We’re flipping the script with a special blend of a couple videos mixed in below, so let’s jump straight to the post. Right. Now. So you’ve heard a bit about Google Analytics and think you want to add it to WordPress? Smart. It’s an essential tool in the pro website toolkit. But what exactly is it? And is there an easy way to install Google Analytics in WordPress (meaning without having to tear your hair out messing with code). There sure is friends. All will be explained below. What is Google Analytics? So WTF is Google Analytics? Put simply, it’s an awesome tool that allows you (and over 50 million other websites around the world) to track and analyze your website traffic aka visitors. It works by adding a piece of JavaScript code to your page (don’t worry – you won’t have to mess with this when you follow our tutorial below!). That Google Analytics tracking code then monitors the visitors that come to your site to show you things like how long they spend on each page, where they come from, and what things they do while they’re visiting you. It then does some programming magic to present this truckload of data in the form of stats and reports so you can better understand your visitors and how they use your WordPress site. Why You Should Use Google Analytics with WordPress Sites GAnalytics. Definitely a must-have tool in the pro website game. Not having it is like driving a cruise ship with a blindfold on – unless you’re the saltiest of sailors with a birdlike sense of magnetic north (for real, we watch way too many nature documentaries), you’ll just have no idea where you’re going. And that means you’ll go in circles at best (read: create a bunch […]
Do you want to create a beautiful image slider for your WordPress website or blog? This tutorial shows you exactly what you need to do to create a stunning WordPress slider without any coding. As always, here’s the video guide: What. Is. Going. On. Yall! Today we’re gonna show you how to make a WordPress contact form the super easy way. And for free!! No matter what kind of site you have – whether it’s an online store, blog, or something else – always important to have a way for customers, clients, even potential partners to get in touch. Don’t let those golden opportunities slip through the cracks because people don’t know how to reach out! We’ve got four simple steps to walk through so you can learn how to add a contact form to your WordPress site and keep the growth train rolling. When we’re done, visitors to your site will be able to fill out their name, email, and message, then you’ll get an email notification so you can follow up! Alright, let’s get into it. Why Do You Need a WordPress Contact Form? Do you really need a contact form on your WordPress site? Can’t you just add your email address and let people email you that way? You could. Please don’t. There was a time (like ’90s to mid-’00s) that most people did this. And unfortunately, some still do. Maybe you’re leaning that way because you think you’ll have to learn how to code to add a contact form to your site. Good news: you definitely don’t friends! And there are a few good reasons for using a contact form instead of just pasting your email on your contact page: Spam For us, this is more than enough reason to use a contact form. If your […]
As always, here’s the video guide: Finding just the *right* WordPress theme – nay, the BEST WordPress theme – is very difficult. But you probably already know that. Which is why you’re here reading this post. And I would guess that the reason you’re having trouble finding a theme is simple: There are SO MANY themes out there! Approximately 31,010 themes, to be specific. Which makes sense… I mean, 34% of the entire internet is using WordPress to run their websites. And with 1.68 billion websites in existence at the time of this writing, WordPress powers 574 million of them. Sooo… There’s a massive market for WordPress themes. Which is why we want to make the search for the best WordPress theme much easier for you. To be clear, we’re covering PREMIUM WordPress themes in today’s best WordPress themes post. In the future, I’ll cover the best free themes. But the themes covered today are well worth their price tag, as you’ll soon discover. So if you’re ready, let’s get started! Top 10 Best and Responsive WordPress Themes 10. The7 The7 comes with tons of options for customizing everything. Coming in at number 10 is a responsive WordPress theme called The7. The first thing that stands out about this theme is the price: $39. Which is roughly have the price of the average premium WordPress theme. And you get a lot of bang for your buck with this one. First off, you get a clean design. The sections of the theme are separated by white and light grey color schemes. It has a very apple.com feel to it. Of course, you can choose a different color scheme. In fact, you can customize the entire theme in any way you like. The7 actually bills itself as the most customizable theme on […]
As always, here’s the video guide: Setting up WordPress backups for your site is one of the easiest and most crucial ways to up your website security game. No matter how much you lock your sh*t down, accidents and hacks happen. And when they do, knowing you’re covered with a recent backup (or two) of your site is like Bengay for the stress you’ll feel. Downtime isn’t cool, but losing all your work is waay less cool. So today we’ll cover everything you need to know about WordPress backups – from why it’s important, to how often you should do it, your backup options, some of our favorite WordPress backup plugins and a quick tutorial. Let’s get into it! Why Should I Backup WordPress? Just in case you’re a bit confused about all this backup business, we want to make sure you’re crystal clear: backing up your site is real important. Don’t wait until after your site is broken/hacked to start making them. Simply put, backups are copies of your WordPress site that are easy to reinstall (“restore” in technical terms) if something goes wrong. They’re an insurance policy that’s super cheap (read on – we’ll show you how to set them up in a couple of minutes). One of those things that you probably won’t need but when you do you’ll really need them. WordPress backups have two parts: Your media, theme, plugin, etc files The database that stores your blog posts, comments, and settings By default, WordPress doesn’t have a built-in backup system, so you’ll have to take some steps to set this up yourself. To do this, you’ve got three options: Rely on your web host to back it all up for you. Make backups manually by downloading your files and database (don’t do this – you’ll […]
Choosing a theme for your WordPress site can be a bit like choosing a dog – there are a ton of breeds to choose from, a ton of price points, and making the wrong choice can leave you stuck with a lot of chewed up furniture and poop to clean up. Jk, we love dogs and really, your WordPress theme is waaay less important than picking a pup. But, when you’re just getting your WordPress site started, choosing a theme can feel damn important and damn confusing. On top of everything else you’ve got to do to get your business going, the onslaught of colors, fonts, sections, headers, widgets, menus, buttons, customizations – well, it can all feel like too much. Lucky for you as always, we’ve got your back! You don’t need to spend a ton of time or a ton of money finding the perfect WordPress theme to keep you fired up about your business (and, eventually, getting your readers fired up too). Just take a couple of minutes to read through our post and we’ll keep you moving! Without further adieu, we present you the top 5 best free WordPress themes of the year (all beginner friendly). Check out our video for a quick overview, then read on if you want to learn more: What is a WordPress Theme? According to the official WordPress site, themes are “a collection of files that work together to produce a graphical interface with an underlying unifying design for a weblog.” Lol “weblog.” Put way more simply, WordPress themes are a way to change the look of your site – from the colors and fonts to the kinds of sections you and buttons you can add. Basically: themes let you change the way the words and images appear on your site […]
If you\'ve looked into website platforms at all, you\'ll know that there are several you can start a website with and WordPress is at the top of most lists. Today, we\'re going to cover what is WordPress and how it works. As always, we have a video guide for this available on our YouTube Channel and below: What is WordPress? At its core, WordPress is open source software you can use to build your website or blog and publish it on the internet. It’s a particular kind of software called a Content Management System (CMS), which is basically a tool that makes it easy to manage important parts of your website – like content, colors, and contact forms – without needing to know any programming. Created all the way back in 2003 as a collaboration between Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little, over the years it’s gained a huge following and now has an amazing community behind it. That community of software engineers and designers from around the world contributes not only to the core WordPress code, but they also help the platform by making plugins that let you extend the functionality of your website and themes that let you quickly and easily change its look and feel. With the help and support of all those people, WordPress has become one of the most popular website publishing programs in the world – 30% of the internet is powered by WordPress; that’s a lot of freakin’ websites! Best of all, it’s completely FREE to use! For all these reasons and more (see below), WordPress is a fantastic platform for beginners looking to build their first website – or experts building their 100th. How does WordPress work? Since the earliest days of the internet, websites have been built using programming languages like HTML, PHP, and […]
