This plugin leverages the knowledge we have about SEO and utilizes AI technology to make the best recommendations for your site. It is a full SEO plugin that has everything you’ll need to improve your rankings.

Naturally, that means it has a lot of features that can be a bit intimidating when you are first creating the site. Luckily, the plugin is easy to use, and we are going to cover everything you’ll need to know to master it.

Today, I will demonstrate how to use the Squirrly SEO plugin and improve your rankings.

This tutorial is for:
WordPress 6.4.3
Plugin: Squirrly SEO v12.3.18

Why Is SEO Vital for Websites?

Every website is always looking to improve its SEO and it’s for a very good reason. Your SEO directly affects your position in the search results on Google and other search engines, which in turn, directly affects the amount of traffic your website gets.

For this reason, SEO is one of the most important aspects that websites need to consider when constructing their site and creating content for it. Unfortunately, SEO is not straightforward to understand.

In fact, search engines do not disclose how they rank websites outside of a few helpful tidbits here and there.

For this reason, SEO is more of a group activity in which everyone learns together. Luckily, SEO tools and agencies have compiled all of this information for you to utilize, but even then it is still a lot to take in.

The good news is that even by just following some of the basics, you can significantly improve your rankings and bring in more traffic. And that’s where an SEO plugin like Squirrly comes into play.

How to Use Squirrly SEO to Improve Your Rankings

The Squirrly SEO plugin is a very powerful all-in-one SEO tool for WordPress that also uses AI. It boasts over 650 features, which can be quite a daunting task of setting up for beginners.

Luckily, the plugin does most of the work for you.

Step 1: Install Squirrly SEO

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

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

Find the Squirrly SEO plugin and click on the “Install Now” button and activate the plugin for use.

Step 2: Initial Setup

After installing the plugin, you’ll want to go through a quick initial setup to connect your WordPress site with Squirrly Cloud where your AI consultant resides. Upon activating the plugin, you will be asked to enter your email address.

Note: There is an option if you already have a Squirrly account that you can use underneath the email box.

Be sure to check the box to agree to all of the terms and click on the “Sign Up” button.

Once this process is complete, you will be asked to choose between the recommended mode or the expert mode. Click on the “Let’s Do This” button to begin.

Despite what that message said, there is actually a third mode, which is no configuration. This means you would have to set up everything manually yourself. This is probably not the best option for beginners.

Thus, I recommend choosing the SEO Recommended Mode.

Settings Page

You’ll then be brought to a settings page that will have all of the options selected for you based on the mode you had chosen. You shouldn’t need to change anything, but towards the bottom, there is an Extra Options section.

Here, you may want to toggle the Local SEO option if it applies to your site. For example, if the site is for a restaurant, this option should be on. After that, scroll down to the bottom and click on the “Save and Continue” button.

Next, the plugin will ask you to select any posts or pages that you want to focus on getting into the search results. This really depends on your site so pick what you want. A homepage or sales page are usually good options to select.

Continuing, you will be asked to link your social media accounts. All of the big ones are here like Facebook, X (Twitter), Instagram, YouTube, and so on. You’ll also find the JSON_LD Schema section.

Here, you can enter all of the details about your business to ensure they appear correctly on search engines.

Finally, you will be asked to enter a topic for your site. Simply enter what your site is about like eCommerce, Spots, Finance, or whatever suits you. And with that, the initial setup is complete.

The plugin will offer you tips as you create content that can help you rank higher.

7 Amazing Features to Use in Squirrly SEO

Due to how many features this plugin offers, it is not feasible for me to show you everything. So, I will focus on the 7 biggest features of the plugin for improving your SEO.

With this said, you should look at the plugin documentation for a full list of features and how to use them.

1. Automation

One of the main reasons why anyone uses a plugin is to save time, and that is especially true for an SEO plugin. Squirrly SEO understands this and provides an excellent automation tool kit.

To access this, click on Squirrly and select the Automation option.

Now, click on the “Start Automation Setup” button to begin. This will bring you to a settings page where you can configure the SEO settings and features that are automated on all of your posts.

On the left is a list of the post or page types with the settings for each one. For the most part, each section has the same options, but that said, there are way too many options to cover in its entirety, so let me just go over a few examples.

Note: There is a little “?” icon next to every option. It will bring you to the Squirrly website with a detailed explanation.

The goal for most posts is to have them indexed by Google. That’s why one of the first options is “Let Google Index It” which does exactly what it sounds like. It will remove the noindex meta from all posts.

Now, there are exceptions to this rule. For instance, one of the options you have is for the 404 page. This is not a page you want Google to index. In fact, you never want Google to see this page. Thus, you would leave this option off on it.

Speaking of the 404 page, that section has a unique option to set up a redirect. That way, anyone that would be directed to this page, can instead be directed somewhere else like the home page.

These are just a few examples, of what you will find here, so be sure to explore the entire section.

2. Keyword Research

When creating content, one of the first steps is to pick out a keyword that the post or page will rank for. For example, if you want your site to appear in the search results whenever users search for “Quick Dinner Recipes” that would be your keyword.

However, as most are aware, not all keywords are created equally and require a lot of research to pick the best option.

Usually, this research will reveal the monetization potential, the number of searches for it, other sites that are ranking for it, and more. There are plenty of keyword research tools out there, but Squirrly has it built in.

To find it, click on Squirrly and select the Keyword Research option.

Here, you can enter the keyword into the textbox and also select your country and language. Click on the “Next” button.

First, it will provide multiple alternative keywords that you can select before conducting the research. This may help you find a better option to rank for in one search instead of having to do multiple.

Click on the “Do Research” button to conduct the search.

After a few moments, a list will appear with relevant keywords and show you the competition level, the search volume, and the discussion level.

And that covers it. It is still recommended to perform multiple searches, but this is a great starting point.

3. Sitemap XML

One of the first things every website needs to do is create a sitemap. Simply put, the sitemap is a map of your website that helps search engines index your pages and know that they exist when their bots crawl through your website.

Naturally, any competent SEO plugin allows you to create your own and Squirrly SEO is no exception,

To find these options, click on Squirrly and select the SEO Configuration option.

Here, you will see all of the sitemap options, which just boils down to selecting which content to include. This includes the homepage, posts, pages, taxonomies, attachments (ideal for photography sites), archives, and custom types.

This ensures that everything you want search engines to know about is listed.

And just to be clear, the sitemap is automatically generated by the plugin, thus, this is just customizing it to fit your needs.

4. SEO Audit

This plugin also includes an audit tool for WordPress. With it, you can select a single page, or every page on your site to perform an SEO audit. This is an analysis of that content from an SEO perspective. It can highlight issues you may need to correct.

To find this feature, click on Squirrly and select the SEO Audit option.

Click on the “Add a new page for Audit to get started” button. Afterward, you will see a full list of every page on your website. Simply click on the ones you want to analyze. Again, you can select an individual page or all of them.

For this example, I will just look at a single one. To add it, click on the “Add Page to Audit” button next to it.

The button you just clicked will be replaced with a “See Audits” link. Click on it, but keep in mind the audit will not be ready immediately and can take some time to appear. It varies from site to site, and by how many pages you have selected to audit.

Note: You need to reload the page to see the Audit results if they are not ready immediately.

The audit will look at the last 30 days of activity for that page. It will show you the traffic volume and give you an overall score. If the page has made any significant gains, you will see a list of achievements.

These include things like how many views it has increased by, time spent on page, and so on.

5. Inner Links

Every post and page you create on your site should contain internal links. These are links to other pages on your site. This improves your SEO because it adds authority to those pages, which means most SEO tools have link managing tools.

Squirrly SEO allows you to make linking internally a cinch by allowing you to create a list of keywords and see if they appear in the selected content. This can help you save time and help promote specific pages.

For example, if you were a web hosting company, you could set it up so that every time you say “Web hosting,” it reminds you to link to your web hosting plans. It’s a very handy tool that is easy to set up.

To find it, click on Squirrly and select the Inner Links option.

Click on the “Add Inner Link” button. A small pop-up window will appear. Here, you can enter the keyword, the page to link to, and the page to check if that link exists. It is a great way to ensure that writers are following instructions.

If the link is not present, you will see a small icon alerting you like so:

And just to be clear, the From page is the page you want the link to appear on, and the To page is where you want the link to point to. It’s a simple, but very useful tool to utilize in Squirrly SEO.

6. Google Ranking

Have you ever wondered what your exact rankings were on Google? Well, there is a tool dedicated to just that in Squirrly SEO. This can help you keep track of if your pages are going up in the rankings or down.

To find this option, click on Squirrly and select the Google Rankings option.

Here, you can type any keyword you want and view the exact position on Google. You can also see the number of clicks and Impressions that are generated by clicking on the “Rank Details” button.

You would typically need to go to another site to view this information, so it is very convenient to have everything available from within WordPress.

7. Redirections

Unfortunately, the Redirections feature is not included in the base plugin, outside of setting one up for your 404 page in the Automation section. However, this is a feature you will need to manage your site efficiently, thus it is highly recommended.

For those unaware, redirection is a technique in which you send the users accessing a page to a different page.

This is done for a variety of reasons, but the most common is when you do not want users to access a certain page, but do not want to outright delete it for SEO purposes. A redirection allows you to do just that as the page is essentially inaccessible.

As websites age, you may decide to write a newer piece of content for something you have already written about. In some cases, that older piece is now obsolete and should be deleted, a redirection will allow you to send all of that traffic to the new one.

Now, if you want to only use Squirrrly SEO for free, there are a ton of great redirection plugins you can use as a substitute.

Optimize Your SEO with Squirrly Today

As you can see the Squirrly SEO plugin is a terrific choice when you want to boost your rankings on Google. It comes with a great selection of tools that you can utilize and offers a lot in the form of automation.

This can help you save a lot of time with tedious tasks and Newton, your AI assistant, can provide advice on what you should do next to improve. However, even with a plugin like this, be prepared to put in some work.

The rules for SEO are constantly changing, and you will definitely end up having to make significant changes every couple of months to keep up with the latest trends. Using an SEO plugin is only the beginning of a long journey.

I hope you found this tutorial helpful for setting up the Squirrly SEO plugin and learning about some of the features it offers.

How easy did you find the Squirrly SEO plugin to use? Do you use a different SEO plugin in WordPress?

The post How to Optimize WordPress with Squirrly SEO appeared first on GreenGeeks.

Without a doubt, AI is changing the landscape of web development in just about every way possible, or at least, it is beginning to change it. The GetGenie plugin is a great way to start exploring how AI can help you manage a WordPress website.

That said, it is important to temper expectations and remind everyone that AI is still in its infancy. That means you will most likely end up changing a lot of what it does, so you are still going to have to be an active developer.

The main purpose of it is to save time and today, I am going to show you how it can help.

This tutorial is for:
WordPress 6.4.3
Plugin: GetGenie v3.9.2

What is GetGenie for WordPress?

GetGenie is an AI assistant for WordPress that can help you manage just about every aspect of your site. This ranges from entering metadata for you to writing content.

It offers dozens of features that can help your site in different ways. The main purpose of the plugin is to help you save time, thus it is important to understand that it is not a replacement for developers, but a tool to help them accomplish more in less time.

It is also worth mentioning that this tool extends beyond just WordPress.

Today, most websites rely on social media to help spread their brand and grow traffic. GetGenie can also help by automating updates on various platforms. Granted this is probably more basic than you are imagining, but it is very exciting.

Using GetGenie in WordPress

Using GetGenie in WordPress is actually rather simple. However, there are a lot of features for the plugin, thus I won’t be able to show every single one.

Instead, I will go through the initial installation, and highlight the key features of the plugin.

Installing and Setting Up GetGenie

As with all WordPress plugins, the first step is always installing it. However, once you activate the plugin, you will not be able to use it just yet. You’ll need to obtain the license for it. And yes, you need the license for the free version.

Luckily, it is free and very easy to obtain.

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

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

Find the GetGenie plugin and click on the “Install Now” button and activate the plugin for use.

With the plugin installed, it is time to get that license. You should see a notification at the top of WordPress mentioning that you need a license.

Click on the “Claim your license” button.

This will bring you to the GetGenie site with the free license added to your cart. You will just need to enter a name and email address. Then just place the order.

You will then be asked some simple questions like your role, how you heard about the plugin, your industry, company size, and so on. Be sure to select that you want to use it on your WordPress site.

Once you get through all of that, you should be in the Manage Sites section. Enter your website’s URL in the text box and click the “Add Site” button.

This will generate a license key you can copy. Do so.

Go back to WordPress, click on Get Genie, and select the License option.

Now, you just need to paste the license key into the appropriate text box. Click on the “Activate Now” button to finish.

And that’s it.

Top 10 Functions You Should Look At

Now that your plugin is ready for use, it is time to explore what it can do. The free license does come with some limitations.

These include:

• 2500 Words from AI Writing per month
• 10 Keyword Lookups per month
• 5 SERP Competitor Analyses per month
• 1 website per account

This will give you enough to test out the features, but if you plan on using the plugin regularly, you are going to need the Pro version to remove these limits. Otherwise, you won’t be able to generate a lot of AI content.

Again, there are a lot of features inside of GetGenie, so there’s no way to cover them all. Instead, I am going to showcase the top 10 features to take a look at.

1. AI Writing

One of the first things that most people consider when thinking about AI and a website is having that AI write content for you. GetGenie can do this quite easily as long as it’s not too long of a blog post for free users. It actually breaks the writing into several parts.

For example, let’s say you’ve written an entire blog and all that is left is to write the conclusion.

GetGenie has a dedicated Conclusion writing tool you can use. This is located in the AI Writing section of the plugin.

This pulls up a side window where you can enter the name of the blog and the intro of that piece. The AI will then use this to generate it.

Reminder: The free license only supports 2500 words of writing. Once that total is reached, you will need to upgrade to the Pro version.

While I used the Conclusion as the example, this works for most other things like full outlines, next sentence, next paragraph, and so on. Now, what I am sure you are wondering is how good is this for content.

Well, it’s not exactly that great. Again, AI is still learning, and I think most people can identify if a human or an AI wrote something. I would say the AI writing can be a good starting point to save some time or to generate some ideas for you.

You should definitely plan on reviewing and editing anything an AI writes for you.

2. WooCommerce Products

If you sell products on your WordPress site, you probably use WooCommerce to do it. GetGenie has a WooCommerce mode for entering Product Titles and Descriptions. Just be aware, that you can’t check out this feature unless you have WooCommerce installed.

Click on the WooCommerce Wizard option.

This will open up a new tab for a new product in WooCommerce.

The GetGenie window will open up on the side. Here you can enter the Product Name and Product Brief. In the brief, you want to enter the keywords you want to rank for separated by a comma.

The AI will then generate the product title. The other tabs are for a long or short description.

3. Meta Description

When it comes to metadata for WordPress, the Meta Description is typically one of the most important. Whenever someone searches on Google or other search engines, the text that appears under the link is often the meta description.

Having a good one can dramatically increase the amount of clicks you get, not to mention influence your overall rankings. The GetGenie plugin can create a meta description for you. It only requires the title of the post and the keywords you are ranking for.

To find it, click on GetGenie, select the AI Writing option, and choose the Meta-Description tool.

On the right side of the screen, the GetGenie window will appear. Enter the Post title and the keywords you are ranking for. Click on the “Write” button and the AI will take care of the rest.

As a simple example, I entered “Will the Yankees win the World Series?” as the title and “Yankees” as the keyword. These were the results:

4. Definition

When creating how-to content, you often have to define a term to help the readers understand something. Doing so can help you get into the frequently asked questions section of Google.

GetGenie can help simplify this with the Definition tool. Essentially, you enter a term and the AI will provide a definition of that term. It can be an item, location, or person. It can even be fictional.

To find it, click on GetGenie, select the AI Writing option, and choose the Definition tool.

All you need to do is enter the term and click enter. Let’s see what it has to say about everyone’s favorite wizard from Middle-Earth, Gandalf.

5. Pros and Cons

Many blogs include small lists of pros and cons, advantages and disadvantages, benefits and drawbacks, and so on. The GetGenie plugin can generate these lists for you. All you’ll need to do is enter the topic you want it to generate.

To find it, click on GetGenie, select the AI Writing option, and choose the Pros and Cons tool.

Simply enter the topic you want to create a pros and cons list for in the appropriate box. You can also enter additional details to help refine the list.

Click on the “Write” button to finish. In this example, I entered “Marvel” into the field, and here are my results:

6. Tweet (X/Twitter Post Generator)

Even after its name change, X (Twitter) continues to be a massive social media platform with no signs of slowing down. Naturally, that means having a presence on the platform is good for your marketing efforts.

The GetGenie plugin can generate Tweets for you. All you need to do is enter some context and the plugin will generate a Tweet that is ready to go. It’s perfect for saving time when you need to plan out several social media posts across different platforms.

To find it, click on GetGenie, select the AI Writing option, and choose the Tweet (Twitter Post) tool.

In this case, I will tell the AI to write a post with the following context: “Announcing a new product line that goes live on Friday.”

Here are the results:

As you can see, it includes emojis and even hashtags. Overall, it is pretty impressive considering how vague I was.

7. Paragraph Answer

The Paragraph Answer tool is very similar to the Definition tool we covered earlier. Essentially, you ask the AI a question, and it gives you an answer. Similar to the Definition tool, it is great when aiming for Frequently Asked Questions on Google.

To find it, click on GetGenie, select the AI Writing option, and choose the Paragraph Answer tool.

Simply enter the question into the AI and click on the “Write” button to see the results. In this case, I asked the AI “How many episodes are in the Simpsons?” and the AI answered correctly with:

8. Title Ideas

Sometimes it can be a real challenge to create interesting titles for your content. GetGenie can help with this. The Title Ideas tool allows you to enter a title into the AI and it will give you multiple alternative titles to consider.

To find it, click on GetGenie, select the AI Writing option, and choose the Title Ideas tool.

Simply enter the topic idea you want to generate ideas for. You can be specific and enter your current title or be vague and just enter a few terms. In my case, I entered “How to Lower My Carbon Footprint” and here are the results:

9. Paragraph Compression

While we are told when it comes to SEO, longer is better, there are definitely times writers can get long-winded. GetGenie offers a Paragraph Compression feature that will analyze a paragraph and shrink it down while keeping the gist of it intact.

To find it, click on GetGenie, select the AI Writing option, and choose the Paragraph Compression tool.

The GetGenie window will open on the right side of the screen. Here, you can enter the paragraph you want to compress. Then, just click on the “Write” button to let the AI do its magic.

As far as results go, the AI does a great job of trimming the text without losing the meaning. The only issue is that to save space, the AI will usually use complicated vocabulary, that could be challenging to read.

Remember the average reading level for the US is only between 7th and 8th grade levels.

10. Content Rewriter

Many blogs will release similar pieces of content yet make them different enough so search engines don’t see them as duplicates. The Content Rewriter can help you achieve this faster as it does the rewriting for you.

To find it, click on GetGenie, select the AI Writing option, and choose the Content Rewriter tool.

Similarly to everything else, enter the text you want rewritten into the box and click on the “Write” button to let the AI take care of everything else. And with that, we have covered the major features of the plugin.

Other Functions of GetGenie to Consider

As I said at the beginning, GetGenie has a lot of features that you may find useful. These 10 are just some of the major functions I liked about the plugin. Here are some additional ones you may find useful.

• Keyword Analyzer
• Google Rank Checker AI
• LinkedIn Post Creator
• Instagram Caption Generator
• Create Summary Bullets for Paragraphs
• Call to Action Generator

Luckily, the plugin is very easy to use, so you’ll have no trouble figuring out how these features work.

Get More Out of WordPress with GetGenie

As you can see the GetGenie plugin offers a lot of useful features that you can take advantage of. From my own testing, the AI responses were quite good, but sometimes missed the mark.

As the AI becomes more intelligent, the responses will only get better. Again, you will need to upgrade to the Pro version. Just testing it for this tutorial exhausted my free words limit.

I hope you found this tutorial helpful in learning how to incorporate AI into your WordPress website.

Did you find GetGenie to be easy to use? Do you expect AI to change web design?

The post How to Use GetGenie and AI to Boost Your WordPress Site appeared first on GreenGeeks.

If you suspect your website or hosting account was compromised, you must act quickly to mitigate potential damage. The longer you wait, the worse things will become. You could even be on the hook for liability lawsuits.

Follow the steps below to regain control and secure your website.

Change All Passwords

The first step when compromise is suspected is changing ALL passwords.

Depending on your configuration, the password reset process may involve updating FTP/SFTP passwords, Database Users, Website Logins, Email Accounts, and anything else associated with your website.

Fixing a breach will mean nothing if the individual still has all your passwords.

Use strong, unique passwords for each account, and ensure you do NOT reuse any previously used passwords, as once a password is compromised, it will remain compromised indefinitely and cannot be reused, even on another service.

If you’re not sure how to make a password stronger, feel free to use our password generator. In a single click, it will generate a password that is more difficult to crack.

Scan Your Local Devices for Malware:

Run thorough antivirus and malware scans on all devices you use to access your website or hosting account. Remove any detected threats promptly to prevent re-infection.

Password-based compromises are often the result of malware on your PC or other device that sniffs your password.

Review Website Files

Check all files and directories on your website for any unauthorized modifications, unfamiliar files, or suspicious code injections.

When a website is compromised, malicious files are often created or modified at approximately the same time. After a malicious file is found, searching for other files modified around the same time may identify additional malicious files.

If you’re using WordPress, the Wordfence security plugin constantly scans your files and keeps you apprised of any changes. The best part is that it’s free to use, though, it does have some great features if you upgrade.

Restore Clean Backups

Once you have confirmed that your website is compromised, restoring a known clean backup is the most effective way to remove the malware.

If you need assistance restoring a backup or don’t have a known clean backup, GreenGeeks takes regular server-side backups and offers one free restore from the server-side backups per month.

If you’re using WordPress, it’s probably a good idea to install a backup plugin. A lot of these will create backups automatically while storing them on separate servers, such as Dropbox or OneDrive.

Update Website Components

Outdated software is often vulnerable to exploitation of known vectors by attackers, such as out-of-date coding or components.

To prevent attacks against known security vulnerabilities, ensure that all website components for your website CMS are up-to-date with the latest security patches, including Themes, Plugins, or other Extensions.

Enabling Automatic updates for all components will ensure you’re always using the most up-to-date software versions for your website, minimizing the risk of compromise.

Monitor Website Activity

Implement website activity monitoring tools or security plugins to track unauthorized access attempts, file modifications, or suspicious behavior. Regularly review access logs for any anomalies.

For WordPress, GreenGeeks recommends WP Cerber to help provide enhanced security measures and strengthen your website installation overall.

Implement Additional Security Measures

Enhance your website’s security by implementing additional measures such as two-factor authentication and regular security audits.

GreenGeeks offers 2FA for both the GreenGeeks Dashboard and Hosting Account to secure your account.

WordPress and other CMS applications offer 2FA plugins and extensions; the exact steps will vary depending on your website’s platform. Nonetheless, there are plenty of plugins available, so pick one that best suits your needs.

If you require assistance implementing 2FA within your GreenGeeks Dashboard or Hosting Account, the GreenGeeks Support Team will assist you.

Communicate with Your Users

If your website collects user data or provides services to customers, inform them about the security incident, the actions you’ve taken to address it, and any steps they should take to secure their accounts.

Each State/Country has different disclosure requirements for a cyber security breach, and you must follow any specific notification requirements for your state or jurisdiction.

For the United States of America, refer to the National Association of Attorneys General & National Conference of State Legislatures for data breach guidelines. Note that these are general guidelines and you’ll need to consult with legal counsel for specific guidance on reporting requirements.

WordPress Admin Checks

A commonly overlooked problem is when hackers or malicious code injects a new admin or user into your website without your knowledge. This can give someone backend control of your site who can quickly undo any fixes you may have implemented.

Check your user list in WordPress to ensure no new admins or other users were added. Even if WordPress gives these unknowns “Subscriber” status (the lowest privilege in WordPress), it’s better to delete them immediately.

Conclusion

By following the above steps promptly and thoroughly, you can restore your website to working order and minimize the potential for your website to be compromised going forward.

Note that GreenGeeks may require additional actions to secure your account to guarantee the integrity of the server.

If you have any questions about how to apply one or more steps to your GreenGeeks hosting account, the GreenGeeks Support Team will be happy to assist you from your GreenGeeks Dashboard.

The post What to Do After Your Website or Web Hosting Is Compromised appeared first on GreenGeeks.

Spectra is essentially an enhancement kit for the Gutenberg editor. It adds over 30 blocks to Gutenberg to expand the number of options you have when it comes to web design, and similar to the regular blocks, they are all easy to use.

Of course, Spectra goes beyond just extra blocks. It adds core design features to your site like a popup builder, AI options, new animations, and much more. If you’re looking for more options in WordPress, Spectra is undoubtedly the best choice you can make.

Today, I will go over some of what Spectra is capable of in WordPress.

Features From Spectra

First, let’s take a look at some of the key features this plugin adds that can revolutionize the way you design content in WordPress. These go beyond just blocks and can affect your web design choices in ways that were never possible.

Popup Builder

Many businesses rely on popups to help generate leads, keep visitors on the page, and tell them about deals that they are running. Unfortunately, due to some bad actors, popups have gotten a very bad reputation from users.

Regardless, they are still a powerful tool for developers to use, and Spectra creates a full popup builder.

To find the Popup Builder, click on Spectra and select the Popup Builder option.

Click on the “Create Popup” button at the top.

This will open up the Gutenberg editor and there is a popup builder inside of it. You can choose between creating an Info Bar or a regular Popup. Click on the option you want to build.

In this case, I clicked on the Popup option. Thus, it generates a generic popup to use as the base. From here, you can click on the individual elements and edit them as you see fit. This includes the content, colors, font, and so on.

Since editing the popup is identical to using Gutenberg, I won’t go any deeper than this, but the popup builder is perfect for simple popups with a call to action.

Unfortunately, while you can build a popup with the free version of Spectra, you cannot create triggers for it to appear. That feature is only available in the Pro version of the plugin. Instead, the popup will just appear when the site is loaded.

Spectra AI

What if I told you the days of designing your own website are over? Well, that would be a lie, but AI could one day lead us to that outcome, and the Spectra AI is one of those early systems that you can try.

Essentially, you can tell the AI to design a piece of content on your site by clicking the AI option for it.

So, for example, with the popup we just made, I could tell the AI to help me out with the content generation. If you can use the AI in any particular section of a block, you will see an AI Assistant, simply click it and it will highlight the content it can alter.

This AI is not free to use, although you do get 1000 credits to test it out. After that, you will need to pay. With it, you can translate content, generate written content, generate custom code, customize templates, create product descriptions, and more.

It is important to note that AI often underdelivers when it comes to content generation, so you should expect to edit anything the AI actually creates. All of the options are on the right-hand side after you click on the AI Assistant.

If you are interested in integrating AI into your website, Spectra’s AI Assistant is a great place to start.

Responsive Conditions

The way website content is consumed has changed drastically over the years. Before smartphones and tablets existed, the desktop was the sole device a website was built for, but that’s not the case in 2024.

Today, mobile users make up the lion’s share of most website traffic. As such, most websites utilize a responsive design. However, sometimes that isn’t enough. Certain pieces of content just don’t look right on a mobile device.

In these situations, Spectra provides advanced options called Responsive Conditions in WordPress.

Essentially, this will detect what device a visitor is viewing the page on, and you can choose to hide specific blocks on those devices.

To find these options on any Spectra block, click on the Advanced tab.

Click on Responsive Conditions to expand the options. Here, you will have the option to hide the block on Desktop, Tablet, and Mobile. Simply move the switch to the device you want to hide the block on.

And that’s it. This can help you make your content more readable on mobile devices if you notice any problems with the mobile view of your site.

Spectra Blocks

With over 30 blocks to choose from, it is no secret that they are the bread and butter of this plugin. Many are small upgrades to existing blocks, while others are brand new and can perfectly suit your business.

The point of installing Spectra is to get all of the tools from one instead of having to install multiple plugins. With that said, let me be clear and say that dedicated tools are going to have more features available.

This can make them a better option if they are going to play a prominent role on your website. Obviously, there are too many to cover, so I will just focus on the bigger ticket items.

Note: Due to the simplicity of the blocks, I will not cover them in detail, but instead, explain what they can do.

Testimonials

Testimonials are a staple for business sites. They allow customers to leave feedback and for you to display that front and center to let potential customers know how past or existing customers felt.

The Testimonials block for Spectra is a slider that you can use to show off multiple testimonials in one place. By default, it shows 3 testimonials, but can be customized up to 50 of them. You can also add an image of the person leaving the testimonial.

Star Ratings

If your site is about reviewing products, movies, games, restaurants, or anything at all, you are going to want a rating system in place. While there are plenty to choose from, Spectra has a simple star rating system you can use.

By default, it starts at 5 stars but can be customized to 10 if needed. There are some simple customizations that allow you to control the star color, animations, position, and whatnot. Overall, it is simple, but you would normally need another plugin for this.

Countdown

The Countdown block is exactly what it sounds like, a block that allows you to count down toward a certain date, or until something ends. This is typically used to highlight upcoming events or show how long is left on a deal.

The clock will show days, hours, minutes, and seconds until the designated time is reached. There are some different designs for the clock you can choose from, but overall, the clock is very simple and just involves selecting an end date on a calendar.

Google Maps

Google Maps is a staple for any site that has a physical location. They help users find your store, or the nearest location. Usually, you would need to get an API key and a plugin to use Google Maps in WordPress, but not with Spectra.

Spectra uses their own API key, so, all you need to do is add the desired location(s) to the block and it will handle everything else. The only options you can adjust are the zoom level and the height of the map.

Price List

If you sell products, you are going to need to display products and price tags. The Price List block exists for this purpose and closely resembles a menu for a restaurant where you can enter a product image, description, and price.

It has four preset styles you can choose from, and you can customize the layout to exclude or include other pieces of information. It will work as a simple menu for a restaurant or to highlight a product line to show the different versions or tiers of a plan.

Table of Contents

The Table of Contents (TOC) allows readers to see what each header in a post or page is labeled, and they can click on it to be taken directly to that header. It is extremely convenient for navigating longer pieces of content.

And in this case, all you need to do is add the block. It will automatically fill in the information by analyzing your headers. And yes, subheaders will appear underneath their respective headers in the TOC.

Content Timeline

The Content Timeline block allows you to create a timeline for anything. For example, you can use it showcase your post releases on your website, or you can use it to show how your business has evolved over the years.

You can even use it to show off your progress on larger projects like writing a book, or something similar. The timeline can be expanded as needed, and only requires you to fill out the information as you see fit.

Team

The Team block allows you to showcase your staff to visitors. For example, if you want to highlight your head chef, you may want to tell users about their culinary experience like where they went to school, who they trained under, and so on.

You can also include social media links. This can be very useful if you want to highlight a guest author or speaker, so it is not just limited to your staff. The block is for a single person, but you can add as many blocks as needed.

Building A Landing Page with Spectra Blocks

Now that we have covered a few of the key blocks in Spectra, let’s look at how we can use them to build a landing page. First, let’s take a minute to discuss what content should be on a landing page.

What you include on a landing page is entirely dependent on the purpose of that landing page. For example, if you are launching a new product or service, your landing page should be dedicated to selling that product or service.

Let’s keep it simple and say we are going to build a landing page for a new menu at a restaurant.

In this case, we would want to include lots of images that showcase the food items on that menu, any deals we are offering, and the menu itself. So, what blocks from Spectra would be helpful?

Well, you can use the Price List block to create a menu on the landing page. If it is a time-sensitive deal, you can use the Countdown block to show how long you have left to see that special before it is gone forever.

Perhaps you want to show off your head chef, so include a Teams block to share those details. It’s not that hard to figure out what blocks can be useful. Once you pick them out, then it’s just about building a layout you like.

Take WordPress to the Next Level with Spectra

Spectra is a plugin designed to expand your options in WordPress and does a great job at it. Many of the additional blocks it offers would be plugins in their own right, but with Spectra, you get everything in one package.

This helps prevent any plugin bloat on your website while giving you a ton of options. There are also additional features like a Popup Builder and an AI Assistant. These can help you with web design on a different level.

I hope you found this tutorial helpful for learning what you can do in WordPress with the Spectra plugin.

What is your favorite Spectra feature for WordPress? Do you plan on using the AI Assistant?

The post How to Use Spectra for WordPress to Design Pages and Posts appeared first on GreenGeeks.

No matter what business you operate, having an online presence is necessary in 2024. For many businesses, without the online component, they would fail to reach their maximum potential, or just fail outright.

An online presence gives a business the potential to reach more people and spread their messaging across multiple platforms. A life coach is one such business that benefits greatly from having a good website.

Today, I will explain what steps you need to take to build a successful one.

What Is a Life Coach?

A life coach is an individual who actively listens to their client and helps them find success by having the client expand on their life and come up with their own ideas and solutions to everyday problems from their career to their love life.

Over the years, life coaches have become incredibly common, with many stretching the existing definition of a life coach to the limit.

To put it simply, a life coach is going to listen to your problems and provide feedback to your thoughts, without giving you actual advice. The goal is to make the individual generate their own ideas and be led to figure out their own future.

Why Choose WordPress?

While there are dozens of CMS to choose from when it comes to building a website, none can really stack up against WordPress when it comes to customization and accessibility. For this reason, WordPress dominates the industry with over 42% of the market share.

One of the main reasons this is the case is that WordPress is easy for beginners to use. Unlike many other CMS, you won’t need to write a single line of code to build a successful website. Instead, all of the heavy lifting is done through the plugins and themes.

Plugins add functionality to your website. They are very similar to apps for your smartphone. If you were looking to create a photo gallery, you would simply install a photo gallery plugin that adds that functionality.

Themes are what dictate the appearance of your website. They are customizable and come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Many are even made for specific niches, and coaching is no exception.

And did I mention that WordPress is free to use? Well, it is, and so are many of the plugins and themes you can choose.

For this reason, this guide has chosen to use WordPress to build the website.

Note: There are two types of WordPress, and it is important not to confuse them. WordPress.com and WordPress.org are very different from one another. In this case, we are only looking at the self-hosted version of WordPress – WordPress.org.

How to Build a Life Coach Website

Building a website has become a very streamlined process. In most cases, the type of website you are building does not actually matter, as most websites will need to go through the same processes.

The type of website really only comes into play when you are choosing its appearance and creating content for it, which are really the final steps of creating one.

Step 0: Work Towards Coaching Credentials

Life coaching is a certified practice, and while many coaches do not get certified, doing so can help you stand out from the others. When it comes to web design, having a credential to show off is a great way to build up your credibility.

The truth is anyone can say they are this or that, but actually having the credentials to show off makes you more trustworthy.

Getting the certification is not a quick process. The International Coaching Federation (ICF) requires hours of training, having mentors listen in on your coaching session, and a 3-hour final exam. This can take several months to achieve.

As such, you will probably want your website up and running as you will need clients in order to get certified.

Going through this process helps make you seem more credible, an authority in your field, and most importantly, helps you stand out amongst the crowd. There is no disadvantage to doing this, so be sure to get started on this while building your site.

Step 1: Choose A Web Hosting Company

The first step you need to take when it comes to building a website is choosing a web hosting company to host it.

Every time a user connects to a website, their device is actually connecting to a server. That server is maintained by a web hosting company that rents it out to that site. Without a web host, you cannot have a website.

Naturally, web hosting has become an incredibly competitive field which has made it extremely affordable. In most cases, a month of service will cost you less than your morning cup of coffee.

The quality of your web host will have a massive influence on the performance of your site. If a server goes offline, so does your website. The good news is that most web hosting companies offer 99% uptime, so this is pretty rare.

There is also a direct correlation between the speed of your website and the server quality.

It’s also worth pointing out that hosting a server 24/7 is going to have an environmental impact. That’s why here at GreenGeeks, we make an effort to be part of the solution and not part of the problem.

We do this by calculating the amount of energy a server uses and purchasing three times that amount in clean wind energy.

Since WordPress is a self-hosted platform, you must purchase a web hosting service, so choose wisely.

Step 2: Pick A Domain Name

The domain name is what someone needs to type into their web browser to connect to your website. As such, it is a very big decision, and there are several rules you should consider before making a choice.

First and foremost, the domain name you choose needs to represent your business. It should either be the name of your business or clearly identify what your business is about. When it comes to a life coach, the industry standard is typically the coach’s name.

The good news is that it is very rare for your name to be taken. If it is, a good workaround would be to add “Coach” or “coaching” to the domain.

So, for example, if your name was John Doe. JohnDoe.com would be a good option. If it is taken, something like JohnDoeCoaching.com would be a good choice.

It is important to also keep the length of the domain in mind. If you have a very long name, you may need to get creative. Or if your name is hard to spell, that can cause issues.

Your domain should ideally be short and easy to enter. The longer and more complex it is, the harder it is for a user to type into the address bar.

This is actually why many major companies will spend millions buying up similar domain names to prevent users from going to the wrong site. Obviously, not everyone can do this, so keeping things simple is the best option.

Step 3: Plan Out Your Messaging

A life coach is a very personal business. You are directly working with your client, so you need to construct a messaging structure that resonates with your clientele, which is easier said than done.

Life coaching is a very broad topic, and in many cases, some of them try to streamline into specific areas of life. Career building, romance, health and fitness, and more are popular topics in the coaching space.

This all starts with a Positioning statement. This tells the visitor what your way is, why you do what you do, and who you are helping.

This is something the user should read immediately after entering your site. It needs to get them interested in what you are selling and convey that you are the right individual to coach them.

You should also have a section that tells your full story. Did you go from rags to riches? Whatever your story is, you need to share it with the world. It needs to be relatable and explain how your philosophy was able to turn your life around.

If you already have experience as a life coach, include testimonies from your clients that explain how your services were able to turn their lives around. Potential customers want to see results, so they know they are making the right choice.

Step 4: Check Out Successful Life Coach Sites

When it comes to web design for life coaches, there is no better advice than to look at what other life coaches are doing.

While many people might complain that a lot of websites look the same, the truth is, they are because that design works. Life coaching sites are no different. The majority of coaching sites offer similar designs and vibes.

Look at the top-rated life coaches that are targeting similar audiences to you. Identify design elements you like and consider ways you could implement them for your own use. Just make sure you are adding something unique to you and your practice.

While you want to use similar designs, you don’t want to copy them. Your goal is to improve upon them and make them your own.

Look at multiple sites and see what each one has in common. If every site does the same thing, it is not a coincidence.

Step 5: Pick A WordPress Theme

When it comes to the web design of your website, a lot of it boils down to the theme you choose. There are thousands of themes to choose from in WordPress, and each one adds a unique design to your website that is fully customizable.

Most themes are categorized for specific website niches like magazines, news, sports, and what happens are after coaching.

Now, just because a theme states it was intended for a specific niche, does not mean you can’t use it for another, thus, feel free to look at themes that are not for coaching sites. To find themes, there are several places to look.

If you are looking for free themes, then check the WordPress theme library. If you are looking for premium themes, well, there are a ton of options. Some of the more notable ones include CodeCanyon and ThemeForest as some of the more popular options.

The difference between a free and premium theme is the level of support you get and the number of features available. Beginners will be better off with a premium option because you can get dedicated support from the theme creators.

This can help you get the most out of your theme and troubleshoot problems quickly.

It’s also worth pointing out that most premium themes will provide website examples or demos that you can import and use as the base of your life coach website. As such, they can often save you hours of dev time.

While themes make up a lot of your life coach website design, there are more factors to consider. You should customize the font, change the color options, find royalty-free images, make your own images, and so on.

Step 6: Choose WordPress Plugins

Plugins add functionality to your website. While every website will need a plugin for security, caching, SEO, and so on, we are not here to discuss those. Instead, let’s focus on tools that can be useful for a life coach website.

Take a moment and think about the features you want to add.

For example, let’s say you want to add testimonials to your site. Testimonials allow you to show off what past customers are saying about your business. Well, you would want to install a testimonial plugin like the Testimonial Grid and Testimonial Slider plugin.

This allows you to create a rotating testimonial slider to show off multiple testimonials in a single location.

Perhaps you want to collect payments through your website. Well, while WooCommerce lacks subscription functionality out of the box, you can add it with the WooCommerce Subscription extension.

With this, you can sell monthly subscriptions and accept payments from a lot of payment gateways like PayPal, Stripe, and more.

It’s worth pointing out that similarly to themes, plugins come in the free and premium variety. Premium plugins often have more features and dedicated support teams that can help. What’s right for you depends entirely on your needs.

Step 7: Marketing

The final step of building any website is creating a marketing plan. The truth is your website will take months to gain any traffic organically. In fact, this is the period where most sites are abandoned, so go in with real expectations.

To help speed up the process, you need a marketing plan that can help get your site in view of your target audience.

As I am sure you have already guessed, social media will play a significant role when it comes to spreading the word. You should have a presence on several social platforms, and they should represent your own values as a coach.

For example, if one of your core values includes health and fitness, showing yourself working out and showing off a body can do wonders. It really depends on the values you’re trying to instill in your clients.

Once you do have customers, you need to encourage them to help spread the word. If you do have a positive impact on them, they should have no issue with helping you out in this regard.

When it comes to life coaching, nothing beats word of mouth.

Build Your Life Coach Website Today

Luckily, web development has become easy enough that anyone can build a site. Building a life coaching website is all about building a message and selling that to your clients, which is not easy to do, nowadays.

WordPress delivers an excellent building experience that experts and beginners can enjoy. Since many of the aspects of WordPress are automated, you don’t have to worry about extensive maintenance. As such, you have more time to focus on building your message.

I hope you found this tutorial helpful in learning how to build a life coach website with WordPress.

How do you market your life coach website? Which plugins did you install?

The post How to Build a Life Coach Website with WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

This can happen when trying to upload a custom theme, plugin, video files, and so on. It can also occur while trying to write a post and sometimes will throw a JSON error.

It is very normal because, by default, the limit is not very big. Luckily, like most things in WordPress, you can customize the value to match your needs.

And when it comes to the memory limit, there are several ways to go about it, and picking one just comes down to which you prefer.

Today, I will demonstrate four ways to increase the memory limit in WordPress.

Why Is There a Memory Limit in WordPress?

You may be wondering why exactly there is an upload limit in the first place and there are two simple answers.

Security and physical limitations.

Essentially, if this limit is too large, it makes it easy for nefarious actors to upload a file containing all kinds of malware and other similar content to a website. As such, the default value is only 32 MB.

There is also the physical limitation associated with web hosting. The truth is that every web server has a set amount of RAM that it can use. That value varies from web host to web host and depends on the plan you sign up for.

For this reason, some web hosts may remove the ability for you to increase the memory limit in a limited hosting plan. This is very true in shared hosting environments. Just think about it, what if every user on that server decided to increase the memory limit?

Well, you would run into a situation where each site on that server uses a lot of memory all at once, which would exceed the RAM that the server has installed. Thus, it would cause an error for each customer. That’s the reason web hosts often limit the value.

Luckily, you can change it if your web plan supports it.

How to Increase the Memory Limit of WordPress

Before we begin, I need to stress that your ability to increase your memory limit depends on your hosting environment. In some cases, a web host will limit your memory depending on the plan you have.

If a method below does not work for you, it is probably because of the web host. In that situation, you have two options.

The first is to contact your web host and see if it is possible to increase the memory limit for your site. The second is to just switch to a better web host that does not limit your usage.

Note: Since many of these methods do require you to edit some code, it is recommended to make a backup of your site. This ensures that if something does go wrong, you can use the backup to restore the site.

Method 1: Editing the wp-config File

The most common way site owners increase the memory limit is by editing the wp-config file. Using the wp_memory_limit variable, we can quickly change the memory limit to the desired value. Again, your web host may block this.

Thus, you need to be aware of any account limitations on your web hosting plan. Simply contact your web host for more information.

To do this, visit the cPanel and locate the Files section. Click on the File Manager option.

Enter the public_html directory and locate the wp-config file. Right-click on it and select the Edit option.

A small window will appear reminding you that editing code can cause errors. For this reason, you should back up your website before proceeding. After this, you will be directly in the file itself.

You now need to locate the line that corresponds to your memory limit. By default, it should look something like this:

define( 'WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '32M' );

That said, the “32” value may be different. Many web hosts have begun changing this value to 64, but it should be easy to find. If you need help, use CTRL+ F to search for “define” to quickly go through the code.

Once you find it, simply change the “32” value to the new memory limit you want to use.

After you edit that line, be sure to save the changes to apply them to your site. Once you do that, you can go back to your site and verify the memory limit has been increased by uploading a larger file.

Method 2: Using A Plugin

Like most things in WordPress, several plugins can alter the memory limit. Essentially, these plugins make changes to the code for you. One such tool is the WP Tools plugin.

This plugin is designed to help you change the values of your WordPress install like the memory limit, upload limit, and more. It is worth pointing out that increasing the memory is limited to 128 MB for the free version of this plugin.

Since most sites work fine at the default 32 MB, it is not a big deal. But be aware, if you are looking for more than 128 MB, you would need the Pro version of this plugin. With that said, using the plugin is extremely simple and takes less than a minute.

Start by installing the WP Tools plugin and activate it for use.

This plugin offers a lot of options, but we are only looking at the memory limit option today. To find it, click on WP Tools and select the Settings option.

The plugin separates its settings across several tabs. Click on the General Settings Tab.

The very first option is to increase the memory limit in WordPress. You will see your current limit listed underneath the option. The free version will only allow you to change it to 128 MB. As you can see, this is smaller than what I set it to using code.

Scroll down to the bottom and save the changes. You can then verify if it worked correctly. If not, your web host is probably limiting your memory allotment.

It’s worth pointing out that plugins are typically limiting when it comes to memory, which is why using a coding method is superior.

Method 3: Editing the .htaccess File

The wp-config file is not the only option that exists when it comes to increasing the memory limit in WordPress. That said, it is the simplest one. Another option would be to edit the .htaccess file to increase the memory limit.

The reason that the .htaccess file is “harder” is because there is a chance the file does not exist in your directory. In this scenario, you can follow our guide to generate the file for your use.

Start by going to your cPanel, locating the Files section, and entering the File Manager. From there, enter the public_html directory and locate the .htaccess file. Right-click on it and select the Edit option.

A small window will appear reminding you that editing code can cause errors. As such, you should take a moment and ensure you have a backup of your site. That way you can restore the site if an error occurs.

Unlike the wp-config file, the .htaccess file does not have the line of code already in it. Instead, you need to add it from scratch. To do this simply, scroll to the bottom of the file and paste the following line:

php_value memory_limit 256M

This line of code will make the memory limit 256 MB. You can adjust that value to meet your needs.

Be sure to save the changes in the file to apply them. You can then go back to your website to verify everything is working as intended. Again, if your web host is limiting the memory on your account, this will not work.

Method 4: Using the PHP Selector

The fourth method we will cover will be using the Select PHP Version tool in cPanel. This is probably slightly easier than method 1, but there’s a lot more room for error as if you mistakenly change something in this area, it’s not as obvious to correct.

Visit your cPanel, locate the Software section, and click on the Select PHP Version option.

This area is used to select your PHP version and any extensions you may need but ignore all of it. Instead, click on the Options tab.

Scroll down to the memory_limit option. You can use the option here to select your memory limit. The values will vary depending on your web hosting environment.

And that’s all there is to it. If this option is not available, or there are no options above what you currently have, your web host has most likely set a maximum you can use. You’ll need to contact them for additional options.

Method 5: Upgrade Your Hosting Account

If I have not made it abundantly clear by this point, let me say it again. Your web host may be restricting your memory limit as part of an account plan. If this is the case, you need to consider upgrading to a new plan or switching to web hosts.

Web servers have physical limitations when it comes to memory allotment. If a server does not have enough RAM, the value you enter does not matter. As such, you need to be aware of this limitation and choose your web hosting plan accordingly.

This is especially true for shared hosting environments. While shared hosting is cheaper, being on the same server as other websites means that each of those sites needs to have resources for itself.

If the limitations didn’t exist, it would be possible for one of your virtual neighbors to use all of the resources on the web server for their site, and eventually cause your site and all of the others to stop working.

Be sure to contact your web host for detailed information regarding your memory limit and see if you can increase it.

What Causes PHP Memory Problems?

PHP memory errors are encountered when a website has exceeded the memory limit in WordPress. Essentially, the site is using too many resource-intensive applications or features.

Generally speaking, the biggest culprits that can cause this to occur are plugins and custom scripts.

You have probably heard that if you have too many plugins, your website will slow down.But what many people don’t realize is why this is. The truth is each plugin utilizes resources from your server.

The more you have installed, the more resources your website will need to sustain them. Thus, if you install a lot of resource-hungry plugins, you are going to reach the memory limit. This is becoming an issue as plugins continue to get more complex.

In fact, this is why many web hosts are changing the default memory limit value from 32 MB to 64 MB.

For this reason, experienced WordPress developers will often opt to code many things into WordPress instead of relying on plugins that may use more resources than they really need. That said, these scripts still consume resources.

As such, they are just as capable of causing the error as plugins, but experienced developers can get more mileage out of their scripts.

How Much Memory Should You Limit for WordPress?

One thing I have not mentioned is what you should set your memory limit to in WordPress. And that is because it depends on your hosting environment. Cheaper plans have fewer resources, thus, you need to match what is possible for your plan.

My recommendation would be 128 MB. Generally, speaking this is more than enough for 99% of websites. You will never encounter a memory limit error unless something goes very wrong on your site, or you are using very unoptimized plugins.

You may be wondering, why not just set it really high to be safe?

Remember how I mentioned scripts could be the reason you run into this error? If you were to raise the limit very high, you might never notice that an unoptimized script is causing your website to slow down.

If something is using a lot of resources, it generally slows your website down. Thus, to keep your website fast, it should be as lean as possible, which makes a lower memory limit a great way to identify problems on your site.

Increase Your Memory Limit Today

As you can see, there are several ways to go about increasing the memory limit in WordPress. Each method will provide the same result, but some are easier than others. My recommendation is method 1.

It is easier to do than the other coding methods because the line already exists in the file, and you simply need to change the number to the desired value. As such, there is less of a chance you will make a mistake.

I hope you found this tutorial helpful for increasing the memory limit in WordPress.

Do you think WordPress should have the memory limit built into the settings? What is your memory limit?

The post How to Increase the Memory Limit for WordPress (4 Methods) appeared first on GreenGeeks.

While WordPress gives you the ability to use a video’s URL to embed it or to use the TikTok block to do the same, both only work for a single video. As such, you’ll need a plugin if you want to embed an entire feed on your site.

While there are several options to choose from, the TikTok Feed plugin is probably the easiest to use. It is worth pointing out that while the base plugin is free, there are customization options locked behind the Pro version.

Today, I will demonstrate how to embed a TikTok feed using the TikTok Feed plugin.

This tutorial is for:
WordPress 6.4.2
Plugin: TikTok Feed v1.0.10

Why Embed a TikTok Feed in WordPress?

For years, video content from platforms like YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and so on, have been the most engaging content on the internet. If you were to ask a social media marketer, 54% of them would say video is the most engaging form of content.

TikTok is no exception and may have positioned itself to be more dominant than the other options due to its short video format.

Simply put, if you include video content on a post or a page, that post or page is likely to perform better. And when users see a TikTok video, they will know at most the video will only be about a minute.

Since that is not a big time commitment, more users will be likely to click on it. Whereas with YouTube, that video may be several minutes. That is unless you embed some YouTube Shorts.

As such, it is easy to see the benefits of embedding TikTok videos into your posts or pages.

How to Embed a TikTok Feed in WordPress

TikTok Feed is a WordPress plugin dedicated to embedding TikTok content in WordPress. It has several customization options to ensure the content looks great on any kind of website. And most importantly, it is easy to use.

Most of the plugin just consists of simple options like checkboxes, sliders, and so on. As such, anyone can use this plugin effectively, which makes it a great choice for beginners. Overall, adding a TikTok feed will only take a few minutes at most.

Let’s get right into it.

Step 1: Install TikTok Feed

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

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

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

You will be asked to opt-in to notifications for the plugin. Feel free to skip or accept them. It does not impact using this plugin at all.

Step 2: Add the Block to Your Post or Page

TikTok Feed is just a single WordPress block that you can add to your post, page, or widget area. There is no settings page, or anything like that. Everything with this plugin is done directly through the block.

As such, the first step is to add it to the desired location. It does not matter where you add it, as it will function the same way. But if you do choose to add the TikTok feed as a widget in WordPress, be sure to pay close attention to the video dimensions.

Search for and add the B TikTok Feed Block. Be aware that there is a TikTok block built into WordPress, so be careful when selecting the block.

With it added, you will notice that there is not really anything to configure or do with it. That’s because all of the features only appear once you have connected the plugin with your TikTok account.

Note: If you have not done so yet, you need to take a moment to create a TikTok account to continue with this tutorial.

Step 3: Connect Your TikTok Account

The first thing you need to do is connect with your TikTok account. Luckily, this is pretty easy to do. With the block selected, you should see an “Add TikTok Account” button on the right-hand side. Click it.

This will bring you to a new screen for connecting to TikTok. This will lightly explain that the plugin only has the ability to read your account info, and not post anything. Click on the “Login with TikTok” button.

This will pull up several options to log into TikTok. Simply use whichever one you want to sign into your account. Once you login, you will be asked to authorize access with the plugin. Be sure to grant permission, otherwise the plugin will not work.

Note: To reiterate, the plugin only has the ability to read your TikTok feed and cannot edit or post anything to your account.

With that, the account is connected with TikTok.

Step 4: Your Feed

Be default, the plugin will display your information in the block including your TikTok feed. It will also show the number of accounts you are following, how many followers you have, your avatar, and the number of likes to have received.

There is also a larger share button that users can click on to share it through their various channels. Thus, there isn’t much to do. For instance, here is what it looks like with a blank dummy account.

If you did have videos here, you would be able to adjust the settings. Again, there is nothing complicated, but this would determine the number of videos displayed, video dimensions, and so on. Very simple to configure.

And with that, you now know how to add a TikTok Feed in WordPress. Just remember this process is identical on a post, page, or in a widget area.

Why Not Just Use the TikTok URL to Embed?

As I said at the start, WordPress has embedding support for TikTok built in. As such, by just entering the video URL, the video will be embedded. It is the easiest way to embed a single TikTok video in WordPress.

The main reason you would want to use a plugin is for the feed itself. The plugin will automatically update as you add new content to your TikTok account. Thus, if you were using the URL, you would have to constantly add the URL manually.

Clearly, that takes time and is easy to forget. A plugin is a better choice for this regard.

It is also worth noting that I mentioned the TikTok block before. It is very similar to using the URL. In fact, all you need to do is enter the URL into the block and WordPress will do the rest. The plugin we covered has far more customization options.

The plugin is probably the best option in most cases. But for individual videos, the URL is a great option.

TikTok FAQs

Be Sure to Give TikTok A Try

Many site owners are reluctant to give TikTok a try, as it mainly targets younger audiences. But that still makes it a powerful platform to advertise your brand on. The videos also require very little effort to make as using the camera on your phone is the standard.

As a result, you don’t really need to purchase expensive equipment or do much video editing like you would on platforms like YouTube. The platform has definitely cemented itself as an important platform for advertising.

I hope you found this tutorial helpful in showing off your TikTok Feed in WordPress.

Do you use another TikTok plugin in WordPress? Is TikTok an effective marketing platform for your site?

The post How to Embed a TikTok Feed with a Plugin in WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

Choosing taxonomies like tags is quite simple, but there’s no denying that it can be tedious and easy to forget about. As such, it is the perfect task to assign to an AI. And surprisingly, many popular SEO plugins were already doing this.

In this case, we are going to utilize the AI Autotagger plugin by TaxoPress. This plugin can integrate with multiple AI engines like OpenAI, IBM Watson, Dandelion, and more. It is easy to use and can help ensure everything is tagged correctly.

Today, I will demonstrate how to choose tags with AI in WordPress.

This tutorial is for:
WordPress 6.4.2
Plugin: AI Autotagger v3.11.1

Why Have AI Choose Tags in WordPress?

Tags are a taxonomy just like Categories. These are designed to help users and search engine bots identify what kind of content they are looking at and allow them to easily find similar content that shares the same tags.

Adding tags is not a complicated task. It should only take a few seconds once you know what you are doing. However, adding tags, and other forms of metadata, is very easy to forget, but doing so can have a serious consequence on your site.

For this reason, using AI to assist with assigning tags for your post content is a great option for every site.

So how does AI accomplish this?

Well, simply put, the AI will scan your post content. Then, it’ll recommend tags based on the content when compared to the tags in your library. While this tutorial is only looking at tags, it can fill in other types of metadata.

Sadly, while AI has come a long way in a short amount of time, there are still hiccups, and the scanning is rudimentary.

For example, if you mention WordPress, it will probably recommend WordPress as a tag. This isn’t bad, but what happens if you mention WordPress as a passing comment and it has nothing to do with the post?

Well, the AI can’t recognize that nuance so it would still recommend that WordPress tag. As such, you need to review everything.

How to Choose Tags with AI in WordPress

The AI Autotagger plugin uses AI to scan your content and recommends using a tag if that word is used. It is extremely simple but can be highly effective, and help you save time when adding tags.

After a quick setup, learning how to use the plugin only takes a few minutes before the plugin will have everything running correctly. The plugin is ready for use immediately after activation.

That said, it has a lot of features, so we’ll need to tune it to our exact needs for a better user experience. Let’s get to it.

Step 1: Install AI Autotagger

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

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

Find the AI Autotagger plugin and click on the “Install Now” button and activate the plugin for use.

Step 2: Choose What Features Are Enabled

By default, everything is enabled, which can be great for many sites, however, it can also be a problem as it adds a lot of options you may not need. For this reason, the first thing you should do is choose what is enabled and what isn’t.

For this tutorial, I will only leave Taxonomies on, but feel free to use other options in this plugin if you desire.

These settings are found by clicking on TaxoPress and selecting the Dashboard option.

Again, by default everything is active. Disable the features you do not want by clicking the switch. Ensure that Taxonomies is enabled.

Note: There is a Settings section, but the default settings are recommended. You can use it to disable certain AI engines from being used and other things, but this is not necessary. Feel free to explore them.

Step 3: Create Tags

The plugin does not generate tags from scratch. Instead, it scans your content and will recommend tags from your existing tag library. This is great because it avoids the AI recommending weird options, as AI often does.

As such, you need to take some time to create tags for your site. If your site is already established, you have probably already done this and can skip this step. For those that still need to add tags in WordPress, continue reading.

To create tags in WordPress, click on Posts and select the Tags option.

You can add as many tags as you want in WordPress. Again, the plugin will look at your existing tags, and if it believes it matches that tag, it will be recommended to you. You may be wondering what kind of tags you should make, and it depends.

For example, let’s say your website is focused on sports. It would make sense for the individual sports to have their own tags, thus you would end up with Baseball, Basketball, Football, Hockey, and so on.

Other tags for a sports site might also be the league names themselves like MLB, NBA, NFL, and so on. Teams would be another excellent choice. The point of a tag is to help identify and connect the content.

Use the Add New Tag section to create as many relevant tags as possible for your site.

Simply enter the tag name into the appropriate box and click on the “Add New Tag” button.

Step 4: Adding Tags to Posts

With all of that out of the way, view an existing post. The post must have some text in it for the AI to scan and make recommendations from. If it is blank, you will not get recommendations. Once you are in the post, scroll down to the TaxoPress AI section.

There is a small drop-down menu that you can use to select what the AI will be looking for. If you followed my advice and only left Taxonomies enabled, then the only options should be Tags and Categories.

Tags are the default option, but make sure that it is selected before moving on.

Click on the Suggest Existing Terms option.

The AI will scan your writing and choose tags that were named in the post. So, for my example, here is the sample text I added:

Here are the tag recommendations:

Because the words Sports, Baseball, and Yankees were used, they were recommended as tags. One thing to note is that I also have MLB as a tag, but that was not recommended to me even though it would be a good option.

Again, the AI does not understand what you are writing, but instead, only reads it and matches the words to your categories. As such, it is very rudimentary, and not always the best option. Thus, you should always use the recommendations lightly.

Simply click on the tag and it will be added to the post.

And that’s pretty much everything there is to adding tags with AI in WordPress with TaxoPress.

AI Is Not Perfect

There is no doubt that AI will revolutionize design in the future. However, we still have a lot of time before that happens.

Currently, we are in the infancy of AI. Not only is AI still learning, but we are still learning what applications AI is best used for. Helping you decide what tags you use is a great option. It can help jog your memory of what tags you have.

Yet, as this plugin has demonstrated it cannot understand what you have written. If it had, it would have recommended the MLB tag, but instead, can only match words to the tag library one-to-one.

This is true for most forms of AI as it currently stands. While there are plugins that can generate tags from scratch, the results are often not great. You would probably spend a lot of time deleting those tags as they end up too vague.

Or they simply do not apply to the post. Do not blindly trust AI as it will make mistakes.

AI FAQs

Start Using AI Today

While AI still has a long way to go, it can help you save time and improve your workflow. You are probably using AI without even realizing it. Tools like Grammarly use an AI algorithm to check your spelling.

Many SEO tools that automatically fill your metadata, do so with AI. As such, if you are standing on the sidelines, be aware that it is probably already being used on your site without your knowledge.

I hope you found this tutorial helpful in learning how to have an AI choose your post tags in WordPress.

Do you think WordPress will ever introduce AI into the base install? What types of AI tools are you using?

The post How to Use AI to Suggest Tags in WordPress with TaxoPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

While more content is always a good thing, it is worth pointing out that if you release too much in a single day, it can overwhelm users. For this reason, many blogs spread out their releases across multiple days.

Of course, there is also the SEO side of things. Search engines like Google want you to have a release pattern. Thus, organizing your blog release schedule with a tool can not only help improve your workflow but improve your SEO.

Today, I will demonstrate how you can do this with the PublishPress Planner plugin.

This tutorial is for:
WordPress 6.4.2
Plugin: PublishPress Planner v4.0.2

Form A Schedule Before You Begin

PublishPress Planner is an organizational tool, but to get the most out of it, you should already have a game plan for your content release schedule. However, schedule planning goes much deeper than most realize.

You should have multiple analytical tools tracking data on your site with the primary one being Google Analytics.

These tools can tell you exactly when your site is the most active and for what age groups. This is incredibly important because when you release new content, you want it to reach the most users possible upon release.

As such, this information is imperative to success. For example, if you notice that more users are on your site from 12-1 pm, that’s probably because they are on a lunch break. Thus, it’s a really good idea to release content just before this.

Of course, raw traffic numbers are not just the most important. See what content certain age groups are consuming the most. And be sure to match those peak hours with your releases.

For example, financial blogs are probably not going to see a huge uptick after school lets out, but a blog related to entertainment or sports probably will. Understanding your audience and site traffic is imperative when building a schedule.

How to Use PublishPress Planner to Schedule Content

The PublishPress Planner plugin is quite a robust tool sporting a variety of helpful features. The main one is the content calendar. Here, you can add the content to the days you want to release it. You can even color-code the content types.

When you click on the content in the calendar you can expand it to see details like categories, status, and so on. You can even send out notifications in WordPress to the users that work is assigned to. This ensures they know when it is due.

There is even a notes section for editors and authors to have a conversation about things that need to be corrected or to look out for in the future. Overall, it is a powerful editorial tool that most sites will get a lot of use out of.

Step 1: Install PublishPress Planner

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

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

Find the PublishPress Planner plugin and click on the “Install Now” button and activate the plugin for use. Note that PublishPress has a lot of useful plugins. For this tutorial, we’re specifically working with the Planner tool.

Step 2: Configure the Settings

While you can begin scheduling your content upon activation, I do recommend going through the settings first. This allows you to choose what features are enabled and how they behave, which can simplify the experience.

To find the settings, click on Planner and select the Settings option.

You’ll start out on the features tab. Here, you can check the box to enable a feature or uncheck it to disable one. By default, everything except the Debug feature is enabled. Feel free to disable anything you do not plan on using.

Doing so can help simplify the plugin. The rest of the tabs are very similar in function because they just consist of checkboxes. For this reason, I won’t cover too many options but highlight the important ones.

In the Content Calendar tab, you can find the Posts publish time format section. Here, you can choose the way time will be displayed with three options. It is important to pick the option that won’t confuse you or the staff.

Below this, you can set a default publish time for posts. As we talked about earlier, content should be released just before peak traffic. As such, you can enter the time you think you will release the most content. You can customize the release times individually later.

If you are choosing to use the notification system, then I recommend going to the Notifications tab and configuring the Duplicated notification threshold value. This will help prevent your staff from getting too many notifications.

Again, go through all of the settings. Most are simple and just require you to check or uncheck a box.

Be sure to save any changes.

Step 3: Using the Content Calendar

The bread and butter of this plugin is the content calendar. Here you can schedule and organize all of your blog posts and create a content workflow, so you always have something coming out. It is rather simple to use, so let’s get right into it.

Click on Planner and select the Content Calendar option.

Unlike many calendars, the top week will always be the current week. Simply click on the day you want to schedule a piece of content. This will open up a small window that you can fill out to create an item.

In it, you can choose the type of content (post or page), add a title, choose the status, set the publish time, choose the author, create a description, and set categories & tags. It is rather simple, so fill out all of the info and click on the Save option at the bottom.

The content will then be added to the calendar. You can edit it at any time by clicking on the pencil icon next to the title.

This will pull up a small window with an edit option in the bottom left corner. You can also use this window to view all of the details of that entry. Clicking on this edit option will bring you to that post.

As such, editing the details of the post will update the entry on the calendar. For example, if you want to change the publishing date, do so in the post that this creates. It will be updated accordingly on the calendar.

When you add a lot of content to the calendar, it may be difficult to find certain pieces of content. You can use the filtering options at the top to help with that. For instance, you can choose to only display certain categories.

And that’s really all there is to the content calendar. It is a simple, but highly effective content planner for WordPress.

Let’s explore some of the other sections.

Step 4: Other Features

If you click on the Content Overview option, you can view all of the content on the calendar, but in a list format. It also sports the same filtering options as the calendar. It’s simply a different way of looking at your scheduled content.

The Notifications section allows you to customize if you receive notifications and to edit those messages. By default, there are two options, one for notifications when content is published, and another for when an editorial comment is made.

You can simply delete these if you do not want any notifications. Otherwise, you can click on them and edit the particulars to match your needs. It is possible to create other types of notifications by using the Add New option.

Be mindful of spam, as you could create too many notifications that can become problematic.

The Editorial Metadata is exactly what it sounds like. Here, you can configure anything metadata related to the editorial process like Assignments, First Draft, and so on to define their meanings.

The Editorial Comments are there so you can view a log of when the comments are left and see response time, or if there ever was a response. Lastly is the Settings section, which we already covered.

With that, you should have a solid understanding of how the PublishPress Planner plugin works.

Always Plan Blog Content Ahead With PublishPress Planner

While there will certainly be times when you want to release content as quickly as possible so the topic remains relevant, like news stories, you should always have something prepared for future release.

Using a content planner like PublishPress Planner is a great way to organize content in WordPress. That said, there are plenty of other tools like Asana, JIRA, and even Google Calendar that can help with this.

I hope you found this tutorial helpful in learning how to use PublishPress Planner to schedule content in WordPress.

How easy did you find PublishPress Planner to use? Has using the plugin helped improve your content workflow?

The post How to Organize WordPress Blog Posts with PublishPress Planner appeared first on GreenGeeks.

Essentially, these are tools for your writers to follow that tell them what types of content they should include. They typically consist of some vague headers and possibly a few bullet points containing instructions.

The concept is simple to understand but creating them is another matter. There are plenty of ways to go about it, but one of the best ways is to use the pattern system in WordPress.

Today, I will demonstrate how to make content templates using the WordPress pattern system.

What Are Content Patterns in WordPress?

Content patterns are a feature in WordPress that allows you to save blocks with content written in them so you can reuse them in other areas.

For example, let’s say you created a pricing table for your business. You probably would place that table throughout your site, which would mean recreating it every time.

Instead, if you created a pattern, a copy of that block would be saved and you could use it again on another post or page.

We can utilize this system to create a group template that authors can use when writing certain types of content.

For example, let’s imagine a simple piece of content like a how-to guide. You could create multiple headers that outline what content it should include like, what is X, how can I use X, is X free, and so on. That way multiple authors can follow the same template.

It is very simple on the surface but can help ensure that all of your content has the same feel and flow.

How to Create Content Patterns in WordPress

Content patterns in WordPress were originally called reusable blocks before being rebranded into patterns. You can group multiple blocks to create a single pattern, thus there is no limit on the size of it.

As such, it can contain any block in WordPress. But in most cases, you will probably just use Header, Paragraph, List, Image, and Table blocks. These are the most common building blocks for most content in WordPress.

Just keep in mind that content templates should be very simple so they can be adapted to all kinds of content. If you get too specific, you can run into cases where that topic can’t fit in the template. Luckily, this is easy to do so let’s begin.

Step 1: Create A Template

The first thing you want to do is create the actual template you want your writers to follow, and yes, you can create multiple templates. My recommendation is to open up a new post to do this.

In that post, create a template consisting of as many blocks as you want. In my example, I am just going to add a few general headers, and bullet points, but feel free to add as much as you want.

Once you have the template formed, we just need to turn it into a pattern.

Step 2: Making a Pattern for WordPress

To create a pattern, simply highlight all of the blocks you want to include. Once selected, click on the three vertical dots and select the Create pattern option.

Even if you are just using a single block, the process is the same.

This will open up a small window where you can create a name for your pattern and add categories for it. For example, since mine is for How-to content, I will name it “How-to” and add the categories that type of content will appear.

There is also a Sync option, which will allow it to be edited no matter where it is opened. For this reason, I would recommend turning Sync off. It is very easy for an author to accidentally edit it while filling it in without realizing.

Click on the “Create” button when you are done.

And that’s it for creating content patterns in WordPress. Remember there is no limit on the number of blocks you can include.

Step 3: Using Content Patterns in WordPress

To use the pattern you created in WordPress, click on the”+” button on the top left of the Gutenberg editor.

Note: You cannot use the “+” buttons you can find within Gutenberg. It must be this big blue button.

This is where you would normally find blocks, but there is a dedicated Patterns tab. Click it.

WordPress does include some default patterns you can utilize, but we will ignore those for this tutorial. Instead, click on the My Patterns option.

Here you can select from all of the patterns you have created. Click on the one you want to use, and it will be added to your current post or page.

Your pattern will now automatically load into Gutenberg. It will be placed wherever you were selected within the editor. If it gets added to the wrong spot, use the undo button to get rid of it, and add it again.

And with that, you now know how to create content templates using Patterns in WordPress.

Step 4: Importing and Exporting Patterns

While you will most likely want to create your own patterns, it is worth pointing out that you can import patterns from other sources for your use. This can help save time, and even work as a page template when starting.

Just remember, only download files from sites and individuals that you trust,

Likewise, you can also export your creations to other sites. Naturally, this is very useful if you own multiple sites and want to use the same patterns on each site. Luckily, this is very easy to do, assuming your theme supports it.

There are two ways to access the page. The first is if you are using a block theme like Twenty Twenty-Four. If you are using an older theme, then you will need to do it from a plugin, of which there are several to choose from.

Click on Appearance and select the Editor option.

Next, click on the Patterns option.

Click on the Manage All of My Patterns option.

This will bring you to the Patterns section of WordPress. Alternatively, if you are using an older theme, click on the three vertical dots on the top right of the Gutenberg editor and select the Manage Patterns option.

Either method will bring you to this area. At the top, there is an “Import from JSON” button you can use to import patterns.

To export a pattern, hover over the pattern you want to export, and select the Export as JSON option.

And that’s all there is to it.

Step 5: How to Edit/Delete A Pattern

Naturally, there will come a time when you may need to edit a pattern, or no longer need a pattern and wish to delete it. This is very easy to do and takes less than a minute, so let’s get right into it.

Start by going to the Pattern Management section we explored in the last step. Once there, locate the pattern you wish to either edit or delete and click on the Edit option.

This will bring you to the Gutenberg editor. If your goal was to edit the pattern, do so in there and be sure to save the changes. If you want to delete the pattern, click on the “Move to Trash” button.

And that will remove the pattern from your site.

Patterns FAQs

Create Your Own Templates with Patterns in WordPress

As you can see, the Pattern system in WordPress is very versatile and can help your site create templates for content. This can help speed up content creation, as well as help sites with multiple authors follow the same structure.

We have also covered how to import and export patterns. This can be a powerful feature as the pattern system becomes more popular. Many themes already use it to provide page templates to users, and the options are growing fast.

I hope you found this tutorial helpful in learning how to manage patterns in WordPress.

How easy did you find the pattern system to manage? Has using patterns helped your site improve its workflow?

The post How to Create Content Templates with Patterns in WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.