Seriously, I know we’re all just trying to survive the generative AI era and still have jobs (any job?) a decade from now.

And there’s one thing that can’t hurt: Learning to code.

Even with the rise of AI, coders and programmers are in demand around the world.

Plus, programming is more than just a way to build things — Coding helps you learn to solve problems, aids people in need, and, as Steve Jobs admonished, teaches you how to think.

The good news is you don’t have to live in Silicon Valley or have expensive, high-tech gadgets to learn how to code. Self-taught programming has been on the rise, and you can join the masses taking to the web to learn the next universal language.

With the click of a mouse, you can develop a whole new repertoire of programming skills, and we’ve got all the resources you need to help you learn to code and build your next website or app.

Here is a hefty list of 58 free online courses, open-source resources, and low-cost tools to get started.

Learn HTML

Let’s start with the front end.

Although HTML isn’t necessarily “coding,” it’s the fundamental building block of most of the web pages in the world.

If you’re just dipping your toes into understanding programming, HTML is a great place to start.

Let’s look at the best resources to learn HTML.

#1: Programming With Mosh (YouTube)

Dive into the Programming with Mosh channel, and you’ll find bite-sized coding classes on almost any topic you can imagine. From C++ to Java, Mosh offers a huge collection of videos on almost every language, syntax, and topic. Most videos are just 60 minutes, and they’ll teach you the ABCs of the topic and how to create neat, tidy code.

Unsurprisingly, this HTML for Beginners video will have you writing functional HTML in about an hour.

#2: Learn HTML From Codecademy

Codecademy’s Learn HTML course traverses a spectrum of topics, including elements, structure, tables, forms, and the much-discussed semantic HTML.

After signing up, you get a tour of enlightening textual explanations plus the chance to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty with real coding exercises.

Best of all: It’s 100% free.

#3: Learn-HTML.org

Don’t overlook learn-html.org, which houses a treasure trove of HTML tutorials.

The journey begins with the basics like elements, selectors, and classes and then propels you to format links, lists, and images in HTML. Each lesson includes code samples and exercises to help you master the art of writing compliant markup.

Learn CSS

After you master HTML, you’ll be hungry to make things look neat and tidy. That’s where  Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) comes in.

Use these resources to learn how to write optimized CSS that works in every browser, screen size, and resolution.

#4: Codevolution’s CSS Crash Course (YouTube)

In need of a CSS starter kit? Check out Codevolution’s CSS Crash Course. It’s a brief – yet comprehensive – tour around the basics of CSS. It’ll teach you how to add and customize styles in an HTML document and covers color, text, fonts, lists, tables, and more.

However, keep in mind it’s just a crash course. It’s great for beginners but doesn’t cover everything.

#5: SuperSimpleDev’s HMTL & CSS Full Course (YouTube)

Have you ever watched a 7-hour YouTube video?

If you’re looking for a much more comprehensive (and functional) guide to learning CSS, this video is a great walkthrough. It also covers HTML, so if you already know HTML (or used one of the above resources), you can skip through those sections to get to the styling parts.

#6: Learn CSS From Codecademy

Codecademy’s Learn CSS course is another great way to go.

The course takes you through the right way to format files, add cool features, and design impressive layouts. It covers everything from syntax to colors and typography. Each lesson provides a detailed explanation and hands-on practice. You can see how your code touches up the website’s look in real time.

#7: CSS Diner

Ever thought mastering selectors could be fun? CSS Diner is an online game turning learning into an entertaining experience. It’ll equip you with the skills to pinpoint specific elements at the start of your CSS journey.

Learn JavaScript

HTML and CSS are great, but if you really want to “write code,” learning JavaScript might be your easiest entry point.

Using JS, you’ll be able to manipulate front-end components and start to work on back-end development. That makes you a full-stack developer. (Congrats!)

#8: Learnjavascript.online

It does what it says on the tin. Learnjavacript.online is an ultra-simple (but great!) way to learn JavaScript from your browser.

It’s an interactive hub where you can read bite-sized tutorials, roll up your virtual sleeves, and experiment with actual coding in the code playground, all without leaving your browser. The magic lies in the “learn and apply” formula, allowing you to practice new skills on the fly. Enjoy the first seven chapters on the house, and if you’re really cruising, a single payment unlocks the whole training.

#9: Scrimba

Picture a coding school with no dry lectures, but a hands-on learning style. It’s all about practical coding skills, without the theory. Just remember, completing the free HTML & CSS crash course would make your journey smoother when moving onto JavaScript.

#10: Free Code Camp

The site FreeCodeCamp.com offers a repository for free courses, including many JavaScript learning tools and lessons. You can work on 40 projects after learning the basics. There’s less hand-holding than some other guided resources, but the content’s valuable.

#11: JSRobot

If you thought coding was all about cramming commands, JSRobot is here to change your mind. You won’t spend a lot of time learning before you start programming. You’ll find yourself writing efficient code faster than you anticipated. So, roll up your sleeves, let your little robot guide show you the ropes of JavaScript logic, and watch the magic happen.

#12: CodeCombat

CodeCombat breaks down the walls of traditional learning, providing an engaging, socially interactive space to learn to code. The mix of a comprehensive curriculum and a charming fantasy world makes learning feel like an adventure. And for those with a competitive streak, pit your JavaScript skills against others in the exciting CodeCombat AI League.

Learn React

ReactJS (usually called “React”) makes building reusable components, forms, and interfaces easy.

This is technically a JavaScript library, but because it’s so popular and widely used, it’s worth taking the time to learn React if you want to get serious about building apps and software.

#13: React Official Tutorials

The React official website is a goldmine of resources for all things React, from essential documentation and tutorials to a bustling community forum for collaborative problem-solving. A GitHub link to React’s source code is readily available. For beginners, the Tutorial tab hosts a fun introductory lesson that has you crafting a mini-game while teaching React fundamentals.

It’s tailor-made for hands-on learners and perfectly complements the wealth of advanced resources under the Docs tab.

#14: Learn React From Codecademy

Codecademy’s self-guided Learn React course is a ticket to the exciting world of React programming.

From creating components, props, and states to using React with JavaScript, you’ll learn it all. Completion of the course enables you to build simple React applications. You can become a React proficient in just 20 hours!

#15: Free Code Camp

Free Code Camp offers the course, Learn ReactJS – Complete Roadmap. It lays a clear path for front-end application building with React. Ideal for beginners, it can help grow your skills from intermediate to advanced React development.

#16: React JS Frontend Web Development For Beginners From Udemy

This no-cost Udemy course is set to walk you through the basics of hooks and working with external APIs. Additionally, it offers insights into making AJAX requests and the construction of a news app.

While you get access to nearly three hours of video content by default, you can spring for the paid membership to receive a completion certificate and the chance to engage in Q&A and direct messaging with the instructor.

#17: Egghead.io

Want to dive all the way into React? Meet Egghead.io.

This site provides numerous video courses tailored to your learning. The Beginner’s Guide to React is a 30-part course that lets you learn in a distraction-free setting, starting from scratch and culminating in a deployed application.

From understanding React’s problem-solving capabilities to JSX’s role and managing state with hooks, it’s a thorough, hands-on course. Plus, once you’re done, there are plenty more courses to go deeper.

Learn PHP

If you work on WordPress websites, you’ll want to learn PHP.

PHP pulls information from the database and allows you to format and display it on the front end like a pro. Cozy up with the code editor and dive in so you can debug the next plugin that goes haywire.

#18: PHP For Beginners By Traversy Media (YouTube)

Traversy Media’s “PHP For Beginners” is an invaluable tutorial for anyone keen on learning PHP. Across three hours, the YouTube video takes you through the A to Z of PHP, touching upon functions, loops, and arrays.

Convenient timestamps help you focus on your areas of interest.

#19: PHP Tutorial For Beginners – Full Course By Envato Tuts+ (YouTube)

Looking to spend seven hours learning PHP instead of three? We’ve got you covered.

Seriously though, Envato Tuts+ offers a comprehensive PHP course aptly titled “PHP Tutorial for Beginners – Full Course”. Jeremy McPeak, the instructor, begins with fundamentals and progressively delves deeper into the language. The course is designed to make you adept at writing functions, manipulating variables, understanding syntax, and handling GET and POST requests.

While longer than the above option, it’s also more comprehensive.

#20: Learn PHP From Codecademy

For those seeking a structured PHP learning resource, Codecademy’s “Learn PHP” course is an excellent option.

This is a 25-hour curriculum covering variables, functions, arrays, loops, and other PHP essentials. Each module is followed by hands-on exercises that reinforce learning. The course also provides helpful aids, like hints, a cheat sheet, and module-specific community forums. Plus, you can use the built-in playground to write and test your code as you learn.

#21: PHP Apprentice

PHP Apprentice offers a unique approach to learning PHP. This online book, accessible for free, demystifies PHP practices through its well-structured chapters and coding examples. Best of all, it’s being actively maintained and updated. So there’s new content and new lessons being added all the time.

Learn SQL

SQL (pronounced “sequel” and stands for “Structured Query Language”) is one of the most common and popular languages for accessing and manipulating data in a database. In other words, learning SQL is sort of like learning the Dewey Decimal system…but for computers.

#22: SQL For Beginners Tutorial (YouTube)

A 45-minute video crash course makes learning SQL basics a breeze.

This tutorial includes a detailed walkthrough on setting up Microsoft SQL Server and SQL Server Management Studio, two free and powerful tools. Gain a good understanding of tables, primary keys, and various data types, building a strong foundation in SQL.

#23: Learn SQL From Codecademy

Codecademy offers beginner-friendly courses like Learn SQL that guide you through the core concepts of SQL and relational databases. The best part? You can progress through these modules at your own pace, making it an ideal choice for independent learning.

#24: SQL Tutorial On W3Schools

W3Schools offers an extensive SQL tutorial for those seeking a deeper understanding. It covers everything from writing properly structured SQL statements to advanced operations like database creation and alteration. Once you’ve digested the material, you can check your comprehension with hands-on exercises.

#25: Complete SQL Bootcamp (Udemy)

Udemy’s Complete SQL Bootcamp is a solid choice if you’re looking to certify your SQL skills. The course covers data analysis, table creation, database establishment, and much more, using PostgreSQL, a knowledge base that can be transferred to other SQL databases. Earning this certification could significantly boost your resume.

Learn Python

Coding isn’t all just variables and if-then statements.

Data analysis, data structures, algorithms, and machine learning are a hot topic these days. (You know, with that pesky AI thing requiring lots and lots of data.)

Learning Python will help you get your foot in the door on these topics and use cases.

#26: The Python Beginner’s Guide

For Python beginners, the official Python website is an indispensable resource. The freely accessible Beginner’s Guide serves as a roadmap to your Python journey. It links you to various learning tools like quizzes, assignments, cheat sheets, and style checkers.

#27: Introduction To Python Programming (Udemy)

There’s a concise yet comprehensive course on Udemy aimed at those new to Python.

It’s a compact program that runs just under two hours but covers essential Python concepts such as scripting and the creation of functions.

#28: Learn Python 3 From Codecademy

Ready to make it official with Python?

The Pro plan from Codecademy features an immersive Python 3 course well-suited for an introduction to scripting and fundamental programming concepts. Lessons span various topics, including Python syntax, control flow mechanisms, function building, and data structuring with lists and directories. There are no prerequisites, and after roughly 25 hours of study, learners can earn a certificate.

#29: LearnPython.org

LearnPython.org, an interactive learning platform, houses a great collection of coding tutorials. From elementary lessons on variables to advanced modules on data science, it caters to learners at all stages. It also extends a collaborative space on Facebook, connecting learners worldwide.

#30: Learning Python: From Zero To Hero (Free Code Camp)

I mean…who doesn’t want to go from zero to hero? Am I right?

Free Code Camp’s “Learning Python: From Zero to Hero” course is a text-based course that presents Python’s essentials in a clear and accessible manner. Master the art of variables, conquer conditional statements, and unleash the power of looping as you navigate through engaging sections. Explore the versatility of lists, dive into the intricacies of iterating through diverse data structures, and unlock the potential of objects and classes. By the time you complete this course, you’ll have transformed from a Python beginner to….well, a hero.

#31: One Month Python Bootcamp

Take the leap from beginner to advanced Python programming with the One Month Python Bootcamp. This comprehensive, self-paced course offers a project-based approach to deepen your understanding of Python. While it costs $299, the intensive material and hands-on projects provide the foundation you need to excel as a Python developer.

Coding Challenges, Games, And Assessments

We know gaming isn’t time-wasting — rather, it’s an engaging way to learn and practice new concepts as you learn to code.

Use these online activities to sharpen your skills:

#32: CodeAbbey

CodeAbbey is a collection of beginner-to-advanced practice problems that allow you to earn certificates and hone your skills. Consider it a type of fun homework.

#33: Coderbyte

Choose a coding language and solve challenges; accompanying solutions and tutorials help you cement crucial programming skills with step-by-step instructions.

#34: CodinGame

Play virtual coding games (think: destroying enemy ships with code) that can teach you essential skills and get you noticed by companies.

#35: HackerEarth

Coding activities with purpose. Help solve real-world problems for businesses with innovative programming solutions while joining a community of coders working on improving their skills.

#36: HackerRank

Unearth your inner coding competitor and solve challenges while interacting on a leading recruitment site for companies (meaning, it’s a resume builder!)

#37: Codewars

A great resource to train yourself, collaborate with others, and create in a variety of programming languages.

#38: Exercism

The website promises to help you “Get really good at programming.”

Can’t argue with that.

Practice problems (mini-quests) for newbies and experts, tailored to your interests, whether you want to learn to code, increase fluency in your chosen language, or develop clean code. Just submit your solutions and get helpful feedback. Works through GitHub.

Books To Learn To Code

No dull, dusty textbooks here — these programming reads can provide you with useful reading material.

#39: The Self-Taught Programmer

The perfect manual for self-studiers, written by one of coding’s own amateur-turned-professional graduates. ($9.99 Kindle Book)

#40: A Data-Centric Introduction To Computing

Want to start at computer science 101 and build your skills from a foundation of computing basics? This is the book for you.

Read this free online book to get an intro course on all things comp sci.

#41: Software Engineering For Internet Applications

Writing lines of code is one thing. Software development—actually building functional software—is more complex. Check out this book that goes beyond computer programming and shares how to plan and develop actual software products.

#42: Foundations Of Data Science

If you were gripped by the likes of Python or SQL, you may be more interested in data science than purely writing code. This book eschews writing code and delves into the world of advanced data and mathematics.

#43: How To Learn To Code & Get A Developer Job

Written by Quincy Larson, the founder of FreeCodeCamp, this book bridges practical programming skills with applications in the real world. If your goal is to use your skills to start a new job or career in computer programming, this will help you get there!

Coding Mentors And Meetups

Want to meet with like-minded individuals? Find a mentor or coding event in your area.

#44: Reddit Programming Buddies

Virtual classified ads for programmers; identify programming comrades that match your unique skills and interests and collaborate on personalized projects.

#45: CodeNewbie

This social media site and community allows you to connect with others learning to code. Share progress, ask questions, and learn together.

#46: CodeBuddies

This is a large community of programmers who connect via Slack and organize study (screen-sharing) hangouts. Make your hangouts as unique as your project.

Bonus: Coding Podcasts

Load up your device with audio coding lessons and listen on your commute or during your workout. Once you’ve mastered the coding courses, perhaps you’ll even decide to start your own podcast.

#47: Coding Blocks

Shoptalk about development best practices relevant to a number of different programming languages.

#48: DevRadio

Though its last episode came out a few years ago, you can listen to Microsoft’s DevRadio, a by-developers, for-developers podcast with lots of software and programming info.

#49: Software Engineering Daily

Featured interviews with experts that touch on tech topics like mobile app development and developer testing.

#50: Developer Tea

A snackable-size podcast designed for busy schedules. Listen to quick bites on all kinds of developer-designed details.

#51: Programming Throwdown

A perfect podcast if you want a little taste of everything; each show covers a different programming language, so you can expand your coding knowledge with each episode.

#52: CodeNewbie

This weekly podcast features stories and useful lessons from other individuals who are on their self-taught programming path.

Cost: Free

#53: Learn To Code With Me

Laurence Bradford’s weekly podcast helps self-taught coders transition to the tech field with useful real-world examples and tips on developing marketable skills and enhancing your resume.

Bonus #2: Coding For Kids

Turns out, it’s never too soon to start introducing your tots to their first bytes.

#54: C++ for Kids (Code Babies)

This board book will introduce your infants to C++ programming fundamentals. Also, check out HTML for Babies and Javascript for Babies, all in conjunction with site Code Babies.

(Amazon, $9.19)

#55: CSFirst

This Google-backed project offers a range of free resources that introduce kids to coding and computer science concepts.

#56: Code.org Student

A youthful resource for finding online programming courses or local classes. Includes games and activities.

#57: MoonHack

A record-setting event for Code Club where kids ages 7 to 18 around the world join together to tackle projects. Participants can take on MoonHack’s recommended problem or their own idea (moon-themed, of course). According to its website, over the last six years, more than 150,000 kids have coded as part of Moonhack.

#58: Code Your Own Games!: 20 Games To Create With Scratch

Entice youth early to get involved in coding with this easy-to-follow (and super fun) visual guide that helps them learn to program their own games. Gaming + learning = win-win.

(Amazon, $11.69)

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The post Learn to Code With These (Mostly Free) Resources appeared first on Website Guides, Tips & Knowledge.

Hold on to your hats, WordPress fans! Hot on the heels of a successful WordPress 6.2 release in March of this year, the development cycle for WordPress 6.3 kicked off on April 25, 2023, with an eye toward a general release date of August 8, 2023.

The original proposal for WordPress 6.3, released on April 14, 2023, outlined several key areas of focus, including further full-site editing (FSE) enhancements, performance improvements, and accessibility upgrades. As always, the WordPress community sought volunteers to contribute their skills to various teams. Developers, designers, testers, and content creators were all encouraged to participate.

New Features in Detail

There are some truly exciting new features lined up, which were announced in the WordPress 6.3 Field Guide on the Make WordPress Core blog on July 18, 2023!

First up, WordPress 6.3 is introducing a Command Palette, a nifty feature akin to Spotlight (macOS) or PowerToys Run (Windows) for WordPress. It’s a big step towards getting you where you need to go in your dashboard with nothing more than a few keystrokes.

This feature will provide users with a quick and efficient way to access various WordPress functions and perform tasks without having to dig through menu after menu. By utilizing keyboard shortcuts and a search-style interface, users can find and execute commands, helping make their WordPress workflow more streamlined and productive than ever before.

Next, there are significant caching improvements across various components, targeted at enhancing the overall performance and speed of your websites. This means quicker loading times and a smoother user experience for both you and your visitors. Caching plays a crucial role in enhancing website performance by storing frequently accessed data temporarily, reducing the need to fetch the same information repeatedly from the database. These improvements should lead to faster page load times, reduced server load, and happier visitors.

In terms of media, WordPress 6.3 also promises to boost your media performance. This means quicker-loading images and other media for site visitors — keeping your audience engaged and reducing bounce rates.

By optimizing image loading and employing efficient compression techniques, site owners can expect quicker loading times for their visitors. This enhancement will not only contribute to better user engagement but also positively impact search engine rankings, as page speed is a crucial factor for SEO.

Another major step forward is the introduction of rollbacks for failed theme and plugin updates. So, a “bad” update of a plugin or theme — due to things like library incompatibilities or unknown bugs in new code — should no longer brick your site and send you scrambling to get it back up and running.

WordPress 6.3 will introduce a safeguard mechanism that prevents issues arising from most failed manual theme and plugin updates. In earlier versions of WordPress, a problematic update to a theme or plugin could potentially render a site nonfunctional.

The new rollback feature will automatically revert to the previously installed version of a theme or plugin should an update fail. This mitigates the risk of a “bad” update breaking the site. This enhancement hopes to provide peace of mind to website administrators, as they’ll now be able to confidently update themes and plugins without fearing catastrophic consequences.

The introduction of style revisions is another feature to look forward to. This allows you to roll your theme back to old site styles in just a click, providing you with the flexibility to experiment and change your site’s look without worry. This feature will be especially beneficial for users who frequently modify their website’s appearance and layout.

In case a user wants to revert to a previous design configuration, they can easily do so by selecting their revision from an easy-to-use timeline, avoiding the need to manually revert each change. The style revision history enhances the user experience and provides greater flexibility in managing the visual aspects of your WordPress site.

Last but not least, WordPress 6.3 includes significant accessibility updates. These enhancements aim to make WordPress more inclusive and easier to use for everyone.

Accessibility is a critical aspect of website development, ensuring that all users, regardless of their abilities, can access and navigate a site effectively. WordPress 6.3 will implement its accessibility updates to improve the platform’s compliance with accessibility standards. These updates include enhancements to ensure compatibility with assistive technologies, keyboard navigation improvements, and other features that enhance the overall accessibility of WordPress websites. By prioritizing accessibility, WordPress aims to create a more inclusive online environment for all users.

Overall, WordPress 6.3 promises to deliver significant usability and performance improvements, as well as enhance site security and accessibility, making it a highly anticipated release for the WordPress community.

A Busy Year

With WordPress 6.2 having been released on March 28, 2023, and WordPress 6.3 set for August 8, 2023, it’s safe to say that this year has already been a busy one for WordPress volunteer developers!

As reported in Make WordPress Core on April 14, 2023, the timeline for WordPress 6.3’s release has taken into account two major flagship WordPress events scheduled to take place this year: WordCamp Europe, which occurred in early June, and WordCamp US and the Community Summit in late August.

The developer teams hope to avoid having any major milestones like Beta 1 and RC1 conflict with the WordCamp gatherings, so they’ve proposed fitting the release process, from Beta 1 to the final WordPress 6.3 release, in a 10-week window between both WordCamps.

What’s more, regarding the Gutenberg release cadence, WordPress 6.3 is expected to bring over changes in the block editor from the Gutenberg plugin up to version 16.1, for a total of 10 Gutenberg releases since the release of WordPress 6.2.

Teamwork

In the April 14 proposal announcement on the Make WordPress Core blog, openings were announced for volunteers to lead a number of development teams: Release Coordinator, Core Tech Lead, Editor Tech Lead, Core Triage Lead, Editor Triage Lead, Documentation Lead, Marketing & Communications Lead, Test Lead, Design Lead, and Performance Lead.

Proposed Schedule

Looking Even Farther Out

Even though WordPress 6.3 is nearing completion but is yet to have its general release, the WordPress community is already thinking ahead to the release of WordPress 6.4 and a return to a historic point in the history of WordPress.

Version 6.4’s development will be led entirely by a team of women and nonbinary creators, which harkens back to the WordPress 5.6 release, “Simone.” The release squad will be open to anyone who identifies as a woman, nonbinary, or gender-expansive, but, of course, in keeping with the WordPress collaborative spirit, all contributions from anyone, regardless of how they identify themselves, will be welcomed.

The post WordPress 6.3 Nears August 8 General Release Date; New Features Detailed appeared first on Website Guides, Tips & Knowledge.

Fortunately, building your restaurant website using WordPress is pretty easy. This content management system allows you to design an online space that perfectly matches your brand, complete with menus and a booking form.

To make the process simple, we recommend choosing a pre-built theme. Not sure what you’re looking for? Here’s a generous serving of WordPress themes for your restaurant business and some tips on how to use them.

The Best WordPress Themes For Restaurant Websites

Whether you’re starting from scratch or aiming to refresh your current website, the following themes should help you promote your restaurant online in style:

1) Astra: Most Customizable Theme For Restaurant Websites

Although Astra wasn’t made specifically for restaurant websites, it comes with several starter templates that were designed with food establishments in mind.

These templates allow you to showcase your food via slick image lightboxes and carousels. They also cater to booking systems, so your diners can reserve a table with ease.

The underlying theme is fast to load and easy to customize without code. It works nicely with most page builders, and you have plenty of theme options to play with.

Key Features:

• Multiple restaurant starter templates with customization options
• Support for most reservation plugins
• Fast to load and SEO-friendly

Pricing: Basic version is free; Extended pro version starts at $59/yr. Also available on a lifetime basis for $299.

2) Jevelin: Best Multipurpose Theme For Restaurant Websites

With over 40 pre-made starter templates and 50 styled elements, Jevelin is a premium theme that gives you plenty of creative control. Just as importantly, it has built-in features that will appeal to restaurant owners.

Slider Revolution is part of the package, meaning you can design beautiful slideshows for your homepage. Native support for Contact Form 7 gives you the option to build a DIY reservation system, and support for WooCommerce allows you to process orders online.

Although Jevelin is not specifically aimed at restaurant owners, the crisp and modern design will work well for all eateries.

Key Features:

• Wide selection of starter sites and pre-styled elements
• Drag-and-drop editing
• Crisp design, with plenty of customization options

Pricing: One-time purchase of $59, including 6 months of support.

3) Rosa 2: Most Stylish WordPress Restaurant Theme

Designed specifically for restaurants, Rosa 2 is a mighty stylish theme. Parallax scrolling effects provide a healthy dose of visual polish, and you can choose from a range of eye-catching fonts.

In fact, you can customize almost everything about this theme. That’s because the design is made up of individual blocks, each of which can be adapted to your preferences.

For instance, Rosa 2 has a ready-made menu block that you can drop in anywhere. It also provides deep support for online ordering systems via WooCommerce.

Key Features:

• Parallax scrolling effects and branding options
• Block-based editor with restaurant-specific elements
• Support for e-commerce via WooCommerce add-on

Pricing: Free Lite version; Main theme is priced at €75/yr (~$82). WooCommerce add-on is priced at €15 (~$16).

4) Osteria: Best Café And Bistro WordPress Theme

If your business offers a more casual dining experience, Osteria might be a better fit. As with Rosa, this theme provides eye-catching scrolling effects, a choice of over 600 fonts, and support for WooCommerce.

Another key feature here is the built-in reservation system. This allows diners to book a table on any device. In fact, the whole design is responsive, so it works nicely on phones, tablets, and computers.

Strong SEO and good loading speeds complete the package.

Key Features:

• Scrolling effects, plus color and font customization
• Reservation system and support for online orders
• Responsive, SEO-friendly, and fast to load

Pricing: Starts at €115/yr (~$125); WooCommerce add-on is €15 (~$16).

5) Restaurant Food Delivery: Best Theme For Takeout Restaurants

Not all restaurants fit in the fine-dining niche. If your business is more like a casual outfit rather than a tuxedo, the Restaurant Food Delivery theme could serve you well.

It’s not as fancy as some other themes on this list, but your food takes the limelight. Using the default layout, any visitor can start browsing your menu right on the homepage.

In addition, you can set up an ordering system with this theme because it provides full support for WooCommerce and Contact Form 7.

Key Features:

• Homepage menu with category tabs
• Built-in sliders and over 100 fonts to choose from
• Works with WooCommerce, Contact Form 7, and Elementor

Pricing: Free basic version; Main theme starts at $49.

6) Foodica: Best Restaurant Theme For Food Blogging

Writing about food, produce, and your process can be an effective way to promote your restaurant online. If you decide to go down this route, consider using Foodica.

Aimed primarily at food bloggers, this theme delivers your content with stylish fonts and plenty of white space. The minimalist, magazine-like design includes a homepage carousel, 10 preset color palettes, social media options, and full e-commerce support.

This is not a theme for the hard sell, but it does provide all the ingredients for a successful restaurant website.

Key Features:

• Clean, magazine-type design with color and font options
• Social media and e-commerce integrations
• Built-in recipe display feature

Pricing: Free limited version; main theme from €69/yr (~$75).

7) Auberge: Best WordPress Theme For Restaurant Menus

With Auberge, your menu takes center stage. This theme works in harmony with the Jetpack menu builder, allowing you to showcase all your dishes in neat sections.

We like the default homepage design, too. Along with a nice big cover image, you can add a brief description of your establishment, your opening hours, and your phone number.

Auberge also combines with the Restaurant Reservations plugin to provide a slick table booking system. In addition, with the paid version of this theme, you can build the perfect layout via Beaver Builder.

Key Features:

• Full support for Jetpack menus and the Restaurant Reservations plugin
• Smart frontpage design that includes opening hours and contact details
• Works with Beaver Builder

Pricing: Free basic version; Main theme is $44 as a one-time purchase.

8) FoodHunt: Best Page Builder Theme For Restaurant Websites

The default layout of FoodHunt is easy on the eye. There’s nothing too fancy here, but the design is clean and modern. This theme stands out in the many ways it can be customized.

For a start, FoodHunt works with every major page builder you can think of. That means you can craft your own layouts from scratch. The theme also offers a whole heap of built-in customization options for colors, fonts, and widgets.

Key Features:

• Works with Gutenberg, Beaver Builder, Brizy, Elementor, and SiteOrigin
• Two starter templates and loads of customization options
• Excellent performance and SEO-friendly

Pricing: Free basic version; Pro version with full feature list starts at $69 with a year of support.

9) Tamarind Restaurant: Best Theme For Fine Dining Restaurants

When you offer a fine dining experience, it’s important to show the quality of your menu. Tamarind Restaurant is a theme well-suited to this task.

The design of this theme is classy and fresh, with multiple menu styles to choose from and plenty of places for imagery. Revolution Slider is included, and you can choose from several homepage templates.

Tamarind Restaurant is based on a page builder, so you can create your layouts as you please. In addition, support for OpenTable and Contact Forms 7 makes it easy to take reservations.

Key Features:

• Classy, fresh design with multiple menu styles
• Page builder and slider features included
• Take bookings via OpenTable and Contact Forms 7

Pricing: One-time purchase of $59, including 6 months of support.

10) Appetizer: Best Theme For Attracting Reservations

With a punchy default color scheme and fun animations, Appetizer is a theme that will work best for restaurants with a distinctive character. It’s the online equivalent of an upmarket burger joint.

What we particularly like about this theme is that it encourages visitors to reserve a table. It has a CTA built into the front page slider, and this button links to a booking form page.

Of course, this is just the default template. The pro version of Appetizer provides plenty of latitude for changing things up.

Key Features:

• Bold, punchy design featuring animated elements
• Front page slider featuring booking CTA
• Pre-styled menu and online store sections

Pricing: Free basic theme; Pro license is priced at $59.

11) Ristorante: Most Creative WordPress Theme For Restaurants

Want to stand out from the crowd? Ristorante is an elegant, shape-shifting theme that allows you to build a truly unique online brand.

The theme is built in sections, which you can rearrange using the supplied page builder. There are six different layouts for food menus, and you can split dishes into visual categories.

WooCommerce support allows you to take orders online and sell gift cards, and Ristorante even offers event management tools so you can host special dine-in evenings.

Key Features:

• Elegant design with page builder customization
• 6 menu layouts and templates for individual dishes
• Event management and e-commerce support

Pricing: One-time purchase of $39, including 6 months of support.

12) Resca: Best WordPress Theme For Table Booking 

A great restaurant website should put your food on display and encourage visitors to make a table booking. Resca covers both angles but particularly excels when it comes to reservations.

You have two options here: take bookings via OpenTable, or through the built-in reservation form. The former even allows people to book on behalf of others and earn points in the OpenTable loyalty program.

On other fronts, Resca provides a stylish parallax effect and extensive WooCommerce support.

Key Features:

• Two table booking options, menu display plugin
• Three layouts with parallax scrolling
• Support for OpenTable and WooCommerce

Pricing: One-time purchase of $44, including 6 months of support.

13) Eatery: Best Responsive Theme For Restaurant Websites

Most of the themes on this list follow the principles of responsive design — that is, they can adapt to various display sizes. Eatery is a theme that implements this idea spectacularly well.

On desktop, the theme has a side-mounted menu and a full-size image background. On mobile devices, the layout condenses into a neat single column.

All the other key features you would expect are present and accounted for. Visitors can view menus, make reservations, and sign up for your events.

Key Features:

• Responsive design with 5 preset styles
• Customizable menu templates
• Event management and reservation systems

Pricing: One-time purchase of $59, including 6 months of support.

14) Foxeresto: Best One-Page WordPress Restaurant Theme

In many cases, a good one-page website will perform better than a cluttered design with many individual pages, and the Foxeresto theme was designed for this purpose.

The default design is made up of multiple sections, including areas that highlight your specials, your regular menu items, and customer reviews. A simple booking form allows you to take reservations, and the theme includes a couple of gallery styles for showing off your dishes.

Because Foxeresto is built upon the WPBakery Page Builder, you can rearrange all the sections above to suit your needs.

Key Features:

• One-page design with multiple sections
• Booking form, online menu, and galleries
• Drag-and-drop editing via page builder

Pricing: One-time $69 purchase, including 6 months of support.

15) Ekko: Best One-Click Restaurant Theme

For owners with limited time, Ekko provides a neat shortcut for creating an online presence. This multi-purpose theme has a one-click restaurant website template that matches up against any dedicated theme.

The two demo sites we really enjoy are Pizza and Restaurant. The former is best suited to pizzerias, while the latter delivers the kind of slick presentation that would be a good fit for any dining venue.

There’s plenty of functionality here, too. Ekko helps you show off your menus, customer reviews, and dining events with minimalistic flair.

Key Features:

• Multiple full-site templates
• Highly customizable
• Over 200 pre-styled blocks to play with

Pricing: One-time $59 purchase, including 6 months of support.

16) Cinnamon Restaurant: Restaurant Theme With The Most Stylish Menus

Cinnamon Restaurant is the “sister” theme of Tamarind Restaurant. Both offer a similar range of features in a slightly different package.

What differentiates this theme is the way it handles menus. You’ll have seven different layouts to choose from, including image grids and accordion-style categories.

Away from the food, Cinnamon allows you to accept reservations and online delivery orders and create events. It’s also pretty easy to adapt because it is based on a page builder.

Key Features:

• 7 food menu layouts
• Supports reservations, online orders, and event management
• Page builder with customization options

Pricing: One-time $59 purchase, including 6 months of support.

17) Restaurant And Cafe: Best Free Lightweight Theme

If your budget is tight, Restaurant and Cafe is a theme worth your attention.

The free version of this theme covers all the basics, including a simple menu section and a reservation system. Better still, you can set up your own store via WooCommerce integration. To reiterate, this is all available for free.

Of course, the pro version offers plenty more. With a paid upgrade, you get predefined pages, various header styles, and a choice of 600 fonts.

Key Features:

• Solid free version with menus and reservation form
• Responsive design
• Pro version adds pre-styled pages and customization options

Pricing: Free basic version; Pro version from $59.

18) GloriaFood: Best Free Restaurant Theme

Who would have thought that the best free restaurant theme would come from cloud computing giant, Oracle?

GloriaFood rivals many premium themes in terms of both design and features. The basic layout is clean and uncluttered, with customization options and widget areas to grab visitors’ attention.

Better still, this theme is designed to work with Oracle’s own plug-and-play ordering system. This allows you to take unlimited orders and table reservations with no commission, and you can track your takings via the companion mobile app.

Key Features:

• Free theme with built-in customizer
• Works with plugin for online ordering and reservations
• Syncs with mobile restaurant app

Pricing: Free

19) Cookery: Best Theme For Restaurant Marketing

It’s worth remembering that creating a website is only the first step towards promoting your restaurant. Building a successful food business involves attracting new customers and keeping loyal diners.

Cookery is a theme to help with marketing tasks. It has built-in sections to promote your Instagram and your newsletter, including an email sign-up form.

The pro version comes with some interesting extras, such as pages for promoting your own recipe books and cooking courses.

Key Features:

• Sections for promoting your newsletter and Instagram
• Support for various sliders, landing pages, and sidebars
• Pre-styled pages for courses, recipes, and books.

Pricing: Free basic edition; Full theme starts at $59.

20) Zakra: Best Restaurant Theme For Performance

Zakra is another one of those multi-purpose themes that can be adapted to anyone’s specific needs. The Restaurant starter template is the area to focus on here.

The design is super elegant, with floral flourishes instead of regular separators, and appealing layouts. It has spaces for the menu, testimonials from your customers, and a gallery for foodie photos.

In addition to this visual appeal, Zakra offers exceptional performance. The underlying code is clean and optimized, meaning load times are under one second.

Key Features:

• Elegant, responsive design with customization options
• Sections for menus, testimonials, photos, and newsletter sign-up
• AMP-ready and excellent performance

Pricing: The underlying Zakra theme comes free with extended premium versions. Paid options start at $69/yr. Restaurant starter template is free.

21) Foodoholic: Best Minimalist Restaurant Theme

The best restaurant websites make food the center of attention — and that’s exactly what you get with Foodoholic.

This minimalist theme puts your best dish in the spotlight, along with links to your content and a personal profile. Other sections include a full-width menu and a neat block for showcasing testimonials.

The free version of Foodoholic is stacked with features, but you get more customization options when you upgrade.

Key Features:

• Clean, minimalist design with an eye-catching banner
• Sections for menus, chef profiles, blog posts, and reviews
• Customizable layouts, header, footer, and more

Pricing: Free basic version; Pro version from $59.99/yr.

22) Lzrestaurant: Best Theme For Casual Dining Restaurants

The big and bold design of the Lzrestaurant theme lends itself to casual dining brands. It’s not down-market, but the vibe here is definitely sneakers and hoodies rather than dress shoes and a jacket.

Lzrestaurant allows you to put a reservation form right on your home page. You can also display your menu categories with photos and show your venue in a video.

The newsletter sign-up section is another area of strength. Here, you can offer a discount to people who subscribe, and there’s a field for accepting coupon codes.

Key Features:

• Vibrant, eye-catching style with theme options
• Sections for menus, testimonials, videos, and subscription
• Works with WooCommerce

Pricing: Free basic version; Full theme is priced at $59.

23) Yummy: Best Photo Theme For Restaurants

It’s often said that diners eat with their eyes as much as their taste buds. Yummy is a theme that takes this idea to heart.

This theme hits you with loads of photos, from the full-screen header slideshow to the beautiful parallax backgrounds. It even has space for a couple of decorative images in the characterful menu section.

The free version of this theme covers the essentials. Meanwhile, the pro version introduces multiple-page templates and extensive customization options.

Key Features:

• Image-rich design with parallax scrolling
• Advanced customization
• Support for WooCommerce

Pricing:  Free basic version; Full theme is priced at $59.

24) Giardino: Best WordPress Theme For Italian Restaurants

Own an Italian restaurant? Whether you’re in downtown New York or the backstreets of Bologna, the Giardino theme should fit perfectly.

With a muted green color scheme and plenty of white space, this theme looks best when you load the front page with pizza and pasta. The default fonts add a sense of rustic authenticity, and you even have space to add profiles of your staff.

Under the hood, this theme is designed with a page builder plugin, so you can rearrange the elements as you see fit.

Key Features:

• Specifically made for Italian restaurants
• Page builder design
• High-end, clean design

Pricing: One-time $69 purchase, including 6 months of support.

25) Delicio: Best WooCommerce Restaurant Theme

Our final recommended theme is Delicio, which is an excellent choice if you’re planning to set up online ordering with WooCommerce.

You have two options: use the basic plugin or create an advanced ordering system using a premium WooCommerce add-on. Either way, your diners get a very stylish user experience.

Delicio can also handle OpenTable bookings, and it has a slick front page with multiple pre-made sections to choose from.

Key Features:

• Deep WooCommerce support for online ordering
• Reservation forms that sync with OpenTable
• Customizable, responsive design

Pricing: From €69/yr (~$75).

How To Create Your Restaurant Website With WordPress

The list above should hopefully provide plenty of inspiration about the design of your restaurant website, but how exactly do you set it all up? If you’re still a bit shaky on the answer, here’s a quick five-step process to follow:

1) Choose Your Domain Name And Web Host

Choosing a web host is the first crucial step in getting your restaurant website up and running. Your host is where all your data, files, and media will be stored and maintained.

There are a few things to consider when choosing your host. Consider what you are likely to need in the first year of running your site, and look at what each provider has to offer.

Some key areas to focus on include:

• Security: A website crash on a Friday night can mean losing business if your customers want to book a weekend lunch. Make sure to review the security features of potential web hosts to see what protection they offer. Backup and restoration options are a good place to start.
• Software: If you need to get your restaurant site online fast, partnering with a host that offers easy software options can be a big help. Find out whether your host offers one-click installation and optimization features.
• Support: Web hosts typically offer increasing levels of support as you upgrade to higher-tier plans. You’ll want to decide whether you need 24/7 expert support or if you can wait a little while for a ticket to be answered.
• Extras: You might find that choosing between several high-quality web hosts is hard. If that’s the case, you can closely examine what extras each host offers. If you know you could benefit from premium themes, pre-installed e-commerce options, or site builders, reviewing these options might be a good way to break a tie.

While deciding what type of hosting you need, keep in mind that here at DreamHost, we offer a wide range of WordPress plans to choose from.

Once you have a host picked out, you get to decide on a name for your new website.

Some best practices might be helpful in this process. While .com is still the most recognized and respected top-level domain, there are many other options. The most important thing is to make sure your domain is short and memorable.

Remember, your hosting plan might come with extra goodies. For example, some hosts offer free add-ons. Here at DreamHost, we’re excited to be able to provide access to a handy site builder tool.

To get started, you’ll need to select WP Website Builder as an option during checkout of your DreamHost plan purchase. Then, we’ll automatically install WordPress and premium website builder plugins for WordPress (Inspirations and Page & Post Builder), built by our friends at BoldGrid.

2) Install a Dedicated Restaurant Theme

Once you choose a host and set up your site with its domain name, you can start thinking about website design.

If you want to get up and running quickly, the list above should provide plenty of inspiration. All you need to do is download your chosen theme and upload it to your site under Appearance > Themes > Add New.

Another option is using WP Website Builder, our built-in site designer. This tool lets you create the perfect website via drag-and-drop controls. Alternatively, you can import a ready-made template with a couple of clicks. Check out the Restaurant category for a selection of suitable designs.

3) Select Plugins To Expand Your Site’s Feature Set

While WP Website Builder includes several plugins to help create and improve your restaurant site, you might want to explore a few other tools, as well. Plugins, true to their name, plug right in to your WordPress site and theme to extend their existing options.

Whether you plan on offering new menu items every week, only on holidays, or whenever you feel like it, plugins can help you manage those changes. Additionally, other plugins can help you develop an online reservation system or organize in-house events.

One plugin to check out is Five Star Restaurant Reservations.

This solution is packed with features to help you manage all aspects of taking online reservations and table bookings. You can accept, reject, or block reservations as needed. Additionally, you can set up specific user roles for your staff and send notifications to customers.

4) Create Engaging Content

Once you have your design in place, you’ll want to solidify the content strategy for your restaurant.

Whether you choose to feature blog content, exciting menus, or just pictures of your tasty-looking food, WordPress has you covered. Even the rotisserie giant Boston Market uses WordPress for its restaurant website.

There are several ways to publish content with WordPress, including various options within the WordPress Edit Post area. Additionally, you can check out a plugin like WP Scheduled Posts.

This tool can help you create an editorial calendar to keep your blog fresh and up to date. That way, you won’t have to worry about forgetting to post a timely article or showcasing outdated content.

Once you establish your approach to content, you might want to turn to social media channels to spread the news about your new website.

5) Build An Email List

Building up a loyal clientele can take some time. Creating the opportunity for potential customers to sign up for an email list can be a smart strategy.

Creating an email list for your restaurant gives you a direct link to your customers. You can send menu announcements, hours-of-operation updates, and discount offers.

There are a lot of great marketing tools. Mailchimp is a popular email newsletter and list management service. You’ll need to create a free account, and then a plugin that can connect your site to this service instantly.

With Mailchimp, you can fully integrate your WordPress site with your email marketing campaigns. That way, you can bring in as many new patrons as possible.

How To Set Up Curbside Pickup And Delivery

For many restaurants, curbside pickup and delivery are good ways to make some extra money on a busy weekend.

While you can use third-party platforms to handle online orders, setting up a system on your own website is much more cost-efficient in the long run.

The easiest way to achieve this is by adding WooCommerce to your WordPress site. This plugin is free and very powerful. Here’s how to set it up for online food orders:

1) Configure A Local Shipping Zone

• In your WordPress dashboard, go to WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping
• Click on Add Shipping Zone
• Name the shipping zone descriptively and select your region
• Opt to limit to specific ZIP/postcodes for accurate service area mapping
• Remember to save your changes

2) Enable Local Pickup As A Shipping Option

• Still on your local shipping zone page, click Add shipping method
• Select Local Pickup from the dropdown and click Add shipping method

Note: For a more customized pickup setup, consider the Local Pickup Plus WooCommerce extension.

3) Add A Flat Rate Shipping Option For Local Delivery

• Next, add a second shipping option: Flat Rate.
• Click Edit and change the method title to Local Delivery, optionally adding a delivery fee.
• Click on Save changes

Note: Both ‘Local Pickup’ and ‘Local Delivery’ will now appear at checkout.

4) Install ‘Order Delivery Date For WooCommerce’ Plugin To Manage Requests

• Install and activate the Order Delivery Date for WooCommerce plugin
• In your WordPress dashboard, go to Order Delivery Date
• Select the checkbox next to Enable Delivery Date capture on the checkout page
• Choose which days you’re available for delivery
• Set the minimum number of hours you need to prepare an order for delivery
• Specify how many days in advance customers can schedule an order
• Select the checkbox next to Selection of the delivery date on the checkout page will become mandatory
• Set the maximum number of deliveries you can handle per day
• Enable default sorting of orders by delivery date for the WooCommerce Orders page
• Remember to save your changes

And that’s it! You’re ready to become the local takeout place that everyone talks about.

Launch Your Restaurant Website Today With DreamHost

The restaurant business can be competitive. Along with tasty food and creative dishes, customers are looking for an experience that often goes beyond the time they spend in your physical establishment. Creating a standout restaurant website design can help them feel more connected to your business and keep them coming back for more.

Here at DreamHost, we want you to be able to put your energy into making delicious meals and not worry about whether your website maintenance and support is taken care of.

That’s why we offer complete WordPress hosting solutions, now served with a side of our premium website builder tools, so you can focus on making Instagram-worthy food!

WordPress + DreamHost

Our automatic updates and strong security defenses take server management off your hands so you can focus on creating a great website.

Check Out Plans

The post Order Up! Here Are 25 WordPress Themes Perfect For Your Restaurant Website appeared first on Website Guides, Tips & Knowledge.

If you’re looking to start an online business – and make some cash in the process – there’s no better place to start than your own skills, hobbies, and passions. If you have a talent for art, that can be your chance to start an online empire – or at least make a few extra bucks.

Many people sell digital art on the web, but because there are so many ways to do so, it can be an intimidating space for a beginner. But fear not! Our guide below covers everything you need to know about how to sell digital art online. All you need to do is what you do best: create art.

Let’s get started!

What Kinds Of Digital Art Can You Sell?

No matter what type of digital art you create, you can probably sell it online. Some common and popular digital art styles that are found in online marketplaces and e-commerce sites include:

• 2D artwork, like photography, illustrations, digital paintings, vector art, pixel art, and concept art for video games and movies. This can even be physical art that gets scanned or recreated in digital form.
• 3D artwork, which can include computer graphics, mixed media, and architectural models, and more.
• Animation, which can be used in video production, presentations, or even in interactive media like video games.
• Branding kits, which can include logos, fonts, website designs, and other graphic design assets businesses use to build their brands online.
• Design templates, If you have a knack for design, selling templates for websites, presentations, business cards, social media posts, and other uses can be quite profitable.
• Fonts and typography, which can be used for branding or web design.
• NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, which have emerged as a popular way for artists to sell their digital art. This can include any type of digital art, but it’s commonly used for unique or limited-edition pieces.
• VR and AR art, like social media filters, immersive experiences, or digital objects.

Can You Make A Profit Selling Digital Art Online?

Yes! Online art sales were estimated to generate $13.6 billion in 2021, up from $7.9 billion in 2020. More and more people are buying art online, so it’s definitely possible to make a profit selling digital art – and many people do! But it can take significant effort, skill, marketing acumen, and often, a little bit of luck.

Below are some tips and strategies you can use to maximize your profits.

• Develop your skills – As the old saying goes, practice makes perfect! To sell your art, it needs to be high quality. That means spending time practicing your craft and developing your unique style, which will help you stand out and create a following.
• Know your market – Different types of art sell better on different platforms. Research to understand what types of art are popular in your chosen marketplace (more on that further down).
• Market and promote your art – Just uploading your art and hoping buyers will find it is not enough. Use social media, email newsletters, and other marketing strategies to promote your work. It’s also a good idea to build a strong brand and consistent portfolio. Having a cohesive look and feel to your work can make you more recognizable and professional to potential buyers.
• Diversify your income – As we’ll explore in more detail below, there are tons of ways to sell digital art. Don’t limit yourself, or you risk limiting your profits! Consider selling different types of products, such as art prints, t-shirts, or digital downloads, and offering services like custom commissions or tutorials. You can also sell your work on multiple platforms to reach a wider audience.
• Take good care of your customers – When you provide top-tier customer service and treat your customers well, they’re more likely to become repeat customers and refer others to you. Respond quickly to questions from potential buyers, work hard to resolve issues, and deliver high-quality products on time.
• Take advantage of new technologies – For example, NFTs can allow artists to sell their work for higher prices than traditional digital prints. However, keep in mind that trends in technology can be volatile and speculative–NFTs are already on their way out, according to some experts.

How Do I Know If My Art Will Sell?

Well, you don’t. To be perfectly honest, the art market can be unpredictable and subjective. But you can up the odds by practicing as much as possible to make high-quality works of art, having a unique style that sets you apart from other artists, and selling your art in many different forms that appeal to different audiences. Marketing can also help you find the right audiences to love and appreciate your work.

What sells often isn’t just the artwork itself but the story and personality behind it. Building a strong personal brand and connecting with your audience can play a significant role in your commercial success. Always continue learning, experimenting, and refining your craft, and don’t be discouraged by initial slow sales–it can take time to find your market and hit your stride.

How Much Should I Charge?

Pricing your digital art can be a tricky process, and there are a lot of variables to consider. Here are some factors that might influence how much you should charge:

• Time spent – Consider the time you spent creating the artwork. What would be a reasonable hourly rate for your work? This can be a helpful starting point.
• Your skill level – Artists with a high level of skill or years of experience can generally charge more for their work.
• Costs – If there are any costs involved in creating the artwork, such as software subscriptions or hardware, these should be factored into the price.
• Market rates – Research what other artists with similar styles and experience levels are charging for comparable work. This can give you an idea of what customers might be willing to pay.

Safety Tips For Selling Digital Artworks Online

There are some potential dangers associated with selling digital art (or any other product) online. Some main risks to watch out for are scams, theft, and privacy concerns. Here are some tips to protect yourself.

To protect yourself from scams:

• Be aware of common scams, such as chargebacks or buyers asking to use unusual payment methods. If something seems suspicious, it’s best to err on the side of caution.
• Use a secure, trusted payment platform to handle transactions. This protects both you and your customers.
• Clearly state your terms of service on your website or platform. This should include your policies on refunds, exchanges, and personal use policies (i.e., what the buyer is allowed to do with your art).
• Keep records of all your sales and interactions with customers. This can be useful in case of disputes or for tax purposes.

To protect yourself from theft:

• Watermark all your original art. A watermark can discourage people from stealing your images because it makes it harder for them to be used without permission. It doesn’t have to be large or obtrusive, just enough to protect your work.
• Use mockups or low-resolution images as previews. When displaying your work online, lower-resolution images are suitable for viewing but not for printing. This will further deter theft.
• Include a copyright notice on your website and on the image itself if possible. This reminds people that your work is protected by law.
• Always keep backups of your original files. If your website or the platform you sell on were ever to crash or be hacked, you wouldn’t lose your original work.

To protect your privacy and personal data:

• Be cautious about how much personal information you share online. Never give out more information than necessary.

5 Ways To Sell Digital Art Online

Digital artists have many ways they can sell their art online, though in some cases, they may be limited by exactly what type of art they create. Below, you’ll find some of the most common ways creators sell their digital art – but know that this isn’t a comprehensive list, and there are many other ways to sell, especially if you have a particular niche type of art that appeals to a specific community.

1. Set Up An Online Store

Setting up an online store can be labor-intensive and time-consuming, but it’s still a great choice, especially for artists who have digital products to sell as downloadables, like digital art prints.

There are some ways you can save time and effort in setting up an online store – for example, instead of creating your website from scratch, you can use a website builder like Wix or WordPress, then install an e-commerce plugin like WooCommerce to start selling your art.

Or you can save even more time by setting up a page on an existing online marketplace, like Shopify or Etsy. You can even do a combination of these to reach a wider audience – you can build your website and still have an Etsy shop to capture potential buyers searching Etsy for products like yours.

Selling digital art through an online store can be a good option for artists who have a large body of work they want to sell, as well as those who want to reach a global audience. It’s also a good option for artists who prefer to create work at their own pace.

2. Offer Commissions

Offering commissions means you create custom artwork for clients based on their specific requests. Here’s how the process works:

1. You use your website, social media, and other channels to let people know you’re open for commissions.
2. When someone is interested in commissioning you, they’ll contact you to discuss what they want. You’ll need to discuss details like the subject, style, size, timeline, and price.
3. Once you’ve agreed on the basics, you can formalize the agreement. This should include a contract outlining the terms of the commission, including payment terms, timelines, what happens if the client isn’t satisfied, etc.
4. After the terms are set, you can start working on the commission. You can provide progress updates to the client, and they may want to request changes or revisions.
5. Once the artwork is completed and the client is satisfied, you deliver the final digital files.

Taking commissions can be a good option for artists who enjoy working on custom projects and interacting directly with clients. It can also be a good option for artists specializing in a specific type of art that is in demand for custom work, such as portraits, branding, or concept art for video games and films.

3. Sell Your Art As NFTs

NFTs burst onto the digital art scene in 2014 but rose in popularity in 2020 and 2021 after a few high-profile (and high-value) NFT sales. Selling your art as NFTs involves creating unique tokens on a blockchain that represent ownership of a specific piece of digital art. You’ll create your art, just like you already do, but then, it needs to be “minted,” meaning you create a new token on the blockchain that represents your art. This usually involves uploading your artwork to an NFT marketplace, adding metadata about the artwork (like its name, description, and your name as the artist), and paying a fee in cryptocurrency.

You can then list your NFT for sale, selling it at a fixed price or auction style, where it goes to the highest bidder. When someone buys your NFT, the token that represents your artwork is transferred to their digital wallet. This transaction is recorded on the blockchain, providing a permanent record of the sale.

Selling art as NFTs can be a good option for digital artists interested in exploring new technology and who want to sell their work in a marketplace that allows for unique ownership. It’s also attractive to artists who create work that can benefit from being tied to a blockchain, such as digital art that’s interactive or that changes over time.

4. Sell Canvas Prints And Decor

Selling digital art as physical products such as canvas prints, wall art, posters, cards, stickers, and other decor items involves turning your digital creations into tangible items that people can put on display.

You’ll need to partner with a printing company to turn your digital art into physical products. You can choose to work with a local printer or use an online service. Some online services, like Society6 or Redbubble, also handle sales and shipping for you. Then, you need to upload your art, choose the products you want to offer, set your prices, and write product descriptions.

Selling digital art as physical products can be a good option for artists who want to reach a wider audience. While some people are comfortable buying digital art, many others prefer to have a physical item they can display. It’s also a good option for artists who create work that lends itself well to being displayed on physical products, such as illustrations, typography, or graphic designs.

5. Sell Merchandise

Selling digital art as merchandise means turning your digital creations into products like T-shirts, mugs, stickers, phone cases, notebooks, planners, and more. For this, many artists use Print-On-Demand services (POD) like Redbubble, Society6, or Printify. These platforms handle the printing and shipping of products, making the process more accessible and manageable.

To get started, you just need to choose the products you’ll want to offer, and the options are basically limitless – anything that can display a printable version of your art could conceivably work. Then you can set up your store and start selling!

Artists who already have a following may find selling merchandise particularly profitable since fans are often eager to support their favorite creators. Artists whose work translates well onto merchandise (think bold, striking designs or trendy themes) may also be successful with this approach.

How To Sell Digital Art Online: A Step-By-Step Guide

So you’re ready to turn your artistic passion into an art business? The tips you’ve learned in this guide will help you with the next steps: Establishing yourself online and selling some art!

1. Make Your Art!

First things first, let your creativity flow! Whether it’s digital paintings, vector art, or 3D models, create something you’re passionate about and others would love to see on their digital or physical walls.

2. Prepare Your Digital Files

Done with creating? Fabulous! Now it’s time to make sure your art is ready for the online marketplace.

For digital downloads, save your artwork in a high-resolution, universally accepted format like JPEG or PNG. If you’re selling prints or merch, ensure your work is high enough resolution to look sharp and vibrant when printed. Also, consider creating appealing previews or thumbnails of your work to make it as eye-catching as possible to anyone browsing your site.

3. Choose A Selling Platform

We’ve already covered a lot of platforms in this guide. You can choose just one, or you can use several at once – it all just depends on how much time and effort you want to put into selling your art and the types of people you want to reach. Remember, if you want to reach a large audience, using multiple platforms is the way to go.

Whether you build your own website, create a page or storefront in an online art market, create NFTs, or turn your art into merchandise, this step will take some time – there’s comparing different platforms, deciding how hands-on (or off) you want to be, and whether your business model supports passive income through POD services, or custom commissions where you’re involved at every step.

4. Upload Your Art

This step is like hanging your art in a virtual gallery. Ensure each piece is presented in its best light with high-quality images and thumbnails. Write engaging and clear descriptions, and consider adding fun details – you can talk about your inspiration, process, or the story behind the piece. Don’t forget to price your work! Consider your time, effort, and the going rate for similar works when setting prices.

5. Market Yourself

Lastly, you’re not just selling your art – you’re selling a story, YOUR story. So, unleash your inner influencer and tell people about you and your work.

Use social media platforms, start a blog or a newsletter, collaborate with other artists, or take part in online communities. Show behind-the-scenes of your work, share your successes (and your flops – everyone loves an artist who’s real!), and engage with your followers.

If your art is niche or appeals to a particular target audience, go where that audience tends to “hang out” online, like certain websites or communities. You may also want to invest in search engine optimization (SEO) for your website or storefront, which will help people find you on search engines when looking for specific search terms related to your art.

Final Thoughts

Deciding how to sell your digital art online is kind of like the act of creating art itself – there are infinite paths you can take and no real way to know which is best. But the tips in this guide should help give you some clarity on the best ways to turn your passion into a money-making endeavor. Good luck!

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The post How To Sell Digital Art Online (Quick Start Guide) appeared first on Website Guides, Tips & Knowledge.

WordPress is an excellent, secure platform out of the box, but there’s certainly more you can (and should!) do to keep your site safe from malicious intent. Many of these security enhancements are easy to implement and can be performed manually in mere minutes. Others simply require installing a particular plugin.

In this article, I’ll guide you through 20 different strategies for upping the defenses on your WordPress fortress. But first, let’s go a little further into why website security should matter to you.

Why WordPress Security Is So Important

Choosing WordPress as your platform is an excellent way to start when you’re trying to create a site. It’s not only a flexible, powerful platform for building websites — it’s also remarkably secure as is.

But of course, no platform can be 100% secure, and there are many reasons to be concerned about the security of your WordPress site:

• Popularity – WordPress powers a huge portion of all the websites on the internet, making it a prime target for cybercriminals. Its widespread usage makes it an attractive platform to exploit vulnerabilities and gain unauthorized access to websites.
• Vulnerabilities – As with any software, WordPress is not immune to vulnerabilities. Hackers constantly search for vulnerabilities in WordPress themes, plugins, and core software. Exploiting them can lead to unauthorized access, data breaches, defacement, or even complete control of a website.
• Data breaches – WordPress websites often store sensitive user information, like email addresses, passwords, and personal data. A security breach can expose this confidential data, leading to identity theft, financial loss, or even legal consequences (yikes!).
• SEO impact – A compromised WordPress site can be used for malicious activities, like hosting malware, redirecting visitors to harmful websites, or sending spam emails. Search engines may flag and penalize such websites, leading to a significant drop in rankings and organic traffic once you regain control of your site.
• Reputation and trust – If a WordPress website is compromised and used for malicious purposes, it can severely damage the site owner’s reputation and erode user trust. Think of an e-commerce store, for example. If the store can’t commit to keeping shoppers’ personal data safe, people just won’t shop there (and who can blame them?).
• Downtime and financial loss – A hacked site can experience extended downtime while the website owner works to resolve the security breach. In turn, downtime can result in lost business, decreased revenue, and additional expenses for recovery and restoration.

Given these risks, investing in WordPress security measures is essential to protect your website and its users’ data. Ideally, you should put just as much time and effort into security as you spent designing your site in the first place (if not more). Fortunately for you, dear reader, there are lots of simple, quick ways to improve your site’s security, as well as some more complex techniques you may want to employ — and below, we’re covering them all.

Top WordPress Security Vulnerabilities

As the saying goes, know thy enemy. Before we dive into our security tips, let’s learn more about the security vulnerabilities you need to protect your WordPress site from.

• Outdated software, themes, and plugins – Using outdated versions of WordPress, themes, or plugins can leave your site vulnerable to known security flaws.
• Weak usernames and passwords – Weak login credentials make it easier for hackers to access your site. Avoid using common usernames like “admin” and choose strong, unique passwords that include a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols.
• Brute force attacks – Brute force attacks involve repeated attempts to guess your login credentials. You can prevent them by limiting login attempts and using two-factor authorization (more on that later in this article).
• Cross-site scripting (XSS) – XSS vulnerabilities happen when malicious scripts are injected into web pages, potentially compromising users’ browsers or session data. Many security plugins have features to prevent XSS.
• Malware infections – Malware can be injected into your site through vulnerabilities, infected themes or plugins, or compromised files. To avoid malware, don’t install plugins without checking into their reputation first. And regular malware scanning can catch infections before they have the chance to wreak havoc on your site.
• Backdoors – A backdoor is a hidden entry point in a website that allows unauthorized access even after security measures are in place. Backdoors can be created by malicious actors or accidentally introduced through compromised themes, plugins, or weak security practices. Once a backdoor is established, it can grant unauthorized access to an attacker, who can then manipulate the site, steal data, or perform other malicious activities without the website owner’s knowledge.

Implementing security plugins and other best practices can protect your site from these vulnerabilities. So without further ado, let’s get to what you’re here for: actionable WordPress security tips and how to put them into practice.

20 WordPress Security Tips

Hopefully, I’ve convinced you about the importance of maintaining a secure WordPress website. If not, I’m going to have to re-enroll in Persuasive Writing 101. Please don’t make me do that.

Throughout the rest of this article, I’ll introduce 20 strategies (along with some of the best WordPress security plugins) for making your site safer from some of the most common and dangerous security vulnerabilities. You don’t have to implement every suggestion on this list (although you certainly can!), but the more steps you take to secure your site, the lower your chances of encountering a disaster down the road.

1. Use A Quality Host

You can think of your web host as your website’s street on the Internet — it’s the place where your site “lives.” And like a good school district matters to your kid’s future (so they say; I turned out fine), the quality of your website’s home base counts in a lot of big ways.

A solid hosting provider can impact how well your site performs, how reliable it is, how large it can grow, and even how it ranks in search engines. The best hosts offer a variety of useful features, excellent support, and a service tailored to your chosen platform.

As you’ve probably already guessed, your web host can also have a significant impact on your site’s security. There are several security benefits to choosing from the best hosting companies.

How Web Hosting Can Improve WordPress Security:

• A quality host will constantly update its service, software, and tools to respond to the latest threats and eliminate potential security breaches.
• Web hosts often offer various targeted security features, such as SSL/TLS certificates and DDoS protection. You should also get access to a Web Application Firewall (WAF), which will help monitor and block serious threats to your site.
• Your web host will most likely provide a way to back up your site (in some cases, even carrying out real-time backups for you), so if you’re hacked, you can easily revert to a stable, previous version.
• If your host offers reliable, 24/7 support, you’ll always have someone to help you out if you do run into a security-related issue.

This list should give you a good starting point to work from when looking for a host for your new site. You’ll want to find one that offers all of the features and functionality you’ll need, plus has a reputation for reliability and excellent performance.

DreamPress is a managed WordPress hosting service that’s fast, reliable, scalable, and, of course, secure. DreamPress includes a pre-installed SSL/TLS certificate and provides a dedicated WAF designed with rules built to protect WordPress sites and block hacking attempts. With your hosting plan, you’ll also get automated backups, 24/7 support from WordPress experts, and Jetpack Premium — a plugin that can add many additional security features to your site — at no additional cost.

With DreamPress, you’ll be able to rest easy knowing that your site is protected. Our hosting service even takes care of many of the other security-enhancing steps on this list — although we still encourage you to read on to learn what extra measures you can take to protect your site.

2. Register Your Domain Privately

To register a domain, you’re asked to provide your name, address, and phone number. This information is used to track ownership of domain names and can be found online with a quick search on the WHOIS directory.

While keeping track of this information is vital to the health of the internet, it’s reasonable not to want your personal information online. This is where Private Registration enters the story. When you register a domain with DreamHost (or another secure hosting platform, I guess), you have the option to substitute your personal information with the relevant data from the hosting platform — so looking up your domain on WHOIS shows DreamHost’s address and contact information instead of yours. You can even enable this security feature after your domain has already been registered!

3. Change Your Admin Username

When you first create your website, all shiny and new, you’re given a User Profile. At any time, you can go back and change your Nickname or fill in your Full Name, but to change your username is a different story — you will need to create a whole new user and grant that account the administrator role. The drawback? You need to use a different email address than the one used by your current account.

You can then alter your username by creating a new user, giving it the administrator role, attributing all your content to it, and deleting your original account. When your previous username has been deleted, you can change the email address of your new account if you desire.

4. Enable A Web Application Firewall

You’re probably familiar with the concept of a firewall — a program that helps to block all sorts of unwanted attacks on your site. Most likely, you have some kind of firewall on your computer. A Web Application Firewall (WAF) is simply a firewall designed specifically for websites. It can protect servers, specific websites, or entire groups of sites.

A WAF on your WordPress site will function as a barrier between your website and the rest of the web. A firewall monitors incoming activity, detects attacks, malware, and other unwanted events, and blocks anything it considers a risk from accessing your web server. #winning

You have many options for adding a WAF to your site (WordFence is a popular choice). But if you’ve opted for our DreamPress package, you can relax; you won’t need an additional firewall. DreamPress includes a built-in WAF that will monitor your site for threats and block malicious users and programs from gaining access. No action required on your part.

DreamHost also offers DreamShield, our in-house malware scanning service. When you enable DreamShield on your hosting account, we’ll scan your site weekly for malicious code. If we find anything suspicious, you’ll be notified immediately via email.

5. Implement Two-Factor Authentication

Two-factor authentication (which also goes by two-step authentication and a variety of other, similar names) refers to a two-step process you’ll need to follow when logging into your site. This takes a little more time and effort but goes a long way toward keeping hackers out.

Two-factor authentication involves using a smartphone or other device to verify your login. First, you’ll visit your WordPress site and enter your username and password as usual. A unique code will then be sent to your mobile device, which you must provide to finish logging in. This enables you to prove your identity by showing you have access to something solely yours — such as a particular phone or tablet.

As with many WordPress features, two-factor authentication is easy to add with a dedicated plugin. The Two Factor Authentication plugin is a solid choice — it’s created by reliable developers, compatible with Google Authenticator, and will enable you to add two-factor functionality to your site with no fuss.

Another choice is the Two-Factor plugin, which was built mainly by core WordPress developers and is well known for its reliability. As with any plugin in this category, it comes with a bit of a learning curve, but it will get the job done and is incredibly secure. If you’re willing to spend a little money, you can also check out Jetpack’s Clef-like premium solution.

Whatever route you choose, make sure to plan ahead with your team, since you’ll need to gather phone numbers and other information for all user accounts. With that, your login page is now secured and ready to go.

6. Be Mindful When Adding New Plugins And Themes

One of the best things about WordPress is the ready availability of plugins and themes for just about any need. With these handy tools, you can make your site look just right and add nearly any feature or functionality you can think of.

Not all plugins and themes are created equally, though.

Developers who aren’t careful or don’t have the right level of experience can create plugins that are unreliable or insecure — or just downright sucky. They might use poor coding practices that leave holes hackers can easily exploit or unknowingly interfere with crucial functionality.

This means you must be very careful about the themes and plugins you add to your site. Each one should be vetted to ensure it’s a solid option that won’t hurt your site or cause problems. Here’s how to select quality tools:

• Read reviews – Check user ratings and reviews to learn whether others have had a good experience with the plugin or theme.
• Developer support – Look at how recently the plugin or theme has been updated. If it’s been longer than six months, chances are it isn’t as secure as it could be.
• Easy does it – Install new plugins and themes one at a time, so if anything goes wrong, you’ll know what the cause was. Also, remember to back up your site before adding anything to it.
• Vetted sources – Get your plugins and themes from trustworthy sources, such as the WordPress.org Theme and Plugin Directories, ThemeForest and CodeCanyon, and reliable developer websites.

7. Regularly Update WordPress

Keeping WordPress up to date is one of the most important things you can do to secure your site. Smaller patches and security updates will be implemented automatically, but you may need to approve major updates independently (don’t worry, this is very simple to do). This probably goes without saying, but DreamHost handles these updates for you, so you don’t have to worry.

But your work isn’t done just because WordPress is up to date.

You’ll also need to regularly update your plugins, themes, and other WordPress installations to ensure they work well together and are secured against the latest threats. Fortunately, this is also pretty easy — simply go to your WordPress dashboard, look for the red notifications telling you there are themes or plugins with available updates, and click “Update Now” next to each one.

You can also update your plugins in a batch by selecting all of them and then hitting the update button, either here or in the WordPress panel.

8. Configure File Permissions

Let’s talk technical for a minute.

A lot of the information, data, and content on your WordPress site is stored in a series of folders and files on its back end. These are organized into a hierarchical structure, and each one is given a permissions level. The permissions on a WordPress file or folder determine who can view and edit it. They can be set to allow access to anyone, only you, or almost anything in between.

File permissions are represented by a three-digit number in WordPress, and each digit has a meaning. The first digit stands for an individual user (the site’s owner), the second digit for the group (for example, members of your site), and the third for everyone in the world. The number itself means that the user, group, or world:

• 0: Has no access to the file.
• 1: Can only execute the file.
• 2: Can edit the file.
• 3: Can edit and execute the file.
• 4: Can read the file.
• 5: Can read and execute the file.
• 6: Can read and edit the file.
• 7: Can read, edit, and execute the file.

So, for example, if a file is given a permissions level of 640 it means the primary user can read and edit the file, the group can read the file but not edit it, and the rest of the world cannot access it at all. It’s important to ensure that each person only has the level of access to your site’s files and folders you want them to have.

WordPress recommends setting folders to a permissions level of 755 and files to 644. You’re pretty safe sticking to these guidelines, although you can set up any combination you’d like. Just remember that it’s best not to give anyone more access than they absolutely need, especially to core files.

You should also keep in mind that your ideal permissions settings will depend somewhat on your hosting service, so you may want to find out what your host recommends.

Note: Be very careful when making changes to your permissions levels — choosing the wrong values (like the dreaded 777) can make your site inaccessible.

And while we’re on this subject, it’s important to note that WordPress comes with a built-in code editor that allows users to edit theme and plugin files right from the Admin Area. This is handy when you need it, but a big security risk if your site falls into the wrong hands. That’s why you should disable file editing with a plugin like Sucuri.

9. Keep WordPress Users To A Minimum

If you’re running your WordPress site solo, you don’t need to worry about this step. Just don’t give anyone else an account on your site, and you’ll be the only person who can make changes.

However, there are many reasons to add another user account to your site: You may want to let other authors contribute content, or you might need people to help edit content and manage your site. You may even have an entire team of users who regularly access your WordPress site and make their own changes.

This can be beneficial (or even necessary). However, it’s also a potential security risk.

The more people you let into your site, the higher the chance that someone will make a mistake, cause problems, or just be a putz. That’s why you should keep your site’s user count as low as possible without hampering its ability to grow. In particular, try to limit the number of administrators and other user roles with high privileges.

Here are a few other best practices:

• Limit each user to only what permissions are necessary for them to do their job.
• Encourage users to use strong passwords.
• Try to stick with one administrator and a small group of editors.
• Remove users who have left the site or no longer need access.
• Regularly log out idle users (the Inactive Logout plugin is great for this!).
• Consider downloading a plugin like Members, which provides a user interface for WordPress’ role and capabilities system.

10. Limit Login Attempts

Everyone forgets their password sometimes. But good news! By default, WordPress allows an unlimited number of guesses.

But is that really good news? Brute force attacks, or attacks where a hacker tries any number of passwords, are one of the most common ways hackers gain access to private accounts. With no limit on login attempts, a hacker or bot could try every password in the book with no consequences.

First, check your Web Access Firewall (WAF) to limit the number of login attempts a user can make. If your firewall is already set up, a limit will already be in place, but you can also use a separate plugin for that! Both Login Lockdown and Cerber Limit Login Attempts record the IP address and time stamp for each failed login attempt, let you limit the number of failed attempts allowed in a certain span of time, and lock out IP addresses that exceed the limit. Both plugins are free, but Login Lockdown is simpler and more beginner-friendly. If you require a more robust system, Cerber Limit Login Attempts is the way to go, allowing not only IP white/blacklisting, but also notifying admins if a certain number of lockouts is reached.

11. Track Your Admin Area Activity

If you have multiple users, keeping tabs on what they’re all doing on the site is a good idea. Tracking activity in your WordPress admin area will help you spot when other users are doing things they shouldn’t — and can help you spot when unauthorized users have gained access.

But you also need a tool to help you see who is behind different site activities — like when someone makes an unauthorized change or a suspicious new install. For that, you need another plugin. Simple History lives up to its name by creating a streamlined, easy-to-understand log of changes and events on your site.

For more comprehensive tracking features, check out WP Security Audit Log, which tracks just about everything that happens on your site and offers premium add-ons.

12. Password Protect Your Login Page

The login page is the most likely way for hackers to access your website, so protecting it is a great way to protect the rest of your site. This can be a bit technical, but it’s still worth learning. Use this tutorial to learn how to create an htaccess file and add a password prompt to your login page. A login for your login — what will they think of next?

And if you’re hosting content that not everyone needs to see, you can password protect other parts of your site. For blog posts and other pages, you can add password protection by going into pages >> all posts option. Click “edit,” and you’ll see the option to change the visibility to “Password Protected”. Just publish, and badabing-badaboom, that page is locked up tight!

13. Hide Your Login Page

Adding password protection to your login page is great, but even better is if hackers can’t even find it. Changing your wp-admin and wp-login pages is easy and helps deter hackers who can easily find your login page if you leave default settings in place.

There are several plugins that can redirect the default login page to another page of your choosing. Many plugins offer this as part of a larger package (for example, Defender also includes a malware scanner and firewall). But if you’re looking for something simple, try WPS Hide Login, which just hides your login. Just don’t forget to bookmark your new login page so you can find it.

14. Update PHP

Just like America runs on Dunkin’ (don’t quote us there), WordPress runs on PHP. Updating WordPress isn’t enough to keep your site safe and secure — you need to make sure you’re using the latest version of PHP, too.

Normally, each PHP version is supported for at least two years after its release date, meaning vulnerabilities are addressed by the engineers who designed the code. When the code goes out of date (or reaches its EOL or “end of life”), it’s time to upgrade, or you risk being exposed to security concerns, performance slowdowns, and bugs galore.

To see which version of PHP you’re currently running, log in to your WordPress site, and select Tools >> Site Health. Navigate to Info and then Server, and view your current PHP version.

15. Secure Your WordPress Database

Leaving anything at the default settings is a boon for hackers, and by default, WordPress uses wp_ as the prefix for all of your related tables. Good news! If you’re using the One-Click Installer, you already have a prefix of random letters and numbers. As long as it ends with an underscore, the system is happy. Better News! Even if your WordPress is already installed, it may be eligible for the One-Click Installer as long as the site is fully hosted and meets a few other guidelines.

Just note that breaking something can be as easy as a missing underscore. Luckily, there is a default version of the wp-config.php file available at WordPress Core, so you can quickly and easily rebuild — whether you tried to change the database prefix manually, or with a service like phpMyAdmin.

16. Add Security Questions

Security questions are often overlooked, but they give extra oomph to your security. Depending on the plugin you choose, you’ll either choose from existing security questions or create your own.

17. Hide Your WordPress Version

Security through Obscurity — if they can’t find it, they can’t hack it!

Hide which version of WordPress you’re using (or hide that you’re using WordPress altogether) by altering the header code. If that sounds too technical, use a plugin like WPCode. Just make sure to alter the code and not just edit the display information in your theme settings — those snippets of code will only return during the next theme update.

18. Prevent Hotlinking

Hotlinking is the act of stealing bandwidth by using files hosted on one site and linking them to another. For example, let’s say someone draws a pretty clever comic, and some other website wants to feature it without permission. They could hotlink the comic instead of hosting it on their own servers, costing the original website more bandwidth, and therefore more money.

To prevent hotlinking, you can choose to reject certain domains, allow only certain domains, or remove the ability to hotlink altogether, all by making a few changes to your htaccess file. You can even include a snippet in your .htaccess file that routes all hotlinking attempts to a page or image of your choice — perhaps one that says, “Stop hotlinking, freeloader!”

19. DDoS Protection (Disable XML RPC)

A Distributed Denial of Service attack (or DDoS) is when a hacker uses multiple systems to send a huge volume of data and overwhelm their target. This can slow down and crash their target — imagine a huge traffic jam for your website where no legitimate traffic can get in.

We know that patience is hard to come by online, with the average user waiting only 3 seconds for a page to load before clicking away, so the sooner you can identify and resolve an attack on your website, the better.

While preventing a DDoS attack may seem daunting, one of the first steps you can take is to remove or disable any old or unutilized plugins. Plugins are incredibly handy, but by increasing functionality, they also have access to your website that can be exploited. For once, downloading more plugins is not the answer!

XML-RPC allows WordPress access through the app on your mobile device. If you don’t use your smartphone to make changes to your WordPress website, you likely don’t need this feature enabled. Turning it off involves adding a quick snippet of code to your htaccess file, and you’ll be all the safer for it.

20. Malware Scanning

Malware (short for malicious software) hides in what appears to be safe applications so that the user doesn’t know their computer or website has been infected.

Malware scanning is an important defense that works by using anti-malware software to identify and isolate suspicious files until you decide if they need to be removed. If a threat is detected, a good malware scanner will delete any trace of it from your computer ASAP. Luckily, several firewall plugins come with malware scanning built in, so make sure to check your security plugins to see what they offer.

If you have DreamHost as your hosting platform, you can activate DreamShield to handle weekly malware scanning for you.

WordPress Security: Locking It Up

If your website is hacked, you’ll spend hours (perhaps even days) trying to repair the damage. You may permanently lose data or see your personal information compromised — or worse: your clients’ data.

That’s why you have to put enough time and energy into making sure your site is secure. Otherwise, you just risk losing valuable business and precious time.

These WordPress security tips should help. Some are simple tweaks, while others affect your entire site. But if you’re looking for one impactful change you can make today to keep your site secure, make sure it runs on a secured WordPress host.

DreamPress hosting (with free WordPress migration) is specifically designed for the WordPress environment. Plus, if you ever do encounter a security issue, we’ve got you covered with automatic daily backups, a weekly malware scan, and our support team of WordPress experts! Ready to protect your site from threats and vulnerabilities? Learn more about DreamPress hosting today.

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The post Everything You Need To Know About WordPress Security (+20 Hardening Tips) appeared first on Website Guides, Tips & Knowledge.

Now, in some sort of hyper-shortened circle of life, artificial intelligence (AI) is here to gobble up our current understanding of that world-eating software and turn how we use technology on its head.

AI isn’t just reserved for generating those overly-fashionable, blurry-fingered pictures of the Pope anymore — there are very real professional applications.

In fact, the 2022 IBM Global AI Adoption Index found that a large majority of today’s businesses are either considering or already using AI in their day-to-day operations.

Whatever your level of experience with or understanding of artificial intelligence, it’s time for business owners and operators to consider all the ways in which AI can help with business performance.

Do that and more with this guide to all things business AI, including:

• The ins and outs of AI tooling
• What it is that makes AI tools so valuable for businesses
• Challenges to contemplate when it comes to adopting AI
• 19 of the top AI tools for enhancing content creation, customer experience, marketing, sales, and much more

What Are AI Tools?

In the scheme of things, AI is a somewhat broad term that describes a machine’s capacity for performing actions that are typically ascribed to human intelligence — Actions like reasoning, learning, generalizing, inferring, and getting better at all of the above over time.

Within the field of artificial intelligence exist many subsets that you may have heard of, such as machine learning (ML), natural language processing (NLP), large language models (LLMs), deep learning, neural networks, and more.

The business software tools we’ll list below all employ one or more of these AI methods to do things like automate processes and recognize patterns, which can make your business more impactful when pursuing personalization, creative endeavors, and even building out new technology.

Why Invest in AI Tools?

So AI tooling sounds rather interesting — but what are the actual business benefits of embedding smart new software into your well-oiled workflows?

First, AI offers a powerful solution for labor and skills shortages by applying automation that takes repetitive, simple tasks off employee plates. Nearly a third of IT folks report workers saving time thanks to AI implementation.

And, more than half of IT professionals in the same study said that applying AI improved their own IT processes as well as network performance.

Aside from improving internal business efficiencies, 48% of participants reported seeing better external experiences for customers as well. In fact, close to 40% of the larger companies surveyed were using AI to boost customer service agent efficiency, streamline discovering information/answers to commonly-asked questions, and create more customized consumer experiences.

With effectiveness increased across the board, it’s no wonder that 54% of organizations reported cost savings as one of the leading benefits of using AI to automate IT, business, and network processes.

Challenges When it Comes to AI Platforms

Alongside the advantages of AI, It’s also important to be aware of the pitfalls you may encounter.

The fact that humans can inadvertently build our biases into software is well documented. As such, one of the biggest challenges of working with AI is avoiding bias — which IBM found a shocking 74% of businesses admit they’re not working to reduce.

Then, there are the sometimes laughable and sometimes scarily subtle mistakes that AI-powered software will generate when attempting to create original content. Some professionals in the field will call these deviations “hallucinations” or even “delusions.” If a user doesn’t know to look out for these falsities, they can easily publish incorrect information, pursue ill-fitting leads, push undesired experiences on customers, and base important business decisions on bad data.

With both the benefits and a few cautionary notes in mind, it’s time to get to know all the ways in which you can roll mind-blowing AI tools into aspects of your business.

19 Best AI Tools to Upgrade Your Business (Across 9 Categories)

This list will guide you through several categories where AI tooling can help digital business owners and managers apply intelligence and automation to improve personalization, productivity, accuracy, creativity, and beyond.

Written Content

Let’s dive right in with the topic of the hour: generative AI.

Generative AI falls under machine learning. Tools in this category create new, original content based on the data sets they’re trained on.

The generative AI software we highlight in this section specializes in producing and optimizing quality written content for sales and marketing purposes.

ChatGPT

OpenAI created what’s probably the most well-known AI tool on the planet right now: ChatGPT.

GPT stands for Generative Pre-trained Transformers, a concept also introduced by OpenAI that gives ChatGPT its recognizable human-like tone. Behind the scenes, ChatGPT’s open API lets developers tap into its power, which is why it’s the engine behind so many content-generation tools today.

Simply give ChatGPT a request, question, or prompt and watch it instantly interact in a conversational manner. Content creators have used this AI writing tool to generate blog ideas, outlines, and first drafts; respond to emails; and even craft sales outreach messaging for various channels based on basic information about leads.

Pricing: At the time of writing, GPT-3.5 is free via the web or mobile app (you do have to sign in). Or, for the most powerful and accurate version currently available, access GPT-4 via a $20/month subscription to ChatGPT Plus.

Acrolinx

Acrolinx is enterprise-focused content governance software that ensures you aren’t creating just any content but consistent, quality content that moves the needle in marketing and customer support while still maintaining great user experiences regarding in-product content.

Why focus on generating quality content rather than quick content? Because if you want your content to show up where most people consume it every day — that’s on Google — then it needs to meet the search engine’s ever-growing quality assurance standards.

One standout feature is AI Enrich for Acrolinx, a language model that Acrolinx users can train with their own content. This makes for content that’s already accurate, high quality, and ready for search engine optimization (learn more about SEO here) right out of the gate.

Pricing: You’ll have to contact the Acrolinx team for package information and pricing.

Video and Image Generation

Without any artistic training, it can be difficult to develop ideas for (and then actually create) graphics that help draw readers to your quality content. So, let’s see some applications that will help round out your content.

DALL-E

DALL-E, also from OpenAI, is a tool that instantly spins up original graphics based on text input. You can also upload graphics you already have and ask the tool to create different versions of them.

One of the most interesting things about input-based AI generation tools like DALL-E and ChatGPT is how much the output can vary based on your wording and level of detail. For example, “photorealistic image of a group of people” vs. “abstract painting of a group of people” will get you two very different AI images that work in very different contexts.

We find it most helpful to use DALL-E and similar tools to give us ideas on how to visualize concepts we can only describe. It’s also beneficial for putting a new spin on an existing graphic to make it unique — especially when you find yourself creating a lot of content on similar topics and the creativity well is running dry.

Pricing: The current version, DALL-E 2, is available via the web once you sign up, and usage is based on a credit system – 115 credits for $15.

Stable Diffusion

Stable Diffusion is a text-to-image tool from StabilityAI. It works very similarly to DALL-E, where you input text to generate graphics. Stable Diffusion focuses on privacy, the freedom to create any type of AI art you want, and providing open-source technology that helps democratize and diversify the world of AI.

Additional features include the Prompt Generator to help you come up with requests that make your results better, ControlNet to can annotate graphics to help the software create even more accurate output, and Visual ChatGPT that connects ChatGPT with other AI models so you can use it to create graphics.

Pricing: All of Stable Diffusion’s features are currently free to use and available via their website — No signup needed!

InVideo 

Creating video content can certainly be daunting, but the AI video platform InVideo features a text-to-video capability to help you turn those YouTube and podcast scripts into animated clips in no time. You can type in prompts or import an already-written article to get the video generator started—layer in audio by recording a voiceover or using InVideo’s text-to-speech feature.

If you aren’t already using video to engage social media followers, get your unique brand voice across, or offer shoppers a deeper look into your offerings — InVideo’s video editing is a great place to get started.

Pricing: Try InVideo for free, or sign up for an unlimited plan for $30/month when billed annually.

Design

Admit it, you’ve definitely wasted days with free online design tools, trying to string together boilerplate resources to create brand materials and even designs for your website or app that look custom. We know we have.

It’s time we all saved some time with AI design tools that will help you come up with custom, creative, and on-brand design assets.

Looka 

With Looka, it all starts at the logo.

Input your company name, industry, brand colors, and styles you like, and let its AI program generate personalized, high-resolution logo options. Then, plug your new logo into Looka’s Brand Kit to design marketing materials, including business cards, clothing, social media templates, and more that all use your new signature font, colors, and styling.

Pricing: Looka’s pricing is hard to find, we only stumbled across it while trying to download a test logo we made. The basic logo package starts at $20 for a single, low-resolution file. A Brand Kit subscription will run $96/year. For $192/year, you can access Brand Kit as well as an AI-generated website.

Uizard

Uizard applies AI to help users create design mockups from text prompts, scans of hand-drawn wireframes, and even screenshots of other apps or websites. The final product is a clickable prototype that you can use to test drive the customer experience and even send to other stakeholders to give everyone a real feel for the final product.

What we love about Uizard is how it bridges the gap between designers and developers and business owners who may not know how to communicate what they want to see from their app, website, or landing page. Just scribble it out on paper, and the team on the other end can use Uizard to build a realistic starting point from which to collaborate.

Pricing: Signup is required, then you can use Uizard for free for two projects and ten free templates per month. Currently, pro and business plans run $12/creator/month and $39/creator/month annually, respectively. Custom enterprise pricing is also available.

App Building

Now that we’re getting into the swing of AI tooling, let’s go a step beyond designing the look and layout of our digital properties. Here’s how everyday business folks can apply some ingenious software to build the apps of their dreams.

Mendix

Mendix is a platform that brings together machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT) technology, and other artificial intelligence tooling to help users create mobile and web applications via a drag-and-drop user interface, templates, and pre-built components.

Thanks to their enterprise focus, Mendix apps are built to scale, handle complex features, integrate with practically every tool in your tech stack, and work across any channel.

Plus, with AI-powered process automation, built-in project management, collaborative digital workspaces, and some of the strongest security in the low-code app-building game — Mendix is a good fit for modern distributed teams and growing businesses that already have or may soon require complex solutions down the road.

Keep in mind that since Mendix is a low-code platform and not a no-code one, some interaction with code is required. Extensive documentation, demonstrations, a community of users and contributors, and a training academy will help anyone willing to do a little learning to spin up a powerful platform.

Pricing: It’s free to sign up and try Mendix. After that, packages start at $60/month, and a custom, premium tier is also available.

Glide

Glide takes a unique approach to helping businesses build mobile and web apps. Simply upload your spreadsheets into the app’s backend, and it will automatically create a basic app using your real data. Then, dive in and take advantage of pre-built templates and components to drag and drop all the necessary features into place.

With the OpenAI integration, you can add functionality to your app that will empower users to dig into the data and documents to find buried information in seconds. This makes Glide an ideal fit for creating internal tooling, like a customer relationship management (CRM) platform, field sales application, customer support ticket tracker, employee directory, and so on.

Pricing: Starting with Glide is free, and business plans go for $249/month. Contact the company for details on an enterprise package.

Customer Experience

In an age of digitally-native competitors, online interactions, and fast-growing inflation — customer experience often beats out offerings and pricing as one of the last true ways to differentiate your brand.

If you’re ready to create some mind-blowing customer interactions, try the following outside-the-box solutions.

Tidio

Chatbots, digital programs that converse with humans via text, provide an opportunity to address customer concerns and catch shopper attention at the right moment — without having your support team on call around the clock.

Tidio is a chatbot platform that goes a step further by applying AI. This tech offers personalized discounts and unique product or service recommendations based on what it has learned about each consumer from their chat content, purchases, browsing and search history, and on-site behavior.

Integrate Tidio with your marketing platforms and add it anywhere your customers interact — your website, Facebook Messenger, etc. — to create a personalized end-to-end experience that makes customers happier and support teams more productive.

Pricing: Sign up and get started with Tidio for free, then pay up to $29/month for the AI chatbot package or $394/month for Tidio+. Tidio also offers bundles, add-ons, and personalized plans.

Poplar.Studio

Imagine how much happier buyers would be with products – and how much you could cut down on support and return costs – if they could visualize them in real life.

That’s what Poplar.Studio offers by helping e-commerce businesses create 3D and augmented reality (AR) content that enables shoppers to “try” items on their home turf. Additionally, you can apply that same AI technology to build creative marketing campaigns that immerse consumers in an experience and build awareness and a following around your offerings.

Because of the complexity of creating AR and 3D content, we thought it best to recommend more of an agency instead of a standalone tool for your first foray into building truly interactive customer experiences.

Pricing: Pricing appears to be done on a per-project basis. Contact Poplar.Studio or sign up and create a project brief to get a better idea of cost.

Hiring

Biases don’t just sneak their way into AI algorithms, bias is also a recognized problem in the hiring space.

Luckily, there are companies out there who are using AI to not only make hiring teams more effective but also less biased at the same time, increasing equity and balance across the workforce. Here are just a few.

HireVue
With the help of AI, HireVue’s platform automates the processes behind recruiting, interviewing, assessing, and hiring to ensure it’s “faster, fairer, and more flexible.”

Along with a commitment to security, scalability, and integrability with applicant tracking systems (ATSs) and calendars — HireVue’s most impressive feature in our eyes is the one that helps folks in a position of hiring make unbiased decisions.

With HireVue, you can create scalable, structured interviews that ensure every candidate is asked the same questions. Then, HireVue applies AI to create transcriptions and help analyze responses. This system reduces instances of bias that can easily arise when interviewers are left to make up their own questions and draw their conclusions off the cuff.

Pricing: Pricing is not readily available on the HireVue website, but a demo can be requested.

Textio

Now we have a recruiting tool that’s purpose-built to stop the biases that happen in business language — Textio.

Textio has created a cutting-edge system that uses AI to analyze workplace content. It highlights where possibly biased language is hiding, tells you how it may impact certain readers, and offers suggestions to help you better nail the tone you’re going for.

The Textio platform was originally created to help businesses get more inclusive in their recruiting content, but it’s since expanded to help managers keep their language more equitable after the hiring process when it comes to performance management.

Pricing: We found when we went to request a demo that an annual Textio subscription starts at $15K, with discounts available if you sign on for more than a year. In our experience, this pricing isn’t uncommon in the hiring space. Of course, at this price, this product may be best for either large organizations or smaller ones making a big push toward hiring a great team.

Productivity

One of the hard truths of being a business owner or manager is that much of your day is spent in meetings. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with meetings as long as they serve a purpose, but when scheduled and handled traditionally, they do have a way of breaking up the flow of your day and often create more work. That’s why we want to call out the tools in this section that apply AI to make meetings more productive through smart scheduling and note management.

TimeHero

TimeHero goes beyond simply telling you how long it took to do a task by applying AI to create a custom workday plan that helps you get more done.

Connect your calendars to automatically pull in meetings and then manually add tasks, projects, and due dates in natural language to have TimeHero create a schedule in real time that makes sense for your habits and your life. Track your time using TimeHero, and it’ll even create timesheets that compare actual vs. estimated time — making it more accurate, and you more productive, with every passing day.

Pricing: After a free trial, the annual basic plan is $4.60 per user, per month. The premium package runs $22 per user, per month. That’s pretty reasonable compared to the price of time-tracking software that doesn’t even include any automation.

Fireflies.ai

How annoying is it to take notes when you’re trying to pay attention in a meeting — or even worse, follow up on those notes afterward to figure out what the heck everyone was trying to say and what to do next?

If your answer is “very annoying,” same.

Fireflies.ai felt that same pain and set out to cure it with smart algorithms that record and transcribe meetings and then call out any action items, pending questions, and important metrics.

Those same notes can also be shared with other parties to add comments, pins, and reactions to eliminate unnecessary follow-up meetings.

Fireflies.ai includes CRM, communication, and task management platform integrations so you can automatically amend records, create tickets, and keep all the right folks in the conversation.

Pricing: Register to use Fireflies.ai for free on a limited basis. Business plans run $19/seat/month, annually. Contact the company for enterprise membership.

Sales

Sales is one of the most important places where owner-operators can spend their time and where business decision-makers should dedicate business resources.

That said, if those time and resources aren’t perfectly executed, at best, they’re wasted, and at worst, they’re directed toward the wrong leads and actions — failing to convert and maybe even scaring off high-probability prospects.

Put an end to mismanaged sales measures with the following AI sales software.

Gong

Gong connects with over 100 business tools to gain visibility into customer behavior in every possible direction — clicks, calls, emails, and so on. Using AI, the platform quickly processes these interactions to gain context and develop insights. Armed with this information, go-to-market (GTM) teams can promptly focus on the highest-value leads with the most personalized messaging possible to close deals.

Go a step further to use the deep business and sales understanding gained from Gong to accurately forecast revenue and coach your sales team.

Pricing: Gong pricing is based on team size, sales strategy, and other factors — so you’ll have to contact them for pricing information.

Reply

Reply is an end-to-end sales engagement platform where you can create a prospect list from its robust B2B database, automatically add meetings to your calendar, and engage Jason AI — an AI assistant that uses ChatGPT — to create cross-channel sequences and messages that guide leads through the sales funnel.

Pricing: For its sales engagement offering, you can sign up for free to Reply and enjoy a pretty good set of features. The professional plan ranges up to $90/user/month, and a custom package is also available.

Digital Marketing

Last but certainly not least, we have marketing, one of the final categories where AI has the potential to make a huge impact by increasing employee productivity, messaging effectiveness, and business performance.

Anyword

Bringing things full circle, we have another content-focused generative AI tool. But, this time, it’s performance content.

Anyword specializes in using data and AI to quickly write copy for ads, emails, landing pages, and everything else marketing.

Once you connect your website, social media, and other marketing channels to Anyword, the platform will combine your real-life stats with its data to provide thoughtful insights into what content performs the best. Continue to train the AI on your top content to help it create even more conversion-ready copy.

Pricing: Anyword features a free trial, starting at $39/ month when billed yearly. Request a demo to get info on custom pricing for high-volume usage.

Smartly.io

Okay, so you’ve used the last tool to create tons of informed and impactful marketing messaging. Now, you just need to get it all out there.

This is where Smartly.io comes in.

Use Smartly.io to publish and automate the management of all your various marketing and advertising campaigns across leading platforms like Google Ads, Meta, TikTok, etc. Using this same singular source of truth, you can also see all your cross-channel performance data and continually optimize marketing execution.

Pricing: Sign up for a demo to get information on cost.

Will AI Tooling be Your Next Business Investment?

Despite the (very valid) concerns over accuracy and unwitting biases, artificial intelligence does offer a lot of opportunities for businesses to solve labor shortages, close skill gaps, increase IT performance, create more engaging customer experiences, increase customer support efficiency, and generally cut costs across the board.

We have to say we’re excited to see where AI takes our world, and our businesses, in the coming years. If you’re also intrigued, stay tuned to the DreamHost blog where we’ll keep covering the AI news that impacts digital-focused companies large and small.

The post 19 AI Tools That Will Blow Your Mind (Free & Paid) appeared first on Website Guides, Tips & Knowledge.

The only question is, which ones should you install?

We created this epic guide to provide the answer. In the list below, we’re going to introduce the hundred best WordPress plugins known to humankind — including some exciting new entrants in the AI space.

The Best Website and Page Builder Plugins

There are thousands of great ready-made themes for WordPress, but if you want to make something truly unique, try working with these page builder plugins:

1) Essential Blocks

If you’re new to using page builders, Essential Blocks is a great starting point.

Designed to extend WordPress’ Gutenberg editor, this plugin gives you more than 40 pre-styled blocks to work with. Each block is customizable, and you can use them in both pages and posts. If that sounds like too much hard work, you can access 1,000 full-page templates through an add-on subscription.

Key Features:

• Extends Gutenberg editor
• Over 40 element blocks
• Responsive designs and fast to load

Pricing: Free; Pro license with extra blocks is $49 per site

2) Elementor

If you’re just starting your website, you can benefit from using a page builder plugin such as Elementor. This tool has a drag-and-drop editor to design your website’s appearance on the front end. You can also import pre-designed pages, blocks, and templates to speed up the creation process, and get creative with animations and motion effects.

Key Features:

• Over 40 free widgets
• Performance improvements with reduced CSS and JavaScript files
• Ready-to-go website kits and templates

Pricing: Free version with limited features; Elementor Pro starts at $59 per year

3) Beaver Builder

In comparison with many drag-and-drop page builders, Beaver Builder uses “clean” code that conforms to WordPress standards. This means your work will remain intact, even if you choose to remove the plugin later. You also get a good range of design elements to choose from, and a choice between visual and in-line editing.

Key Features: 

• Drag-and-drop editor that leaves behind “clean” code
• Responsive designs featuring over 30 elements
• Excellent loading speeds for a page builder

Pricing: Free Lite version with limited features; Premium plans start at $99 per year.

4) Spectra

Designed to work in tandem with the Gutenberg editor, Spectra serves up over 20 full website templates that work with the free Astra WordPress theme. If you prefer to take control yourself, you have a generous supply of stylish blocks to play with. What’s more, this free tool works nicely with various other plugins, including WooCommerce.

Key Features:

• Page builder plugin designed to extend Gutenberg
• Over 20 pre-made site designs that can be installed with a click
• Works with other plugins, including WooCommerce, LifterLMS, and more

Pricing: Free

5) Cornerstone

A relative newcomer, Cornerstone is a powerful theme builder that combines pre-styled elements with extensive options for design customization. Aimed at professionals and advanced WordPress users, this plugin offers an impressive array of tools, and it delivers excellent performance thanks to a lightweight codebase. Plus, it has great SEO features built in.

Key Features:

• Theme builder with element library and conditional logic
• Extensive design customization options
• Lightweight plugin that delivers “clean” semantic code

Pricing: $69 one-time fee, or available in a yearly subscription

6) Themify Builder

With 60 pre-made layouts and the same number of animation effects, Themify Builder is a page builder with plenty to offer. This plugin delivers the usual drag-and-drop editing experience, with plenty of modules and custom styling options. It hasn’t quite received the same level of admiration as other builders in this roundup, but it’s still a solid, free option.

Key Features:

• Drag-and-drop page builder with over 60 predesigned layouts
• Customizable responsive styling and adjustable columns
• Full revisions history

Pricing: Free

7) Otter Gutenberg Page Builder

Gutenberg is WordPress’ built-in editor for designing posts and pages. While it does have some pre-designed block patterns, it might have more limited functionality than you expect. Fortunately, the Otter Gutenberg Page Builder plugin extends the features of the Block Editor — without drastically slowing your load speeds.

Key Features:

• Many block types, including the Maps Block, Product Review Block, About Author Block, and more
• Over 50 different block templates
• Built-in responsive settings to control color, animation, and typography

Pricing: Free, with the Premium version providing extra features from ~$52 per year.

8) Getwid by MotoPress

When it comes to keeping your site up to date and adding new content, Getwid by Motopress can give your workflow a needed boost. This drag-and-drop builder system extends WordPress’ native block editor, allowing you to create content using predefined elements. This can be a huge timesaver, especially if you frequently add and customize blog posts, pages, or other content types.

Key Features:

• 40+ Gutenberg blocks to extend WordPress’ default library
• 35+ pre-built block templates you can use to create pages quickly
• Built-in toolset allows for quick editing of posts and pages

Pricing: Free basic version, which can be extended with premium add-ons. Get access to the full library of Motopress plugins with an annual membership, starting at $299 per year.

9) Responsive Menu

WordPress provides a flexible menu system out of the box. But if you’re looking for even more control, Responsive Menu lets you customize menus to your heart’s content. It serves up more than 150 options, covering text, fonts, colors, buttons, animations, background images, and custom logos.

Key Features:

• Provides more than 150 menu options that can be customized to your liking
• Lets you alter key elements of your menus, such as fonts, colors, sizes, and animations
• Offers various menu placements

Pricing: Free basic version; Advanced features start at $49 per year.

10) Slider Revolution

Slider Revolution is another popular plugin included in many premium WordPress themes. It helps you spruce up the design of your site with sliders and carousels that contain images, posts, videos, and other content. It’s particularly good for creating an eye-catching front page, and the plugin offers a dedicated editing tool for this task.

Key Features:

• Includes a visual, drag-and-drop page editor to simplify the design process
• Lets you add sliders, carousels, and hero scenes to your site
• Offers a front-page designer so that you can customize your home page

Pricing: Plans start at $35 per year.

Bonus: WP Website Builder by DreamHost

When you host your website with DreamHost, you get access to our powerful WordPress site builder.

This easy-to-use tool allows you to create the perfect layout for your site using drag-and-drop controls. Need some inspiration? Our library of over 200 full-site templates should help you get started. The WP Website Builder also offers valuable SEO recommendations, great content editing tools, and a handy quickstart wizard.

Key Features:

• Easy drag-and-drop editing of pages and posts, with loads of stylish elements to choose
• SEO recommendations to ensure your content ranks highly on search engines
• Over 200 full site templates, which you can install with a couple of clicks

Pricing: The website builder is included free with all our hosting plans, starting from just $2.59 per month.

The Best WordPress SEO Plugins

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a proven strategy to help your site rank higher in search engines such as Google and Bing. However, it can be challenging to remember its complicated rules and guidelines. These plugins can help make the process a whole lot easier:

11) Yoast SEO

Yoast SEO provides an easy way to hone in on keywords and customize how your posts appear on search engine results pages. To help optimize content, this plugin uses a simple traffic light system – A green light indicates that a post or page is good to go, while a yellow or red light means improvement is needed.

Key Features:

• Optimize your search engine results with titles, URLs, and meta descriptions
• Analyze your pages and posts and find areas for improvement
• Control which of your site pages are displayed in Google search results

Pricing: Core plugin is free; Premium costs $99 per year.

12) All in One SEO (AIOSEO)

With more than 3 million installs to date, AIOSEO is an incredibly popular SEO plugin. It provides a complete set of tools for optimizing your site, packaged in a clean interface. E-commerce and local SEO are strong points for this plugin, along with the beginner-friendly auditing features.

Key Features:

• Easy editing for meta titles, meta descriptions, and SEO keywords
• Schema markup, XML sitemaps, and Google Search Console tools
• Social media integrations

Pricing:  Lite version is free; Pro version with extended features starts at $124 per year.

13) SEO Plugin by Squirrly SEO

Boasting over 650 individual features, Squirrly SEO’s plugin is clearly very capable. However, there is one particular tool that gets us excited: the A.I. SEO consultant. This tool analyzes your site and provides step-by-step instructions on how to optimize it for search. It’s a great idea that can really help those of us with limited SEO knowledge.

Key Features: 

• Over 650 individual features for SEO
• AI-powered assistant provides task list for better optimization
• Keyword research tool that uses fresh data and unique algorithms

Pricing: All features are free with limited usage; Premium plans start at $29.99 per month.

14) SEOPress

Also joining the AI bandwagon is SEOPress. This on-site SEO plugin can create a good meta title and description for any page automatically, and it provides plenty of guidance for content creation. Tight integration with Google and Microsoft analytics allows you to gain key search insights, and SEOPress can even set alt text for images on your website.

Key Features:

• Content analysis covering unlimited keywords
• Automatically fills metadata and alt titles using AI
• Integrates with Google, Microsoft, IndexNow, and OpenGraph

Pricing: Free with core features; Pro version starts at $49 per year.

15) WPSSO

Providing structured data is essential for SEO because it helps search engines and other platforms index the content on your website. WPSSO is a plugin that makes it easy to create and format structured data for every major search engine and plenty of social media sites. It can optimize your images for various platforms, too.

Key Features:

• Creates structured data, optimized for a range of search engines and social media platforms
• Optimizes image sizing for various platforms
• Supports over 500 different schema types

Pricing: Core version is free; Premium features require a $59 one-time purchase. Free add-ons are also available.

16) Rank Math SEO

Billed as the “Swiss Army knife of WordPress SEO,” Rank Math is definitely versatile. One of the first SEO plugins to introduce AI features, this tool provides an intelligent writing assistant. As you compose posts and website copy, the plugin provides dynamic suggestions that should guide you toward the front page of Google.

Key Features:

• AI writing assistant that provides dynamic suggestions
• Smart link recommendations
• Support for 16 types of schema markups

Pricing: Free with basic features; Pro plans with extended features start at $59 per year.

17) The SEO Framework

If optimizing every pixel of your website sounds like hard work, The SEO Framework is worth your attention. This plugin comes preconfigured, and it can intelligently create important SEO meta tags for all of your content. If you’re willing to put in some effort, the plugin provides plenty of good advice. In fact, it follows Google’s best practices exactly.

Key Features:

• Intelligently creates meta tags in any language
• Color-coded overview helps you see which pages need improvement
• Notifies Google and Bing about site changes

Pricing: Free, with premium extensions available.

18) Redirection

When making changes to your website, you may accidentally create broken links. With Redirection, you can fix this issue by redirecting old content to a new URL. This plugin makes it easy to manage all your redirects in one place, even if you’re not familiar with the inner workings of Apache or Nginx.

Key Features:

• Track 404 errors and implement many redirect types
• Migrate old permalinks to a new structure
• Add HTTP headers to your website

Pricing: Free

19) WP 301 Redirects

A slightly more advanced tool, WP 301 Redirects helps you fix three common website errors: redirections, 404 errors, and bad outbound links. It’s really easy to use, and you get full control over redirects and error messages. You can even use it with localization plugins; keep scrolling to see our top picks.

Key Features:

• Create redirects for pages, posts, custom post types, and archives
• Works with translation plugins
• Bulk redirect management

Pricing: Core features are free; Pro license with extended features available on a one-time purchase, starting at $79.

20) Internal Link Juicer

Adding internal links within your content is vital if you want your content to turn up in search results. Inserting links manually can be a chore, but you can automate most of the process with Internal Link Juicer. This highly rated plugin finds suitable posts and pages that already exist on your site, and suggests adding a link when appropriate.

Key Features:

• Automatic link building based on your chosen keywords
• Customizable link output, including tags
• Appears on the post editor screen

Pricing: Free with all core features; Premium version with extended linking options is $69.99 per site.

The Best Security Plugins

Losing full control of your website is a nightmare scenario for any WordPress user. Thankfully, there are loads of great security plugins that can stop threats and reduce spam comments:

21) Akismet

Eradicating spam is crucial for securing your website, so it’s important to find tools that monitor comments and emails. Akismet is a plugin from Automattic (makers of WordPress) that filters malicious links and irrelevant content from your site by checking against a global, constantly maintained database. As a result, visitors to your site can enjoy your content without having to wade through the trolls and avoid virus-ridden links.

Key Features:

• Checks all comments on your site automatically and filters out potential spam
• Lets you review what’s been marked as spam so that you can correct the plugin if necessary
• Evaluates contact form submissions to ensure you receive legitimate responses

Pricing: Pay what you want for personal websites; Commercial licenses start at $9.95 per month.

22) Sucuri Security

Sucuri is a popular full-featured security plugin for WordPress. It offers a lot of great features, such as a comprehensive scanning module and easy-to-use monitoring tools. The plugin can even walk you through the recovery steps after an attack. The only key component missing here is a firewall, but we have no complaints, given that Sucuri is completely free.

Key Features:

• Offers continuous malware scanning
• Stops hacks and DDoS attacks immediately
• Provides help for accessing hacked websites

Pricing: Free

23) Jetpack

Jetpack was created by the WordPress developers at Automattic. Although it isn’t a dedicated security plugin, a number of its features can help to protect your site — such as the simple set-and-forget brute-force prevention module. On premium plans, you can also take advantage of malware scanning and automatic site backups to help protect you further.

Key Features:

• Prevents brute-force attacks from botnets and hackers
• Monitors your site for downtime and keeps you updated with notifications
• Provides automatic backups on higher-tiered plans

Pricing: Core features are free; Paid plans start at $5.95 per month, bundled with Akismet credits.

Related: Using Jetpack with DreamPress

24) IThemes Security

Yet another full-featured and popular plugin, iThemes Security is arguably the most comprehensive option on this list. The plugin is packed with features such as login URL obfuscation, a way to change your admin username, and a global dashboard restriction mode based on the time and date. In addition, the premium version includes advanced features such as malware scanning and a Google reCAPTCHA box.

Key Features:

• Ban the IP addresses of known attackers from your site
• Monitors your files to check for any unauthorized changes
• Limits the number of login attempts allowed to prevent brute force attacks

Pricing: Free, with Pro upgrade available for $99 per year.

25) WPS Hide Login 

Hackers using bots will often seek out sites using the default URLs, attacking those they find. To prevent this, WPS Hide Login allows you to change the standard WordPress login URL to a custom one. It’s a pretty simple tool, but it provides a valuable service.

Key Features:

• Provides an easy-to-use, simple interface
• Prevents brute force attacks by letting you change the default login URL
• Doesn’t add rewrite rules

Pricing: Free

26) BulletProof Security

BulletProof Security provides strong protection against SQL injections and other WordPress exploits. In addition, this plugin features a firewall that prevents malicious scripts from executing before they reach your WordPress core files. The premium version adds further features, such as suspicious activity alerts and greater protection against a wider range of threats.

Key Features:

• Enables you to perform full or partial database backups
• Prevents the occurrence of brute-force attacks
• Alerts you when suspected malicious activity affects your site

Pricing: Free, with extended features under a Pro license priced at $69.95.

27) All-In-One Security (AIOS)

Ideal for those who are less familiar with security settings, All-In-One Security (AIOS) makes it easy to defend your content. A simple meter on your dashboard scores the current security of your site. You can then use the wealth of features to shore up any holes in the armor. It has some excellent features around login security, as well.

Key Features:

• Password strength tool ensures you and your visitors are creating secure passwords
• Protects against brute force attacks with the Login Lockdown feature
• Offers one-click database backups, and firewall protection against Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)

Pricing: Core features are free; Premium plan (including malware scanning) starts at $70 per year.

28) Security Ninja

While some security tools bombard you with features, Security Ninja is a lean security plugin that gives you full control over what features you want to implement. The plugin’s main selling feature is the number of tests you can conduct — more than 50 with a single click. You also get a WordPress core file scanner and an event logger, plus you can schedule your scans.

Key Features:

• More than 50 security tests, including brute-force attacks and password strength tests
• Checks for vulnerabilities such as zero-day attacks
• Hides your WordPress version number to prevent hackers from exploiting vulnerabilities in older versions

Pricing: Free with core features; Pro plan with extended features is $39.99 per year, per site.

29) WP Hide & Security Enhancer

Some hackers search for old, vulnerable versions of WordPress, so it’s vital to keep yours up to date. With WP Hide & Security Enhancer, no one will even know you run a WordPress website! With this plugin activated, any WordPress-related identification within your HTML files will be removed or obfuscated without affecting your site’s functionality.

Key Features:

• Removes the WordPress version number.
• Blocks access to WordPress’ default core files.
• Doesn’t change your directory

Pricing: Free core version; Single-site license with full features is priced at $39.

30) Shield Security

Like many other plugins in this section, Shield Security acts as your website’s first line of defense. It only lets trusted, non-harmful traffic through while blocking other malicious traffic. To ensure its protection can’t be removed, the plugin requires an access key before any changes are made — a neat failsafe.

Key Features:

• Blocks malicious URLs and their requests, along with automated spambot comments
• Provides security against brute-force attacks via 2FA
• Instant bot blocking

Pricing: Free; Extra features available via premium upgrade, starting at $79 per year.

31) WordPress Security by CleanTalk

WordPress Security by CleanTalk is a simple plugin that mainly prevents brute-force attacks. If a user fails to log into WordPress, the Security Brute Force Firewall adds a short delay before you can try again. This stops constant attacks on the login screen. It’s a simple and effective way to keep many hackers at bay.

Key Features:

• Security firewall to filter access to your site by IP, networks, or countries
• Provides a daily security report sent to your email
• Sets a delay between login attempts to prevent brute-force attacks

Pricing: Free

32) miniOrange’s Google Authenticator

Our final plugin in this section handles a vital security feature: Two-Factor Authentication (2FA). This offers an additional layer of login protection by requiring login attempts to be verified via a trusted device. Google Authenticator is one of the best available 2FA solutions. The plugin is simple to use and is enabled via scanning a QR code using a mobile device.

Key Features:

• Log in to your site if you aren’t able to utilize 2FA
• Customize your own set of security questions
• Provides multiple login options

Pricing: Free; Enterprise upgrade available (user-based pricing)

33) WP Force SSL

If you haven’t yet heard about HTTPS and SSL, this is an important topic to read up on. In short, HTTPS is a way to encrypt your site’s data more securely, and SSL is a type of certificate that enables this technology to work properly. WP Force SSL is a plugin that redirects traffic toward the secure version of your site, utilizing both of these standards.

Key Features:

• Redirects traffic from the HTTP to the HTTPS version of your site
• Handles the redirection automatically after minimal setup
• Offers loads of security tests

Pricing: Free

The Best WordPress Lead Generation Plugins

Many people use WordPress to build business websites. If your aim is to generate interest in your product or services, these lead generation plugins should help you to engage with potential customers:

34) Contact Form by WPForms

Including a contact form directly on your site allows visitors to share their thoughts on your content or to sign up for your services. Contact Form by WPForms makes it really easy to create custom forms for such purposes. This plugin features a drag-and-drop interface, and several pre-built templates to speed up the process.

Key Features:

• Create and customize contact forms, and insert them into your WordPress pages and posts
• Makes it easy to add unique fields to your forms
• reCAPTCHA solution to combat form spam

Pricing: Free; Pro from $99 per year .

35) Popup Builder by OptinMonster

Want to build an email list? Popups by OptinMonster can help. This plugin lets you create custom opt-in forms and pop-ups that will attract the attention of visitors and encourage them to sign up. Every interaction with a pop-up form is tracked, and you can even set up A/B testing to find the most effective designs.

Key Features:

• Create and customize opt-in forms, with mobile-friendly templates to help get you started
• Build a variety of pop-up types, such as timed, scroll-triggered, and mobile-specific
• Provides testing tools to help you get the most out of your lead generation efforts

Pricing: Free to download, but most features require a premium subscription; Plans start at $16 per month.

36) Icegram Engage

Another plugin that can help you build great sign-up forms is Icegram Engage. The pop-ups and CTAs from this tool are a little more basic on the design side, but you still have a ton of customization options and loads of great templates to choose from. Just as importantly, Icegram Enage is secure and compliant with GDPR.

Key Features:

• Engage visitors with pop-ups, action bars, countdown timers, and more
• User behavior and exit intent targeting
• Over 100 base designs to choose from

Pricing: Free with basic features; Premium plans from $129 per year.

37) Icegram Express

Once you have built a subscriber list, you will need to create some content to send out to your audience. Part of the same suite of tools, Icegram Express allows you to send email newsletters and set up automated email updates from your WordPress Admin area. It also provides features for collecting, verifying, and analyzing new subscribers.

Key Features:

• Create and send custom newsletters from inside WordPress
• Automated updates when new WordPress blog posts are published
• Verify new signups and measure the performance of each email campaign

Pricing: Free with basic features; Premium plans from $129 per year.

38) Responsive Contact Form Builder & Lead Generation

It might not have the catchiest name, but Responsive Contact Form Builder & Lead Generation is a well-made plugin for creating custom forms. You get nine different field types to work with, various sizing and styling options, and plenty of premade designs. It works with page builders like Elementor and Gutenberg, and you can even set up autoresponders via the plugin.

Key Features:

• Create and customize forms, starting from scratch or from pre-built templates
• Lets you add custom fields and reorder them using a drag-and-drop system
• Offers multiple ways to receive and store lead information (such as through email and in a database)

Pricing: Free to use with core features; Pro version with extended options is priced at $49 per year.

39) Lead Call Buttons

While email and social media are great for lead generation, the Lead Call Buttons plugin adds special CTA buttons to the mobile version of your site, making it easy for people to call you with a single click. Alternatively, you can add a link to your address or allow people to schedule an appointment with a tap.

Key Features:

• Add Call Now, Map, and Schedule buttons to the mobile view of your website
• Provides options for customizing the look and functionality of your CTA buttons
• Includes the ability to track links

Pricing: Free

40) Easy Forms for MailChimp

MailChimp is a big name in email marketing — so it’s no surprise that the platform has a dedicated plugin. Easy Forms for MailChimp makes it easy to add MailChimp sign-up forms to your posts, pages, and sidebars, and it automatically pulls in your subscription list information from your MailChimp account.

Key Features:

• Build MailChimp subscription forms and add them to your pages and posts
• Multiple options for placing your forms, and custom CSS classes for additional styling
• Integrates with and pulls in the information from your MailChimp subscriber list

Pricing: Free

41) Sumo

Sumo is a highly popular lead generation toolkit that includes an eclectic range of useful features. You can use this plugin to create pop-ups and floating bars to grab potential customers’ attention and add share buttons across your site. Sumo can also handle email marketing, focusing on drip campaigns for e-commerce stores. It even provides analytics to help you figure out what’s working.

Key Features:

• List Builder that helps create stylish pop-ups, full-screen CTAs and targeted pop-ups, scroll boxes, and more
• Social sharing features to encourage site visitors to engage with your content
• Heat maps for fine-tuning your lead generation efforts

Pricing: Free base version; Pro plan with full features priced at $39 per month.

42) HubSpot 

Some WordPress plugins provide specific, targeted features, while others offer comprehensive packages of functionality. HubSpot definitely falls into the second category. This plugin handles classic lead generation tasks such as email list building, newsletter creation, and attracting leads through on-site CTAs. But it also lets you track leads and user behavior on your site, and it works with the Hubspot CRM.

Key Features:

• Create user-friendly pop-up forms for collecting contact information
• Loads of analytics tools to track traffic, leads, conversions, and more
• Integrates with over 1,000 other platforms, including MailChimp, Shopify, and Magento

Pricing: All core features are free; Premium plans start at $50 per month.

43) Optin Forms

While there are a lot of plugins that offer lead capture features, Optin Forms stands out for two main reasons: ease of use, and integrations. This targeted plugin helps you build compelling forms that look great without writing a line of HTML or CSS. Just as importantly, you can use Optin Forms alongside AWeber, MailChimp, GetResponse, iContact, and many other email marketing solutions.

Key Features:

• Build custom opt-in forms and add them to your site with a click or using a shortcode
• Offers initial designs you can personalize to suit your needs and tastes.
• Integrates with a range of popular email marketing services

Pricing: Free

44) LiveChat

Live chat can help you make an immediate connection with visitors to your site. There are many live chat plugins for WordPress, but we’d recommend starting with LiveChat. It’s not the cheapest, but the quality of this add-on cannot be ignored. It works seamlessly with most major page builders, all themes, and every major e-commerce plugin.

Key Features:

• Adds live chat to your website so you can communicate directly with visitors
• Syncs with your social, messaging, and email channels
• Offers customization and chat history features

Pricing: Free; Pro version with additional features, starting at $20 per month.

45) Ninja Forms

There are dozens of contact form plugins we could have included in this list, but Ninja Forms is undoubtedly the most user-friendly. This neat little plugin lets you get creative, customizing forms to your exact needs using simple controls. It’s a solid choice for beginners and developers alike.

Key Features:

• Drag-and-drop form builder with unique fields, actions, and more
• Enables you to create success messages for users, or direct them to a particular page after completing a form
• Provides advanced options for developers, such as built-in hooks and filters

Pricing: All core features are free; Can be extended with a monthly membership or individual add-ons.

The Best WordPress Performance Plugins

WordPress does a decent job of serving up content in a timely fashion, but if you want to provide the best possible user experience, these performance plugins should cut your load times down to size:

46) WP Super Cache

As you may have noticed, the folks at Automattic develop many functional yet crucial plugins for WordPress. WP Super Cache is no exception. This plugin caches your pages as static HTML files, with minimal setup required. Actually, it offers three different caching modes, each with increasing customization options.

Key Features:

• Three different ways of caching files: Simple, Expert, and WP-Cache caching
• Basic CDN support with an integrated OSSDL CDN off-linker
• Customizable garbage collection settings

Pricing: Free

47) W3 Total Cache

W3 Total Cache is a pretty comprehensive performance plugin, designed to improve both the speed and user experience of your website. The main attraction here is caching: page, object, database, and browser. However, the plugin also offers minification and HTTP compression of the code underlying your site. It all adds up to greatly reduced loading times.

Key Features:

• Page, database, object, and browser caching
• HTML, CSS, and JavaScript minification to reduce file sizes
• Content Delivery Network (CDN) integration

Pricing: Free

48) EWWW Image Optimizer

Using large or poorly optimized images can slow down your site, hurting your overall user experience. EWWW Image Optimizer is a tool that converts, resizes, and compresses images on your site for speed. It’s straightforward to set up, and the plugin adapts to different devices to ensure that you won’t see any significant drop-off in image quality.

Key Features:

• Automatically optimizes images and converts them into the best file format for performance
• Provides various compression options, such as pixel-perfect and high compression
• Includes security features like SSL encryption and free 30-day image backups

Pricing: Free; Premium plans with extra features start at $7 per month.

49) Smush

You could describe Smush as an image optimizer, but that is a bit of an understatement. This impressive plugin offers 2x compression, smart resizing for all standard image formats, and lazy loading. It’s fast, flexible, and easy to use. What’s more, Smush has its own servers — so all the work is handled remotely.

• Lossless compression to optimize images without a noticeable drop in quality
• Lazy loading for faster load times
• Bulk “Smush” for optimizing multiple images at once

Pricing: Core features are free; Pro plan offers background optimization, starting at $7.50 per month.

50) WP Rocket

As a premium caching plugin, you would probably expect WP Rocket to offer more than free alternatives, and to be honest, it delivers in style. This tool provides powerful page caching, GZIP compression, and e-commerce optimization. It can also handle the minification of CSS and JS files, and works with most popular themes and plugins. As an added bonus, you get the extra performance boost of lazy loading on images and iframes.

Key Features:

• Wide-ranging caching features, including page caching, cache preloading, and browser caching
• Works with most popular themes and plugins
• Lazing loading for images and iframes, database optimization, and CDN support

Pricing: Starting at $59 per year.

51) Proxy Cache Purge

After you update your content, Proxy Cache Purge requests your proxy service to delete its cache. This ensures that visitors always get the latest version of your site while still enjoying the performance benefits of caching. You can use this plugin to purge your entire cache or set up automatic purging on specific post and page types.

Key Features:

• Requests purges for entire cache or specific pages
• Temporarily disable the cache during development
• Enables plugins to hook into the purge actions

Pricing: Free

52) WP Fastest Cache

Another caching plugin option, WP Fastest Cache focuses on simplicity. It’s designed to “get out of the way” and let you focus on speeding up your website, not managing plugin settings. Loyal users rave about its simple configuration and excellent support.

Key Features:

• CDN Support
• WP-CLI cache clearing
• Premium plan offers greatly expanded functionality

Pricing: Free

53) Perfmatters

Developed by two brothers with substantial experience in tech, Perfmatters provides a wide array of performance-enhancing features. This premium plugin offers database optimization, lazy loading for videos and iFrames, and a unique script manager that allows you to control which plugins are loaded on each page of your site.

Key Features:

• Script Manager that allows selective enabling/disabling of plugins and scripts
• Lazy loading for images, videos, and iframes
• Database optimization and quick toggle options for reducing load times

Pricing: Starts at $24.95 per year.

54) Autoptimize

One of the most well-known plugins for performance, Autoptimize minifies and caches scripts and styles to improve loading times. It can also inject CSS into the page head and defer scripts to the footer, all in the name of faster browsing. This plugin can even optimize Google Fonts and remove the unnecessary code that comes with WordPress emojis.

Key Features:

• Minifies and caches scripts, styles, and HTML
• Moves and defers scripts to the footer, injects CSS into page headers
• Optimizes images and Google Fonts

Pricing: Free, with enhanced features starting at $5 per month.

55) NitroPack

According to the makers of this performance plugin, installing NitroPack can drastically speed up your site in just five minutes. In fact, they claim that the average site should see a 69% PageSpeed score boost from using this tool. Whether or not you believe these numbers, there’s no doubt that NitroPack is a worthy addition to this list.

Key Features: 

• Can be installed and configured with zero technical knowledge
• Advanced caching, minification, compression, and image optimization
• Built-in global CDN

Pricing: Free with limited features; Premium plans start at $17.50 per month.

The Best WordPress E-Commerce Plugins

Did you know that you can build a great online store with WordPress? Whether you’re selling T-shirts or digital downloads, these plugins can help you create your e-commerce empire:

56) WooCommerce

If we’re going to talk about selling products via WordPress, the conversation has to start with WooCommerce. By far the most popular e-commerce plugin, this platform provides a remarkable list of features completely free — from inventory tracking to shipping label printing. It might take a while to get your head around all of the options here, but it’s definitely worth the effort.

Key Features:

• Create a storefront in minutes, with loads of ready-made themes and customization options
• Custom product pages with drag-and-drop editor
• Sell products, downloads, subscriptions, bookings, memberships, and more

Pricing: Free, with premium upgrades available.

Want to get set up with WooCommerce faster? Try our dedicated e-commerce hosting!

57) Easy Digital Downloads

If your online store specializes in digital products, you might want to try Easy Digital Downloads. Optimized for products like themes, courses, and ebooks, this free plugin offers strong file protection and loads of payment processing options, including PayPal and Stripe. It works with pretty much any theme, and we especially like the clean and customizable checkout.

Key Features:

• Optimized for selling digital products, with file protection
• Works with any theme
• Strong customer management and promotion features

Pricing: Free for core features; Advanced features available through “Passes” starting at $199 per year.

58) Ecwid Ecommerce Shopping Cart

Originally promoted as a social media e-commerce platform, Ecwid now plays nicely with WordPress. This means you can set up a store on your website, and it will sync with your Facebook and Instagram profiles. You will need an Ecwid account to unlock this compelling package, but this will also give you access to a dedicated mobile app. Pretty useful, we think.

Key Features:

• Shopping cart with multiple payment options, automatic taxes, and shipping
• Products sync between your website and social media profiles
• Dedicated mobile apps for managing your store

Pricing: Free with limited features; Paid plans start at $19 per month.

59) SellKit

WooCommerce is pretty powerful straight out of the box, but with SellKit, you can optimize the checkout area to drive more sales. For instance, this plugin lets you add one-click upsells and autocomplete on forms. You can even offer custom discounts based on user behavior. Of course, you can also measure the effectiveness of every change using the built-in analytics tools.

Key Features:

• Vast range of tools for optimizing the checkout experience in WooCommerce
• Rule-based triggers for “bump” offers and one-click upsells
• Custom sales funnel builder with loads of ready-made templates

Pricing:  Free with limited features; Premium plans start from $59 per year.

60) ShopWP

If you’re really into e-commerce, there is a fair chance you already have a store hosted with Shopify. ShopWP allows you to bring all your products across to your WordPress website and present them perfectly. This plugin uses no iFrames — it’s all native and optimized for search. You can even drop in products using a shortcode.

• Syncs Shopify data to ensure your product listings on WordPress are always up-to-date
• Seamless shopping cart experience powered by JavaScript
• Provides 10+ shortcodes and works with top page builders

Pricing: Free with core features; Premium plan with advanced display options starts at $199 per year.

61) WP EasyCart

WooCommerce not floating your boat? WP EasyCart is a worthy alternative. Ten years in the making, this shopping cart plugin serves up a variety of useful e-commerce features — from live shipping estimates to cart abandonment emails. You also get to choose from loads of great payment options, including Amazon Pay and Square.

Key Features:

• Multiple product types and product page customization
• Allows you to sell subscriptions and memberships
• Inventory management and order fulfillment tools

Pricing:  Free version with core features; Premium plan with extended features starts at $69 per year.

62) Wish List for WooCommerce

There are many add-ons made for WooCommerce that expand the base features of the plugin. These include official extensions, along with unofficial plugins and themes developed by the community — Wish List for WooCommerce is one such add-on. Quite simply, it adds a wish-list feature to your online store so customers can save their favorite products.

Key Features:

• Adds a customizable wish-list feature to your site
• Offers a dedicated widget that points to your wish-list page
• Lets users share their lists on email and social media

Pricing: Free

63) FunnelKit 

For anyone who is serious about building a successful store, FunnelKit could be really useful. This highly-rated WordPress funnel builder is one of the best plugins for enhancing WooCommerce. Using simple controls, you can streamline your checkout, add relevant upsells, and create opt-in forms. Plus, it comes with over 20 great e-commerce templates.

Key Features:

• Streamlined checkouts, with express pay options and address autocomplete
• A/B testing and traffic routing to the better-performing page
• In-depth insights and analytics, including open rate, clickthrough rate, revenue made, orders placed, and more

Pricing: Free version with basic features; Full feature list on premium plans, starting at $129 per year.

64) AffiliateWP

One good way to drive potential customers to your site is through affiliate marketing. AffiliateWP helps you take advantage of this approach. The plugin makes creating and managing your affiliate program for your WooCommerce store incredibly simple. Fraud protection ensures that affiliates can’t make money from endlessly clicking on their own links, and you can see your revenue stacking up via the built-in analytics.

Key Features:

• Reliable tracking with fraud protection and smart commission rules
• One-click payouts for affiliates
• No extra fees

Pricing: Starts at $299 per year.

65) FOMO & Social Proof Notifications by TrustPulse

Social proof, such as customer reviews and testimonials, can be a powerful tool in e-commerce. TrustPulse’s plugin helps you leverage the activity of your customers to make new sales, with pop-ups that deliver timely messages. More specifically, this FOMO-generating tool shows activity from other visitors on your site — like when someone makes a purchase.

Key Features:

• Instant pop-ups show when someone takes action on your site, creating a sense of real-time activity
• Customizable notifications that can be adapted to your brand
• Designed to work with WooCommerce

Pricing: Basic plugin is free with limitations; Premium plans start at $9 per month.

The Best Website Admin WordPress Plugins

WordPress makes it relatively easy to keep your website running smoothly. However, you can enhance the core functionality by installing the right plugins. Here are some website admin tools to consider:

66) Easy Updates Manager

To keep any WordPress site running efficiently, you must ensure the system, your themes, and your plugins are updated regularly. Easy Updates Manager helps take care of this process automatically. This lightweight plugin is simple to use, and you can customize the settings so that only the updates you want are installed.

Key Features:

• Lets you enable or disable updates for plugins, themes, WordPress, and more
• Automate updates for all software of a particular type, or only for specific plugins and themes
• Provides user customization options, such as the ability to block certain users from performing updates

Pricing: Core features are free; Premium upgrade with extended features from $29 per year.

Want to make updates even easier? When you host your site with DreamPress, we keep your WordPress updated automatically.

67) UpdraftPlus 

Backing up your site is really important if you want to avoid downtime. UpdraftPlus makes it really easy. This plugin lets you upload a copy to the most popular cloud storage platforms, such as Dropbox and Google Drive. You can even set an automatic backup schedule. Once you have a backup, the plugin allows you to restore your site with a few clicks.

Key Features:

• Supports both manual and automatic scheduled backups
• Provides encryption to your backups
• Enables you to upload your backups to any number of cloud storage providers

Pricing: Free with basic features; Premium upgrade starts at $70.

68) Duplicator

A good WordPress backup plugin is Duplicator. Downloaded over 30 million times, this plugin lets you save a complete clone of your site. This can work for ad hoc backups, but it’s perhaps more useful for migrating your site or creating a locally hosted version. With the premium version of this plugin, you can also schedule automatic backups.

Key Features:

• Create backups of your WordPress website automatically and save them to the cloud
• Clone, copy, or migrate your site to another server
• Makes it easy to create a staging site for testing purposes.

Pricing: Free version allows manual cloning; Premium version with scheduled backups and cloud storage integrations, starts at $99 per year.

69) WPFront User Role Editor

By default, WordPress lets you assign varying roles to individual users. These user roles have different permissions levels —for example, an Administrator can edit or change just about anything on the site. If you find yourself wanting to adjust the default settings, try WPFront User Role Editor. This plugin lets you create new roles, edit and rename the default roles, and more.

Key Features:

• Lets you create, rename, edit, and manage user roles on your site
• Adds or removes capabilities from specific roles
• Enables you to assign multiple roles to each user

Pricing: Free with very limited features; Pro license is priced at $89 per site.

70) User Role Editor

User Role Editor is another plugin that enables you to customize the default WordPress user roles, and determine exactly what each type of user should be able to do. The free version of this tool is pretty generous, giving you granular control over user permissions. Upgrade to the premium version, and you gain the ability to hide specific menu items from various user types.

Key Features:

• Edit the capabilities of the default WordPress user roles.
• Add and customize new user roles
• Assign more than one role to a single user.

Pricing: Free version with core features; Extended premium version starts at $29 per month, or $89 for a lifetime license.

71) Oasis Workflow

The goal of Oasis Workflow is to help you manage your site more efficiently, particularly when it comes to creating and publishing content. The plugin provides a drag-and-drop interface that enables you to create a custom workflow for you and your team. You can assign tasks, give them custom statuses, and move them around or reassign them as necessary.

Key Features:

• Drag-and-drop workflow designer with an easy-to-use interface
• Create, assign, and reassign tasks as needed.
• User-based rules to automatically route tasks to the correct team members

Pricing: Free version covers most core features; Premium version adds automations, starting at $119.

72) Enhanced Media Library

The WordPress Media Library lets you upload images, videos, and other media files to add to your site. Enhanced Media Library makes it more powerful. For example, this plugin allows you to categorize and tag media items so they’re easier to organize and find. Plus, you’ll get access to a variety of useful shortcodes and a more flexible way to control media file types.

Key Features:

• Lets you add categories and tags to files in your Media Library
• Provides filters to help you search through and sort your media files
• Adds shortcodes that enable you to categorize media items on the front end

Pricing: Free, with extra features/the pro license priced at $25.

73) ACOS – Custom Admin Color Scheme

While you can’t customize the back end of WordPress as much as the front end, you can make a few tweaks. With ACOS, you can liven things up with a splash of color. WordPress already comes with eight color schemes for your admin area, but this plugin adds eight more– You’ll have double the options!

Key Features:

• Adds eight new color schemes for your WordPress admin area
• Lets you quickly switch between schemes
• Reverts to default color schemes with a click

Pricing: Free

74) Admin Menu Editor

Even though WordPress is pretty intuitive, all the different options can feel overwhelming for new site owners. Admin Menu Editor helps you reduce the visual clutter by enabling and disabling specific menu items in the admin area. You can even add your own custom links to the menu.

Key Features:  

• Rename, rearrange, and add menu items
• Drag-and-drop controls
• Custom branding for your login screen

Pricing: Free basic plugin; Premium version available with per-user control, starting at $39.

75) Advanced Custom Fields (ACF)

Out of the box, WordPress can handle a lot of different data types. But if you want to add something extra to your posts and pages, Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) can help. This very intuitive plugin allows you to add and display custom fields almost anywhere, with 30 different field types to choose from.

Key Features: 

• Add fields to posts, users, taxonomy terms, media, comments, and more
• Intuitive field creation process
• Over 30 field types, and supports custom post types

Pricing: Free; Separate pro version available for $49 per year.

77) MainWP

Running more than one WordPress site? MainWP lets you manage them all from a single dashboard. This free, open-source plugin is great for handling updates, installing themes, and even managing users across your sites. You can also review comments in bulk, and monitor uptime across your online empire.

• Manage all your WordPress sites from one central dashboard
• Handle updates for themes, plugins, and core WordPress files
• Post and edit content across all your sites from the dashboard.

Pricing: The main plugin is free; Pro plans with extensions included start at $29 per month.

The Best WordPress Analytics and Reporting Plugins

Whether you want to reach more readers or attract new customers, understanding how people are interacting with your site is really important. These analytics plugins can reveal all:

78) MonsterInsights

MonsterInsights is the most popular Google Analytics plugin for WordPress. It provides a Google-specific dashboard right in your WordPress admin panel, and you can track your customers across multiple platforms and devices. Unlike other link-tracking plugins, MonsterInsights won’t slow down your website.

Key Features:

• Provides custom reports for data regarding Audience, Behavior, Content, E-commerce, Forms, Search Console, and Custom Dimensions
• Offers easy integration with WooCommerce for product and sales tracking
• Enables use of tracking for Google Adsense and affiliate links

Pricing: The core plugin is free; Premium versions start at $99.50 per year.

79) Site Kit by Google

Google offers many free tools to analyze your website’s success. With Google Site Kit, all of these products are combined in your WordPress dashboard. This means you can explore page speed, SEO, and audience analytics, and set up various Google products without code.

Key Features:

• Implements site analytics on your WordPress dashboard
• Provides metrics from Search Console, AdSense, PageSpeed Insights, and more
• Integrates Google tools without editing your website’s source code

Pricing: Free

80) StatCounter

Most WordPress analytics plugins allow you to analyze your audience over a period of time. But with StatCounter, you can see this data in real-time. This tool can track almost anything you can dream of, from keyword activity to the presence of cookie blocking. You can view the data inside your WordPress admin area, or get StatCounter to send you email reports.

Key Features:

• Granular visitor analytics covering visitor paths, duration of visit, exit pages, and more
• Real-time statistics
• Visitor alerts when certain users return to your site

Pricing: Free with basic StatCounter account; Paid plans start at $9 per month.

81) WP Statistics

If you don’t want to rely solely on Google products, you can take control of your analytics with WP Statistics. This powerful plugin captures a wide range of data about your audience, which you can view in your admin area or export to popular file types. We like the colorful design, too.

Key Features:

• Captures visitor data including IP, browser, search engine, OS, and location
• View stats in WordPress or export your data
• GDPR compliant

Pricing: Free; Premium extensions available from $39 per year.

82) Matomo Analytics

Honed for business, Matomo Analytics is a plugin that provides valuable insights, without sacrificing privacy. In fact, you own 100% of the data that this plugin collects, and the plugin comes with an opt-out widget for your users. The whole package is completely free to use, and easy enough for even a WordPress beginner to install.

Key Features:

• Powerful visitor analytics tools and visualizations
• Strong privacy protection
• Supports data import from Google Analytics or WP Statistics

Pricing: Free, with premium upgrades starting at $39 per year.

83) Conversios

Aimed at e-commerce websites, Conversios is an analytics plugin that helps you track customers from the moment they click on your ad to the instant they make a purchase. To make this work, the plugin combines Google Analytics 4, Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, and the tracking systems for most social media platforms.

Key Features:

• Pixel manager to track events across all popular social channels
• Remarketing features to engage potential customers
• Works with Google Analytics 4 and Google Tag Manager

Pricing: Free; Premium features start at $99 per year.

84) Independent Analytics

Independent Analytics strikes a nice balance between features and usability. Yet another alternative to Google Analytics, this free plugin lets you track views, visitors, and referrers. It’s completely compliant with GDPR, and has almost no impact on the performance of your site.

Key Features:

• Comprehensive analytics dashboard within WordPress
• Full GDPR compliance with additional configuration
• Deep WordPress integration for valuable traffic source insights​

Pricing: Free; Pro version adds real-time data for $99 per year.

85) ExactMetrics

Our favorite thing about ExactMetrics is that this plugin allows you to check your Google Analytics data via your WordPress Dashboard. But this isn’t the only worthwhile feature; for instance, it can handle Meta Pixel and Bing Ads tracking. ExactMetrics can even send you a weekly update about your traffic.

Key Features:

• Displays Google Analytics data in your WordPress Dashboard
• Supports dual-tracking with Google Analytics 3 and GA4
• Weekly email updates with your traffic numbers

Pricing: Lite version is free with limited features; ExactMetrics Pro offers the full feature list, starting at $99.50 per year.

86) 10WebAnalytics

Part of a larger suite of marketing tools, 10WebAnalytics is another plugin that brings Google Analytics to your WordPress admin. While not as polished as some of the other plugins in this section, it works well and delivers an impressive amount of data.

Key Features:

• Displays all of your Google Analytics reports
• Supports custom notifications and alerts
• Lets you create and manage goals

Pricing: Free with limited features; Premium packs start at $85.

87) WP Google Analytics Events

It’s time to get a little bit nerdy. Google Analytics 4 allows you to create custom events — user actions on your site that you want to track. WP Google Analytics Events allows you to set up these events without messing around with code.

Key Features:

• Code-free interface for creating custom events
• Track in-page navigation and contact form submissions
• Integrates with Google Tag Manager

Pricing: Free; Premium upgrades start at $79 per year.

The Best WordPress Localization Plugins

If you want to reach a global audience with your WordPress site, it’s a good idea to translate your content. These localization plugins can help you adapt your website for different markets:

88) ConveyThis

Offering fast and accurate automatic machine translation for 120 languages, ConveyThis is a great tool for localizing any WordPress website. It can also translate attributes, alt text, meta-text, and page URLs. Plus, it works with pretty much any theme or other plugin, including WooCommerce​.

Key Features:

• Fast, accurate machine translation in 120 languages
• SEO-friendly output
• Works with 100% of themes and plugins

Pricing: Free for up to 2,500 words in one language; Upgrades start at $7.99 per month.

89) Loco Translate

For website owners who are happy to get more hands-on, Loco Translate provides an in-browser editing tool for WordPress translation files. The interface is pretty easy to navigate, and the plugin offers keyboard shortcuts for faster translating. You don’t necessarily need to translate content manually; this plugin integrates with translation APIs, including DeepL, Google, Microsoft, and Yandex.

Key Features:

• Translation management inside WordPress Admin
• Integrates with top automated translation tools
• Built-in locale codes for every region of the world

Pricing:  Free up to 2,000 translations, and then $5.95 per month.

90) Polylang

Polylang allows you to create a bilingual or multilingual WordPress site with a translation tool covering custom post types, custom taxonomies, widgets, and menus. It provides full support for right-to-left (RTL) language scripts, and can automatically download and update WordPress language packs​.

Key Features:

• Translation management that covers custom post types, custom taxonomies, widgets, and navigation
• Support for RTL scripts
• Based on core WordPress technology for better performance

Pricing: Base plugin is free to use; Pro version starts at €99 (~$105).

91) GTranslate

When you need a quick translation for something you see online, which app do you use? Probably Google Translate. The GTranslate plugin drops that same functionality into your WordPress site. It can translate over 100 languages on the fly, with full support for all right-to-left (RTL) languages​.​ Upgrade to the premium version, and you get the benefits of neural machine translation.

Key Features:

• Adds real-time Google Translation to your website, without the Google branding
• Works on posts, pages, widgets, menus, and more
• Premium version offers multilingual SEO and neural machine translations

Pricing: All core features are free; Premium plans start at $9.99 per month.

92) TranslatePress

Most localization plugins have the usability of 90s database software. TranslatePress stands out thanks to its user-friendly interface that allows you to easily translate the entire page at once. The plugin even covers the content from your shortcodes, forms, and page builders. If you don’t want to handle localization yourself, you can do automatic translations with Google Translate.

Key Features:

• Live on-page editor allows you to translate content with context
• Works on content from shortcodes, forms, and page builders
• Provides Google Translate integration and support for WooCommerce

Pricing: Free; Premium add-ons start at €7.99 (~$8.53) per month.

93) Google Language Translator

Now part of the GTranslate family, Google Language Translator is a plugin that offers similar features in a slightly different package. This tool automatically hooks up to the Google Translate API automatically and can fetch translations for any supported language. It works on posts, pages, categories, tags, menus, and widgets, along with content from other plugins​​.

Key Features:

• Automatic translation with Google Translate API
• Translates content from themes and other plugins
• Premium version offers multilingual SEO and neural machine translations

Pricing: All core features are free; Premium plans start at $9.99 per month.

94) Weglot Translate

It would probably be fair to say that Weglot Translate is one of the easiest translation plugins to configure. There’s even a multilingual user guide if you need it. The plugin works with all themes and other plugins, and it follows Google’s best practices for good SEO. In terms of machine translation, you have a choice of DeepL, Google, Microsoft, and Yandex.

Key Features:

• Easy to install and detects new content for translation
• Follows SEO best practices
• Provides high-quality machine translation and access to professional human translation

Pricing: Free for the first 2,000 words; Paid plans start from $17 per month.

95) Bogo

If you’re just looking for a way to manage translations of your content, Bogo should do just fine. This free plugin lets you set up a multilingual site, with a language switcher widget to help visitors find the right version for them. It’s simple, but very efficient.

Key Features:

• Adds localization options to your WordPress admin
• Includes language switcher widget
• Based on WordPress core features

Pricing: Free

Bonus: AI Plugins for WordPress

Artificial intelligence is changing the way we interact with the web. It is also providing website owners with new tools, like these AI plugins for WordPress:

96) AI Engine

AI Engine lets you play with ChatGPT and other GPT models. You can use it to generate content and images, suggest titles, and create excerpts. It also tracks your OpenAI usage stats.

Pricing: Free, but requires OpenAI subscription.

97) WordLift

By leveraging AI, WordLift allows you to compose SEO content faster than you can type. It delivers engaging, accurate writing, and the plugin handles all the chores related to optimizing your posts for search.

Pricing: From €49 (~$52) per month.

98) AI ChatBot

When you’re not around to engage with visitors to your website, AI ChatBot can strike up a conversation. Powered by natural language processing, this impressive plugin is great for providing interactive customer support.

Pricing: Free with limited features; Full version starts at $49 per year.

99) ImageSEO

Alt texts are pretty important for SEO, but filling them out takes time. ImageSEO provides a neat shortcut by using AI technology to automate the whole process.

Pricing: Free for 10 images per month; Paid plans from ​​€4.99 (~$5.30) per month.

100) AI Content Writing Assistant

With 20 different writing styles and over 40 tones to choose from, AI Content Writing Assistant is undoubtedly a versatile plugin. This content generation tool supports multiple languages, and it even works on locally hosted websites.

Pricing: Free

…And That’s Not All

Whew. We’ve made it to the end of our list. But we’ve only scratched the surface of all the amazing extensions, power-ups, and plugins available for your WordPress site. You can find many of these tools and thousands more for free in the WordPress Plugin Directory.

Of course, the world’s top WordPress plugins won’t make much difference to your website if your host isn’t up to the challenge. Here at DreamHost, our hosting plans are optimized specifically for the WordPress platform.

Our managed WordPress hosting makes it really easy to maintain your website and keep it running smoothly — even when you install loads of plugins. And with plans starting at just $16.95 per month, it’s open to anyone.

Don’t need a managed site? Our shared hosting offers the same guaranteed uptime and strong performance, with plans starting at only $2.59 per month.

The post The 100 Best WordPress Plugins (Including New AI Tools) appeared first on Website Guides, Tips & Knowledge.

Generative AI is everywhere right now. But what exactly is it? How does it work? How can we use it to make our lives (and jobs) easier?

As we enter a new era of artificial intelligence, generative AI is only going to become more and more common. If you need an explainer to cover all the basics, you’re in the right place. Read on to learn all about generative AI, from its humble beginnings in the 1960s to today – and its future, including all the questions about what may come next.

What is Generative AI?

Generative AI algorithms use large datasets to create foundation models, which then serve as a base for generative AI systems that can perform different tasks. One of the most powerful capabilities generative AI has is the ability to self-supervise its learning as it identifies patterns that will allow it to generate different kinds of output.

Why is Everyone Talking About Generative AI Right Now?

Generative AI has seen significant advancements in recent times. You’ve probably already used ChatGPT, one of the major players in the field and the fastest AI product to obtain 100 million users. Several other dominant and emerging AI tools have people talking: DALL-E, Bard, Jasper, and more.

Major tech companies are in a race against startups to harness the power of AI applications, whether it’s rewriting the rules of search, reaching significant market caps, or innovating in other areas. The competition is fierce, and these companies are putting in a lot of work to stay ahead.

The History of Generative AI

Generative AI’s history goes back to the 1960s when we saw early models like the ELIZA chatbot. ELIZA simulated conversation with users, creating seemingly original responses. However, these responses were actually based on a rules-based lookup table, limiting the chatbot’s capabilities.

A major leap in the development of generative AI came in 2014, with the introduction of Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) by Ian Goodfellow, a researcher at Google. GANs are a type of neural network architecture that uses two networks, a generator, and a discriminator.

The generator creates new content, while the discriminator evaluates that content against a dataset of real-world examples. Through this process of generation and evaluation, the generator can learn to create increasingly realistic content.

In 2017, another significant breakthrough came when a group at Google released the famous Transformers paper, “Attention Is All You Need.” In this case, “attention” refers to mechanisms that provide context based on the position of words in a text, which can vary from language to language. The researchers proposed focusing on these attention mechanisms and discarding other means of gleaning patterns from text. Transformers represented a shift from processing a string of text word by word to analyzing an entire string all at once, making much larger models viable.

The implications of the Transformers architecture were significant both in terms of performance and training efficiency.

The Generative Pre-trained Transformers, or GPTs, that were developed based on this architecture now power various AI technologies like ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot, and Google Bard. These models were trained on incredibly large collections of human language and are known as Large Language Models (LLMs)​.

What’s the Difference Between AI, Machine Learning, and Generative AI?

Generative AI, AI (Artificial Intelligence), and Machine Learning all belong to the same broad field of study, but each represents a different concept or level of specificity.

AI is the broadest term among the three. It refers to the concept of creating machines or software that can mimic human intelligence, perform tasks traditionally requiring human intellect, and improve their performance based on experience. AI encompasses a variety of subfields, including natural language processing (NLP), computer vision, robotics, and machine learning.

Machine Learning (ML) is a subset of AI and represents a specific approach to achieving AI. ML involves creating and using algorithms that allow computers to learn from data and make predictions or decisions, rather than being explicitly programmed to carry out a specific task. Machine learning models improve their performance as they are exposed to more data over time.

Generative AI is a subset of machine learning. It refers to models that can generate new content (or data) similar to the data they trained on. In other words, these models don’t just learn from data to make predictions or decisions – they create new, original outputs.

How does Generative AI Work?

Just like a painter might create a new painting or a musician might write a new song, generative AI creates new things based on patterns it has learned.

Think about how you might learn to draw a cat. You might start by looking at a lot of pictures of cats. Over time, you start to understand what makes a cat a cat: the shape of the body, the pointy ears, the whiskers, and so on. Then, when you’re asked to draw a cat from memory, you use these patterns you’ve learned to create a new picture of a cat. It won’t be a perfect copy of any one cat you’ve seen, but a new creation based on the general idea of “cat”.

Generative AI works similarly. It starts by learning from a lot of examples. These could be images, text, music, or other data. The AI analyzes these examples and learns about the patterns and structures that appear in them. Once it has learned enough, it can start to generate new examples that are similar to what it has seen before.

For instance, a generative AI model trained on lots of images of cats could generate a new image that looks like a cat. Or, a model trained on lots of text descriptions could write a new paragraph about a cat that sounds like a human wrote it. The generated content isn’t exact copies of what the AI has seen before but new pieces that fit the patterns it has learned.

The important point to understand is that the AI is not just copying what it has seen before but creating something new based on the patterns it has learned. That’s why it’s called “generative” AI.

How is Generative AI Governed?

The short answer is that it’s not, which is another reason so many people are talking about AI right now.

AI is becoming increasingly powerful, but some experts are worried about the lack of regulation and governance over its capabilities. Leaders from Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic have all warned that generative AI could easily be used for wide-scale harm rather than good without regulation and an established ethics system.

Generative AI Models

For the generative AI tools that many people commonly use today, there are two main models: text-based and multimodal.

Text Models

A generative AI text model is a type of AI model that is capable of generating new text based on the data it’s trained on. These models learn patterns and structures from large amounts of text data and then generate new, original text that follows these learned patterns.

The exact way these models generate text can vary. Some models may use statistical methods to predict the likelihood of a particular word following a given sequence of words. Others, particularly those based on deep learning techniques, may use more complex processes that consider the context of a sentence or paragraph, semantic meaning, and even stylistic elements.

Generative AI text models are used in various applications, including chatbots, automatic text completion, text translation, creative writing, and more. Their goal is often to produce text that is indistinguishable from that written by a human.

Multimodal Models

A generative AI multimodal model is a type of AI model that can handle and generate multiple types of data, such as text, images, audio, and more. The term “multimodal” refers to the ability of these models to understand and generate different types of data (or modalities) together.

Multimodal models are designed to capture the correlations between different modes of data. For example, in a dataset that includes images and corresponding descriptions, a multimodal model could learn the relationship between the visual content and its textual description.

One use of multimodal models is in generating text descriptions for images (also known as image captioning). They can also be used to generate images from text descriptions (text-to-image synthesis). Other applications include speech-to-text and text-to-speech transformations, where the model generates audio from text and vice versa.

What are DALL-E, ChatGPT, and Bard?

DALL-E, ChatGPT, and Bard are three of the most common, most-used, and most powerful generative AI tools available to the general public.

ChatGPT

ChatGPT is a language model developed by OpenAI. It is based on the GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) architecture, one of the most advanced transformers available today. ChatGPT is designed to engage in conversational interactions with users, providing human-like responses to various prompts and questions. OpenAI’s first public release was GPT-3. Nowadays, GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 are available to some users. ChatGPT was originally only accessible via an API but now can be used in a web browser or mobile app, making it one of the most accessible and popular generative AI tools today.

DALL-E

DALL-E is an AI model designed to generate original images from textual descriptions. Unlike traditional image generation models that manipulate existing images, DALL-E creates images entirely from scratch based on textual prompts. The model is trained on a massive dataset of text-image pairs, using a combination of unsupervised and supervised learning techniques.

Bard

Bard is Google’s entry into the AI chatbot market. Google was an early pioneer in AI language processing, offering open-source research for others to build upon. Bard is built on Google’s most advanced LLM, PaLM2, which allows it to quickly generate multimodal content, including real-time images.

15 Generative AI Tools You Can Try Right Now

While ChatGPT, DALL-E, and Bard are some of the biggest players in the field of generative AI, there are many other tools you can try (note that some of these tools require paid memberships or have waiting lists):

• Text generation tools: Jasper, Writer, Lex
• Image generation tools: Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, DALL-E
• Music generation tools: Amper, Dadabots, MuseNet
• Code generation tools: Codex, GitHub Copilot, Tabnine
• Voice generation tools: Descript, Listnr, Podcast.ai

What is Generative AI used for?

Generative AI already has countless use cases across many different industries, with new ones constantly emerging.

Here are some of the most common (yet still exciting!) ways generative AI is used:

• In the finance industry to watch transactions and compare them to people’s usual spending habits to detect fraud faster and more reliably.
• In the legal industry to design and interpret contracts and other legal documents or to analyze evidence (but not to cite case law, as one lawyer learned the hard way).
• In the manufacturing industry to run quality control on manufactured items and automate the process of finding defective pieces or parts.
• In the media industry to generate content more economically, help translate it into new languages, dub video and audio content in actors’ synthesized voices, and more.
• In the healthcare industry by creating decision trees for diagnostics and quickly identifying suitable candidates for research and trials.

There are many other creative and unique ways people have found to apply generative AI to their jobs and fields, and more are discovered all the time. What we’re seeing is certainly just the tip of the iceberg of what AI can do in different settings.

What are the Benefits of Generative AI?

Generative AI has many benefits, both potential and realized. Here are some ways it can benefit how we work and create.

Better Efficiency and Productivity

Generative AI can automate tasks and workflows that would otherwise be time-consuming or tedious for humans, such as content creation or data generation. This can increase efficiency and productivity in many contexts, optimizing how we work and freeing up human time for more complex, creative, or strategic tasks.

Increased Scalability

Generative AI models can generate outputs at a scale that would be impossible for humans alone. For example, in customer service, AI chatbots can handle a far greater volume of inquiries than human operators, providing 24/7 support without the need for breaks or sleep.

Enhanced Creativity and Innovation

Generative AI can generate new ideas, designs, and solutions that humans may not think of. This can be especially valuable in fields like product design, data science, scientific research, and art, where fresh perspectives and novel ideas are highly valued.

Improved Decision-Making and Problem-Solving

Generative AI can aid decision-making processes by generating a range of potential solutions or scenarios. This can help decision-makers consider a broader range of options and make more informed choices.

Accessibility

By generating content, generative AI can help make information and experiences more accessible. For example, AI could generate text descriptions of images for visually impaired users or help translate content into different languages to reach a broader audience.

What are the Limitations of Generative AI?

While generative AI has many benefits, it also has limitations. Some are related to the technology itself and the shortcomings it has yet to overcome, and some are more existential and will impact generative AI as it continues to evolve.

Quality of Generated Content

While generative AI has made impressive strides, the quality of the content it generates can still vary. At times, outputs may not make sense — They may lack coherence or be factually incorrect. This is especially the case for more complex or nuanced tasks.

Overdependence on Training Data

Generative AI models can sometimes overfit to their training data, meaning they learn to mimic their training examples very closely but struggle to generalize to new, unseen data. They can also be hindered by the quality and bias of their training data, resulting in similarly biased or poor-quality outputs (more on that below).

Limited Creativity

While generative AI can produce novel combinations of existing ideas, its ability to truly innovate or create something entirely new is limited. It operates based on patterns it has learned, and it lacks the human capacity for spontaneous creativity or intuition.

Computational Resources

Training generative AI models often requires substantial computational resources. Usually, you’ll need to use high-performance GPUs (Graphics Processing Units) capable of performing the parallel processing required by machine learning algorithms. GPUs are expensive to purchase outright and also require significant energy.

A 2019 paper from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, estimated that training a large AI model could generate as much carbon dioxide as five cars over their entire lifetimes. This brings into question the environmental impact of building and using generative AI models and the need for more sustainable practices as AI continues to advance.

What’s the Controversy Surrounding Generative AI?

Beyond the limitations, there are also some serious concerns around generative AI, especially as it grows rapidly with little to no regulation or oversight.

Ethical Concerns

Ethically, there are concerns about the misuse of generative AI for creating misinformation or generating content that promotes harmful ideologies. AI models can be used to impersonate individuals or entities, generating text or media that appears to originate from them, potentially leading to misinformation or identity misuse. AI models may also generate harmful or offensive content, either intentionally due to malicious use or unintentionally due to biases in their training data.

Many leading experts in the field are calling for regulations (or at least ethical guidelines) to promote responsible AI use, but they have yet to gain much traction, even as AI tools have begun to take root.

Bias in Training Data

Bias in generative AI is another significant issue. Since AI models learn from the data they are trained on, they may reproduce and amplify existing biases in that data. This can lead to unfair or discriminatory outputs, perpetuating harmful stereotypes or disadvantaging certain groups.

Questions About Copyright and Intellectual Property

Legally, the use of generative AI introduces complex questions about copyright and intellectual property. For example, if a generative AI creates a piece of music or art that closely resembles an existing work, it’s unclear who owns the rights to the AI-generated piece and whether its creation constitutes copyright infringement. Additionally, if an AI model generates content based on copyrighted material included in its training data, it could potentially infringe on the original creators’ rights.

In the context of multimodal AI creation based on existing art, the copyright implications are still uncertain. If the AI’s output is sufficiently original and transformative, it may be considered a new work. However, if it closely mimics existing art, it could potentially infringe on the original artist’s copyright. Whether the original artist should be compensated for such AI-generated works is a complex question that intersects with legal, ethical, and economic considerations.

Generative AI FAQ

Below are some of the most frequently asked questions about generative AI to help you round out your knowledge of the subject.

Who Invented Generative AI?

Generative AI wasn’t invented by a single person. It has been developed in different stages, with contributions from numerous researchers and coders over time.

The ELIZA chatbot, considered the first generative AI, was built in the 1960s by Joseph Weizenbaum.

Generative adversarial networks (GANs) were invented in 2014 by Ian Goodfellow and his colleagues at Google.

Transformer architecture was invented in 2017 by Ashish Vaswani, Noam Shazeer, Niki Parmar, Jakob Uszkoreit, Llion Jones, Aidan N. Gomez, Lukasz Kaiser, Illia Polosukhin.

Many more scientists, researchers, tech workers, and more are continuing the work to advance generative AI in the years to come.

What Does it Take to Build a Generative AI Model?

Building a generative AI model requires the following:

1. Data. Generative models are trained on large amounts of data. For instance, a text-generating model might be trained on millions of books, articles, and websites. The quality and diversity of this training data can greatly affect the performance of the model.
2. Computation resources. Training generative models typically require significant computational power. This often involves using high-performance GPUs that can handle the intense computational demands of training large neural networks.
3. Model architecture. Designing the architecture of the model is a crucial step. This involves choosing the type of neural network (e.g., recurrent neural networks, convolutional neural networks, transformer networks, etc.) and configuring its structure (e.g., the number of layers, the number of nodes in each layer, etc.).
4. A training algorithm. The model needs to be trained using a suitable algorithm. In the case of Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs), for example, this involves a process where two neural networks are trained in tandem: a “generator” network that tries to create realistic data, and a “discriminator” network that tries to distinguish the generated data from real data.

Building a generative AI model can be a complex and resource-intensive process, often requiring a team of skilled data scientists and engineers. Luckily, many tools and resources are available to make this process more accessible, including open-source research on generative AI models that have already been built.

How do you Train a Generative AI Model?

Training a generative AI model involves a lot of steps – and a lot of time.

1. Data collection and preparation. The first step is to collect and prepare the data that the model will be trained on. Depending on the application, this could be a large set of text documents, images, or any other type of data. This data needs to be preprocessed into a form that can be fed into the model.
2. Model architecture selection. Next, a suitable model architecture needs to be chosen. This will depend on the type of data and the specific task. For example, Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) are often used for generating images, while Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks or Transformer models may be used for text generation.
3. Model training. The model is then trained on the collected data. For a GAN, this involves a two-player game between the generator network (which tries to generate realistic data) and the discriminator network (which tries to distinguish real data from the generated data). The generator learns to produce more realistic data based on feedback from the discriminator.
4. Evaluation and fine-tuning. After the initial training, the model’s performance is evaluated. For this, you can use a separate validation dataset. Then you can fine-tune the model based on the evaluation.
5. Testing. Finally, the trained model is tested on a new set of data (the test set) that it hasn’t seen before. This gives a measure of how well it’s likely to perform in the real world.

What kinds of Output can Generative AI Create?

Generative AI can create a wide variety of outputs, including text, images, video, motion graphics, audio, 3-D models, data samples, and more.

Is Generative AI Really Taking People’s Jobs?

Kind of. This is a complex issue with many factors at play: the rate of technological advancement, the adaptability of different industries and workforces, economic policies, and more.

AI has the potential to automate repetitive, routine tasks, and generative AI can already perform some tasks as well as a human can (but not writing articles – a human wrote this 😇).

It’s important to remember that generative AI, like the AI before it, has the potential to create new jobs as well. For example, generative AI might automate some tasks in content creation, design, or programming, potentially reducing the need for human labor in these areas, but it’s also enabling new technologies, services, and industries that didn’t exist before.

And while generative AI can automate certain tasks, it doesn’t replicate human creativity, critical thinking, and decision-making abilities, which are crucial in many jobs. That’s why it’s more likely that generative AI will change the nature of work rather than completely replace humans.

Will AI ever Become Sentient?

This is another tough question to answer. The consensus among AI researchers is that AI, including generative AI, has yet to achieve sentience, and it’s uncertain when or even if it ever will. Sentience refers to the capacity to have subjective experiences or feelings, self-awareness, or a consciousness, and it currently distinguishes humans and other animals from machines.

While AI has made impressive strides and can mimic certain aspects of human intelligence, it does not “understand” in the way humans do. For example, a generative AI model like GPT-3 can generate text that seems remarkably human-like, but it doesn’t actually understand the content it’s generating. It’s essentially finding patterns in data and predicting the next piece of text based on those patterns.

Even if we get to a point where AI can mimic human behavior or intelligence so well that it appears sentient, that wouldn’t necessarily mean it truly is sentient. The question of what constitutes sentience and how we could definitively determine whether an AI is sentient are complex philosophical and scientific questions that are far from being answered.

The Future of Generative AI

No one can predict the future – not even generative AI (yet).

The future of generative AI is poised to be exciting and transformative. AI’s capabilities will likely continue to expand and evolve, driven by advancements in underlying technologies, increasing data availability, and ongoing research and development efforts.

Underscoring any optimism about AI’s future, though, are concerns about letting AI tools continue to advance unchecked. As AI becomes more prominent in new areas of our lives, it may come with both benefits and potential harms.

There is one thing we know for sure: The generative AI age is just beginning, and we’re lucky to get to witness it firsthand.

The post Complete Beginner’s Guide to Generative AI appeared first on Website Guides, Tips & Knowledge.

The key is finding the correct KPIs for your site– success can come in many different forms, and you need to know if your site is sailing or sinking.

We’ve written this guide to give you the tools and knowledge you need to make it easy. We’ll help you understand why this data is valuable and how to start collecting it for your own website.

Let’s dive into the 20 key metrics you should track to measure your site’s success.

Traffic Metrics

Traffic is like oxygen for your website.

If people aren’t visiting your site, they can’t engage with your content, sign up for your email list, or purchase your products.

Step one for measuring any website is to understand how much traffic is coming and then understand what that traffic is doing once they arrive.

1. Sessions or Users

The top-line metric for understanding your website’s traffic is sessions.

Sessions refer to the number of unique visits to your website.

In other words, it’s the number of times someone (anyone) visited your website in a given period. Think of it like the number of people who walk through the door of a restaurant.

Sessions are closely related to users and pageviews. Users are the number of uniquely identifiable people who come to your website; Pageviews are the number of pages viewed across all sessions by every user. A single user can visit your site more than once (multiple sessions) and look at more than one page (multiple pageviews).

These metrics can often be tracked through your hosting provider. For example, DreamHost’s managed WordPress hosting includes access to this information in your user dashboard.

However, you probably want to track your traffic with an analytics tool like Google Analytics or a custom-built analytics report in Looker Studio (formerly Google Data Studio).

There is no one correct number when it comes to sessions. It will differ radically depending on your goals, audience, and niche.

However, in a general sense, you should be looking for a steady increase in sessions over time, which means your website is growing in visibility and popularity. If you’re not getting the numbers you expect, you may want to look into some of your other traffic metrics to fully understand where the problem lies.

Nerd note: If you really want to go down the rabbit hole here, you can segment your traffic even further. Beyond just looking at sessions, users, and pageviews, you can also look at segments like new users vs. returning users.

Anytime we’re measuring website performance, it’s important to track a single, consistent metric over time rather than jumping between two different data points.

2. Top Pages (By Traffic)

Now, which pages are your website visitors actually viewing?

Another key metric is looking at the top pages on your website, ranked by the amount of traffic (sessions or pageviews) they receive.

Tracking your top pages can tell you what kind of content hits home with your readers and how they find it, which can help you determine where to direct resources or which parts of your website to focus on in the future.

For example, looking at the top pages on your website, you might notice that your audience responds more favorably to video than text-based content.

In that case, you might shift resources to create more videos to grow your site.

Another way you can use Top Pages data is by guiding visitors to content that others have found valuable. If you’re willing to experiment with adding some WordPress plugins to your site, you can even display a “popular posts” section to highlight content based on traffic counts.

Marketing Metrics

Now that we know a bit about how many people visit your site and which pages they visit, we should try to work backward.

What did we do to bring them here?

This is the central question in all of marketing. It’s about understanding what activities you or your marketing team are doing to drive traffic so you can do more of it in the future.

These website metrics will help you answer that question.

3. Traffic By Channel

When it comes to marketing and analytics, a “channel” is any path visitors take to reach your website and other content. For example, some users may arrive at a site through your social media profiles (one channel), while others may get there via paid search (a second channel).

In Google Analytics, you can take your session data and filter it by channel.

Google provides a list of channel definitions as they pertain to tagging in its analytics system. This is so you can appropriately organize different funnels and keep tabs on which channels drive the most traffic.

You might want to look at all the traffic that comes to your site via social media links, for example. You can compare that result to traffic coming from email marketing campaigns. This can tell you which of your digital marketing strategies are most successful and which might need more work to improve their Return on Investment (ROI).

4. Organic Search Traffic

Organic search traffic includes visitors who arrive at your website from search engines like Google (or one of the many Google alternatives) rather than through other channels such as social media, paid advertising, or referrals.

Organic search is significant because users who find your site this way are typically searching with a specific goal in mind. In fact, 51 percent of all web traffic comes from organic search, and over 40 percent of revenue is generated from search engines.

Increasing organic traffic means improving your website’s SEO to rank higher in search results.

5. Email Open Rates

If your business is anything like most businesses, you probably generate a lot of traffic through email marketing. Getting your email opened is the first step in driving a visitor to your website, and understanding your email open rate gives you a sense of the quality of your email list and your emails.

An email’s “open rate” represents how many recipients actually opened it in their inboxes. Mailchimp’s benchmarking data puts the average open rate between 15 percent and just over 28 percent, depending on your industry.

While there are many ways to encourage people to open your emails, your best option may be to try various strategies and keep an eye on the numbers to see which ones result in the most engagement. Just remember that tracking open rates does require email-specific tracking tools.

6. Email Click-Through Rates

Next up are your Click-Through Rates (CTRs). This represents how many people not only opened a given email but also clicked on one of the links it contained. This can include links back to your blog and social media platforms, as well as all kinds of direct CTAs.

This metric can have a big impact on your overall website performance since the higher CTR means that you’re generating more traffic to your site (and your customers are likely more engaged!)

The average benchmark for CTRs is 2.6 percent across all industries.

However, the specific metric you’re aiming for will depend on your audience, niche, and goals. A poor CTR on a given link may mean you need to spend some time developing stronger CTAs that appeal to your audience’s interests and needs.

7. Clicks From Social Platforms

Another important marketing metric to look at is your success with social media.

Traffic from Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Tik Tok, and whatever other new platform has popped up this week is usually a good indicator that your content and your brand is resonating with your audience on those channels.

If you’re running a marketing campaign heavily on social media, you’ll likely want this metric to show plenty of clicks from your social content. Weak or static numbers can be addressed through smarter social media promotion strategies.

Engagement Metrics

Engagement can take many forms online.

In a general sense, it’s any way visitors interact with your site (besides simply reading its content). Engagement metrics are helpful for understanding if your content resonates with your audience, which content is most engaging, and the user experience on your website.

It’s also a leading indicator of how likely the traffic on your website is to make a purchase or complete a conversion.

8. Average Time On Page

The amount of time a visitor spends on the pages they visit (sometimes called “dwell time”) can be a complicated metric to track. With that being said, Google Analytics does provide a solid breakdown of the averages for each page on your site.

It’s calculated by averaging the amount of time that someone is on each page before clicking on another page on your website.

In GA4, they’ve updated the metric to measure how long someone remains engaged on your website. This metric now additionally captures visitors who click or scroll on your page but never click onto another page.

You can also track the average session duration, which looks at the cumulative amount of time someone spends on your site.

Higher average time on page or average session duration likely means that users are more engaged with your site, but keep an eye out for any anomalies. For example, a high average session duration and a very low average time per page might indicate that users are confused and clicking back and forth.

9. Bounce Rate

Your site’s “bounce rate” is a measurement of how many viewers came to your site and then left without clicking to another page.

Bounce rate can be a much more effective measure of reader interest than traffic stats. While it’s great to see your website getting more visitors or sessions, it’s not great if most of that new traffic only visits one page before leaving.

A high bounce rate may indicate that your content isn’t resonating with your audience.

Alternatively, it could also be an indication that your traffic sources aren’t very good. If you’re blogging about fitness and your traffic is coming from sites about credit card debt, for example, you may have a high bounce rate and want to address this.

A bounce rate in the range of 25 percent to 40 percent is considered excellent. Anything above 70 percent indicates that your audience-building approach requires some thought.

You can also look at the exact pages where visitors leave your website (the “Exit Rate” by page) to uncover any issues with specific content.

10. Pages Per Visit or Pages Per Session

When you measure “pages per visit” on your website, you’ll typically start with an average of the number of pages viewed over a given number of days divided by the number of unique visitors to your site during that same time frame. This gives you an idea of how users are interacting with your business.

Depending on how your website is set up, you might naturally have a low pages per visit metric. For instance, if your website mostly consists of specific landing pages with a single clear call to action, then readers may not navigate around before clicking a button or submitting a form.

On a flip side, a low pages per session metric could indicate that your content or your user experience needs work. If you have content with a lot of external links but not many internal links, you might be losing visitors who click to another site rather than staying on yours.

11. Returning Visitors

When you look at your “returning visitor” numbers versus your “new visitor” numbers, there are some assumptions you can make about your site’s overall traffic. You’ll be able to see whether your readership is growing, staying steady mainly due to loyal regulars, or declining.

In GA4, you can quickly see the ratio of new and returning visitors to your website by clicking Reports > Retention.

This is also sometimes represented as a percentage or a ratio. For instance, if your total number of visitors is 20 and 5 of them are returning visitors, then you’d have a 25 percent return visitor rate or a 0.25 ratio.

If you aren’t seeing a lot of return visitors, you may be attracting readers but struggling to really catch their attention.

Nerd note: You can see Google Analytics data directly from your WordPress admin panel by installing the MonsterInsights plugin. This is the most popular WordPress plugin for Google Analytics. It enables you to display your data right in your dashboard, so you don’t have to go to another page to view it.

12. Social Shares Per Blog Post

If people love your content, they might share it. (Or they might not.)

One helpful way to see if your audience finds your content helpful is to track how many times your pages and posts get shared.

You may want to use tools like HootSuite or GetSocial.io in addition to your standard website analytics. These tools can help you see if, when, and where your content is being shared on social media. Then you can track this metric over time to understand if your readers are resonating with your content and then sharing it with their network.,

Conversion Metrics

Conversions are often used to track sales on an ecommerce website, but a “conversion” can be any action you’d like to encourage on your site or blog.

For example, you might measure lead generation, sign-ups to an email list, or downloads of a free ebook. No matter what it represents, understanding your conversion rate helps you create a Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) strategy to increase conversion rates.

13. Conversions

Step #1: Determine what a “conversion” means on your website.

Step# 2: Track how many times people take that action.

Whether a conversion is someone making a purchase, clicking a call-to-action (CTA) button, filling out a lead form, downloading a template, or just visiting your homepage, you want to know how often this happens on your website.

Note the total number of conversions and try to make that number go up each week.

14. Conversion Rate

Knowing how many people completed a conversion is helpful.

But knowing what percentage of people, on average, will complete that action can help you better plan, forecast, and budget for the future. For instance, if you know that 10% of your site visitors will convert, then you can make smarter decisions about investing in marketing and advertising to drive more traffic (and even more conversions!)

What constitutes a “good” conversion rate will depend on your business and what conversion you are tracking specifically. But, there are some great benchmarks on the web to help you understand if your overall conversion rate seems to be in a good place or could use some improvement.

15. Top Conversion Sources or Channels

Next, consider tracking your conversions by source or channel.

The goal is to find out which traffic sources (and marketing activities) are generating the most conversions. If your social media posts attract a lot of visitors, but almost none of those visitors convert, it’s time to consider whether you’re focusing on the wrong audience or failing to answer their particular pain points.

On the flip side, you may find that a channel like email drives most of your conversions and decide you can use email marketing more effectively to increase leads or sales.

SEO Metrics

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a collection of techniques used in web design and content creation to increase your website’s reach through search engines. SEO includes what’s called both on-page SEO and off-page SEO.

When done right, your search engine rankings should improve and you’ll increase your site’s traffic. That’s why it’s essential to know if your SEO strategy is making a difference.

These metrics aim to understand your website’s health and visibility on search engines.

16. Keyword Ranking

Keyword rankings indicate where your website appears in search engine results for specific words and phrases. For example, if you have a construction company, you want to show up near the top of the page for terms like “home builders near me” or “house construction companies in Los Angeles”.

The higher your site ranks for relevant keywords, the more visibility it will have to your audience. If you haven’t already, you’ll want to do some keyword research to determine which terms and phrases your target audience is searching for.

Then start tracking how you rank for those keywords.

There are several SEO tools you can use. Google Search Console will also show you details about how your website appears in search results.

If you’re looking for a more robust tool, we recommend checking out either Semrush or Ahrefs.

Both of these tools are used by SEO and marketing professionals in all kinds of industries. They offer day-to-day position tracking for your top keywords and a suite of other tools to help you level up your marketing and grow your site’s traffic.

17. Backlinks

Backlinks are links to your website from another site or vice versa. Many backlinks operate like citations, noting where the information came from and referring readers to the original source. Search engines tend to give preference to sites with lots of backlinks, especially if they’re coming from high-quality sources.

Building backlinks can be tricky since you don’t have direct control over who links to your site. Whether you’re actively trying to generate backlinks or not, tracking the number of backlinks pointing to your website is one of the most important metrics for measuring SEO success.

Using a tool like Linkody, you can track and see links pointing to your website.

Or, again, you can use Google Search Console to track this metric.

18. Average Inbound Links Per Blog Post

While we’re talking about backlinks, consider measuring how many links each of your pages or blog posts attracts.

Looking at the average, you can get a sense of whether your SEO and content marketing efforts are contributing to your website’s overall domain ranking by generating links.

19. Top Exit Pages for Organic Traffic

Another common analytic you can track is the last page each user was on before leaving your website. This is called the “exit page.” Having this information at hand can be just as important as monitoring your overall organic traffic.

This is because the more you understand why users choose to leave your website, the easier it is to convince them to stick around longer. If the top exit pages share certain elements, such as a particular type or style of content, this can be a clue that your target audience is looking for something different.

Use Google Analytics to track your site’s top exit pages. You can easily access an Exit Page report and see a breakdown of all the related data.

Website Speed Metrics

Finally, let’s talk about your website’s speed – how fast it loads when people try to visit.

One of the most important things to know about internet users is…they’re impatient as heck. They won’t wait an extra 2 seconds for your site to finish loading. Instead, if your site is slow, they’ll just hit “back” and find something else to look at.

So, yeah, your website’s speed is important.

Luckily, there’s one big metric you can track to understand your site’s loading and performance.

20. Page Speed (Core Web Vitals Score)

Google’s Core Web Vitals is actually an array of metrics about your website’s performance and load speed.

The key takeaway: Pass Core Web Vitals, and you’re doing pretty dang good.

All you have to do is run the Google PageSpeed Insights analysis to get the metrics you need about load times, page responsiveness, and more.

Fortunately, if your scores aren’t great, you can easily optimize your website for speed.

Managing Your Site’s Metrics So You Can Build Your Business

We’ve just stepped through the most important metrics for your website, and it might feel like a lot of things to track.

It takes a lot of data to understand your site’s performance because it is complicated. Every site is unique, and every person who visits your site has a slightly different experience. The goal is to understand that experience the best we can and then make it the best it can be for every single one of your website visitors.

If you’re feeling a bit overwhelmed by all of these metrics (or the numbers aren’t looking so hot), then consider bringing in some professional help. In addition to helping you build websites, the DreamHost Marketing Services team can also help you build your business and track the right data to prove it.

Get More Visitors, Grow Your Business

Our marketing experts will help you earn more traffic and convert more website visitors so you can focus on running your business.

Learn More

The post Website Metrics: 20 Critical KPIs for Your Online Business appeared first on Website Guides, Tips & Knowledge.

Plugins are extensions that can broaden the functionality of your WordPress website in almost any area. Many are free, and they are incredibly easy to install.

If you’re hearing about plugins for the first time or you’re unsure how to use them, we’ve got you covered. In this guide, we’re going to take a closer look at what WordPress plugins can offer and how to use them.

What are WordPress Plugins?

In short, a plugin is an add-on for your WordPress site — a small piece of third-party software you can install to add new features and functionality.

No matter which aspect of your site you would like to upgrade, there’s probably a plugin out there that can help. You can find plugins to speed up your site, optimize security, and help your site rank higher in search engines. Page builder plugins allow you to create custom layouts without code, and form plugins make it easier for visitors to make contact.

Other options enable you to add specific features to your site, such as custom post types, an ecommerce storefront, or a user forum. Some even help with basic maintenance tasks, like cleaning up broken links.

Why You Should be Using Plugins

To understand why plugins are so vital, let’s imagine a scenario.

Say you just bought a new iPhone. Thanks to iOS, you can make calls, send messages, check your emails, listen to podcasts, and even track your health without installing any new apps!

However, chances are that the built-in features of iOS won’t cover everything you want to achieve. At some point, you’re likely to install some third-party apps, like Instagram or Google Maps.

If WordPress is the operating system of your website, plugins are the apps. While the underlying platform handles all the basic functionality, these add-ons provide the features you need for handling specific tasks or managing parts of your site.

Since thousands of plugins are available and most are free to install, adding some to your WordPress site is a no-brainer.

How to Pick the Right Plugins for Your WordPress Website

So, where should you start? Well, a few plugins come highly recommended as a starter kit for any new WordPress site.

Beyond these, you need to pinpoint what you want to achieve with your site and find the right plugins to fulfill those needs. Here’s a quick step-by-step guide:

1) Identify Your Needs

As a first step, consider what is missing from your website.

If you want to sell products online, you might need an ecommerce plugin. If you want to build your email marketing list, consider adding a newsletter sign-up form. Perhaps the back end of your website is missing something, like a sitemap directing search engines toward your content.

Not sure what you need? Check out our beginner’s guide to building your own WordPress site for some inspiration.

As a side note, it’s worth mentioning that a quality hosting plan eliminates the need for certain plugins. For example, DreamHost’s managed WordPress hosting service takes care of optimizing your site’s speed and performance without the need to install add-ons.

2) Search for a Solution

Once you have a shopping list of needs, the next step is to hunt down the right plugins to fill those gaps.

The best place to start is by searching the WordPress Plugin Directory. This is essentially a huge online warehouse stacked high with plugins. In fact, it’s where the vast majority of plugins are hosted.

You can access the Plugin Directory via wordpress.org and download plugins onto your device, which can then be uploaded to your site.

However, we recommend logging in to your WordPress Dashboard and navigating to Plugins > Add New. Here, you can install new plugins straight from the Directory. We’ll talk more about this later.

There are a few WordPress plugins that do not appear in the Directory. These are almost all premium plugins, where you will need to pay either a one-time price or a subscription fee for access. These are generally hosted on the site of the plugin provider, and some offer valuable advanced features.

A note of caution: you might come across a free or heavily discounted version of premium plugins through unofficial channels. While these may seem appealing, we recommend avoiding them at all costs. They have often been heavily modified and can put your site at risk of being infected with malware and spam.

If you don’t have the budget for the official premium versions, it’s totally okay if you stick with the regular free WordPress plugins. With over 60,000 of them, there’s sure to be one that does what you need.

3) Check the Details

While all plugins in the official Plugin Directory are free to install and compatible with some version of WordPress, it’s still worth checking the details.

For a start, you should figure out whether a plugin actually covers everything you need. You can do this by clicking on the name of any plugin in the Directory search results.

Here, you will find a complete description of the plugin, including a full list of features. Study this carefully to decide whether the plugin does everything you need, and look out for any mention of “pro” or “premium” features — you will have to pay to unlock these.

On the right, there is a small table that displays some key information about the plugin. The most important areas to look for here are WordPress version and PHP version. Both need to be aligned with your WordPress website; otherwise, some features might break.

Last updated displays when the most recent version was released. This is a crucial part of site security, as plugins that are not actively maintained can leave your site open to attacks. Meanwhile, a large number of Active installations can be evidence of a higher-quality plugin.

Below this data, you can check out user ratings and reviews. WordPress ratings work on a star system, with one being the lowest and five being the highest. You can also access reviews by clicking on See all. It’s a good idea to check what other users think since not all plugins work as perfectly as they claim.

Below the reviews, you will find the Support section. A high number of resolved issues is a positive sign, as it indicates that the developers are responsive. Reading through some support questions can also give you an idea of potential challenges you may face when using the software.

Right at the bottom of the page, the Screenshots section gives you a preview of the plugin’s user interface (UI), and the FAQ section can reveal common issues.

4) Download and Test 

If everything looks good, you can download and test the plugin on your site. There is a complete tutorial on how to install plugins later in this guide.

Even if you’re comfortable with the process, we encourage you to consult each plugin’s installation instructions before downloading, because it may contain important information to help you avoid software-specific issues.

After you’ve set up the plugin, you can start testing its performance. An important issue is how it impacts your site’s speed. To test this, we recommend using a tool such as GTmetrix.

Alternatively, you might use a staging site to determine the usability and front-end functionality of your chosen plugin.

Testing is vital because it only takes one poorly coded plugin to take down your entire website.

How to Install WordPress Plugins

Not sure how to install WordPress plugins? There are essentially three different approaches. Let’s take a look at them now:

1) Install a Plugin From the Official Directory

If you have decided on a plugin from the official WordPress Plugin Directory, you’re in luck. Installing free plugins from this source couldn’t be easier — and you can do so without leaving your dashboard.

To get started, log in to your website and navigate to the Plugins tab:

Here, you can see all the plugins you have currently installed (if any). Click on Add New, and you’ll be taken to a searchable version of the Directory. Simply type in the name of the plugin you want. If you haven’t chosen one yet, you can use the various search options to explore everything that’s available.

When you find the right plugin, hit the Install Now button:

WordPress will spend a few moments performing the installation, and then you’ll see a blue Activate button appear. Click on that, and the plugin will be ready to use!

Depending on the plugin you’ve chosen, you may be prompted to configure a few settings or run through a setup wizard.

2) Upload a Plugin Through the Dashboard

If you’ve purchased a premium plugin or downloaded one from an offsite location, you’ll need to use a slightly different method than the above.

All you’ll need is the .zip archive containing the plugin’s files saved to your computer. This should have been provided to you when you bought the plugin. If you aren’t sure where to find it, you should contact the plugin’s developer for help.

Once you have access to the plugin, log in to your site and head to the Plugins tab. As before, click on Add New. This time, however, you’ll want to select Upload Plugin on the next page:

Click on the Choose File button, find the zipped plugin folder on your computer and select it (you don’t need to extract the files), then click on Install Now. Give WordPress a few moments to work its magic, and you should see a success message.

Hit the Activate Plugin button, and you’re all set! The plugin should now appear on your list in the Plugins tab.

3) Use FTP to Install the Plugin Directly

If you have a plugin’s .zip file saved on your computer, you can also install it using File Transfer Protocol (FTP). FTP enables you to access your site’s files and databases directly so that you can make changes to them by hand.

For those who are comfortable working with FTP, this can be a quicker way to install multiple plugins. However, even if you’ve never used FTP before, you might want to consider this method. It’s a perfect way to start learning how to work with your website’s files. It’s also a useful alternative if you run into any errors when installing a plugin through the dashboard.

The first thing you’ll want to do is download an FTP tool. We recommend FileZilla, which is free and easy to use. Then you’ll set it up and connect to your web host. This is a good time to make a backup of your site if you haven’t already. FTP enables you to make permanent changes to your website, so it’s important to be careful and have a readily available way to reverse any mistakes.

Once you have FileZilla open and connected, it should look something like this:

In the top right quadrant, you’ll see your website’s home directory (it will typically be named after the site’s domain). Within this folder, navigate to wp-content > plugins:

This is where you’ll need to place the files for your new plugin. Unzip them first, then copy and paste them into the plugins folder. Alternatively, you can find the files on your computer using the two left-hand quadrants of FileZilla, and drag them over (again– after they’ve been unzipped).

That’s all you need to do to install your new plugin. However, you will still need to visit your site to activate it. Navigate to the Plugins tab from your dashboard, and find the plugin you just installed in the list. Once you click on Activate, you’re all done!

What are the Best WordPress Plugins?

If you’re ready to start exploring the world of WordPress plugins, you might be wondering whether there are some must-have options.

The truth is that there are way too many great plugins to fit in this post. You could try these articles for inspiration:

• 20 Incredibly Popular WordPress Plugins You Need to Know About
• 10 WordPress Plugins to Maximize Your Lead Generation
• 13 of the Best Security Plugins to Keep Your WordPress Site Safe
• WooCommerce Guide: How to Start an Online Store in 1 Hour

But if you want some idea of where to begin your search, let’s take a look at the standout plugins in each category.

Key Types of WordPress Plugins

While there are thousands of niche options, the majority of popular plugins fit into one of the following groups:

WordPress SEO Plugins

These plugins help you to optimize your website for search engines like Google. The category includes tools for improving your content and plugins that build XML sitemaps and schema files.

Examples include Yoast SEO, All in One SEO, WP Meta SEO, and Schema.

Prefer us to handle SEO for you? Check out our SEO Toolkit.

Ecommerce Plugins

If you want to set up an ecommerce store or take payments for a service, you’re going to need an online store plugin. Some of these plugins are designed specifically for digital products, such as online courses.

Examples include WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Payment Button for PayPal, and Easy Digital Downloads.

Our specialized WooCommerce hosting makes it super easy to set up shop online.

Promotional Plugins

From pop-up forms and interactive quizzes to social media share buttons, this category of plugins helps you with lead generation and audience building. Certain marketing plugins can even hook into your CRM.

Examples include Sumo, OptinMonster, Gravitec (Web Push Notification), MC4W (MailChimp for WordPress).

Contact Form Builder Plugins

Want to help your visitors get in touch or encourage submissions? These plugins allow you to create a user-friendly form with total customizability when it comes to looks and layout.

Examples include Contact Form 7, WPForms, and Ninja Forms.

Slider Plugins

These plugins allow you to add an eye-catching slider or carousel anywhere on your site. Responsive design is a really important feature here, because it means your slider will look good on all devices.

Examples include RoyalSlider, and Soliloquy.

Widget and Shortcode Plugins

Widget plugins allow you to add something extra to the sidebar, header, or footer of your WordPress site. Shortcode plugins open up similar options elsewhere.

Examples include Social Icons Widget & Block by WPZOOM, and the SiteOrigin Widget Bundle.

Page Builder Plugins

If you want to go beyond the basic template of your WordPress theme, website builder plugins can help. It’s possible to transform the user experience of your website using these tools, and some allow you to create custom landing pages.

Examples include Elementor, and Beaver Builder.

When you host your WordPress site with DreamHost, you can also use our powerful website builder.

Custom Code Plugins

While drag-and-drop tools are great, custom code plugins allow you to make your own changes using a little CSS or JavaScript. These tools should be used with caution, but they can be very useful in the right hands.

Examples include CodeKit and WP Custom Code.

Analytics Plugins

Want to track who is visiting your site and see how many conversions you’re making in real-time? Analytics plugins can help. Some can also track social sharing.

Examples include GA Google Analytics and MonsterInsights.

Security Plugins

Keeping your WordPress site secure is incredibly important. Some plugins can reduce the chance of becoming a website security horror story, and cut down on spam as well. It’s a good idea to protect your site with a firewall, too.

Examples of security plugins include Cloudflare, All-In-One Security (AIOS), and Wordfence.

Optimization and Admin Plugins

This catch-all category covers a huge range of tools, including some real gems. Lazy loading and caching plugins can reduce load times, and backup plugins help you create a copy of your entire site. Image optimization tools are essential for bloggers, and automation tools can keep your database tidy.

Examples include Jetpack, WP Super Cache, WP Rocket, and UpdraftPlus.

Remember to visit our comprehensive list of top WordPress plugins to dive deeper into all of the categories mentioned above and more.

The WordPress Plugin Directory Awaits

Plugins are fantastic resources that enable you to build your site into anything you want it to be. No matter what feature or functionality you’re looking for, chances are there’s a plugin that can make it happen.

Even better, installing plugins on your WordPress site couldn’t be easier. A quick reminder:

1. Identify and prioritize what you need from a plugin.
2. Search for your options in legitimate, quality marketplaces.
3. Review the available information on each plugin’s page.
4. Download and test the plugin.

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