress.

10Web

The first ever AI-powered WordPress builder. Get the initial structure & design of your website with AI, edit it with 10Web builder based on Elementor, then push to live with one click.

“I found this site that does some interesting things in the free version, it is like a game change for mobile pagespeed score. Lots of smart features to help you build better sites in less time.” – Edoardo

Oxygen

Powerful visual editing for your entire website. Build with fundamental HTML elements. Write PHP, CSS, and JS live.

Features include: Drag element edges to set spacing, or drag & drop to re-order; visual control of every part of your WooCommerce store; create custom website headers visually, including sticky and overlay headers; edit colors in one place.

“Speed web builder like Oxygen is a game changer for the speed of websites.” – Greg

Impreza

Top rated WordPress Website and WooCommerce Builder theme.

“I use IMPREZA because it’s high performance.” – Phil

Underscores

A starter theme meant for turning into the next, most awesome WordPress theme. Ultra-minimal CSS means less stuff to get in your way when you’re designing.

Advanced DB Cleaner

Over time (or heavy plugin use) WordPress databases accumulate old revisions, orphaned post meta, spam comments, etc, making sites sluggish and bloated.

This plugin easily eliminates unnecessary data to reduce your database size, improve website speed and performance, and have quicker database backup (since the file will be smaller).

Quality Hosting

Of course hosting rose to the top of our web dev gurus lists, their voices eager to express just how important quality hosting is.

If you put every speed saving element on this list in place, then go with a hosting platform that has shared servers, minimal resources, or subpar support, all of your efforts will be for naught.

A web host provides more than just a place to store online content. They are the foundation of your sites. Choose a secure, reliable, reputable host to build your online residence; the peace of mind and success that come with that are well worth every penny.

Top Recommendations:

WPMU DEV Hosting

Lightning fast, dedicated and fully-optimized for WordPress, with nothing shared and no interruptions.

Here are just some of the features: 10 data centers + 45-point CDN; FastCGI; best-in-class security and site management tools; 99.9% uptime guarantee; WooCommerce optimized; premium support (24/7/365).

Don’t take our word for it; see what other like-minded people have to say about us.

“Choosing good hosting is the main thing. WPMU DEV hosting is great.” – Greg

“My fastest sites are on WPMU Dev hosting” – Brad

“Hosting: WPMU DEV 100%” – Phil

A2 Hosting

Secure with enhanced protection features. Managed server benefits and tools for theme and plugin management. Stability with 99.9% uptime commitment and 24/7 in-house support.

“A2 is my non-WPMU DEV hosting; Turbo (on LiteSpeed servers) is very fast.” – Greg

Grab Bag (Miscellaneous) Tools & Tips

There were also some tools and tips that fell outside of our other categories, but we wanted to include them because they definitely add value to the conversation.

Use Custom Snippets for Fine Tuned Control

“I constantly find myself writing custom snippets to do things like dequeue scripts on pages that aren’t needed, or disabling features in Jetpack, WooCommerce, Core, etc. that I don’t need to waste time loading.” – Super Adorkable

“I try to avoid adding plugins if it’s something I can do with a few extra lines in my functions.php file.” – Matt

Code Snippets

An easy, clean and simple way to run code snippets on your site, it provides a GUI interface for adding snippets and actually running them on your site just as if they were in your theme’s functions.php file.

Snippets can be activated and deactivated (just like plugins), and be exported for transfer to another site, either in JSON for later importing by the Code Snippets plugin, or in PHP for creating your own plugin or theme.

Stats: Active installations: 700,000+, ~400 reviews, 5/5 stars

Work with LMS Platforms

“I work with LMS platforms and we couldn’t do or achieve any more than doing just that. Working with websites to build courses became a thing of the past.” – Manuel

LearnPress

Create & sell courses online easily, with curriculums that include lessons & quizzes, all managed with a user-friendly interface.

Simply & quickly create educational or online course websites with no coding knowledge required. There is also a library of free and premium addons that extend functionality.

Stats: Active installations: 100,000+, 500+ reviews, 4.5/5 stars

Use a Cloud Server Management Platform

Runcloud

Modern server management panel; The enterprise-grade platform for cloud server management; Automate server configuration and security updates.

With RunCloud, you don’t need to be a Linux expert to build a website powered by DigitalOcean, AWS, Google Cloud or Vultr. Use this graphical interface to build a business on the cloud affordably.

“After testing so many different hosting strategies we found this the most efficient one… very fast to create and a lot of automation possible because Runcloud offers a great API.” – Ricardo

The All Important Aspects of Testing

Since there are so many variables you can use to get your site running faster, the best way to truly know what works best is to test what you put in place.

Also, because of the dynamic nature of WordPress websites, it’s vital to continue to keep tabs on how well all the components are running.

Recommended Speed Test Tools:

Google PageSpeed – PageSpeed Insights (PSI) reports on the performance of a page on both mobile and desktop devices, and provides suggestions on how that page may be improved.

GTMetrix – see how your site performs, reveal why it’s slow, and discover optimization opportunities.

Checkbot.io – creates very detailed reports about the various things that affect your page’s speed and SEO; tests 100s of pages at once for broken links, duplicate titles, invalid HTML, insecure pages and 50+ other checks.

WebPageTest – instantly test your site’s speed, usability, and resilience in real browsers, devices, and locations around the world.

Lighthouse – a chrome browser extension and automated tool for improving the performance, quality, and correctness of your web apps; it runs a barrage of tests against the page, then generates a report on how well it did and what you can do to improve.

Sizzy – a browser for Web Developers; allows you to test in multiple viewports, check performance scores, develop and test for all use-cases without having to manually simulate them in a regular browser.

Regular testing and tweaking is an important part of maintaining those next-level speeds. So choose the tools you prefer, and make sure to do this on a consistent basis.

Improve Your WordPress Website Performance

The importance of speeding up a WordPress site cannot be emphasized enough.

You’ve poured everything into your website – now match that great content with competitive page load speeds to get your engagement and conversions on the rise.

With so many options to speed up a WordPress site readily available, and many of them free, it doesn’t make sense not to use them to your advantage.

Hopefully you’ll readily employ some of the tools and techniques in this post, and see for yourself how much of a boost your site speed can get.

If you’re not a WPMU DEV member, give us a try, risk-free (no credit card required), and see how well we can complement your site. Our support is unmatched, and will help with any issue in WordPress – even if it’s not our product.