Support – Sparkle Themes https://sparklewpthemes.com Sparkle Themes - Best Premium and Free Clean WordPress Themes for Personal, Business and eCommerce Store Websites Tue, 02 May 2023 15:50:27 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.2 https://sparklewpthemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/16807461_198753970606487_7432317181345843399_n.png Support – Sparkle Themes https://sparklewpthemes.com 32 32 9+ Best WooCommerce Plugins to Increase Sales https://sparklewpthemes.com/9-best-woocommerce-plugins-to-increase-sales/ https://sparklewpthemes.com/9-best-woocommerce-plugins-to-increase-sales/#respond Tue, 02 May 2023 15:50:23 +0000 https://sparklewpthemes.com/?p=156016 Looking for the best WooCommerce plugins to skyrocket your store sales?

For creating online stores from scratch, WooCommerce is one of the best open-source eCommerce platforms. With the plethora of available extensions, sometimes store owners can get confused about picking the right plugin for the store. 

In this article, you will find a curated list of top WooCommerce plugins that take your business up to the next level. 

Without further ado, let’s get started.

Reason to Choose the WooCommerce Platform 

First of all, it’s a completely free resource. For online stores, this platform makes the work done easily. After installation, this plugin builds a basic eCommerce store instantly. The best part is this platform supports tons of plugins to offer the finest shopping experience for customers. 

Some of the key features of the WooCommerce platform are,

  • Adds all necessary eCommerce functionality immediately.
  • Offers user-friendly best eCommerce solutions for online stores.
  • This platform allows advanced customization to set up a smoother selling process. 
  • Built-in analytics are available that help to track store performance.
  • A modular system to support tons of plugins from the WordPress repository.  

Choosing the ideal plugin will increase store efficiency and sales in no time. Let’s find out how to pick the plugin for your online store. 

9+ Best WooCommerce Plugins for your eCommerce Store

WooCommerce plugins help eCommerce stores to create effective product listings using numerous customization options. Here you will discover top WooCommerce plugins to build your store and increase sales effortlessly. 

WooCommerce Best Sellers

woocommerce plugin

This plugin will allow you to advertise best-selling products particular products in the online store. The Best Sellers plugin for WooCommerce creates the chances of boosting product sales at ease. With this plugin, you can make attractive best-selling product badges.

The plugin supports both variable and simple products. You can create sliders on multiple pages like a shop page, product page, or category page. The plugin will help you to set the limitation for showing high-selling products. 

You can encourage customers to purchase best-selling items with the help of setting a sales countdown timer. You can customize the badges that suit your store layout. It allocates highly purchased products based on the ranking system. 

Key Features:

  • The plugin creates a separate page for best-selling products. 
  • You can customize and display best-selling labels on the product thumbnail. 
  • This plugin will help you optimize the best-selling slider view for multiple devices like mobile, tablet, or desktop. 
  • It excludes the out-of-stock product from displaying in the product slider.
  • You can choose custom images for creating the best-seller seal. 

Price: $49/year  

MonsterInsights

monster insights

Analytics is a key tool for an online business to track customers’ data and store profits. This analytics insight plugin allows the store owner to track numerous data based on demographics, user behavior, average order value, search console, and more from one place. It generates reports for websites from the WordPress dashboard.

This WordPress analytics plugin comes with powerful features such as universal website tracking, individual dashboard, page tracker, optimizer, and so on. Integrating the analytics plugin into the store will help you to discover accurate reports and analytics. 

The plugin will help you build a strategic way to increase sales. This plugin is made with the learning of google analytics progress. That gives easy access for the store owner to track customer data. 

Key Features:

  • Generate detailed audience reports. 
  • The behavior report gives an idea of how customers approach websites, the number of clicks on the site, keyword analysis, and more. 
  • Optimize the content easily using this WooCommerce analytics plugin. 
  • Get exclusive information for eCommerce websites like conversion rate, total revenue, referral source, and more.   
  • Without coding knowledge, the plugin allows you to set up complete google analytics in a few minutes. 

Price: $99.50/year

Category Discount Woocommerce 

Category Discount wooCommerce

For creating discounts in online stores, you need to create a separate campaign from scratch. Using this category discount plugin, store owners can build the discount readily in a few clicks. It includes bulk discounts, specific category discounts, and time validity discounts. 

You can choose the discount type to create your best category deal. The store owner can create discounts based on product categories, product attributes, product tags, and more. You can set the discount limitation from minimum to maximum for specific categories of discount. 

Key Features:

  • Build exclusive discounts based on product brand.
  • Exclude the specific product from certain categories or attributes.
  • This plugin uses a high-end AJAX-based UI for better performance. 
  • Schedule the campaign to offer discounts later for customers.
  • Create a win-win discount for your store effortlessly. 

Price: $25/year

WebToffee WooCommerce Gift Cards

woocommerce gift cards

The WooCommerce gift card is one of the best plugins for boosting seasonal sales.  It will let you create unlimited gift cards for customers. They can email those cards to their close buddies on special occasions. 

The plugin has 20+ predefined templates for the online store. It will let the store owner customize a bunch of gift card products for the WooCommerce store. This plugin will help in leveraging brand awareness. 

You can make customer purchase gift cards using store credits. As it can work with other coupons, it increases sales of discounted products. You can set the expiry limit for gift cards in the WooCommerce store.

Key Features:

  • Store owners can upload the custom gift card template. 
  • The plugin will let you generate gift cards based on order status. 
  • It will allow customers to schedule gift cards to share with their close ones. 
  • Customers can choose the custom gift card amount. 
  • Exclude specific products or categories from redemption.  

Price: $99/year

Customer Reviews for WooCommerce

Customer Reviews for wooCommerce

This Customer Reviews for WooCommerce plugin sends an automated review request email after post-purchase. It will let you set the time gap to generate emails for customers. You can gather positive reviews from customers and convert them to brand advocates. 

Posting a positive review on the product page will increase the conversion rate. It creates opportunities for future hold customers to review the product & gain trustability for purchasing products. 

The plugin will let you send an automated or manual reminder email for review. It consists of voting, images, ratings, and more. You can provide incentives in exchange for each review submission.   

Key Features:

  • Custom emails for review can be generated for selective orders. 
  • Enable reCAPTCHA to avert spammy reviews. 
  • It allows filtering reviews from up to date. 
  • It will let the customers create their own avatars. 
  • You can export or import reviews quickly.

Price: $49.99/year 

Ultimate Product Catalog

ultimate product catelog

When customers visit the store they expect to see clear product features to buy a product. This Ultimate Product Catalog plugin will allow you to show a modern catalog for buyers using simple steps. 

Custom block-based themes can be employed the way you want with the help of Gutenberg blocks or shortcodes. Shortlist the product using various filter options. It includes a custom field for product tags, an inquiry cart, multiple catalog layouts, product thumbnails, and more. 

Key Features:

  • It allows the customer to choose multiple catalogs to compare products. 
  • Display product ratings on the main catalog page. 
  • The custom field allows for adding the product manual, additional information, and more. 
  • Embed WooCommerce checkout in the product catalog to proceed to order quickly. 
  • Enable social media sharing to boost your store sales. 

Price: $57/year

Display Discounts for WooCommerce

woocommerce discount

The Display Discounts for WooCommerce is a great tool to attain customer attention effortlessly. This plugin will help you to create the countdown banner for your store. It creates the fear of missing out on moments for customers to complete the purchase sooner. 

Choose a suitable template for showing coupon banners on the specific product page. You can determine what coupon is to be displayed or not. The plugin allows you to set the maximum coupon to be shown per store.  

Make this option exclusive for customers to show coupons only for logged-in users. You can activate single click copy for accessing coupons to apply for products. 

Key Features:

  • Define where to display discounts on product pages.
  • Create a link for a specific product set. When the users click on the coupon it will redirect to eligible products. 
  • Customize the appearance of the banner effectively. 
  • Set the coupon to count down to stimulate urgency for customers.  
  • This plugin also helps to elevate engagement in online stores. 

Price: $49/year

All-in-One SEO

aio seo

The All-in-One SEO is one prominent plugin to optimize websites to grow search ranking and traffic. This plugin also helps to create a suitable SEO strategy to run the business without any hassle. 

It includes SEO features like meta titles, descriptions, open graphs, social media integration, XML sitemaps, SEO keywords, search console, SEO schema markup, and more. 

The plugin will let you dive deep insight into SEO analysis and optimize the store promptly. It can be used in both Gutenberg block editor and classic editor. 

Key Features:

  • Assist the website to set up a complete SEO checklist in one place.
  • In a few minutes, this smart plugin allows you to configure advanced SEO features. 
  • TruSEO score helps to give you insight into the site performance accurately.
  • Content optimization allows you to generate the content that the audience looking for. 
  • This plugin integrates with the foremost webmaster tools and social media.   

Price: $49.60/year 

MyRewards

loyalty points and rewards

Incentivizing customers for each purchase is one of the best ways to engage & retain them. The MyRewards plugin will help you create an effective loyalty program for your store. 

Reward your customers based on certain actions like money spent, first order, number of orders placed, referral, product reviews, birthday, and more. It allows you to create more than 10+ rewards as per your needs. 

It will let you generate a seasonal reward for a specific occasion as Christmas, New Year, Black Friday, and so on. This reward system supports multi-currency third-party plugins. 

Key Features:

  • It directly converts loyalty points into discounts on the cart page. 
  • Set point expiration for your reward system based on different methods.
  • Create a custom loyalty point name or use an image instead of points. 
  • Appreciate your customers for their achievements using customized badges. 
  • You can notify customers to open new rewards via email.   

Price: $108/year 

Notification for WooCommerce

woocommerce notification

This notification plugin will help the bustling store to display social proof on the storefront. It will show the what customer has bought recently. This will create urgency and demand for the product to purchase. 

The plugin will allow you to promote specific products using fake order notifications. You can do that for selected products & categories. It also works with newly launched products to encourage purchases. 

You can generate multiple notification messages for different pop-ups. You can add the custom field using WooCommerce shortcodes. Customize the appearance and make it more captivating for visitors. 

Key Features:

  • You can create notification layouts adaptively for both desktop and mobile. 
  • You can configure notifications for the customer’s current product page using the plugin.
  • There are 22 templates available to customize for the store’s notification popups. 
  • You can pick the pop-up placement position like top, bottom, left, or right.
  • It supports AJAX to load the notification pop-ups.  

Price: $30/year 

WooCommerce Checkout & Funnel Builder

woocommerce checkout & funnel builder

CartFlow’s WooCommerce Checkout Builder plugin is a modern checkout to make the purchase journey smoother for customers. It rectifies all distraction & set up a fast optimized funnel to convert prospects to leads or clients.

It’s an amazing replacement for typical checkout to assist customers in completing the order. It makes the buyer choose the payment gateways, valid the email in real-time, auto-complete address for registered users, and more. 

Hence, the store optimization is in good shape it provides a better user experience for buyers. It enhances the average order value, ROI, and conversion. 

Key Features:

  • CartFlows integrate with well-known page builders like Elementor, Divi, and more. 
  • Custom field manager to add, remove or reorder fields from the checkout page.
  • Store owners can go for one or two-column layouts as per their requirements. 
  • Control the coupon box visibility on the checkout page. 
  • You can make use of analytics to track down real-time data to improve the funnel and grow your revenue. 

Price: $79/year 

Mailchimp for WooCommerce

MailChimp woocommerce

Mailchimp for WooCommerce is a well-known plugin to create a complete email campaign from scratch to approach clients timely. 

It’s a free plugin but in order to use it you need to sign up for the service. This email plugin provides insight data to track the customer journey and send out mail on time. You can create various campaign as cart abandonment, an order placed, remainder mail, and more. 

Key Features:

  • You can categorize customers based on purchase history or purchase frequency. 
  • A dashboard is there to track down marketing performance. 
  • The plugin will let you add the discount or promo code block in the email.
  • It supports WPML and compiles post-purchase information to a MailChimp account. 
  • Using this plugin, the store owner can easily target audiences, and do ad campaigns and remarketing to increase profitable customers. 

Conclusion

Each retailer faces challenges while trying to choose the ideal plugin for their store. You can choose the best plugins for your online business from this post in accordance with the store’s demands. With the right plugin, you can maintain your competitive edge while generating high profit and conversion rates.

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10 Best Tips To Optimize Your WooCommerce Store for Better Conversions https://sparklewpthemes.com/10-best-tips-to-optimize-your-woocommerce-store-for-better-conversions/ https://sparklewpthemes.com/10-best-tips-to-optimize-your-woocommerce-store-for-better-conversions/#respond Wed, 17 Nov 2021 06:59:54 +0000 https://sparklewpthemes.com/?p=146805 In today’s busy and highly-competitive eCommerce market, nobody has the time to sit around and wait for a poorly maintained website to load.

Even a slight delay can be enough for potential customers to click away in search of a better alternative. With this in mind, it’s vital that your WooCommerce store is fast, responsive, and fully optimized for easy navigation.

In this article, we’re going to explore how to optimize your WooCommerce store. These help to maximize your chances of conversion and turbocharge your store for quick and reliable performance.

These easy-to-implement tips range from choosing the right theme to streamlining your plugins and cleaning up your WooCommerce database.

How Does Website Speed Affect Conversions? 

But first, let’s look a little deeper into why speed matters when it comes to your WooCommerce store. We’ll learn how to measure your site’s current performance as every second is important for keeping visitors’ attention at your WooCommerce store.

Slow loading times increase your bounce rate, with each additional second bumping your bounce rate percentage up. Bounce rates are important because they indicate the percentage of visits in which users viewed only a single page before clicking away.

If bounce rates are high, search engines will lower your rankings. They are a strong indication that your website performance is poor or your content is not useful.

This matters because a low search engine ranking means that fewer visitors will find their way to your store in the future.

Ideally, you want to keep your WooCommerce store loading times no longer than around the two-second mark—that’s where bounce rates begin to increase exponentially. Research has found that one out of every four visitors abandons a website that takes more than four seconds to load.

What’s worse is that if potential customers have a disappointing experience with your store, they are unlikely to ever return again. 

Website speed becomes even more important on important eCommerce holidays like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. With competition at its highest and a whole range of tempting offers to choose from, customers are even less likely to stick around on clunky and inefficient websites in this crucial period.

Always make sure that your WooCommerce store is fully optimized before the holidays to maximize your conversions and gain an edge over the competition.

How to Measure the Performance of Your WooCommerce Store

So how to check the performance of your WooCommerce store? And how to measure if your adjustments are having the desired effects?

The next step is measuring the performance of your WooCommerce store. When you’re trying to check the performance or measure if any adjustments made are working out, you can turn to website speed tests. An example of such a site is Pingdom.

This free performance testing tool is one of the most popular among WooCommerce store owners. It’s often given praise for its ease of use and simple, graded results.

Pingdom also gives actionable insights on the areas that can be improved for faster speeds, making it easy for you to identify your problem points.

To test things like WordPress Plugins, themes, and other functions, use Query Monitor.

Query Monitor helps to quickly identify problematic plugins, as well as any themes or functions that are not compatible with each other.

It also enables:

  • Debugging of database queries
  • PHP errors, hooks, and actions
  • Block editor blocks
  • Enqueued scripts and stylesheets
  • HTTP API calls
  • And more

Query Monitor is free and saves time that you’d otherwise spend manually uninstalling and updating plugins while trying to search for the culprit.

The kind of technical information that Pingdom and Query Monitor provide is useful as it provides clear and actionable data on how to improve to boost site performance.

However, be careful not to rely on numbers alone—the actual user experience is far more important than your performance score. Always test the usability of your site by visiting it frequently yourself and don’t be afraid to ask for the opinion of other visitors too.

How to Optimize Your WooCommerce Store

We’ve gained some insights on how to measure your store’s performance—now we need to address improving it.

Naturally, there are quick and simple methods you can utilize to improve your conversions. For example, implementing cart abandonment measures that reach out to customers leaving your site early.

While this optimizes your customer’s journey and experience, there are other ways you can optimize your store in general. Let’s check out a few easy and effective tips that you can implement immediately.

Check Your WooCommerce Settings

The most obvious place to start is by ensuring that your WooCommerce settings are properly adjusted to the needs of your store.

A few effective changes you can implement here include:

  • Disable pingbacks: Pingbacks are unique, automated comments that are created when you link to another blog post. While linking to other sites can be somewhat beneficial to your SEO, pingbacks are often abused by spammers and only serve to clutter your site with low-quality links and unnecessary queries that slow down your site.

  • Limit the blog post’s number on your feed: Keep the blog posts on your feed down to a reasonable number. For example, 10—just like this article. While it might seem a small detail, fewer blogs to load leads to faster loading times. These kinds of small tweaks can add up to the better overall performance.

  • Change login page URL: WordPress provides a site login URL by default, which is domain.com/wp-admin/. Bots, spammers, and other shady characters know this, so it’s a good idea to change it to avoid attacks.

Explore your WooCommerce settings and set limits for any unnecessary features that might slow down your loading times. As well as blog posts and pingbacks, you can also consider implementing limitations on your site. For example, how many reviews and images do you choose to display on your pages? 

Don’t Go Overboard With Plugins

There are thousands of WordPress plugins to choose from. Many of these are useful, which is why many WooCommerce merchants load up on plugins as the answer to all their store’s problems.

However, not all plugins are created with the same quality and compatibility. Some can cause problems and affect your store’s performance.

The more plugins you install, the more likely you’ll see conflicts arise. More plugins make it difficult to keep an eye on their functionality and whether they need any updates.

Think carefully when choosing plugins for a clear and specific purpose. Research plugins thoroughly beforehand and ensure that the benefits outweigh any potential negatives.

One way to lessen compatibility issues is by utilizing WooCommerce Extensions. These are tailor-made for your eCommerce store and are much more likely to work seamlessly together.

There are many different extensions for virtually every need. This includes:

  • Marketing automation
  • Shipping
  • Inventory
  • Analytics

These allow you the freedom to select the areas of added functionality that best fit the needs of your business.

Compress Your Images

High-quality images are vital for any ecommerce site that you should not compromise on. However, images are also your site’s largest element in terms of data. This means they drastically affect your performance if they aren’t properly optimized.

Start by choosing your images carefully, including only those that serve a clear purpose. When you’ve done this, reduce the file size of your chosen images using a tool such as Imagify, Optimole, or Shortpixel. These handy plugins compress your images without sacrificing too much in terms of quality.

WP Rocket is another handy option, especially if your site requires a lot of images. It allows you to introduce lazy loading, meaning that an image will only load when the user scrolls down to it, rather than downloading them all at once upon opening. This will make your initial loading time much shorter, as your site only needs to load the images at the top of the page.

A quick checklist for image optimization includes:

  • Choose your images in the correct format (JPEG, PNG, etc)
  • Compress your images using suggested plugins
  • Make sure your images are responsive to fit mobile devices
  • Use lazy loading on images that require scrolling to reach

Choose the Right WooCommerce Theme

There are thousands of different themes to choose from. It’s tough to settle on the one that best represents your personal taste and the character of your store.

Looks can also be deceiving—your chosen theme might look great, but it may come with several negatives. For example, it might come packaged with unnecessary functions and features that dramatically affect the speed and performance of your site.

The key is to choose a theme that looks great and fulfills your particular business needs, yet is lean and fast enough to keep your loading times down.

To help you make your choice, check out the 10 fastest WooCommerce WordPress themes in 2021 as tested by WP Rocket. Start by listing all of the features that you need for your store (multiple languages, one-click checkout, quick view functionality, etc.) and choose a fast theme that best meets your requirements.

These fast themes are flexible in terms of design, so you should have no problem customizing them to an aesthetic of your choosing.

If you can settle on a fast, reliable, and suitable theme from the very beginning of your eCommerce journey, you’ll avoid many of the most common website performance issues and will drastically cut down on the number of plugins you’ll need to install in the future.

Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)

We’ve looked at some pretty useful ways to directly optimize your store so far, but none of these things solve the problem of distance. If you’re based in the UK and someone is opening your page in Australia, there’s always going to be some performance lag.

This issue can be solved by delivering from a server that’s closer to the user’s location. That’s why it’s useful to invest in a WordPress CDN.

WordPress CDN is a global network of servers that can cache and deliver resources wherever your customers are located. This includes images and JavaScript for faster loading times.

A CDN automatically determines the closest server to the user’s location and delivers your site’s content from there. This results in decreased loading times of up to 50%.

It’s generally better to choose a CDN with a wide variety of server locations spread evenly across the world, especially if your store caters to an international audience. StackPath is a fast and popular CDN that has servers across the world, including:

  • The United States and Canada
  • Australia
  • Spain
  • France
  • England
  • Germany
  • Poland
  • Belgium
  • Sweden
  • Italy
  • The Netherlands
  • Singapore
  • Hong Kong
  • Japan
  • South Korea
  • The Philippines
  • Brazil

Investing in a CDN is essential for global eCommerce businesses. It helps deliver a fast, consistent experience for their customers—no matter where in the world they are located. However, if you have a very localized audience, your optimization efforts would be better directed elsewhere.

Cache Your WooCommerce Store’s Resources

You can temporarily store pages on your site that look the same to all users on the server or user’s device for quicker loading on the next visit. For example, with similar-looking product pages.

This is known as ‘caching’ and is one of the easiest and most effective ways to speed up your WooCommerce store.

Caching essentially reduces the amount of work that WordPress has to do every time someone browses certain static pages on your site. In fact, frequently visited pages with no dynamic content can be loaded almost instantaneously when they have been effectively cached, drastically improving the browsing experience for the user. 

You should try to use caching as much as possible on your WooCommerce store. It helps with load speeds and reduces the strain on your web server. Some hosting providers and CDNs provide caching capabilities, which automatically implement bytecode cache, object cache, and page cache at the server level.

However, if your hosting provider doesn’t handle caching, you’ll need to find third-party solutions in the form of plugins. Cache Enabler is an excellent free option for those on a budget, providing reliable and fast caching for a full range of image formats and with easy-to-use settings. For more advanced options, WP Rocket is again a premium service, but it does come with a price.  

Optimize For Mobile Users

With more than half of all internet traffic now shopping from mobile devices, it’s surprising to find (and annoying for consumers) that many eCommerce retailers have still not optimized their websites for mobile users. 

Check that your store is mobile-friendly by entering your URL into Google’s mobile-friendly test tool. This enables you to see your site as a mobile user would and will list any inconsistencies or issues that you might have. This is the ideal place to start when optimizing your store for mobile devices, in addition to exploring your store with your own mobile device.

A few tips to streamline your store for mobile users include:

  • Choosing the right theme: Not only should your theme be fast, lean, and look great, but it should be responsive for mobile devices too. Take this into consideration when choosing your theme.

  • Keep pages simple: Endless scrolling to find a product isn’t fun, so keep your pages as simple as possible. You can include an easy search function to help customers quickly find what they need.

  • Make checkout an easy process: Checkout on mobile devices can be difficult if there are too many fields to enter, so eliminate steps where possible. Consider adding WooCommerce extensions such as WooCommerce Social Login and One Page Checkout to simplify the process.

Regularly Update Your Store and Plugins

Both WooCommerce and WordPress receive regular updates that improve speed and security, as well as all kinds of useful features. Keep an eye out for these updates and make sure that you install them when they become available. This is an easy and effective way to improve the performance of your site.

Your theme, extensions, and plugins will also receive updates from time to time, so keep on top of these too. If you find that one of these third-party additions to your store has become obsolete and is no longer supported by its developers, make sure you properly uninstall it and find a suitable replacement.

That being said, we’ve all had experiences with updates that were buggy, slow, or less useful than what came before. With this in mind, it’s useful to check out some reviews on WordPress forums first. This is especially true if you rely heavily on third-party plugins—it only takes one malfunctioning or incompatible element to disrupt your entire site.

Remember to keep a recent backup close at hand—just in case something goes wrong with your updates.

Keep Your Database Clean

Your WooCommerce database is growing all the time. It includes things like order history, user account data, product information, and much more. If you leave your database unchecked, all of this information can quickly begin to affect the performance of your site.

Manually removing certain aspects of your database is time-consuming and risky—you could quite easily delete vital information and cause all kinds of problems for your store. Fortunately, there are some handy database optimization plugins that can do the job for you, keeping your database lean and efficient by safely removing unnecessary clutter.

Check out WP Sweep and WP Optimize for database optimization, these are both great options that deliver results quickly and easily.

WP Sweep is the simpler of the two. It’s a smaller plugin that is focused only on cleaning your database. WP Sweep focuses on old revisions, expired transients, and database tables, as well as disabling non-essential features that can slow down your store’s performance.

WP-Optimize also offers these cleaning services as well as a few other optimization features. These include regular scheduling and more granular control of which items you’d like to remove. 

Invest in Quality Hosting

You can optimize everything from your side, but things can still run slowly. With so much of your site’s performance depending on the quality of your server, it’s time to check your hosting provider to make sure that it’s up to scratch.

Shared hosting arrangements, which divide a server’s resources between a number of users, are popular and cost-effective, particularly for eCommerce retailers who are just beginning their journey. This is a reasonable solution if you have relatively low traffic to your growing store and are hosted by a well-known and reliable provider.

However, as your business grows, you’ll need to upgrade your hosting to manage the higher number of visitors to your store. A common step up from shared hosting is via an optimized eCommerce hosting, Virtual Private Server (VPS), which allocates server resources to each individual user according to their needs, rather than sharing a common pool. This gives you more control and customization of your settings and allows you to pay for better plans with faster speeds if needed.

Taking it a step further, dedicated hosting enables you to have exclusive access to your own server. This is a much more expensive option but gives you the best flexibility in terms of choosing your own configuration and enjoying the best possible performance.

High-traffic stores that experience considerable spikes over busy periods should consider dedicated hosting, but most other businesses should manage well with a high-quality VPS arrangement. Whichever you choose, make sure you do your research and choose a reputable provider—good hosting is one of the best investments you can make for your WooCommerce store.

Wrap Up

With website conversion rates dropping by an average of 4.42% with each additional second of load time, time is literally money when it comes to the speed of your WooCommerce store.

By taking the time to test, adjust, and optimize your website, you’ll maximize your chances of conversions. Ideally, it should load within two seconds. This way, you’ll make sure that users are getting the shopping experience that they expect.

Not only that, but search engines are much more likely to give you a high ranking if your site is quick, responsive, and has relatively lower bounce rates. 

Run through the tips provided in this article to find areas of your store’s performance that you might be able to improve. Remember, good technical scores and percentages aren’t the only goals here—test your results on real-life users as well as the testing tools suggested.

Ultimately, there are all kinds of different things to consider when running a successful eCommerce business. However, by getting the basics right and offering a fast, reliable WooCommerce store, you can move forward with confidence—safe in the knowledge that you are building on firm foundations.

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Top backup WordPress plugins for 2022 https://sparklewpthemes.com/top-backup-wordpress-plugins-for-2022/ https://sparklewpthemes.com/top-backup-wordpress-plugins-for-2022/#comments Wed, 17 Nov 2021 06:11:21 +0000 https://sparklewpthemes.com/?p=146755 Introduction

Are you looking for the perfect WordPress BackUp plugin? With many options available out there with different use complexity, we have selected a list of well-tested WordPress Backup plugins that we have used personally over the years on our WordPress centric projects.

So, without further ado, here are the top backup plugins you can try out for your new or existing WordPress projects.

Top Backup WordPress Plugins for 2022

●     UpdraftPlus WordPress Backup Plugin

●     Duplicator Backup Plugin

●     BlogVault – Backup & Staging

●     BackWPup – WordPress Backup Plugin

●     Backup Guard – WordPress Backup and Migrate Plugin

●     All-in-One WP Plugin

UpdraftPlus WordPress Backup Plugin

Image Source: WordPress.org

When it comes to free backup plugins, none of the other options mentioned in this article come close to what UpdraftPlus has to offer.

Image Source: WordPress.org

With over 3 million active installs and a 5-star rating, you don’t have any reason not to use this plugin for your backup needs.

UpdraftPlus is a WordPress Backup plugin that makes backing up and restoring websites as easy as pie.

Image Source: WordPress.org

It integrates with top cloud storage services like Dropbox, Google Drive, Amazon S3, UpdraftVault (Their personalised cloud storage), Rackspace Cloud and much more to allow Website to Cloud Storage Direct Backups.

Image Source: WordPress.org

UpdraftPlus even supports direct backups via FTP which makes it one of the most extensible Backup plugins available for free on the WordPress Repo.

Another extra feature which you would expect to pay for is Scheduling Backups. With UpdraftPlus, you can automate backups daily to any selected storage location for absolutely no cost.

UpdraftPlus also has a premium version (with pricing starting at $70 for two site licenses) which extends its functionality, even more, features like Incremental backups, a powerful add-on for smooth migration (Migrator), an option to backup non-WP files, database encryption and

More storage destinations.

You can download UpdraftPlus from here.

Duplicator Backup Plugin

Image Source: WordPress.org

Duplicator is a WordPress Backup/Migration plugin that enables WordPress owners to Backup their site for absolutely free.

With more than 20 million total downloads since release and 1 million active installs, this is amongst the most popular WordPress Backup you can consider.

Image Source: WordPress.org

Duplicator works by creating a package that contains parts of your website you want to backup; you have the option to backup your database, site plugins, files or your entire installation.

The free version of the plugin allows you to backup and download your site to your local machine as frequently and much as you want.

Image Source: WordPress.org

You can restore a backup using their wizard (Quite complicated for beginners) or install on a new server if you want (migration).

To Backup your site to cloud storages like google drive & dropbox, you would need to upgrade to the Pro version which pricing starts from $59 & comes with some extra advanced backup features as well.

With the Pro version of Duplicator, you can schedule backups daily, weekly or even monthly and Duplicator will automatically store each snapshot to a selected cloud storage location.

This feature gives complete peace of mind as you always know your site is secure with several backup snapshots arranged by date.

All for a one-time fee of $59 (license for three websites)

Even without the Paid version, it is still considered one of the best plugins to backup your website with

BlogVault – Backup & Staging

Image Source: WordPress.org

If you are a total non-tech-savvy WordPress user, then you might most likely run into problems trying to use the other BackUp plugins on this list. Well, not except BlogVault.

Image Source: WordPress.org

Blog Vault is a backup plugin that takes out all the complexity in backing up your WordPress website and restoring them.

Image Source: WordPress.org

We included this plugin because it does not require any technical skills to use; you simply install it and follow the setup wizard and voila; it does all the work for you.

Image Source: WordPress.org

It comes with many premium features (provided for free) like incremental backups, free offsite storage, one-click backup restore, migration, etc.

Blogvault is not just a Backup plugin, but more of a Backup service just like hosting backup tool notably “CodeGuard” that is used by Bluehost among its package addons, Blogvault is actually used by some of the largest web hosting companies out there.

From WPEngine, Pantheon, FlyWheel to many more and aids their free migration services.

It comes with several other features like migration and staging, with Backups being the main focus.

The premium version of the plugin (starting at $89 a year) provides backups in real-time as well as being completely compatible with WooCommerce with a Backups Archive period of 90 days.

If you just want an easy way to backup your WordPress website, you can try out Blogvault, but I would advise you combine this plugin with another as your backup data is stored on an external server that can go offline anytime any day.

You can try BlogVault out by downloading from the WordPress Repo.

BackWPup – WordPress Backup Plugin

Image Source: WordPress.org

One good alternative to UpdraftPlus you could consider if run into issues with it is BackWPup.

Image Source: WordPress.org

This plugin shares many similar features with UpdraftPlus and allows you to backup your WordPress Website for free.

Image Source: WordPress.org

It also allows Cloud storage locations with a few services like Google Drive being limited to Premium users only.

Image Source: WordPress.org

You can back up just individual parts of your websites like the Mysql database or your WordPress installation with ease.

With a 4.5 star rating and regular plugin updates every month, this could be the best option for your backup needs.

You can download the BackWPup plugin from your WordPress plugin repo.

Backup Guard – WordPress Backup and Migrate Plugin

Image Source: WordPress.org

Backup Guard is a Backup/Migration plugin that provides you with an easy way to backup, restore, and migrate WordPress Website.

What we like about this plugin is its simple and easy to use User interface, especially the dashboard.

Image Source: WordPress.org

Backups are sorted by date of creation and you the option to either download them to your local machine or Dropbox for free.

Image Source: WordPress.org

To add more Cloud Storage services, you would need to purchase the premium version of the plugin, but by default, the free version allows you to move your backups to dropbox.

It also has BackUp scheduling, Notifications, and migration features just like the other plugins on this list but only for Premium users.

Image Source: WordPress.org

The only thing free about this plugin is creating unlimited backups and restoring them.

You can download the Backup Guard plugin from your WordPress plugin repo.

All-in-One WP Plugin

Image Source: WordPress.org

All in One WP plugin is actually a migration plugin that can be used for backing up your WordPress website.

Image Source: WordPress.org

It provides functionality to backup (in an export file) your entire WordPress website, including the database, media files, plugins, and themes without any technical knowledge.

Image Source: WordPress.org

It is also quite extensible and does support cloud storage locations like Dropbox, FTP, Google Drive, Amazon S3, OneDrive Box, MegaNZ, DigitalOcean, Microsoft Azure Storage, etc. on purchase of the extension.

With each extension having a starting price of $50 50 $99, this is considered pricy compared to the other plugins on this list.

Image Source: WordPress.org

It provides an easy Drag & Drop backup restoration wizard which makes this ideal for backing up small sites with minimal content if you consider going for the free version.

You can download the All in One Plugin from your WordPress plugin repo or the WordPress.org plugin page here.

Our Personal Favourite (Recommendation)

UpdraftPlus no doubt, has the best to offer when it comes to backing up WordPress website.

Not only is it a powerful plugin, but it’s also free with several premium features you would otherwise pay for to use on other backup plugins.

Image Source: WordPress.org

Duplicator is also a good option but only when you have plans of migrating your backup to another server at a later date as it’s straightforward to do that with the duplicator.

Finally, a tip that’s worth mentioning, if you prefer to minimize the plugins installed on your site, then in that case, then you should know that there are some hosting companies out there that offer Automatic Backups feature. So you might want to keep that in mind

Conclusion

Each Backup plugin has there advantages and disadvantages, it up to you to test them and find the one that works best for what you’re trying to achieve.

You might need to upgrade to a premium version to get what you want but at the end of the day, you should have a well functioning Backup Plugin working smoothly.

Also, make sure you have more than one backup location, never put all your eggs in one basket, i.e. storing backup files in the same server as your website.

Anything can happen, and at any time, so you have to be ready.

That’s all for this article. We hope you found it useful, If you have a question about any of the plugins on this list, please do not hesitate to add a comment below and we would respond as soon as possible

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How to Create a WordPress Blog by Following These 10 Easy Steps https://sparklewpthemes.com/how-to-create-a-wordpress-blog-by-following-these-10-easy-steps/ https://sparklewpthemes.com/how-to-create-a-wordpress-blog-by-following-these-10-easy-steps/#respond Mon, 15 Nov 2021 05:49:54 +0000 https://sparklewpthemes.com/?p=146677 Learning How to Create a WordPress Blog by Following These 10 Easy Steps

When you’re selling in the digital space, you need to take every opportunity you can get to get your product out there. Some of the ways you can increase your online presence are by sharing on social platforms and maintaining a brand website. 

Your website serves as a central brand hub that can provide information about your brand and products. At the same time, you can use social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to build a community and interact with your target market. Setting up social media accounts is pretty straightforward. On the other hand, building and maintaining a website will require more time and effort. 

So, if you’re a marketer or business owner who wants to start blogging on sites like WordPress but don’t know where to start, we’ve got you covered. We’ll show you how to launch your WordPress site in ten easy steps:

1. Choose a domain name that is timeless and best reflects your brand

One of the first few things to do when creating a WordPress blog is securing a domain name to go with your website. As an Amazon FBA seller, choose a domain that’s easy to remember and/or reflective of your brand to increase recall and recognition for your target audience. Similar to a brand name, you’ll know that you’ve selected a good one if it leaves a lasting impact on your audience.

Another thing to know about your website’s domain name is how it affects SEO. Therefore, we suggest (if possible) incorporating your brand or product name in your domain. For example, if you’re selling watches, it’s a good idea to include the term ‘watch’ as a keyword in your web address. Doing this will help increase your organic searchability for a particular keyword when searched.

Here are some tips for choosing a domain name for your website:

  • Use either a .com, .net, or .org. These are the most popular top-level domains for legitimate and authoritative websites.
  • Avoid hyphens and numbers since it may lead to confusion.
  • Avoid short-term trendy names. Instead, think about a long-lasting name that can reflect your brand through time.
Web Hosting

2. Sign up for a web hosting service

A web hosting service is what powers and will help with speeding up your WordPress website. You’ll need this to ensure your store stays running 24/7 with up-to-date information. Without a reliable hosting service, your website can experience site crashes – this is especially true if you’re expecting heavy web traffic due to promotions and sales. Keep in mind that personal blogs and other smaller businesses can rely on WordPress to power your website without a hosting service. If you don’t fall under that category, consider looking into a third-party host. 

When you start building your WordPress website, look into reliable hosting services. There are a lot of available web hosting services out there, so choose wisely. Keep reading for tips on how to decide the best one for your business.

Consider the uptime they can provide

Uptime is how long the hosting service can guarantee your website will stay running through the day. Values closest to 100% mean it will run for the majority of a day. Due to everyday fluctuations, a 100% uptime will be challenging to obtain. A 95% uptime is a perfectly acceptable and impressive number to consider. 

Know your website’s monthly traffic

Since most web hosting services package their services based on your site’s monthly traffic, try to get an estimate of this data for your website. Although the host won’t block people from seeing your store, you may be charged for the excess traffic not covered in your chosen package. 

So before you select a hosting web service, it’s best that you already have a clue on how much monthly traffic you’re expecting. If you don’t have this information handy, overestimating is better than underestimating in this case. 

3. Install the WordPress software and log in to the website

After you’ve decided on a web hosting service and domain, you can begin installing WordPress on your website. Some hosting services, such as BlueHost, let you install it automatically, but if yours does not have automatic installation, you can use third-party tools such as Fantastico.

You can still choose to install WordPress by following instructions manually:

  1. Download the WordPress package file and unzip it.
  2. On your web server, create a database for WordPress. Include all users who will have privileges on accessing your site.
  3. On your web server, upload the WordPress files in your desired location.
  4. Run the script by accessing the URL in your web browser.

4. Choose your site’s title and tagline

In addition to your domain name, consider adopting a catchy title and tagline for your brand and website. All of these should align with your brand and message for your audience.

These elements immediately speak for your brand and are vital parts of your branding process and how you communicate with your target audience.

So if you’re currently choosing the appropriate site title and tagline, here are some tips for you on how you can come up with your own fresh ideas.

How to build a site title for your website:

  1. Use words that best describe your brand or what you do. Be as honest and accurate with your title. The last thing you want is to mislead your target audience through your titles.
  2. Keep the title short and under approximately 66 characters as much as possible. It should be to the point and memorable.
  3. Incorporate the main keyword you want to rank for into your title or tagline.
  4. Don’t forget always to include your brand’s name in the title.
  5. Consider using a word generator if you’re running out of ideas on how to name it. List down the suggestions and see which works best for you.

How to build a site tagline for your website:

  1. The tagline should be short but catchy. You know you have a good tagline if your audience can recognize your brand or product by the tagline.
  2. It should be related to your website’s title.
  3. Use active voice instead of passive voice.
  4. Incorporate powerful words such as expert, best, master, and the like.

5. Create a new post to start blogging on your new WordPress site

Now that you have your WordPress website, the next thing to do is fill it with posts. This is where you’ll add content and exert a lot of time and effort to create high-quality posts. It might get a bit overwhelming to put out enough content, but you can manage it by building out a content plan.

A content plan is an organized way to manage your content. It allows you to plan out your content strategically before you post. You can also use it to manage your topics, plan out the schedule for your posts, and organize it in a manner that best suits your team’s productivity styles. It’s a great way to create a system and stay on track with your website’s content.

If you’re stuck in writer’s block and don’t know what content to post about, here are some ideas to help you get started:

  • Instructions on how to best use your product
  • Information about how you developed your product (material, ingredients)
  • Guest posts from experts in your industry
  • Reviews from your customers that reflect a positive experience with your product
  • Benefits of your products, how it exceeds your competitors
  • A story about how yourself and how you began your business
  • Answer frequently asked questions about your product

These topics are a great way to start but don’t feel limited to posting content about your products. Instead, widen your reach and engagement further by diversifying the topics on your blog. When you include content related to your product and industry, more people can come across it increasing traffic and awareness of your brand or product.  

By now, you should have already decided on a web hosting service, domain and have WordPress on your website. Remember, your content should all be optimized to increase your organic searches. Install WordPress SEO plugins like Yoast SEO so you can see if your post is optimized and searchable. Try reaching the suggested SEO target score so your efforts won’t go to waste!

Upload Blog Content

Don’t entirely focus on text when creating a WordPress site! Instead, make your website visually attractive by incorporating other forms of media like images and videos. Nowadays, many people don’t prefer or have time to read long-form content and simply scroll past it. Ensuring that your content is eye-catching and exciting can help you grab users’ attention, especially with so much competition going on. 

So instead of posting blog posts that are heavy in text, try to break up the long content by adding related images.  As an alternative, if you have the resources to turn the longer pieces of text content into videos, give that a try too. This way, you’re adding more visuals and sounds to your website, making it more immersive than relying solely on text.

Images aren’t only great to make your content more presentable. You can also add tags to pictures and videos with the right keywords and increase your SEO score! Don’t forget, you’re not only doing this for your readers but for the algorithm, as well.

Adding links, such as backlinks and internal linking, are great ways to increase your SEO score further. Unfortunately, not doing this is one of the common mistakes for those just starting to create a WordPress site for their business. 

Don’t be afraid to backlink! As long as you’re pointing your users to an authoritative and non-competing website, you’re good to go. Doing this not only increase your SEO score, but you’re also supplementing more information to your readers, putting you in a position of reliability and trustworthiness. 

7. Plan out the design of your blog by choosing colors and fonts that reflect your brand

When you’re managing an online store, it’s essential to stand out from all the competition. Consider using Amazon DSP and the other advertising services if you want your products to become more visible. With added marketing initiatives, your traffic will increase. Ensure your website is presentable and valuable for a user or potential customer. 

The great thing about WordPress is it allows you to explore your creativity. It offers a ton of customization and colors to check out and select from, so see which ones fit your branding best. Choosing when you have a wide array of choices can get overwhelming, but don’t worry! You can choose from the templated designs available and modify them so that you may personalize your page with ease.

When you’re creating the design for your website, always remember to follow your business’ branding. Ensure this is well-defined before you work on any marketing materials, and that includes your website. If you have a creative team, ask for help developing a branding board that best describes your brand, or, as an alternative, build one out yourself. There are many free tools online that can help create branding boards. The purpose of your branding is so you can create cohesive material across all of your content, whether it be on your website, Amazon, or social media pages.

8. Include widgets like social media buttons and Google Adsense ads for added functionality

Widgets are a great way to promote other initiatives on your website. You could add widgets for many reasons. For example, you can build brand loyalty by sharing your social channels or generate a passive income on your website by promoting advertisements. Keep reading to learn how to use widgets on your website.

Invite your audience to find you on social platforms by adding social media buttons. By doing this, you can connect with them through the platforms that they often visit and inform them of updates and promotions from your brand. By doing this, you can increase your followers across social media platforms, better connect with your customers and build a community for your brand. In addition, you can run interactive content through social media like giveaways, surveys, or polls as a way to get feedback directly. 

Another way to use buttons and budgets is by using add Google AdSense to your website. Enabling this option means you are allowing Google to run ads on your page. So even if monetizing your site from ads is not your main priority, there’s no harm in integrating this option and earning passive income in the meantime.

9. Customize your menus and sidebars for a more “personalized” feel

After choosing the right theme and font for your WordPress website, customize your site by modifying your menus and sidebar. If you’re going for a minimalistic but modern look, a menu will be enough. But if you want to maximize the space, you can always add both.

The menu can contain items that include, About, Services or Products, Location, Contact, Gallery, and Blog, among many others. Of course, you can always customize this with the items that you prefer to highlight. 

Blog archives, categories, search bar, and social media links are typically included in the sidebar. You can also include your Instagram feed in this area, so users don’t have to click on your Instagram page to see how it looks.

Selling on WordPress opens up a lot of opportunities for you to promote your brand, especially if you sell on Amazon. Get creative by personalizing your website features for your brand. Develop the experience you want your customers to have when they encounter your brand.

10. Create pages for different sections of the blog like the “About” section or “Contact Me” page

Now it’s time to fill the page with valuable content that will benefit both you and your site visitors. 

Although creating an About Us” page is optional, we recommend putting some time and effort into building one. It’s an excellent way for you to familiarize your customers with you and your brand, allowing them to connect better with you. By including a “Contact Us” page, you can open communication between you and your customers for questions or concerns about their order or product. It allows you to remedy any issues and avoid your reputation from turning sour from an undealt problem. 

You can include how you came about the business idea and what it was like getting started. Nowadays, consumers don’t just buy the product. More often than not, they buy the brand and the story behind it. 

Your website should be where your customers learn more about your brand. You can be as honest or as selective as you’d like to be. While your social media pages will include many story-telling contents, you should consolidate everything on your website. Remember, your WordPress website has the advantage of sharing long-form content over trying to put all this information together on Instagram or Facebook pages.

Final Thoughts: Start Creating A WordPress Page For Your Amazon Business Today

Are you a seller currently using Amazon as your main e-commerce channel? Increase your reach by thinking outside the box and promoting your brand off the Amazon marketplace! Just because you’re selling on Amazon doesn’t mean you cannot take advantage of other platforms to increase your growth. 

There are so many benefits to being able to promote your products and brand on an external e-commerce site. Working solely on Amazon can often feel limiting on what you can or can’t do creatively on their platform. Having a website off of their marketplace allows you to create the experience you want for your customers on your store and share it the way you want. Maximize your resources and consider building a WordPress site for your e-commerce store!

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10 Best WooCommerce Multi-Vendor Plugins to Kick Start Your Ecommerce Store https://sparklewpthemes.com/10-best-woocommerce-multi-vendor-plugins-to-kick-start-your-ecommerce-store/ https://sparklewpthemes.com/10-best-woocommerce-multi-vendor-plugins-to-kick-start-your-ecommerce-store/#respond Fri, 24 Sep 2021 20:21:05 +0000 https://sparklewpthemes.com/?p=145789

Starting an eCommerce business can be exceedingly complicated to ascertain given the numerous steps and things in which a user has to go through. Above all, there are a bunch of useful content shared on this blog to help individuals derive a clear and direct experience on their WordPress site. One of which is the WooCommerce Multi-Vendor Plugin.

In this blog post, different multi-vendor plugins are put out here for users. These are some of the plugins we feel would be of great advantage to you. To be on a clearer stand, we’ve also explained what the multi-vendor plugin means and how much importance it plays for users.

You want to achieve a successful WooCommerce workplace. Follow this guide and assimilate its content. Feel free to reach us if you have any troubles assimilating the content of this blog. You would surely get a response as soon as the comment is dropped.

What is WooCommerce Multi-Vendor Plugin?

This is a medium to simplify the organization of your eCommerce store. First, WooCommerce on WordPress is a great way for users to begin their website with a host of opportunities to look out for in this workplace.

The phrase “multi-vendor” concerns a marketplace with lots of sellers. So, this plugin is a way of connecting a buyer with a seller and in that same instant, increases the sale and commission of the seller. Also, the maintenance, design, payment, shipping, and business translation are run by the plugin.

There are a lot of advantages this would give to you if employed on your website. You just started your site? This is a great way to begin. Apart from the large number of WooCommerce extensions designed to help you attain an easy and smooth expedition, the workplace plugin creates a world where buyers can reach sellers conveniently and simply.

And luckily for you, there are tons of WooCommerce Multi-Vendor Plugins to begin with!

Benefits of WooCommerce Multi-Vendor Plugins

The benefits are;

  • The cost of running an eCommerce business is minimally reduced because the multi-vendor marketplace takes care of varieties of things that make it up such as the payment gateway, shipping, managed hosting plans, scalability, and a host of others.
  • The seller’s products are easily shown to every user at the marketplace, which therefore reduces the level of marketing tactics for the seller. In other cases, the seller would have to look for ways to market his product to a potential buyer.
  • It can be a great way of running an eCommerce store with an ideal sales channel especially for small businesses.
  • It can greatly increase the presence of companies and other businesses around that world, at a small price.
  • Income generation is certain.

Ten WooCommerce Multi-Vendor Plugins for an eCommerce Store

For this guide, we are going to center our point of discussion on the various plugins that can help you attain the marketplace you yearn but by embedding this plugin on a WordPress site.

Read this section carefully. They are not arranged by ranks or in order. There are a lot of multi-vendor plugins out there and we have chosen ten(10) of these plugins which we perceive to be the best for an eCommerce store. You can employ any of the discussed plugins below. Their pros and cons would also be explained alongside their well-defined features. Therefore read carefully and pick the best for you!

1. Yo! Kart Multivendor

Yo! Kart WooCommerce Multi-Vendor Plugin

This is one of the topmost and well-grounded multi-vendor marketplaces with lots of thrilling attributes. One major feature of Yo! Kart, what sets it apart is the referral module designed to help users attain a wider audience or customer base.

For this multi-vendor marketplace, the referral module creates a shareable link that the user can distribute to his customers or friends for support. It even makes it more captivating because each individual gets a referral point. Pretty cool right?!

Other thrilling features of this multi-vendor marketplace are;

  • It is extensively customizable. With a host of customizable options, you can switch up the design of the plugin to suit your theme or brand style.
  • There is a regular update on the content such as the visual content, layout, design, etc. So, this leaves your viewer excited for the next update.
  • This plugin permits purchases from multiple vendors but the checkout would be in a single cart.
  • Switch between languages with Yo! Kart multi-vendor system. There are over seventy translated languages to choose from for your eCommerce store.
  • The organization of the product catalog can be easily managed from the admin page of the plugin. Update the settings to match your preference.
  • Choose between over twenty payment methods and an option to install more payment gateway.
  • In the admin dashboard, you can easily create and design a coupon tab that can be used for promotion and thereby increase sales.

Some of its benefits are;

  • It is easy to use.
  • It is extensively customizable.
  • User-friendly Interface.

It can also be disadvantageous because:

  • You can utilize just one domain.
  • And it lacks some basic features that can be necessary for users.

2. Dokan Multi-Vendor

Dokan WooCommerce Multi-Vendor Plugin

This multi-vendor system creates a whole new level for users that utilize the plugin. This is the best storefront multi-vendor plugin and also the most popular. It has a lot of improved features that differentiate it from other plugins out there which makes it widely utilized.

Apart from being the most popular WooCommerce multi-vendor plugin, it also allows users to take control of their plugins. You can easily control what happens on the plugin interface. The best yet is the fact that each vendor gets a dashboard where they get to keep track of their progress. 

This multi-vendor plugin offers a host of captivating features, some of which are;

  • A front-end dashboard is created for sellers. This is the admin area where most settings of the plugin take place. So, the control is in the hand of the seller.
  • You can easily create a workplace on Dokan in less than an hour. 
  • Each seller gets their dashboard with stunning and attractive storefront styles branded to the user.
  • There is a unique URL administered to the seller.
  • Sellers can create and manage coupons easily. There are lots of options designed to make the coupon on their site pleasing and captivating.
  • Get more authority and control with the PRO version. There are more options and more outstanding features designed for the users.

Some of its benefits are;

  • Versatility. 
  • It is easy to use.
  • It is a workplace with unlimited vendors
  • Outstanding controls and features.
  • You can earn in multiple ways, not just through product sales.
  • Accepts all themes in WordPress

But it can also be;

  • Costly.
  • There is little or low support.
  • And could be somewhat buggy.

3. WC Marketplace 

WC Marketplace WooCommerce Multi-Vendor Plugin

With a simplified and hassle-free process, you can easily create an eCommerce store with WC Marketplace. It is a great opportunity for beginners to kick-start their online business. This workplace creates a vendor dashboard for every seller which enables them to monitor their business progress, make significant changes to their site, and a host of others. The best thing is that in WC Marketplace, there is a marketplace for every online store. Do you want to achieve a large and successful online store like Airbnb or Amazon? Or you are thinking more of a rental marketplace like Yo! Rent. WC Marketplace has almost every type of marketplace that can be done with the plugin. 

This multi-vendor plugin offers a lot of thrilling features, some of which are;

  • Every vendor gets a personalized and user-friendly dashboard.
  • Flexibility. You can easily maneuver your way using the WC marketplace and there’s a setup wizard provided to supplement the user’s convenience.
  • Vendors can easily create pages using a comparable Elementor feature.
  • There is a marketplace for every type of product.
  • To secure the workplace, a list of vendors is provided for users which includes their basic information. This is to create a level of trust between the buyer and the seller.

Some of its benefits are;

  • It is easy to set up.
  • They have an impressive support team
  • Regular upgrades to fix security issues and bugs.
  • And supports multiple languages.

However, the plugin can be;

  • Often Buggy, and 
  • The frontend interface is quite basic, nothing new about it.

4. WCFM Marketplace

WCFM WooCommerce Multi-Vendor Plugin

WCFM Marketplace designs a lot of rich collections and tools for user satisfaction. This plugin is a made-up version of WC Lovers. We have the pro version as well as the free version. So, you can take up the free version minding your budget, and later on move unto the premium version. The premium version offers a lot more features but the free version is quite great as well. 

This multi-vendor plugin offers a lot of thrilling features, some of which are;

  • It permits users with lots of customizable options on the plugin.
  • There is an app for easier management and organization. You can easily oversee your website with the application.
  • There is a provision for extensive payment options for users. This is ranging from Stripe to PayPal to bank transfers, and a host of others. And an option to integrate another payment gateway if required.
  • Integrate and design your website with Elementor Options.
  • It provides for commissions that can also be customized. These commissions are not limited to product price, membership commission, fixed, vendor sale, and a host of others.

Some of its benefits are;

  • It is one of the best free frontend multi-vendor plugins on WordPress.
  • Impressive refund system 
  • Your buyers get to pay for products in numerous ways possible.
  • Its shipping management is very flexible to manage.
  • It supports some add-ons that can be integrated to give you a better user experience.
  • Live Chat Module.

It can also be disadvantageous in other ways because; 

  • Their customer feedback often complains about their support team.
  • It can be pricey to manage given the premium add-ons and pro version of the multi-vendor plugin.

5. YITH MultiVendor

YITH WooCommerce Multi-Vendor Plugin

This is a prominent WooCommerce Multi-Vendor plugin greatly utilized by users who would like to manage more than one vendor. There is a distinction between the administration and the vendor. And although, they both have their distinct functionalities. 

This plugin provides its users with pleasing and thrilling features that are captivating and hard to look back on. This plugin permits super admin control (pro version), generates commission, and you can also earn from the products published on your site.

Let’s take a deeper dive into the features of this plugin.

  • One can have more than one elected administrator to run the online store.
  • It allows users to sell and edit their products on the site.
  • It permits vendors to effectively create coupons.
  • A user can effectively manage the commission rates.
  • Get a reported analysis of your business from time to time.
  • Manage the site from an administrative dashboard.

Some of its benefits are;

  • The best and quite easy to use because of its simplified process.
  • Generate recurring income from the products published by your customers on the site.
  • This plugin keeps everything in check. You can easily manage orders, control reviews, manage passive income, and so on.

It could also be disadvantageous in the following ways;

  • There is no provision for a front-end dashboard for vendors.
  • Users might experience some glitches while setting it up.

6. WC Vendors Marketplace

There’s really no limit with WC Vendor Multi-Vendor Plugin. It is very extensive and does not constrain users on the number of products or vendors that can be placed on the site. So you can have varieties of products available on the site. Also, customize your site to your brand’s theme and let WC Vendor help you generate incurring income. There are so many ways to earn with this plugin. However, let’s dive into some of its features;

  • There’s no restriction on the number of products or vendors that can be set on the website. 
  • Multiple Payment Gateway
  • It allows users to earn in different ways or commissions.
  • There is an adequate amount of user control of the marketplace.
  • It also creates the WC Vendor Membership which permits the creation and selling of the membership.

Some of its benefits are;

  • It is versatile and easy to use.
  • You can earn in multiple ways under commission.
  • Effectively manage your product from the admin dashboard.
  • You can have varieties of vendors or products on your site.

It can also be disadvantageous because;

  • It does not generate a report analysis for users’ business progress.

7. WooCommerce Product Vendors

This Multi-Vendor plugin is created by the WooCommerce team. It empowers sites to become versatile and the best marketplace for varieties of purchasing and enhances business transactions between the buyer and the seller. You can sell anything on this marketplace. Therefore it is not restricted; products or vendors of different kinds can be displayed with this plugin.

It permits a lot of useful features that can aid the vendor in achieving and managing his marketplace in the best way possible. Some of which are;

  • You can sell anything in this marketplace.
  • It gives some level of control to vendors in the management of the site.
  • It gives reports after analysis of the business every month. 
  • You can set a specific commission rate in the marketplace.
  • The plugin can be linked with WooCommerce Bookings in order to keep up with a time-based environment for the vendors.
  • You can make payments to vendors manually, instantly, or in between a time frame.  

Some of its benefits are;

  • Vendors can manage their public profile which is a good thing in the long run.
  • There are no restrictions on the type of products or vendors that can be in the marketplace.
  • Receive commission payment which could be a recurring income for you.

It could also be disadvantageous in this way.

  • Its features can be said to be lacking compared to other WooCommerce Multi-Vendor Plugins.
  • It has no basic front-end dashboard for the user or the vendor.

8. WC Vendors Pro

Vendors Pro WooCommerce Multi-Vendor Plugin

This plugin is quite flexible and it adds features that permit the marketplace to be extendable to all other functions that can reduce the workload of the user. These features are updated regularly. Therefore, the functionality of the plugin keeps growing further. 

It provides a front-end vendor dashboard that manages the basic settings of the product, coupon, and other similar things in this line. And the marketplace admin deals with the marketing tactics put forward to deal with captivating potential customers to your marketplace.

However, some of its thrilling features are;

  • It permits multiple commission types for users.
  • With a dashboard created for vendors, they can manage some basic settings on the site.
  • Provision for shipment tracking. A great way of ensuring goods accessibility and security.
  • Customizable template to suit your taste.
  • Social media accounts can be integrated into the marketplace.

Some of its benefits are;

  • It supports and enhances most marketing tactics.
  • Impressive support team.
  • It can be best used for digital products.

It can also be disadvantageous because;

  • Its features are minimal compared to other WooCommerce Multi-Vendor plugins.
  • It is built specifically for digital or virtual products.

9. Mercado Pro

Mercado Pro WooCommerce Multi-Vendor Plugin

This is a new plugin but its functionality can be very beneficial to users. It offers lots of appealing features such as a personalized dashboard, internal chatting between the admin and the vendor, and so much more. You even get more with the pro version.

Some of its unique features are;

  • There is a separate personalized vendor store. The vendor manages the product, order, coupon, and so on from this store.
  • Some level of managing capabilities is granted to the vendor.
  • It puts everything under your control as the admin of the marketplace.
  • Multiple commission
  • Multiple vendors 
  • Google Map and Mapbox API can be integrated into the site.
  • It accepts Ajax live sort, filters, and search.

Some of its benefits are; 

  • It is simple, flexible, and easy to operate.
  • Vendors get front-end dashboards without any reload issues.
  • Live chat supported.
  • Ajax supported 
  • Vendors can track their sales funnel.

It can be disadvantageous because;

  • It’s a new plugin that is new to the market, and therefore still requires some adjustments.

10. Webkul WooCommerce Multi-Vendor Marketplace Plugin

This is one of the best multi-vendor plugins for all eCommerce stores out there. The plugin offers some unique and appealing features that would surely help turn your WooCommerce store into a multi-vendor store. Some of its features are;

  • It permits multiple sellers with multiple profiles.
  • Sellers can view and edit the profile information.
  • The marketplace admin can enable the users to enlist themselves as sellers through the seller central option.
  • The admin asserts a ranging level of control over the production management, commissions, track sales chart, and so on.
  • A URL can be incorporated into the marketplace for SEO purposes.
  • The admin manages the review of the seller from his end.
  • Google Analytics can be incorporated to help find and track some useful data.

Some of its benefits are;

  • The mobile app is supported by Android/iOS/tablets.
  • Supports SEO tactics for marketing products.
  • The admin level of control could be put to good use.

It can be disadvantageous because;

  • The front-end dashboard is bland( nothing special about it).

Follow this table for more insight and then pick your choice. 

Plugins StarterLifetimeSupports free Version
Yo! Kart Multi-Vendor$999$6999No
Dokan Multi Vendor$112$484Yes
WC Marketplace _$494Yes
WCFM Marketplace$49$484Yes
YITH Multi-Vendor€ 99,99              _ Yes
WC Vendors Marketplace$199$599Yes
WooCommerce Product Vendors$79_No
WC Vendors Pro_$97No
Mercado Pro_$14Yes
Webkul WooCommerce Multi Vendor Marketplace Plugin_$99No

Final Content

All the required information has been put together. Try reviewing all the content and let us know which you think is best! 

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How to Write SEO-friendly WooCommerce Product Description? https://sparklewpthemes.com/how-to-write-seo-friendly-woocommerce-product-description/ https://sparklewpthemes.com/how-to-write-seo-friendly-woocommerce-product-description/#respond Mon, 20 Sep 2021 07:13:11 +0000 https://sparklewpthemes.com/?p=145670 WooCommerce is an SEO-friendly platform. However, it doesn’t mean that if you use WooCommerce, your website will be ranked high automatically. 

If you want to make your products visible online, you should put extra effort into SEO optimization. You need to master the art of SEO writing and learn other techniques to further improve WooCommerce product descriptions.

We’ve created a guide that will help you to get started. Keep on reading and learn new SEO tips you can use for your WooCommerce store.

Target audience

Before you start writing, you should define your target audience. You need to get a clear understanding of who will visit your website and read your product descriptions. 

Why it’s so important? It will allow you to understand what you should write in your product description and, most importantly, what keywords you should use.

Know your customers

You should analyze the demographics and psychographics of your target audience. You should define not only how old your customers are and what their income level is, but also what lifestyles they lead and what attitudes and beliefs they have.

Imagine that you sell jewelry for women. You may target two types of customers:

  • Target group #1

Women, 30+ years old, married, have kids; middle-income level. This group of customers buys jewelry to wear for special occasions like birthday parties and weddings. They search for earrings and necklaces that will match any outfit.

  • Target group #2

Men, 30+ years old, not married; high income level. This group of customers buys jewelry as gifts for girlfriends to make an impression. 

This group of customers looks for sophisticated jewelry that stands out.

If you want to sell earrings to these two target groups, you should adjust the descriptions of your product accordingly. Here is an example of a product description you can use to grab the attention of the first group, the women.

Screenshot source: https://www.nykaafashion.com/priyaasi-rose-gold-plated-ad-studded-dual-toned-earrings/p/359834

If you create a product description for the second target group, you should use words like “breathtaking” and “glittering”. That’s exactly what wealthy men are looking for when shopping for fancy gifts.

Screenshot source: https://www.angara.com/p/ruby-and-diamond-halo-teardrop-earrings-se1764rd

The better you understand your target audience and its buying intent, the more compelling the product description you will create. Therefore, we highly suggest you focus on target audience research before moving to the next steps.

Keywords usage

The proper use of keywords is crucial for SEO success. For this very reason, you should research keywords thoroughly before jumping to product description writing. You should analyze the search queries of your target audience and choose the keywords that will more likely bring you more traffic and sales.

Let’s get back to our example where you sell earrings. You need to find keywords for this product.

Screenshot source: https://www.angara.com/p/classic-ruby-six-petal-flower-earrings-se1085rd

What focus keywords will you use? Will you opt for a very specific, long-tail keyword “ruby flower stud earrings”, or will you choose the less specific keyword “buy ruby earrings”? 

Use keyword research tools

To make the right choice, you need to analyze these keywords using Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, Ubersuggest, or similar tools. You should find out which of these keywords are associated with the lowest competition level and the highest traffic.

According to information provided by Ubersuggest, the keyword “buy ruby earrings” has a high SEO difficulty level. So you should opt for another keyword, for instance, “buy ruby stud earrings”. This keyword will bring you less traffic, yet the traffic itself will be of higher quality.

Screenshot source: https://app.neilpatel.com/en/ubersuggest/

Using keyword research tools, you can also find relevant secondary keywords. Here is an example of such keywords:

  • Ruby earrings
  • Flower earrings 
  • Diamond stud earrings
  • Stud earrings 14k gold
  • Buy ruby earrings online
  • Best ruby earrings to buy

Choose target-audience-specific keywords

Naturally, you need to choose the keywords with your target audience in mind. For example, if your buyers are the men who shop for gifts, you should be aware that they will not use search queries like “ruby flower stud earrings”. Instead, they will Google phrases like “best earring gift” or “fancy earrings”.

Think wider 

Note that different people name the same product differently. For instance, people who consider buying ruby earrings may use the word “red gems” instead of “ruby”. 

Try to think like a customer. How would you name your product? What features of the product would be the most important for you? Research the keywords that come to your mind and add them to your keyword list.

Incorporate keywords naturally

Search engines do not tolerate keyword stuffing. So don’t include keywords in each and every sentence. To get the best results, you maintain the natural keyword distribution. Use keywords only in those sentences where it makes sense. 

Quality of product copy

You have already analyzed your target audience and researched keywords. What’s the next step?

Now you can start writing your WooCommerce product description. 

Make it useful and relevant 

WooCommerce product description should include information about the key features and benefits of the product. Also, it should describe how it feels like to hold/use/wear your product. Since shoppers see your products only in pictures, you should help them to imagine how your products look in real life.

Tap into customers’ feelings

What will people get if they buy your product? They will get something more than just a physical item, don’t they? 

You should understand one important thing. People are not really interested in your products. They are interested in the feelings they can get from buying and using your product.

For instance, if you sell dresses, you should understand that women don’t buy your products just because they need something to wear. They buy your dresses because they want to feel beautiful and stylish.

If you sell home décor items, you should be aware that most of your customers buy blankets and candles not for a practical purpose. They purchase these items to make their home feel cozy.

When you write a description, think of the things your customers really want to get and try to find the right words that will resonate with them. Here is an example of a well-written WooCommerce description. The seller of the blanket states that his product can help customers “transform their

sleep space to a relaxing oasis”. That’s a great phrase that grabs the target audience’s attention.

Screenshot source: https://www.decorist.com/finds/237659/ugg-charger-plaid-wool-throw-blanket-in-sesame/

Provide explanation

When you make a statement that your product is comfortable, compact, easy-to-use, etc., make sure to provide some proves or explanation.

Take a look at the following product description. It not only states that earrings are “comfortable”, but also explains why it’s comfy to wear them while sleeping.

Screenshot source: https://comfyearrings.com/shop/modern-amethyst/

Keep it short

Modern people are busy people. On top of that, they have a short attention span. Thus, you can’t expect them to enjoy reading long WooCommerce product descriptions.

If you want to grab and retain the attention of modern customers, you should keep your product descriptions short and concise. You should provide shoppers with the information that influence their buying decision and don’t overload your product description with unessential details.

Well, there is no such a thing as a “perfect length of WooCommerce product description”. It all depends on the product you sell. If your product has lots of features and benefits, for instance, kitchen appliances, you will likely need to write a longer description. But if you sell lingerie and linens, your product description ought to be short.

Present the most important information upfront

The vast majority of website visitors read only the first sentence of the product description. So when you write a detailed description, make sure to put the most important information first. 

If you need help with polishing your WooCommerce product description, hire a writer. There are many writing experts out there who work on students’ requests “write my research paper for me” and company’s requests “edit my SEO copy for me”. Many of them offer affordable prices, so their assistance will not cost you an arm and a leg. 

Create unique product copies

Whether you offer 20 or 200 products, you should create unique copies for each of them. If you write one product description and try to rewrite it a couple of times, it will not work. 

Even though some of your products may have similar characteristics, they need to have different unique descriptions. That’s the only way to improve SEO ranking.

Write for people

Once more time we want to emphasize that if you want to make your product description SEO-friendly, you should make it “people-friendly” in the first place. 

What does it mean? It means you should make your texts engaging and interesting to read. You should create product descriptions for real people and then optimize them for search engines, not vice versa. 

If you write texts for the sake of SEO only, it will not work in your favor. You will not be able to attract real customers and make sales.

On-page SEO

Have you just finalized your WooCommerce product description? We have a few more tasks for you. Here are two important things you should do to boost your on-page SEO.

Optimize your product page titles

Every product page has its title tag. The title is the first thing that search engine crawlers read and the first thing that customers see when they discover your product page.

Screenshot source: Google search page

If you want to promote your products effectively, you should write product page titles with these SEO tips in mind:

  • Include SEO keyword
  • Use descriptive adjectives
  • Make each product title unique
  • Put your domain name at the end of the title
  • Keep your title under 50-60 characters
  • Consider adding call to action words like shop, buy, get a discount

Write meta description

Another important element of on-page SEO is a meta description. 

Web crawlers and users use the meta description to check whether your product page is relevant to the given search query. If you write a winning meta description, you will drive more traffic to your website, and consequently, more prospective customers will read your product description.

Screenshot source: Google search page

Here are a few tips that will help you create an effective product meta description:

  • Make it informative and descriptive
  • Include SEO keywords
  • Keep it short – under 160 characters
  • Try not to use the stop words like ‘an’, ‘the’, ’and’ etc
  • Include the product name and key features and characteristics

Competitors

If you want your eCommerce business to succeed, you should watch your competitors like a hawk. You should analyze their SEO strategies and learn from their best practices.

If you notice that one of the competitive websites has recently gotten to the top of the search results page, analyze the changes that have been incorporated. Check product descriptions, page titles, and meta descriptions for updates. 

If a new SEO strategy has worked for your rival, the chances are it will also work for you. For instance, if you find out that your competitors effectively use affiliate marketing, the same tactic will likely benefit your eCommerce store too.

SEO trends

SEO is not a constant thing. Search engines update their search algorithms on a regular basis, and it’s pretty difficult to keep up with all new trends. 

However, if you want to keep your WooCommerce store afloat, you should be aware of at least the most important updates. Subscribe to SEO blogs, follow SEO bloggers on social media, or find another way to join the SEO community.

Wrapping up

SEO writing is a true art, and it may take you some time to master it. If your current product descriptions do not work effectively for your WooCommerce store, don’t hesitate to rewrite them. The more you will practice in product description writing, the better the results you will eventually get.

Keep improving your writing skills and enhancing your product copies –  and you will achieve outstanding success. Use tips from this article to take your first step toward the improvements.

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How To Increase The Max Upload Size On WordPress https://sparklewpthemes.com/how-to-increase-the-max-upload-size-on-wordpress/ https://sparklewpthemes.com/how-to-increase-the-max-upload-size-on-wordpress/#respond Mon, 06 Sep 2021 04:18:11 +0000 https://sparklewpthemes.com/?p=145134 The incessant essentiality of WordPress to numerous users seems to widen constantly by and large, and inaddition to the need for an increased upload size file. WordPress serves as the center of human wants because of the distinct yet important usage it plays for us. It allows you to create websites for various purposes ranging from a simple blog to an eCommerce store blog.

As a beginner or long-term site user, you would discover that the continuous usage of WordPress tools and plugins on your website can help you achieve your goal, in creating awareness or selling some products on your website. 

This goal can however be curtailed by the restriction placed on your website to only allow a certain size of file or plugin or theme. This restriction is created for the user’s and visitor’s convenience. 

Detailed content has been created for your convenience to help you learn various techniques that can be implemented to increase upload size of files, or themes, or plugins on your website. Indeed, this is a great avenue to achieve an high level of optimization of your website on WordPress.

So, let’s dive in!

The Importance of upgrading the uploadable size of your website

And before we dive into the main cause of action, let’s take a look at the various reasons as to why it is required though not mandatory to increase the size limit in WordPress.

The varieties of files that can be uploaded on WordPress makes it a great avenue to deliver consistent content to your readers or audience. This is obstructed by the limitation fixed on the uploadable file size on the site. 

On WordPress, there are varying methods that users can employ in their individual strategies. Therefore, if your line of work requires you to upload high-resolution pictures or videos directly to your website, then you might have to consider increasing your upload size. 

Yet this is not mandatory. If you are fine with the allocated upload size on your website then you do not need to change it. Or if your site does not require uploading large files or so on your site. 

It should be noted that even though it is not mandatory, it is advisable because you would attain a better experience upon that. 

The main reason why there’s a limit is to avoid the website from being over jammed or to prevent a server’s time out. Regardless, the restriction may prevent you from uploading themes, plugins, or other files that exceed the size given to you on your website. 

Therefore it is essential for you to increase the max upload size of your website.

Importances

  1. Maximize the little to nothing allocated size on your WordPress website. Although, a big part of it is due to your host provider and the host plans. 
  2. Strengthen your connection with your reader or audience with more in-depth content such as files, themes, and plugins. With a larger file size, you have wider possibilities
  3. .For installing a plugin or theme on WordPress, you might need a large upload size for better uploading and to avoid errors or issues.
  4. For a better user experience, you might consider increasing your max upload size. This however entails not just you as the user but also your site’s visitors.
  5. Also, if your site is about selling digital files, a larger upload size would be better and more feasible for you.

These reasons are however subjective. You as a person may have other individual reasons why you need to increase the max upload size of your website. But the bottom line of all the reasons is to inform you of the essentiality of increasing it because of the restriction. 

Various mechanisms to employ to check the max upload size in WordPress

So, before deciding on whether or not you would want to increase the max upload size of your website, then you should at least know the particular upload size of your website. 

On a normal basis, the max upload size of all WordPress most times ranges between 4 MB to 128 MB. Therefore, your website upload size would fall between those numbers. Your host provider has a major role to play in the upload size allocated to your website, therefore, you should ensure you pick the best web host provider

This is why it is essential to carefully choose one’s host. You have to strategically examine the host you consider and choose it because of its performance and support. It is unsafe to nonchalantly pick out a host without a full examination of how much this host can help your site. 

In Addition, it also depends on your hosting plan. Whether you seek out a big or small plan, it also affects your upload size because the plan feature is the host’s decision to make.

How to check the upload size of your WordPress Site

Now, to the order of the day, if you want to check the upload size of your website, you should move to your Admin Area of your WordPress, select the ‘Media’. Select ‘Add New’. From there you should be able to see the upload size of your website.

You can either select ‘Add New’ seen on the smaller page at the side or from the larger page. Both lead to the same goal but if you select the one on the larger page, it is done in a way to help you upload files from your system. 

Either way, you should be able to see the max upload size of your website. 

You can also selectively check it through the site health page. It is also quite simple. You would simply move into the info page of the site health of your website. From there, you should be able to sight ‘Media Handling’. Click on it and you should be able to view your site’s max upload size.

Study the image to understand more.

Best Practices to employ to increase the max upload size in WordPress

There are some easy ways you can employ to help you up the upload size of your website. The size limit in WordPress can be said to be an obstacle to numerous users whose basics of creating the website in the first place is to share contents that are large sized. They are however obstructed by WordPress restrictions.

However, these are three simple and easy ways to help you increase the upload size of your website. This is categorized from others because it is simple and easy to implement. The other ways you can achieve this involve the use of codes and other technical things. 

You should be able to apply the highlighted ways to achieve a higher upload size for your website. It is also advisable to take on this method before moving on to the ones involving codes and other technical aspects. Though you do not have to strictly follow this, you just have to figure out the one that works for you.

So let’s begin!

Contact your web host provider 

This can be said to be an easier alternative to increasing the upload size of your website. You can easily contact your host provider, state your issues to them, and allow them to proffer a solution to it. They should have the means to solve this. We advise that this should be done first before you begin with other technical alternatives.

And by chance, if you don’t have a hosting provider, you can look up the best web host providers for WordPress on their official website. 

The host you choose can go a long way in creating an impact on your site either positively or negatively. So ensure you choose one that suits your website needs or requirements. 

Multisite 

This entails managing multiple sites with just a single WordPress installation. This type of website is made easy to fix the upload size issue because it allows WordPress to run the site individually on the same installation but performs quite efficiently. 

Although, these sites would have their own media repository but they all share the same resource. 

Here, all you have to do is navigate through the Admin Area, into Network > Settings.

You should be able to see the ‘Max upload file size’

There you can easily change the numbers in the box. 

It should be noted however that you can not exceed the allocated upload size stated by the server of your website. It has to be within what is already stipulated. This method proves useful when you have an upload size lower than that allocated to your website.

Use of FTP/SFTP

You can upload large files directly to your WordPress website using FTP/SFTP. This is a very helpful tool that allows users to upload files from the system to the server or download files from the server to the system, and other useful implements.

So, you can also utilize the use of FTP/SFTP to help upload a large file to your website. Although we do recommend the use of SFTP because it is more secure. 

Another alternative to FTP/SFTP is the Add From Server Plugin. This is in case of any circumstances that prevent you from using FTP/SFTP.

Use of plugins 

This is a great alternative to the use of code or programming languages to change the upload size of your website. They are quite efficient but they require strategic steps, to the extent that if it is not installed or operated rightly, it might not just work for you.

There are numerous WordPress plugins created to help increase the upload size. Some examples are; Upload Larger Plugins, Tuxedo Big File Uploads, and so on.

However, we are going to take on the Increase Max Upload Filesize plugin. It is highly recommended because of its effectiveness. 

To use this plugin, you have to search and install it by navigating through your WordPress Dashboard, then Plugins, and lastly Add New

Search for the plugin afterward.

When found, install and activate correctly.

Open the plugin and change the number given which represents your website upload size.

After the change, don’t forget to save the modification.

It’s really that simple. 

Techniques that can be utilized to increase the max upload size of your website in WordPress

We’ve discussed the basics of this content and also stipulated some easier ways in which you can apply to your site in order to solve the upload size issue. However, there are times whereby you may come across a mulish case or a troublesome host. At this point, none of the preceding alternatives would do any good to you. You can therefore apply these technical methods. 

Although these methods are technical in nature, they do not require special technical knowledge to understand it. And this guide has been created as detailed as possible. So all you have to do is read, understand, and apply the practices to your website. Most even involve just copying the code to your website. 

So sit back and apply the ones practicable to your website and ensure you follow them appropriately to attain your desired result.

1. Use of .htaccess files 

Many of us might not be familiar with this but .htaccess is like the stronghold of your website. It basically controls your website performance and it acts as a channel to communicate with your host provider.

And you can also use this channel to increase the max upload size of your website in WordPress.  

However, you have to make sure that your server is utilizing Apache. You have to also ensure that the PHP of your website is in Apache mode as well.

Therefore, you can copy these codes and add them to the .htaccess file of your website.

1. php_value upload_max_filesize 32M

2. php_value post_max_size 32M

3. php_value memory_limit 64M

4. php_value max_execution_time 300

5. php_value max_input_time 300

To do this, you have to connect your server through an FTP client and locate the WordPress installation file. Afterward, you would open up .htaccess through a notepad and then paste the copied codes. However, ensure that you’ve made hidden files visible because .htaccess is a hidden file.

You can edit the code numbers, fix your desired numbers to the one suitable for your website. You should note that number (4) or (5) is quoted in seconds, so you have to decide which is preferable to your site. 

This techniques are a way of attaining WordPress Optimization.

2. Use of Nginx

Nginx, like Apache, is a web server that is variously utilized for performance optimization in WordPress. So you can also implement the use of Nginx to increase the upload size of your website. These procedures may however vary depending on the host server you are using on your site.

So for this step, it would require you to search for your php.ini file in the Nginx server. Modify the upload max file size and the post max file size to your desired size and save the modification. 

Afterward, in the Nginx. conf file, you need to modify the max upload file as well. You need to set this appropriately at the location, server, and http.

Save modification and restart Nginx to apply changes.

You can employ this code to reload – sudo service nginx reload

3. Make changes to your php.ini file 

This is also a great technique to allow you to increase the max upload size of your website. This technique works great for different users and it’s simple to apply. 

Now, all you have to do is search for the php.ini file in your root directory. You can utilize the use of a file manager in your host’s dashboard at the c-panel to help search for it. Or as an alternative, you can use FTP/SFTP. 

Search for the file, and if not found, you can create another php.ini file.

However, the way it goes, add this code to the file; 

upload_max_filesize = 10M

post_max_size = 10M

max_execution_time = 300

Copy and add these codes to it. And you can try out 64M instead as an alternative. 

4.  Make use of user.ini files

 Sometimes, you might not be able to achieve the desired result with the phi.ini files. There are times where your server configures your website to take cognizance of user.ini files rather than phi.ini files.

However, both require the same process for an increase in the max upload size in WordPress.

Locate the user.ini file in your root directory. Employ the use of FPT or the file manager app of your host’s c panel dashboard. 

If you are unable to locate it, then you can create a user.ini file. 

Add these codes to it

upload_max_filesize = 10M

post_max_size = 10M

max_execution_time = 300

As seen, the code and process are similar to that of phi.ini. 

This method has proven to be quite useful to individuals that employ this method. Therefore, endeavor to follow it systematically and appropriately. 

5. Make changes with the use of WordPress themes to increase max upload size

If it’s more comfortable for you, you can increase the max upload size in WordPress by changing your theme. Doing so would change the value of the current upload size of your website into a default value. Then you would add these codes to the functions.php of your theme.

@ini_set( ‘upload_max_size’ , ’64M’ );

@ini_set( ‘post_max_size’, ’64M’);

@ ini_set( ‘max_execution_time’, ‘300’ );

You can set it to your preferred size from the code. However, it goes, ensures the code is inputted correctly to the functions.php file of your WordPress theme to change the upload size of your website.

How to confirm the max upload size of your website after applying the given techniques.

After taking up any of these techniques, you can check and confirm if the technique was successfully implemented on your website. For this, you would have to follow the same procedure as explained before. Move into the Media Library of your website dashboard in WordPress.

Confirm if it has been successfully changed.

If it has, congratulations to you then. You can unrestrictedly upload files, or themes, or plugins as you please. This entails that although there is still a limitation as to things you can upload on the site you have a wider spectrum than the previous size.

However, if not successful, you can try out other techniques which you have not tried out and apply them accordingly on your website.

Conclusion 

These are the varying ways you can increase the max upload size of your website on WordPress. These distinct ways can be tasking and perhaps difficult to apply accordingly, so you have to figure out which you could work on and apply it on your website appropriately. 

As earlier stated, the reason why there’s a limitation in the first place is to prevent issues that could reduce WordPress optimization of websites and ensure that WordPress distinct features satisfy user’s needs and also user’s convenience. 

Therefore we can say that WordPress is a Versatile Content Management System that provides extendable features that can be easily harnessed by the user for various individual reasons. Even the WordPress Community is a great avenue to seek answers to any issue related to WordPress that you require to be solved. 

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WooCommerce vs. Shopify: Which Is Best for Your eCommerce store? https://sparklewpthemes.com/woocommerce-vs-shopify-which-is-best-for-your-ecommerce-store/ https://sparklewpthemes.com/woocommerce-vs-shopify-which-is-best-for-your-ecommerce-store/#respond Thu, 02 Sep 2021 18:37:15 +0000 https://sparklewpthemes.com/?p=145419 There are so many blogs and guides out there dictating between WooCommerce and Shopify and trying to state which is better for you to utilize on your eCommerce site. But there are so many things you have to consider before deciding, and we would also let you know the one we pick and why we choose it!

This is a common showdown among users who are confused as to which to pick. Whether you’re a beginner or long-term user, looking at redesigning your website or want to commence a bandwagon for your product or content. Then stick around till the end and know how much impact the right platform can do on your site.

We are going to dive in deep, strategically covering up the necessary points that would aid your knowledge and reading. 

So, if you’re in search of a simplified yet detailed understanding of both platforms. Then stick around, read to the end, and let us know what you think in the comment section. 

What is WooCommerce?

WooCommerce

So, for the better understanding of readers, most especially newbies who are inexperienced with the whole concept of WooCommerce. Or are wondering why they come across the word so much but have no idea what it means. Long-term users, on the other hand, can just follow the overview in a like-mind.

WooCommerce is not exactly an eCommerce site but the significant feature it offers as an open-source plugin for all sites to make it function properly as an eCommerce site.

WooCommerce kicked off in 2011, but now, it is the most popular eCommerce platform utilized by over three million users on their WordPress site. This plugin is installed and activated on the website. 

One distinguishable feature between WooCommerce and Shopify is that the former is distinguished to be a natural platform for WordPress and it is flexible and convenient for users to modify their site to their discretion since it is self-hosted. By self-hosted, it means the store files remain in a single server that is embedded in it, unlike Shopify. 

What is Shopify?

Shopify was launched in 2004, but unlike WooCommerce, the former is not an open-source platform but runs powerful features provided to its user at a monthly fee and commission. But aside from this, it makes up for this by providing users with reliable and user-friendly components that are variously employed to run their eCommerce store.

Another notable feature is the fact that Shopify employs a user-friendly nature that gives room for beginners and individuals with no technical skills. However, the utilization means that your store would run by Shopify software which although is wide but limited. Therefore, you can only make modifications that are permitted by the software, unlike WooCommerce which is self-hosted. 

Trend Overview

Although this is not a major factor for you to decide which is best for your site. But since we are looking at a lot of grounds in this article, we are going to cover the market share trend and figure out the popularity level of both platforms.

As claimed by BuiltWith, it states that as of 2018, 21% of websites employ the use of WooCommerce compared to Shopify that uses 18% of users’ websites. And this research was carried out on the top one million sites on the web.

But with more critical analysis, the research done with other top ten thousand websites stipulates that WooCommerce is 17% behind Shopify and it is greatly utilized by top authority companies. WooCommerce is seen as one of the top alternatives to Shopify but the differences give room for both platforms to grow and perhaps outgrow. 

You should remember that WooCommerce was earlier launched compared to Shopify that has been established for quite a while. The milestone Woocommerce has reached should not be overlooked. 

WooCommerce vs Shopify

WooCommerce being blue and Shopify being red. We can see the steady growth between both platforms as it gradually passes over the years. And at the end of the trend, there’s a slight increase by Shopify.

And though this is not a reason to choose one over the other. It’s preferable you gain more insight into the features they provide and choose the one comfortable and convenient for your eCommerce store.

However, before moving into the features comparison, let’s take a look at this breakdown. 

Comparism Shopify WooCommerce
Number of Users using the platform.Source: Builtwith1,300,000 plus3,300,000 plus
Installation ProcessDirect and EasyComplex and Simple
Themes AllocationOver 60(Free + Paid)Infinite 
Price Range
Trial Section14-days free trial without the use of credit cards.NO
Sales EnterpriseFrom 0.5% – 2%NO
Prices paid monthly Shopify Lite: $9/monthly
Basic Shopify: $29/monthly
Shopify: $79/monthly 
Advanced Shopify: $299/monthly
FREE
Properties 
HTML Compatibility Yes Yes 
BlogsLimitedYes
Email NewsletterYes Yes, but subject to a plugin
SEOYes Yes 
Mobile VersionYes Subject to the theme
Product Editor
SupportYes Yes, with an active community of users
StorageUnlimited Limited depending on the server
E-marketing Options
Inventory ManagementYes Yes 
Payment GatewaysYes Yes 
Connectivity to the MarketplaceYes Yes 
CSV Catalog ImportYes Yes 
Offline Payments TrackingYes Yes 
Size of the Catalogue OptionYes Yes 

What to look out for when choosing between WooCommerce and Shopify? 

Picking the best from both eCommerce platforms can be herculean because both platforms provide users with lots of indisputable features. These features are best used by users to improve their eCommerce store, promote awareness, and obtain a better rank on the search result page. 

So most users are either eager to choose the best for their store or would just want one that perfectly suits their taste, budget, and convenience. 

Therefore if you want to know which to pick between WooCommerce/Shopify, stick around, and let’s discuss the factors or grounds you should consider before deciding the one that best satisfies your needs. 

1. Installation Process

Due to popular opinion, yes, the installation process of both platforms does matter. 

For WooCommerce, it takes the process of installation and activation and a level of knowledge on WordPress sites (this is pertinent where you have barely any knowledge as to the connection of your site to WooCommerce). 

WooCommerce installation package

The WooCommerce installation, fortunately, comes with a guide to take you through the whole process of connecting your site to it. So, don’t feel discouraged because it’s straightforward and only takes a few minutes of your time. And in addition, there are provisions for blogs, tutorials, and the WordPress Site community who would come up with discussions as solution to issues on one’s sites. 

However, you have to go through the process of installation and activation of the plugin, installation and configuration of WordPress, and other basic information such as the tax payment, payment gateway, shipping features, and a host of others. This has to be done accordingly before you can use WooCommerce on your eCommerce store. 

A step-by-step guide on the installation process of WordPress sites with other related plugins can be found here.

For Shopify, this is undoubtedly more simple compared to the WooCommerce installation process. All you have to do is create a Shopify account, sync an existing domain name or buy a new one, and finally set up the payment getaway or if you already have an existing Shopify payment gateway process, then it’s easier for you to evade that step. 

2. Practicability

This is also a good factor to consider when comparing both platforms. Now, we would want to figure out which is practical enough for your understanding, that is, easy to use and manage. 

With the aim of giving your visitors the best website experience, you would want to choose a platform that can be easily managed and operated to suit your convenience. Here, you are tasked with making online deals, managing customers feedback, vendor issues, and a host of others. You should ascertain that the platform suits your eCommerce store and can therefore match your work line. 

Here, WooCommerce wins this round because it provides features that help users to simplify their site’s setting to fit their convenience. For example, the eCommerce payment processing feature. 

3. Level of control over site’s functionality

Another thing to look out for is the level of control you would have over your website over time. You would want to choose that which is flexible and administer a level of website control to the user. 

Here, we have WooCommerce as the clear winner. 

Shopify gives its user some level of control of the website functionality but it is a limited variation, meaning that it’s not a self-hosted site and can not assert the same flexibility that WooCommerce provides.

With WooCommerce, you can;

  • Customize your theme. There are unlimited themes to choose from(both free and paid).
  • Customize your domain code 
  • Extend your WooCommerce feature with additional plugins designated particularly for WooCommerce. Amazing right! There are lots of WooCommerce extensions that can aid your WordPress site. To mention a few, we have; WOOCS – Currency Switcher, Stripe and/or PayPal, Custom Product Tabs, Fancy Product Designer, Beeketing, WooCommerce Memberships, and a host of others. There are thousands of them out there. 

You can visit our blog site for more tips on how you can effectively employ WooCommerce to increase sales on your site. 

In comparison, Shopify offers limited flexibility to its users. This does not imply that it has no flexible content that it provides to its users but is limited. Like the product variation restriction placed in Shopify. Unlike WooCommerce that has no restriction, Shopify restricts its product variation to 100 variations for each product and three total product options. And this is not defined by the plan you are on. 

Shopify product variation

Apart from that, Shopify allows users to customize their HTML but only applies to their homepage and not all pages. 

So, Shopify allows a measure of control of the website functionality by the user but in comparison, it is unlike WooCommerce. 

4. Extension to Third Party Platforms 

Another factor to consider is if the eCommerce platform you want to set up for your store is not limited to just its features but can extend its thrilling features to external platforms. Things you have to consider here are things like if the platform allows the extension to other social media tools, and email marketing tools as well. 

These tools are to run side by side with the platform chosen in your eCommerce store. You might not be able to get it all with WooCommerce/Shopify but with the extension, you can get it all.

WooCommerce, like earlier discussed, there are over 50,000 extensions made available for WordPress websites to add. And we also have MailChimp; a third-party integration of WooCommerce that further aids email marketing. You can find more third-party extensions of WooCommerce here.

Shopify runs an app store with about 500 applications but if you want your eCommerce store with more admissible extensions, WooCommerce is a better choice.

5.  Customization

For this category, it’s hard deciding which is the winner in the WooCommerce vs. Shopify showdown. You should know that the theme and design play a major role in attracting your website visitors. Some visitors use the website theme and design as a reason to stay on the site. 

So, you have to buckle up and figure out the theme that matches your product and is capable of driving sales to your site. 

Shopify offers over sixty curated themes that can match your product website. In comparison, WooCommerce has lots of thrilling themes, and therefore, the user has a wide range of choices to pick.

Storefront is the official store for WooCommerce themes. 

To know exactly what you want, there is a detailed blog that discusses WooCommerce themes and picking that which you need for your eCommerce store. 

6. Payment method 

A major factor to also consider. Although both eCommerce platforms support lots of payment methods and even the popular ones. 

WooCommerce has a lot of support for major payment methods and even minor ones as well. They have over seventy payment gateway options made available for you.

some WooCommerce payment gateways

The major difference between WooCommerce vs. Shopify in the payment option is the fact that Shopify charged up to 2% extra charge on external payment gateway in addition to the normal payment gateway fee. 

7. Hosting Option

You should also try looking at the hosting features in Woocommerce and Shopify.

For Shopify, you don’t get the alternative of choosing another host, unlike WooCommerce. Here, your site would run under the Shopify server.

This is unlike WooCommerce where you get to pick the hosting provider of your site from a wide variety of host providers and subsequently you get to choose the host features such as the size or the bandwidth and other considerable things.

You have to determine the host plan you want to go for, pick the one suitable for your website and matches your budget size. You don’t want to pick a host that might fluctuate on days when you’re running a sale or special event on your website. This is why the option to choose your server is a good thing which is admissible only under WooCommerce.

And you can see how to improve the speed of your site and what may cause the slowness here

8. Maintenance Option

For this category, maintenance is wholly operated by the users unlike Shopify since it is not a self-hosted platform.

WooCommerce gives control and ownership to the user, therefore, the job to secure and maintain your website is given to the users. This is why the web host provider you choose has a great role to play in your website’s maintenance.

Your eCommerce store should have a good hosting provider because this decreases the level of maintenance you have to uphold on your site. This does not delimit the level of security and reliability which WooCommerce provides for its users.

9. Cost of Operation

Another factor to consider is the cost of operating WooCommerce or Shopify. The thing is, it is hard to ascertain which has a higher cost of operation since it depends on the package run by the user. For instance, the premium theme and plugins for WooCommerce, as well as the premium theme and apps for Shopify. This varies accordingly and can affect the cost of operation differently.

WooCommerce has a static price for the domain, hosting, and payment gateway. Shopify is also accountable and has a static monthly payment price that covers most activities done on your site. But this can also be affected by extra fee charges like the one placed on the external payment gateway on Shopify.

10. Multilingual Support

You would be surprised to find out that Shopify is not a great option for a multilingual store. So if your eCommerce store requires communication or connectivity with the world outside your location then you have to restrategize.

To enable Shopify multilingual support, you have to install Langify but have to pay $17.50 every month to continue enjoying its functionality.

Pretty high right! In a year, you would have spent over $200 just to enable the multilingual feature of your site with Shopify. This is aside from other charges you’re still going to make for your site with Shopify.

A preferable alternative is WooCommerce. It provides a multilingual feature with the installment of WPML.  And it is priced at $29 for the first year and $21 for the preceding years, or you can pay once at a commendable fee of $195.

Do the calculations.

11. Support system

Another factor to examine is the support system of WooCommerce and Shopify. Although they are versatile, there might come a time where you would need the support system for any issues.

For WooCommerce, it’s an open-source platform with no formal support system. But this is supplemented with a host of other mediums such as blogs, tutorials, and even the WordPress active community where various issues are collectively discussed and solutions are given.

There is no official support channel indeed but this does not seem to be a hassle because there are other means by which users can easily obtain information on a certain WooCommerce issue smoothly.

For Shopify, there’s provision for an official support medium. There is provision for emails, chats, or you can even try to get hold of their social media handle to communicate with them, and of course there’s the option of hiring a Shopify specialist to help with an issue in your eCommerce store.

12. Dropshipping Feature

For people who are new to the dropshipping feature, it allows eCommerce stores to be an intermediary between the actual supplier and the buyer. This permits the retailer to hold no inventory but displays the goods or product on the site and acts as an intermediary between the buyer and the actual supplier.

Both WooCommerce and Shopify make provision for the dropshipping features. This is to the level that they allow add ons and extension plugins and apps that support the drop-shipping feature on your site.

So I guess both platforms win this round.

Our top Pick- WooCommerce vs. Shopify

There are various reasons as to why we should pick WooCommerce over Shopify and vice versa. But it is pertinent for you to note that Shopify can be termed to be a storefront with product pages, so if you want more classical pages about your store, then WooCommerce should be your top pick.

We are choosing WooCommerce because of its;

  • Flexibility
  • User’s Controllable features
  • Customization
  • Multilingual support at a low-cost range, and
  • Reliability. Some products are banned from the Shopify product page. You can find more information here.

Conclusion

Our top pick is in no way degrading the excellent feature that Shopify provides to its users. The various factors discussed are a way of showing how much impact both platforms have on the world. But we are picking WooCommerce for the top five reasons stipulated in the preceding subheading.

If you have other reasons, do let us know.

However, choices in this showdown may differ, there are other blogs out there that pick Shopify over WooCommerce, this shows how both platforms provide excellent features to cause such an uproar.

So, take a step back, check the factors discussed again and figure out the one that would best suit your site.

You can also take on a trial period for each platform. But decide this knowing fully well that it is technical going through the migration process of your website for both sides.

If you’re in search of simplicity, Shopify is good for you, whereas if you seek ownership plus flexibility, then WooCommerce is the best option for you. But at the end of the day, it’s all up to you.

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