Category: Wordpress

Have you been wanting to share your ideas with the world at large and start a WordPress blog?

Maybe you’ve started traveling and want to start a travel blog. Or, maybe you’re good in the kitchen and want to post your favorite recipes for others to try. Better yet, maybe you’re an activist for social change and need a wide-reaching platform to spread the word about your cause.

No matter what you want to write about, starting a blog with WordPress is the best way to go about it. As the most popular content management system in the world, you don’t have to have any technical or coding knowledge to get started. Plus, you can customize it as you see fit.

But the best part about blogging with WordPress is, as you begin to generate more traffic, you can make money online by monetizing your site in several ways.

Because of this, we’re here to show you how to start a WordPress blog so you can start sharing your ideas right away.

What Do You Need to Start a WordPress Blog?

The first thing you need to understand about the WordPress content management system (CMS) is that there are 2 versions to choose from: WordPress.org and WordPress.com.

For complete details, check out this WordPress.org vs WordPress.com comparison. In the meantime, here’s a quick look at each to help you decide:

WORDPRESS.ORG	WORDPRESS.COM
You must pay for WordPress web hosting and a domain name registration. You’ll also need to pay for any premium themes and plugins you want to install on your blog.	WordPress.com blogs are FREE. You do not get a custom domain name and have limited storage.
You can use any WordPress theme and/or WordPress plugin (free or premium).	Bloggers are limited to the free themes available on the platform. There are no plugins, only built-in plugin-like functionality.
You can monetize your site any way you want (e.g., sell ads) and keep all the earnings.	You are not allowed to sell ads. Only those with high traffic volume can apply for advertising with revenue sharing.
You are responsible for all site maintenance, including site backups, security, and site optimization.	WordPress.com handles all site maintenance for you.

Because WordPress.org is so flexible, most bloggers opt to use the self-hosted WordPress.org platform.

In addition to knowing which version of WordPress you want
to use, you’ll need the following to start a WordPress blog:

• Domain name
• Hosting account
• WordPress installation
• WordPress theme and plugins

So, let’s start a WordPress blog!

Step 1: Get a Domain Name

The domain name of your website is the website address (or URL) that people type into their web
browser when they want to visit a specific website.

Your domain name serves many purposes:

• A way of identifying your website
• Branding for your blog
• Giving people a way to remember and recognize your website
• A way to tell people what your blog has to offer

Some people use their personal name or company name as their website’s domain name. Others choose a name that relates to the content of their blog. For example, The Food Network’s domain name is www.foodnetwork.com.

You have to purchase and register your blog’s domain name. This ensures no one else can use that domain name. Registration is good for one calendar year. As long as you continue to register your domain name each year, no one else will be able to use it.

You can purchase a domain name for your blog from any number of companies. But, to make things really easy on WordPress users, many WordPress hosting companies offer domain name registration as part of their hosting plans.

In fact, the hosting service we’re going to use for this tutorial, Bluehost, offers a 1 year free domain name registration to anyone that signs up for one of their hosting plans.

For help with choose a domain name, be sure to check out these easy to use domain name generators.

Step 2: Sign Up For Bluehost Hosting

To start, go to Bluehost and click on the green ‘Get Started’ button.

This will take you to the different hosting plans available.

It’s recommended you start with the Basic plan. This is a great option for bloggers just starting out. With it, you’ll get features like 50GB of SSD storage, unmetered bandwidth, a free SSL certificate, and 25 subdomains.

This is on top of the features all Bluehost customers get
like:

• 24/7 customer support
• Built-in security measures
• Easy to use cPanel
• Automated backups
• One-click WordPress installation
• CDN services

As an official WordPress.org recommended host, Bluehost is a great hosting option.

Next, you’ll be prompted to either create a new domain or
enter an existing one.

Lastly, you’ll need to fill out your account information, decide on any package extras (e.g., plan length and domain name privacy), and enter your payment details. We recommend choosing the 36-month plan, since it’s the best value.

You’ll see a success message when you’re purchase is
complete. Click Create Account to continue.

Next, you’ll need to create a password for your account.
After you do this, your account is ready to go. Click go to login.

For added protection, you’ll then be prompted to sign in to your account.

Step 3: Set Up Your Account

Now that you have your domain name and web hosting, it’s time to set up your account and start your WordPress blog. When in your Bluehost account, you’ll be asked to name your site, create a tagline, and decide if you want to start a blog and/or online store.

Of course, these things can be changed later if you want. It’s just to help you get started.

When you toggle on Do
you want a blog? You’ll be asked where you want to display blog posts.
Select either My home page or A different page.

Then click Continue.

The next screen will ask you what you goals are. Select the
options that matter to you. In addition, select how comfortable you are with
creating websites if you want. Then, click Continue.

Bluehost makes it easy for you to access hundreds of reliable WordPress themes to help start your WordPress blog. You have the option to choose one now, or pick a theme later when you’re in the WordPress dashboard.

Step 4: Start a WordPress Blog

Now that your Bluehost account is all set up, it’s time to
start a free blog using WordPress. This means installing the WordPress software
on your website.

To start, go to My
Sites and click on Create Site.

Next, give your site a name and tagline.

Need help deciding on a blog name? Check out this roundup of amazing blog name generators to inspire you.

Click Next.

Choose your domain name from the dropdown. Then, either select/deselect the three pre-installed WordPress plugins: WPForms, OptinMonster, and MonsterInsights.

Click Next.

Bluehost will then set up your site for you. You’ll be able to login to the WordPress dashboard by either going to www.yoursitename.com/wp-admin or going to My Sites in your Bluehost account and hovering over the default theme in the screen.

There, you’ll see two options:

1. Manage Site
2. Log into WordPress

Select Log into
WordPress to go straight to the WordPress dashboard where you can start
creating content, adding images, and so much more.

If you aren’t sure where to start when it comes to building
your WordPress blog, Bluehost has a great checklist in the Home section of your account.

Step 5: Pick a WordPress Theme

At first, your WordPress blog will look something like this:

This isn’t visually appealing. Luckily, with WordPress you can customize the look of your website by choosing a WordPress theme.

To install a WordPress theme on your blog, go to Appearance > Themes in your WordPress dashboard. Click on WordPress.org Themes to access free WordPress themes found in the repository.

There you can search themes based on Featured, Popular,
Latest, Favorites, and Premium themes. You can also search for a specific theme
too.

If you need a theme with a certain feature, just click on
the Feature Filter button and select
the features you want included in your theme choices.

When you find a theme you like, click the Preview button to see what your website will look like when the theme is applied to your site. Make sure to look for things like design, color schemes, typography, and layout.

If you still like what you see, click Install and then Activate.

Once the theme is activated on your website, you can click on the Customize button to make changes.

Here you can change things like:

• Site Identity: change the site name and tagline and upload a custom logo.
• Colors: use the custom colors or change to a custom color scheme.
• Background Image: upload a background image to your site.
• Menus: customize the navigation menu on your website.
• Widgets: add or delete widgets such as a search bar, recent blog posts section, or site categories.
• Homepage: decide whether to display your latest blog posts or create a static homepage.
• Additional CSS: add custom CSS to change the look of your website.

Each theme will have its own customization options in the
Live Theme Customizer. The above just gives you can example of some of the
things you can change.

Premium WordPress Themes

If you need a theme with more advanced functionality, you
may want to look into the premium themes available from these reliable theme
companies:

• FancyThemes: FancyThemes creates simple blogging themes for bloggers. They have 13 free themes and 1 beautiful premium theme for purchase.
• Meridian Themes: Here you’ll find WordPress themes built for bloggers, creatives, and business owners. There is 1 free theme and 11 premium themes to choose from.
• Elegant Themes: Elegant Themes is a reputable theme company that offers memberships to customers, complete with 2 WordPress themes meant for magazine, eCommerce, portfolio, business, and blogging sites. A membership also comes with a social sharing plugin and a opt-in form plugin.
• StudioPress: Famous for one of the most popular frameworks in the world, Genesis Framework, StudioPress has plenty of stunning premium themes for you to pick from.

To install a premium theme on your WordPress site, start by
going to Appearance > Themes in your WordPress dashboard.
Then, click Upload and then Upload Theme.

Browse for the theme zip file on your computer and click Install Now.

Wait for WordPress to install the theme and then click Activate to make the theme live on your
blog.

Step 6: Create a Blog Post

After you have the basic design of your WordPress blog
sorted out, it’s time to create your first blog post.

To do this, go to Posts
> Add New in your WordPress
dashboard.

Here you’ll see the Gutenberg Editor, which makes it easy to write content and add images to your blog post.  It works by adding blocks of content to your website.

To add a block, click on the (+) and choose the type of content you want to add to your site.

Once you’re done writing, all you have to do is click the Publish button to make your blog post
live for all to see.

Underneath the ‘Publish’ area (in the Document section), you’ll see other sections to customize such as:

• Categories: assign your blog post to a category so readers can easily find articles about the topic that interests them most. Categories are a broad grouping of your blog posts and help people identify what your blog is all about. Every blog post on your website must be assigned a category.
• Tags: assign your blog posts tags, which are specific details about individual blog posts. You do not have to give your blog posts tags.
• Featured Image: this is where you upload an image to appear at the top of your blog post. It will also appear anywhere on your website you allow blog post featured images to appear.
• Excerpt: here you can write a small snippet of information about your blog post for people to read.

Step 7: Using WordPress Plugins

WordPress themes help with the visual appearance of your blog. On the other hand, WordPress plugins help with your site’s functionality.

Just like themes, there are thousands of WordPress plugins
available for your blog. And while it would be impossible to name them all, we
can break down some of the types of plugins that might be helpful for making
your blog better.

• Site Security: securing your WordPress website from hackers, spam, and other malicious activity is your responsibility when you have a hosted blog. That’s why using a security plugin to stop brute force attacks, site downtime, and a poor user experience is critical to your success. Some of the best site security plugins include Wordfence Security or Sucuri.
• Backups: having a backup of your website, stored in a safe off site location, can help should anything go wrong. Some great options are BackupBuddy and UpdraftPlus.
• Performance: a fast loading blog is the best kind. Using a WordPress plugin to help with caching content and optimizing images will increase your site’s speed and performance and help boost your search rankings. For help with site performance, we recommend StackPath (previously known as MaxCDN) and WP Super Cache.
• SEO Optimization: organic search results are one of the best ways to drive traffic to your blog. A good SEO plugin will help you optimize your content for better rankings and increased traffic. The best SEO plugin by far is Yoast SEO.
• Social Media: making your blog content shareable across multiple social media networks will help you reach a broader audience and boost engagement with your site content. If you want to enable social sharing on your site, consider using Social Media Share Buttons and Icons.

How to Install a WordPress Plugin

To install a WordPress plugin from the WordPress Repository
on your blog, start by going to Plugins >
Add New.

There, you’ll need to search for the plugin you want to
install on your blog.

When you find the one you want, click Install Now and then Activate.

If you want to upload a premium WordPress plugin you’ve
purchased from a marketplace, go to Plugins
> Add New and click the Upload Plugin button.

Browse for the zip file you have stored on your computer,
click Install Now and then Activate.

Keep in mind, each plugin you install and activate on your
WordPress blog may or may not require additional settings configurations to
work properly.

Wrapping Up

And there you have it! You now know how to start a WordPress
blog, complete with a domain name, web hosting provider, WordPress theme, and
plugins.

If you need a little extra help understanding the WordPress
CMS, be sure to check out this quick guide to WordPress user
roles.

So, get out there and start a WordPress blog today. And don’t forget to tell us all about your experience in the comments below!

The post How to Start a WordPress Blog (Ultimate Beginner’s Guide for 2020) appeared first on WPHacks.

It’s easy to underestimate the effect hosting has on how well your WordPress website operates. The right hosting plan can improve performance and even affect your level of site security. For this reason, it’s essential you pick from the best WordPress hosting providers when you’re ready to start a WordPress website.

The beauty of web hosting is that there’s a wide range of available plans, so it’s easy to find one that suits your needs. You can even select a plan specifically designed with WordPress users in mind.

In other words, when you choose use a WordPress hosting company, you’ll receive access to some handy extra features that were designed specifically with WordPress in mind.

In this post, we’ll discuss the importance of choosing a quality web host and explore some of the key criteria that any hosting provider should meet. Then, we’ll highlight five of the best WordPress hosting providers in the market for you to consider.

Why Choosing a Quality WordPress Host Is Essential

Behind every successful website is an excellent web host. This is especially true when you’re using a specific content management system such as WordPress.

Although not essential, a WordPress-specific hosting plan is likely to provide extra features. These features will vary from host to host, although one common option is integration with popular plugins like WooCommerce. Other perks include free staging sites, regular updates, and pre-installed sites.

That said, there’s more to investing in top WordPress
hosting companies than just great features. In fact, here are the most
compelling reasons why choosing a high-quality web host should be a priority:

• Faster Page Loading Times: a good web host will have built-in speed and performance features (such as PHP 7 or higher support). A sluggish website causes people to bounce. If you want to boost engagement and drive more traffic to your site, you’re going to need to focus on site speed.
• Increased Uptime: there’s no avoiding some downtime throughout the year. That said, you should make sure the web host you want to use has excellent uptime records.
• Better Search Rankings: the better your website performs, the higher you’ll rank in search results. A fast web host with built-in SEO optimization tools will help you improve your SERPs.
• Support When You Need It: the last thing you want to do when you have a problem is scramble frantically trying to get in touch with your host’s support team. A good web host will have WordPress experts available 24/7 to help.
• Site Backups (Just in Case): we always recommend you back up your own WordPress website. That said, a high-quality WordPress web host will also create site backups (and have one-click restore options).

As you can see, the way your site performs relies heavily on your web host.

Criteria to Look for in the Top WordPress Hosting Providers

Just to recap the importance of good WordPress hosting
providers, here’s a quick look at the top criteria you should look for before
committing to a web host:

• Built-in security measures such as WAF (web application firewall), malware scanning and removal, and offsite website backups
• Uptime guarantees and compensation for unexpected downtime
• Speed and performance features like PHP 7, caching solutions, and free CDN services
• Site backups and one-click restore options
• Top-notch customer support through various channels (email, phone, live chat, etc.)
• Generous bandwidth and storage limits so you can grow your site without issue
• Domain management tools for adding subdomains and managing multiple websites
• Scalability so you don’t have downtime as your site grows

Of course, this is just a short list of some of the top features to look for when researching WordPress hosting providers. And what you need in a web host might not be what someone else needs.

That’s why we’ve rounded up the top 5 WordPress hosting providers in the market to help narrow you search and make a better decision.

1. WP Engine – best managed WordPress hosting for professional

To kick off our list of top WordPress hosting providers, we’re starting with WP Engine. As one of the most popular WordPress hosting providers around, WP Engine aims to provide a full-package solution.

Its managed WordPress hosting plans include many useful features, such as:

• Access to more than 36 StudioPress themes and the Genesis Framework
• Free full site migrations
• Easy integration with eCommerce solutions like WooCommerce
• Page performance analysis, so you can keep track of how well your site is doing

Although this feature set is
impressive, a quality hosting provider will need to offer more if it wants to
be competitive. With that in mind, let’s see how well WP Engine scores in these
key areas:

• Security. Managed WordPress hosting plans on WP Engine come with a free SSL certificate pre-installed. They also offer unlimited developer environments, flexible workflows, staging areas, and Git integration.
• Scalability. The WordPress plans come in several tiers, each better suited to a certain level of site traffic. This means you can easily upgrade your chosen plan when your site starts to grow in popularity.
• User Support. WP Engine offers some solid support options, including a help desk and 24/7 chat service. Those who are operating on more advanced plans can also contact the support team via telephone.
• Performance. This hosting provider has a near perfect uptime record, meaning there’s little chance of unexpected downtime for your site. WP Engine is also well-optimized for performance. If you’re running WooCommerce store, there’s even a plugin that can help you optimize performance in your Woo store. Our own benchmark tests found average loading times to be around 1.02 seconds, which is an excellent result.

Pros:

• Strictly managed WordPress hosting plans, so you know the support team is full of experts
• Hacked sites fixed for free
• No long-term contracts
• Exceptional support (including fast response times)
• Built-in EverCache technology to boost site speed
• Free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate

Cons:

• More expensive than some other WordPress hosting providers
• Some WordPress plugins and themes are not allowed

Price: The most basic WP Engine WordPress hosting plan starts at $35 per month. Use the coupon code db20 to get 20% OFF any WPEngine hosting plan.

2. A2 Hosting – best for beginners

Launched in 2005, A2 Hosting is a relative newcomer to the hosting circuit. However, that hasn’t stopped it from gaining rapidly in popularity.

This is due in part to the range of features included with its managed WordPress plans:

• Full compatibility with eCommerce options like WooCommerce and osCommerce
• A free personal license for the Jetpack plugin
• Unlimited transfers
• A simple staging environment, so you can test any changes before they go live

What’s more, this provider manages
to check most of the key boxes when it comes to WordPress hosting:

• Security. Regular site backups are included in all A2 Hosting WordPress plans, meaning you have something to fall back on in the event of a breach. You’ll also get a free SSL certificate.
• Scalability. High performance speeds mean that all plans come fully equipped to handle your site’s traffic, no matter how high it gets. Plus, there’s a range of different plans to suit all website sizes.
• User Support. All customers receive access to the 24/7/365 live chat, email, phone, and ticketing systems provided by A2 Hosting.
• Performance. This hosting provider prides itself on its high performance. In fact, that’s its primary selling point. The managed WordPress plans are ‘Turbo Optimized’ – meaning that websites using A2 Hosting can perform quite a bit faster than normal. Our benchmark tests with a basic site found a loading speed of 0.94 seconds – an excellent overall time.

Pros:

• Unlimited storage, data transfers, websites, and databases
• 99.9% uptime guarantee
• Free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates
• Website staging environments
• Free Cloudflare CDN services
• Solid State Drives for faster load times

Cons:

• Some features (e.g., unlimited websites and databases, and Turbo Server) require higher plan purchase
• Setting up an account can be tricky for beginners
• There are tons of upsells

Price: Managed WordPress hosting plans start at $9.78/month for one website.

3. DreamHost

DreamHost has been around since 1996, so there’s no surprise that it’s one of the more well-known WordPress hosting providers on this list.

Its WordPress specific-plans come with a wide range of vital options and features, including:

• Unmetered bandwidth, so you don’t need to worry about loading times or scaling
• A free domain and domain privacy
• A customized email account that reflects your chosen domain
• One-click WordPress installs

This is a great start, but let’s
talk about how DreamHost’s managed WordPress hosting compares when it comes to
the four key dimensions we’ve been focusing on:

• Security. If you’re a seasoned website owner, you know just how important caching is. With DreamHost, that capability comes built into your plan. You’ll also get a free SSL certificate and your site will be regularly backed up.
• Scalability. The kind of plan you opt for will determine how many visitors your site can handle. The options start at 100k visits per month and can accommodate up to one million site visitors.
• User Support. DreamHost provides 24/7 ticketed support. If you don’t want to wait around, however, there’s also a live chat service available.
• Performance. Although not as speedy as some of the other options on our list, DreamHost still offers a solid level of performance. Plus, the traffic-specific plans help ensure that you always have access to the resources you need. In our benchmark tests, our test site loaded in an average of 1.49 seconds, which is a perfectly respectable result.

Pros:

• Unlimited storage, bandwidth, and websites
• One-click software installs, including WordPress
• 100% uptime guarantee
• Impressive 97-day money back guarantee
• Free domain name and WHOIS privacy (which many web hosts don’t provide)

Cons:

• Custom control panel can be tough for those used to cPanel
• Some people complain of long live chat wait times

Price: DreamHost managed WordPress plans start at $16.95/month for 100k monthly visitors.

4. Flywheel – best for freelancers & agencies

For those of you who desire a solid hosting experience, but wish to keep costs low, look no further than Flywheel.

This hosting provider specializes in WordPress solutions – as evidenced by its extensive list of features:

• Free migrations for any site
• A free staging site to use in development and troubleshooting
• Zero overcharge costs
• Pre-installed WordPress sites

Let’s explore how well Flywheel
holds up when it comes to the areas that matter most:

• Security. SSL certificates are included in all managed WordPress plans, as well as site backups.
• Scalability. Flywheel offers an extensive range of plans, with six different ready-made tiers, as well as the option to create a custom plan. Upgrading between these tiers is a simple process, so you don’t need to worry if your site begins to grow in popularity.
• User Support. All Flywheel customers automatically receive 24/7 online support. Since Flywheel only serves WordPress websites, you can expect its support team to know their way around the platform.
• Performance. Flywheel gives you multiple server locations to choose from, including New York, San Francisco, Toronto, Amsterdam and London. This means you can host your site somewhere close to your target audience – which is an excellent way to improve performance. When we ran benchmark tests, our Flywheel site loaded in 0.85 seconds on average – the fastest result of any provider on this list.

Pros:

• Cloud-based infrastructure means you can scale with ease
• Partners with Sucuri for guaranteed site security (plus free site hack fixes)
• Varnish caching system to increase site speed
• Easy backup and restore functionality
• One-click staging environments and free demo sites to help you get started

Cons:

• Can’t access SSH shell, which may not sit well with those that need additional control
• Can become pricey especially if you have more than one website

Price: Flywheel’s lowest tiered plan starts at $25/month for one website and 25k monthly visitors.

5. Kinsta – best for large sites

Kinsta only provides managed WordPress hosting solutions, meaning that this provider knows exactly what it takes to make your WordPress site a success.

In addition to that specialized knowledge, Kinsta managed plans also include:

• One-click WordPress installations
• Frequent software updates
• Free white-glove site migrations
• Multiple global server locations

With those handy features in mind,
here’s what else Kinsta has to offer:

• Security. All of Kinsta’s plans, no matter the tier, come with a free SSL certificate. Regular site backups and caching are also included.
• Scalability. Just beating out Flywheel, Kinsta offers ten different kinds of WordPress plans. These range from Starter kits (equipped to handle up to 20,000 monthly visits) to advanced Enterprise plans (built for 3,000,000 monthly visits). Put simply, there’s an option for every sized site.
• User Support. Much like Flywheel, the specialized service means that you can expect to receive expert advice from Kinsta on a 24/7 basis.
• Performance. The range of plans means that your site’s performance will be customized to suit its individual needs. You won’t be paying for unnecessary features, but you can still guarantee fast loading speeds and minimal downtime. Our Kinsta benchmark test returned an average result of 1.58 seconds, which is on the slower side but is still well under the golden two-second mark.

Pros:

• 99.9% uptime guarantee
• Cloud-based infrastructure for the ultimate in scaling
• Nginx, PHP 7, Kinsta CDN services, and HTTP/2 help with site speed and performance
• One of the best managed WordPress hosting providers in terms of doing everything for you
• Strict support team screening means support is stellar and knowledgeable
• Free SSL certificate and daily automatic backups
• Intelligent site caching, which is great for eCommerce sites

Cons:

• Very steep price points, which doesn’t help those on tight budgets
• No email hosting, which many website owners want connected to their hosting provider
• No telephone support, which makes complex troubleshooting difficult

Price: Kinsta hosting starts at $30/month for one website and 20k monthly visitors.

Wrapping Up

In this post, we’ve highlighted five of the best hosting providers for WordPress users:

1. WP Engine. One of the leading names in WordPress hosting, WP Engine offers many features that make website management simple. Enjoy free site hack fixes, exceptional customer support, and free SSL certificates.
2. A2 Hosting. This hosting provider leads the way when it comes to fast performance. Plus, you’ll get unlimited bandwidth, free CDN services, and staging sites.
3. DreamHost. With easy, one-click WordPress installations, this host is a great option for beginners. And if you don’t like what you get, you have an unheard of 97 days to get a refund.
4. Flywheel. A newer addition to the list, Flywheel is a WordPress-specific host, which can provide a whole range of features that make running your site easier. For example, free site migrations, zero overage charges, and a built-in caching system help you succeed.
5. Kinsta. This is a hosting provider of choice for WordPress users who are looking to find a fast and secure home for their websites. It also boasts extensive online resources, which come in handy if you’re looking to improve your website management skills.

Using a hosting plan designed specifically for WordPress can have a very positive impact on your site. It will provide you access to plenty of handy features, not to mention an improved level of security and support. Once you have all of that under your belt, you’ll likely be well on your way to crafting a successful website.

If
you’re still not sure about what type of web hosting you need for your
WordPress site, hop on over to this article and check out the most common types of WordPress web hosting.

Do you use any of the above-mentioned WordPress hosting providers to host your website? We’d love to hear all about it in the comments below!

The post 5 Best WordPress Hosting Providers to Choose From appeared first on WPHacks.

With so many WooCommerce themes available in the WordPress marketplace, it can be difficult to choose just one among the many. It’s an important decision to make, however, as the one you choose will ultimately control your store’s design and the customization options you’re able to apply.

In this post, we’re going to cover 10 of the best WooCommerce themes the WordPress industry has to offer.

We’ll wrap up with what you should look for in a WooCommerce theme as well as how to choose the right one for you.

Let’s get into it.

The 10 Best WooCommerce Themes in 2020

01. Divi – $89

Divi is a versatile and highly-customizable theme available from Elegant Themes.

It has a built-in page builder that allows you to create well-designed pages and even comes with hundreds of pre-made designs for you to use.

• Seamless integration with WooCommerce that allows you to build custom Checkout and Shopping Cart pages with the Divi Builder
• Shop module that allows you to add individual products and product categories to any page
• Custom style options for shop pages
• 12 layout packs for online stores with multiple templates in each one
• Well-designed pricing tables

Pros

• Great way to build a custom store, especially if you also need a fully-fledged website and/or blog
• $89 price tag also comes with social share and email opt-in plugins

Cons

• Divi is notorious for having intermittent performance issues and a heavy reliance on shortcodes that aren’t cleaned up when you deactivate the theme

02. Meridian One Plus – $59

Meridian One Plus is a one-page business theme built for modern businesses. It supports the live theme customizer by allowing you to customize numerous style options from the frontend.

• Dedicated Products section for the homepage
• WooCommerce integration comes with well-designed product, Shopping Cart and Checkout pages
• Sleek pricing tables

Pros

• Great option for businesses that need full landing pages with sections for products
• Easy to set up and customize
• Fantastic price

Cons

• Not a suitable option for stores that need dedicated shop layouts with places for featured products, different product categories, etc.

03. Shopkeeper – $69

Shopkeeper is a dedicated WooCommerce theme from Power Elite ThemeForest Author getbowtied.

It has numerous design options and comes with a premium page builder.

• Multiple layouts for your homepage, shop pages and product pages
• Different layouts for different types of products
• WooCommerce page builder elements integrated with WPBakery Page Builder plugin (formerly Visual Composer)
• Style options can be customized easily in the live theme customizer

Pros

• Flexible shop layouts, different header layouts and multiple pagination modes
• Wide selection of layouts to choose from

Cons

• Its official page builder integration is WPBakery Page Builder, which has fallen behind newer and more intuitive page builders over the years years

04. Porto – $59

Porto is a multipurpose WordPress theme built for businesses and professional blogs.

Its many homepage layouts include a few options for WooCommerce stores.

• 20+ shop layouts to choose from
• Customizable shop categories
• Easy to customize with the extensive theme and style options available in the live theme customizer

Pros

• Numerous shop page layouts to choose from for a custom look
• Competitively priced

Cons

• Official page builder integration is WPBakery Page Builder

05. Flatsome – $59

Flatsome is a multipurpose WooCommerce theme from Power Elite Author UX-themes. It comes with its own built-in page builder developed by UX-themes themselves.

• 15 shop layouts to choose from
• Multiple layouts for category and product pages
• Customizable theme and style options in the live theme customizer

Pros

• Unlike most ThemeForest themes that integrate with WPBakery Page Builder, Flatsome comes with the developer’s own UX Builder page builder
• Comes with a small handful of business landing page layouts if you need both

Cons

• While they can be customized to look more modern, many of the premade layout designs are a bit dated and in need of work

06. Woondershop – $79

Woondershop is a dedicated WooCommerce theme packed with features that’ll help you optimize your store for conversions. It has three well-designed layouts to choose from and comes with unique functionalities.

• Three homepage layouts, including one inspired by Amazon.com
• Product suggestions in search bar
• Cross-selling widget allows you to add similar products and “frequently bought together” products to product pages
• Distraction-free checkout with removal of headers, footers and sidebars
• Multiple category layout options

Pros

• Easy to build a well-designed online store optimized for conversions without having to rely on third-party plugins
• Great price considering the ecommerce functionalities built into it

Cons

• There’s only one layout for product pages

07. Shoptimizer – $99

Shoptimizer is a dedicated WooCommerce theme made by CommerceGurus, a developer behind a collection of themes and plugins for WooCommerce. It goes beyond offering shop layouts by including features designed to increase your conversions.

• Multiple product page layouts for simple products, product variants, products that can be grouped with other products and more
• Removes header, footer and sidebar from Checkout page to minimize distractions
• Corner pop-up notifications that appear and display storewide when customers complete purchases
• Countdown timers and stock counters that encourage urgency

Pros

• Competitively priced given the amount of functionalities built into the theme
• Integrates with Elementor for additional customizations

Cons

• There’s only one homepage layout, which could use an update

08. XStore – $59

XStore is a dedicated WooCommerce theme made by Power Elite Author 8theme. It can be used to build several different types of WooCommerce sites.

• 75+ homepage layouts for different purposes and niches
• Multiple layouts for Shop page, product pages and content pages
• Comes with a few premium WooCommerce plugins for free
• Compatible with multi-vendor plugins
• Expansive list of theme and style options

Pros

• Plenty of homepage layouts to choose from
• Good option for multi-vendor marketplaces
• Competitively priced

Cons

• Uses WPBakery Page Builder as its official page builder integration

09. Astra Pro – $59+

Astra Pro is a multipurpose WordPress theme designed to suit different types of niches.

It offers several homepage layouts for stores and even a few ecommerce features.

• 10+ homepage demos for online stores
• Multiple display options for Shop page
• Multiple Checkout page variations
• Ability to build custom pages and customize the theme extensively with support for page builders and the live theme customizer

Pros

• Easy to set up and customize
• Supports the Elementor and Beaver Builder page builder plugins

Cons

• Only one product page layout
• Some features, such as additional add-ons for Elementor and Beaver Builder, are only available in higher-priced plans

10. Hawthorn – $49

Hawthorn is a blog and shop theme from Solo Pine, a developer of elegant blog themes.

It’s a blog theme first and foremost, but it does allow you to add a Shop page to your site.

Key Features for WooCommerce

• Simple yet well-designed Shop, Cart and Checkout pages
• Elegant product pages that complement the blogging aspects of the theme quite well

Pros

• Wonderful option for lifestyle, fashion and beauty bloggers interested in selling their own products
• Fantastic price

Cons

• Every homepage layout only features posts from your blog, meaning you can’t showcase products on it

How to Choose Best WooCommerce Themes for Your Needs

Every WooCommerce theme suits a different purpose and comes with numerous functionalities. Some even suit multiple purposes. What you need to do is determine which features matter to you most as well as which ones will help you achieve your goals most efficiently.

Start by considering how you’ll use WooCommerce. Are you building a fully-fledged online store or a professional website or blog that simply has an online store?

It may seem like a small detail, but it may wind up having the biggest impact on the theme you decide to go with.

Next, consider how you want your store to function. This one is tricky, however, since you can always install a plugin to implement a feature a theme doesn’t support natively. Still, having certain features built into your theme by default will make building your site that much easier.

Consider the intricate details each theme offers. For example, some of the themes featured above offer different product page layouts, giving you a few different ways to showcase your products.

Some themes even have eCommerce functionalities built into them natively. Not only do they help you increase your conversions, they also negate the need to find third-party plugins that’ll help you accomplish the same things.

Lastly, consider each theme’s design and customization options.

Choose a theme that has a design that will complement your products seamlessly. Also, consider the theme options it offers as they’ll determine how much you’re able to customize page layouts and the overall styles your store uses.

The post The 10 Best WooCommerce Themes for WordPress (2020): Pros and Cons appeared first on WPHacks.

Struggling to find
the perfect theme for your new website?

You’re not alone.

There are countless options out there to choose from, each with their own strengths and weaknesses to consider.

You can look at flexible themes like the Total theme if you want something that’s as diverse and varied as your business.

Or perhaps you want something that’s more tailored to your needs for WooCommerce integration and online selling, like the Flatsome theme?

Often, the best way to figure out exactly what you need, is
to see the best tools in action. That’s why we’ve put together a new list of
sites already using the Astra theme to claim their piece of the web.

Astra works with various page builders like Elementor (see our review), allowing developers to create immersive sites for clients that are absolutely packed with functionality.

Read on to see some of our favorite Astra examples for
yourself.

What is the Astra Theme?

The Astra Theme is one of the most popular items available from the WordPress theme directory.

Designed to give you everything you need to design a stunning websites, the Astra theme was created by Brainstorm Force, using Vanilla JavaScript that prevents problems with jQuery tech.

Aside from optimized code and quick loading performance
(capable of launching pages in less than half of a second!), Astra also
requires less than 50KB of resources from your WordPress site. That makes it
one of the most lightweight themes on the market today.

Astra has more than 100,000 active installs, a 5-start rating from countless users, and endless fantastic features to explore, such as:

…the list goes on.

Keen to know more?
Let’s check out those examples.

01. Dream & Co

Featuring custom
fonts throughout, social media widgets, and a responsive page design, Dream
& Co uses the Astra WordPress theme to demonstrate a luxury travel website.
The navigation bar comes with impressive slide-in animations, which are
mimicked in various content boxes as you scroll down the page.

Live Website.

02. Darting Basketball Academy

The Darting
Basketball Academy has used a video background on its website to capture the
attention of customers. There’s also a consistent color scheme used throughout
every page, to remind you of the image behind the brand. The Astra theme footer
also includes links to the Academy’s social pages.

Live Website.

03. KBSCI

The KBSCI website is
a stunning example of the Astra theme in action. In-depth control over the
modular layout of the website means that it’s easy to scroll through the home
page and find the information you need. The sticky header also means that you
can always have access to the navigation bar as you scroll.

Live Website.

04. Dana Osborne

The Dana Osborne
website is an elegant example of the Astra WordPress theme. This wedding
invitation focused company uses a fixed header and navigation bar on every
screen, as well custom blocks to organize a fully-featured home page. As you
scroll, you’ll find social media widgets from Pinterest, contact buttons, and
more.

Live Website.

05. The Old Mill

The Old Mill is a
stunning website, equipped with a convenient background slider at the top of
the page, introducing visitors to awards, recipes, and more. The specialized
font throughout the website is reminiscent of the company’s logo. This site
also takes advantage of Astra’s fixed header option.

Live Website.

06. Kuumbwa Jazz

The Kuumbwa Jazz
website leverages the grid-based content layout from Astra to help users
conveniently scroll through a selection of upcoming events. There’s an “instant
scroll to top” button at the footer of the page as you browse, which makes it
much easier to jump from one part of the website to another.

Live Website

07. Somos Wir

The Somos Wir
website is brimming with personality, from a colorful filter over the header
image on the page, to a friendly font. The most exciting part of this website
are the unique animations that pop up when you scroll over certain content
blocks on the home page.

Live Website.

08. Colorado SBDC

The Colorado SBDC
website is another example of a website using the boxed layout of the WordPress
Astra theme to make finding content easy. There’s also a map widget included on
the website to help you find your nearest location for a consultation.

Live Website.

09. The Foxes Photography

As a photography
website, it makes sense that The Foxes brand would have full images as their
website background. However, the scrolling gallery is genuinely stunning. The
transparent header offered by the WordPress Astra theme just makes the images
even more compelling.

Live Website.

10. Broil King

This multi-lingual website is an excellent example of how the Astra
Theme works perfectly with WooCommerce to encourage sales. The custom spacing
throughout the site makes it easier to find information fast. What’s more, the
fixed header and footer give you access to both navigation and a live chat
feature too.

Live Website.

11. Bacon Scouts

The Bacon Scouts website is
brimming with personal touches, thanks to the Astra theme, including a
consistent logo on every page, and a fixed navigation bar. Custom colors and
fonts have been used throughout to highlight the brand’s unique image. There’s
also a handy footer where you can find out more about the company.

Live Website.

12. Camper Boys

The great thing
about the Camper Boys website, is that it has it’s own search function embedded
into the home page. You can instantly find out where rentable camper vans are
available for your chosen dates. There’s even a video in the background of the
website to let you know what you’re signing up for.

Live Website.

13. Torgeson Electric

Torgeson Electric
uses the compelling text animation features included with the WordPress Astra
theme to highlight some of it’s unique selling points on the home page. There’s
also a 24/7 button included on the fixed header which users can click to contact
the company immediately.

Live Website.

14. Ik Ben on Betaalbaar

The best thing about
this website from Denmark, is the way that it’s used the infinite scrolling
features of the WordPress Astra theme to tell a story. The eye-catching design
is incredible for convincing customers to convert and sign the company’s petition. There’s
even unique animations throughout to make the site more engaging.

Live Website.

15. Gearing Rackner & McGrath

A legal website with
plenty of character, GRM uses the Astra theme to highlight the trustworthiness
of the business. The side-scrolling font makes the website more engaging, while
the way that the site has been designed constantly draws attention to the USPs
of the brand. Animated CTA buttons really drive action too.

Live Website

16. Duke Richards

Overlaid blocks on
the Duke Richards Interior website create an attractive experience as you
scroll through the pages. The fixed header includes an always-available
navigation bar, while the footer comes with chat features integrated through
WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and more. Interestingly, the header only shows on
mobile devices.

Live Website.

17. Cricket Media

Cricket Media uses
the blog-style layout from the Astra WordPress theme to create a friendly
website that encourages reading. The custom colors throughout match the
website’s logo exactly and the fixed footer allows users to jump straight back
to the head of the page instantly.

Live Website.

18. 
Smart Chameleon

Smart Chameleon
makes the most of the fast loading times and lightweight performance of the
Astra WordPress theme to add a bunch of fun animations to their site. There’s
dynamic text, animated content blocks, and more.

Live Website.

19. Hijab Printing

Headers are one of
the most compelling features that the Astra theme has to offer, and this
website takes full advantage of that fact. The header changes from a block of
brand color to transparent as you scroll through the page.

Live Website.

20. Baker Roofing

The Baker Roofing
website embeds a video into the top of the page, to provide information fast.
There’s a custom chat app in the fixed footer, and a Mega navigation bar from
Astra, which expands to show plenty of useful information.

Live Website.

21. Cheri Bustos

Cheri Bustos is a
color-packed website using the WordPress Astra theme. It comes with a custom
search bar widget that users can access to find the nearest location where they
can get involved. There’s also a fixed navigation bar that includes a donate button so that customers can convert at any moment.

Live Website.

22. Naturtint

The Naturtint
website introduces women to natural hair dying options. There’s custom font
used throughout, and an animated slider on the home page where you can read
reviews from other happy customers. We love the way color is used throughout
this website to really highlight the unique nature of the brand.

Live Website.

23. Bhuka Tours

The Bhuka Tours
website introduces visitors to the fun and unique experiences that their tours
can offer with a scrolling slider at the top of the homepage. The fixed header
and footer stay with you as you move through the website, offering WhatsApp
communication and navigation. There’s also a unique navigation bar just for
mobile devices.

Live Website.

24. Easy Themepacks

On the Easy
Themepacks website, you’ll see a great example of how you can use the fluid
layouts on the WordPress Astra theme to add animated sliders to various points
of your pages at once. The built-in social media widgets and contact bar are a
nice touch for the company to encourage engagement.

Live Website.  

25. Australian Cosmetic Institute

Using the Astra
theme, the Australian Cosmetic Institute has been able to show off its unique
personality in style, with unique animations in a custom homepage slider.
They’ve also added their own brand colors to every aspect of the site, from shopping buttons,
to live chat widgets.

Live Website.

26. No Sleepless Nights

No Sleepless Nights
is a website that claims to help people get a better night’s rest. Rather than
using many of the advanced features of the Astra theme, this site has focused
on creating a very easy-to-use site experience for both mobiles and desktops. The
fonts are responsive, and there’s a search feature in the navigation bar.

Live Website.

27. Florida College

Florida College is
an education-focused website with plenty of great features designed to improve
user experience. The site uses content blocks to help users access information
quickly about their educational options. There’s also a search bar so you can
seek out specific pieces of data. We were particularly impressed by the use of
the Astra mega menu.

Live Website.

28. Quince Media

The Quince Media
website instantly grabs attention with a dynamic animation that loads as soon
as you click on the home page. While other themes would struggle with this
animation, the Astra theme can load it quickly and efficiently, without a
problem. You also get the benefit of a transparent pinned header too.

Live Website.

29. Anaplan

Anaplan also takes
advantage of how lightweight and fast the Astra WordPress theme is, with an
instant-loading video at the top of their homepage. There’s a compliance footer
that allows you to accept cookies for the website, and a header that becomes
transparent as you scroll through the page.

Live Website.

30. Router Hosting

The Router Hosting
website is a simple but effective example of the Astra theme in action. Hover
animations that highlight individual segments of content when you move your
cursor over them increase engagement, while animated statistics and numbers
catch the eye as you scroll.

Live Website.

31. Biocanina.com

This multilingual
website has taken advantage of Astra’s access to numerous Google fonts, with
responsive typography that works on every device. The well-spaced containers of
content make browsing a breeze, and the slider on the home page is excellent
too.

Live Website.

32. SweCandy

The SweCandy website
leverages the containerized layout of the WordPress Astra theme to ensure that
there’s plenty of white space on the page. The sticky header at the top of the
page also comes with a dynamic sidebar that changes to let you know how much you’ve
got in your basket. This site also comes with it’s own live chat function for customer support.

Live Website

33. Jimmy’s Meals

Jimmy’s Meals uses
custom popups to immediately grab the customer’s attention. The sticky header
at the top of the page includes an email button that customers can use to
connect with the site owners in a single click.

Live Website.

34. Actofit

Actofit’s website
also takes advantage of the communication headers available from the WordPress
Astra theme. Users can click on a support email, telephone number, or a
multitude of social media pages to get in touch.

Live Website.

35. BrandBoom

Brand Boom’s website
comes with a membership plugin included so that the website owner can get
people signed up to their email list as quickly as possible. The company has also
used the WordPress Astra theme to create a bespoke blog.

Live Website.

36. Modo Payments

Modo Payment’s
website stands out with a compelling animated illustration on their home page.
The font and images dynamically change to suit the device that you’re browsing
from, and animations follow you as you scroll through the page, thanks to Astra
theme’s handy integrations.

Live Website.

37. Choquiero

The Choqueiro
chocolate website uses a dynamic navigation bar that’s responsive to the kind
of device that you’re using. There are also handy “Shop” CTA buttons throughout
the homepage to convince customers to start browsing.

Live Website.

38. 
Inkster Prints

The Inkster Prints
website is a simple example of the Astra theme , combing custom colors and
fonts with animated buttons throughout the site. The global design frame for
this website means that customers get the same experience on every page.

Live Website.

39. No Limit Buzz

No Limit Buzz uses
an animated text portion on the top of their website home page to attract
attention and demonstrate the company’s unique selling points. That combined
with a custom layout that’s used on every page helps this site to stand out.

Live Website.

40. Blue Moon

Finally, Blue Moon
is a creative insight into the possibilities of the Astra Theme. Animated font
helps to introduce you to the website if you load it from a desktop.
Additionally, there are social media widgets embedded straight into the home
screen.

Live Website.

Wrapping Up

The Astra theme is
an easy-to-use and lightweight way to transform your website.

As you can see from
all of the examples included above, this fantastic site is packed full of
versatility – ideal for a wide range of companies.

What’s your favorite example of the Astra theme in action?

The post 40 Excellent Examples of Websites Using the Astra WordPress Theme (2020) appeared first on WPHacks.

Do you want an easy way to design your website without having to hire a professional developer? Starting a WordPress website with a solution like Elementor is one of the best ways. That said, before you jump in and start using a feature-packed tool like the Elementor page builder plugin, you should take a closer look at what it has to offer to make sure it’s the right choice for you.

Today we’re going to review the free Elementor page builder plugin features.

What is a WordPress Page Builder Plugin?

A WordPress page builder plugin is a tool with a drag and
drop interface that lets you build stunning WordPress sites with ease. It
typically comes with content blocks that you can easily rearrange as you design
your site and front-end editing so you can make live edits.

Most of all, however, a true WordPress page builder plugin
gives people of all skill levels the ability to create any type of website they
want, without having any technical skills. In fact, page builder plugins don’t
require you to mess with code whatsoever.

What is Elementor?

Elementor is a free and premium drag and drop page builder plugin for WordPress. Since it’s one of the most popular page builder plugins in the market, it’s safe to say that Elementor helps people build better sites, complete with all the design and functionality you could want.

With Elementor, you can:

• Create posts, pages, and custom post types on a separate interface than the default WordPress editing screen
• Build beautiful websites without having any HTML or PHP knowledge or skills
• Maintain site speed and performance, despite using such a feature-heavy plugin
• Edit on the front-end in a WYSIWYG environment
• Create endless number of customizations using the templates and blocks made available through the interface
• Build a custom website on a tight budget since there is a free version of the plugin

Of course, this is just scratching the surface. That’s why
we’re going to dive in and take a look at some of Elementor’s best features.

1. Exclusive Editing Interface

With Elementor, you get a separate editing interface than
the default WordPress editing screen. To access it, all you have to do is click
the Edit with Elementor button.

When you do, you’ll open up the Elementor interface, so you
can start editing.

The interface lets you make any and all changes to your site’s posts, pages, and custom post types.

You’ll have access to the content blocks that will let you customize the design and functionality of your website. And to do it, all you have to do is drag the widget you want to use to the preview section and make your changes.

2. Front-End Page Building

In addition to having an exclusive editing interface, Elementor is a front-end page builder.

When you use a back-end page builder solution, you can’t
instantly see the changes you’ve made to your site as your build your content.
This means that you can edit your content, but you won’t be able to view the
changes in real-time until you click update and then preview.

This is how the default WordPress editor works. You make a change, but can’t see the way it looks on your website until you update the post or page, let it refresh, and then click the ‘Preview’ button. This process is very time-consuming and can be frustrating while trying to make major changes to your site.

With Elementor, any changes you make, no matter how minor, show up immediately in the preview section of the editor. This lets you fine-tune the look and feel of your site in real-time, saving yourself time and ensuring your site looks and acts just the way you want it to.

And this is all without having to refresh your site and click ‘Preview’ every time.

To make things even easier, you’ll see the list of elements (or widgets) on the left hand side of the editor such as:

• Headings
• Icons
• Google Maps
• Image Carousel
• Counter
• Testimonials
• And much more

These 90+ widgets are in addition to the default WordPress ones that every website owner has access to.

In fact, Elementor makes sure to integrate with every theme and plugin that you have activated on your site so that you have a comprehensive editing experience.

If you want, you can also edit within the preview section of
the editor yourself. This is just another way Elementor helps people of all
skill levels create WordPress sites faster.

3. Mobile-Friendly and Responsive Design

Having a mobile friendly website is important if you want to
rank well in Google, provide an exceptional user experience, and boost
conversions. Luckily, Elementor has you covered thanks to its mobile-friendly
and 100% responsive design.

But more than that, Elementor gives you an easy way to make
sure the look of your website is perfect on all mobile devices. After all, with
so many customization options available, it can be easy to go overboard and
create a wonky looking mobile site.

To check how your newly created WordPress website looks on
either a mobile phone or tablet, all you have to do is click the Desktop icon at the bottom of the
editor and choose which view you’d like to preview: desktop, tablet, or mobile.

This is what your website might look like in the mobile
phone view:

The neat thing about this feature is that if you decide you want to make changes to your mobile view to make it more user-friendly, the changes you make will not affect the other two views (desktop or tablet).

In other words, Elementor preserves the customizations you make on any of the views so no matter where you site visitors come from, your site renders seamlessly for them.

4. Templates and Blocks

Elementor provides you with two distinct customization
features to make your life easier and your designs flawless.

1. Page Templates

Page templates in Elementor (over 300 of them) are meant to save you time and allow you to be consistent
throughout your website as you create pages and posts. You can use them as
inspiration and even customize them as you see fit.

To access the page templates in the Elementor editor, just
click the Folder icon:

When you do, you’ll see three tabs at the top: Blocks, Pages, and My Templates.

To find the page templates, click Pages. You’ll immediately see all the different types of templates you can use to create specific types of content.

To give you an idea, here are some of the best page
templates available:

• Landing page
• Portfolio
• About page
• Homepage
• Pricing page

Each page template is designed for a specific niche or industry, so you get the exact elements on your template you need to please your site visitors and grow your online presence. Of course, some page templates are reserved for the pro version of Elementor. However, there are plenty available in the free version to get you started.

2. Blocks

Elementor blocks are preset sections that you can quickly load into you’re your page, just like page templates.

They include things like:

• About
• FAQ
• Call to Action
• Header
• Services
• Pricing
• And more

To access them, click the Folder icon and then the Blocks tab. You can search for a specific block by using the Category dropdown menu.

Again, just like page templates, these blocks are fully customizable.

When you’re done using the available page templates and
blocks to create a one-of-a-kind webpage for your website, you can then save it
as your own template and use it later when you need to add more pages to your
site. This feature is found by clicking the arrow in the green Publish button and selecting Save as Template.

The My Template feature
saves you the hassle of having to re-do work or struggle with making webpages
completely uniform.

5. Endless Customization Options

When you’re editing a specific piece of content using the
Elementor page builder plugin, you can edit in real-time right in the preview
section if you want. But more than that, you can access additional styling
options in the editor to customize even further.

Here are just some of the things you can change when you click
on Style or Advanced:

• Text color
• Font type and size (choose from over 800 Google Fonts)
• Margin widths
• Background image
• Column resizing
• Padding settings
• Widget type
• Content position
• Borders
• Animations

You can even custom CSS to your website if you want, making
the Elementor page builder plugin one of the most all-inclusive in the market.

6. Revision History

It may not seem like that big a deal to have access to your revision
history, but it is. Especially the way Elementor does it.

Every time you save a change to your webpage, Elementor
saves that version of it in the History section
of the editor. If you need to revert back to an earlier version of your site,
or want to compare a before and after really quickly, all you have to do is
click the History icon at the bottom
of the screen and select the Actions or
Revisions tab.

Actions will tell you which elements were added or removed
on the webpage. Revisions will show you the version of the webpage at the time
you clicked Save.

 When you decide an
older version of the webpage is no longer needed, you even have the option to
discard it.

7. Elementor Pro

Are you interested in having
even more features?

While the Elementor page builder plugin claims to be the #1 free
WordPress page builder in the market, its pro version packs powerful punch.

Here’s just a snippet of what the pro version of Elementor provides:

• Popup Builder: create popups on your site and define advanced targeting actions to boost conversions.
• WooCommerce Builder: edit your WooCommerce shop with ease using Elementor. This includes things like a price table and/or list, categories, products, and the add to cart widget.
• Motion Effects: add interactions and animations to your website in the form of scrolling and mouse effects, smooth parallax effects, and even the unique 3D tilt effect to increase engagement with your content.
• Marketing Features: create forms right in the Elementor editor, add a countdown widget, and connect with your target audience via WhatsApp, Google Calendar, and more.
• Theme Builder: build a 404 page, add a sticky header, create a search results page, and edit the header and footer section without any code.
• Third-Party Integrations: integrate with your favorite email service provider such as Mailchimp, Campaign Monitor, or ConvertKit, and connect to services like Zapier, HubSpot, and many more.
• Social Sharing: quickly add social share buttons and icons, add a Facebook button, and even embed Facebook content right on your website.

The premium version of Elementor costs $49/year for a single site license, $99/year for 3 sites, and $199/year for 1000 sites. There’s a 30-day money-back guarantee just in case you don’t like it after trying it.

Elementor Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Live front-end editor for making changes in
  real-time
• Extensive template and block library for
  inspiration and ease
• Mobile-friendly and responsive design controls
• Core product is 100% free making it an
  affordable solution
• Regular updates
• Convenient revision history
• Easy to use interface, even for beginners

Cons:

• A lot of coveted features are only found in the
  pro version
• Doesn’t inherit theme styling, which can make
  meshing your old content and new content tough
• There is no white-label options, which is frustrating
  for developers or agencies

Wrapping Up

In the end, the Elementor page builder plugin comes highly recommended for those in need of an affordable, easy to use page building solution. It has everything you need to make customizing your WordPress website easy. And if you have a little bit of money to spare, the premium version of Elementor will surpass many other free and premium page builders in the market to date.

Get Elementor Page Builder Plugin

If you are still not sure about Elementor, you may try out the free version first to see what you can do with Elementor page builder plugin.

Related: 12 Real Life Examples of Websites Using the Elementor Plugin

The post Elementor Page Builder Plugin Review for WordPress: Is It Worth All the Hype? appeared first on WPHacks.

If you don’t already have an email list for your website, you should probably stop everything you’re doing and start building one right now.

Your mailing list – the list of people who have signed up to receive emails from you – is potentially the most valuable asset in your marketing arsenal, and can help you to increase site traffic, build better relationships and trust with your audience, and ultimately make more money.

Email lists are so powerful because they offer an amazing conversion rate compared to other types of online marketing – in fact, email is 40x more effective than social media for acquiring new customers.

Your list is also totally owned by you and under your control.

Google changes its algorithms and sends you back to page 10 of the listings? No worries.

Facebook decides to start charging for business pages? Who needs Facebook anyway?

Ok so you’re convinced – you need an email list. But how on earth do you get started at building one?

Fear not, as WordPress site owners are spoiled for choice in terms of list building plugins that will do all the hard work for you so you can sit back and let the sign-ups start flying in!

Best Mailing List Plugins to Choose From for Powerful List Building

All you need to start building an email list is a simple form on your site to capture a visitor’s name and email.

Plugins make it easy to add this form to your site without any coding required and all the data you collect will be added to your WordPress database for easy export or integration with mailing software.

Effective list building plugins also offer extra features to help improve your conversions such as:

• Pop-ups, slide-ins, and other eye-catching ways to display your sign-up form
• Functionality to offer opt-in incentives such as a free e-book
• Reporting so you can see how well your forms are performing

Looking for a plugin that offers all of this and more? Read on for a summary of some of the best list building plugins for WordPress:

01. Thrive Leads

Thrive Leads is considered by many to be the gold standard of list building plugins and it offers pretty much any feature you could possibly want, along with unlimited customization options.

This is a premium plugin but it’s actually great value for money considering all the functionality that you get, and it’s cheaper than several of the other premium options.

One of the great things about this plugin is that it’s designed specifically for WordPress users by the team behind Thrive Themes, so you know it’s a quality plugin that’s not going to slow your site down like some other generic solutions that aren’t built for WordPress in particular.

Some of the features of Thrive Leads include:

• Drag and drop editor to easily create any kind of form
• Created targeted offers based on post, category, tags, and more
• A/B split testing
• Detailed reporting
• SmartLinks displays different content to different types of visitor
• SmartExit triggers the opt-in before users leave your site
• Eye-catching animated form effects
• Fully mobile responsive.

Thrive Leads allows you to create just about any type of opt-in form so you can choose a combination of different styles that work best for your site and audience:

• Pop-up box
• “Sticky” ribbon
• In-line form
• 2-step opt-in form
• Slide-in form
• Opt-in widget
• Full screen overlay
• Content lock for opt-in incentives
• Scroll mat
• Multiple-choice forms.

Every form that’s built with Thrive Leads looks great as they offer an extensive library of templates to customize, so no worries if your design skills are somewhat lacking.

These templates are also optimized for conversion rates so you can just build and activate, without needing to do loads of research and testing on conversion techniques.

Thrive Leads really offers all the tools you need to grow your list without any hassle. The split testing and reporting features are particularly useful as they show you exactly what’s working and allow you to experiment with different types of form and calls to action.

Price: $67 for a single site license, or $19 a month as a member of Thrive Themes for access to all themes and plugins.

Get Thrive Leads

02. ConvertBox

ConvertBox is just like every other marketing tool in the market. It lets you collect leads by integrating with some of the best email marketing service providers around, segment your funnels, create lead capture forms, and even A/B test variations to see what’s working (and what’s not).

That said, this WordPress mailing list plugin prides itself in giving website owners a way to personalize every experience site visitors have while on your site. In other words, you don’t just display a random popup optin form whenever someone lands on your site. Instead, you deliver the right kind of message to people based on their interests.

ConvertBox comes with 4 built-in notification templates that include simple corner callouts, notification bars, modal window popups, and full page takeovers. And with a powerful, yet user-friendly drag and drop editor, you can easily create whatever kind of marketing element you need to build a bigger email list and grow your business.

Features included in ConvertBox include:

• Real-time data tracking and analysis
• Segmenting and tagging capability
• Intelligent targeting based on CRM data, sales, referrers, and more
• Dynamic text replacement for delivering personalized messages
• Countdown timers that integrate seamlessly with all offers
• Specialized mobile editor for on the go changes
• Fast cloning of elements or entire steps
• And much more…soon

This new guy on the block is not quite available yet. In fact, the team behind ConvertBox is working hard to add more powerful features to the plugin before making it available to all. However, if you’re interested, you can request early access now and see what all the hype is about. For doing so, you’ll even lock in a special lifetime price.

Price: Will be $99/month or $1,188/year…unless you unlock the early bird special, which right now is going for a one-time payment of $395. This license will be good for up to 10 websites and come with 250K views/month.

Get Convertbox

03. Optin Forms

Optin Forms is a free plugin developed by the team at FancyThemes and is a simple solution for creating opt-in forms on your website without any coding knowledge or fuss.

It comes with five customizable form designs and works with 7 of the most common email marketing solutions including AWeber and Mailchimp.

This plugin doesn’t have the fancy templates and advanced features of many of the other list-building software solutions. However if you’re after something simple and free, and you’re using one of the supported marketing platforms, it does the job.

Price: FREE

Get Optin Forms plugin

04. OptinMonster

OptinMonster is designed to increase the conversion rate of your website – converting visitors into subscribers, growing your email list, increasing page views, and getting more sales.

This plugin comes with over 65 pre-designed mobile-friendly form templates that are ready for you to customize as you wish. An advanced targeting engine also allows you to show personalized messages based on user behavior.

Some of the features included with OptinMonster include:

• Drag and drop form builder
• Automated actions and personalized messages based on user behavior
• A/B split testing
• OnSite retargeting – customizing promotions for returning users
• Integration with major eCommerce platforms

OptinMonster is particularly powerful in its targeting based on location, device, referrer, page, cookie, and more. It’s a good choice for eCommerce sites running segmented marketing campaigns.

One other thing to note is that OptinMonster is cloud-based rather than being a traditional WordPress plugin. This can be useful if you want to use it on several sites as everything can be managed in one central location. You can use it on any website – not just WordPress sites

Price: $9 – $29 a month depending on the features required and the number of sites you want to use it on.

Get OptinMonster

05. OptimizePress

OptimizePress is a landing page builder rather than an opt-in form builder. It provides mobile-ready templates for creating landing pages, sales pages, and product launch funnels.

Sometimes the optimal way of building your list is by using targeted landing pages rather than a form integrated with the rest of your content. Of course you don’t have to choose between the two – often a combined approach is the best option.

Most list building plugins don’t have the option to build whole landing pages so OptimizePress is definitely worth a look if that’s what you’re trying to do. It’s really easy to use with a drag and drop builder and you can choose to either customize one of the pre-built templates or start from scratch with your own design.

As well as the all-important opt-in form, there are over 40 custom elements to choose from when you’re building your page such as testimonial blocks, progress bars, and video players.

Another feature that will come in handy for some users is the plugin’s capability to create secure membership portals – you can create a member’s only area of your site as an incentive to sign up for your mailing list without the need for any extra software.

Price: $97 for use on up to 3 sites.

Get OptimizePress

06. Bloom

Bloom is one of the plugins offered with Elegant Themes membership, which means if you’re already an Elegant Themes member, you can use it on any of your sites for no additional charge.

The pop-ups and fly-ins can be triggered by various user actions including time spent on page, reaching the bottom of the post, after scrolling, or after purchasing. However it’s notably missing the “exit intent” trigger that’s a feature of some other plugins.

Just like the themes that Elegant Themes is most famous for, Bloom is beautifully designed and comes with over 100 professional templates that you’re free to customize for your own purposes.

You can learn more about Elegant Themes in our review here.

Other features include:

• A/B split testing
• Integration with an unlimited number of mailing list accounts
• Conversion and list statistics
• Targeted display settings.

Bloom strikes a nice balance between offering a flexibility and customization without being bloated and providing you with lots of extra features you probably won’t use.

Price: Included with Elegant Themes membership ($89 per year)

If you do decide to go with Bloom, make sure to use the Elegant Themes coupon to get 20% off.

Get Bloom

07. Leadpages

Like OptimizePress, Leadpages is a landing page builder that you can use to create launch pages, opt-in campaigns, and more.

It comes with over 160 beautifully designed templates ready for editing, that are optimized for conversion. In fact you can even choose templates based on their conversion rate to give yourself the best chance at getting new sign-ups to your mailing list.

Leadpages also comes with a Facebook ad builder, which will come in handy for those looking to build an audience through social channels.

Everything in Leadpages is tweaked to optimize your conversion rate so you can enjoy useful features including:

• A/B testing
• Campaign ROI management
• Easy-to-understand analytics
• Drag and drop builder for easy design and customization
• LeadBoxes turn any link on your site into a 2-step opt-in with pop-up
• Automatic integration with marketing tools
• Built-in payments.

Leadpages comes with its own plugin for WordPress so you can easily integrate it into your site without any additional software.

Price: Leadpages starts at $25 a month. If you’re not sure if it’s a right fit for you, there’s a 14-day free trial so you can try out the software before committing to it.

Get Leadpages

08. Sumo

Sumo provides a whole suite of tools designed to grow your website’s traffic and encourage people to sign up to your mailing list.

There are a few tools that come in the package that you’ll be most interested in if you want to build your list:

• List Builder makes it easy for you to create a lightbox pop-up to capture emails, integrated with all the main email campaign software
• Scroll Box triggers a pop-up email collection box when a user scrolls down the screen
• Smart Bar adds a floating bar to the top or bottom of your website, where you can add an email collection form
• Welcome Mat adds a full-screen call to action on landing.

Other tools included are:

• Share – makes it easy for visitors to share your content on social media
• Heat Map – see where people are clicking on your site
• Highlighter – makes it easy to tweet quotes from your articles
• Image Sharer – makes it easy to share your images on Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter.

Price: Sumo is available for free for those just starting out who have up to 200 email subscribers. For everyone else, memberships start from $24 a month.

Get Sumo

09. Ninja Popups

Ninja Popups integrates with all the popular mailing list software and makes it easy for you to create pop-ups that are specifically designed to convert.

A drag and drop editor simplifies pop-up creation and there is a library of over 70 pre-designed themes to choose from.

The pop-up can be triggered by exit intent, scrolling, or after a set time of inactivity. You can also target different pop-ups for different pages.

Other features include:

• Opt-in locker
• Social locker
• A/B testing
• Anti pop-up-blocker system
• Over 70 animation effects.

Ninja pop-ups is very reasonably priced and a lot cheaper than many of the other list-building plugins. It doesn’t offer as much customization and as many features as some other solutions, but if you just want to create pop-ups, it’s a great value option.

For a small additional fee you can buy add-on packs including the Opt-in Bars pack to turn your pop-up into a bar ($12), the Widget Extra add-on to integrate your designed pop-ups into content as a widget ($8), and an extra theme pack, which includes ten new theme designs ($9).

Price: $25

Get Ninja Popups

Choosing the Best WordPress Mailing List Plugin

All of these plugins work well and will make the task of building your list much easier and faster. If you’re still not sure which one to pick, take a moment to think exactly what you want from a plugin.

If you just want to add a simple subscriber form in a pop-up and you’d rather not spend any money, one of the free options such as Optin Forms will do the job.

Thrive Leads and ConvertBox are both premium solutions with lots of features. If you’re managing lots of sites, Convertbox’s cloud-based dashboard will make your job easier, but otherwise Thrive Leads works out better value for money with a one-off payment.

If you want to build landing pages rather than just a couple of pop-ups, you may want to look at Thrive Architect or Leadpages.

For Elegant Themes members, no need to buy an extra plugin as Bloom does the job beautifully. If you’re not already a member you might want to consider it to get access to the themes and other plugins.

Have we missed out your favorite plugin? Tell us about it in the comments.

The post 9 Best WordPress Mailing List Plugins for List Building – Compared (2020) appeared first on WPHacks.

Are you ready to boost the speed of your WordPress website with minimal effort?

If so, you need to choose from one of the best caching plugins in the market. Using a WordPress cache plugin is one of the most effective ways to ensure your website loads blazing fast and your visitors enjoy exploring your site.

Today we’re going to share with you the best WordPress cache plugins around so you can speed things up instantly.

After all, site visitors expect websites to load in 2 seconds or less. And 40% of people will abandon your site if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load.

With such as easy solution like adding a caching plugin to your website, there is no excuse to give your site’s loading time a bump.

To help you out, here’s a convenient table of contents so
you can quickly jump to the section (or
solution) you want:

What is Cache?

When a site visitor clicks on your website, your site sends
a request to your server. This request asks the server to deliver your site’s
content to the site visitor’s browser so they can see it.

The problem is, your web server has to process these requests every single time someone clicks on your website.

And this takes time.

If your website is popular and has a lot of traffic, your server has to work extra hard to continue processing requests and delivering your site’s content to browsers all over the world. This means your website has the potential to slow down.

When you use a WordPress caching plugin, it tells your
server to store a copy of some of your site’s files to disk or RAM (depending on how it’s configured). This
is called the cache. When a site visitor that has accessed your site in the
past returns, the content is served up from the cache immediately. This equates
to faster loading times and a better user experience.

Why Use a WordPress Cache Plugin

There are plenty of benefits for using a WordPress caching plugin
on your website:

• Faster loading times. When you use one of the WordPress caching plugins on our list, your site’s content is delivered instantly to return visitors. Because of this, you’ll boost conversions, a lower bounce rate, and better search rankings too.
• Improve the user experience. When you increase your site’s loading times, people have a more enjoyable experience while exploring your site.
• Less server strain. Instead of making multiple requests to your server every time a repeat visitor comes to your website, a caching plugin saves the site data and files in the cache. This means you use less server resources and decrease the server strain. This is important if you run a dynamic website such as a membership or eCommerce shop.

01. W3 Total Cache

Note: BoldGrid recently acquired the plugin, so you can expect more regular updates & support.

W3 Total Cache aims to improve your SEO, the user experience, and site performance. It does this by caching everything on your website and integrating with your content delivery network. Better yet, it accommodates all hosting environments, from shared hosting to dedicated hosting environments.

This WordPress cache plugin offers support for Google Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) and Secure Socket Layer (SSL). This makes it an ideal solution for those with eCommerce sites and other websites with dynamic content that not only needs caching, but increased security too.

In addition, it comes with GZIP compression to optimize web browser rendering, which is just another way to speed things up.

Pros:

• Allows CDN integrations
• Works well on both desktops and mobile devices
• Reduces HTML, JavaScript, and CSS files without
  negatively affecting anything else

Cons:

• Backend can be tough to learn because of complex settings
• Has been known to have some theme and plugin incompatibilities

Price: FREE

02. WP Super Cache

WP Super Cache is another one of the best WordPress caching plugins in the repository that serves static HTML files from your dynamic (ever-changing) WordPress blog.

This is done instead of processing PHP scripts, which strain your server, use up more resources, and slow your website down. The static files that are generated and stored in the cache will deliver to users that are not logged in, users that have not left a comment on your site, and even those that have not viewed a password protected post.

This caching plugin is great for compressing pages, cache rebuilding, and supporting your existing CDN.

Plus, it comes with intelligent caching so those who need cached content delivered get it, and those that don’t – don’t.

Lastly, this caching plugin comes with a neat feature called garbage collecting. As you cache your site’s content, the cache gets full.

However, WP Super Cache automatically cleans out the cache on a regular basis so your site continues to load fast.

Pros:

• It was created by Automattic, so you know it’s updated regularly and won’t disappear
• Most backend settings are pre-populated
• Cache rebuilding feature means your cache isn’t cleared when someone leaves a comment

Cons:

• There are 3 caching modes, which can be
  confusing for beginners
• No official documentation for troubleshooting
• Lacks browser caching

Price: FREE

03. WP Rocket

WP Rocket is a premium WordPress caching plugin that comes full of features, but also a simple and intuitive interface and quick setup.

Of course, you might be wondering why you’d need to shell out money on a paid caching plugin when there are so many free WordPress caching plugins available.

Well, here are some of WP Rocket’s best features:

• Both page and browser caching
• Lazy load of media for faster loading
• Database optimization for removing the number of resources used
• Integration with multilingual plugins
• WordPress multisite compatibility
• Optimization of Google Fonts (not found in any other WordPress cache plugin)

In addition, WP Rocket takes cares of the basics like minifying HTML, JS, and CSS, integration with Cloudflare CDN, mobile device detection, and intelligent caching of eCommerce site content.

Pros:

• Developer-friendly (lots of hooks) plus a user-friendly dashboard for beginners (simple to set up)
• Extensive documentation and priority support via
  support tickets
• GDPR compliant – doesn’t store or access
  personal data or add cookies

Cons:

• Is a premium solution that can become costly as
  the number of websites increase
• No free trial (though there is a 14-day money back guarantee)

Price: $49 for a
single site license

04. Comet Cache

Comet Cache is a caching plugin that takes a real-time snapshot of every page, post, category, link, and more and stores them in the cache. From there, the plugin decides which site visitors to deliver cached content to, and which ones to deliver fresh new content to.

By default, Comet Cache does not serve cached pages to users who are logged in or users who have recently left comments on your site. It also excludes admin and login pages.

This intuitive plugin allows you to control the automatic clearing behavior on homepages, posts, author pages, categories, tags, and even XML sitemaps.

Plus, it caches RSS feeds and 404 requests.

It also serves cached files on your site from a content delivery network (CDN). Lastly, to avoid generating a new version of the cache while your server is busy, the plugin will monitor the server load and disable the cache expiration temporarily.

Pros:

• Easy to install WordPress plugin
• Detailed documentation and FAQs
• Double caching – on the server and the user’s
  browser
• Cache stats available for monitoring status

Cons:

• Incompatible with other caching plugins and
  Google AMP

Price: FREE
(premium version is available starting at $39 for a single site license)

05. Cache Enabler

Cache Enabler is an open-source WordPress caching plugin that comes with a fast and reliable disk caching engine. It works with WordPress multisite, serves WebP images without the need of JavaScript, and has an easy set up with very little configurations, making it a great solution for those of all skill levels.

In fact, Cache Enabler is one of the easiest to use WordPress caching plugins around.

Additionally, Cache Enabler displays your cache size in the dashboard of your site so you can see exactly how much space your cache is taking up. There’s also an automated cache clearing feature, a customizable cache expiration, and compatibility with Autoptimize, a WordPress plugin that makes optimizing your website a cinch.

Pros:

• Automatic purging of cache to clear up space
• Displays cache size in WordPress dashboard (unique to WordPress caching plugins)
• Supports WebP

Cons:

• Can be incompatible with some eCommerce sites
• Requires htaccess
  editing

Price: FREE

06. WP Fastest Cache

WP Fastest Cache is not just another WordPress caching plugin
to install and activate on your site. In fact, it comes with unique features
such as desktop caching, minification of HTML, and combination options for CSS
and JS to speed things up. Plus, you get browser caching, GZIP tools, and one
of the best track records when it comes to speeding up WordPress sites.

The settings are easy to understand in WP Fastest Cache since they consist of simple checkboxes you select or deselect.

You can integrate your CDN, optimize images separately from your caching, and even specify a specific type of caching for your mobile theme if you want. It even allows you to disable emojis on your site if you want.

Pros:

• Desktop and mobile theme caching
• Separate image optimization
• One of the fastest solutions around

Cons:

• Not WordPress multisite compatible

Price: FREE

Which of the WordPress Caching Plugins Is Best for You?

And there you have it! The top WordPress caching plugins around.

If you’re looking for the best free WordPress cache plugin, you’ll definitely want to check out WP Fastest Cache. It has an amazing reputation and will surely speed up your website with very little configuration.

If you need a little more punch, and have some wiggle room in your budget, your best bet is going to be the premium WP Rocket cache plugin. It comes with unique features like image lazy load, multisite compatibility, and both browser and page caching.

Lastly, for those of varying skill levels, from beginner to advanced developer, WP Super Cache is the best WordPress caching plugin. This reliable plugin isn’t going anywhere anytime soon and comes with cache rebuilding, which is a feature not seen in most WordPress caching plugins.

If you’re looking for more ways to speed up WordPress, in addition to using a cache plugin, check out this guide on PHP versions and why it matter to WordPress users.

Which WordPress caching plugin do you use on your website? Why is it your favorite? We’d love to hear all about it in the comments below!

The post 6 of the Best WordPress Cache Plugins (2020 review) appeared first on WPHacks.

The right theme can make or break a website.

Choose the right WP theme, and you’re sure to delight your audience.

Why?

Because a great theme is easy to use, brimming with visual appeal, and it highlights the professionalism of your brand. 

So, how do you choose the right WP theme?

There are many great options out there. Today, we’re going to be looking at the Avada WordPress theme.

Avada is a versatile and well-known WordPress theme used by over 550,000 people worldwide. This theme offers everything from advanced multi-purpose layouts to in-depth editing.

What’s more, the Avada theme comes with 100+ shortcodes, unlimited color pallets, and lots of third-party integrations, making it perfect for use on any kind of website.

What Makes the Avada Theme Special?

The Avada theme is best-known for its versatility.

This convenient theme allows you to adjust everything from your color choice to your fonts and layout. 

Additionally, the flexible editor is easy to use. With it, you can update your entire website at once, or just make small changes, piece by piece. You don’t need to be a coding expert to get the most out of Avada. The simple interface and rich features are designed to suit anyone – even people who have never built a site before. 

Features of the Avada theme include:

• Inline typography editor
• HTML 5 and CSS4 support
• Multipurpose design with 6 layout options
• WP multi-site tested
• Live visual editor
• WooCommerce integration
• Multiple integrations with third-parties, like WPML, Yoast, and Contact Form 7
• GDPR privacy toolkit

With the Avada theme, you can create a stunning website in a few hours. What’s more, there’s no need to hire a professional developer.

Let’s take a look at some of the websites already taking advantage of the Avada theme.

01. MoniDesign

MoniDesign is a colorful website focusing on branding, design, art, and communication. Using the Avada theme, the website owners have taken advantage of a vast color pallet. This allows for a unique visual appeal in the website – perfect for a design brand. 

The MoniDesign website is responsive on any device. This means that you get the same experience on desktops and smartphones. Additionally, the company uses the full-page scrolling layout from Avada too. This makes it easy to scan through information fast on the home page. 

02. Working as we Go

Working As We Go is a dedicated marketing and advertising company. The site also has its own travel blog. Here, you’ll find various examples of the unique features of the Avada theme. For instance, Avada integrates well with third-party tools. 

Working as we go has used the integration options to implement Google Translate and social media buttons into its site. Additionally, with the global cross-editing solution, the brand has managed to maintain a consistent image on every page. 

Clean and simple, the W-A-W-G website is a great example of how the Avada theme prioritizes user experience. 

03. Russel Brand

The Russel Brand website uses an Avada child theme. This means that the company behind this site has taken advantage of one of Avada’s many pre-built templates. This particular option comes with a handy GDPR-focused popup. The popup asks for permission to share cookies with visitors. 

There’s also an engaging column-based layout throughout the website. This makes all the information easy to read. 

Mobile responsive and ready for action on any device, the Russel Brand site gives a consistent experience on every page. This consistency is supported by the Avada Theme’s global editing tools. The site is also fantastically search-engine optimized and social media-friendly.

04. Snack Nation

Snack Nation is another wonderful example of Avada’s versatile nature. This website is all about offering quick and easy information to visitors. The pages use a column and grid-based layout from Avada to make text easier to read. 

On the home page, there are scrolling images. These are great for delivering information without taking up as much space as a video.

The custom modules on the Snack nation site offers an insight into the kind of foods the company offers.

Additionally, the Avada theme allows for embedded quizzes, videos, and reviews on the site too. The whole experience feels clean, engaging and dynamic.

05. Rank Pay

Rank Pay is a marketing and digital branding company. This team used the Avada theme to create a clean and professional looking site. 

The website, designed in the company’s custom brand colors, offers lots of easy-to-read information. There’s a fantastic overview of  services like PPC advertising, blog writing, content management and social marketing.

Thanks to Avada’s integrations with third-party tools, Rank Pay also uses lead-generation services and email marketing services. 

Additionally, there’s also a pop-up header and CTA that entices people to interact. Rank Pay has also implemented dynamic imagery and modules. This creates a more immersive experience for users.

06. Graphic Twister

Graphic Twister is another website that focuses heavily on design and branding. You can use this website to find PSD (Photoshop) resources. Here, companies can purchase designs that allow them to showcase their products. There’s support for instant online downloads, membership subscriptions, and social media too.

The Graphic Twister website offers an excellent insight into the Avada theme. In particular, Graphic Twister takes advantage of a number of widgets and tools that integrate with Avada, including MailChimp for email marketing, and Google Analytics.

Features include:

• Third party integrations with MailChimp, Slider Revolution, and Google Analytics
• Custom fonts for better visual branding
• Yoast support for enhanced SEO marketing
• Grid-based shop layout
• Custom fields for subscriptions

07. Microsoft Visual Studio

Microsoft Visual Studio is probably one of the biggest brands using the Avada theme today.

The Microsoft website uses the Avada WordPress theme to create an easy-to-read and view website that’s packed with custom aspects that come with download buttons, “learn more” links, and unique images.

There’s a custom header with branded navigation on every page, additionally, Microsoft has taken advantage of the available integration between Avada and Yoast to optimize for SEO.

The Microsoft Visual Studio Website uses retina-ready images throughout. There are also scrolling grids and other unique content to capture audience attention.

8. Find Your Zen

The Avada theme’s highly flexible design with access to multiple engaging templates makes it a great choice for companies from all backgrounds. Find Your Zen is a lifestyle website that shows users how to reduce stress and anxiety, as well as introducing tips for Corporate Wellness.

The Find Your Zen website team has taken advantage of the Avada theme’s visual editor. This allows for a very clean layout. This site is complete with a custom navigation bar and unique shapes. The company has made the most of Avada’s dedicated blog designer themes.

What’s more, there’s evidence of multiple premium plugins, such as Yoast. There’s also support for lead building via an advanced form. Here, customers can enter their email address to receive newsletters.

9. Mass Impression

Mass Impression is a digital entertainment website, with a design similar to the likes of Netflix. If you’re looking for inspiration on creating a visual content site for the masses, start here. The homepage of this website uses the whole-page scrolling theme from Avada. This includes links to individual categories throughout the site.

Additionally, Mass Impression has been sure to implement the request to share cookies at the bottom of each page on the site, allowing for GDPR and privacy compliance.

This website is highly responsive. Additionally, it works well across multiple browsers. Also, there’s a custom navigation menu included in each page.

10. Nomaddict

Finally, Nomaddict is a fantastic travel blog and travel planning website designed to help people explore the world in style.

Similar to some of the other sites that we’ve looked at using the Avada WordPress theme, Nomadaddict has taken full advantage of the custom font upload options. Here, you’ll also find plenty of one-click image implementation. Every photo on the website is retina-ready, with high-resolution appeal.

The fonts on the website are customized to suit the brand. Also, there’s GDPR support included with a pop-up footer at the bottom of the page, asking for permission to share cookies with each visitor.

Additionally, Nomadaddict has also used Avada to create a custom contact page for users that want to get in touch.

One particularly impressive feature is the dynamic scrolling. This capability brings unique graphics to life as you move through the home page.

Should You Check Out the Avada Theme?

 And there you have it! The top Avada WordPress theme examples found on the web today. The Avada theme is one of the most popular WordPress themes in the market. This fantastic tool is brimming with excellent features. Plus, its capabilities range from advanced typography control to dynamic scrolling and unique advanced forms.

Additionally, the Avada theme works brilliantly with the latest HTML and CSS. This means that you can ensure that your website loads as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Have you ever used the Avada theme on your WordPress website? If so, we’d love to hear all about it in the comments below!

The post 10 Inspiring Examples of the Avada WordPress Theme in Action (2020) appeared first on WPHacks.

Are you looking for affordable WordPress themes and plugins for your new WordPress blog? Sometimes you need a premium theme or tool for your WordPress website to make it stand out from the competition and give your site the look and functionality you’re after.

But premium WordPress themes and plugins can be expensive, especially when you purchase them all individually from different marketplaces.

That’s why today we’re taking an in-depth look at the WordPress theme shop Elegant Themes. They offer WordPress users a sweet package of premium themes and plugins, such as Divi, Extra, and Monarch, all of which are designed to help you create a unique website that generates traffic and revenue depending on your goals.

And to help you out, we’ve created a table of contents so you can skip ahead
if you want:

• About Elegant Themes
• Standard Theme Features
• Themes: Divi and Extra
• Elegant Themes Plugins
• Support and Updates
• Elegant Themes Pricing
• Elegant Themes Pros and Cons
• Wrapping Up

About Elegant Themes

Elegant Themes is one of the most popular WordPress theme
shops around. It was started by Nick Roach (in
his college apartment!) and over the past 11 years has grown into a
well-established company full of WordPress enthusiasts trying to give site
owners the ability to create and manage their websites and businesses with
ease.

This popular theme shop boasts an impressive 601,772
customers and counting. Not to mention, they are a fully distributed company
with employees spanning 20 countries across the globe.

The team behind Elegant Themes has released around 87 WordPress themes and a number of plugins too. However, in an effort to fine tune its products, Elegant Themes now offers users 2 flagship themes – Divi and Extra – as well as three powerful plugins, Monarch, Bloom, and Divi Builder.

Now, let’s see what this WordPress theme club has to offer you.

Standard Theme Features

Each Elegant Theme comes with standard features you’d expect from any high-quality WordPress theme. For instance, SEO optimization, advanced customization options, advertisement integration, color and layout settings, and so much more come built into both Divi and Extra.

Here’s a breakdown of some of the additional features you’ll get in either
theme:

• General Settings: change the typography, color schemes, layouts, and much more using the drag and drop interface. Plus, what you see is what you get when editing your website. Lastly, you can enable/disable the Divi Builder for posts, pages, and custom post types.
• Responsive Design: in this mobile age, responsive design is a must. Luckily, Divi and Extra give you full control over how your mobile site appears to site visitors.
• Inline Text Editing: to make a change all you have to do is click and start typing. As you edit on the front end of your site, you’ll see customizations in real-time.
• SEO Optimizations: manage all your SEO settings in the theme editor. You can even optimize your homepage, single post pages, and index pages separately.
• Integration Tab: easily add third-party scripts such as Google Analytics code that you would normally place in footer.php right in the theme customizer instead.
• Website Elements: tap into over 40 website elements (e.g., CTA button, galleries, forms, etc.) to build any type of website you can imagine.
• Pre-Made Layouts: access over 800 pre-designed website layouts packaged right inside the Divi Builder, along with royalty free photos, icons, and illustrations.
• Ad Settings:  manage all your site’s advertisements, even the un-widgetized ones. And if you use Google AdSense, you can add the code here too.

Of course, this is just the beginning. Each of Elegant Themes’ flagship
themes are unique in their own ways. So, let’s take a closer look.

Themes: Divi and Extra

Divi Theme

Designed to be a truly multipurpose theme, Divi was first launched in 2013 and continues to give people the ability to create any type of website imaginable. From blogs to online businesses to eCommerce shops, Divi is one of the most versatile WordPress themes in the market.

Take a look at some of the unique things you can do with Divi:

• Create stunning hover effects and turn every website element into an engaging and interactive experience
• Tailor your website to appear a certain way on any kind of mobile device; all changes are independent of each other
• Choose from hundreds of web fonts or upload you own, plus customize the color, size, letter spacing, and line height
• Add custom shapes and effects to your webpages by creating dynamic transitions between blocks of content
• Control the borders that appear around every element by changing the sizes, colors, and styles
• Create depth by adding drop and text shadows
• Add animations that trigger when users scroll to certain elements

Additionally, you can save time by multi-selecting elements on one webpage and editing similar elements all at once.

If you want to make sure you can promote your brand to your target audience, don’t worry. Divi has an email opt-in module that comes with email provider support (think Mailchimp, Campaign Monitor, and ConvertKit). And it comes GDPR compliant too.

Want to make sure your pages are
reaching their potential? Access Divi’s built-in split testing tools and
see which webpage converts the highest.

You can test anything you want with using this powerful feature. Plus, you
can view detailed results so you can make data-driven decisions about your
website and improve the things that will make the biggest difference.

Extra Theme

Extra is Elegant Themes’ magazine theme, which is also powered by the Divi Builder. This WordPress theme takes the Divi Builder framework and extends it so that you can create an engaging website full of content that people will continue to read.

With Extra, you get a built-in review system so you can ask users to rate your site’s content and help encourage others to engage with your content. If you want to make more money online, you can always open up an eCommerce shop because Extra integrates seamlessly with WooCommerce. And to really grab people’s attention, you can pick from any number of customizable Extra headers.

Perhaps best of all is Extra’s extended Divi Builder
functionality.

Now extending to categories, the Divi Builder comes with
modules designed specifically for bloggers and online publications:

• Post Feed: create a simple feed of posts and sort them into groups such as Most Recent, Highest Rated, or Most Popular.
• Tabbed Posts: create a simple standard blog feed.
• Post Carousel: add all your photo-centric posts into this element and let site visitors scroll through them horizontally.
• Post Slider: if you prefer, add your photo-centric blog posts to this element and let it display for readers.
• Advertisements: plug ads right into your category feed manually or using Extra’s code module to add third-party scripts.

Elegant Themes Plugins

When you invest in Elegant Themes, you don’t just get the two themes. You also get these WordPress plugins:

Divi Builder

The Divi Builder plugin comes built into the themes, this page builder plugin comes with a drag and interface for creating advanced page layouts without having to mess with any code.

It also comes with over 40 content modules for endless customization options. Some of the best ones include an email opt-in box, countdown timer, CTA button, social follow, and pricing tables.

Monarch

This social media sharing plugin lets you add custom social sharing buttons in 5 different places: floating sidebar, above/below content, on images/video, as an automatic popup, or an automatic fly-in.

You can choose from over 20 social networks and enable triggers on your popups so they appear at just the right moment and get people to convert.

Bloom

If you’re looking to grow your following, Bloom is the perfect email opt-in plugin for you. With six different display types – popup, fly-in, inline form, below content, widget, required opt-in – you can display a message to the right people at the right time.

And since Bloom integrates with your favorite email service providers, building a bigger email list is easy.

Support and Updates

If you’re going to have access to so many premium themes and
plugins, you’re going to need to make sure you have access to support. Luckily,
the team at Elegant Themes has you covered.

To start, they offer 24/7 live chat, whether you’re an
Elegant Themes customer or not. And thanks to the intuitive dashboard, you can
easily manage your products and your account.

In addition, you can access the Community Forum to get your questions answered. Of course, support staff doesn’t answer any questions in the community forum. However, sometimes talking to other Elegant Themes users is helpful.

If you’re a developer, you can read the Elegant Themes Developer Documentation and get a more in-depth look at what the Elegant Themes products can do. And don’t worry, for those that aren’t as tech savvy, there’s a standard Elegant Themes Documentation too. Here, you can check out articles based on the product you’re using, which is helpful.

Lastly, when it comes to updates, Elegant Themes always makes sure its themes and plugins work with the most recent version of WordPress. Plus, as an Elegant Themes member, you’re privy to every update that is released, so you’re products are always improving and remain super secure.

Elegant Themes Pricing

Elegant Themes offers two comprehensive plans:

• Yearly Access ($89/year): this plan gives you access Divi, Extra, Bloom, and Monarch, as well as hundreds of website packs, product updates, and premium support. And you can use all the products on an unlimited number of websites.
• Lifetime Access ($249 one-time fee): this plan gives you access to Divi, Extra, Bloom, and Monarch, as well as hundreds of website packs and lifetime updates and support. And you can use all the products on an unlimited number of websites.

No matter which plan you choose, you also get a 30-day money back guarantee.
If for any reason you aren’t happy with your purchase, you can get a full
refund, no questions asked.

Elegant Themes Pros and Cons

Before you make a decision about whether to become an Elegant Themes member, it’s important to weigh the pros and cons. Luckily, we’ve done this for you to make your decision easier.

Pros

• Feature packed premium themes and plugins for affordable rates
• Flat rate pricing (no unexpected renewal fees)
• Unlimited site usage for all products
• Tons of support – live chat, forum, tutorials, and advanced developer documentation
• Front end page building with real-time viewing
• Over 40 website elements (that can be applied globally)
• Hundreds of theme templates for inspiration and saving time
• Divi Builder and other plugins work on all WordPress themes

Cons

• So many features mean there’s a higher learning
  curve for beginners
• No individual products for sale (must purchase a membership)
• Migrating content to another theme can be tough

Wrapping Up

In the end, there’s a lot of choice when it comes to the
premium WordPress plugins and theme you can use on your website. And making the
choice is not always easy.

That said, Elegant Themes gives plenty of value for your money. And with Divi being one of the most popular premium WordPress themes in use right now, you can’t go wrong with becoming an Elegant Themes member.

As a member, you get two high-quality themes and three powerful plugins designed to help complement your growing website so you can be a success. And with a 30-day money back guarantee, there really is nothing to lose by trying it out and seeing if the Elegant Themes theme club is right for you.

As an exclusive WPHacks reader, you’ll also receive an additional 20% OFF an Elegant Themes membership using this exclusive coupon.

If you’re ready to create a stellar website using Divi or
Extra, make sure to check out our guide
to creating custom post statuses so you can manage your site’s
content and authors and stay consistent for the loyal following you’re
building.

How do you feel about the Elegant Themes theme club? Which theme or plugin being offered are you most interested and why? We’d love to hear all about it in the comments below!

The post Elegant Themes Review 2020: Should You Invest in a Theme Club? appeared first on WPHacks.

Looking for the best WordPress membership plugin to base your site on? It’s a big decision, and one you’ll be unlikely to want to revisit any time soon.

To help you find the best plugin for your needs, I’ll share the features, pros, and cons of six of the most popular membership plugins for WordPress.

Beyond that, I’ll also share some:

• Tips for what to look for in a WordPress membership plugin
• Specific recommendations for which plugin might be best for your situation

Let’s dig in…

What to Look for in a WordPress Membership Plugin

The exact features that you should look for obviously depend on your specific needs. But before I dig into the best WordPress membership plugins, I think it’s helpful to highlight some of the general features that most membership sites will need.

Paying attention to how the plugins in this list address these features can help you shape your search:

• Content restriction options – can the plugin restrict content in the way that you want? Can you restrict entire taxonomies? Custom post types? Parts of content?
• Content dripping – you’ll likely have situations where you don’t want to make all your restricted content available right away. Content dripping lets you “drip” it out on a set schedule.
• Payment options/gateways – does the plugin support the payment gateway(s) that you want to use? Can you set up automatic recurring subscriptions? Is it easy to refund people if you have to?
• Automatic account upgrades/downgrades – you definitely don’t want to have to manually intervene every time someone wants to upgrade or downgrade their account. A good membership plugin should handle this for you, including an option to prorate a user’s payment.
• Group memberships – if you want to sell group memberships (like to an entire corporation), make sure your chosen plugin offers that functionality.
• Free trials, coupons, discounts – if you want to offer special deals or coupons, make sure your chosen plugin can get the job done. The same same applies to free trials.
• Affiliate program – do you want to create your own affiliate program?
• Price – this is pretty self-explanatory, but you’ll see a wide range of prices, and this might play an important role in your decision depending on your budget.

The 6 Best WordPress Membership Plugins in 2020

For each plugin, I’ll give you a brief introduction to its key features, as well as its pros and cons.

1. MemberPress
2. Paid Memberships Pro
3. Restrict Content Pro
4. LearnDash
5. Paid Member Subscriptions
6. WooCommerce Memberships

1. MemberPress – $149+

MemberPress is a popular WordPress membership plugin with a deep feature list at an accessible price point.

There’s no free version, but the price is competitive for what it offers, especially in comparison to other options.

Key Features

• Unlimited subscription levels, along with unlimited pricing pages
• Lots of options for restricting content, including everything from restricting entire taxonomies to using shortcodes to restrict specific content
• Content dripping
• Flexible coupon functionality
• Integrates with bbPress to create member forums
• Integrates with Affiliate Royale to help you create an affiliate program. It also includes access to Affiliate Royale on higher tiers

Pros

• Has all the functionality most membership sites will need
• Competitively priced at $149

Cons

• They use fake evergreen pricing to create false urgency, which isn’t very honest in my opinion. The real list price is $149, not $298 – you’re not getting a special deal.

Get Started withe about MemberPress

2. Paid Memberships Pro – Free to $297+

Paid Memberships Pro is a flexible WordPress membership plugin that comes in a free core version at WordPress.org, as well as heaps of free and premium add-ons that you can use to add all kinds of functionality.

By the numbers at WordPress.org, Paid Memberships Pro is active on 80,000+ sites, making it one of the most popular membership plugins. Its 4.2-star rating is ok, but not as good as some other options on this list.

Key Features

• 14+ free add-ons and 64+ premium add-ons for all kinds of functionality
• Unlimited membership levels
• Members can manage their own subscriptions and upgrade/downgrade
• Flexible content restriction
• Content dripping
• 6 different payment gateways
• Flexible billing – collect recurring subscriptions, charge one-time setup fees, offer free or discounted trials, prorated payments, etc.
• Lots of integrations for Zapier, WooCommerce, bbPress, BuddyPress, and more

Pros

• The core version is available for free at WordPress.org
• Huge range of add-ons give you a ton of flexibility for setting up your site
• Has its own free Memberlite WordPress theme that you can use

Cons

• Pricey if you need the paid add-ons, with the cheapest plan starting at $297

Get Started with Paid Memberships Pro today!

3. Restrict Content Pro – Free to $99+

Restrict Content Pro is a freemium WordPress membership plugin from the same developer as the popular Easy Digital Downloads and AffiliateWP plugins.

It has a very basic free version available at WordPress.org, but most people will need the Pro version for a serious membership site. Depending on the functionality that you need, it can be one of the more affordable options on this list.

Key Features

• Create unlimited restriction levels
• Multiple content restriction options
• Can create one-time or recurring plans
• Support for major payment gateways, including Stripe, PayPal, and Authorize.Net
• Customer dashboard for self-management, including prorated upgrades and downgrades
• Group accounts
• Discount codes
• Integrates with AffiliateWP plugin if you want to create an affiliate program
• Integrates with WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads

Pros

• From a well-known developer with other successful products (helps ensure future development)
• Has clean, extensible code
• Supports all the important core functionality that a membership site needs

Cons

• Members cannot have multiple concurrent subscriptions

Get started with Restrict Content Pro today!

4. LearnDash – $159+

LearnDash is more of a learning management system than a generalized WordPress membership plugin, but given that a significant chunk of people use a membership site to deliver course content, it still deserves a place on this list.

Unlike many other LMS plugins, it still includes built-in payments and membership management, which makes it one of the best options for creating paid courses.

Key Features

• Create online courses, complete with progress indicators, quizzes, assignments, etc.
• Drag-and-drop course builder makes it really easy to set up courses
• Built-in payment functionality that supports one-time and recurring payments
• Option to sell membership access to all your courses, or create course bundles
• Content dripping
• Private or public course forums
• Certificates and badges for gamification

Pros

• Great for online courses
• Has more advanced LMS functionality that other generalized membership plugins don’t offer
• Has integrated payments, which not all LMS plugins offer

Cons

• Not a good option if you aren’t planning to offer online courses. This isn’t really a con…just a fact about where LearnDash focuses its features.

Get started with Learndash today!

5. Paid Member Subscriptions – Free to $69+

Paid Member Subscriptions is a solid membership plugin that has a viable free version at WordPress.org, as well as a premium version with a lot more functionality.

According to WordPress.org, it’s active on over 10,000 sites with a stellar 4.8-star rating on over 110 reviews.

Key Features

• Create unlimited subscription levels, including fixed-period memberships
• Multiple subscription levels per user
• Flexible content restriction options, including support for custom post types
• Create one-time or recurring subscriptions, including an option to offer free trials or charge one-time sign-up fees. There’s also a “pay what you want” feature
• Discount codes
• Content dripping
• WooCommerce and bbPress integrations
• AffiliateWP integration if you want to create an affiliate program

Pros

• Has a free version at WordPress.org
• The premium version is still one of the most affordable options on this list
• Has most of the important core features you’ll need

Cons

• No group membership plans, though not every site will need that feature

Get started with Paid Membership Subscriptions today!

6. WooCommerce Memberships – $149+

As the name suggests, WooCommerce Memberships adds membership site functionality to WooCommerce.

This approach makes it an especially good option if you want to create a group purchasing site or some other type of membership site rooted in eCommerce.

Key Features

• Create unlimited membership levels
• Content dripping
• Only supports one-time payment plans by default, but you can integrate it with WooCommerce Subscriptions to create recurring plans
• Offer better WooCommerce shipping options to members (e.g. members get free shipping)
• Connect membership plans to WooCommerce products or sell them as standalone products
• Tons of payment gateway options because you can use any WooCommerce gateway
• Special WooCommerce restriction options that let you restrict who can see products or just who can purchase products.

Pros

• Using WooCommerce as the base means you can benefit from the huge WooCommerce extension ecosystem
• Has some nice features for integrating membership functionality into your eCommerce store. E.g. free shipping for members

Cons

• Can get pricey because you’ll probably need to pair it with other extensions, like WooCommerce Subscriptions. Additionally, WooCommerce no longer offers renewal discounts
• Not really a con, but the fact that it’s based on WooCommerce might turn some people off

Get started with WooCommerce Memberships today!

How to Choose the Best WordPress Membership Plugin for Your Needs

There’s no single plugin that’s best for all scenarios, so the plugin that you choose will depend on your unique situation.

However, we can run through some scenarios to help you decide…

If you want access to the absolute most functionality/flexibility, I think the winner is Paid Memberships Pro. Though it’s a little pricier than the other plugins at $297, you get access to so many add-ons that give you a lot of flexibility.

If that’s a little bit out of your budget but you still want deep functionality, MemberPress and Restrict Content Pro both also offer stellar feature lists at lower price points – $149 for MemberPress and $99 for Restrict Content Pro.

If you want the best free membership plugin, then I think Paid Memberships Pro is also a good option there (4.2-star rating). Paid Member Subscriptions also offers a solid free product that you should consider (4.8-star rating). Based on the WordPress.org ratings, people seem to be a little happier with Paid Member Subscriptions, though this obviously depends on your specific needs.

If you’re specifically looking to create and market online courses, then LearnDash might be the best option for you because of its dedicated LMS functionality.

And if you’re already running a WooCommerce store, or like the idea of using WooCommerce as your foundation, then WooCommerce Memberships might be more your speed.

Any questions about the best WordPress membership plugin for your needs? Ask away in the comments!

The post The 6 Best WordPress Membership Plugins in 2020 (Pros and Cons) appeared first on WPHacks.

For years and years, we have been striving for the best to reduce the WebApps development time, energy and budget. We have seen a lot of transformation in the methodologies as to how we implement the best classes, functions, and styling using various components. Apart from that, we use UI elements, plugins, widgets and a lot more supporting attributes.

But all of a sudden, everything halted abruptly due to the Covid19 pandemic. And it has consistently hit hard to the lifestyle of the people as well as businesses of every size. Not even a single sector is left behind that has not been traumatized with the effect of Coronavirus.

As we are daily coming up with the most haunted news for the worst economic crisis, what’s next?

What will you do to normalize the situation for your business environment with cost in this pandemic?

What are your next steps to stabilize your business with its roots intact?

The answer is yes, we do have a way out but requires an imbibed strategy to implement.

Well, in this blog we are going to explore GatsbyJS. The secret weapon to enhance the cash flow and streamline development projects to the maximum.

What is it all about GatsbyJS?

Think for a minute, over the years we have been deploying our websites on the server. And all of a sudden we start using static sites, but why?

For example, if we want to start a blog on WordPress we certainly look for a server. We choose wisely a server that can host WordPress. But what if I say the other way round.

What on earth is the other way?

Well, that’s a GatsbyJS framework for our rescue.

But before we jump into the new world of web development, let’s glance at some of the progress in a decade. The advancement we have been experiencing for better performance, minimalist design, and optimized page load time. And some important factors being responsiveness, customization options and yes the most important asset; User Experience (UX).

Earlier, we saw the era of core programming languages like PHP, ASP.NET, JavaScript, and many more. Then we saw a curve in the making of WebApps development and how the developers frame an architecture. The rise of frameworks became a hammer for developers just like Thor. Hahaha!! That was a joke but a decisive transformation in the world of development.

Today, we see front-end frameworks like Node.JS, React, Angular, Vue.JS, Bootstrap, Foundation, Material Components, Laravel, Pure, Skeleton, and the list goes on.

GatsbyJS is also an open-source framework that is based on React. It vigorously helps developers all over the world to build their websites and apps at a blazing speed. Moreover, it is also known for creating static sites that support Progressive WebApps to the core.

A little bit more about GatsbyJS…

The best part about working on GatsbyJS is its flexibility to create immersive and feature-rich static websites. Isn’t it something very interesting!!!

You can get a hold of a website at a blazing fast time without actually working on server-side programming languages.

Well, that’s also interesting!!

But the key thing here in GatsbyJS is using the NodeJS environment to generate websites beautifully.

Moreover, you can fetch the data from anywhere using GraphQL. Friends!!! It saves a lot of time and takes a lesser process to do it. As discussed in the previous section, GatsbyJS is based on React for templating. And CSS for the styling of your WebApps.

Just imagine what if you had to deal with the heavy model of JavaScript manually? Or you had to use the functions, features from other frameworks. Would it be easy? But GatsbyJS is built with a plugin architecture and helps in removing all those complexities with other frameworks.

Now, after getting an overview with GatsbyJS you must be wondering as

“Hey, as a developer why should I start working on GatsbyJS?”

To your surprise, GatsbyJS is an angel for securing your architecture within your WebApps. It also enhances the speed at the time it loads and of course, provides a blistering developer experience.

Now, you are getting on it, right?

How can we relate GatsbyJS with WordPress?

GatsbyJS is very uncommon to use as a front-end framework with WordPress in the back-end. GatsbyJS has the architecture more of a headless CMS wherein you have different front-end and back-end frameworks. Another aspect of using WordPress with GatsbyJS is the reliability and comfort of using WordPress for the developers. You can easily collaborate with teams using WordPress to that of GatsbyJS’s front runners. The reason being it provides the facility to edit the content, security is very smooth.

See friends there may be times when you hate using this weird thing. But as you explore its capabilities, tenacity for better performance, I am sure you will never leave it behind.

It’s just the experience that matters a lot as a developer. And once you understand the architecture as a static site generator (SSG), nothing on earth can stop you.

And now,

Let’s enter into the heart of this blog discussion.

How to elevate your business with future-proof WebApps using GatsbyJS amidst the Covid19?

At first, take a deep breath and relax!!!

Cut down all your thoughts and worries for now. As we are going to find out the ways to get you on your business survival mode.

Many businesses in uncertainty are looking to shut down businesses. The most freaking thing is many are laying off their beloved employees. While most of them are thinking of cut-down the salaries of their employees to survive this pandemic.

But can there be another way to avoid these instances and take a lead in the industry?

Yes, there is a way to this densely affected economic crisis.

GatsbyJS is used for creating static single-page applications. So, if you have a small business or marketing firm and want to consider on low-budget, GatsbyJS is your companion. This removes a dependency on the server-side and has all the essential features. Not only that it also helps to display smoothly your content or company information on the web.

Only the thing is, you have to be extra cautious about its implementation and workflow that you are looking for. It’s always a good practice to first thoroughly understand its significance and where it limits you.

But talking as a whole, GatsbyJS can be seen as a rescuer for your business.

Moreover, at tough times headless CMS plays an instrumental role in up hailing a business. Especially towards the safer zone than to move downwards in the recession period. So, once you analyse the prospects, the industry you want to target and geographical factors. It’s time to take a step ahead and start by not changing the contents of your WebApps very often.

I am pretty sure this will entirely change the course of your business processes and inculcate more revenue than ever.

Conclusion

GatsbyJS’s framework can be seen for a clean & minimalist design, enhanced developer experience environment for your business. So why not start advancing towards GatsbyJS framework, a headless but worthy hero?

You can even take the help of admin templates. They are specifically designed in different frameworks like Bootstrap, Angular, React, Vue.js and much more. This way you will be in a better manner to face the crisis. Here, at WrapPixel we help businesses to get the best admin templates carefully crafted by our super team. We add a lot of new features and updates whenever the new version is released.

It’s pandemic time, so be cautious, stay safe and look for the most minimalistic approach to spend your company’s budget. Also on resources and better opt for enhanced technology alternatives.

The post How GatsbyJS Help a Business to Future-Proof Their WebApps Amidst Covid19? appeared first on WPHacks.

Deciding between Stripe vs PayPal for your WordPress site can be a daunting task. They both bring many features to the table, and it can be challenging to set up a good comparison of the two.

If you’re running a business, you need the best option for you right now. No one wants to try them both before deciding. After all, you’ve got a business to run and money to make.

That’s why in this article we’re going to compare Stripe to PayPal for you to help you find the best option for your needs.

What Does Stripe Do?

Stripe is a service that accepts payments online. It lets you receive and send money online. Stripe shines in the world of software engineers and tech companies. While a lot of smaller businesses use Stripe, a lot of large companies do too, such as Lyft and Blue Apron.

What Does PayPal Do?

PayPal is also an online payment service. It’s by far the more well known of the two. PayPal has been around since 1998 and has over 290 million customer accounts. Until Stripe came along, PayPal had little competition. 

Can You Use Both Stripe and PayPal?

Using both Stripe and PayPal is an option, if it’s viable for your business. Most eCommerce platforms allow you to use both such as the popular WooCommerce platform or even Shopify.

That said, most online businesses won’t need two payment services. So, if you’d like to stick with or start with one, this guide is excellent in helping you decide which is right for you.

So, let’s get started.

1. Security

A significant factor for using a third party for payment processing is so you don’t have to worry about security issues. Whichever third party option you got with – either Stripe or PayPal – you can expect there will always be great security measures in place. 

In fact, security is often online payment service’s best selling points. Plus, security is how companies maintain their credibility. If Stripe were more secure than PayPal or vice versa, then the less secure option would go out of business.

Winner: Tie

Another way to ensure the security of your site and your customers’ sensitive information is to know when to switch web hosts. This can not only further secure your site but speed it up also.

2. Transaction Fees

One of the first things to consider when deciding between Stripe vs PayPal is the transaction fees for each. Transaction fees are fees that you pay every time someone makes a purchase. Though transaction fees are typically low, they can add up quickly over time.

So how much will it cost to run Stripe or PayPal for your business?

Both online payment services are free to use, which makes them very appealing. All you have to do is sign up and you’re ready to start accepting payments on your site.

That said, they still have set transaction fees you’ll need to look out for.

Standard Fees for Stripe and PayPal

Both PayPal and Stripe charge the same transaction fee of 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. Not that this is only the price for purchases made from within the United States. International fees will vary for each service depending on the service and location of the purchase.

Winner: Tie

3. Micropayments

Micropayments are those that come in under $10. In our Stripe vs PayPal showdown, PayPal wipes the floor with Stripe when it comes to micropayments.

Let’s take a look:

Stripe

2.9% + 30¢ per micropayment transaction

PayPal

5% + 5¢ per micropayment transaction

As you can see, it is much more cost effective to process small purchase transactions on your eCommerce site and make money online using PayPal.

Winner: PayPal

4. Set Up and Ease of Use

Both Stripe and PayPal are easy to use once set up.

That said, Stripe is known for being more customizable than PayPal. And, with extended customization, you can expect Stripe to be a bit more tricky to use. For example, to embed a Pay With Card button on your WordPress site, Stripe requires development knowledge, making it tough for non-technical users.

Winner for Developers: Stripe

Winner for Non-Developers: PayPal

5. Customer Support

It’s crucial to have quality support when you’re running a business. So, when it comes to Stripe vs PayPal, which online payment service is going to win?

Stripe now offers 24/7 live chat and phone support, which they’ve only recently begun doing. If it weren’t for this, Stripe surely would have lost in this category to PayPal. This is a huge step up for these services as they’ve never offered anything similar before.

PayPal, on the other hand, isn’t anywhere close to Stripe’s new level. All they offer is phone support (restricted to specific hours), email tickets, and forums. There is no live chat support available, which is important when you need help right away and can’t call in.

While having forums is nice since it allows the community to chime in and help others, it’s not nearly as good as having actual live support. There have been recent talks from PayPal to up their customer support game to match that of Stripe soon.

Winner: Stripe

6. Transaction Checkout

Potential customers are directly affected by their checkout experience on any website.

Don’t believe us? Check out these surprising cart abandonment statistics and stop wasting opportunities to convert more customers and generate more sales.

With Stripe, the cart checkout process is highly customizable; however, if you go with the default set up, it’s simple. All your customers have to do is enter their payment information and view a page thanking them for their purchase. 

In face, with Stripe, you can customize what happens at every step in the checkout process.

PayPal, on the other hand, is a bit more complicated. As a customer wanting to finalize a purchase using PayPal, your customer first goes to your online shop’s checkout page.

Then they have to click the “PayPal” button on the checkout page, which is going to launch a popup window for PayPal. From there, your customer must finalize their payment through the PayPal modal popup window that appears.

When the payment is made, your customer then returns to your website.

This is problematic for many reasons:

• There are many places to click and one error may result in non-payment
• Directing customers away from your eCommerce shop may cause them to abandon their shopping cart
• Any time there’s an error, glitch, or a slowdown, your customer may become frustrated and not finalize a purchase

It’s essential to have a streamlined process from the time a customer begins the checkout process on your site until the end when they see a ‘thank you’ message.

Winner: Stripe

7. Third-Party Plugins

Software developers love Stripe because it was made with developers in mind. More specifically, it was built with integration and customization in mind. This means that WordPress plugin authors have a hay day writing plugins for Stripe.

It also means online business owners have more choice when it comes to adding Stripe to their WordPress websites.

PayPal is a lot more static and challenging to create plugins for. If you only need your plugins to do the bare minimum, then PayPal’s limited integrations might be a viable option. Otherwise, Stripe is the go-to in this category.

Winner: Stripe

8. Getting Paid

Another essential factor for everyone running a business is how money from purchases will be received.

Neither Stripe nor PayPal require a merchant account to use. They both work on their own just fine. All you need to use either option is an active bank account on record. Then, when a payment is made through your eCommerce shop, the money is directly transferred to you.

Stripe sends business owners their money in two business days, while PayPal does it in just one business day. This makes PayPal a bit better than Stripe when it comes to getting paid.

Winner: PayPal

9. International Business

This applies not only to businesses that deal directly with other businesses outside the US, but also to businesses with clients outside the US.

Where are Stripe and PayPal supported?

Stripe is currently only available in 34 countries as of right now.

PayPal, on the other hand, is available in over 200 countries around the world.

You can use Stripe Atlas as a workaround for Stripe’s unavailability in many countries. And while this still isn’t as good as PayPal’s coverage, it is a step in the right direction.

While PayPal is accepted in more countries, Stripe accepts more forms of currency. They support over 135 different currencies, while PayPal only supports 25.

Though Stripe accepts more currencies, availability is more important in growing your business across the globe.

Winner: PayPal

If your site does a lot of international business, having a good translation plugin for WordPress could help your customers from other countries navigate your site, no matter which online payment service you choose to use.

You Decide: Stripe vs PayPal, Which is Better?

Both Stripe and PayPal have their place in eCommerce for now. Both options are good, and the one you choose you might only hinge on answers to a few questions:

• Are you processing mostly micropayments? If so, then PayPal is an excellent fit for you.
• Do you want to take the extra time to set up Stripe? If not, then PayPal might be the right move.
• Will I need any plugins? If so, Stripe is the way to go.

All in all, both can be viable, and if you can’t bring yourself to decide on just one of the two, then maybe both is a good option.

The good news is that Stripe and PayPal are working to make their platforms the definitive superior. They’re in a constant battle back and forth to push the boundaries. This is amazing for for online business owners and customers alike because each online payment service is continually strive to outdo the other.

Are you struggling to increase sales despite using a high-quality online payment service like Stripe or PayPal? If so, be sure to check out these tips for creating a highly converting landing page and start generating more revenue than ever before.

Which online payment service – Stripe or PayPal – do you use to process transactions on your eCommerce shop? We’d love to hear all about it in the comments below!

The post Stripe vs Paypal: Which Is Best for WordPress? appeared first on WPHacks.

Creating a new website can be overwhelming for some people. This is especially true when creating a website as a beginner.

Oftentimes people fail to realize how much actually goes into launching a WordPress website and running a successful online business. And it just so happens that the email address you use to connect with readers and customers is a small drop in the bucket when it comes to achieving your dreams.

That’s why today, we’re going to cover exactly how to set up an email address that matches your website domain.

Do I Need a Domain Name Email?

It’s a good business move to have an email address that matches your business name. Here’s an idea of some email addresses and their quality.

Great. Amazing. Email address goals.

[email protected]

or

[email protected]

Not terrible, but not the best.

[email protected]

Terrible.

[email protected]

Don’t be the last one. If it’s a personal email, that’s fine. But an email address like the last one is unacceptable for your business email.

In addition, here are some other compelling reasons to use an email address that matches your site’s domain name:

• It’s much more professional to use a matching email address to handle business matters
• You and your team can communicate using the official business email
• For those with multiple departments, having a business email, complete with tag words to help customers know which one to use, is easier with a consistent business email domain (e.g., [email protected], [email protected])

How to Set up an Email Address Using Your Domain Name

To show you how to set up an email address using your site’s domain name, we’re going to use a regular Gmail account. This makes the process easier. Of course, your email address is still going to have your website domain in it.

So, lets get started.

Step 1: Create an Email Address on Your Domain

This first step is to navigate to your cPanel (control panel) in your hosting account.

Next, look for the Mail section in your cPanel and click on Email Accounts. This takes you to all the email accounts for your website.

If you don’t have an email account on your current domain, it’s here that you can create one. All you have to do is create the email, input a password, and click Create Account.

When you do, you’ll see a success message letting you know your account has been created.

Step 2: Forward Your Emails

After you’ve created an email address using your site’s domain name, it’s time to forward your emails. Start by going back to the cPanel and finding the Forwarders section under the Mail.

If you’re met with a page saying you have no forwarders look for the Add Forwarder button and click it.

Doing this will take you to a page where you can forward your site domain email address to another email address.

For example, I can forward my [email protected] email address to my personal [email protected] if I want.

The form will look something like this:

Fill in your site domain email address and choose an email address to forward all emails you receive to.

When you’re done, click Add Forwarder and look for the success message.

Now all emails sent to your site’s email address will go straight to the email address you’ve chosen as a forwarding email.

But there is a problem if you stop here. Of course, you’ll receive all emails sent via your site’s email address in your personal email. But if you want to respond to your readers or customers, the reply will not come from your domain name email. Instead, it will come from the forwarded email, which can be bad if it’s a personal, unprofessional email.

Not to mention, your readers or customers will be confused when they receive a reply from another email.

To solve this problem, let’s take a look at how to link your domain name email address with your Gmail account so you can respond to people.

Step 3: Link Your Domain Email Address with Gmail

To start, go to your Gmail inbox.

Next, look for the cogwheel in the upper right hand corner and click it to access your Gmail’s settings.

Once in the mail settings, go to the Accounts and Imports tab.

Next, look for “Send mail as:” which will be close to the top of your screen.

Now click on Add another email address. This will open up a popup window for you to fill out.

Here, you’ll add the email address you created earlier in your hosting cPanel. In addition, you’ll want to keep the Treat as an alias box checked, as Google typically recommends you do.

If you’re asked to sign in to the email address after clicking Next Step, remember it’s the same credentials you used when making the domain name email address in your cPanel.

After signing in (if you have to), an email will be sent to your site’s email address. From there, it will be sent to the email address you chose to forward all domain name emails to.

When this happens, you can verify the email by either clicking a link or entering the confirmation code in the email.

Then, click Confirm.

Final Thoughts

And there you have it! You now know how to create a domain email address that makes communication with your readers, leads, and customers more consistent and professional looking.

Want to make sure people are having the best experience possible while visiting your website? Then make sure to check out the best WordPress caching plugins for speeding up your site. 

Have you ever created a domain email address for your WordPress blog, online business, or eCommerce shop? If so, we’d love to hear all about it in the comments below!

The post How to Set Up an Email Address for Your Website Domain Name appeared first on WPHacks.

Choosing
the ultimate theme for your WordPress site is easier said than done.

You need something easy to use, attractive, and versatile enough to adapt to your company’s style. While there are countless options to choose from, it can be tough to find something that checks every box.

That’s why the Total theme was created.

The Total WordPress theme is an all-in-one solution for
building an amazing custom site. It offers a complete solution, combined with a
page builder and an easy-to-use interface. Total has given countless business
leaders the tools they need to transform their digital presence.

If you’re wondering what you might be able to accomplish with the right package of drag-and-drop building, live customization, and unlimited ease-of-use, then we can help.

Here, we’re going to examine some of the most impressive sites
using the Total Theme right now.

Let’s dive in.

Key Features of the Total WordPress Theme

The Total theme combines endless customization options with easy
integrations and a smooth selection of premium plugins already built-in.

There are various pre-built demos to help you get started,
separated into categories like “business” or “creative.” All you need to do is
import the demo of your choice and tweak it to suit your needs. Alternatively,
you can browse through the core Total features and create something from
scratch.

Features include:

• More than 500 styling options
• A built-in customization preview system
• Built-in payment gateways
• Responsive adaptation to mobile devices
• More than 40 pre-built demos
• Over 80 builder modules
• Dynamic template system
• Free LayerSlider plugin
• Slider Revolution plugin
• Drag and drop functionality
• Built-in hooks and filters
• Easy demo importer system

…and so much more.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the latest websites
built with Total, shall we?

1. Kendall Commercial

A beautiful website for a real estate company, Kendall Commercial combines dynamic scrolling with well-organized modules from the Total Theme. The customized footer and contact form ensures that Kendall can attract as many engaged customers as possible.

2. Social Stream Apps

The Social Streams website is a dynamic example of the Total
theme in use, with animated buttons and various interactive features. In this
example, Total has been combined with the Flow-Flow social stream WordPress
plugin to create a fantastic community-driven website. The custom icons on this
website really make it stand out.

3. University of Hawaii

Despite being founded more than 100 years ago, the
University of Hawaii has a website that looks anything but old-fashioned. The
Total theme has given the company the chance to take advantage of everything
from social sharing buttons, to a fantastic slider system for pictures. The animated
hover effects are particularly engaging.

4. Sprung

The Sprung website is an excellent example of how effective
a simple online presence can be. Using the “one page” premade template from
Total, the website instantly introduces customers to important information on a
clean layout. The site also includes a section of clickable logos, so you can
see who Sprung has worked with before.

5. Actian Data Management

As a data-focused company, it makes sense that Actian’s website would be clean, concise, and logical. Using the advanced slider effects included with the Total WordPress theme, Actian introduces to customers to everything they need to know. Additionally, there’s a handy “Cookie” bar at the bottom of the page for GDPR compliance purposes.

6. Mazina

Photo album production company Mazina uses the Total theme
to highlight some of the amazing work that they can do. The slider system on
the front page highlights some amazing Mazina content. Additionally, the
company takes advantage of a custom contact page too.

7. Brave Whale

Brave Whale is a design and marketing agency that’s used the Total Theme to bring their website to life. Animated pop-up buttons, integrations with live chat, and so much more makes this site really stand out. The illustrated icons are particularly engaging and give the website a friendly air.

8. Kavya Manoharan

The Total WordPress theme is excellent digital designers,
and creative types, because it specializes in photography, creative, and
portfolio demos. Kavya Manoharan has leveraged that fact to build an amazing
online portfolio that attracts
email subscribers and clients.

9. Systems4Knees

The Systems4Knees.com site demonstrates the potential of the Total theme for medical products. Here, you can buy knee pain relief products through a WooCommerce integration. We also love the social sharing buttons that have been added to the top of the page.

10. Washington Technology

Washington Technology is a company striving towards the delivery of amazing technology services to businesses in the Washington area. The compelling color theme of this website really captures attention, as does the addition of fantastic social buttons and custom icons.

11. Beyond Expectations

This event planning company in Surrey (England) has made the
most of one of Total Themes photography demos to build an amazing website. The
clean and elegant design really shows off the work that the company can
accomplish, thanks to sliders. There’s also a “Cookies” permissions bar in the
header.

12. Metro Vet

Metro Vet uses amazing pictures of happy animals on the
front page of its site to immediately grab your attention. The fantastic
website breaks everything down into modules, so you can find all the content
that you need with ease.

13. Jennifer Meyering

This amazing blog-focused website offers
an insight into the fact that anyone can build a great website with the Total
theme. Jennifer has used the theme in a fantastic way with custom layouts,
fonts, and a mega menu.

14. WebGrowth

Webgrowth is another example of how businesses can convey a
wonderful professional image with the WordPress Total Theme. The blue filtered
background combined with custom text really brings this website to life. The
hover animations are great for engaging visitors too.

15. Green Standards

Green Standards is an environmentally-friendly business that
helps with the disposal of office furniture. This website includes a background
video to help highlight the unique nature of the brand. The animated map
showing you where their projects have made a difference is a great touch.

16. Paradise Copters

The Paradise Copters site uses a full-screen video
background to give you an insight into what you can see soaring above the ground
in a helicopter. This unique website really makes it easy to imagine yourself
taking advantage of a unique trip experience.

17. Global Laser

A sophisticated website for a company specializing in laser
technology, Global Laser combines custom sliders with module content to deliver
a great experience. The contact information and social buttons are
easy to find, and the site works on any device.

18. Spoon and Stable

Spoon and Stable have used a logo layered over a background
slider to convey an elegant image for their business. The high-quality photos
of the food you can expect at the restaurant are mouth-watering. We also love
the custom font throughout the menu.

19. MasterStudio

This website uses an amazing one-page website design to really connect with customers. On MasterStudio, you’ll find a color-changing background that instantly grabs attention and a floating bar with contact information. There are even translation features built in.

20. Mobkii

This is another example of an excellent multilingual website built with the Total Theme. Mobkii showcases a very clean and sophisticated implementation of its theme, with custom animations and a WhatsApp integration for easy communication.

21. Moula

The Moula website is one of the most attractive
implementations of the Total Theme that we’ve seen. Beautiful background images
combined with clean modules make this website very easy to read. It’s particularly
nice to see the live chat app built-in.

22. Denny Karchner

A fantastic example of a creative website built with the
Total Theme, the Karchner website uses a slideshow to demonstrate attractive
images by the artist. The custom font also matches the portfolio logo, bringing
the whole site together nicely.

23. Lifetime 60 Day

This website is a wonderful insight into how you can create
a professional-looking publication with the right theme. The pinned header
remains connected to the top of the page as you scroll, making it easy to instantly get in
touch.

24. Barrio Tequila

The Barrio Tequila website is as vibrant and engaging as the business itself. We love how simple the front page is, with social media buttons at the footer and an easy-to-use navigation bar. The custom fonts look amazing too.

25. Vista Outdoor

Vista Outdoor is a leading outdoor sports and recreation
company. The website, built with the Total WordPress theme, is clean and easy
to use, with a custom logo and slider where you can stock up on information
about the brand.

26. Elit Academy

The best thing about the Elit Academy website is how
accessible it is. You can choose from a range of languages to read the text in.
What’s more, there’s a map included on the home page to help you find your
closest educational environment.

27. Montgomery Tech

The Montgomery Tech website uses an animated slider
background with overlaid text to really send some critical messages to potential
clients. The semi-transparent header that follows you through the home page is
a great feature too.

28. Sleep Baby Love

The Sleep Baby Love website is a wonderful insight into an immersive
blog, and a helpful health and wellness site. The owner of the website is
certified through the Family Sleep Institute to help with babies who struggle
to snooze.

29. Golden Village Palms

This is a very simple text-based website made with the Total
theme. However, the Golden Village resort website also gives you an insight
into how easy it is to separate text modules on the Total Theme. We
particularly like the color scheme and video background

30. Board Effect

The brightly-colored call to action buttons on this website
are excellent for grabbing attention and pushing conversions. We also like the
fact that the company has used smiling images of real people to grab attention.

31. The Rolling Storm

The Rolling Storm is both a website and a portfolio at the
same time. The clean design really makes it easy to browse through all
different kinds of content. There’s even a custom search bar so you can find
the info you need easily.

32. YepAds

YepAds is a stunning example of an advertising agency
website built with the Total WordPress theme. The video background only plays
on full-size desktop devices, so you don’t have to worry about it slowing down
your phone.

33. Fantasy Picks

Fantasy Picks demonstrates how easy it is for anyone to develop a beautiful website with the Total WordPress theme. There’s a minimizing navigation bar that suits any screen type and animated components throughout to keep your attention.

34. FilmEditing Pro

From an auto-playing video to a full custom background,
every aspect of this website is designed to engage and delight viewers. The
company has even integrated a membership application so that students can make
their own accounts.

35. Doominio

With translation features built-in to capture a wider
audience, the Doominio website will be sure to keep your attention. There’s a
search bar implemented into the front page and an integrated customer access
portal too.

36. Specs Online

The Specs Online website is a very cool website that comes
with its own confirmation page before you reach the homepage. This is one of
the most colorful sites we’ve seen using Total – making it very eye-catching.

37. Two-Way Mirrors

Two-way mirrors is a quick-loading
website with plenty of modular content to browse through. The floating bar
at the top of the page ensures you can always get in touch. What’s more, the company
has implemented a custom shopping cart too.

38. Yeastar

Even big brands can benefit from something as simple as the
Total WordPress theme. The Yeastar website offers leading PBX systems to people
around the world. There’s a fantastic set of filters on this website, a custom
search bar, and so much more.

39. ServerPress

This is another software-focused website built with the Total theme. The Server Press website has a live chat functionality built-in as well as a unique shopping cart experience. There’s also a customized contact page too.

40. WPThaiuser

Finally, the WPThaiuser site teaches beginners how to use WordPress with a set of great tutorials and handy blogs. The website is well-organized, with lots of white space and a custom search bar.

Amazing Total WordPress Sites

As one of the most diverse all-in-one themes on the market,
the Total solution works with a vast range of different sites.

What was your favorite site built with the WordPress Total
theme?

Do you know a website built with this theme that we haven’t
covered here? If so, why not let us know in the comments below?

In the meantime, check out some free stock photo resources for your website, so you can make your theme really stand out. Alternatively take a look at some of the sites that have been built with the Divi Theme, for an insight into another popular WordPress option.

The post 40 Examples of Sites Using the Total Theme appeared first on WPHacks.

Using modern CSS techniques, it has never been easier to create a loader/spinner of any kind. This article showcases over 40 different techniques and styles.