Customer loyalty stems from knowing what your customers want, streamlined checkout and shipping processes, membership programs, and superb service. Regardless of the size of your company or the sector in which it operates, building customer loyalty is essential since a tiny proportion of repeat customers account for a disproportionately significant share of the revenue.
The post “5 Ways to Build Customer Loyalty for your Online Store” first appeared on WP Mayor.
WordPress can be hacked in many different ways – hackers can be very creative in going after targets. This makes it impossible and dangerous to list all the ways a WordPress website can get hacked, as it may provide a false sense of security. However, we can look at one example that illustrates the process a hacker might typically take to hack a WordPress website.
The post “WordPress Security Based on Facts and Statistics” first appeared on WP Mayor.
Fonts play an essential role in the design of your website. They set the tone for the design and overall aesthetic and can either enhance or hinder its look and feel. Once you have chosen the font sets for your website, you’ll need to know how to change them. There are multiple ways to change fonts in WordPress. How you change them depends on a number of factors including what type of theme you use, whether you will require a plugin, or if you plan to add them manually. In this post, we’ll discuss each method and show you how to change fonts in WordPress. Let’s get started.
Web fonts are provided by Google, Adobe, FontSpace, and others. They give you the ability to embed fonts into your website to change the design. Unlike desktop fonts, web fonts are stored in the cloud. When a visitor hits your site, web fonts are pulled in dynamically from the font provider. They are displayed on your website within a matter of seconds when optimized correctly. Web fonts are a quick and easy way to use multiple fonts without having to embed them into your website.
Similar to desktop fonts, there are four major font types:
There are a few ways to use web fonts in WordPress. You can embed them manually, use a plugin, or use your theme’s settings, whether it is a full site editing block theme, a generic WordPress theme, or a theme which uses a theme builder. In most cases, developers will resort to using Google Fonts in WordPress because they are free and easy to integrate.
How you change fonts in WordPress can be achieved in a number of ways. Certain premium themes like Divi have a built in font manager with Google fonts automatically loaded. Additionally, Divi allows you to enable all Google font subsets in the theme options, in case you want all of them to be included.
In some other themes aside from Divi, you can use the customizer settings to change the theme’s default fonts. Depending on the theme, there could be limited fonts available with this method. If you are using full site editing (FSE) block themes such as Twenty Twenty-Two, you can add them into the theme.json file. Additionally, you can install a font manager plugin, or use the Gutenberg block editor. Lastly, you can manually add them. Let’s take a look at how to change fonts in WordPress using each method.
When using the WordPress theme customizer, there are a few options depending on your theme. As an example, we’ll use the Genesis theme to change the default font. Log in to your WordPress panel. Navigate to Appearance > Customize.
When the customizer screen appears, click on Typography. There will be two options including Font Manager and Add Typography. Under the first option, click to activate the dropdown menu. From there, you can scroll through or search for a specific font to use on your site. Once you chose a font, click the Add Font button to add the font to your site. You can repeat the steps to add additional fonts that can be assigned to certain elements
The second option, Typography Manager allows you to assign fonts that have been added to your site to different areas. In our example, you can add them to the body, site title, site description, menu items, headings, and more.
This is where you can change fonts as well. First, select the target element you wish to change the font for. Next, select the font family. Choose the font weight, and any text transformation you wish to apply. Then, choose the font size, weight, line height, and letter spacing. Repeat the process for other elements as you see fit.
Most full site editor themes come preloaded with a few fonts to choose from. Themes such as Blockbase, Emulsion, Aino, and Twenty Twenty-Two give you the ability to change fonts in the theme’s editor. For example, we’ll use the Blockbase theme. To change fonts, navigate to Theme > Editor.
Next, click the style icon on the top right side of your screen.
Next, click the typography section to change the font for your theme.
In our example, you can change the text for your site as well as links text.
Under font family, click the drop down menu to reveal your font choices. Select the font you wish to apply. You can also choose to set the font size, line height, and appearance. After making a selection, click the save button at the top right of the page to apply your changes.
Using the block editor, you can change the appearance of your fonts. You can change text and text background color, as well as set a size and appearance. The appearance option generally includes font weight, which is dependent on the font chosen in your theme’s settings.
There are additional options in blocks with text. Text can be bolded, italicized, and you can set the alignment of your text.
There are additional options to highlight your text, as well as add inline code and images, or strikethrough it. Lastly, you can add subscript charaters, as well as superscript ones.
As previously mentioned, generic WordPress themes will need the help of a plugin such as Fonts Plugin | Google Fonts Typography in order to change fonts in WordPress. We’ll walk through the steps to install the plugin, configure it, and show you how to change fonts on your site while using it.
Navigate to Plugins > Add New. Search for Fonts Plugin | Google Fonts Typography in the search bar. Click Install Now to add the plugin to your website.
Next, activate the plugin.
To access the plugin, navigate to Appearance > Customize. When the page reloads, there will be a new section added to your customizer called Fonts Plugin.
Once you click the tab, there are four menu options including basic settings, advanced settings, font loading, and debugging. Basic settings enables you to choose a default font family from over 1400 Google font options. You can also set a font for headings, as well as buttons and inputs.
Advanced Settings allow you to change the fonts for branding, which includs your site title and tagline. Under navigation settings, you can change the font for your site’s navigation menus.
Under the Content Typography section, you can change body text, as well as the font for all headings tags individually.
The Sidebar and Footer tabs allow yout to change the fonts for those sections of your site, which include both heading and content typography. The last tab, Load Fonts Only, allows you to load certain fonts, but doesn’t automatically add them to an element. This is useful when you want to use fonts only on certain blocks. The Font Loading tab is exclusive to the pro version of the plugin.
Under Debugging, you can enable the force styles checkbox which will allow you to determine why your fonts aren’t loading. An additional checkbox, disable editor controls, removes the font controls from individual posts and pages. Font display gives you four options including swap, block, fallback, and optional. The Reset All Fonts button will allow you to reset all of the changes you’ve applied in the plugin.
Divi is one of the most powerful theme builders in the world. When it comes to changing fonts in WordPress, there are a ton of options with Divi. First, it comes standard with built-in Google fonts. Fonts can be used in any module with text options, as well as the theme builder. Divi makes it easy to style fonts, and combined with the theme customizer, you can set fonts globally. Let’s take a look at how to work with fonts in Divi.
To set fonts as a default font, enable the theme customizer. Start by navigating to Theme > Customize from the WordPress admin panel. When the customizer loads, click General Settings > Typography. There are multiple options available to set body and heading size, as well as line height, letter spacing, font style, heading and body font, and colors for each. Divi has the entire Google font library built in, so choices for font are nearly unlimited.
In addition to the theme customizer options, fonts can be changed at the module level where text is present. As an example, we’ll demonstrate how to change fonts in the text module. Under the design tab, you’ll find all of the text settings available to you. You can change body text, heading text, as well as color and styles for both. If you want to adjust the heading font, simply click into the dropdown menu to activate it. You can change your font, then a number of font styles including the font weight, style, text alignment, color, size, and more.
Thankfully, if you plan to manually load a custom font onto your site, it’s a fairly easy process. That being said, you will need to be comfortable editing theme files. We suggest using a child theme **link to ultimate guild on how to use a child theme** to perform this action, since the slightest error can send your site into a tailspin. Keep in mind that adding a custom font to a generic WordPress theme won’t give you a ton of options, but it will keep your site free of speed-draining bloat. This is useful if you know you plan to only use a couple of fonts, and don’t require a ton of options.
You’ll need to have a general understanding of how the WordPress file structure works, along with basic coding skills. We’ll be editing a couple of theme files and adding some CSS. Finally, you’re going to need your favorite code editor and an FTP program such as FileZilla.
For our example, we’re going to add the Google font Roboto. The first step is to head to Google Fonts and find Roboto. Select the font styles you want to embed.
There are a couple of ways to do this, but for our example, we’re going to do it the WordPress preferred way of enqueuing. First, copy the link to the Roboto font. This is included in the embed code from Google and will look like this example.
https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Roboto:wght@100;300;400;500;700;900&display=swap
Next, open FileZilla and connect to your website via FTP. Navigate to /public-html/wp-content/themes/yourthemechild/functions.php. It’s a good idea to use a child theme for this process since you will be editing a core theme file. Note: replace yourthemechild with your child theme’s name.
Right click on the file to open it. Add the following code at the end of the other code in the file.
function add_my_font() {
wp_enqueue_style( 'add_my_font', 'https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Roboto:wght@100;300;400;500;700;900&display=swap', false );
}
add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 'add_my_font' );
Next, you’ll need to tell WordPress where you want the font to be used. For this, we’ll add a bit of CSS to our child theme’s style.css file. Locate the file in the same folder we worked out of. Add the following code:
.body, .h1, .h2, .h3, .h4, .h5, .h6 {
font-family: 'Roboto', sans-serif;
}
This code tells WordPress that you want to use the Roboto font on all body text, as well as all headings on the site. Keep in mind that every theme is different, so if our code doesn’t work for you, reach out to your theme’s developer or use your browser’s inspection tool to locate the specific CSS rule for your fonts.
In full site editing (FSE) themes, it’s no longer necessary to use the @font-face CSS rule to add fonts. In FSE themes, you add the font to the asset/fonts/ folder, then call them in the theme.json file. Let’s go over the steps to add a custom font from Google Fonts to the Twenty Twenty-Two theme, then add the code to the theme.json file to use the font in your website.
For this example, we’ll use the Roboto font family from Google Fonts. The first step is to download the font from the Google Fonts library. Click the Download Family button at the top right corner of the screen.
Next, navigate to your WordPress themes files either on a local machine or via FTP. For this example, we’ll use a WordPress install on our local machine. Please note the file location, as you will need to call it in the code we’ll add to the theme.json file later.
To locate your theme’s font folder, navigate to wp-content/themes/twentywentytwo/assets/fonts. Next, drag the downloaded font folder into the fonts folder of your WordPress install.
Next, locate the theme.json file by navigating to wp-content/themes/twentytwentytwo/theme.json.
Right click on the file to open it in your favorite code editor. Under the settings section of the theme.json file, scroll down to just past the source sans pro code in the typography settings.
Next, add the following code after the }, in the Source Serif Pro font section, and before the closing bracket ], of the typography section:
{
"fontFamily": "\"Roboto\", sans-serif",
"name": "Roboto",
"slug": "roboto",
"fontFace": [
{
"fontFamily": "Roboto",
"fontWeight": "900",
"fontStyle": "normal",
"fontStretch": "normal",
"src": [ "file:./assets/fonts/roboto/roboto-black.ttf" ]
},
{
"fontFamily": "Roboto",
"fontWeight": "700",
"fontStyle": "normal",
"fontStretch": "normal",
"src": [ "file:./assets/fonts/roboto/roboto-bold.ttf" ]
},
{
"fontFamily": "Roboto",
"fontWeight": "200",
"fontStyle": "normal",
"fontStretch": "normal",
"src": [ "file:./assets/fonts/roboto/roboto-light.ttf" ]
},
{
"fontFamily": "Roboto",
"fontWeight": "400",
"fontStyle": "normal",
"fontStretch": "normal",
"src": [ "file:./assets/fonts/roboto/roboto-medium.ttf" ]
},
{
"fontFamily": "Roboto",
"fontWeight": "300",
"fontStyle": "normal",
"fontStretch": "normal",
"src": [ "file:./assets/fonts/roboto/roboto-regular.ttf" ]
},
{
"fontFamily": "Roboto",
"fontWeight": "100",
"fontStyle": "normal",
"fontStretch": "normal",
"src": [ "file:./assets/fonts/roboto/roboto-thin.ttf" ]
},
{
"fontFamily": "Roboto",
"fontWeight": "900",
"fontStyle": "italic",
"fontStretch": "normal",
"src": [ "file:./assets/fonts/roboto/roboto-blackitalic.ttf" ]
},
{
"fontFamily": "Roboto",
"fontWeight": "700",
"fontStyle": "italic",
"fontStretch": "normal",
"src": [ "file:./assets/fonts/roboto/roboto-bolditalic.ttf" ]
},
{
"fontFamily": "Roboto",
"fontWeight": "400",
"fontStyle": "italic",
"fontStretch": "normal",
"src": [ "file:./assets/fonts/roboto/roboto-italic.ttf"]
},
{
"fontFamily": "Roboto",
"fontWeight": "300",
"fontStyle": "italic",
"fontStretch": "normal",
"src": [ "file:./assets/fonts/roboto/roboto-lightitalic.ttf" ]
},
{
"fontFamily": "Roboto",
"fontWeight": "400",
"fontStyle": "italic",
"fontStretch": "normal",
"src": [ "file:./assets/fonts/roboto/roboto-mediumitalic.ttf" ]
},
{
"fontFamily": "Roboto",
"fontWeight": "100",
"fontStyle": "italic",
"fontStretch": "normal",
"src": [ "file:./assets/fonts/roboto/roboto-thinitalic.ttf" ]
}
]
}
The file should now look like this:
Save the file and add it back to the fonts folder by overwriting the file on your local machine or uploading it via FTP.
With the new font installed into your theme, you can view it by navigating to Appearance > Editor in Twenty Twenty-Two. When the screen refreshes, click the styles button.
Next, click typography.
Now you’ll be able to select the new font from the dropdown menu, as well as adjust the font weight and other text styling options for your site.
Divi makes it easy to upload custom fonts into your website through a text module. Divi accepts both ttf and otf file formats. If you try to upload any other format, you’ll receive an error message.
To get started, add or edit a page in your Divi website. Next, add or edit a text module in your page. Click on the settings icon in your text module to bring up the module settings.
Next, click on the design tab, then expand the text settings. Click on the drop-down menu located next to the font name.
You’ll see a list of all fonts available in Divi, as well as the current font, and an upload button. To add a new custom font, click upload.
The upload font popup window will appear. Either click the choose font files button, or drag your ttf or otf font into the drag files here area.
Next, you’ll want to give your font a name, and click the all checkbox to ensure that all font weights are supported for your font. Once you’ve set the options, click the upload button to add your font to Divi.
We should note that when you add a custom font to your Divi website, it will be made available throughout the site.
While using Google Fonts or any other web font provider, you should take steps to optimize your fonts. Not doing so can result in a slower website. Simple things like limiting the number of font families being used is a huge page load time reducer. Check out our post Using Google Fonts in WordPress (5 Tips for Optimizing Performance) for more information.
While using web fonts is a great choice, it only matters if you are using the right ones. Take the time to research the best web fonts for your site. Also, consider font pairing choices. It’s probably not a good idea to use two serif fonts together. After all, that can make things super busy and hard to read. To learn about some excellent choices offered by Google fonts, read The Best Free Web Fonts.
In addition to choosing the right font(s), you should be mindful of those who have trouble seeing smaller text. Always use at least 16px for body text, and use a legible font. The same can be said for button text. Make sure that your button text is large and in charge. That is beneficial not only for those with visual impairments, but are good call to action principles as well.
It’s a good idea to keep fonts to a minimum. Only use the fonts that you plan to use. If you want to have options, use a plugin or theme builder that pulls fonts from the cloud, such as in Google Fonts CDN.
Yes, but it’s not a simple process. There are a lot of steps involved, and you’ll need some basic coding knowledge to do it. For more information on using downloaded fonts, check out How to Use Downloaded Fonts in WordPress without a Plugin on the Elegant Themes blog.
Yes, you can. That being said, there are only two options that come standard with it. Adding fonts to that specific theme isn’t the easiest path and requires editing theme.json and functions.php.
Yes! Check out our list of the 9 Best Typography Plugins for WordPress to see some of our recommendations.
There are a number of ways to change fonts in WordPress. If you’re using a generic theme, the easiest way to do it is to use a plugin such as Fonts Plugin | Google Fonts Typography. Full site editing themes generally give you more than one or two options, but some don’t make it incredibly easy to add more. Consider using a theme builder such as Divi because it gives you the most options. Finally, if you are a hands-on type of developer, or only need a couple of options, adding fonts manually may be right for you.
How do you change fonts in WordPress? Let us know by commenting below.
The post How to Change Fonts in WordPress (8 Ways) appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.
Keyword research is an essential part of content creation for Search Engine Optimization (SEO). For many businesses, it’s considered the top priority. In fact, Google has recorded over 2 trillion searches so far in 2022. With such an eye-popping statistic, you can see why conducting keyword research is required. Reaching more consumers is important, but you need to reach the right ones in order to benefit from them. In this post, we’ll discuss what keyword research is, why it’s important to your website or business, and all the tips you need to do it right.
Let’s jump in!
A keyword is a word or phrase that defines what your content is about. When it comes to SEO, a keyword is a term that an internet user inputs to search for something they are interested in. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that when searching for things on Google or other search engines, you type in search words to get results.
For example, if you are interested in becoming a casual runner, you might search for running tips. Perhaps you’re looking for the best shoes for running. It is likely that you will search for the term best running shoes. Those search terms are keywords, and anyone using a search engine utilizes them.
Keyword Research is the process of determining what keywords you should use in your written content that will aid in getting visitors to your site. Keyword research is a technique that businesses and marketers use to determine what people are searching for. It’s how they gauge which words are most popular.
The results of good keyword research are incorporated into new content (or existing content) to help boost their SEO rankings in the search engine ranking pages (SERPs). Keyword research is beneficial for SEO as well as general marketing purposes. Additionally, keyword research can help marketers discover words that they might not have thought of, which can be beneficial when creating new page content or products.
Keyword research has many benefits. Among them is gaining valuable insight into your audience, the possibility of increased organic traffic, and improved search engine results rankings.
Keyword research will help you understand what your target audience wants by showing you what they are searching for. You’ll learn what questions they are asking search engines to help solve problems they are facing. If your business sells running shoes, keyword research can connect you with potential customers who are looking to purchase them. One good way to measure this is to use a keyword research tool. They are great tools to help you determine what people are searching for based on a specific search term. There are many tools out there that can help. We’ll touch on those a bit later.
Organic traffic is traffic that is earned by the quality of your SEO content. And the more organic traffic you get, the higher your search engine ranking grows. Also, organic traffic is free, so from a marketing standpoint, investing in a good keyword strategy and other SEO techniques is worth the time and energy. This allows you to get to the top of the search rankings without having to resort to PPC advertising. Plus, if your content is reaching the top organically, you will have a much better click-through rate than even paid ads.
Keyword research can help put you in a better position in search results. With the right keywords, more people will be able to find you based on what they are searching for. When you move higher in search engine rankings, you increase the likelihood of not only being seen, but getting more clicks to your website.
If your website has good SEO copywriting with keywords that target the right consumers, you are better suited to meet their needs. Researching keywords based on search intent rather than volume is a great strategy in acquiring more business.
When it comes to keword research, it helps to have a good strategy in place beforehand. Doing so increases the chances you’ll choose the right keywords, earn better results in search engines, increase traffic to your site, and gain new customers. A good keyword strategy will be integral to your overall SEO strategy which will involve creating SEO Content and good SEO techniques. Here are a few important elements to building a keyword strategy for your site.
Having a deep understanding of your website or business and what you offer (products, services, content, etc.) is a great first step for keyword research. This helps identify what kind of topics and content you want to include on your site. If you are a hosting company, your website will likely include content (landing pages, blog posts, etc.) about your hosting services (like “WordPress Hosting” or “Page Speed Optimization”). gives you an idea of where to start your keyword research.
In addition to understanding what you have to offer, you will also need to consider what your audience (or potential customer) is searching for. Before researching keywords that a general audience is looking for, it’s probably better to first understand what your specific target customer is looking for on your site. You may already have a good idea of what this based on customer personas and or customer journey maps. Having this insight into your audience will help you find the right keywords that will not only drive more traffic to your site but also boost conversions.
Knowing what your competition is doing can help you determine what to do, and not to do when it comes to keyword research. If you don’t know who your main competitors, take the time to find out. Researching your direct competition is key to beating them in the search ranks. Look at the kind of content they are producing, the topics they are covering, and which ones are performing the best. This will help you develop a keyword strategy that, in many ways, reverse engineers the strategy of your competition. Plus, you will be able to take note of their highest-ranking keywords and determine if they’re missing any high-volume keywords that would work for your business.
Understanding how search engines index top-ranking content according to keyword usage will help you recreate the process for your own keyword strategy. It is also a good idea to familiarize yourself with Search Engine Ranking Pages (SERPs) and how they index and display featured snippets based on the keywords used and the structure (or schema markup) of your content.
Analyzing your website’s data using Google Analytics and the Google Search Console will help you evaluate your current content and give you ideas for new topics or keywords to pursue. Use the analytics tools at your disposal to learn everything you need to know about the current state of your content and the content of your competitors.
There are tons of free SEO tools available to assist you in SEO and keyword research. Tools such as SEMrush, Ahfers, Moz, and Google Ads: Keyword Planner are all excellent tools to consider.
SemRush
For a complete list, check out these best keyword research tools for SEO.
In order to be successful when conducing keyword research, there are a few tips you can follow. Let’s discuss them individually so that you can gain a better understanding of how to get better SEO on your website.
Before doing in-depth research on keywords, you need a good idea of what topics and to target. The best ones will make sense both for your business and also for your potential customers. This is why having a good understanding of both your business and your target audience will help.
Brainstorm some keywords based on your most relevant content. Start by identifying 5-10 topics to begin your research. These are likely to be repeated throughout your site and hold the most weight in your content (like main categories for a blog). Also, research trending topics to see what people are searching for that would make sense for you to create content for.
Google is the master of matching searches to user intent. Because of this, you can use Google’s search bar to conduct keyword research for your own brand. Using this method can provide you with quite a few topic ideas for your site, and it can help you discover some fantastic secondary keywords as well. Google offers 3 features that can produce high volume keywords including autocomplete, people also ask, and related searches.
Autocomplete occurs when you start to type a keyword into the Google search bar. Google will do its best to predict what you’re going to type in next using a collection of popular searches by other users. As you type, predictions are adjusted based on the characters entered. Let’s use our running shoes example. When you start to type running shoes, Google will autcomplete a list of most searched terms related to it.
You can get a wealth of information just by using this one Google feature.
After typing a search term into the search bar, you’ll see a people also ask section under the first few results. Clicking through those results will results in even more questions or terms. These are the most commonly asked questions related to that exact search term. Talk about great search volume! Let’s take another look at our search term running shoes. Upon executing the query, Google provides us with this group of terms.
As we click through the results, Google presents us with even more questions chock full of high volume keyword options.
Using this method not only provides keyword options, but perhaps blog post ideas as well.
In addition to user intent, consider checking out related search terms to get some ideas for keywords. As an example, try searching for running shoes on Google. Underneath the top search results, Google provides you the ‘people also ask’ section with some common search terms posed by other users. This is an often overlooked step in a good keyword research strategy. These are known as seed keywords. They are basically a starting point for developing longer keywords with modifiers. A seed keyword can consist of one or two words, and they are keyword gold.
Google will try and anticipate your next question by providing you with some common searches related to the topic you searched for. There is much to be gained by this gift from Google. Using this example, you could concentrate on researching trending running shoes, or best running shoe brand, along with best rated running trainers.
Additionally, Google will provide you with related searches. These are potential searches based on the original running shoe keyword search. In some cases, you’ll even be given some brands that you can incorporate into your keyword research. A lot of times, good marketers will put keywords into their titles and meta descriptions. Dig through the top Google search results and pay attention to those areas of search results as well.
Once you have a good list of topics and potential keywords, you can start researching how these keywords are currently performing in the search engines so you can cut down your list.
There are a few important factors to consider when researching keywords. Considering keyword difficulty, search volume, and search intent go a long way when developing keywords for your site.
The first is Keyword Difficulty. This refers to how hard it will be to rank for a particular keyword. The higher the score, the more difficult it will befor your term to rank in search results. Once you determine how high the ranking is, you can decide whether or not to tweak your content to use that particular keyword.
Ahref has a free tool called Keyword Generator that will help you during your research. Simply type in a keyword, and the free version will provide you with the first 100 keywords related to your term. You’ll also be able to see questions posed by searches related to your keyword, which is a great tool to determine keywords to use. The first 10 results will give you the keyword difficulty rating.
This refers to the number of times a particular keyword is searched for in any given period of time. A good place to start is by looking for the average number of searches per month. You can learn quite a bit from search volume, but you should take the results with a grain of salt. Even though searches can be high for a keyword, that doesn’t mean that it’ll result in increased traffic to your site. A high search volume generally means more competition.
For example, let’s say that the keyword running shoes gets 20,000 searches per month. While this is a high number, it doesn’t measure the intent of those searching. Another thing to remember is that doesn’t mean that everyone who searched for it actually clicked on it. A lot of times people will get the result they want right in Google, so they move on.
That being said, your content does need to be relevant to what people are searching for. So, it’s a good idea to keep search volume in mind when doing keyword research.
Moving forward, Google is placing a lot more emphasis on search intent. If you don’t consider a user’s search intent in your keywords, you’re going to have a lot harder time ranking in search engines. Many of the SEO plugins and tools will provide the search intent of a particular keyword. Familiarize yourself with the types of search intent and use that to help you when choosing keywords for your site. The types of search intent are as follows:
Navigational: Are they Googling using a navigational intent? For example, someone searching for the terms login or sign up rather than going directly to a URL.
Informational: This means they are searching for information about a topic or answer they seek.
Investigation: A user is looking for a type of product, or a particular one. They are likely looking for reviews or comparisons in order to determine which product is right for them.
Transactional: This user knows what they want, and they are ready to pull the trigger on the purchase. At this point, they are likely searching for the best deal.
In practice, you will want to make sure the user’s search intent for a keyword matches the goal for your content. For example, you don’t want to try and rank for a keyword that has a transactional (or commercial) search intent when the goal of your content is informational. Even if your traffic increases temporarily, ultimately it will prove less helpful to users.
Once you have your main topics/keywords, you can start grouping keywords under each of the main keyword topics. Keyword grouping is the process of grouping, or clustering a group of keywords together. Make sure to include different related keywords and keyword variations including short (stem) keywords, long-tail keywords, and questions. Using a keyword research tool should be able to give you a ton of results with relevant data to help group your lists of keywords.
One simple way to start grouping keywords is to use a spreadsheet. List you main keywords (or topics) at the top with related keywords under each one. Then you can color code each keyword according to there keyword difficulty and add an additional column for search volume. This will help you identify the ones you want to start creating content for.
In addition to keyword grouping, consider mapping your keywords. Keyword Mapping is effective because it allows you to create a map of related keywords for your site. This would require using a keyword research tool like SEMRush to make this process easier to track.
Grouping keywords will help you create clusters of topics/content. These clusters will help support and create cornerstone content which is an important part of your SEO keyword strategy.
If you have high domain authority, you may be able to choose more competitive keywords with a higher volume and difficulty. If you are just starting out, you will want to look for those keywords that are less competitive but still have a search volume that is worth your time. In general, it is best to start with those you know you have a chance to rank first. Then as you build more content and authority, you can go after those difficult keywords.
Most Keyword research tools will show you different keyword variations with their current volume and difficulty so that you can choose the best one for your keyword strategy.
Usually, the keywords that are most difficult to rank for are the stem (or seed) keywords. Don’t be afraid of going after those long-tail keywords, especially those in the form of a question. Sometimes these will give you the best results considering how important Google factors in user intent (not to mention how many voice searches are being conducted in the form of a question on mobile these days).
Using the same keyword/phrase on a post or page too much will raise a flag with Google. This is considered to be keyword stuffing. To avoid this, it is best to mix up your target keyword with different keyword variations including short and long-tail keywords. That’s why it is important to research keyword variations of your keyword.
Keep in mind, when writing your SEO content, try to use your target keywords only when it makes sense. If it seems forced or confusing to the user, most likely Google will notice. One good way to do this is to take advantage of keyword stemming which allows you to break up a target keyword phrase across an entire sentence and still be recognized as that target keyword.
Now that you know what your keywords are and how to balance long-tail and short-tail keywords, conduct a keyword gap analysis, or competitive keyword analysis, to get a leg up on your competition. Take note of their highest ranking keywords and determine if they’re missing any high volume keywords that would work for your business. On the other hand, you could aggressively combat your competitors by using their highest-ranking keywords in order to lure business away from them.
There are several tools you can use to find out what your competitors are using. Google’s Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or simply by utilizing the competitor website’s source code. For example, in Chrome, right-click on the page and choose View Page Source. Once you have access to the source code, look for elements such as the title, meta, and h1 tags.
When you’ve taken steps to research keywords that will help you in your quest for high rankings, it’s essential to keep track of how your keywords are performing. Adjustments may (and probably will) need to be made to get the results you are looking for. Keyword tracking tools can help you to improve your content strategy, which can result in increased traffic to your site. In addition to monitoring your current keywords, keyword tracking can provide you with new keyword ideas to incorporate into your content.
Knowing where your visitors are and what they search for can give you insight into purchasing patterns, search patterns, and allow you to deliver relavent content to them. For example, if your website gets a lot of traffic from New York, you might consider using the term sneakers. Terminology can vary based on region. While customers in northern states may call athletic shoes sneakers, those in the South refer to them as tennis shoes.
When you are developing your content, consider using Google Search Trends to research keywords based on region. This will allow you to develop your content with specific regions in mind. This is especially useful if your business is local. You can use your geographical location to determine what search terms your potential customers are using.
For more, check out our Local SEO Guide.
With all of the information being thrown at you, you’re bound to have questions. No worries. We have answers.
Long-tail keywords have four or more words, whereas short-tail keywords usually have up to three. Long-tail keywords are for more targeted searches, which is great for identifying consumers who are ready to make a purchase or have a specific question they need an answer to. Short-tail keywords tend to have a high search volume because they are broad. You can use short-tail keywords as seeds, which is a good strategy to help develop keywords over time.
One of the best ways is to sign up for a keyword research tool such as Ahrefs. If you are just starting out and don’t have the cash to throw towards a keyword research tool, your best strategy is to Google your own keywords. Google does a fantastic job of deciphering a user’s intent when they search. As previously mentioned, Google has three different approaches when you type in a keyword including autocomplete, people also ask, and related searches. Using Google’s own search bar is a great way to gain knowledge about the user’s intent. It is a simple way to get started, and can be useful when developing new content.
Track them. Good SEO is trial and error, and it requires a lot of maintenance. You can’t simply build a website with great content, then sit back and wait for people to flock to it. You need to start out with keywords you’ve researched, then monitor how they perform. A great tool for this is SEMrush. They offer both free and paid plans that are useful for tracking your keywords. The free version of SEMrush is more than enough to assist you in figuring out what is working and what isn’t.
That’s a loaded question. There really isn’t an all-in-one solution unless you want to pay for a complete solution. You can use a compilation of tools such as Google Search Trends, Google Search, and SEMrush, or an all-in-one solution like Ahref. You’ll most likely try a few until you find the one that is perfect for you. We’d suggest starting by reading our post on 5 of the Best Free and Premium Keyword Research Tools for SEO. This will be a good starting point to help you make a decision.
Yes, it can…but it’s not likely. Keyword research is a critical component to SEO. Without it, you’re simply rolling the dice and hoping for the best. With the amount of competition on the internet today, the best course of action is to do the work to give you the best shot at high rankings in search results.
First, make sure that your site is indexed. If your site isn’t indexed, it can’t be crawled, nor can it be ranked. Next, be sure to submit your website to Google’s search console. Then check to make sure you aren’t blocking indexing. If you are on a WordPress site, navigate to Settings > Reading to ensure that the checkbox for Discourage search engines from indexing this site isn’t ticked.
If you’ve gone through the steps above and you still aren’t ranking, find out where you are ranking. Start by searching Google for your business name, primary keywords, secondary keywords, and words and phrases you’ve used in your content. If you aren’t coming up on the first page with those searches, adjust the search results by page on your search engine. Once you find out where you rank, you can take steps to get those rankings higher. Evaluate your keywords to determine if they’re falling in the overall rankings in Google searches by using your favorite keyword research tool. If you have keywords on the decline, it could be time to re-evaluate those failing words you’re using.
One important thing to note is not to change your content too much. Google doesn’t like it when you change things up too much, too often. As we’ve previously mentioned, good SEO takes time so you have to put in the work.
It’s generally not recommended to use focus keywords more than once throughout your site’s pages or posts. You see, a “focus keyword” is a term used to rank your post or page in search results. If you use that same focus keyword on other pages or posts, you’re basically shooting yourself in the foot. The best course of action is to come up with unique focus keywords for each page you’re trying to rank for. Using them multiple times will hurt your search engine rankings, and cause you to actually compete with yourself. This is called keyword cannibalization and it can actually hurt your ranking in the SERPs. Check out our Simple Guide to Understanding and Fixing Keyword Cannibalization for tips and fixes for this common problem in SEO.
Keyword density is an important factor to consider. While there’s no set number of times that you can use a keyword in a page or post, it is possible to overdo it. You can use an SEO plugin like Yoast or RankMath to help you find the right balance. In general, you will only want to use a keyword when it makes sense. Google will know when you are trying to force it.
Keyword Research is an essential part of your overall SEO strategy. Knowing your keywords, then doing the work to determine if they work well with your content goes a long way in getting your website to a good search engine ranking position.
Keep in mind that quality keyword research requires the right tools to help create a list of the right keywords for you. After that, it’s up to you to create the content using those keywords effectively. For Divi users, you might consider using a the Rank Math SEO plugin to help with choosing and adding the right keywords on your product and category pages.
What is your keyword research process? Let us know by sounding off in the comments section below.
The post What is Keyword Research? (& How to Do It Right) appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.
WordPress beta versions give the makers of WordPress an opportunity to share an upcoming release with developers and beta testers before it is released to the masses. By doing this, WordPress can gain valuable insight from the people who use WordPress the most. They can be made aware of bugs, problems, or even suggestions that might make a release better. WordPress beta testing is one of many reasons WordPress continues to be the most popular CMS for web development.
Before any new release of WordPress, developers and beta testers are allowed access to a beta version of WordPress. This beta version enables developers and testers to experience an upcoming release, and report any bugs or problems they encounter. WordPress beta versions usually include features that are scheduled to be released, but not always. There are times when certain features or plugins that are present with the beta version don’t make it to the final release.
That being said, there may be features that come with a new release that the beta version didn’t include. Beta versions are always made available before minor and major WordPress releases. A minor release typically offers mostly security updates, and almost never includes new features. A major release is planned and usually includes new features, plugins, and themes.
There are a couple of reasons why you might want to be a WordPress beta tester. First of all, when WordPress releases a new version, you might be concerned about how it will perform with the themes and plugins you have installed. If you are a Divi user, you should know that our team conducts extensive testing before and after a new version of WordPress is released. We check all modules, the Divi Builder, widgets, blocks, templates and template parts, amongst other aspects of both WordPress core and Divi as a whole to ensure that everything works well together.
Whichever theme you use, you should get on top of things and ensure that the upgrade will be a smooth one by testing any new version of WordPress on a staging site. Using a staging site ensures that you can test out how your theme, essential plugins (like WooCoommerce), and other crucial elements (like web forms) will work together without having to worry about causing problems with your live site.
Secondly, it’s a good way to check for kinks on all screen sizes, browsers, and devices. After all, not everyone uses Chrome on an iPhone. With so many people having their content delivered by smaller devices and on smaller screens, it’s a good idea to test these areas to determine if there is a problem, especially with how pages load on each device.
Lastly, WordPress needs input from not only developers but from everyday WordPress users. It helps the developers of WordPress to know how their software is used by people that may not necessarily be the overly techy types. Secondly, it’s important for users of different native languages to do testing. After all, WordPress is available in over 160 languages, so it makes sense for those who speak a language other than English to participate.
There are a couple of ways that you can beta test WordPress. The first is to use the WordPress Beta Tester plugin. The second option is to use a hosting provider that gives you the ability to choose beta versions of WordPress when you install a new site, whether it be live or staging. Let’s explore each method and how to test each one.
For this example, we’re going to use the Twenty Twenty-Two theme to install and test the WordPress Beta Tester plugin. As previously mentioned, we suggest using a staging site. This is applicable in both situations, whether you are looking to upgrade your current version of WordPress, or install a beta version. One of our hosting partners, Cloudways, suggests this method.
Navigate to Plugins > Add New. Search for the WordPress Beta Tester plugin in the WordPress repository. Click Install Now.
Activate the plugin. Next, navigate to Tools > Beta Testing to configure the plugin.
We’d be remiss if we didn’t stress the importance of backing up your database before proceeding with using the plugin. There are backup plugins to help with this. Additionally, it’s a good idea to pay attention to the development blog on a daily basis to keep up to date on the latest changes during beta. As we will discuss a little later, you can also visit the Alpha/Beta forum, which will also help you to identify any potential fires you may have to put out after updating your version of WordPress to beta.
Also, please be aware that once you have switched to a beta version of WordPress, you may not be able to downgrade it. Be sure to proceed with caution.
In the core settings of the plugin, you’re given the option of choosing point release or bleeding edge. Point Release is the most stable choice of the two. It includes all of the work that is in the latest stages of development for the latest release.
While the plugin states that it should be fairly stable, it’s a much safer choice than Bleeding Edge. Choosing the latter option should only be done if you are a WordPress rockstar with no fear of the unknown. It’s highly likely that your site may occasionally break. If you have decided that the beta testing path is an essential part of your techy dev life, feel free to choose this option. Those of you who are just looking to see if your theme or plugins will be compatible with the newest version of WordPress should choose point release.
By default, nightlies will be your only option. This means that on a daily basis, the beta version of WordPress will be updated with the latest fixes and additions. Once you have made your selection, click Save Changes.
The extra settings give you a couple of options. First, you can tick the skip the successful auto update emails if you don’t want to receive admin emails every time the beta version of WordPress is updated. The second option title New Feature Testing is used for testing new features. It works by adding constants to be set in your wp-config.php file. Constants are things like enabling debug mode, gaining information on database queries, or protecting your wp-config.php file from hackers, amongst other things.
When enabled, the plugin will add the following constant to your wp-config.php file:
define( 'WP_BETA_TESTER_{$feature}', true );
This will enable advanced users the ability to test new features for WordPress, which is useful if you’d like to make major changes to WordPress. If you deactivate or remove the plugin, the constant will be removed from the file.
Once you have saved your choices, it’s time to upgrade WordPress. Please make sure you’ve made a backup of your site’s files and database before proceeding. To update, navigate to Updates in the WordPress admin panel. From there, click Update to latest 6.0 nightly. This will install the latest somewhat stable version of WordPress in beta (depending on the core settings you chose in the last section).
There is an additional way to install the latest beta version of WordPress. Some hosting providers such as Pressable offer the ability to choose the latest beta version of WordPress in the hosting dashboard. This is a quick and easy way to install the latest version, and quickly revert to a more stable one should you need to. For example, Pressable has a handy drop-down menu that will allow you to choose several versions.
Upgrading with this method allows you to make a quick backup, create a staging environment, and upgrade WordPress all in one place.
The first thing to keep in mind is to take good notes. You’ll want to document any bugs or problems you encounter. This is a crucial prerequisite to submitting a report. There are two ways you can report bugs and issues. First is the reporting bugs page on the official WordPress website. This is used primarily for existing, released WordPress versions. Secondly, you can create a post on the Alpha/Beta support forum. This is where you’ll report any bugs or issues you come across when testing a beta version of WordPress. Let’s discuss the process for each.
Be sure to share your documented notes on the Reporting Bugs page on WordPress.org. When submitting a report, there are a few steps you’ll need to take.
Before submitting a report, check out the Good First Bugs page that will help you get familiar with the process. There are more than 100 examples of tickets created by other users. They are either already being worked on, or are assigned to a WordPress developer. After you have perused the Good First Bugs page and have a good idea on how to formulate your ticket, click the Create a New Ticket button.
You’ll be prompted to sign in to your WordPress.org account by entering your username (or email address) and password. If you don’t have an account, you can create one now.
Before submitting a ticket, it’s a good idea to check to see if someone else has submitted a similar ticket. On the new ticket page, there’s a link to search for existing tickets. This is a good place to start. Chances are, if you’ve found a bug within the latest beta version of WordPress, someone else has. Check here first before proceeding to creating a new ticket.
Once logged in, you’ll be forwarded to the create new ticket page. There will be a series of tips listed for you to follow to create a good ticket. Those include ensuring that your WordPress version is current, documenting any steps needed to replicate the problem, whether or not you deactivated plugins when your issue occured, and including any relevant information that can be helpful to developers.
Fill out the form including a summary (title) for your ticket, as well as a description of the issue. You’ll also need to choose a type – a bug, enhancement or feature request. Next, choose the severity of your bug. Specify which version of WordPress you’re using, and choose the component that is experiencing a problem. This can be a general problem to something more specific such as issues with the menu, login and registration, taxonomies, rewrite rules, and more.
Next, you’ll need to choose the workflow keywords that should be associated with your ticket. These can be keywords related to design, dev, or needed enhancements. The next area of the form involves contributor focus. Is it a UI issue, does it have to do with accessibility, or is there an issue with CSS or javascript? The focus helps devs to understand what type of issue it is and where to focus.
Next, set the action for your ticket. Do you need to create a new ticket, or is it an existing one? Finally, attach any files you may have that could be helpful when the developer starts work on it. Be sure to preview your ticket before creating it.
Alternatively, you can report any bugs you’ve found on the Alpha/Beta support forum. This forum allows you to provide feedback and report bugs on beta versions of WordPress. As in any forum, you can either search for your issue, or create a new topic. In order to post or create a new topic, you will need to be logged in. Here are the steps you should take to report a bug on the Alpha/Beta forum.
Before creating a new topic, be sure to search the forum for topics related to yours. With over 115 pages of forum topics, it’s quite likely you’ll find a similar issue.
Make sure to read the forum welcome topic to maximize the odds of getting a response. Ensure that your plugins and beta version of WordPress are up to date. Keep in mind that this is a forum for the latest beta version of WordPress, so don’t post any topics about specific themes or plugins.
Also, if you are reporting a security issue, make sure that you take a look at how to report security vulnerabilities first.
To create a new topic, you’ll need to fill out a form that outlines your issue. First, name your topic. Make it relevant to your issue. Secondly, link to the page that references your issue. Make sure that it is accessible to everyone, and not on a local network. Next, input a message that is as detailed as possible. Break down the issues you are having with detailed notes. The more information, the better. Be sure to include topic tags. This increases the chances that your topic is seen. Lastly, using the tick box options, select whether or not you want to be notified of follow-up replies by email. This is important to do because it will keep you from re-checking your topic to see if anyone has replied.
WordPress is open source for a reason. It is designed to be built by the WordPress community. Through beta testing, we can continue to improve the features of the WordPress Editor and the functionality of the WordPress core to make WordPress better for all of us. Being able to test unreleased versions of WordPress with your themes and plugins before it’s released gives users a great advantage. (We’ve all encountered WordPress errors that need to be fixed.) Plus, WordPress is always in need of everyday users to notify them of any bugs they may run across during testing. If you are interested in becoming a beta tester for WordPress, check out their help wanted page to see current needs.
Are you a beta tester? If so, let us know the things you typically test for in the comments below.
The post How to Beta Test WordPress (& Why You Should) appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.
A simple website for small businesses can cost you between $60 and $500 to build. But this cost could increase depending on your goals. Here you will find information to help make solid decisions.
The post “Your first website: How much does it cost and what do you need to pay for?” first appeared on WP Mayor.
Choosing the right SEO plugin for your WordPress site is one of the most important choices you will make. And with so many solutions out there, the best ones can often be overlooked. The Rank Math SEO plugin for WordPress is definitely in the ranking as one of the top SEO plugins for a lot of reasons. In this post, we’ll give a helpful overview of Rank Math SEO and cover the key features, ease of use, pricing, and more, so you can see if it is a right fit for your site.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a way to ensure that your website appears to as many people as possible via search engines like Google. Rank Math SEO is a powerful SEO plugin for WordPress that makes it simple for anyone to improve the SEO of their content, regardless of their level of expertise. Founded in 2018 and headquartered in India, Rank Math has quickly taken the WordPress plugin world by storm, now boasting over 1 million active users.
Rank Math (self-proclaimed as the “swiss army knife of WordPress SEO”) comes with ostensibly everything you need to make sure your content is optimized to hit the keywords you’re targeting and has a ton of other features that can take your SEO to the next level. It’s easy to use and has a lot of powerful features in the free version (especially for on-page SEO) that make it a plugin worth looking into.
Installing Rank Math from your website’s WordPress account is the simplest method. To begin, choose the Add New option after hovering over the Plugins option in the WordPress menu.
Search for Rank Math in the search bar and select Install.
After a few seconds, Rank Math Plugin will be installed and activated. You can confirm this by checking if it’s listed on your plugin page.
Rank Math SEO comes with a free and premium version for those willing to pay $59 per year. Let’s take a closer look at some of the best features of Rank Math SEO.
The first feature that stands out for Rank Math is its clean and simple user interface. The dashboard provides you with a ton of great analytics that you can use to improve the content on your site, along with awesome visualization features, the dashboard is a breeze to navigate through and settings are easy to change.
The UI is straightforward but effective. The plugin showcases critical details about your SEO content alongside the post itself in real time, This allows you to boost the on-page SEO of your content by using readily available information, all while still in the text editor. It offers a ranking from 0 to 100, with a green number indicating that you have surpassed the 80-point threshold.
Along side the awesome in-editor SEO optimization, you can take a deeper look into keyword research from the Rank Math dashboard. You can see how many times your site has been shown in search results, see the total number of keywords your ranking for, see how many clicks your site is getting, and more.
The ability to visualise this information is always welcome, and it let’s you wrap your mind around your website’s trends and how your strategies are performing in practice. Keyword analysis and strategy is paramount to good SEO, so these features are incredibly welcome from Rank Math.
If you enable the Link Suggestions option, which is a really awesome feature, Rank Math will offer you link suggestions as you write your posts to help your link building strategy.
You must navigate to Titles & Meta > Posts in the Advanced Mode to enable the Link recommendations meta box. You can find the Link Suggestions option near the bottom. Activate the switch by turning it on.
Link suggestions give you the option to link to other relevant posts that you or your team have previously authored. This can be incredibly useful, especially if you’ve written a lot of content in the past, as you can link to relevant content automatically without having to search for specific posts.
We are proud to say that the powerful SEO elements of Rank Math are fully integrated with our own Divi WordPress theme’s visual builder! You can check out our in depth guide on to how to optimize your Divi site with Rank Math here.Â
Rank Math’s integration with Divi makes improving the SEO on your website even easier because it’s built right into the Divi visual editor. The controls are easy to use for any skill level and there is plenty of built-in support available if any questions arise. You can review your content’s SEO with ease right as you build your content.
Some other key features of the accessible version of Rank Math are:
Once the plugin has been installed and activated, you will be automatically redirected to the Rank Math registration window; if you haven’t been redirected, you can select Rank Math from the WordPress sidebar. Next, you will be directed to the setup wizard and prompted to create a free account. This is recommended because it comes with some added features.
Rank Math installation and configuration is a breeze because the step-by-step installation and configuration wizard is automatic for most steps. In addition, the settings on your site are verified by Rank Math after installation, and it makes recommendations for the best configurations.
The steps and SEO settings for your site, social networks, and webmaster profiles are configured via the wizard.
You can link Rank Math with Google Analytics in order to get up-to-date site maps.
Configure your required sitemap settings here.
Once you finish your setup you can delve deeper into advanced settings or just leave them in their the default position.
The Rank Math UI undoubtedly sets it apart from other SEO tools; it’s simple and sleek while still having advanced tools at your fingertips. From the dashboard, you can toggle the features you want to use.
The analytics tab offers a handful of helpful graphs and charts to easily track your website’s SEO growth and pinpoint what areas you need to work on.
An excellent user experience was the focus of this plugin’s design. The pages and tools you require are simple to traverse, and getting familiar with them is easier than you think. But, if you need assistance, you can select the “Help and Support” option from the sidebar.
This guide will show you how to use Rank Math to ensure your post is optimized and hits all the keywords your looking for. As soon as you begin writing the content, the optimization process starts. For this example, we’ll use the WordPress Menu > Posts > Add New option to create a new article.
Rank Math is fully integrated into the block editor; you can see it by selecting the red SEO score button on the top-right corner of the editor.
You can see all the suggestions and tools to make adjustments as you write. For example, we’re writing about how to throw an awesome dinner party, so we set our keyword to “dinner party,” and RankMath gives us suggestions on improving our SEO.
Now, we simply follow the guidelines and suggestions from Rank Math until we have as close to a 100/100 SEO score as possible.
Be sure to look at each tab in the Rank Math editor, so you don’t miss any tips for SEO optimization.
We are proud to offer an in-depth and intuitive integration with Rank Math SEO. You can seamlessly use Divi Builder alongside Rank Math; read the guide here.
Currently, Rank Math offers four different tiers for their pricing. The free Version of Rank Math Pro is $59, Rank Math Business $199, and Rank Math Agency $499.
The critical difference between the different price points is primarily an issue of volume. If you’re looking to manage SEO on a single site, the pro version will most likely meet all your needs.
Yoast SEO has been at the top of the SEO mountain for WordPress plugins, but Rank Math is a worthy new challenger. Both plugins have a lot to offer when it comes to boosting SEO. Yoast SEO and Rank Math share many of the same free features, such as sitemaps, internal link counters, and SEO templates for content and titles.
However, Rank Math also comes with Google Analytics integration and keyword analysis for five free keywords. While similar here, we can compare the two on five critical factors in deciding which tool to use.
Here we’ll answer some frequently asked questions regarding Rank Math SEO.
Yes, the WordPress team carefully examines plugins before adding them to the repository on WordPress.org, where Rank Math is included.
While any theme using WordPress’s Codex should be compatible, here is a list of themes and plugins that Rank Math has currently validated as being fully compatible with the plugin.
Yes! You can read about our integration with RankMath here.
Yoast has been the best in the business in terms of SEO for a long time. However, Rank Math may be a better fit for some users, it has a ton of great features and an easy-to-use UI. However, it comes down to taste. If you’re happy using Yoast and already accustomed to its UI, it may be a better option for you to stick with it.
Rank Math has fantastic reviews, with well over 4,000 5-star ratings.
We recommend starting with the free version of Rank Math and seeing if that version fulfills your SEO needs before upgrading to the Pro version.
You can import data from your previous SEO plugins using the Rank Math wizard. After you import, we recommend only using one SEO plugin at a time. This is to avoid duplicate meta tags and negative SEO consequences.
It’s safe to say that Rank Math SEO deserves to be considered as a viable WordPress SEO plugin. The free version of Rank Math provides lots of tools that other SEO plugins simply don’t have, and their pro version provides even more. When it comes to on-page technical SEO, this plugin is uniquely intuitive and effective. So, if you’re looking to improve your website’s SEO, Rank Math can certainly help you do it.
We want to hear from you. Do you use Rank Math? Let us know what you think of it in the comments.
Featured Image via Rank Math / RankMath.com
The post Rank Math SEO Plugin for WordPress: An Introduction appeared first on Elegant Themes Blog.
With Query Monitor, not only do you get a nice, clean interface to browse this information, you get all of it out of the box, without having to modify your codebase, allowing you to very quickly start debugging issues and figure out what portion of your codebase needs to be modified.
The post “What is the Query Monitor Plugin?” first appeared on WP Mayor.
Do you want to sell your Microsoft Excel or Google spreadsheets online?
By selling your spreadsheets as downloadable files, you can easily make money without having to pay for shipping or printing. Through WordPress, you can quickly and securely deliver your products to your customers.
In this article, we will show you how to easily sell your Excel or Google spreadsheets online using WordPress.
First, you’ll need to choose an eCommerce platform that you’ll use to sell your Excel or Google spreadsheets.
Because these spreadsheets are digital files that users can download to their computers after making a purchase, you should pick an eCommerce platform specifically designed for selling digital downloads.
Such a platform would have the proper features, licensing, and subscriptions built in which will make it easier for you to set up your store.
That’s why we recommend using WordPress and Easy Digital Downloads for selling your Excel and Google spreadsheets.
WordPress is the best website builder on the market that is used by over 43% of all the websites on the internet. It is an ideal choice as WordPress gives you full control over your website and allows you to create a user-friendly eCommerce store.
Easy Digital Downloads is the best WordPress plugin to sell digital products. We use EDD ourselves to sell many of our premium WordPress plugins.
With WordPress and Easy Digital Downloads, you can sell as many Microsoft Excel or Google spreadsheets as you want without having to pay high transaction fees.
With that being said, let’s dig in to see how easy it is to create a WordPress site with Easy Digital Downloads, so you can start selling your spreadsheets online.
Before you start building your site, it’s important to know that there are two types of WordPress software: WordPress.com and WordPress.org.
We will be using WordPress.org as it gives you complete control over your website.
First of all, you’ll need a domain name and WordPress hosting to start selling your spreadsheets.
For detailed information on both, you can check out our guides on how to choose the best domain name and how to pick the best WordPress host.
We recommend using SiteGround for your website. It is a popular hosting provider that offers managed WordPress hosting for Easy Digital Downloads. It comes with a free SSL certificate, pre-installed and optimized EDD, and a huge 73% off.
Basically, you can create a website for less than $5 per month.
For more details on how to set up your WordPress site, you can check out our guide on how to make a WordPress website.
If you don’t want to use SiteGround for. some reason, then we recommend checking out Bluehost, Hostinger, and WPEngine to see if they meet your needs.
The free version of Easy Digital Downloads allows you to create an amazing online store. However, if you want to use add-ons such as Content Restriction, Recommended Products, or Recurring Payments, you will need the Pro version.
For this tutorial, we will use the free version. To begin, just you just need to install and activate the plugin. If you need any help, you can check out our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.
Once it is installed and activated, go to Downloads » Settings page in your WordPress admin area. First, you need to set your store’s location so the plugin can calculate sales tax and auto-fill some fields.
To do this, scroll until you see the ‘Store Location’ section. In the ‘Bunsiness Country’ dropdown menu, choose the location where your business is based.
After that, you need to fill in the ‘Business Region’ field.
Here you can open the dropdown and choose the state or region your store operates from.
Once you’ve entered the information, click on the ‘Save Changes’ button.
When selling Excel or Google spreadsheets online, you’ll need a way to accept credit payments from your customers.
Easy Digital Downloads supports popular payment gateways including Stripe, PayPal, and Amazon Payments. If you want to add more payment gateways, then you may want to take a look at Easy Digital Downloads extensions.
To choose your payment gateway, simply click on the ‘Payments’ tab. Then make sure the ‘General’ tab is selected.
In the ‘Payment Gateways’ section, check the box for all the payment gateways that you want to add to your online store.
If you select more than one payment method, then you’ll also need to choose a default gateway.
You can choose any one you want, but we recommend selecting Stripe as your default gateway because Stripe accepts credit cards as well as Google Pay and Apple pay.
After selecting a default gateway, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on ‘Save Changes.’
Once the page reloads, you will now see some new tabs where you can configure each of your separate payment gateways.
The process of configuring the payment gateway will be slightly different depending which you use. We will be using Stripe as an example.
To start, simply click on the ‘Stripe’ tab. Then, click on the ‘Connect With Stripe’ button.
This launches a setup wizard which will walk you through a step-by-step process of configuring Stripe as your payment gateway. If you use multiple gateways, you’ll just need to repeat these steps for each one.
Also, by default, Easy Digital Downloads shows all your prices in U.S dollars. If you want to show your prices in any other currency, simply click on the ‘Currency’ tab and choose the one you want to use from the dropdown.
Just be aware that some payment gateways may not accept every currency. If you’re unsure, then it is always a good idea to check your chosen payment gateway’s website.
Once you’re done with the currency settings, simply click on the ‘Save Changes’ button at the bottom of the page.
Now that your WordPress site is set up with Easy Digital Downloads, you’re ready to start selling spreadsheets online.
To upload your first Excel spreadsheet for sale, simply go to Downloads » Add New in your admin panel.
Once you’re in the content editor, add a name for your Excel spreadsheet in the ‘Enter Download Name Here’ field.
This name will be shown on the product’s page, so be sure to use one that describes exactly what your spreadsheet does.
Next, type in the description that will appear on the product’s page.
Many online stores use product categories and tags, too. These can help shoppers find the products they’re looking for.
You can create tags and categories for your spreadsheets using the ‘Add New Download Tag’ and ‘Add New Download Category’ options.
After that, scroll to the ‘Download Prices’ section.
Then simply enter the price they’ll pay to download the spreadsheet.
Next, you have to attach a ‘Download Image’ to the spreadsheet. This will appear as a featured image on the product page. You can easily create a product image using free design tools such as Canva.
Scroll down to the ‘Download Image’ section in the sidebar and just click on ‘Download Image.’ Then, simply upload any image you want.
After that, you can upload your spreadsheet. Simply scroll down to the ‘Download files’ section and add a suitable name in the ‘File Name’ field.
Then click on the link button in the ‘File URL’ field.
This will launch the WordPress media library.
From here, you can simply upload the Excel spreadsheet from the computer.
Once you’ve uploaded the Excel spreadsheet, simply click on the ‘Publish’ button. Now your product is on sale on your site.
Selling Google Sheets on WordPress is a slightly different process. Since Google Sheets only run in a web browser, you cannot sell a downloadable Google Sheets file. All you get is a link.
To sell Google Sheets, you need to create a ‘copy link’ for the spreadsheet that you plan on selling. This copy link allows you to share a copy of your spreadsheet with the customers upon purchase.
To create this link, simply go to the Google spreadsheet that you plan on selling and click the ‘Share’ button.
Once you’ve clicked on the ‘Share’ button, a popup will appear.
Now simply click on ‘Anyone with the link’ option in the ‘General Access’ section.
Next, select the ‘Editor’ option from the dropdown menu on the right in the ‘General Access’ section.
After that, simply click on the ‘Copy Link’ button.
After you’ve copied the link, go to the ‘Download Files’ section in Easy Digital Downloads.
Then just paste the link in the ‘File URL’ field.
After pasting the link, remove the edit?usp=sharing section from your link.
You will need to add copy in its place.
Now that you’ve added your Google Sheet’s copy URL, simply click on the ‘Publish’ button.
That’s it! Your spreadsheet will immediately be for sale to customers.
Another easy way to sell Google Sheets is by creating a certificate of download.
All you have to do is create a Word document and paste the Google Sheet ‘copy link’ into the document.
After pasting the link, remove the edit?usp=sharing section from your link and simply add copy it in its place. Be sure to enable the URL as a hyperlink so that it is clickable.
Now, as you can see in the image above, the copy link looks a bit ugly. To make your certificate of download look more professional, you can use a link-cloaker like Pretty Links.
With this plugin, you can make your links look professional and can also track the number of clicks the links in your certificates get.
Next, simply save the document. We recommend saving it as a PDF.
After that, just head back to the ‘Download Files’ section in EDD and upload the certificate file. Then, simply click on the ‘Publish’ button.
With this method, customers will download the certificate after the purchase. They can then click the link provided in the purchase certificate to access the Google spreadsheet they just bought.
Every time someone buys a spreadsheet from your website, Easy Digital Downloads will send an email to that person.
This email will have a link that the customer can use to download the Excel or Google spreadsheet they just purchased.
You may want to customize this email by adding your own text and branding.
To do this, go to Downloads » Settings and click on the ‘Email’ tab. Then, make sure that the ‘General’ tab is selected.
You might want to start by adding a logo to your purchase receipt emails.
This logo will appear right at the top of the email and will help customers identify who the email is from.
Simply click on the ‘Upload File’ button and upload an image or choose one from the WordPress media library.
Additionally, you create more personalized emails, you can use dynamic text in your emails as well.
You can find the list of these variables at the bottom of the tab, and you can paste them into your emails to customize them to your individual customers.
When you’re happy with your purchase email receipts, simply scroll down and click on the ‘Save Changes’ button.
Now that you’ve successfully added Google and Excel spreadsheets to your website, your next step is to convince the visitors to buy your downloads.
Here are some of our top picks for plugins that can help you sell more Excel and Google spreadsheets.
We hope this article helped you learn how to sell excel and Google spreadsheets online. You may also want out check out our guide on best email marketing services, and see these easy ways to drive traffic to your website.
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The post How to Sell Excel or Google Spreadsheets in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.
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