Why WordPress Is A Great Platform For Blogs

Starting your first blog is an exciting idea. You’re going to make your presence known to the world, and you’ll have an avenue for expressing your thoughts and your opinions. There are plenty of platforms for you to build your blog on, however, in this article, you’re going to find out why you should consider a self-hosted WordPress blog.

 

Before we begin, however, let me just clarify that WordPress.org and WordPress.com are not the same. 

 

WordPress.com is a blog hosting service which gives you very limited options. WordPress.org, on the other hand, is where you can download the WordPress software which you then need to install on your own web hosting. While this may sound intimidating, it’s really not. Many commercial web hosts offer 1-click install for WordPress which means you can get your blog up in just a few minutes!

 

Running your blog on the self-hosted version of WordPress means you have full control over your website. You own it, you can design it any way you want, you can publish any kind of content you want, and so much more. 

 

The core WordPress software is already powerful on its own, and it even comes pre-installed with a few themes and plugins. With themes, you have thousands of free and premium themes to choose from, and you can make your site look as unique as you want. And when you add plugins, you can totally change your website’s functionality! 

 

Even if you just want to blog for now, if you ever decide you want to add an online store to your blog later on, you can do that with WordPress. You can create landing pages on WordPress, you can add a forum to your site, you can even sell memberships or courses on it! In short, WordPress plugins are awesome. 

 

Other platforms don’t come near the number of themes and plugins available on WordPress which is why it’s such a popular choice for bloggers and website owners alike. 

 

As with most platforms, however, WordPress does come with a bit of a learning curve. However, once you understand the basics, then it will be easy for you to build different kinds of sites. WordPress has an active global community behind it, so you’ll never run out of tips and ideas to customize your website.

 

Learn from one of the best WordPress courses!

 

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The Best Web Hosting For Your Brand New WordPress Website

The WordPress platform needs two things to work. It needs a domain name and web hosting. Think of it this way, if your website is your house, then your domain name is the street address and your web hosting is the piece of land your house sits on. And just like your house, you want to build it on a good piece of land. This is why choosing a good web hosting company is a must if you want your WordPress website to succeed.

 

Web hosting companies number by the thousands and most can support a WordPress installation on their servers. However, WordPress itself recommends 3 web hosting companies. These are:

 

1)    Bluehost

2)    DreamHost

3)    SiteGround

 

You can’t go wrong with any of these companies. All three offer 1-click WordPress installation, so you can quickly have a WordPress website without any hassle or headache involved. They also offer 24/7 support so if you have questions about web hosting or you need help setting up your site, then you can contact them anytime through a variety of communication channels. 

 

However, they do have some differences in the services they bundle up with their hosting plans. For instance, Bluehost and DreamHost both offer free domain names for their plans, but SiteGround does not. If you’re going to buy a domain name from SiteGround, you’d need to spend an extra $15.95/yr, so you may want to buy your domain name elsewhere. 

 

When it comes to pricing, Bluehost offers the lowest price. If you lock yourself in a 3-year contract, then you’d only need to pay $2.95/mo for the basic plan. DreamHost offers the most expensive plan at $6.95/mo, and that’s if you get a 3-year contract!

 

If you want to try out which web host is best for your website, then you can sign up for each one. Both Bluehost and SiteGround offer a 30-day money back guarantee while DreamHost offers 97 days. If you’re unhappy with the service, simply cancel it within their money back period, and you’ll get a refund. Plus, they will automatically cancel your 12-month, 24-month or 36-month contract. 

 

While these 3 companies come highly recommended by WordPress.org itself, there are many more web hosting companies you can choose from. Just be sure to ask them first if they offer WordPress support, and if they do, then feel free to sign up for their hosting plans. 

 

Learn from one of the best WordPress courses!

 

Advance WordPress Mastery Kit: Step-by-Step WP Tutorial Videos To Start Using WordPress For Your Business & Boost Profits!

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The Benefits Of Using Premium WordPress Themes Over Free Themes

One of the major benefits of using WordPress for your website is you can choose from thousands of free and premium themes to give your site the look you want it to have. 

While it’s true there are plenty of stylish, free WordPress themes you can download from the WordPress.org Theme Directory, premium themes help make your site stand out from the crowd of lookalike WordPress sites. 

 

Here are some of the biggest reasons why you should consider switching to a premium theme:

 

1.    Better quality themes

 

Most free themes are generally well-coded, however, these are often not SEO-optimized. Premium themes, on the other hand, are usually up-to-date and adhere to standard coding practices. 

 

Better theme code reflects on your website’s page load speed. And because of this, websites with premium themes generally rank higher on search engines than those using free themes.  

 

2.    Better support

 

Most free theme developers have no incentive to provide support to their users. More often than not, support can be found in WordPress forums with the developer answering questions when they feel like it. 

 

With premium themes, however, you get priority support from developers. You have access to them via chat, email, forum or ticket support, and you can expect to receive a response in a timely manner.

 

3.    Extensive documentation

 

Having a well-documented theme is important. Free themes rarely include documentation, and you’re usually left on your own to figure out how to use a theme. 

 

With premium themes, however, most developers and theme shops include extensive documentation. This makes it easier for them to support their customers as they can easily direct them to the knowledgebase article or tutorial that will help solve their specific problems. This means less time answering support questions and more time developing even better themes.

 

4.    Customization options

 

While you can customize free themes, your options are very limited especially if you don’t know how to code. Even if you do, it will still take you hours editing code just to change a few elements on your web page. 

 

With premium themes, you often have a range of options to choose from. You can easily design your site to make it look unique by using different layouts, fonts, colors, images, etc. And it won’t take you hours to do all these on a premium theme – with just a few clicks, you’ll have a gorgeous website at your fingertips! 

 

Learn from one of the best WordPress courses!

 

Advance WordPress Mastery Kit: Step-by-Step WP Tutorial Videos To Start Using WordPress For Your Business & Boost Profits!

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Should You Use WordPress Page Builders?

The default WordPress text editor works great when you’re mainly writing hundreds or thousands of words for your articles or blog posts. However, when you’re building sales pages, landing pages, download pages, your website’s home page, and more, then the default editor doesn’t really give you a lot of options to make your site look good.

 

If you want to edit your page, you’d need to know how to code. You can use HTML and CSS codes to make your page look nice. Now, that’s okay if you know how to code, but if you don’t, then you’re out of luck. You’re going to get stuck with an ugly looking web page, unfortunately.

 

WordPress page builders, on the other hand, are drag and drop builders that allow you to, you guessed it, drag and drop your content anywhere on the page! You don’t have to imagine what your page is going to look like because these builders are also WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editors. This means you can see how your live web page is going to look like so you can design your page as you see fit.

 

Most page builders also include dozens of layouts and templates which make your web page design job a lot easier. You can easily edit these templates, swap your content and upload your own images, and in a few minutes, you’ll have a great looking web page! No coding and no sweat required.

 

There are free and premium page builder plugins to choose from. If you just want to see how these plugins work, then try the free versions first. Most get rave reviews from users, although premium page builders also have a considerable following.

 

For free page builders, you can check out Elementor, Beaver Builder Lite, Visual Composer, and Page Builder by SiteOrigin. For premium page builders, Beaver Builder has a premium version, or you can check out Thrive Architect and Divi Builder. The premium versions work best with themes from the same developer so you may want to consider that before buying one. 

 

Don’t hesitate to read user reviews to find the most suitable page builder for your website needs. One thing’s for sure though, once you get used to building beautiful web pages using page builders, it’s going to be hard to go back to the plain WordPress editor. 

 

Learn from one of the best WordPress courses!

 

Advance WordPress Mastery Kit: Step-by-Step WP Tutorial Videos To Start Using WordPress For Your Business & Boost Profits!

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How To Skyrocket Your Email Subscribers Using Your WordPress Website

You’ll often hear profitable website owners say that the money is in the list. They aren’t joking. The money really is in the list. If you have an email list, you can easily market to your subscribers, and get them to visit your website again and again. If they weren’t on your list, these people probably would never have visited your website ever again.

 

So you see, building an email list should be one of your website’s top priorities. You don’t even have to think about what you’re going to sell to your list yet. Just focus on building it, and when you get to a large enough size, then you can worry about monetizing your list then.

 

Here are a few ways you can skyrocket your email subscribers using your WordPress website:

 

1. Create audience-specific landing pages

 

Ideally, you should be segmenting your email list. If you have a marketing funnel in place, then you should know where a particular customer is in their journey. 

 

If they’re just at the top of the funnel, you could use a different landing page with a different lead magnet for them. If they’ve already interacted with your business before, then they would be somewhere mid-funnel and probably ready to buy from you. 

 

With audience-specific landing pages, you get to make your content relevant. The good thing with WordPress is it’s easy to create these pages from your WordPress admin!

 

2. Write compelling copy

 

Your landing page copy is very important. You can have the most eye-catching photos on your website, but if your sales copy doesn’t speak to your customers, then chances are they’re not going to buy from you. If you don’t know how to write copy, then invest in a good copywriter. The expense will more than pay off when you get people subscribing to your list in droves!

 

3. Use beautiful imagery

 

You know the saying, a picture paints a thousand words. When enticing people to sign up to your list, make it easy for them to do so. Use images that perfectly portray what they’re going to get if they sign up to your list!

 

4. Promote your landing page like there’s no tomorrow

 

There’s really no point creating an opt-in landing page if people don’t visit it. Make a point of promoting your link on many different platforms. If people find your offer attractive, they’ll be more than happy to sign up for your list!

 

Learn from one of the best WordPress courses!

 

Advance WordPress Mastery Kit: Step-by-Step WP Tutorial Videos To Start Using WordPress For Your Business & Boost Profits!

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How To Protect Your WordPress Website Against Hackers And Bots

Hackers and bots are two of the biggest threats against WordPress websites. If you don’t take proactive measures to protect your site, then you can lose everything – your website files, your email list, your income, everything! If you want to avoid this scenario at all cost, then read this article.

 

Here are some basic measures you can follow to protect your site:

 

1. Make sure your version of WordPress is up to date

 

WordPress gets updated pretty regularly, and they do this for a good reason. With the sheer number of automated attacks carried out on WordPress websites daily, it’s important that the software is frequently updated to stop hackers, bots, and botnets in their tracks. If you don’t update your software, then it’s like you’re sending an invitation to hackers telling them to exploit the vulnerabilities in your non-updated software. 

 

2. Update your themes and plugins

 

Just like your core WordPress software, themes and plugins get updated from time to time as well. This is important so that these themes and plugins remain compatible with the latest version of WordPress. Also, if you don’t update, chances are hackers and bots will find something to exploit so they can access your site.

 

3. Backup your website regularly

 

For your peace of mind, it’s best to back up your website regularly. There are several plugins you can choose from on the WordPress.org Plugin Directory that offers automated daily backups. More importantly, you’d want to consider using a plugin that offers a 1-click restore feature. Even if your website gets hacked, you can still restore your site easily.

 

4. Use a strong and hard-to-guess username and password

 

You don’t want to use the old ‘admin’ username and password combination. That’s the first thing bots guess when they attack a site. You’re practically giving them free access to your site! For better security, you should use a combination of letters, numbers, and symbols. Keep your login details in a secure location, or you can use a password manager to help keep your details safe.

 

5. Hire a WordPress security expert

 

Plugins can only do so much. In the end, bots are programmed by human hackers who can make these nasty pieces of computer code as sophisticated as they need to be. A human WordPress security expert is your best bet if you want to keep your site safe. They’ll come at a cost though so keep this in mind if you truly want to keep your WordPress site safe. 

 

Learn from one of the best WordPress courses!

 

Advance WordPress Mastery Kit: Step-by-Step WP Tutorial Videos To Start Using WordPress For Your Business & Boost Profits!

https://tankwanhong.xyz/courses/advance-wordpress-mastery-kit

 

How To Build An Online Store In WordPress

WordPress may seem like a blogger’s platform, but nothing can be further from the truth. WordPress is an extremely versatile software. Themes and plugins help you change the way your site looks and functions with just a few mouse clicks. So, yes, it is entirely possible to build an online store in WordPress. In fact, millions of online stores are built on WordPress!

 

To begin, you’d need to have your own domain name and your own web hosting plan. Your domain name is your store’s name. It can be something like YourAwesomeStore.com or BuyMyProductNow.com. Domain names cost around $10-$15 per year. However, you can get it for free with some web hosting companies. 

 

For web hosting, you can choose to start with the basic plan just to see how things work. However, once your store starts gaining popularity and thousands of people visit your site every month, then you will need to upgrade to a more advanced hosting plan. Also, check if your web host offers a free SSL certificate for your plan. You’ll need this so you can accept payments on your website. 

 

Once you’ve purchased your domain name and web hosting, you can then install WordPress on your site. Some commercial web hosts feature 1-click WordPress install in their control panel or cPanel, so you may want to inquire about this with your web host.

 

With WordPress installed, you can proceed to download the WooCommerce plugin. The setup wizard will walk you through the basic store setup such as your store location, currency, payment methods, shipping and tax, etc. Once that’s done, you can start adding products to your online store. 

 

WooCommerce has a lot of features. For one, you can sell both physical and digital products on your site. You can accept online payments, bank transfers, even cash on delivery payments. You can define all aspects of your online business. So, it’s really not surprising that WooCommerce is the most popular eCommerce plugin on WordPress.org.

 

To change your store’s appearance, there are plenty of WooCommerce-compatible themes to choose from. The free Storefront theme looks great on WooCommerce sites, but if you want to make your site stand out, then consider buying a premium WooCommerce theme. With a well-designed and eye-catching storefront, more people will be willing to stay on your site and check out your products.  

 

Learn from one of the best WordPress courses!

 

Advance WordPress Mastery Kit: Step-by-Step WP Tutorial Videos To Start Using WordPress For Your Business & Boost Profits!

https://tankwanhong.xyz/courses/advance-wordpress-mastery-kit

 

A Comparison Of The Top SEO Plugins For Your WordPress Website

The core WordPress software is optimized for SEO. However, you shouldn’t stop there. With SEO plugins, you can further ensure your website ranks as high as possible on Google and other search engines. There are plenty of factors that affect a website’s SEO. Using a good plugin is just one factor for optimizing your website for search engines. 

 

Here are the top SEO plugins for WordPress websites:

 

Yoast SEO

 

In the WordPress community, Yoast is highly recommended and is often touted as a must-have plugin for any WordPress site. This free plugin has been around for years, and it gets updated very regularly too. The plugin helps you structure your website in a way that makes it easy for search engines to crawl your site. It also helps you write better content that search engines love! 

 

Yoast gives you detailed and highly actionable suggestions in real time. It helps you craft SEO-optimized titles, metadata, URL slugs, and so much more. The plugin is generally easy to understand. However, for the novice user, you’d probably find yourself reeling from all the technical terms you’ll encounter on the plugin’s settings. The good thing is the Yoast community is very robust. You’ll find people willing to help out and give suggestions to help make your site better SEO-wise. 

 

All In One SEO Pack

 

The second most popular SEO plugin is the All In One SEO Pack plugin. It has most of the features that Yoast has but in a slim and bloat-free interface. It also has comprehensive documentation, so whether you’re a beginner or an advanced WordPress user, you can easily use all that this plugin has to offer. 

 

All In One SEO Pack gives you the freedom to choose which features to activate. For instance, you can activate XML sitemaps, social meta, robots.txt, file editor, bad bot blocker, etc. Some people also prefer this plugin’s interface over Yoast. But, of course, that all boils down to personal preferences.

 

Conclusion

 

Both Yoast and All In One SEO Pack are useful plugins for improving your on-site and on-page SEO. Whichever plugin you choose to install, it’s just one-half of the equation. You still need to consider the off-site SEO factors if you want to have your site rank for the long-term. 

 

Learn from one of the best WordPress courses!

 

Advance WordPress Mastery Kit: Step-by-Step WP Tutorial Videos To Start Using WordPress For Your Business & Boost Profits!

https://tankwanhong.xyz/courses/advance-wordpress-mastery-kit

5 Simple Ways To Optimize Your WordPress Website

Having the most stylish and the most beautiful website in the world doesn’t mean a thing if you’re the only one who visits it. You don’t want to be all alone admiring your website. Of course, you can pay for traffic by advertising on social media or other platforms. But, would you really want to pay thousands of dollars in advertising fees when you can get highly qualified and FREE traffic from Google? Probably not. 

 

This is why search engine optimization or SEO is so important for online businesses. You may be a blogger, an affiliate marketer, or an online store owner, and I think you’ll agree with me when I say that search engine traffic is the best source of traffic. 

 

Here are a few ways you can optimize your website for search engine traffic:

 

1.    Use a fast-loading theme

 

There are thousands of themes to choose from in WordPress.org. However, most of them will be slow. Google loves fast-loading sites, and you’d hate to find out your theme is causing your site to load slowly on people’s computers. 

 

2.    Add a sitemap

 

Help search engines crawl your website content faster so they can add it to their database. The earlier your content gets crawled, the faster you can get your site to appear on search engine pages.

 

3.    Install a caching plugin

 

There are a number of free caching plugins you can choose from. How it normally works is that it will generate a static HTML file of your web pages. This means that your web server will no longer have to serve up all your website files to each visitor. The static HTML files are lightweight, and this makes your site load faster on your visitor’s browser. 

 

4.    Use human-readable permalinks

 

WordPress gives you a few options for how you want your permalinks to appear. The SEO-friendly format recommended by search engines are those that make it easy for people (and search engines) to understand what your content is about. The most common format used by SEO-optimized websites is the post-name permalink format.

 

5.    Install a good SEO plugin

 

Yoast and All In One SEO Pack are two of the most popular SEO plugins. Choose which one you’d like to install, configure it properly, and you’ll have a nice SEO-optimized website soon.

 

Learn from one of the best WordPress courses!

 

Advance WordPress Mastery Kit: Step-by-Step WP Tutorial Videos To Start Using WordPress For Your Business & Boost Profits!

https://tankwanhong.xyz/courses/advance-wordpress-mastery-kit

 

5 Easy Steps To Create The Perfect Sales Page On Your WordPress Website

Sales and leads are the lifeblood of all online businesses. If you’re building your site on WordPress, then you’d be happy to know that creating attractive and high-converting sales pages is relatively easy on this platform. Read on to find out how you can create the perfect sales page on your WordPress site.

 

Step 1. Prepare your content

 

When preparing your content, it’s important to put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Ask yourself ‘why would I buy this product?’ Make your customer see just how useful your product is, and the benefits they’ll get if they purchase it. 

 

Make sure you use words that your audience uses. If you’re targeting an older audience, then you don’t want to use slang terms. Always keep your audience in your mind while you write your sales copy.

 

Step 2. Upload to your WordPress website

 

Once you’ve finished writing your content, it’s time to upload it to your website. Don’t forget to also upload your product-related images and videos as these will help your customers in making their decision. Try not to use stock photos. Instead, use real photos so that people can actually see your product in action.

 

Step 3. Design your sales page

 

If you’re not sure what the best design for your sales page is, you can go online to look for inspiration. With the help of a drag and drop page builder, building a sales page is even easier. You can easily drag a content module to your desired location. You can change colors and fonts easily, and do all sorts of customizations. 

 

Best of all, you don’t have to imagine what your sales page looks like. These drag and drop page builders are also WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editors, so nothing is left to your imagination!

 

Step 4. Link to your payment processor

 

The most popular payment processors for online businesses are Stripe and PayPal. You’ll find plenty of plugins that makes integrating a payment processor easy. You just need to choose the best one that suits your needs.

 

Step 5. Publish your sales page

 

Now that you’ve got all important elements of your sales page in place, it’s time to publish it and announce it to the world. Don’t forget to check your sales page on the front end, and try buying your product yourself. Make sure there are no errors, and that your customers will have a great buying experience!

Learn from one of the best WordPress courses!

 

Advance WordPress Mastery Kit: Step-by-Step WP Tutorial Videos To Start Using WordPress For Your Business & Boost Profits!

https://tankwanhong.xyz/courses/advance-wordpress-mastery-kit