Another way, but even riskier, is to increase the number of ads on your website. Why is this riskier, you ask? Many people have resorted to AdBlocker to avoid ads entirely and increasing the number will make it an easier choice for those who have not.

Today, I will demonstrate how to add and manage ads in WordPress using the Advanced Ads plugin.

Don’t Make Ads Feel Like Punishment

One of the biggest complaints by many visitors is seeing ads that have nothing to do with them or the website they are visiting. This should be easy to understand because everyone experiences ads. Placing ads on your website is important and helps you earn money, but you have to make sure they are the right kind of ads.

For example, kids do not care about car insurance, so do not have car insurance ads on a children’s website.

Understanding your audience is extremely important and can help you pick out the right ads for your audience. In addition, you can also use Google Adsense which is an advertisement tool that displays ads that are relevant to visitors who see them.

You do not have to pick the ads, and many websites benefit tremendously from the platform.

And possibly most importantly, try to avoid ads that have sound effects or videos. This is the biggest reason so many people have decided to use AdBlocker. These types of ads usually play at very high volumes, which can be problematic for headphone users.

How to Manage Ads in WordPress

Step 1: Install Advanced Ads

The Advanced Ads plugin is a terrific choice for websites that are looking for an ad management tool in WordPress. It helps you insert ads into post content, and view how the ads are performing through a variety of platforms.

These including Google Adsense, Google Ad Manager, Amazon Ads, and more. The plugin is quite straightforward, so let’s begin.

Click on Plugins and select the Add New option on the left-hand admin panel.

Search for Advanced Ads in the available search box. This will pull up additional plugins that you may find helpful.

Scroll down until you find the Advanced Ads plugin and click on the “Install Now” button and activate the plugin for use.

Note: If you are currently using AdBlock or a similar browser extension, you will need to disable it. Or, at the very least, whitelist your own website. This will block the ads you are trying to display.

Step 2: Using Advanced Ads

On the left-hand admin panel, click on Advanced Ads and select the Advanced Ads option.

On this page, you can see the extensive library of add-ons available when you purchase the Pro version of the plugin. It’s an extremely powerful tool, and I do recommend upgrading if you like the plugin.

Step 3: The Ad Wizard

Click on the “Create your first ad” button at the top of the page.

This will bring you to the ad wizard. At the top, you should create a title to help you identify the advertisement you are adding.

Note: You can exit the wizard at the top of this page if you wish. This will allow you to see all of the options at once.

Choose the method you wish to use to add the ad.

Each method is unique, but the plugin makes it simple to include a variety of types of ads. For example, I clicked on the Plain Text and Code option. This brought me to a text editor that I can paste the provided ad code.

It also provides size dimensions that allow me to make sure the ad is properly sized for my website. Each option is different, but simply add the information they ask for and you shouldn’t have any trouble.

Once you have added the appropriate ad information and click on the “Next” button, you can now choose visibility options. This includes hiding the ad on certain pages and from certain visitors.

Clicking the “Next” button on this page will now save your ad. You can now view the shortcode underneath the title or alternatively, you can use the PHP code as well.

You can change any of the settings, including updating the actual ad or replacing it entirely. Repeat these steps to create as many ads as necessary.

Step 4: Add the Shortcode

Now all that’s left to do is actually add ads in WordPress, which is simple.

Note: You can also use the PHP code to do this, but it is far more convenient to use a shortcode. For those interested, simply add the PHP code to your theme’s functions file.

Go to any existing post or page on your website. Alternatively, you can create a new one for testing purposes.

Note: You can also add this shortcode in a text widget. This allows you to add your ads in the sidebar or footer area on your website, which is the ideal location for many websites.

Once on there, add a shortcode block and paste the shortcode you obtained in the previous step.

You can alternatively also use the Advanced Ads Gutenberg block. This will let you browse the available ads and ad groups you have saved. This way, you don’t have to copy and paste the shortcode directly from Advanced Ads as you will have a list right in front of you.

Congratulations on learning how to use the Advanced Ads plugin to add ads in WordPress.

Want Ad Tracking? Go Pro

The free version of this plugin will serve small website’s well as it provides a simple way to add ads in WordPress. However, if you are looking for more features like tracking the performance of an advertisement, the Pro version is what you are looking for.

Having these features can help you get better rates for displaying ads on your website from some advertisers. After all,  if more people see or interact with an ad, the better it is for them, especially on a website that reaches that target audience.

It also opens the door to a variety of add-ons you can use to add even more features or integrations.

Find the Perfect Balance of Ads on Your Website

Nobody likes to see ads on websites, but they serve an important purpose as they often fund the creators. Many people will go out of their way to avoid ads or simply go to another website. Adblocker is also something you need to consider.

Some websites will block visitors who use it, warn visitors that it hurts the website, or simply ignore it. There is no right way to handle the issue.

If you choose to block people completely, remember that you are turning away a visitor that could potentially tell all of their friends to visit as well. On the flip side, that person is viewing all of your content without seeing ads, which is the same as not paying you for your work.

It is hard to say which is the right approach, but in either case, someone is losing something.

Which method have you chosen to use? Where have you placed your ads in your post content?

The post How to Add Ads to Your Post Content in WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

Keep in mind that this feature is recommended for websites that have high-resolution images. If the images are of a lower quality, visitors will see fuzzy pixels and other less desirable effects. Today, I will demonstrate how to add image zoom in WordPress using the WP Image Zoom plugin.

Why Add Image Zoom in WordPress

Image zoom is an extremely popular feature for websites that sell products, especially when they are used items. Why would this matter? Well, the major problem with selling used items is the condition. Even on websites like eBay and Amazon, products are not always as described.

Both of these websites utilize a magnifying image zoom to let visitors see every detail in an image. While you can definitely argue that they may just upload a fake image, an image zoom can help websites that sell items by allowing visitors to see every detail.

What if my website does not sell items at all? This is still a handy feature as long as you have images on your website with smaller details. For example, in video games and movies it is quite common to hide very small Easter eggs in the backgrounds on promotional material. The magnifying image zoom can help you locate even the smallest detail.

How to Add Image Zoom in WordPress

Today, I will demonstrate how to add image zoom in WordPress using the WP Image Zoom plugin. This plugin offers you all of the tools and features you need to customize how image zoom will work on your website. It also fully supports mobile devices to help keep your website as mobile friendly as possible. You can select which images will have a zoom effect and which will not.

Installing WP Image Zoom

Let’s start off by clicking on Plugins and selecting the Add New option on the left-hand admin panel.

Search for WP Image Zoom in the available search box. This will pull up additional plugins that you may find helpful.

Scroll down until you find the WP Image Zoom plugin and click on the “Install Now” button and activate the plugin for use.

On the left-hand admin panel click the WP Image Zoom option. This will pull up the main settings page.

Setting Up WP Image Zoom

For many websites, the default options will actually be more than enough. You may want to skip this step entirely and add the zoom effect to an image in a post or page and see it in action.

However, other sites probably already have their own idea of how they want the zoom to work and you’ll be happy to know this plugin should let you bring your vision to life.

The first thing you need to select is the lens shape. You have four options to choose from. The first is actually not a shape, it is no lens. This option makes you zoom in whereever your mouse is on the picture. The second option is a circular lens like a camera. The third option is a square-shaped lens. The final option is to use a zoom window to zoom in. Select the one you like best.

You can check what the lens looks like by hovering it over the image below the choices.

Next, you can customize exactly how the zoom works. There are four tabs to look through. They include General, Lens, Zoom Window, and Custom Text. You can alter things like the zoom level, add lens colors, lens size, and much more. It is important to mention that some of these features are only available in the Pro edition of the plugin, but there is still a good number of options in the free version.

Once you are done setting up the plugin, click on the “Save Changes” button.

Now that the plugin is set up, all that’s left is to actually make the images zoomable.

Making An Image Zoomable in WordPress

Making your images zoomable in your posts and pages is easy, but you will have to manually select each one you want zoomable. This can be a very tedious process if you have a lot of images. Go to an existing post or page or make a new one. Then add an image to it.

Select the image you want to add a zoom effect on. Then click on the magnifying glass icon.

You can now go to your website and zoom in on the image. Keep in mind that since the zoom effect is best used on high-resolution images, these will take a little longer to load.

Congratulations you have successfully added a zoom effect to your WordPress images. Remember that you need to manually select each image to have the zoom effect. This can be very tedious if you have a lot of images.

Add the Zoom Effect When Needed

Like special effects in movies, the more you use them, the less impactful they become. The zoom effect in WordPress is no different. Not every single image you upload needs to have the zoom effect. This is best reserved for the products you are selling, promotional content, or content that has a lot of minor details. Overuse of the effect can actually make it more of a hindrance.

Why do you want to add a zoom effect in WordPress? Which lens shape have you picked?

The post How to Add Image Zoom in WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

The admin bar has a lot of features, which is why I recommend only removing it from non-admin accounts. Some of these features include plugin shortcuts, plugin activation and deactivation, start new posts, and more. Today, I will demonstrate how to remove the admin bar for all non-admin accounts as well as for all accounts.

Is it Normal to Remove the Admin Bar

It is absolutely normal to remove the admin bar for non-admin accounts. It serves no purpose for those accounts. However, it is not as common to remove it for all accounts (including administrators) because it is a very powerful tool. Since the admin bar can be accessed from anywhere, it saves administrators time.

For example, using the admin bar to activate and deactivate plugins can save you time. Normally you would need to go to Plugins and select the Installed Plugins option. You can then select which plugins to activate and deactivate, but you can now do that from anywhere on the website when using the admin bar.

How to Remove the Admin Bar in WordPress

Today, I will demonstrate how to remove the admin bar for all non-admin accounts as well as for all accounts. You will not need any additional plugins to complete this task. You will need access to your website’s cPanel. The login information is provided to you by your website hosting when you create an account with them.

Since you will be adding a line of code to your theme’s functions.php file, you should create a backup of your website. This will ensure that if anything goes wrong you can use the backup to revert your website to before the changes. This is extremely unlikely since this method is very easy to follow along.

Removing the Admin Bar

Let’s start by logging into the cPanel and clicking on the File Manager option. The File Manager will allow you to access all of the files related to your website.

You need to locate your theme’s functions.php file. Click on the public_html directory, then click on the wp-content folder. Inside of this folder, you will find all of the content related to your website. Click on the themes folder and enter the folder of the theme you are currently using. Finally, right-click on the functions.php file and select the Edit option.

A pop-up window will show up. This box will warn you to create a backup of your files before editing anything. This will ensure that you can revert your website back to when it was working if something goes wrong. Click on the “Edit” button. A new tab will open containing all of the code from the file.

You are now ready to paste a few lines of code. You have two options to choose from. The first is to remove the admin bar for all non-admin accounts and the second is to remove it for all accounts. You can change this at any time by changing the code you insert. Simply copy and paste the code under the option you want.

Option 1: All Non-Admin Accounts:[ht_message mstyle=”info” title=”” show_icon=”” id=”” class=”” style=”” ]add_action(‘after_setup_theme’, ‘remove_admin_bar’);

function remove_admin_bar() {
if (!current_user_can(‘administrator’) && !is_admin()) {
show_admin_bar(false);
}
}[/ht_message]

Option 2: All Accounts:[ht_message mstyle=”info” title=”” show_icon=”” id=”” class=”” style=”” ]show_admin_bar(false);[/ht_message]

Once you have inserted your choice of code into the functions.php file, click on the “Save Changes” button to finish.

Congratulations, you can now go back to your website and should not see the admin bar. Keep in mind that if you removed the bar for only non-admin accounts, you will need to use a non-admin account to see the changes. You can delete or replace this code at any time to add the admin bar back or change who can see it.

Hide Unnecessary Features

Keeping a website simple is important for both visitors and web developers. If someone does not need access to a certain part of your website, then make sure they do not see it, if possible. It is best to only show items that someone can interact with or has an immediate need for. This will reduce what they see and will make finding things easier and reduce page clutter.

Many websites make the mistake of creating pages that have too much content. These are known as busy pages and are a poor design choice. On the flip side, web developers will sometimes leave their backend open to all staff members. This is unnecessary and could potentially be a security risk.

The post How to Remove the Admin Bar in WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

One of the most overlooked design changes that you can make is editing the default text selection color in WordPress. When a visitor highlights text on your website, by default, it will be highlighted in blue. This does not look good on every website. Today, I will demonstrate how to change your website’s text selection color in WordPress using CSS.

Why Change the Text Selection Color in WordPress

If you’re willing to spend 40+ hours designing your website from scratch to be everything you envisioned, changing the text selection color is a no-brainer. Making your website everything it can be is a web developer’s job and the last thing you want is for the default text selection color to look bad on your website.

For example, in our case, we use the “Green” in GreenGeeks as our text selection color. It sends a clear message that we are an environmentally friendly web host and the color Green makes that clear. While this does not work for every website, making sure your text selection color matches the rest of your website helps.

Just keep in mind that you need to make sure that your text selection color is visible. For example, if we had a green background color, a green text selection color would not work. It needs to stand out from the rest of the website so that visitors know what they are highlighting, but it also needs to look good.

How to Change Your Website’s Text Selection Color in WordPress

Today, I will demonstrate how to change your website’s text selection color in WordPress using CSS. As with most color options in WordPress, using CSS code to change them is the quickest and easiest way to do it. You will not need any prior coding experience as it just involves copying and pasting a few lines of code and adding the color code of your choice in the appropriate space.

If you are not sure what the HTML color codes looks like or want to easily sample colors, check out the HTML Color Codes website. This will let you sample all of the colors possible and provide the color codes.

Changing the Text Selection Color in WordPress

The process of adding custom CSS to WordPress is very simple. On the left-hand admin panel, click on Appearance and select the Customize option.

Click on the Additional CSS option.

Now you need to copy and paste the following lines of code into the text editor:[ht_message mstyle=”info” title=”” show_icon=”” id=”” class=”” style=”” ]::-moz-selection {
background-color: #FA0000;
color: #fff;
}

::selection {
background-color: #FA0000;
color: #fff;
}[/ht_message]

This will make your text selection color red. To change it, change the “FA0000” color code to the one you want. Once the code is placed, you can highlight some text to see it. Make sure the text selection color is visible with all of the background colors on your website.

Once you have found the color you like and that is visible, click on the “Publish” button to save and apply the changes to your website.

Congratulations, you have successfully changed the text selection color in WordPress. You can change this at any time by repeating these steps. If you would like to return it to the default selection color, simply delete the CSS lines you added.

All Details Matter in Web Design

No matter how small or obscure a detail is, customizing it to make your website look as good as possible is necessary for success. Having a great looking and functioning website is no easy feat, but you need one to compete with other websites. There are millions of websites and there are probably hundreds that offer similar content.

Competing with so many websites around is hard and is the reason why many new websites do not succeed. Standing out from the competition with an excellent design will give your content a better chance in this crowded environment.

What color have you picked for your text selection? Why have you picked this color?

The post How to Change Your Website’s Text Selection Color in WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

Thankfully, like most things in WordPress, this feature can be added with a plugin. Displaying multiple authors on your posts allows you to give the credit to all of the authors responsible for the content. Today, I will demonstrate how to add co-authors in WordPress using the Co-Authors Plus plugin.

Why Add Co-Authors in WordPress

Giving your authors the credit they deserve is a must for any website and to do so, you must add a co-author feature to WordPress. Not only is this useful for a multi-author website, but it is a great feature to have in place if you do collaborations with other websites.

For example, if website A and B do a collaboration event, you can display the author names from both websites. This will help promote both websites and encourage collaboration with other websites.

How to Add Co-Authors in WordPress

Today, I will demonstrate how to add co-authors in WordPress using the Co-Authors Plus plugin. The plugin has a sleek interface when you add authors to your posts, but it will require some minor code editing to work. If you do not edit your theme’s code, it will not display multiple authors on the website. It is easy to do, but it is theme dependent, so the file you need to change may be named differently.

Since you will be making some small code alterations, it is a good idea to backup your website. This will ensure that if anything goes wrong, you can use the backup to revert your website to before the mistake was made. Backups are always a good tool to use when you are making significant changes to your website.

Installing Co-Authors Plus

Let’s start by clicking on Plugins and selecting the Add New option on the left-hand admin panel.

Search for Co-Authors Plus in the available search box. This will pull up additional plugins that you may find helpful.

Scroll down until you find the Co-Authors Plus plugin and click on the “Install Now” button and activate the plugin for use.

Unlike other plugins, there are no settings that need to be changed, instead, you will need to make a quick code edit that may change depending on your theme. You may choose to do the next two sections in either order. It does not matter, but if you choose to select your co-authors first, remember that they will not appear till you edit the code.

Editing Your Theme Files

It is very important to understand that every theme is different and file locations, code structures, and names can change. This is one of those instances where the location will definitely be different.

You need to locate where your theme’s code for authors names in posts is. This may be in your functions.php file, like most things theme related, but it can also be located in content.php, single.php, or any template tag files.

Regardless of where it is located, you are looking for the following function:[ht_message mstyle=”info” title=”” show_icon=”” id=”” class=”” style=”” ]get_the_author_posts_link()[/ht_message]

This name should not change, so using a CTRL + F on Windows or a CMD + F on Mac, should let you find the function quickly.

Once you find it, simply replace it with the following lines of code:[ht_message mstyle=”info” title=”” show_icon=”” id=”” class=”” style=”” ] if ( function_exists( ‘coauthors_posts_links’ ) ) {
coauthors_posts_links();
} else {
the_author_posts_link();
}[/ht_message]

Remember that if you are using a premium theme, contact your theme’s support and they should be able to direct you to the exact file you need to edit. You will only need to do this step once.

Now that the code is in place, you are ready for the last step, actually selecting co-authors.

Selecting Co-Authors in WordPress

This is the easy part and the only part you’ll need to do for your content with the code in place. Go to any existing post or create a new one. Scroll down below the text editor to locate the Authors section.

You should see the author that the existing post is under. To add another simply search for another author by typing their name in the search box and click on the name.

The author will now be added. You can add as many co-authors as you want. You can remove authors as well, by clicking on the Remove option next to the author name.

Congratulations, you have successfully added co-authors to your WordPress website. Remember that you only have to edit the code once and then you can add co-authors at any time.

Give Credit Where Credit is Due

The whole point of co-authors is to help share the credit for the posts your website makes. While this is not something you would probably need for a blog website, it is important for non-blog websites. Not giving credit where it is due can have negative consequences for staff members. Remember, your staff will work harder if their name is on the line.

Why do you want to add co-authors in WordPress? How easy do you find the plugin to use? What file do you need to alter?

The post How to Add Co-authors in WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

Redirects will take you from one page to another. In this case, anytime a visitor accesses a 404-error page, they will be redirected to your website’s homepage. Today, I will demonstrate how to redirect 404 pages to your website’s homepage in WordPress.

What is a 404 Page Error

404 error messages are very common and every website will encounter them. This is caused when you change the permalinks of WordPress without changing the links pointing at the original URL. This is extremely common when you are switching web hosts.

There are many ways for websites to deal with this. The first is to directly fix the page, which is not a hard task. The next most popular method is using redirects. Many websites will create a custom 404 error page and send visitors there when they encounter the error. The issue with this redirect solution is that you need to create a new page. Instead, we will redirect them to a page every website has, the homepage.

How to Redirect 404 Pages to Your Website’s Homepage in WordPress

Today, I will demonstrate how to redirect 404 pages to your website’s homepage in WordPress. You will not need any additional plugins, but you will need access to your website’s cPanel. The login information is provided to you by your web hosting provider when you create an account. This process is very simple and should only take a few minutes.

Redirecting Your 404 Error Page

Let’s start by logging into the cPanel and clicking on the File Manager option. The File Manager will allow you to access all of the files related to your website.

You need to locate your theme’s 404.php file. Click on the public_html directory, then click on the wp-content folder. Inside of this folder, you will find all of the content related to your website. Click on the themes folder and enter the folder of the theme you are currently using. Finally, right-click on the 404.php file and select the Edit option.

If you cannot locate your 404.php file, it is possible one was not automatically created. Simply create a new file called 404.php if this happens and continue.

A pop-up window will show up. This box will warn you to create a backup of your files before editing anything. This will ensure that you can revert your website back to when it was working if something goes wrong. Click on the “Edit” button. A new tab will open containing all of the code from the file.

Now you just need to copy a few lines of code into the 404.php file. Copy and paste the following lines:[ht_message mstyle=”info” title=”” show_icon=”” id=”” class=”” style=”” ]header(“HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently”);
header(“Location: “.get_bloginfo(‘url’));
exit();
?>[/ht_message]

Once you have inserted the code into the 404.php file, click on the “Save Changes” button to finish.

Congratulations, you have successfully created a redirect for your 404 pages. They will now all lead to your homepage. You will still need to fix these pages. Visitors do not like being redirected.

Fix Errors Quickly

Errors happen all the time, especially 404 errors. They are so common even search engine like Google do not let them impact your website’s SEO unless they are not addressed or internal. The important part is how fast you react to these errors. A quick reaction can save your website from downtime.

One of the best safeguards is having an up to date backup of your website available. This will allow you to quickly revert your website back to before the error happened. This is also a great solution to cyber attacks. Always keep an up-to-date backup of your WordPress website.

Do you think redirecting to the homepage is better than creating a 404 error page? Do you have a 404.php file in your theme?

The post How to Redirect 404 Pages to Your Website’s Homepage in WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

The slider can be added anywhere, but it is most appropriate on your website’s homepage. The homepage is generally the first page a visitor will encounter, which makes it the best location to advertise on. Today, I will demonstrate how to add and use a content slider in WordPress by using the Smart Slider 3 plugin.

Why Use a Content Slider in WordPress

Content sliders can help make your new content stand out on a page. They can also be very nice to look at and spice up a page if there is not much going on. A content slider consists of displaying different pictures and most of the time, these pictures are directly tied to content on your site.

Of course, you could just use the slider to only display images. People love looking at images, which is why so many websites focus on photo galleries. Another use is for product advertisement. For example, if you have a product on your website, you could use a content slider to show the product from different angles. This will give the visitor all of the information they need and it will all be from one place.

How to Use a Content Slider for Featured Content in WordPress

Today, I will demonstrate how to add and use a content slider in WordPress by using the Smart Slider 3 plugin. The plugin is very popular with over 200,000 active installs and it is completely free to use. Of course, there is a Pro version if you want to upgrade that offers even more options and premade templates. It has as many features as many paid plugins offer. The plugin is extremely user-friendly and should be easy to use regardless of your skill level.

Installing Smart Slider 3

Start by clicking on Plugins and selecting the Add New option on the left-hand admin panel.

Search for Smart Slider in the available search box. Do not include the 3 because you will get zero results. This will pull up additional plugins that you may find helpful.

Scroll down until you find the Smart Slider 3 plugin and click on the “Install Now” button and activate the plugin for use.

On the left-hand admin panel click on Smart Slider. This will pull up the main settings page.

Using Smart Slider 3

Smart Slider 3 can be used to create image, video, and post sliders. There is a great tutorial video on the settings page. I suggest watching it to gain a better understanding of the plugin. The plugin has some default slides to choose from, but I would recommend creating your own unique ones. Whichever you choose to use, make sure they blend in with your website’s theme.

Click on the New Slider option to begin building your own unique content slider.

A pop-up window will appear. Here you can name your new slider, choose the size of the slider and how your slider will look. Make sure to pick the slider size in relation to the image size you will use. There are three options to choose from for your slider’s appearance. My personal favorite is the default, but you may prefer the other option. It will not affect the slider creation in any way, so pick what you like and click on the “Create” button.

You create your content slider one slide at a time. Clicking on the New slide option will open the media library. You can choose to use any image as the background of your slider. Alternatively, you can click on the Slide Library and pick from the five free background image templates as well. More images are unlocked with the Pro edition. Once you make your selection you will see the image appear in the slide 1 slot.

Hover your mouse over your image and click on the “Edit” button.

Creating a New Content Slider

You will now see your plain image if you selected one from your media library or a template slide. The template slide will already come with information fields. If it is a custom image, don’t worry, it is easy to add information fields. You will see five buttons on the left-hand side of the image.

The first one will be the header options represented with an “H”. Use this option to add a title, For example, if you are using this slider to show off your newest articles or blogs, use the name of the article or blog. You can select the font type, font size, and the color as well. Make sure the text is visible on the background image! There is also a link option to make the header clickable and you can have it lead to the new content.

The next option is the text layer. Use this to add a short attention-grabbing description. You can also choose to copy and paste the intro from the content itself. You will have the ability to change the font size, color, type, and use bold, Italic, and paragraph alignment. Don’t go overboard here, a short description that can catch a visitor’s attention is the best option.

The next option is the image option. I do not recommend placing another image, but you can if you want. The following option is far more important, the button option. Here you can create a button to place on your slide. I recommend creating a “Read More” button that links to the content you are featuring.

The last option is structure, but the default option is preferred by many websites. However, of course, feel free to change the structure. Once you are happy with your slide, click on the “Save” button.

Create as many slides as necessary or copy the one you just made and update it for different content. Now it is time to add it to your website.

Adding the Content Slider to Your Website

This plugin utilizes shortcodes to add the sliders to your pages and posts. I recommend placing it on your homepage, but that decision is up to you. You will find the shortcode for your content slider within the content slider under the publish section.

Copy the shortcode and paste it on to any page or post you desire. You will then be able to see the content slider on your website.

Congratulations, you have successfully created and added a content slider to your WordPress website.

Get the Word Out About New Content

Getting visitors to look at new content is not easy, but is very important for the growth of your website. Using the content slider can help spread the word about new content, but you should also consider other ways. Some popular ones include an email subscription and using social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter to spread the word. There are plenty of ways to tell people and the more you do, the better the odds.

How many slides have you created? Have you created a custom background image or used a template?

The post How to Use a Content Slider for Featured Content in WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

However, your user base may have requested an anonymous option to leave comments and you do not want to disappoint them. Unfortunately, this is one of those topics that does not have an everybody wins outcome. Either your website will suffer more spam or your visitors will be without a requested feature. Today, I will demonstrate how to let visitors leave anonymous comments in WordPress.

Why Prevent Anonymous Comments

You are probably wondering why exactly WordPress prevents anonymous comments in the first place and the answer is pretty simple. Allowing visitors to leave comments anonymously has a lot of disadvantages associated with it.

For starters, allowing anonymous comments means that less information is required to leave a comment. This makes it extremely easy for spam bots to leave comments in WordPress, thus making it even more difficult to control spam in your comments section. This will be a nightmare for your website’s comment moderator.

Sadly, the Internet does not always bring out the best traits in people and being even more anonymous is not going to help. For example, imagine you and another user are having a bit of a feud in the comments section. You could log out of your account and leave very nasty anonymous comments that attack someone you do not like. Any moderator will be able to identify the comments based on IP addresses and can still be banned, but this will definitely have a negative impact on your comments section as a whole.

Seeing a ton of anonymous comments can leave a bad first impression on visitors. Imagine you just read an article and you want to leave your thoughts about it or jump into the discussion. When you get to the comments section you only see anonymous users talking and that makes it seem like there are no actual registered users for your website.

For these reasons and others, I do not recommend allowing comments to be made anonymously.

Other Solution

After reading some of the disadvantages associated with anonymous comments, you may have changed your mind. If so, a great solution is to encourage your visitors to take advantage of the nickname feature. Instead of showing your username, you can display your nickname to help post more anonymously.

This solution may be what many visitors want, but it is far from perfect. The nickname is still tied to your account and all of your comments will show that name. While this will definitely help accounts who used their real name as their username, it is not completely anonymous.

Allowing Anonymous Comments

Today, I will demonstrate how to let visitors leave anonymous comments in WordPress. You will not need any additional plugins to accomplish this task. While it is not on by default, you can make the Name and Email entry fields optional. This means that anyone can leave a comment without providing any information, which means anonymously. Keep in mind that you can still track all comments by IP address if the need arises.

Changing the Comment Settings

Changing the settings related to your website’s comment section is easy to do. On the left-hand admin panel, click on Settings and select the Discussion option.

Here you can change the various settings for your comments section, but you will only need to change one setting this time. Locate the Other Comment Settings section. The first option in it is the “Comment author must fill out name and email option” and the box is checked by default. Uncheck the box to allow all visitors to leave comments without providing any information. You should take this time to make sure that your spam guards are in place.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the “Save Changes” button.

Congratulations, you have successfully allowed your visitors to leave anonymous comments. If at any point you want to undo these changes, simply go back and check the box. Keep in mind that changing this setting will not tell visitors that the Name and Email fields are optional. Instead, you will have to add this in if you wish, but I would try informing your visitors another way. That way you confuse the spam bots.

Protect Your Comments Section

Allowing comments to be left anonymously is not recommended because it raises serious issues regarding spam. Moderating a comments section only gets harder as your website grows and opening the door for any spam bot to come in and leave a comment is just asking for trouble. Make sure you have a strong antispam plugin like Akismet to protect your website from harm.

Why do you choose to allow anonymous comments? Has it accomplished what you planned?

The post How to Let Visitors Leave Anonymous Comments in WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

If you let authors that are supposed to be working together each do their own things, the results can vary greatly. Sometimes authors will use communication and work together and other times, they will simply do their share. Today, I will give you some tips on how to run a multi-author WordPress website efficiently using the Edit Flow plugin.

Pros of Having Multiple Authors

If everything is going right, more authors should allow you to release more content without sacrificing quality. It can also help take the burden off of authors that are being overworked. Many websites that are just starting out make or have unrealistic expectations about their content release schedules. This will typically result in lower quality content in order to meet deadlines.

Having more content is not just good for your visitors, but also your search results. Google and other search engines use the amount of content on your website as a ranking factor. There are plenty of ranking factors to balance this out, but raising your SEO rankings is extremely important.

Cons of Having Multiple Authors

With every pro, there is a con. Having multiple authors means you need to manage a team. Making sure that both authors get their assigned work done and meet the quality standards of your website will not happen by itself. You are now twice as likely to see accidental mistakes, like clicking the publish button on unfinished work.

Something that is overlooked by most people is actually getting the authors to work together at the same time. Most websites do not have a physical location to meet at and rely on communicating through email or other means. You need your authors to have a clear line of communication and to be available at the same times. Many people underestimate how hard it is to have everyone available at the same time.

How to Efficiently Run a Multi-Author WordPress Website

Today, I will share some tips on how to run a multi-author WordPress website efficiently using the Edit Flow plugin. This plugin adds extra features to help manage your website for multiple authors. These include a calendar, custom statuses, editorial comments, notifications, and more. I will demonstrate how these features can help you improve the efficiency of your website.

Installing Edit Flow

Let’s start off by clicking on Plugins and selecting the Add New option on the left-hand admin panel.

Search for Edit Flow in the available search box. This will pull up additional plugins that you may find helpful.

Scroll down until you find the Edit Flow plugin and click on the “Install Now” button and activate the plugin for use.

On the left-hand admin panel click on Edit Flow and select the Edit Flow option. This will pull up the main settings page.

You can set up any feature you want to use in any order. Here are the ones I recommend using.

Calendars

Calendars are a great way to set due dates and meetings with your authors. This will help keep your authors on track and they will be able to clearly see when their work is due. Click on the “Calendar Options” button to customize your calendar.

Click on the customizable calendar link to access your calendar.

Double click on any day to create a Pitch for the day. Any piece of content with a scheduled release date will show up on the calendar.

Editorial Comments with Notifications

Editorial comments allow your authors to leave comments on unpublished content. For example, one author could tell the other what’s left or if something was wrong. It can also be used for authors to say what they did while they were editing. For example, “I added screenshots and fixed typos. -John”. You can also set up notifications for when a comment is left, or a piece of content is published.

By default, you can leave comments on any post or page. Simply scroll down and you will see an Editorial Comments section. Click on the “Respond to this post” button. You can now leave a comment that anyone with access to the content can see.

Click on the “Submit Response” button to leave your comment. Now it is time to set up a notification. Scroll down to the Notifications section. Check all of the users who will receive the notification, I’d recommend the authors and management only.

Now they will be able to easily communicate with each other on the content they are working on and be notified when a comment is made or a piece is published. If you use some of these simple features or similar tools to coordinate your authors you can easily and efficiently run a multi-author WordPress website.

Keep Everyone Informed

Giving your staff clear deadlines and objectives is essential in running any kind of business. It is just as important to create a team environment, if not more important, for a website. If you are expecting your authors to work together to release content consistently and meet quality standards, you need to make sure there is communication.

Communication can clear up simple mistakes and prevent some from happening, as well, as improve the quality of the content and the work environment. Many websites undervalue how important communication is on team projects. Don’t let that happen to yours.

What do you use to make sure your authors are getting work done? Do you have a system that works best for your website?

The post How to Efficiently Run a Multi-Author WordPress Website appeared first on GreenGeeks.

By default, there is no way to know that someone left a reply to your comment unless you keep refreshing the page every second. Like most things in WordPress, this can be changed by installing a plugin that adds comment reply notifications to your website. Today, I will demonstrate how to add visitor notifications for comment replies in WordPress using the Subscribe to Comments Reloaded plugin.

Why Add Comment Reply Notifications in WordPress

The comments section is one of the best ways to increase visitor engagement on your website and there are many ways to handle it. When comments are left, visitors have the option to leave a reply to it, but there is no way for someone to know a reply was left. This is a problem because it prevents conversations from taking place as replies will never get responses from the intended person.

For example, if someone leaves a comment that says “I really like this article.” and you replied “What did you like about it?”, the visitor who left the first comment would never see it. The first comment was positive, which is always nice, but vague. Being able to zone in on what a person specifically likes about a piece of content is very important.

How to Add Visitor Notifications For Comment Replies in WordPress

Today, I will demonstrate how to add visitor notifications for comment replies in WordPress using the Subscribe to Comments Reloaded plugin. This plugin allows for visitors to sign up for email notifications related to their comments. It is extremely quick and easy to do and is completely free to use. Visitors are free to opt out of notifications at any time by changing their settings. This helps prevent their emails from being overloaded if their comment becomes extremely popular.

Installing Subscribe to Comments Reloaded

Let’s start by clicking on Plugins and selecting the Add New option on the left-hand admin panel.

Search for Subscribe to Comments Reloaded in the available search box. This will pull up additional plugins that you may find helpful.

Scroll down until you find the Subscribe to Comments Reloaded plugin and click on the “Install Now” button and activate the plugin for use.

On the left-hand admin panel click on StCR and select the Comment Form option. This will pull up the comment settings page.

Adding Comment Reply Notifications

This plugin has a lot to offer, but for this tutorial, we will only be focusing on comment reply notifications. To add a comment reply notification a visitor must choose this as a subscription option. By default, the plugin has this turned off, thus the first and only step on your part is to turn it on.

Locate the Advanced subscription option and change it to “Yes”. It will be on “No” if you just set up the plugin.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the “Save Changes” button.

Now go to any of your comments sections on your website. You will now see a subscription option at the bottom that allows visitors to pick if they want to get comment reply notifications sent to their email.

If you do not see this option, you are probably logged in on an Admin account. Log out to get the view from a visitors perspective.

Congratulations, you have successfully given your visitors the option to subscribe for comment reply notifications. Visitors can opt out at any time if they want to. All of the notification messages can be customized through the plugin to meet your website’s needs.

Keep the Conversation Going

Comment reply notifications are a great way to help the comments section stay populated. A comments section without replies feels incomplete next to those that do. Replies let visitors know that other people or staff read the comments and want to engage with them. This helps build a strong community that will always come back to see your newest content.

Many websites choose to focus their user engagement on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, but the comments section is just as good. While social media marketing is extremely important, a lively comments section shows visitors that the website is populated. This is very important for your first impressions with new visitors.

Why do you want to add comment reply notifications? How easy do you find the Subscribe to Comments Reloaded plugin to use?

The post How to Add Visitor Notifications For Comment Replies in WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.