When agreeing to share information with you, your visitors provide you with the tools to create a personalized space to motivate them further down the sales funnel. You can use this data to anticipate their distinct needs and display different content, or target them with paid ads, for example.

Let’s look at three ways to leverage consumer data to offer personalized UX on your WordPress site.

1. Use Visitor’s Data Location to Add a Human Touch

Personalizing your customer’s experience using their location data is a valuable way to increase visitor engagement and retention. You can start with a pop-up greeting on your site based on the time of their visit or display weather alerts in their area. Serve each visitor unique graphics and visual elements based on their location.   

Use your visitors’ geolocation to promote your seasonal events or celebrations. Craft a product or service recommendations list based on the weather they’re experiencing: summer bathing suits, or winter ski jackets, for example, depending on their hemisphere. Personalization based on location doesn’t just give website visitors an online experience with a human touch; it can also encourage conversions by suggesting what they need before they know to look for it. 

2. Provide Customers with Personalized Recommendations

In 2022, 62% of customers expect companies to anticipate their needs. Gathering data based on your customers’ previous behavior on your website gives insights into their habits: how they shop, read, or which products they prefer; this allows you to make more impactful recommendations.

For first-time visitors, leveraging customer personalization can range from the simplicity of listing the most popular products on your website to drawing on more complex algorithms that take browsing history and search into account to make customized product or service recommendations. 

Tailored recommendations play an essential role in the sales funnel; in fact, studies have shown shoppers have accounted for 26% of revenue to ecommerce sales after product recommendations have prompted a purchase. 

3. Personalization Based on Referral Source

Personalized social media and Google ads can target specific consumers based on their location, age, buying habits, search intention, behaviors and interests, and the sites they visit.

Much like social media posts, paid ads are crafted to be as relevant to your target audience as possible; additional personalization incorporated into your landing pages maintains this personal relevance. Customize your web copy and messaging based on the site or platform your visitor came from, whether from Google ads, social media platforms, or email campaigns. You’ll also want to ensure that what you’re selling resonates and matches where they fall in the sales funnel, making their journey feel organic and useful. 

Each user is different; an Instagram user will not necessarily be looking for the same content or product as someone scrolling LinkedIn – ensure your website reflects that.  

WordPress is Here to Help

Knowing the when, where, and how to include personalized content on your website can be tricky, and the options can seem overwhelming. While personalization isn’t necessarily an out-of-the-box feature of WordPress, you can implement many useful plugins to get the best results out of your website possible. Some plugins that we have personally vetted and approved for use in personalization efforts are:

1. LogicHop. LogicHop allows users to implement personalized elements to their sites within minutes. Tailored personalization options are also possible so that you can create a specific journey for each user unique to their data.
2. If>So. If>So is similar to LogicHop, allowing users to create and serve visitors dynamic content using a straightforward system that doesn’t require coding. Change your content according to the user’s location, time zone, or behavior (first-time versus returning visitors, for example). If>So comes with built-in analytics, so you can keep track of your content’s performance.
3. Hyperise. Boost your website’s visual personalization by implementing Hyperise. Increase user engagement through hyper-personalized graphics, pictures, and videos, which you can easily implement without using code. For ease of use, Hyperise can be integrated with thousands of marketing tools.
4. Growthmatik. A picture is the sum of its parts, and Growthmatik helps you paint the most holistic multi-channel picture of your customers. Growthmatik’s tools will turn your audience into consumers. Using smart popups, reactive to the right audience at the right time, or self-sending emails, prompting your customers in the right direction, the plugin’s holistic customer data profiles ensure you reach the right person across multiple channels.

If all of the above sounds like something you’re not quite ready for, reach out to our team of WordPress wizards. Our WordPress support and maintenance plans will help you create a WordPress website that users will keep flocking back to.  

The post How to Incorporate Personalization on Your WordPress Site appeared first on WordPress Support & Optimization Specialists.

Founded in 2012, Maintainn was one of the first WordPress maintenance companies to offer 24/7 security monitoring, daily off-site backups, updates to WordPress core, themes, plugins, a dedicated WordPress support desk, and custom development. Maintainn was acquired in 2014 by WebDevStudios.

As a result of the acquisition, SiteCare will incorporate Maintainn’s assets into its WordPress support and maintenance portfolio. The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

“As we become a leader in the WordPress maintenance and digital marketing space, Maintainn will help us accelerate our efforts to deliver a best-in-class support solution to WordPress sites around the world,” said Drew Barton, founder and CEO of SiteCare. “Our commitment to building the best client experience is strengthened with Maintainn as part of our family. We are thrilled to welcome Maintainn’s clients for an exceptional experience.”

The acquisition will allow WebDevStudios to focus on large-scale development projects. While at the same time, SiteCare will continue to offer first-class WordPress support services and introduce its suite of digital marketing services to an even wider audience.

“This is an exciting new chapter for Maintainn,” said WebDevStudios CEO Brad Williams. “Our partnership with SiteCare catalyzes future growth between our two companies.”

This is SiteCare’s second acquisition of a WordPress management company. In 2018, SiteCare acquired WP Site Care. It is the company’s fourth acquisition in as many years. 

About WebDevStudios

WebDevStudios (WD3, LLC) is a website development company focusing on custom WordPress websites and plugin development, providing custom solutions for clients like The Wall Street Journal, Starbucks, Microsoft, Viacom, and the National Basketball Association.

About SiteCare

SiteCare, LLC is a WordPress support and maintenance leader with a full suite of digital marketing services. With clients and staff worldwide, SiteCare is growing a community of WordPress site owners with its SiteCare Club and training seminars on search engine optimization, user experience, and more. 

The post SiteCare Acquires Maintainn appeared first on WordPress Support & Optimization Specialists.

Few things obstruct your productivity more than a site error message. Whether first sitting down to a day full of tasks or trying to knock out something quickly, learning your site isn’t functioning properly can derail your to-dos entirely and cause full-blown panic until you troubleshoot the issue. But, if your WordPress site is displaying a message stating, “Your PHP installation appears to be missing the MySQL extension which is required by WordPress,” don’t worry. We’ve got your back.

This common error likely means you only need to perform a simple update. It can be fixed within a couple of minutes to help you return to work and keep your site running optimally. 

Here’s our quick-yet-comprehensive walkthrough that will help you do exactly that.

PHP and MySQL Refresher

Before jumping into the troubleshooting basics for an error message stating: “Your PHP installation appears to be missing the MySQL extension which is required by WordPress,” let’s run through a brief refresher on PHP and MySQL:

• PHP – A general-purpose programming language most commonly used for web applications. WordPress and its functionality are written with PHP. The language is periodically updated, and the most recent version of PHP is 8.1.

• MySQL – An open-source relational database management system (RDBMS) that runs on structured query language (SQL) and is used to create, modify, or extract all of your data, which is stored in database tables. Essentially, that’s the fancy way of saying it stores your website options, settings, and content.

Fortunately, WordPress makes site management easy enough that you don’t need to get into the nitty-gritty technical details. Anyone can easily fix this issue from their WordPress Dashboard or by following the step-by-step guide further below. 

But it does help to know the actors involved in this error when you’re troubleshooting it!

What Does “Your PHP installation appears to be missing the MySQL extension” Mean?

This common error message means the version of PHP that your site runs on—and the version of MySQL you use— are suffering from a disconnect. There’s merely a missing or misconfigured extension within your PHP installation that—when operating correctly—enables your site to connect to MySQL and access the data stored in your WordPress database.

It’s a simple mismatch between the versions you’re running for each, and the error can almost always be solved with the proper update or extension configuration.

Why Does the PHP and MySQL Error Occur?

Beginning with version 5.5.X, PHP deprecated—or dropped—the MySQL extension after replacing it with one for MySQLi or for PDO_MySQL. It’s as if PHP suddenly forgot MySQL’s name from that point on and draws a blank every time your site tries to call out to your database.

So, if you’re using the most recent versions of PHP and WordPress with MySQL, this error is quite common.

Alternatively, a PHP extension in versions released before 5.5.X might be misconfigured and point to an incorrect file location—much like calling out the wrong name instead of drawing a complete blank.

That means we just have to help PHP remember MySQL’s name to fix the error.

Troubleshooting the PHP and MySQL Error

Fixing your PHP and MySQL error can be done from either the WordPress Dashboard or through an FTP Client. From the Dashboard, you can only perform updates to ensure the correct versions are running. If you need to check for a misconfiguration error, you’ll need to use the FTP Client.

Additionally, keep in mind that updates improve speeds, fix functionality bugs, and patch cybersecurity vulnerabilities. So it’s always in your best interest to run the most current versions.

Dashboard Troubleshooting

There’s a quick and simple process to fixing this issue in a few steps directly from your WordPress Dashboard:

Confirm which PHP version you’re using – Although checking your PHP version won’t solve the problem, it does provide essential diagnostic information. Once you know your PHP version, it’s easier to determine whether mismatched updates or a misconfiguration is the source. You can check your PHP version by following these steps:

Click “Tools” in the left sidebar of your WordPress Dashboard to expand the sub-menu. You can also navigate to your control panel for your PHP version number, but its location may vary depending on your hosting provider and which control panel you’ve integrated with your site (e.g., cPanel).

Click “Site Health” from the options below “Tools.”

Check whether WordPress recommends you update your PHP version. If so, this will be listed under “Critical Issues,” and it will also display your version number. Versions above 5.5.X are probably missing the extension, while versions below have a misconfiguration that needs fixing. If you can’t find your version number, you can contact your hosting provider for it.

Confirm which WordPress version you’re using – As outlined above, this PHP and MySQL error message likely comes from incompatible versions. So, the next step is to see if your version of WordPress needs updating:

Click “Updates” in the left sidebar of your WordPress Dashboard, located toward the top and just below “Home.” If you see a red circle with a number inside of it, that’s how many updates you have awaiting installation—but they may not be for your WordPress version.

If a newer version of WordPress is available, click “Update Now” to begin the installation. Important note: If your WordPress installation hasn’t been updated in quite some time, the likelihood of this update process breaking your website is quite high. We recommend using a staging site or contacting our team for assistance updating WordPress.

Similarly, check the “Updates” page to see if any of your plugins and integrations require updating, as they may contribute to the issue.

With your WordPress and PHP versions updated, the “Your PHP installation appears to be missing the MySQL extension which is required by WordPress” message should disappear.

Using Your FTP Client

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) allows you to transfer files over the internet, including from the machine or device you’re working on to your hosting server. FTP Clients are applications that facilitate the transfer. That means you can use your FTP Client to request information about your WordPress site directly from the hosting server.

To do that, simply:

1. Log into your FTP Client.

2. Open your “public_html” folder—your root WordPress directory folder that contains all other directories and files.

3. Create a new file in the “public_html” folder named “phpinfo.php” and open it to edit the contents. Critically, remember to delete the “phpinfo.php” file once you’ve finished troubleshooting to prevent anyone from discovering essential configuration data about your site. Leaving that file is a massive cybersecurity risk.

4. Add “<?php phpinfo(); ?>” to the file.

5. Open your web browser and enter your WordPress site’s URL, followed by “/phpinfo.php” (e.g., mywordpresssite.com/phpinfo.php).

6. The page your web browser should display will contain extensive information about your website’s PHP installation. In the top left corner of the page, you should see your PHP version number. As mentioned above, any version that is 5.5.X or higher is likely missing an extension that is fixed with a version update, while any below is likely misconfigured.

Your WordPress version can be updated from your Dashboard (as described above) or directly through your FTP Client. To do so, download the latest version from https://wordpress.org/download/ and follow the instructions provided by WordPress’ support documentation.

Troubleshooting with cPanel

Using cPanel is another method to troubleshoot the PHP and MySQL error, but not every WordPress site has access to it. Some hosting providers include it with their service as an easy-to-use dashboard interface for site management, but others may offer their own custom dashboards instead.

If you’re using cPanel, you can navigate and log into your dashboard and scroll down until you find the “Software” tab. There, you’ll find an icon named “Select PHP Version.” Clicking this icon will tell you which version is running, provide you with a dropdown list to update PHP for your site, and allow you to select your extensions from a list.

When updating your PHP to a version more recent than 5.5.X, you’ll need to check the “mysqli” and “mysqlnd” extensions.

Running PHP Version 5.5.X or Earlier

If you’re running a version of PHP that should still connect seamlessly with MySQL, you’ll need to check that extension’s configuration to ensure it’s properly set up. You can do that by following these steps:

Return to your “/phpinfo.php” web page, and locate the row for “Client API version” in the “MySQL Support” section.

If no information is present in this row, your MySQL extension is missing and must be installed by you or your hosting provider. Alternatively, the MySQL extension won’t be necessary if you update to the latest PHP version.

Misconfigured PHP Extension

If you’re running the latest versions of PHP and WordPress, you can ensure your extension is properly configured by looking for the “Loaded Configuration File” and “extension_dir.” rows. The file path values in these fields should match identically.

However, if they don’t match, you can fix this by:

1. Returning to your root WordPress folder (i.e., “public_html”) and opening the “php.ini” file.

2. Replacing the file path listed with the value displayed in the “Loaded Configuration File” field.

If you’ve completed all of these steps—ensuring compatible versions and configurations—and the error message persists, you’ll need to contact your hosting provider or a WordPress support provider like us at SiteCare.

And again, remember to delete your “/phpinfo.php” file once you’ve finished troubleshooting to protect your website. You don’t want your site information and configurations available to anyone who might try directly navigating to that URL.

Troubleshooting WordPress Errors with SiteCare

Some error messages and WordPress site issues like “Your PHP installation appears to be missing the MySQL extension which is required by WordPress” prove to be major problems (despite being easy fixes). Others may require extensive support to remedy.

Either way—if you’re not technically inclined or simply don’t want to risk worsening your site troubles by mistake, that’s what SiteCare is here for.

Our team of experts provides full-service WordPress support, from back-end management to SEO strategies that boost your page visits. We’re the all-in-one WordPress service that enables anyone to elevate their brand and website.

Contact us today to find out how we can take site management and SEO out of your hands so you can get back to what drives your business.

The post PHP Installation Missing the MySQL Extension appeared first on WordPress Support & Optimization Specialists.

Gutenberg introduced block-based editing

A revolution in easy-to-use website creation, Gutenberg introduced block-based editing to WP’s massive user base. Although WordPress designed the Gutenberg editor to be more intuitive, there’s still a learning curve—especially if you cut your teeth on the Classic editor. And while you were once able to fall back on Classic, WordPress cut off support for the original system in 2022.

So, whether you’re venturing into WordPress for your first time or you’re a WP wunderkind in need of a refresh, these five Gutenberg tips and tricks will help you find your footing in this exciting new world.

1. Get a grip with these Gutenberg tips and tricks

Before you start publishing posts and embedding images, it’s worth taking a tour of everything Gutenberg offers. To begin, let’s create a blank post and explore.

As always, you’ll start in your WordPress dashboard—which, conveniently, hasn’t changed much at all. After logging in to your site, set up a new post by navigating to Posts > Add New. 

In the Classic editor, you would now be staring at a word processor. Instead, Gutenberg gives you a sleek, modern canvas to express yourself. There are three sections to look at here:

• The block inserter – In the top left corner of any page or post lies a plus sign (+). Clicking this button unveils the block inserter. WordPress has categorized popular content pieces into a collection of “blocks,” including Paragraph and Heading. We’ll touch on these blocks shortly.

• The editor – At the center of the page is your editor. Not much has changed here from the Classic editor; this is where your content will take shape.

• The sidebar – In the top right corner, you’ll see a gear icon. Clicking it activates the sidebar, where you can play with post visibility, permalinks, tags, and much more. This section should also feel familiar to you as a Classic connoisseur.

Spend some time clicking around, and you’ll quickly realize how intuitive the transition from Classic Editor to Gutenberg is. From there, the magic can begin.

2. Discover the beauty of blocks

When it’s time to publish a new post or page, you’ll bring your thoughts to life with blocks. Blocks are the building blocks of every WordPress post and page, and they make content creation infinitely easy.

The process is simple: To add content, add a block. The most common options are:

• Paragraph
• Gallery
• Audio
• Video
• Image
• List
• Cover
• Heading
• Quote
• File

However, there are countless convenient blocks to make your life easier. Want to embed a Tweet? You can. Need to add buttons? No problem. You no longer need a coding background to design a dazzling website (though you can still customize your content further with CSS).

Even better, you can change and rearrange blocks on a whim, so you’ll never have to settle for a “good enough” web page again. Moving a Paragraph, Heading, or any other block is as easy as clicking and dragging or pressing the up/down arrows near each block.

3. Drag and drop your diagrams and drawings

Gutenberg has also simplified the process of adding vivid visuals to your website.

In the Classic editor, you had to line up your cursor in the text field, click Add Media, then upload a file or choose from a pre-uploaded picture. It wasn’t difficult, but it was time-consuming—especially if you wanted to place an image next to your text.

With Gutenberg, you can drag and drop a file directly from your desktop into the editor. If you prefer, you can also add an Image block and upload your photo from there. Remember, moving blocks around is effortless, so you’ll have plenty of freedom to experiment with picture placement.

Adding a gallery is equally easy—create a Gallery block, add your photos, and rearrange them as you please!

4. Speed up with shortcuts

When you’ve learned on Classic, switching to Gutenberg may cause an initial dip in productivity. However, you can regain—and even surpass—your original workflow speed with shortcuts. Of course, the Classic editor had its share of keyboard shortcuts. But, once again, Gutenberg takes convenience to a new level.

Memorize a few of these hotkeys, and you’ll be a content-slinging superstar:

• Duplicate the selected block (Ctrl + Shift + D)
• Open the block list view (Shift + Alt + O)
• Navigate to the nearest toolbar (Alt + F10)
• Move a selected block up (Ctrl + Shift + Alt + T)
• Move a selected block down (Ctrl + Shift + Alt + Y)

If the new layout of Gutenberg has you scratching your head looking for a familiar chunk of content, you can also hit the backslash (/) on a new line and type the name of a block.

For a complete list of shortcuts, open the editor and press Shift + Alt + H (on PC) or ⌃ + ⌥ + H (on Mac).

5. Curate consistency with reusable blocks

One of the biggest pitfalls of the Classic editor was the inability to reuse content quickly. With Gutenberg—you guessed it—it’s a cinch.

When you create a block that you envision using all over your site—say, a “Buy Now” button or a table with shipping rates—you can save it as a Reusable Block. To do so, click the three dots on the right side of any block’s toolbar, then hit Add to Reusable blocks.

Now, whenever you start on a new post or page, you can access your saved block by opening the block inserter and clicking the Reusable tab. Creating a consistently branded site is now that much easier.

Bonus tip: work with the WordPress wizards at SiteCare®

These five Gutenberg tips and tricks are merely the tip(s) of the iceberg. The best part about Gutenberg is that, despite its simplicity, it’s unbelievably powerful once you dive in. All you have to do is take the plunge.

That’s where SiteCare® comes in.

If you want to start using WordPress like a pro, we’ve put together a detailed explainer in our resource center. And when you need even more support, the experts at SiteCare® have you covered. 

From managed WordPress hosting to development services, you can leave the website of your wildest dreams to the pros. Get in touch with us today to find out more!

The post Gutenberg Tips and Tricks to Help Transition from the Classic Editor appeared first on WordPress Support & Optimization Specialists.

WordPress caters to this eventuality with a selection of maintenance mode plugins, which enable registered users and administrators to work on the site’s backend while keeping the site unavailable to the public for a short period.

This blog explains what maintenance mode is, when it’s needed, what potential disruption it can cause if not implemented correctly, and how to choose and set up a maintenance mode plugin on your WordPress site.

What is WordPress maintenance mode?

WordPress’ Maintenance Mode is similar to the Back In 5 Minutes signs that retailers hang on their locked shop doors when needing to pop out to run errands. It’s activated using a WordPress plugin to set up a dedicated landing page that lets online visitors know that the site is temporarily offline for maintenance and repairs and will be back online shortly.

Why is maintenance mode important?

Communicating to visitors that a website is only momentarily inaccessible is essential for discouraging any assumptions that a business or website no longer exists. Companies that fail to explain why their websites can’t be reached risk losing potential leads and conversions; this is especially true for eCommerce sites, where any downtime can lead to a loss in sales and revenue.

In addition, a maintenance mode plugin lets you pass a 503 status onto Google to let Google know not to crawl and index your site until you are back online again. Why is this important? If taken offline, all links to your site will appear broken, leading to ‘404 Page Not Found‘ errors when anyone (including Google Bot) attempts to access it. You then run the risk of Google de-indexing your site, negatively impacting its rankings and visibility in search.

WordPress Maintenance Mode alerts Google that your site is temporarily unavailable by redirecting Google to a 503 HTTP message. Google’s Bot then knows not to crawl and index your website and to come back for re-crawling only once you are happy for it to do so.

When do I need to use maintenance mode?

Most minor site tweaks or updates, such as uploading content, adding new pages, or installing plugins, won’t need maintenance mode activated. However, there are instances when putting a website into maintenance mode comes in handy. It is wise to take a website down when making significant changes to a WordPress site, such as changing themes or implementing feature upgrades, switching or upgrading plugins, or migrating a website to a new domain. This is especially true for websites that don’t have a staging website for testing new changes.

Can anything go wrong when my WordPress site is in maintenance mode?

Apart from de-indexing concerns, it is also possible for a site to get stuck in maintenance mode once updates have been completed, leaving the site inaccessible to online users and Google far longer than planned.

This may happen if you:

• Try to update too many plugins at once.
• Close the browser before an update is complete.
• Or if there’s an error resulting from compatibility issues when updates are being made.

To fix this error, you’ll need to log into your site using a file transfer protocol (FTP) program to find and delete the .maintenance file in your site’s root folder. If deleting the file doesn’t resolve the issue, you may need to rerun the last update from when your site became stuck in maintenance mode to ensure the update was successful.

What impact will a site in maintenance mode have on my marketing?

Driving traffic to a website in maintenance mode is a waste of ad budget and bad for user experience. Before taking your website offline, ensure that all involved parties have enough time to adjust their marketing messaging and tactics accordingly.

Your marketing team will potentially need to:

• Coordinate any marketing activities and campaigns around the proposed web maintenance dates.
• Pause any ads that redirect customers to your website to save on budget.
• Set up alternative customer communication channels to attend to customers’ support needs and queries. (Social media is an excellent platform for engaging online users while a website is temporarily down.)
• Help customize the messaging on the maintenance mode page and other marketing channels to set expectations around when the site is back online, and share alternative contact details that can be used to reach you for assistance.
• Ensure the 503 status is being correctly passed on to Google.

How do I set up WordPress Maintenance mode in WordPress?

Start by choosing a suitable plugin for your maintenance mode landing page. Once installed, you can customize existing templates to build a landing page using your brand style guide.

The following are two maintenance mode plugins that work well for WordPress.

1. SeedProd

The SeedProd plugin has over 4,000 five-star ratings and one million active installations. The plugin is compatible with any WordPress theme and can help create highly-converting landing pages, maintenance mode pages, 404 pages, a Coming Soon page (for new site launches), and more.

The plugin is easily installed via the WordPress dashboard. Click on your Plugins icon on your dashboard, and then on “Add New.” In the search tab, type in “Coming Soon,” Click on “Install Now,” and follow the prompts to install the plugin.

Follow similar steps as above for finding and installing the WP Maintenance Mode plugin from your WordPress Dashboard.

2. WP Maintenance Mode

While less popular than SeedProd, with only 200+ five-star ratings and 800 000 active installations, the WP Maintenance Mode plugin is easy to activate and use.

Templates are fully customizable for building out branded maintenance mode pages. Features include a countdown timer to let visitors know when your site will be accessible again and a subscription form for collecting visitors’ email addresses to notify them about the site’s availability.

You can also add a contact form for users to contact you directly if needing your assistance while the site is offline.

Follow similar steps as above for finding and installing the WP Maintenance Mode plugin from your WordPress Dashboard.

Use our five-point checklist as a guide if you need help deciding which WordPress plugin to select and install.

What Should My Maintenance Mode Page Say?

Your maintenance mode page needs to keep potential customers in the loop and ensure they can access your products and services even if your website is down for maintenance.

Use the page to communicate the next steps visitors can take to reach you and by when they can expect your site to be back online.

Include a clear call-to-action (CTA), inviting potential customers to schedule a call, request a quote, or sign up for an email notification to let them know your site is accessible again. You can also include a CTA that redirects them to your social media channels for ongoing communication and engagement until your site is back up and running again.

WordPress Maintenance Mode is a handy tool for ensuring you don’t miss a marketing beat if your site ever has to be taken offline for major upgrades or changes.

If you have any other questions about WordPress maintenance or development, feel free to reach out to SiteCare for support. We are more than happy to assist.

The post Everything You Need to Know About WordPress Maintenance Mode appeared first on WordPress Support & Optimization Specialists.

• Studies show that slow-loading websites tend to have higher bounce rates.
• Nearly 40% of shoppers visiting a website with a longer loading time will take their business to competitors.
• Ecommerce sites with product pages or shopping carts that take forever to load run the risk of customers leaving the site before purchasing.

Moreover, Google now factors user experience (UX) when ranking websites in searches. This means that slow sites won’t rank and will have less chance of being found online. Even websites that don’t sell products can lose revenue if they don’t offer a good enough user experience to help them stay visible.

Fortunately, there are ways to keep your clients’ WordPress sites in tip-top shape to prevent bad UX. This blog looks at a few of the leading causes of slow websites and recommends seven performance tools you can use to optimize your clients’ websites.

What Impacts a Website’s Performance?

From the server on which your clients host their WordPress sites to the browsers that visitors use to access them, there are several potential points of failure that need regular monitoring to ensure an optimally performing website.

We have a more detailed article on the performance factors to consider when optimizing a WordPress site, which you can read by clicking here or on the image below.

Alternatively, for a simple refresher, let’s look at the impact your hosting provider can have on a website’s performance.

• Hosting:
  All websites are stored (or hosted) on special computers that can directly access the internet, called servers. Web hosting service providers offer server space to house a site’s databases, code, images, and other files and make the site available on the internet. Different types of web hosting services can impact a website’s performance. For example, shared hosting can slow your site down, as several businesses simultaneously relying on the same server resources (e.g., storage space and software applications) can lead to slower performance.
  
  This blog explains web hosting in more detail and reviews some of the top hosting service providers available for WordPress sites, including FlyWheel, SiteGround, and WP Engine.

• Server location:
  A server’s physical location can also affect a website’s performance. The image files, CSS, JavaScript code, and other data that make up each web page all have to travel from the server’s address, across the network, to the device or PC used to access the website. Depending on the distance, this can slow down a site’s speed and provide a poor user experience.
  
• Caching:
  A web cache lets site visitors experience fast-loading pages by storing parts of the website in their browsers or within different software layers running on the webserver. Caching speeds up loading and improves a website’s performance as less of the site’s data needs to be delivered through a browser to a users’ device. Caching is managed by how your clients’ sites have been configured and with plugins. If caching hasn’t been implemented correctly on your clients’ websites, this may well be why they are underperforming.
  
• Images:
  Despite a growing expectation among online users that a website will have engaging visual content to help them find the services and products they are searching for, oversized media files can negatively affect web performance. Large image files can overload browsers and cache, leading to a slow website, increased bounce rates, and less time spent on your clients’ webpages. This is especially true if website visitors live in regions where high-speed broadband isn’t readily available. Optimizing each image for loading speed can significantly enhance a website’s performance.
  
• Front-end code:
  Unlike traditional websites that use HTML, modern sites use Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and JavaScript to style each web page. Unlike HTML, JavaScript requires the server or visitor’s computer to process the code to display the website on the page. This increases the need for more resources to deliver a fast experience.
  
• WordPress database:
  Websites built on WordPress have an integrated database for storing data, like usernames, passwords, comments, pages, and posts. Overloading the database can impact your website’s performance. Furthermore, an unchecked WordPress database will accumulate unnecessary and obsolete data, making it challenging to retrieve other information as quickly as needed.

How to Optimize a WordPress Site

A good web host and ongoing site testing, WordPress maintenance, and monitoring are essential for staying on top of any issues that may impact a website’s performance.

A WordPress performance plugin and other tools are also used to improve site speed. With the top six potential points of failure in mind, let’s look at some of the tools commonly used to keep a site in optimal condition and the best WordPress plugins to speed up website performances.

1. Content Delivery Networks

A Content Delivery/Distribution Network (CDN) involves a collection of geographically distributed and interconnected third-party servers used to house cached copies of internet content, such as videos, images, and web pages, to speed up its delivery.

Since the location of host servers impacts a WordPress site’s performance, CDNs store and deliver copies of static web content from a server nearest to the user accessing the site. This way, data doesn’t have to travel as far to reach a user’s device. CDNs also help reduce network congestion, especially in shared hosting environments, and provide an additional layer of security.

Click here for a more in-depth look into how CDNs work and how to choose one for your WordPress site.

Among the most popular of CDNs is Cloudflare. Cloudflare helps optimize outbound content, static cache content and accelerate dynamic content (such as on-demand or live videos) for faster loading times on your site.

Other popular CDN options for WordPress include:

• StackPath
• Amazon CloudFront
• Fastly
• KeyCDN
• Image CDN from WordPress.com
  

2. Redis Object Cache

Object caching is server-side caching that stores database query results for when they are next needed to speed up your WordPress page load times. Here’s how it works.

When a visitor accesses a site using a browser (i.e., Chrome, Firefox, Safari), the browser sends a request to the server to retrieve the information it needs. This query goes all the way to the website’s database, where it is processed to deliver back the requested information – or ‘object.’

Object caching makes a copy of the requested information for future use. When a new user is looking for the same information, it can be retrieved directly from the cache rather than the server database to increase efficiency and minimize unnecessary loads on the server.

The Redis Object Cache provides a caching mechanism that acts as a substitute for the MySQL database. When a user visits your WordPress page, MySQL queries (commands used to retrieve data from the web database) are served through Redis, which caches the results rather than the database itself. This process helps achieve faster load times, promoting your WordPress site’s performance.

Like any WordPress plugin, using Redis Object Caching starts with installing and configuring the tool, then installing a PHP extension and the Redis Object Cache plugin. Most managed WordPress hosting services offer Redis Object Caching; you can check with your host to verify if they have an option to activate the plugin.

3. Imagify

WordPress Imagify plugin is an advanced image compression tool used to auto-optimize images on your website – without compromising image quality – to help speed up a site’s delivery. Image compression doesn’t reduce the physical dimensions of an image; instead, it compresses the data required to store the image to disk, giving it a smaller overall file size.

Imagify offers three compression tools: Normal (which only removes redundant data for zero image quality loss), Aggressive (which eliminates expendable data and can reduce image quality), and Ultra (which can lead to a significant loss in image quality).

4. Perfmatters

Perfmatters is a premium WordPress performance plugin used to speed up a site by stripping unnecessary CSS and JavaScript code, disabling unneeded plugins that are slowing down a site, and keeping the site’s database clean and optimized.

• Disabling plugins. Some plugins load on each web page whether needed or not, impacting site speed. Perfmatters allows you to disable unnecessary plugins on a page-by-page basis, to enhance performance.
• Removing unnecessary code. Over time, most sites and web pages tend to accumulate unused or excess code that can lead to ‘bloat.’ This means that web pages are unnecessarily big and take longer for browsers to retrieve and display. A tool like Perfmatters focuses on minor HTTP, CSS, and JavaScript optimizations. A website with fewer HTTP requests (i.e., requests to the webserver that can slow a site down) and leaner code helps enhance and streamline the user experience.
• Optimizing the database. Perfmatters also allows you to optimize and clean up your WordPress database, including deleting old auto-drafts, spam comments, trash, and tidying up database tables.
• Implementing lazy loading. Web images and videos can significantly slow down a web page as it loads. As the name implies, lazy loading delays loading these web elements until they are needed – i.e., at the point when users scroll to that section of the page to view the content.

5. Minify Plugins

A WordPress Minify plugin is among the most common tools to enhance a WordPress site’s performance. Minify plugins speed up page loads by compressing the HTML source, inline JavaScript, and CSS to reduce file sizes. Minify tools help remove all unnecessary characters from your website’s source code – a process known as ‘minification.’ Combining, minifying, and caching inline CSS and JavaScript files helps increase site loading times.

Autoptimize is an all-in-one Minify plugin that aggregates, minifies, and caches scripts and style, including injecting CSS into page headers, inline key CSS, and deferring the aggregated full CSS. The plugin also helps optimize images and remove WordPress core emoji cruft (jargon for badly-designed or redundant code or software).

6. WP Rocket

WP Rocket is another powerful WordPress site speed optimization plugin designed to ensure websites achieve blazing-fast load times, essential for improving SEO rankings and maintaining visibility. The plugin handles page caching, cache preloading, browser caching, code minification, lazy loading, database, and image optimizations.

WP Rocket is the recommended plugin for controlling browser caching headers on a website. If it fails for some reason, WP Super Cache or Comet Cache can be used as an alternative to controlling cache headers.

7. WP Sweep

Old auto drafts, revisions, comments, user data, and other content stored in your WordPress database tend to slow your servers. The WP Sweep plugin cleans up your site’s unused, orphaned, and duplicated data and optimizes database tables to achieve faster load times.

While this sounds relatively harmless, bulk optimization tools like WP Sweep can considerably alter a database. You run the risk of losing every stored content piece on your website – so, before running a database optimization tool like this, be sure to back up your database so you can restore it should anything go wrong.

As you install and configure optimization plugins for your clients’ WordPress sites, remember that many solutions have overlapping functionality. Combining plugins won’t necessarily result in better performance and can even decrease the performance of your website. Always be mindful of each optimization plugin’s intended purpose and function, and avoid giving the same job to more than one plugin.

If you feel unsure which WordPress performance plugin and tools will work best for your clients’ WordPress sites and need additional assistance getting them into optimal shape, please don’t hesitate to contact SiteCare. We’ll be happy to lend a hand!

The post Top 7 WordPress Performance Plugins for 2022 appeared first on WordPress Support & Optimization Specialists.

This is a key reason why Google’s page experience signal — which measures page speed, the stability of web pages, and user interaction — has played an essential role in how websites now rank in online search results.

If your clients’ WordPress sites get poor overall Core Web Vitals (CWV) scores, they won’t be as visible in searches as others in the industry that get a “thumbs up” from Google for their loading speed, visual stability, or seamless user experience. This is why fine-tuning a website for optimal performance is so important.

So, what exactly impacts a site’s performance, and what can you do about it? This blog looks at the top six performance factors for consideration.

Performance factor #1: Web host

Regardless of the website’s user-facing front, its files have to be stored somewhere. A web host describes the server space that houses all databases, images, code, and other files necessary to display and run the site. Naturally, the quality of the hosting service you choose can significantly impact your site’s performance.

Businesses often choose shared hosts as a comparatively cheap option because multiple websites share the same server. Shared hosting introduces performance bottlenecks and can seriously slow down your website when traffic gets high for websites sharing the same server. While a private or dedicated server is more expensive, you can rest assured that your server will be exclusively optimized for your WordPress site.

Regardless of the host type, reliability is critical. Ensuring that your WordPress host is appropriately configured, and has a reliable uptime, along with fast support, is key to sustainable website performance.

Performance factor #2: Website cache

A web cache stores pieces of your website in your visitors’ browser, so pages load more quickly each time they visit your site. Each of the three types of caching can have a major impact on performance:

1. Browser or client-side caching happens in your visitors’ web browser. The right configuration in your site can tell browsers how long to store information. Through WordPress plugins like WP-Rocket and WP Super Cache, you can control cache headers that help to optimize performance from the visitors’ browser.
2. Page or server-side caching cuts down extensive PHP and MySQL queries by serving simple HTML files to browsers that previously used the website. Its ubiquity and simplicity of use mean that every WordPress website should include page caching, controlled through all standard WordPress caching plugins like those mentioned above.
3. Object caching is especially relevant for highly dynamic websites that pull in lots of content, tables, user-generated content, ecommerce transactional data, and custom post types. Through a plugin like Redis, your website can serve users a snapshot of the site, reducing the load on your hosting server and improving page load times.

Performance factor #3: Website images

Online users love visual content, but these files tend to be the biggest ones on your site. Ironically, your oversized graphics can overload your users’ browsers and cache, making your website slow and unreliable, increasing bounce rates, and impacting the time users can spend on your site. None of this is great for conversions or any other performance metrics you are trying to measure.

It pays to optimize each of your website’s images for loading speed. That means sizing them to fit the exact space for which they’re designed and using a file format like JPEG or PNG to reduce file size. You can also use a WordPress plugin like Imagify for real-time image compression as you build and update your site.

Performance factor #4: CSS and JavaScript files

Modern websites are no longer coded in simple HTML. Instead, they use Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and JavaScript (JS). CSS is essentially your website’s style guide. It defines a set of rules that all the HTML on your site will follow, from defining your headline styles to embedding videos and more. JavaScript, meanwhile, is designed to execute automated scripts that turn static pages into dynamic experiences, such as animations, scrolling image galleries, hover-over designs, and the like.

Each of these programming languages is essential for any modern website. But the files they require for a visitor’s browser to reference and ‘read’ also take up quite a bit of space. If you’re not careful, your website gets slow or (depending on the quality of the code) becomes unreliable. Optimizing your JavaScript and CSS files by trimming the fat or removing accidental render blocks becomes vital for site performance.

Performance factor #5: Server location

We’re used to an almost seamless online experience, so it might be a surprise to hear that server location can drastically impact site performance. But it does. In a world where every microsecond counts, hosting your files on the other side of the world can lead to performance issues that neither your visitors nor Google will tolerate.

The reason is simple: data still has to travel physically. From image files to CSS and JavaScript code, all the points we’ve mentioned above become magnified when that distance increases.

But what happens when you have visitors from multiple countries, and no single location will satisfy all of them? A content delivery network, or CDN, can solve that issue. As its name suggests, it’s a network of servers across the globe, caching static web content and files to deliver them more quickly, based on where the request originates. CDNs help minimize any location-related performance issues.

Performance factor #6: WordPress database

Any website built on WordPress has an integrated database where the platform can store anything from usernames and passwords to posts, pages, comments, and even information about your visual theme. While it’s an essential piece of the overall configuration, it can become overloaded over time.

Left unchecked, your WordPress database will continue to accumulate information. As it does, users will need to wait longer and longer to get the information they need. Cleaning up your database regularly thus becomes a vital part of the optimization process.

Fortunately, that cleanup process is relatively straightforward. Plugins like WP-Sweep can help you automatically clean up old and unused tags, expired user information, and post drafts. Each request to your site becomes less complex and requires less data, improving website performance in the process.

There is no shortage of factors that could negatively impact your clients’ WordPress sites’ performance. Ultimately, though, it’s all about reducing complexity. Streamlining and creating leaner files without compromising quality goes hand-in-hand with optimal hosting and server performance, all of which enable a fast and reliable website experience.

Getting there can take time and requires ongoing tweaks and maintenance. Fortunately, SiteCare can help. Read our guide on How to Get Started With WordPress Optimization In Eight Simple Steps, or contact us to explore us handling your clients’ WordPress maintenance and support needs.

The post WordPress Optimization – What Impacts Site Performance? appeared first on WordPress Support & Optimization Specialists.

But optimizing a WordPress website can turn into a complex task. With the vast amount of offered tools and the wealth of technical information available on the subject, finding simple, effective, and routine WordPress maintenance methods can feel overwhelming. 

This blog looks at some of the routine optimizations, tools, and techniques we use at SiteCare to help improve website performance.

1. Optimize the WordPress Database

As you use, update, and add elements to a website, old or leftover pieces of data can build up on the site’s database. This “cruft” (a software term for redundant code) comes from stored revisions, spam comments, or other WordPress programs. 

A good cleanup will result in a smaller database that is easier to backup, carries less load on a server, and increases the speed of a website. You can use a plugin to clean up your database, and WP-CLI is also an excellent tool for this. It’s a good idea to add a code to WP-Config that limits stored site revisions to four:

• Define ( ‘WP_POST_REVISIONS’, 4 );

2. Set up a DNS Level Proxy or Firewall

The Domain Name System (DNS) connects users to the server that hosts a website, allowing them to access any web pages. It functions as a map of the internet. Since every device logged into the internet uses DNS, it’s a common target for hackers and requires protection. Installing a DNS Level Proxy or Firewall offer a series of benefits: 

• A Firewall can prevent and filter malicious traffic and bots (no one wants to get hacked!)
• Many DNS-level security solutions also include performance enhancements that can serve up your static web assets (e.g., large pictures) faster. 
• Many solutions create a layer between you and your site host, meaning less server load for faster site performance and better security. 

Cloudflare is a great option that provides built-in global, DNS, Content Delivery Network (CDN), DDoS protection, and SSL (see below) – all for free and with minimal effort.

3. Fix mixed content errors

Well-run websites have security certificates (SSL) that allow for a secure connection (HTTPS) and protect the visiting user. Sometimes, elements of a secure WordPress page will attempt to locate and use unsecured resources. The result is a mixed content error. 

Mixed content opens site visitors to attacks by bad actors, can call up warning signals that deter entrances to a webpage, and lowers SEO rankings. 

You can use audit tools like LightHouse and Why No Padlock to locate any mixed content on a site and migrate it from HTTP (unsecured) to HTTPS or HTTP2 (Secured). Since most browsers only accept secured site access, you will experience a performance gain. 

4. Set up and configure WordPress page caching

Cached pages are static versions of a webpage served up by search engines or browsers (even if the pages are outdated). Compared to information pulled from a site database, cached pages function as a quick snapshot and operate with better load times and enhanced convenience. 

WP Rocket is an ideal tool that can increase your site speed with page caching. It offers features such as:

• Lazy loading, which only loads pictures immediately visible to users as they browse
• Google Font Optimization, to adjust fonts for faster loading based on platform needs
• And XML Sitemap preloading, where certain pages of your sitemap are preloaded for optimized times.  

5. Set up and configure WordPress object caching

Object caching refers to storing common database requests in a cache. The more often a request happens, the more likely a visitor wants to access that object. Storing such highly-used site info makes it easier to serve up priority web page elements, creating an ideal user experience. 

Some server hosts do not allow for object caching, but here is a shortlist of quick-enable object caching hosts:   

• Pagely
• SiteGround Optimizer
• WP Engine
• Liquid Web Managed Woocomerce
• Redis on Kinsta
• Redis on Cloudways 

6. Optimize front end code

Front-end code optimization is the process of updating your site’s content and code so that it performs better. You can achieve front end code optimization in several ways: 

• Combining, Minifying, or Concatenating Files: By combining or minimizing the size of a file, you can achieve faster load times.
• Creating and adding critical CSS: Your site consists of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Essential extracts of CSS and renders the immediate or above-the-fold CSS content a site visitor sees. Better Critical CSS means a better user experience.
• Lazy Loading: As referenced above, lazy loading refers to a site loading only the critical, must-see elements first, deferring resources from hidden elements for later (i.e., when the user scrolls down). 
• External Scripts: Parts of a website that use a third party are considered external scripts (e.g., ads). External scripts adjustments are out of your control, but WP Rocket can help minimize slow loading effects. 

You can use several WordPress Plugins for your front end code optimization:

• WP Rocket 
• Autoptimize
• Fast Velocity Minify
• Permatters

7. Image optimization

Images and graphics contain a lot of data that can slow a website’s performance. To improve the speed and capabilities of a WordPress site, it is a good idea to compress media for faster retrieval. Ensure that all compression is lossless so that quality does not suffer. There are several tools you can use for image optimization:

• Imagify
• EWWW Image Optimizer
• Short Pixel
• WP Smush

8. Advanced troubleshooting and debugging

There are several advanced troubleshooting options available if a website still operates poorly beyond the first seven steps. For example, debugging tools can help you locate problem areas or plugins that have malfunctioned and are causing site bottlenecks. You can also search for page issues or monitor performance with visual data tools such as New Relic, Query Monitor, or Xdebug. 

Key Takeaway

Forty-six percent (46%) of users do not revisit web pages with poor site performance, and 64% of shoppers say they will visit a different site if they are unsatisfied with their initial experience. Regular WordPress optimization and maintenance are critical if your clients want to reap the rewards of a positive online business presence.

Luckily, there are steps to take to optimize any WordPress site. Use the information in the above guide to update and upgrade your clients’ underperforming web pages. If you want extra help with your WordPress optimization or need a WordPress site maintenance partner, Contact SiteCare to talk with the experts. 

The post WordPress Optimization – Getting Started in 8 Steps appeared first on WordPress Support & Optimization Specialists.

While the move of global consumers to shopping online is not that surprising, the global Covid-19 pandemic undoubtedly accelerated retailers’ decisions to use their websites for sales. International lockdowns, curfews, and trading restrictions meant businesses and stores previously dragging their feet on stepping into the online space could no longer depend on foot traffic into their physical retail spaces to make sales.

Many brands had to fast-track their e-commerce offerings to present customers with alternative shopping solutions – just to keep the lights on.

Fortunately, several tried-and-tested ecommerce platforms and plugins (including Shopify, Magento, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and Kibo) have been available for some time now to facilitate businesses’ moves to selling online.

This blog takes a closer look at one of these ecommerce solutions for WordPress sites: WooCommerce

Table of Contents

• What is WooCommerce?
• What functionality does an ecommerce site need?
• What does WooCommerce provide?
  • Online payments
  • Accounting
  • Marketing
  • Reporting
  • Customer support
  • Shipping
  • WordPress security
  • Other extensions
  • Mobile App
• Is WooCommerce SEO-friendly?

What is WooCommerce?

WooCommerce is a plugin offered by WordPress for adding ecommerce functionality to your website. If you have a standard WordPress site, but you now wish to sell products on it, you can integrate the WooCommerce plugin to convert your site into an online store.

Free to install and super easy to use, WooCommerce is a great e-commerce solution for WordPress. What’s more, it enables you to optimize your products and product categories easily whilst tracking metrics and gauging search engine optimization (SEO) results.

What functionality does an ecommerce site need?

There are many considerations for taking your products online: from choosing a payment gateway that can safely manage online payments, figuring out how to manage online inventory, how to sync accounting data from your website into your accounting platform, and managing order fulfillment with third-party service providers – it’s no wonder many retailers haven’t known where to begin.

Fortunately, WooCommerce was developed to make ecommerce for WordPress easy. Let’s take a look at how.

What does WooCommerce provide?

WooCommerce “out the box” enables you to sell and market your online products relatively quickly.

Setting up a WooCommerce store involves:

• Installing the plugin.
• Choosing a homepage design (The WooCommerce themes market offers a variety of design themes for your online store).
• Setting up your site structure, menus, and navigation.
• Installing and configuring the payment gateway, checkout, carrier plugin, and other extensions to handle your online orders, payments, and deliveries.

Product information management – activities like uploading product images, adding descriptions, and additional product attributes to the products you are looking to sell – can happen directly on the WooCommerce dashboard.

At the same time, WooCommerce has already set up relationships with major banks for accepting online credit card payments, online bank transfers, and even cash on delivery.

Like most open-source WordPress plugins, WooCommerce also facilitates the use of a variety of additional extensions to enhance the functionality and features of your WooCommerce store.

Here are some of the extra ecommerce functions on offer:

Online Payments

WooCommerce Payments allows you to manage and track your online store’s transactions without any setup costs or monthly fees. It supports multiple currencies and major credit and debit cards.

Additional WooCommerce extensions enable merchants to offer their customers online product subscriptions, pre-orders (via Amazon Pay, PayFast, Stripe, Sage Payments, and more), and secure online payments through their preferred provider.

Accounting

One of the major headaches of selling online products is consolidating business and accounting processes across retail and online stores. WooCommerce offers integrations with accounting software platforms such as Quickbooks, Zapier, and Xero to manage invoices, reconciliations, reporting, and inventory tracking.

Additionally, available accounting extensions enable you to sync your online store and accounting software so that orders, payments, products, invoices, and balances automatically update and balance the books.

Marketing

Online stores need online marketing. Once you’ve set up your WooCommerce store, integrations with third-party marketplaces, like Google Shopping, Facebook Ads, Google Ads, Pinterest, Amazon, and eBay are relatively easy.

Additional extensions for WooCommerce assist with connecting your online store with your social media accounts (Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook, etc.), so you can share product catalogs and create shopping experiences on these platforms directly from your site.

WooCommerce also supports integrations with email marketing tools like Mail Poet, Mailchimp, and MarketingWoo. Mailchimp and Mail Poet are free to use, while you’ll pay a minimal annual subscription fee for MarketingWoo.

These tools help merchants set up several automated emails to send to online users based on their interaction with products on their sites. These automations include abandoned cart emails, follow-up emails, emails targeting inactive customers, and the like.

Zapier’s integration with WooCommerce also facilitates connections with other cloud-based apps so you can use existing email platforms, such as Gmail and Office 365, for your customer relationship management (CRM) and email marketing.

Reporting

The only way to confirm how effective your marketing efforts are is to integrate web analytics and reporting tools into your WooCommerce store to track traffic to the site and conversions. Fortunately, WooCommerce supports Google Analytics, Google Analytics Pro, and Google Tag Manager; it can also integrate with CRM platforms like Hubspot and WooCommerce CRM to generate reports on additional outreach activities.

Customer Support

A positive customer experience is more than critical for the success of any online store. There are multiple touchpoints and events on an ecommerce site that need regular monitoring to ensure an optimal user experience. This includes site speed, your store’s mobile responsiveness, how easy products are to find on your store, and how useful your content is when customers search for product information or answers to questions about returns, refunds, and delivery policies.

Quick access for customers to customer support services when things do go wrong – with product inventory, payments, checkouts, and deliveries, for example – can also make a huge difference in whether customers will walk away from a negative experience with your store still happy to promote your products and brand.

WooCommerce customer service extensions include integrations with Live Chat services and Help Desks like Zendesk, Freshdesk, and Intercom, where all customer complaints and queries can be handled in one place.

Shipping

How do products bought on an ecommerce site get to the people who actually buy them? This is where WooCommerce Shipping and other third-party logistics (3PL) software integrations come into play. WooCommerce Shipping can access local and international live shipping rates from carriers like FedEx, Aramex, USPS, DHL, UPS, so online users can know what will pay for delivery before placing their online order.

Once an order is placed and paid for online, various shipping API integrations enable everything from generating ready-to-print shipping labels for carriers, customers tracking their online orders, and merchants managing and syncing inventory from multiple locations.

WordPress Security

Site hacks, security breaches, and extended periods of downtime can do serious damage to any brand’s online reputation. However, more at stake for an online store is a direct loss of revenue from users unable to access a site to make a purchase. This means lost sales!

Fortunately, WooCommerce offers online merchants an efficient security and data backup option, Jetpack. Jetpack’s free version includes automated malware scanning, brute force attack prevention, one-click restores for sales data, and more.

Other extensions

A WooCommerce store can be optimized using several WooCommerce extensions. For example, the default checkout page can be customized using extensions for editing and removing form fields or for making certain fields conditional for populating.

There are extensions for adding product recommendations to product pages, enabling currency conversions to confirm prices, facilitating online orders via Whatsapp, and even allowing customers to create wishlists from your online inventory.

Making it easy for online users to type in keywords to find products on your site is essential. Fortunately, there are even extensions for search and navigation you can try and test to see which offers the best user experience. We recommend browsing the WooCommerce site to explore all the extensions available for your ecommerce needs.

Mobile App

WooCommerce has developed its own mobile app for you to download and install on your mobile device, making it that much easier to make changes, update inventory, or check to see that everything is still working on your online store.

This is on-the-go business management like never before and especially useful if you are a small team running an online store and juggling numerous responsibilities. Among other things, the app notifies you of real-time purchases, allows you to kick off order fulfillment from your mobile device, and even helps you manage multiple online stores at once.

Is WooCommerce SEO-friendly?

WooCommerce leverages WordPress’s built-in SEO features and enables integrations with WooCommerce extensions to enhance these SEO capabilities. RankMath is one such SEO plugin that integrates with WooCommerce and comes highly recommended for its built-in SEO audit module, image optimizer module, assistance with schema markup, and integrations with Google Analytics. You can read more about the RankMath plugin in Beginner’s Guide to Rank Math.

If you’re thinking of taking the plunge to start selling your products online, WooCommerce as a one-stop-shop for all things ecommerce is a great option.

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The post SiteCare’s Guide to WooCommerce appeared first on WordPress Support & Optimization Specialists.

This blog looks at the most common errors that can crop up from time to time on your WordPress site, and what you can do about them.

Table of Contents

• What is a WordPress error?
• What is a Fatal Error in WordPress?
• 7 common WordPress errors
  • Internal Server error
  • Error Establishing a Database Connection
  • White Screen of Death
  • 404 error
  • Connection Time Out
  • Unable to Upload Images
  • Stuck in Maintenance Mode
• How to make your life easier

What is a WordPress error?

While the causes differ, the results are often similar. When experiencing an error, your website will not load. Instead, it will display an error message or simply a blank, white screen. As of WordPress 5.2, WordPress has a built-in Recovery Mode to help with resolving errors and troubleshooting possible issues on your website. Resolving these errors might seem intimidating at first, but there’s no need to panic. Most of them are caused by relatively small issues that other users have experienced before and are easy to fix.

What is a fatal error in WordPress?

Now and then, the pop-up message will announce a fatal error. This looks very serious because it might seem like the entire site is taken down. Still, you can easily fix this. A fatal error often occurs after installing or updating a plugin or theme or when adding new code.

If you encounter a fatal error, the safest course of action is to get expert technical support. An expert can help you return your website to normal functionality quickly with less risk of losing your content or prolonged downtime.

SiteCare’s professional team of expert WordPress developers helps you get your website up and running in no time. Do get in touch for assistance if and when needed.

7 common WordPress errors

Now, let’s look at what the most common WordPress errors are.

We chose the following seven errors based on how often users encounter them and how easy they are to fix using a quick how-to guide. Note, to implement these fixes, you will need to know how to change file permissions.

1. Internal server error

What is an internal server error?

This error indicates that there is something wrong, but the server can’t identify the underlying problem. Internal server errors are typically caused by one of two issues: The memory limit of the site has been reached, or there is a problem with the site’s .htaccess (or hypertext access) file. This file can be found on a web server and controls the high-level configuration of a website.

How to fix an internal server error

Step 1: Disable the .htaccess file by simply renaming the file (e.g., .htaccess_test). Reload the site to see if the site loads. If it does, go to ‘Settings’ to reset your Permalinks, which will generate a new .htaccess file with the default WordPress htaccess rules. Note: Any customizations to your original .htaccess file will need to be added back or modified to work properly.

Here are the default WordPress .htaccess files if you need them in a pinch:

# BEGIN WordPress
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index\.php$ - [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
</IfModule>
# END WordPress

Step 2: Deactivate your plugins to see if any of these are causing the problem. If you’re unable to access your WordPress dashboard, you can deactivate your plugins by renaming your plugins folder the same way you renamed your .htaccess file (e.g. /plugins-test/).

Step 3: If the actions above don’t work, one last thing to try would be to try increasing your PHP memory limit. Typically PHP limits will give a more specific error like “Allowed memory size of 84892898 bytes exhausted”, but it’s possible that a generic Internal Server Error is generated too.

As long as it’s allowed by your host, you can increase the PHP Memory limit for WordPress by adding the following to your wp-config.php file. This file is located in your website’s root directory.

define( 'WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M' );

Modify the 256M to change the amount of memory allocated for WordPress.

2. Error establishing a database connection

What is a database connection error?

This error happens when the site can’t access the database. The source of this error often lies with the wp-config.php file, which contains the database information of the site.

How to fix a database connection error

Step 1: Make sure the credentials in the wp-config.php file are correct. To do this, go to the root folder, right-click on the file, and select ‘View/Edit.’ Compare the username, password, hostname, etc., to the details found in phpMyAdmin and update, if necessary.

Step 2: If the error is still not solved, you can activate the WordPress Automatic Database Optimization tool. To do this, add the following line to your wp-config.php file: define( 'WP_ALLOW_REPAIR', true ); and then go to https://yourwebsiteurl.com/wp-admin/maint/repair.php.

Click on the ‘Repair Database’ or “Repair and Optimize Database” button. Once done, remove the added line of code from your wp-config.php file.

Step 3: If the problem persists, contact your web hosting provider in case of an outage or data loss.

3. White Screen of Death

What is the White Screen of Death?

Your site is replaced with a blank, white screen. There is nothing. Your site isn’t loading properly, and there is no error message to assist. This could be either a PHP or database error, but where do you start looking to find out what’s wrong?

How to fix a White Screen of Death

Step 1: Disable all your plugins and see if this resolves the issue. Reactivate the plugins one by one to determine which one is causing the problem. If this doesn’t resolve the issue, proceed to the step below.

Tip: If you’re unable to access your WordPress dashboard directly, you can enter WordPress recovery mode which will allow you to change plugin and theme settings. If you didn’t receive the recovery mode email with a link to the recovery mode area, you can simply add /wp-login.php?action=entered_recovery_mode to the end of your website URL to access recovery mode directly.

Step 2: A newly installed theme could cause the problem. Disable your theme to see if this is the case. Again, if you can’t access your WordPress dashboard through the standard /wp-admin/ or /wp-login.php paths, the recovery mode link will serve you well.

Step 3: Use the WordPress debug mode feature to identify the problem. This is an advanced troubleshooting technique that will give you a code level view of the exact error that WordPress is encountering. If you get to this point and aren’t comfortable editing files on your server, reach out to WordPress experts for assistance.

You can enable debug mode on your site by adding the following to your wp-config.php file.

define( 'WP_DEBUG', true );
define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', false );
define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false );

Here’s an example of what your error reports might look like:

For even more troubleshooting techniques and possible resolutions check out our in-depth guide for recovering from a white screen of death.

4. 404 Error

What is a 404 error?

A 404 error appears when visiting a single post or page, saying the page can’t be found. You can, however, still browse other sections of the website. Broken links are often the cause, and WordPress users typically experience this when using custom permalinks (i.e., SEO and user-friendly URLs).

How to fix a 404 error

Step 1: Refresh your permalinks settings. To do this, go to ‘Settings,’ select ‘Permalinks,’ and hit the ‘Save Changes’ button. It’s very important that you do not change your permalink settings. Simply save the options as they are, which will update the rewrite rules on the server.

Step 2: Manually update the .htaccess file to the default rewrite rules mentioned earlier in the article. If refreshing permalinks through the WordPress dashboard doesn’t work, you can restore the default rules at the .htaccess file level directly.

Step 3: If this is an isolated issue for 1 or 2 pages, double-check that the content actually exists at the URL. If it doesn’t, you can prevent a 404 by redirecting the broken URL to another page or post on the website using a redirect plugin like Redirection.

5. Connection timed out

What does it mean if a connection has timed out?

This error often appears when the site has been trying to load for some time without success. After a while, the server gives up trying. It could indicate that your site doesn’t have the necessary resources available or that your site is trying to execute more actions than your server can manage.

How to fix a connection that keeps timing out

Step 1: Disable all your plugins and see if this resolves the issue. Reactivate the plugins one by one to determine which one of the plugins is the most resource intensive. Query Monitor is a free plugin that will help give some indication of plugins or theme files that are using a large number of resources. If you’re able to disable all of your plugins and can get the admin area to load, install Query Monitor and then activate plugins one by one while watching the reports from Query Monitor. If activating a plugin spikes resource usage, you’ll know which one may be using up your server resources.

Step 2: Switch to a default WordPress theme. It’s entirely possible that heavy code in your theme is using too many server resources. If you switch to a default theme, all of your plugins are inactive, and the issue persists, move to step 3.

Step 3: In the age of CDNs, firewalls, and caching layers, it’s important to understand which layer in the stack is timing out. For example, if you use a service like Cloudflare, it’s possible that your web host is online, but an outage at Cloudflare is causing the time outs, or vice versa. Cloudflare specifically has some great visual indicators for this when you try to visit a website that’s timing out. Your “origin” is typically your web host.

If you encounter issues with connection timeouts and disabling all of your plugins and reverting to a default theme doesn’t resolve it, look for outages at your firewall provider or web host and contact them for assistance.

6. Unable to upload images

Why are you unable to upload images?

If you’re trying to upload images without success, the majority of the time this issue is related to insufficient disk space — meaning that you’re trying to upload files to a server that’s already full.

How to fix an image upload issue

Step 1: WordPress has a great built-in feature to know how much disk space you’re using. You can find this by going to Tools –> Site Health and then clicking on the Info tab.

Compare the Uploads directory size to the amount of disk space available from your host. If your usage exceeds what your hosting plan allows, you’ll either need to upgrade your account or remove files from your server.

Step 2: Also within the Site Health area of WordPress is a feature that will help you rule out file permissions issues as a potential culprit.

As long as the uploads directory is “Writeable” and you have sufficient disk space, uploading images should work without a hitch. If you’re still having trouble with image uploads, you may need to contact your host or manually reset the file and directory ownership as well as file and directory permissions for the server.

The problem is probably caused by incorrect file permissions that are applied. You may see a message along the lines of “Unable to create directory wp-content/uploads/. Is its parent directory writable by the server?” Luckily, this is a relatively easy issue to fix.

That said, changing file and directory permissions on your server can cause major problems, so only proceed to step 3 if you’re comfortable with file management on web servers.

Step 3: You can reset file permissions by access your site to WordPress’ recommended permissions structure using a file transfer client like Filezilla or Transmit (our favorite). Go to the /wp-content/ folder and find the uploads folder.

Now right-click on this folder and select ‘File Permissions.’ Change the numeric value to 755. Then right-click on this folder and select ‘File Permissions’ again. Change the value to 644, check ‘Recurse into subdirectories,’ and select ‘Apply to files only.’ Click ‘OK’ to apply.

You should be able to upload image files now. If you’re still experiencing problems, reach out to your host for assistance.

Note: Because this is a relatively common problem, many managed hosts give the option to perform this action with a button in the WordPress or hosting dashboard.

• How to reset file permissions at WP Engine
• Change File Permissions of Uploads Directory at Kinsta
• How to Reset File and Folder Permissions at Cloudways

7. Stuck in maintenance mode

Why is your site stuck in maintenance mode?

WordPress automatically creates a .maintenance file that temporarily disables your site during a routine updates. If this update is interrupted, WordPress might not remove the .maintenance file. As a result, you’ll keep seeing an error message that states that your site is briefly unavailable for scheduled maintenance. You can fix this by simply deleting the .maintenance file as follows.

How to fix a site that’s stuck in maintenance mode

Step 1: Use your file transfer program to log in to your site.

Step 2: Browse to the root folder of your site and find the .maintenance file.

Step 3: Delete the .maintenance file. Your site should now be back to normal.

Note that you may have to rerun the last update from when the site became stuck in maintenance mode as this error usually means the update was not successful.

We’re here to make your life easier.

That brings us to the end of our list of common WordPress errors for now. The online world is constantly in flux, and things can change overnight, which is why this is a growing list. We’ll add to this troubleshooting list from time to time, so be sure to check back. More importantly, share the common errors you encounter in the comment section below. Our team will consider adding these to the list when we next update this post.

Is it taking too much of your time to make sure your website is functioning optimally? Instead, focus on what you do best — running your business — and leave your website maintenance needs to our team of WordPress experts.

The post How to Fix The Most Common WordPress Errors appeared first on WordPress Support & Optimization Specialists.