Beginners Guide – Nexyta

How to Display Facebook Events on Your WordPress Site

Sadman Sakib — Mon, 19 Dec 2016 06:00:27 +0000

Do you want to display Facebook Events on your WordPress site. Facebook events allow you to promote your events while leveraging the power of the world’s largest social network. In this article, we will show you how to display your Facebook Events on WordPress.

Method 1: Add Facebook Events Using Facebook Page Plugin

This method uses Facebook’s social plugins to add your Facebook events on WordPress. You will need to edit your WordPress theme files. If you are not comfortable with adding code manually, then try other methods described in this article.

Let’s get started.

First you need to visit the Page Plugin on Facebook developers website. In the Facebook Page URL field, enter the URL of your Facebook page.

Facebook page plugin can show multiple tabs from your page including the events tab. Simply enter ‘events’ in the tabs field, and you will notice the preview window reload to show your page’s events tab.

You can also adjust other settings like cover photo size, container height and width, etc.

Once you’re satisfied, click on the ‘Get Code’ button. This will bring up a popup showing two boxes of code.

The first part of the code needs to be added into your theme’s header.php file right after the tag.

Next, you need to copy the second part of the code and paste it in a WordPress post, page, or a text widget.

Don’t forget to save your changes.

That’s all you can now visit your website and you will see Facebook Page Plugin showing your page’s events.

Method 2. Add Facebook Events Using a WordPress Plugin

This method allows you to add Facebook Events in WordPress without adding any code to your theme files.

First thing you need to do is install and activate the WP Embed Facebook plugin.

Upon activation, you need to visit Settings » Embed Facebook page to configure plugin settings.

The settings page for the plugin is divided into multiple tabs. You will land on the ‘Magic Embeds’ tab. Scroll down a little to the Facebook settings section.

You need to enter a Facebook app ID and secret keys. You can obtain these keys by visiting the Facebook Developers website and creating a new app.

This will bring up a popup where you will be asked to provide a name for your app and choose a category.

Click on create app ID button to continue.

Facebook will now create your app, and you will be redirected to the app dashboard. Click on the settings link from the menu on your left to view app keys.

Now you will see your app ID key and secret key which will be hidden, and you will need to click on the show button to copy it.

Enter both keys in the respective fields on WP Embed Facebook plugin’s settings page for your WordPress site.

Don’t forget to click on the ‘Save all settings’ button to store your changes.

You are now ready to add your event in WordPress. Edit a post or page where you want to display your Facebook event and add this shortcode:

[fb_plugin page href="https://www.facebook.com/YourFBPage" tabs="events"]

Don’t forget to use your own Facebook page URL in the shortcode.

This shortcode will display the Facebook Page plugin with only your Events tab. You can now visit your website to see it in action.

You can also add the shortcode to a text widget. But before you do that you will need to enable shortcodes for your sidebar widgets.

Add an Event Not Created by a Facebook Page or Group

Some users may need to share a Facebook event created by their personal profiles. These events are not associated with a page. Here is how you will show them using the custom embeds feature of the plugin.

Instead of using the Facebook page plugin shortcode, you will need to use the custom embeds shortcode like this:

[facebook https://www.facebook.com/events/1796069560608519/]

Replace the URL in the shortcode with the URL of your Facebook Event.

You can now preview your website to see the Facebook events embed in action.

10 Best Facebook Tips and Tutorials for WordPress Users

Sadman Sakib — Sun, 18 Dec 2016 05:02:30 +0000

Looking for some Facebook tips and tutorials for your WordPress site? With more than a billion active users, Facebook is the largest social media website in the world. No website owner can afford to ignore the potential of Facebook for the success of their business. In this article, we will show you some of the best Facebook tips and tutorials for WordPress users to help you maximize your reach.

1. Add Facebook Page Plugin in WordPress

Facebook Pages allow you to engage with your audience on Facebook. You can use your Facebook page to promote your WordPress site. However, you will also need to let your users know that they can find you on Facebook. Facebook Page plugin allows you to add a Like box to your website. Your users can then like your Facebook page without leaving your website.

2. Add Facebook Instant Articles for WordPress

Facebook Instant Articles is a Facebook feature which allows your content to load upto 10x faster on mobile devices. It uses the same technology used in Facebook mobile apps.

Faster speed tremendously improves the user experience on mobile devices. Users will see a lightening bolt icon on articles available in Instant Articles format. This encourages more users to click on your content in their Facebook news feed.

3. Add Facebook Remarketing/Retargeting Pixel in WordPress

Ever wondered how you start seeing Facebook ads for websites you visit outside Facebook? This is called retargeting also known as remarketing.

Those websites use Facebook retargeting pixel. This pixel does not add anything visible to your site. It only sends a browser cookie to your users which allows Facebook to track them on Facebook.

People who are already interested in your website are more likely to click on your ads on Facebook. It also helps you develop brand recognition among your users.

4. Add Facebook Open Graph Meta Data

Facebook automatically displays your article’s title, description, and an image when someone shares it on Facebook. However, sometimes Facebook is unable to show the right image or correct description.

Facebook Open Graph metadata allows you to tell Facebook which image and description you want them to show.

The easiest way to add Facebook open graph meta data is by using the Yoast SEO plugin. Simply install and activate the plugin.

Upon activation, you need to visit SEO » Social page and click on the Facebook tab.

After that, you need to click Enabled under ‘Add Open Graph Meta Data’ option. Don’t forget to click on the save changes button to store your settings.

Yoast SEO will now automatically add Facebook open graph meta data for all posts and pages on your WordPress site.

5. Add Facebook Comments in WordPress

If you get a lot of comments on your articles, then they can slow down your website. By using Facebook comments, you can ease that load from your website and make it faster.

Another benefit of using Facebook comments is that it helps you get more likes and traffic from Facebook to your articles. Users commenting on your posts can instantly share their comment with their friends.

6. Add Login with Facebook in WordPress

Social login buttons allow your users to log in to your website using their existing social media accounts. This helps them login quickly and saves them from remembering another password.

To add Facebook login on your site, the first thing you will need to do is install and activate the Nextend Facebook Connect plugin. Upon activation, go to Settings » Nextend FB Connect to configure the plugin.

The plugin requires you to provide a Facebook app ID and secret keys. You can create an app by visiting Facebook Developers website.

7. Get Facebook Insights for Your WordPress Site

Facebook Insights allows you to see how your content is doing on Facebook. It shows which of your posts or pages are most liked and shared. If you are using Facebook comments, then you can also see which posts get more comments.

The easiest way to get Facebook Insights is by using the Yoast SEO plugin. After installing and activating the plugin, head over to SEO » Social page and click on Facebook tab.

You need to scroll down to ‘Facebook Insights and Admins’ section. Here you can click on ‘Add Facebook Admin’ button and provide admin’s name and Facebook user ID.

If you have already created a Facebook app for your page, then you can provide an App ID instead of a user’s ID.

Don’t forget to click on the save changes button to store your settings.

That’s all you can now visit Facebook Insights page and you will see your website listed there. Click on your website to see your Insight reports.

8. Add Facebook Author Tag in WordPress Posts

Facebook author tag allows you to display author name with your articles when they are shared on Facebook. The author name is linked to author’s Facebook profile, allowing you to get more users engaged with authors on your site.

Once again, you will need the Yoast SEO plugin. First you will need to enable Open Graph meta data (see above).

After that, you need to go to your profile Users » Profile page. Scroll down to Facebook Profile URL option and enter your Facebook profile URL.

Don’t forget to click on the Save Changes button to store your settings.

That’s all, you will now start seeing an author name when your posts are shared on Facebook.

9. Create Custom Facebook Feeds in WordPress

Displaying your Facebook posts on your WordPress site can help you boost engagement and convince more users to like your Facebook page.

The Custom Facebook Feed plugin helps you display your Facebook status while making it match your website design.

10. Embed Facebook Video in WordPress

Facebook videos are hot. If you’re sharing a lot of unique video content with your Facebook audience, and want to embed them on your WordPress site, then it is definitely possible.

This process is not as streamlined as one would hope, but our hope is that Facebook will make it easier in the future.

We hope this article helped you find the best Facebook tips and tutorials for WordPress.

How to Fix Pluggable.php File Errors in WordPress

Sadman Sakib — Sat, 17 Dec 2016 06:25:05 +0000

Are you seeing a pluggable.php file error on your WordPress site? Sometimes when you add a code snippet on your site or activate a new plugin, you may get the pluggable.php file error. In this article, we will show you how to fix pluggable.php file errors in WordPress.

When and Why You See Pluggable.php Errors?

WordPress allow users and plugins to override certain core functions. These functions are located in the pluggable.php file.

If a WordPress plugin or a custom code snippet fails to correctly handle one of these functions, then you will see an error like this one:

Warning: Cannot modify header information – headers already sent by (output started at /home/username/demosite/wp-content/themes/mytheme/functions.php:1035) in /home/username/demosite/wp-includes/pluggable.php on line 1179

Sometimes you may be able to continue working on your site with this or some other error still appearing in the admin area.

Having said that, let’s take a look at how to easily fix pluggable.php file error in WordPress.

Fixing Pluggable.php File Errors in WordPress

The pluggable.php file is a core WordPress file. It’s never a good idea to edit the core WordPress file as your first option, even when there is an error pointing to them.

Most likely than not, the error is coming from a different location.

In order to fix any error mentioning pluggable.php file, just look at the first location mentioned in the error.

Warning: Cannot modify header information – headers already sent by (output started at /home/username/demosite/wp-content/themes/mytheme/functions.php:1035) in /home/username/demosite/wp-includes/pluggable.php on line 1179

In the above example, the error is located in the theme’s functions.php file at line 1035.

This means you need to edit your theme’s functions.php file and change or remove the code causing this error.

Sometimes the headers already sent error is caused by an extra space after closing the php ?> tag, so you can just remove that, and it will fix the issue.

Let’s take a look at another example:

Warning: Cannot modify header information – headers already sent by (output started at /home/username/demosite/wp-content/plugins/some-plugin-name/some-plugin.php:144) in /home/username/demosite/wp-includes/pluggable.php on line 1090

This error message is pointing to a plugin on your WordPress site causing the error. You can simply deactivate the plugin and notify the plugin author about the error.

In almost all cases, errors mentioning pluggable.php file are not caused by the file itself.

These errors are usually caused by a custom code snippet you added to functions.php file, or a poorly coded plugin, or even your WordPress theme.

Simply removing or editing the code or deactivating the plugin will make the error go away.

Beginner’s Guide to Troubleshooting WordPress Errors (Step by Step)

Sadman Sakib — Fri, 16 Dec 2016 06:56:47 +0000

Are you encountering a common WordPress error on your site? Do you want to troubleshoot these WordPress errors on your own? Most of these errors can be solved by following easy troubleshooting steps. In this beginner’s guide, we will show you how to troubleshoot WordPress errors one step at a time.

1. Create a Complete Backup of Your WordPress Site

First thing you should do is to create a complete backup of your WordPress site. If you were already using a WordPress backup plugin, then make sure that you have a recent backup safely stored somewhere.

If you were not using a backup plugin, then you should start using one immediately. However, in case you don’t have access to the admin area of your WordPress site, then you will need to manually backup your database and files.

Backups allow you to restore your WordPress site easily when something goes wrong. They are your first and most important defence against security threats, hacking, and data loss.

2. Deactivate All Plugins Installed on Your Website

Most of the times errors are caused by a plugins conflicting with each other, your theme, or the WordPress core. Deactivating all WordPress plugins on your site will most likely solve the problem. You can then find out which plugin was causing the issue by activating plugins one by one on your site.

If you have access to the admin area of your WordPress site, then simply head over to the plugins page.

First you need to select all plugins, and then select ‘Deactivate’ from ‘Bulk Actions’ drop down menu. Click on the Apply button to deactivate all selected plugins.

If you do not have access to the admin area, then you will need to use FTP or phpMyAdmin to deactivate all plugins.

Simply connect to your website using an FTP client.

Navigate to the wp-content folder and rename plugins folder to “plugin.deactivate”.

3. Switch to a Default WordPress Theme

Sometimes your WordPress theme can cause issues on your site. You can easily find out if your theme is causing an issue by switching to a default WordPress theme like Twenty Sixteen or Twenty Fifteen.

Head over to Appearance » Themes page and then click on the Activate button next to a default theme.

However, if you don’t have access to the admin area of your WordPress site, then you will need to use FTP to switch theme.

Connect to your website using an FTP client and then navigate to /wp-content/themes/ folder. Download your current active theme as a backup to your Desktop.

After that you need to delete all themes except a default WordPress theme like TwentySixteen. Since your active theme will no longer be available, WordPress will now automatically switch to using the default theme available.

If your theme was causing the issue, then you should be able to log in to your WordPress site now.

4. Refresh Permalinks

WordPress uses SEO friendly URL structure or Permalinks. Sometimes the permalink structure is not updated or configured properly, which may result in unexpected 404 errors on your site.

You can easily refresh permalinks without changing anything on your WordPress site. Visit Settings » Permalinks page and click on ‘Save Changes’ button without changing anything.

5. Backup and Delete .htaccess File

A corrupt .htaccess file is often the cause of the internal server error.

First you need to connect to your website using an FTP client. The .htaccess file is located in your site’s root directory.

Since it is a hidden file, you may need to force your FTP client to show hidden files.

You need to download the .htaccess file to your computer as a backup, and then delete it from your web server.

You can now try to login to your WordPress site and go to Settings » Permalinks page. Click on the Save Changes button to refresh your permalinks and to regenerate a new .htaccess file for your site.

6. Fix WordPress Site URL

Having incorrect settings for WordPress URL and Site URL options can also cause redirect issues, 404 errors, and some other common issues.

WordPress URL and Site URL options can be changed from admin area by visiting Settings » General page.

Make sure that both URLs are exactly the same.

If you do not have access to the admin area of your WordPress site, then you can change these URLs using FTP. There are two ways to do that using FTP:

Update WordPress URL and Site URL Settings in wp-config.php File

Once connected to your website using an FTP client, locate wp-config.php file. Now you need to edit this file in a text editor like Notepad.

Go to the line that says /* That's all, stop editing! Happy blogging. */, and just before it, add this code:

define('WP_HOME','http://example.com');
define('WP_SITEURL','http://example.com');

Don’t forget to replace example.com with your own domain name. Now save your changes and upload the file back to your server.

Update URLs Using functions.php File

You can also update URLs using your theme’s functions.php file.

Open your FTP client and navigate to /wp-content/themes/ folder. Open your current active theme’s folder and locate functions.php file inside it. Now you will need to edit the functions.php file in a text editor like Notepad.

Simply add these lines at the bottom of the functions file:

update_option( 'siteurl', 'http://example.com' );
update_option( 'home', 'http://example.com' );

Don’t forget to change WordPress URLs from the settings page after you login to your site. Once you have added them on the settings page, you need to delete these lines from your theme’s functions file.

7. Check Reading Settings

If your newly created WordPress site is not indexed by search engines, then this is the first thing that you should do.

Login to your WordPress site and go to Settings » Reading page. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and make sure that the box next to ‘Search Engine Visibility’ is unchecked.

This option allows you to discourage search engines from showing your website in search. It is used by webmasters when they are working on a website which is not ready to be live. Sometimes you can accidentally check this setting and forget about it.

Make sure that this option is unchecked when your website is ready to go live.

8. Troubleshooting Email Issues

Many WordPress hosting providers do not have mail settings properly configured. This stops you and your users to receive emails from WordPress.

If you are using a contact form plugin, then you will not be able to receive those emails as well. You will also not receive any WordPress notifications.

9. Scanning for Malware and Backdoors

If you suspect that your WordPress site is affected with malware, then you should scan your website with Security Plugin. It is the best website security monitoring service for WordPress site owners.

Getting Better Support

After following the above mentioned troubleshooting steps, you would be able to fix many of the most common WordPress errors. However, if the problem persists, then you can seek further support.

WordPress is a community software, so you can get help from the community by posting in WordPress support forums. Here is how to write a better support request:

Be polite and nice. No matter how upset or frustrated you are, do not use harsh language.
Mention your problem briefly.
Describe troubleshooting steps you have taken so far.
Uplaod screenshots on a cloud image sharing service, and then add the links in your support thread.

We hope this article helped you learn how to troubleshoot WordPress errors.

How to Improve WordPress Email Deliverability with SendGrid

Sadman Sakib — Wed, 14 Dec 2016 09:53:33 +0000

Do you want to improve email deliverability from your WordPress site? Often web hosting providers don’t have properly configured mail settings, which blocks WordPress from sending emails. In this article, we will show you how to improve WordPress email deliverability with SendGrid.

The Problem with Emails in WordPress

By default, WordPress uses the PHP mail function to send out emails. Many WordPress hosting providers do not have this function configured properly. Some even block it to make sure that their servers aren’t used to send spam.

This becomes problematic for site owners because their WordPress site fails to send some or all emails.

WordPress emails are crucial for resetting passwords, sending notification emails, running an online store, getting contact form notifications, and more. If WordPress can’t send emails, you could get locked out of your site or lose customers by missing out on important notifications.

Having said that, let’s take a look at how to improve WordPress email deliverability with SendGrid (for free).

What is SendGrid?

SendGrid is an email service provider. They offer highly optimized email servers that you can use to send out your emails.

They offer both transactional email service (one-to-one emails like WordPress notices, order receipts, password resets, etc.) and email marketing services.

Like all good email service providers, SendGrid spends significant resources to improve deliverability. This ensures that your WordPress emails land in your users’ inboxes, instead of being marked as spam. This is why companies like Uber, Spotify, Airbnb, Yelp, and thousands of others use SendGrid.

Sending WordPress Emails Using SendGrid

To set up SendGrid to work with your WordPress site, first you’ll need to visit the SendGrid website and sign up for an account.

SendGrid is a paid service, but they also offer a free plan which allows you to send up to 12,000 emails each month. That’s plenty for most small to medium-sized websites.

As your site grows, you can upgrade to their paid plan. It starts at $9.90 per month for up to 40,000 emails. You can scale your pricing based on how many emails you need to send every month, but in our experience the free plan is sufficient for most folks.

Next, you need to install and activate the SendGrid WordPress plugin. Upon activation, visit Settings » SendGrid to configure the plugin.

The plugin allows you to connect your WordPress site to SendGrid. You can do that by adding an API key or by using your SendGrid username or password.

We recommend using the API key method because it’s more secure. We will only cover the API method in this tutorial.

Start by visiting your SendGrid account dashboard and then click on Settings » API Keys.

Next, you need to choose how to send mail. You can send it using the SendGrid API, or with SMTP.

The SMTP method requires Swift Mailer support. You can add it by installing and activating the Swift Mailer plugin on your WordPress site.

But you don’t need that. We recommend using the API method, since it’s easier to set up and more secure.

Go back to the Settings » SendGrid page in your WordPress dashboard. Under the Mail Settings heading, you’ll need to provide the sender name, email address, and reply-to address.

The name can be your website name, and the sending address can be your professional email address.

In other optional settings, you can choose to use email templates from SendGrid website and add their template ID in plugin settings. You can also create and use categories for emails you send through WordPress.

Don’t forget to click on the Save Changes button to store your settings.

That’s all! SendGrid will now replace the default WordPress mail function with SendGrid API, providing more reliable email service.

You can test it by performing any action that generates an email notification from WordPress. For example, you could reset your password, add a new user, or fill out your contact form.

We hope this article helped you improve your WordPress email deliverability with SendGrid.

How to Make Money with Your Blog

Sadman Sakib — Sun, 11 Dec 2016 09:45:53 +0000

You want to make money, right? Of course you do. Everyone wants – and needs -to make money. So you started a blog since you’ve heard it’s an easy way to make cash, but you’re not quite sure how to actually make money doing it. Or maybe you already have a blog and you’re exploring ways to monetize it.

No matter which group you’re in, making money with a blog – whether it’s a hobby blog or a business blog –is possible. It’s not a get rich quick ordeal, but if you do it right, you could make enough to support your family and more. Let’s dive in and see how you can make a profit with your blog.

Monetize with CPC or CPM Ads

One of the most common ways bloggers make money is through placing ads on their site. There are two popular types of ads:

CPC/PPC Ads: Cost per click (also called pay per click) ads are usually banners that you place in your content or sidebar. Each time a reader clicks on the ad, you are paid for that click.
CPM Ads: CPM Ads, or “cost per 1,000 impressions,” are ads that pay you a fixed amount of money based on how many people view your ad.

Perhaps the most popular network for placing these types of ads is Google AdSense. With this program, you do not need to be in direct contact with advertisers; you simply place the banner on your site, Google chooses ads relevant to your content, and your viewers click on the ads. There are countless similar programs available if you find that AdSense doesn’t work for you, such as Chitika, Infolinks, and Media.net.

Sell Private Ads

Working with advertising networks isn’t your only option when it comes to selling ads. If you end up with enough traffic, advertisers may come directly to you and ask you to place their ad on your site. You can also contact advertisers yourself. The biggest difference from the above mentioned option is that there is no middle man, which means you can set your own ad rates.

Selling private ads can come in the form of banners, buttons, or links. You can even make money writing sponsored posts where you write about or give a review of an advertiser’s product or service. Another option is to write an underwritten post or series, which is where you can write about any topic, but the advertiser pays for a “Brought to you by” mention in the content.

The ways you make money with this can vary. For instance, you might charge a one-time fee for a link within a post. If you are hosting banner ads, you might charge your partner monthly.

Bonus tip: To maximize your income, you can also choose to sell sponsorship space in your newsletters, podcasts, and videos.

Include Affiliate Links in Your Content

Affiliate marketing is also another great tool for monetizing your blog:

An advertiser has a product she wants to sell. She agrees to give you a commission from each sale if the buyer is coming from your site.
She gives you a unique link that tracks your affiliate code. That way, she knows when a buyer used your link to make a purchase.
You include your affiliate link on your site. You can do this directly in the content or through banner ads. If a reader clicks on your unique link and buys the product you have recommended, you earn a percentage of what she purchased.

You can utilize affiliate marketing through ad networks like Amazon Associates, or you can create private partnerships with advertisers and businesses with an affiliate program.

Sell Digital Products

If you would rather not advertise other people’s products on your site, or if you are looking for another stream of income, consider selling digital products. This can include items like:

eBooks
Online courses/workshops
Images, video, or music people can use in their own content
Apps, plugins, or themes

Just remember that if you are going to choose one of these avenues that you make it relevant and useful to your readers. A lot of bloggers make the mistake of assuming they are developing a product their readers need; listen to your readers first, and then create a digital product that will meet their needs.

Use it as a Content Marketing Tool for Your Business

It is also possible to sell physical products on your blog and to make money that way. Instead of thinking of it as making money from your blog, however, think of your blog as a content marketing tool that will drive visitors to your business website.

The possibilities are practically endless when it comes to developing a business blog. You could sell hand-made products, books, manufactured products, and so much more. Or you might already have a business and decide to start a blog to convert loyal customers.

Lets say, for example, that you refurbish and resell used smartphones out of your home. You could use a blog to attract visitors to your website where you list your current phones for sale. Your blog might cover topics about DIY refurbishing. On one level, it seems counterintuitive because you want people to buy your phones, but it also helps you build a brand and gain recognition. Social media guru Jay Baer explains the concept on Copyblogger:

I was at a conference a few years ago, and this is where I first sort of started thinking about this concept, and their founder, Robert Johnson, was speaking…

He said, “Well our best customers are the people that think they can fix it themselves.”

But eventually you are going to get out of your depth either on that project on a project down the road, at which point who are you going to call? Are you going to call somebody randomly that you discovered on Google or are you going to call the guys who you just watched their logo in the corner of a 14-minute instructional video?

This concept can also be applied to services in all types of industries. For instance, if you offered electronic repair services as opposed to physical products, you could still use the same blogging concept to increase brand awareness and convert more clients.

Sell Memberships

Another option to make money is to sell memberships to exclusive corners of your website. For instance, a career blog might charge $10 per month for users to gain access to their job board. A startup business blog might sell memberships to their forums where people can get personalized advice about their business.

The key here is that your exclusive membership has to be more valuable than something your visitors can find for free somewhere else, so be sure youâ€™re developing something of value and worth the price.

Use it to Build Your Credibility

Blogging to build credibility can lead to many money-making opportunities. For instance, let us say you start a blog in the finance industry. People start reading your content, and your blog becomes very popular. You are now a recognized figure in the finance industry.

Once you have that authority, people might approach you to co-author a book on debt management, or you could charge to speak at conferences or to run employee financial training days.

This certainly isn’t a direct form of making money blogging, but it has worked for many well-known bloggers, and it can work for you, too. If youâ€™re looking for a direct revenue stream, popular blogs have sold for 4-7 figures (sometimes more) by selling their branding and content.

The biggest thing to keep in mind is that making money blogging is not possible by putting your site up and letting it sit there. The “if you build it, they will come” mentality doesn’t work here, so be sure youâ€™re willing to put in the time. Most bloggers donâ€™t see a spike of income for several months (sometimes years) after starting their blog. Before you dive too deep into blogging, remember these little bits of advice:

Create Quality Content

You are not going to make any money from your blog if people don’t read it. After all, your readers are the ones who are going to make you money, whether they’re clicking on your ads or buying your products. Always put your readers first.

Don’t Spend Your Time Exclusively on Your Blog

Developing a successful blog has a lot to do with building relationships. That can include relationships with sponsors, affiliate partners, or simply other bloggers who will direct traffic to your blog. Be sure some of your time is spent on forums and other blogs (or whatever works for you) to build these relationships and your blog.

Don’t Be Afraid to Experiment

Not all of these tips and avenues of income are going to work for you. Don’t be afraid to tweak your methods to see what works best for you and your readers.

Making money blogging can take a lot of persistence, but it can pay off in the long-run if you’re starting out from scratch. Just remember that you don’t have to use all of these money-making avenues at once. Consider what other people in your industry are doing, and start from there.

Over time, you will learn what works for you and what doesn’t. If youâ€™re looking to make money from your blog, which option will you start with?

Let me know in the comment section :).

7 Ways to Boost Your Success as a Blogger

Sadman Sakib — Sun, 11 Dec 2016 03:31:33 +0000

All bloggers have one thing in common: they want their blog to succeed. For most bloggers, success means converting loyal followers.

No matter when or why you started your blog, a few tweaks here and there to your blog and your attitude can change things for the better. Check out our list of seven tips to help you succeed as a blogger.

1. Find a Niche

This little bit of advice has been bouncing around the Internet since the dawn of the first successful blog. Still, a lot of newbie bloggers don’t take this advice to heart, partially because a lot of new bloggers aren’t sure what to blog about and partially because others don’t know what a niche is. Don’t worry; we’ve got you covered.

Niche is defined as, “a specialized but profitable corner of the market.”

What we really mean when we say “find your niche” is to narrow your blog’s focus. Talking about anything and everything that comes to mind is great if you’re writing for yourself, but readers may find that chaotic and difficult to follow. What readers really want is a collection of related and helpful articles on the same topic to help solve a problem or question.

Examples of niches include:

Parenting
Finance
Beauty
DIY Home DÃ©cor
Fitness
Web Design

While it’s true that there are blogs on practically every niche, the key to really being successful and hitting your target audience is to narrow your topic even further. Find a hole in the market and focus on that. This will reduce your competition while making you a go-to expert in your niche.

For example, Blogging Basics 101 started because there were tons of sites with blogging advice for intermediate and advanced bloggers, but there wasn’t a lot of good advice for novice bloggers.

Another example would be if you wanted to start a travel blog. Instead of focusing on travel in general, you might narrow your focus to a single country or city. That way, you become the number one go-to blog for people looking to visit that area.

2. Don’t Be Afraid to Self-Promote

Promoting your own project on social media or within your group of friends is intimidating for a lot of people. You don’t want to sound like you are bragging, and you definitely don’t want to come across looking like spam.

If you want to succeed, however, you have to get the word out there, and who better to do that than you? It’s all part of the marketing process, and bloggers have to learn how to use social media and blog commenting functions to market themselves.

Sometimes tooting your own horn isn’t all that bad. The key is to find a balance between self-promotion and humility. Many bloggers and social media enthusiasts suggest using 80 percent of your social comments and shares to promote other people’s works and 20 percent of it promoting your own products and services.

3. Build on What Works

Experimenting is all a part of the process, so don’t be afraid to try something new. Start a new weekly blogging series, try placing ads, or start guest posting.

Use your website statistics and commenting functions to see how readers react to these new ideas. If you’re not seeing any indication of a reaction in your stats, poll your readers to see what they think.

Testing one thing here or there isn’t likely to hurt your blogging practice. Some of these experiments can lead to a huge increase in traffic. The good news is that you can always ditch the ones that don’t work.

4. Perform an “Above the Fold” Test

Above the fold includes the content you see when you first view your blog. It’s anything that you see without scrolling.

Since you only have a few seconds to make a good first impression and help readers find what they’re looking for, you want the most important information above the fold. For instance, people should be able to tell who you are and what you do without scrolling. If it’s not evident in your blogs title, it’s worth adding a tagline. If you want to draw attention to your call-to-action, that should appear above the fold as well.

Not sure how your website performs in this regard? Use the Clue App to set up a free 5-second test. Send the test out to your friends or followers to see which information readers see as most important. Don’t like the results? It’s worth rethinking your website layout.

5. Make Your Blog Sticky

Sticky is a term that means you’re encouraging people to return to or stay on your blog. For example, you might link to a relevant article from your blog’s archives. You can do this within the content, or you can list additional resources at the end of each blog post. The idea is that these links point to your own content and offer readers more in-depth information on the topic or a related subject.

As you do this, people are more likely to stick around and subscribe to your blog. You can also make your blog sticky by inviting readers to subscribe to your blog or by making your RSS feed available with the click of a button.

6. Look for Ways to Extend Your Blog

To get people to stick around and keep coming back, it’s worth extending your reach outside of simple blog posts. This helps you reach more people who enjoy other forms of content and contact, and it kee

ps your blog from getting boring.

Examples of ways to extend your reach include:

Hanging around industry forums or social media
Sending out newsletters
Starting a podcast series
Releasing videos

7. Create Quality Content

People have been saying it for years, and the saying still holds true. Content is king.

Without well-written and engaging content, your blog isn’t going to go anywhere. Yes, your blog design and your marketing tactics are important, but they’re practically useless if you don’t have quality content. People may come because of the marketing, but they’ll stay when you deliver content they need.

Pro tip: Creating content users “need” can encompass anything from teaching them something to providing entertainment. While blogging about yourself can have its benefits, you should always be focusing on solving the reader problems first (whether they want a good laugh or are looking for advice). Satisfying their needs is what will drive readers to subscribe to your blog.

How to Choose the Best Blogging Platform in 2016 (Compared)

Sadman Sakib — Wed, 07 Dec 2016 14:26:05 +0000

Are you looking to start your own blog, but can’t figure out how to choose the best blogging platform? It’s a tough choice, since there are several different blogging platforms out there. How do you find out which one is right for you? In this article, we’ll help you choose the best blogging platform by going over the pros and cons of the most popular options.

Choosing The Best Blogging Platform – What to Look for?

Before diving in the list, it helps to know what kind of platform you’re looking for.

As a beginner, you’ll want a blogging platform that’s easy to set up, and doesn’t require any coding skills.

You’ll also need to think about what kind of blog you want to create, now and in the future.

As your blog grows, you may want to change the look of your site and add more features for your growing audience. That means it’s important to choose a blogging platform that’s flexible, with room to grow.

Starting off with the wrong platform can make it very difficult to switch later on.

Lastly, even if you don’t have plans to make money yet, it’s smart to make sure you have the option to do so in the future.

With all that in mind, let’s compare the best blogging platforms for beginners.

1. WordPress.org

WordPress.org is the world’s most popular blogging software.

(Note: It’s easy to confuse WordPress.org with WordPress.com, which is a blog hosting service next on this list.

WordPress.org is an open source software platform which allows you to build your website or blog on your own. It is a self-hosted solution, which means you will need to sign up with a WordPress hosting provider.

Pros

WordPress.org gives you control over every aspect of your website.
You can grow your blog and add extra features like forums, online store, and membership options to it.
There are thousands of free and premium themes available for WordPress. This allows you to create a beautiful website that stands apart from the crowd.
You also get access to more than 45,000 free plugins. These plugins are like apps for your WordPress blog, allowing you to add all kinds of new features.
WordPress is search engine friendly.

Cons

Managing your own website comes with a bit of a learning curve.
You will have to manage your own backups and security.

Price:

WordPress.org software is free, but you’ll need to buy a domain name (about $14.99/year) and hosting (usually starting from $7.99/month). However, WPBeginner users can get started for only $2.75 per month with Bluehost, an official WordPress recommended hosting provider. They are offering our users 60% off on hosting and a FREE domain name.

2. WordPress.com

WordPress.com is a blog hosting service offered by Automattic, a company created by WordPress.org cofounder Matt Mullenweg.

WordPress.com offers a basic blog hosting service for free. You can purchase additional options like a custom domain name, additional storage, and other premium services.

Pros:

No setup required.
Easy to use and manage.

Cons:

Limited options to extend your site.
You cannot run advertisements on your blog.
You do not own your blog and WordPress.com can suspend your account if they find you are violating their terms of service.

Price:

The basic WordPress.com account is free, but it will have WordPress.com ads and branding. You can upgrade to their Personal plan for $2.99/month (billed yearly) to remove WordPress.com logo and advertising from your website, and get a custom domain (such as www.yoursite.com).

For $8.25/month (billed yearly) you can get additional design tools and extra storage.

Because of the similarity in names, beginners often start with WordPress.com thinking they are getting the powerful WordPress.org software. After seeing the limitations, users often end up switching from WordPress.com to WordPress.org to have more features and control over their website.

3. Blogger

Blogger is a free blog hosting service. Acquired by Google in 2003, it offers a quick and easy way to create a blog for non-tech-savvy users.

Pros:

Blogger is free.
It’s easy to use and manage without any technical skills.
Has the added advantage of Google’s robust secure platform and reliability.

Cons:

You’re limited to basic blogging tools, and can’t add new features as your blog grows in popularity.
Design options are limited, with fewer templates available. Third party templates for Blogger are often low quality.
Blogger does not receive frequent updates or new features.
Google can suspend your blog at any time, or even cancel the Blogger service altogether. (They have a history of abandoning projects without warning, such as Feedburner.)

Eventually as their blog grows, users end up switching from Blogger to WordPress to get more features and control over their website.

4. Tumblr

Tumblr is a little different than other blogging platforms. It is a microblogging platform with social networking features including following other blogs, reblogging, built-in sharing tools, and more.

Pros:

Tumblr is free and very easy to use.
It has an integrated social media component.
As a microblogging tool, Tumblr makes it easy to quickly blog videos, GIFs, images, and audio formats.

Cons:

Tumblr comes with a limited set of features that you cannot extend as your blog grows.
There are many themes available for Tumblr, but they can’t offer additional features.
Backing up your Tumblr blog or importing it to other platforms is difficult.

Pricing:

Tumblr is free to use. You can use a custom domain (purchased separately) for your Tumblr blog, and there are also third party themes and apps available to purchase.

5. Medium

Launched in 2012, Medium has grown into a community of writers, bloggers, journalists, and experts. It is an easy-to-use blogging platform with limited social networking features.

Pros:

Medium is easy to use, with no setup required and no coding skills needed.
It allows you to reach an existing online community of people of similar interests.
You can focus solely on writing, instead of designing a website.

Cons:

Features are very limited in terms of design or building a brand.
Medium owns your audience, so losing your blog means losing all your followers.
You cannot run your own ads to make money.

Pricing:

Medium is free to use.

While the platform looks attractive at first, the lack of monetization and control leads to most people switching from Medium to WordPress.

6. Squarespace

Squarespace is a website building service that allows you to create beautiful websites using easy drag and drop tools.

It focuses on small business owners who are looking for an easy way to create an online presence.

Pros

Squarespace is simple and easy to use for beginners who aren’t very tech-savvy.
It has beautiful professionally designed templates.
It separately offers domain name with SSL/HTTPs and eCommerce stores.

Cons

Squarespace is limited to the features built into their proprietary platform.
The Personal plan limits you to 20 pages, a blog, and 2 contributors.
Integrations are limited to a select few services and tools.

Pricing:

Pricing for their Personal plan starts at $16/month, or $12/month if you pay for the year in advance. For the Business plan, pricing starts at $26/month, or $18/month billed annually.

Often users end up switching from Squarespace to WordPress to minimize their expenses and add more features on their websites.

7. Wix

Wix is a hosted platform to build websites. It offers an easy way for small businesses to build a website using drag and drop tools. You can also add a blog to your website by adding the Wix Blog app.

Pros

You can customize your site using dozens of templates and third party apps.
Build your site with easy drag and drop tools; no coding skills required.
Setup is quick and easy.

Cons

The free account is limited and shows Wix branding and ads on your site.
Free third party apps are limited.
Once you choose a template you cannot change it.
Ecommerce features are limited to paid plans, and even those features are limited.

Pricing

The basic Wix website builder is free. You can add a custom domain for $4.50/month. Their premium plans start from $8.50/month and go up to $24.50/month.

8. Joomla

Joomla is an open source software content management system, just like WordPress.org. It’s also a self-hosted solution, which means you will need a domain name and web hosting to use it.

Pros

Joomla is extremely powerful and flexible, and can be used to build any kind of website or blog.
You can choose from hundreds of templates to customize your site’s design.
Extensions (apps for your Joomla site) are available to add more features.

Cons

The Joomla community is much smaller than WordPress community, so there are fewer themes and addons than for WordPress.
Support options are limited to community support. Paid support is hard to find and can be costly.
You will be responsible for managing your backups, updates, and security.

Pricing

Joomla is free but you will need domain (about $14.99/year) and hosting (usually starting from $7.99/month) to use it. If you use SiteGround, then you can get started for $3.95 per month, and you will get a free domain.

9. Ghost

Ghost is a minimalist blogging platform with limited features focused on writing blog posts. It’s available as a hosted platform, and also as a software that you can install and host yourself. We’ll take a look at both options.

Pros

Focused on blogging and writing.
Clean, clutter-free, and intuitive user interface.
Written in JavaScript, so it’s super fast.
No setup required for the hosted version.

Cons

Not easy to customize with apps.
The simplified user interface means options are very limited.
Not enough themes to change appearance of your site.
Complicated setup if you install it yourself.

Pricing

The self-hosted version needs a custom domain (about $14.99/year) and web hosting (starting from about $7.99/month). Pricing for the hosted version starts at $19/month for 1 blog with a 25000 page view limit.

10. Weebly

Weebly is a hosted platform that allows you to build your website using drag and drop tools. It comes with dozens of ready-to-use themes that you can customize using their web-based interface.

Pros

Easy-to-use drag and drop website builder with no technical skills required.
Quick and easy setup, since Weebly will host your site for you.
Weebly’s free plan allows you to try out the service before buying.

Cons

Built-in features are limited, and you can’t add new features.
Limited integration with third party platforms.
Exporting your site from Weebly to another platform is difficult.

Pricing

Weebly’s paid plans start from $8.00/month, and include limited features. To unlock all the available features, you could pay up to $49.00/month.

How to Install WordPress Plugins and Themes from GitHub

Sadman Sakib — Wed, 07 Dec 2016 13:54:38 +0000

GitHub is a project hosting service used by many open source projects and developers. As a WordPress user, sometimes you may come across plugins or themes hosted on GitHub. Since GitHub is not specific to WordPress development, it may be difficult for a new user to figure out how to download and install a plugin or theme from GitHub. In this article, we will show you how to install WordPress plugins or themes from GitHub.

What is GitHub?

As we mentioned earlier that GitHub is a code hosting service. It is free to use for open source projects, and currently it is the most popular project hosting service among open source developers. It uses Git revision control system, hence the name GitHub. Not only it provides easy tools for collaboration, GitHub also offers social networking features such as following users, giving repositories stars, subscribing to repositories and projects, etc.

Github can be used on any kind of projects that want to utilize Git revision control features. For example, Open Source learning resources, documentation projects, manuals, guidebooks, etc. GitHub’s tools allow users to add other users to their projects and work with in teams.

Downloading and Installing WordPress Plugins and Themes From GitHub

Before you install a WordPress theme or plugin from GitHub, make sure that you are able to receive updates for it. We will cover that part later in this article.

Installing plugins and themes from GitHub is super easy. It is just like installing a WordPress plugin manually. First go to the plugin / theme’s repository on GitHub. On the main page of the repository, in the right sidebar you will see Download ZIP button.

Once you have downloaded the ZIP file. Login to your WordPress admin area and go to Plugins » Add New. You will need to manually upload the plugin from your computer. To do that click on the upload tab.

Select the ZIP file from your computer and click on the Install Now button. WordPress will now upload the zip archive from your computer to your website, unzip it, and install the plugin for you. Once it is done you will see a success message. You can then click on Activate Plugin link to activate the plugin on your site.

How to Get Updates for WordPress Plugins Installed From GitHub?

By default, WordPress looks for a newer version of the plugin based on a plugin’s read me file and plugin header which contains the information about the latest stable version to use. However, WordPress does not show automatic updates for plugins downloaded from GitHub by default. To enable users to automatically receive updates directly from GitHub repositories, theme and plugin developers need to make a little extra effort.

To achieve this some plugins and themes from GitHub may already have included the code which will enable you to receive automatic updates.

In some cases the theme / plugin developer may ask you to install GitHub Updater plugin. Which will enable you to get updates for GitHub plugins and themes utilizing this method.

In either case, you will have to contact the plugin/theme developer on GitHub and ask them about the updates situation to be sure about receiving updates when they release a new version.

We hope this guide helped you install WordPress plugins or themes from GitHub.

If you like the plugin or theme that you are using from GitHub, then don’t forget to star that plugin on GitHub. This will let the developers know that you appreciate their effort. Let us know what interesting WordPress projects you discovered on GitHub by leaving a comment below.

How to Properly Setup Google AMP on Your WordPress Site

Sadman Sakib — Sun, 04 Dec 2016 18:01:44 +0000

Do you want to setup Google AMP on your WordPress site? Accelerated mobile pages or AMP is a way to make your website load faster on mobile devices. Fast loading websites offer better user experience and can improve your traffic. In this article, we will show you how to set up Google AMP in WordPress.

What is Google AMP?

Google AMP stands for Accelerated Mobile Pages. It is an open source initiative supported by technology companies like Google and Twitter. The goal of the project is to make web content load faster for mobile users.

For many mobile users, reading on the web is often slow. Most content rich pages take several seconds to load despite all efforts taken by site owners to speed up their website.

Accelerated Mobile Pages or AMP uses bare minimal HTML and limited Javascript. This allows the content to be hosted on Google AMP Cache. Google can then serve this cached version to users instantly when they click on your link in the search results.

It is very similar to Facebook Instant Articles. However, Instant Articles are limited only to Facebook’s platform, more specifically to their mobile app.

Accelerated Mobile Pages are platform-agnostic and can be used by any app, browser, or web viewer. Currently it is used by Google, Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit, and others.

Pros and Cons of Google AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages)

SEO experts claim that Accelerated Mobile Pages will help you rank higher in Google, and it improves the user experience for mobile users on slow internet connections. However, they are several challenges for website owners, bloggers, and marketers.

AMP uses limited set of HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. This means you cannot add certain widgets and features to your mobile AMP website. This limits your ability to add smart email optin forms, facebook like boxes, and other dynamic scripts.

While Google AMP supports Google Analytics, it does not support many other analytics platforms. Same goes for advertising options which are limited to select few advertising platforms.

Despite its limitations, Google is pushing AMP pages by giving them a boost in mobile search.

If significant chunk of your traffic comes from mobile searches, then you may benefit from adding AMP support to improve and maintain your SEO.

Note: There have been a few complaints about Google AMP by bloggers.

First is by Alex Kras who claim that you can potentially lose mobile traffic if you enable Google AMP. Read the article thoroughly because that’s a huge problem, and despite what the Google Tech Lead for AMP project has said, there aren’t any good solutions that address the issue in our opinion.

Second is by Terrence Eden which highlights the difficulties of switching back from Google AMP should you change your mind in the future. We don’t believe this is a major issue because you can do a 301 redirect which several have pointed out in the comment section of his blog posts, but nonetheless it is something you need to think about.

However since several of our readers asked about how to setup Google AMP in WordPress, we have created a step by step process on how to setup Accelerated Mobile Pages in WordPress.

Setting up Accelerated Mobile Pages or AMP in WordPress

First thing you need to do is install and activate the AMP plugin.

Upon activation, you can head over to Appearance » AMP page to see how your site looks on mobile devices using AMP.

You can change the header background and text color on this page. The header background color you choose will also be used for links.

The plugin will also use your site’s icon or logo if your theme supports it. Don’t forget to click on the save button to store your changes.

You can now visit any single post on your website and add /amp/ at the end of the URL. Like this:

http://example.com/2016/10/my-blog-post/amp/

This will show you a stripped down AMP version of the same post.

If you view the source code of the original post, you will find this line in the HTML:

This line tells search engines and other AMP consuming apps/services where to look for the AMP version of the page.

Troubleshooting:

If you see a 404 error when trying to view the amp version, then here is what you need to do.

Visit Settings » Permalinks page in your WordPress admin and click on the ‘Save Changes’ button. Remember, don’t change anything here, just press the save button. This will refresh your website’s permalink structure.

View Accelerated Mobile Pages in Google Search Console

Want to know how your Accelerated Mobile Pages are doing in Google Search? You can easily check this using the Google Search Console.

Don’t worry if you don’t see your AMP results right away. It may take a while for Google to index your Accelerated Mobile Pages and then show data in Search Console.

Extending and Customizing Your Accelerated Mobile Pages

The AMP plugin for WordPress comes with very limited customization options. However you can use some other WordPress plugins to add few more customizations.

If you are already using Yoast SEO, then you need to install and activate the Glue for Yoast SEO & AMP.

It is an add-on plugin for Yoast SEO and AMP plugins. Upon activation, you need to visit SEO » AMP page to configure plugin settings.

The plugin allows you to enable AMP support for other post types.

On the design tab, you can choose colors and design options. You can also upload a logo and a default header image which will be used when a post does not have its own featured image.

You can switch to the Analytics tab to add your Google Analytics ID.

Don’t forget to click on the save settings button to store your changes.