What is Website Marketing?

Website marketing, or web marketing, is the process of using the internet to market your business. There are excellent online tools you can use to get this done including social media, search engines, blogging, videos, and email.

Let’s take a look at the plugin in question and see all that it has to offer.

WP Optin Wheel

WP Optin Wheel is a WordPress plugin that can help you more easily grow your email list and increase sales. It does this by offering all of your website visitors a chance to win a prize, a coupon, or other discounts that they can apply toward your services and products.

The Optin Wheel plugin gives you a spin-to-win wheel marketing option for your website. It acts as a fun game that most visitors will be familiar with. You can use it to have visitors opt-in for an email list or use it to simply try and grow sales.

Once installed, the plugin gives you everything you need to build a spin-to-win wheel on your WordPress website. Prices, coupons, and other offers are built by you (the business or website owner) and then displayed on the front end of the website.

It is highly customizable and comes with a ton of great features. Some of the main ones include:

• Predefined Themes
• Email Optin for Mailchimp
• Configure all Slices
• Create Multiple Wheels
• Configure All Wheels Separately
• Control When to Show Popup
• Add Losing Slices
• Discount Slices
• Products Links
• Highly Customizable and Configurable
• Ability to Log Wins and Losses
• GDPR Compliant

Basically, the WP Optin Wheel plugin gives you all the tools you need to successfully market online using opt-in email strategies and discounts.

Let’s get it all installed and setup together so you can start your marketing plan.

How to Install WP Optin Wheel for Marketing

You are just a few minutes away from having the WP Optin Wheel plugin up and running on your website. The steps below take you through the entire setup process. Before you know it, you will be building slices and gaining customers.

Note: This plugin does have a pro version. That version does offer quite a bit more in the line of features. However, the tutorial below is based on the free version of WP Optin Wheel, as it does provide you all the tools you need (including Mailchimp) to build an opt-in marketing plan and offer prizes.

Step 1: Install and Activate the Plugin

In order to start email marketing and offering discounts and prizes on your website, you first need to install and activate the plugin. You can do this by hopping over to the Plugins page of your WordPress admin dashboard.

Simply use the provided search field to search the plugin by name. When it pops up, install and activate it right from there.

Step 2: Access the Setup Page

Now that the plugin is installed and activated, you need to access the setup page. You can do this by clicking on Settings > Wp Optin Wheel, located in the left side menu area of the dashboard.

You notice that this option to click is now available because the plugin has been activated.

Step 3: Configure the Plugin

At this point, you should be on the main settings and configuration page for the plugin. At first glance, you see that there are four main tabs that you can go through.

These include:

• General Settings
• Email Integration
• Add Wheels
• Wheels

General Settings

You can see that the general settings tab only has one option. If you want to log options and play results, then check the box.

Wheels

The wheels tab is simply where all of the wheels you build will be housed. You can edit them in the future from there.

Step 4: Add a Wheel

The last part of this process is to add your first wheel and then get it going. To do this, you first need to click on the “Email Integration” tab and add your MailChimp API Key.

Once you do this, you will be able to add your first wheel, as this unlocks the “Add Wheel” tab.

Note: You will not be able to add a wheel unless you connect Mailchimp for opt-in purposes. You also see that there are a ton of other integrations available if you have the pro version of the plugin.

Click on the “Add Wheel” tab and let’s add a wheel together. Go ahead and pick the wheel theme you want to use.

Now, choose the winning percentage chances you want to apply to the opt-in wheel.

After that, you get to the actual slices configuration tool. Go ahead and build and configure all the WP Optin Wheel slices how you want them on your site.

For instance, you can make far more valuable prizes or discounts rarer than others by putting in a very low percentage chance.

Now comes the “Form Builder” portion of the wheel building process. Build your opt-in form however you want here. It can be as simple as an email field, or you can add fields and have people enter any information you want.

Finally, we come to the settings portion. You will see five settings boxes that are available. Click on the + symbol to open each setting box option and fill in everything you want for your wheel.

That’s it! Your first wheel has been created. It will now work and display on the front end of your website based on how you configured it during setup.

You can repeat this process and build other wheels as well.

Website Marketing Made Easy

You can market directly from your business website using opt-in forms, games, coupon codes, and offer prizes and discounts to visitors. All of this is now yours to use after you complete the process above. This helps people remember your business and helps set you apart from other online companies.

A great way to use email marketing on your business website is to use a spin-to-win wheel on a website. You may have seen it before or been to a site that uses it; a big wheel of fortune marketing tool shows up and asks you if you “feel lucky” today.

The website allows you to spin the wheel for a chance at several different prizes, coupons, or other specials. You can easily use this same type of opt-in tool on your own website by using the great plugin that I went over above.

Final Thoughts

Website Marketing can be tricky. You have a lot of moving parts and a lot of tools at your disposal. If handled properly, it can be very effective and very good for sales and options in the long run.

Aside from social media marketing, one of the best ways to get email subscribers and offer prizes and coupons is to use a tool that does this directly from your WordPress website.

The best way to do this is to use the WP Optin Wheel plugin. This gives you full control of prize and coupon settings, while at the same time giving you a smooth and easy way to add email subscribers.

I hope this tutorial was able to show you how easy it is to set up and use WP Optin Wheel.

Have you been creating popup forms in a different way in an attempt to gain email subscribers? Do you offer coupon codes for services through something else?

The post How to Boost Marketing in WordPress with WP Optin Wheel appeared first on GreenGeeks.

Once it’s installed, when you add a post to your WordPress site, notification subscribers will receive a desktop message. What could be better than that?

Push technology isn’t new, but it’s always been a bit difficult to implement. The Webpushr plugin changes all that. Now you can start delivering notifications in minutes.

Let’s get started.

1. Installing the Webpushr Plugin

Log in to your WordPress admin panel.

In the left column navigation, mouse over the “Plugins” link and click the “Add New” link.

In the “Search plugins…” box, enter, “Webpushr.”

When you find the plugin, click the “Install Now” button.

Now the plugin is installed, but it has to be activated before you can use it.

Click the “Activate” button.

That completes installation and activation.

You’ll be taken to a page asking for a Public Key, Private Key, and Authentication Token. Leave that page open.

Open a new browser tab, and we’ll move on to getting the plugin up and running on your website.

2. Open a Webpushr Account

Before we get to the plugin configuration, we have to create a Webpushr account. The plugin only works when it’s connected to Webpushr.

The good news is there’s no charge for the account unless (until?) you accumulate over 60,000 notification subscribers. The average website will likely operate well under that limit.

Once your account is set up, and you’re logged in to Webpushr, in the “Select Integration Type” section, choose “WordPress.”

Enter your site name and URL, and click the “Next Step” button.

Now you’ll be prompted to download the plugin, but we’ve already done that. We do need the Public Key, Private Key, and Authentication Token from this page, though, so don’t close it.

3. Activating Webpushr on Your WordPress Site

Go back to your WordPress admin dashboard. Copy and paste the Public Key, Private Key, and Authentication Token from the Webpushr site into WordPress.

Click the “Save Changes” button.

As soon as you enter the keys and tokens, WordPress push notifications start being sent to visitors.

You’ll see a notice to accept or deny push messages appear on your site.

You may not see the notice when you’re logged in to your WordPress site as an administrator. But if you open another browser and visit your site, you’ll see it.

If the visitor accepts push notifications, they’ll see this message.

Then any time a new post is published, WordPress will notify subscribers of the new post.

The Optin Prompt and Welcome Notification can be edited on the Webpushr site.

If that’s all you want from the plugin, congratulations, you’re finished.

But let’s take a look at a few of the configuration options that are available. You may find some of them useful.

4. How to Configure Webpushr

If you’re not already on the configuration page, head over there now. In the left column navigation, mouse over the “Webpushr” link and click the “Configuration” link.

• Enable Web Push controls whether the push notifications are active or not.
• Notification Title – The default setting is {post_title}, but you can use {post_title}, {post_excerpt}, or {post_category}.
• Notification Message – The default setting is {post_excerpt}, but you can use {post_title}, {post_excerpt}, or {post_category}.
• Post Type – There’s no documentation anywhere about Post Type options. So we’ll leave the default “posts” settings in that field.
• Notification Icon – Uploading an image here will replace the browser logo icon in the notification. The default is {featured_image}, so if your post uses a featured image, it will be displayed in the notification (see below).
• Notification Image – Uploading an image here creates a background behind the notification. The bottom half of your image will be covered, so keep that in mind. The default is {featured_image}. If your post uses a featured image, it will be displayed in the notification (see below).
• UTM Parameters – If you use UTM parameters in your links, you can add one here.
• Select Segment – Webpushr lets you create user segments, and you can select segments here.
• Automatic Notifications – There are checkboxes to activate push on new post and post updates. Both are selected by default. If you don’t want to notify for edited posts, uncheck “Automatically send push notification when an existing post is updated.”
• Auto-Hide Notification is a setting for your site visitors who use Windows. It’s checked by default, but if you want your notice to remain visible until “Close” is clicked, uncheck this option.
• Manual Integration is a setting for advanced users of the plugin.

Don’t forget to click the “Save Settings” button any time you make a change to the plugin configuration.

Here’s What the Images Look Like

Here are the examples of the Notification Icon and Notification Image. This is what they look like by default for a post with a featured image.

And this is what the notification looks like when you add a Notification Icon and Notification Image, and the post does not have a featured image.

Note to the plugin developers: I realize it’s a free notification plugin, but it would sure be cool to be able to use both options. Featured images when they exist, replaced by custom images when they don’t. Thank you for your kind indulgence.

Webpusher Keeps Statistics: Here’s How to See Them

The ability to do WordPress notifications with the plugin is certainly an enhancement we can all appreciate. But Webpushr has gone above and beyond that, and included statistics as well.

In the left column navigation, mouse over the “Webpushr” link and click the “Notification Stats” link.

The table shows the sessions where a notification was delivered, along with the date, errors, clicks, and other data.

There’s also a user graph. To view it, mouse over the “Webpushr” link and click the “Dashboard” link.

Below the graph is a number of other stats that you may find interesting.

Push Notifications Aren’t Foolproof

Some browsers or browser plugins will block push notifications by default. Luckily, many browsers will open a dialog after a visitor opts into notifications. The dialog asks if you want to allow the notifications to be displayed.

Others, like Microsoft Edge, only show a small icon in the address bar that’s easy to miss. There’s not much we can do about that.

What Happens if You Uninstall the Webpushr Plugin

If you uninstall the plugin, push notifications will stop being delivered. In this case, notifications will also stop being delivered if you close your Webpushr account.

The plugin does not create any database tables or add to any posts or pages. So there’s no manual cleanup necessary after uninstalling.

The above issues are what I found in the course of my use and testing. There may be other issues that my testing did not uncover.

Push Notifications Equal Increased Reader Numbers

Any time you can send a message to someone’s desktop—even when they’re not on your site—that’s awesome. But you still want to follow best practices for push notifications. Even when someone has opted-in, they can find push notifications intrusive.

But overall, there hasn’t been a better tool created to keep readers coming back since RSS. And with RSS use in decline, push notifications are a great alternative.

Do you use push notifications on your website? How do you feel about push notifications in general?

Let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear from you.

The post How to Set Up Webpushr Push Notifications for WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

You can do this by using a great app.

What Are Scratch and Win Giveaways?

Scratch and win giveaways on a website are exactly that. You run a program or plugin that allows your website users to participate in a fun scratch and win game. Site visitors can play by entering their email addresses, or by connecting through their social media profiles. Multiple prizes can be awarded, and this is a fantastic way to boost referrals and gain possible clients.

Let’s take a look at how you can easily run scratch and win giveaways from your WordPress website.

Scratch & Win Giveaways

The Scratch & Win Giveaways plugin will give you the ability to run amazing scratch card giveaways directly from your website. This is one of the best ways to boost leads, get referrals, and increase website conversions.

This plugin uses the popular, age-old technique of scratch and win marketing to help pull potential leads into your site. You will have the ability to display these games in several different ways.

You can make it appear as a scrolling item, or as a popup that appears after a user has been on the site for a certain amount of time. All a visitor has to do to participate is enter their email address or connect through a social media profile.

When either of these functions is done, a user can then participate and “scratch” the digital card for their chance to win. The plugin is fully customizable and will allow you to specify multiple prizes and slots, change layout and design, add custom fields, activate a referral, play again, and more.

The Scratch & Win Giveaways plugin comes with a ton of great options and features. Some of the main ones include:

• Display it anywhere
• Refer to play again option for repeat visitors
• WooCommerce compatible (coupon codes and discounts)
• Set your own slots and prizes
• Integrated social sharing features
• Facebook permissions and policies approved
• Large template library
• Easy to install
• GDPR compliant
• Launch multiple campaigns
• Start and end date options

As you can see, you have all the tools necessary to start running a scratch and win marketing effort that will help boost referrals.

Let’s take a look at how to get the plugin setup and going on your website.

Note: There is a pro version of the plugin that has a few more options. That being said, this tutorial is based on the free version, as it gives you everything you need to run fantastic scratch and win giveaways.

How to Setup Scratch & Win Giveaways

Getting the plugin installed and setup is not overly difficult. You simply need to know the steps involved. Here is how you can easily set up the entire plugin from start to finish.

Step 1: Install and Activate the Plugin

In order to start offering scratch and win giveaways on your website, you first need to install and activate the plugin. You can do this by heading over to the Plugins page in the WordPress admin dashboard.

All you have to do is search the plugin by name using the search field. When it pops up, install and activate it right from there.

Step 2: Access the Main Settings and Configuration Page

Now that the plugin has been installed and activated, you want to go ahead and access the main settings and configuration page. This will allow you to get everything set up and configured how you want.

Click on Settings > Scratch & Win Appsmav. You see this located in the left side menu area of the dashboard. This is an available option now that the plugin is activated.

Step 3: Sign Up For a Free Appsmav Account

The first thing you see on the settings page is the form for you to go ahead and create an Appsmav account.

This is totally free, but you do need to do it in order to run the scratch and win plugin properly. Go ahead and fill the form out and create your account.

Once you fill out your name and email, you will get the following screen. From here you can launch the application.

Go ahead and click on the “Launch Application” button.

Doing this will take you off-site to the Appsmav website. From here you can click on the “Get Started Now” button to move forward.

Step 4: Design and Activate Campaign

Clicking on the “Get Started Now” button will take you to the campaign page where you can design, build, and activate your first campaign. You see there are seven tabs that dropdown for you to enter info into and set the campaign up.

Let’s go through these together real quick.

Campaign Settings: Set your giveaway name, the dates, and the timezone for all of it here.

Create New WordPress Page: Simply select the name of the WordPress page you want the scratch and win giveaway displayed on.

Prize Settings: Go ahead and set all the prize settings that you want here.

Select Design: Select the overall design and look of the scratch and win that you are currently building.

Pop Up Display Rules: This is where you can set all the rules for a pop-up display to follow.

Refer to Play Again: Set up the refer to play again section here as you see fit.

Sound: Turn on/off the scratching sound when a site user is scratching off a card.

That’s it! When you are satisfied with all your settings, go ahead and click on the “Activate Campaign” button. You also have the option of doing this later. However, let’s move forward as if you went ahead and activated the campaign.

Step 5: Promote Campaign and Show on Website

When you activate the campaign, you will get a box that gives you options to promote your campaign or show it on your website.

To make sure your campaign is running, you will also get a notice at the very top of the page. There will be a congratulations message, along with options to check your campaign or launch your dashboard. You are more than welcome to do either.

To see the campaign live on your website, simply click on the “Show On Your Website” button that is in the promote box area.

The “Create a New Page on WordPress” box will pop back up. Inside, it will ask you if you want to install scratch and win on the WordPress page name that you previously created.

Click on the “Next” button to do so.

Installation will not take long. When it is done, you will get another congratulations letting you know it is all ready to roll. The page path and the page name will also be displayed.

Go ahead and jump over to the live page and check it out.

The scratch and win will show based on all the settings you put in. You are good to go and off and running.

Repeat this process as many times as you want to create different scratch and win prizes, pages, and games.

Final Thoughts

Scratch and win marketing is a fantastic way to boost referrals, give your customers great prizes, and get repeat visitors to your website. You don’t need to code anything from scratch, you simply need to have the right plugin.

The Scratch & Win Giveaways plugin will give you everything you need and more to create the game on your WordPress site and keep people coming back for more.

Have you ever tried scratch and win marketing before? Is there another method you prefer to use for building a referral network?

The post How to Use the Scratch & Win Giveaways Plugin for WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

Did you know that you can gamify WordPress whenever you want? You don’t have to be a huge website or offer certain things. All you need is the right WordPress gamification plugin and you can set up a great way to bring customers back.

What is Gamification?

Simply put, gamification happens when you add a game-like element to your product, service, or website. Many website owners use apps to do this, but you can also use a plugin if you have a WordPress website. It is one of many fantastic marketing tools.

You see a lot of websites allow users to define achievements and get rewards. These rewards can be all sorts of things, depending on the website and the offers. More than likely, the ones you see on bigger websites include things like gift card payouts and other rewards like that.

These rewards are obtained through repeat visits and can also be gained faster by performing achievements and sharing things with friends. Rewards can be physical items as described above, but they can also be things like badges and achievements that display with your username.

By using a WordPress gamification technique you can keep users coming back to your site by keeping them entertained and involved. Let’s take a look at how you can gamify WordPress.

GamiPress

GamiPress is one of the best gamification plugins in WordPress. The plugin offers you an easy way to gamify a WordPress website in just a few minutes of setup.

That being said, the plugin is actually quite complex, especially when you dig into the setup of all the add-ons. However, we are going to stick to the basic setup in this tutorial and show you where to find add-ons you may want to further gamify your WordPress website.

The GamiPress plugin will allow you to easily reward your website users with digital rewards based on their interactions and defined achievements.

Once set up, you will be able to define achievements and choose whether or not a task you set has been achieved successfully. The plugin has three great ways to reward your website users:

• Points
• Achievements
• Ranks

To achieve the reward options you set up, you can allow repeat website users to be awarded a number of different ways. These include:

• Site Activity
• Completing Achievements
• Getting to a Point Threshold
• Reaching Ranks
• Expending Points

Perhaps the best thing about the GamiPress plugin is the fact that it has a ton of add-ons, both paid and free. It also easily integrates and is compatible with most well-known plugins you may be using.

Let’s take a look at installing and setting up this gamification plugin in WordPress.

Install and Activate GamiPress

In order to gamify your WordPress website, you need to first install and activate the GamiPress plugin. You can do this from the plugins page of your WordPress admin dashboard. Just search for “GamiPress.”

Once the WordPress gamification plugin has been installed and activated, we want to go explore the settings. To do this click on GamiPress > Settings. This will take you to the setting’s options for the plugin and we can set it up from there.

Gamify WordPress

Once you are on the setting’s page for GamiPress, you will see four main tabs. These include:

• General
• Style
• Emails
• Log

Let’s go through these together and see what you can do from each tab.

General

These are the main general settings for the WordPress gamification plugin. You will see roles, image sizes for achievements, ranks, updates, shortcodes and more. Go ahead and set this portion up the way you see fit for your website.

Style

The style settings are actually very straightforward. Simply choose whether or not you want to disable frontend CSS and disable frontend Javascript or not.

Emails

This tab is where you will set up and lay out all your email settings for the WordPress gamification plugin. The top portion will allow you to pick out your template, logo, and other relevant text.

Now scroll down some and you can set up the full email template according to how you want everything. Play around with all this, as you can greatly customize the message for your brand.

Logs

The Log tab is where you can choose to log all triggers and activities or not. Furthermore, you can set up all your log patterns through this tab according to what you want. The following log patterns can be setup:

• Activity Trigger
• Points Earned
• Points Deducted
• Expended Points
• Points for Awarded and Steps Complete
• Achievement Earned
• Rank Earned
• Awarded Points
• Revoked Points
• Achievement Awarded
• Rank Awarded

Go ahead and set all this how you see fit. When you are finished, click the “Save” button and you are all set.

Let’s look at some other options that GamiPress has to offer.

Access GamiPress Options

As I stated above, after the main settings page, GamiPress is actually very vast and has a lot to offer with regards to what you can do. You can access all that this plugin has to offer from right under the GamiPress menu. Just click on it and you will see all the options.

This is where you will assign point types, achievement types, rank types and view user earnings.

Assets

The Assets link will take you to all the assets that are available to gamify WordPress. You can click on any of the assets to view and get them. There will be free and pro versions of all assets.

Add-Ons

The Add-Ons link will take you to the page where every possible add-on imaginable exists for the GamiPress plugin. You will see five tab links that allow you to sort through different types of add-ons. They include:

• Premium
• Free
• Integrations
• 3^rd Party
• Tools

Premium

All of these add-ons will cost you. These are plugin add-ons that give you different abilities when it comes to how you want to gamify your WordPress website.

Free

All of these are free add-ons that will expand the functionality of your gamification.

Integrations

You will find a list of all the available integrations that are offered from other plugins.

3^rd Party

A list of 3^rd party integrations available for GamiPress. These are created by other developers that work with the platform.

Tools

You will see a list of a few tools you may need while setting up and dealing with the overall functionality of the WordPress gamification plugin.

Final Thoughts

There are a number of reasons why you would want to gamify WordPress. The main reason is obviously user interaction and getting people to return to your website over and over.

The GamiPress plugin (while advanced) makes WordPress gamification both reachable and fun. Go ahead and have fun with the plugin, set it all up, add to it, and see what you want to offer. If done correctly, you should be able to gamify your WordPress site in no time at all and start getting user interaction on a whole new level.

Have you ever tried WordPress gamification to get more website interaction? Do you use another gamification plugin in WordPress to accomplish this?

The post How to Gamify WordPress and Reward Your Visitors appeared first on GreenGeeks.

Of course, if there is a feature missing in WordPress, there is a plugin that adds it and this is no exception. There are multiple plugins that allow you to run contests and giveaways on your website.

Today, I will demonstrate how to use the Simple Giveaways plugin to run a giveaway on your website.

Why Offer A Giveaway or Contest

One word: Marketing.

People love having the chance to enter a giveaway. It’s a timeless marketing strategy that just works. Running a giveaway can help you boost traffic, increase email subscribers, gain new followers on social media, and even boost sales.

Thanks to the influence that social media plays, any contest has the potential of going viral. In the right circumstances, you could improve almost every stat on your website, but it is quite rare.

For example, if you run a selfie contest on Twitter, which invites contestants to take a selfie and share it with a specific hashtag, you are promoting your brand while also inviting more people to enter.

Combine that with making it a requirement to subscribe to your email list and you have all of the ingredients for success.

Create a Good Prize

The prize you choose to offer is the most important aspect of the giveaway because it provides the incentive to sign up.

Let’s face it, not many people are going to join a contest with a terrible prize. It is important to make your prize suitable for the audience.

The first thing you should consider is making sure it relates to your business model.

For example, if you run a Playstation blog, it’s a good idea to offer some type of accessory or game that your audience would be interested in for that specific system.

However, if you sell your own products, you have a lot more options to choose from.

For example, consider offering a 50% discount code on their next purchase. This is a huge discount, but you are forcing the winner to shop at your store. This could turn them into a regular customer if they like what you sell.

You can also give away merchandise with your brand on it. Every time they use it, you get free marketing. It’s a win-win.

A great rule to follow is if you don’t like the prize, odds are your visitors won’t either.

Using Simple Giveaways

Simple Giveaways is a great plugin to use for free to set up a contest in WordPress. Simply install the plugin and activate it for use.

On the left-hand admin panel, click on Giveaways and select the Add New option.

Here you can create a new giveaway. The Giveaway will appear as a new page and you can use widgets and shortcodes to drive your traffic towards it.

I recommend posting the page link on your social media profiles.

The actual construction of the page is just like any other. Add a title in the appropriate box and the content in the text area.

Make sure to include the prize, start & end time, what they are required to do (examples are great), links to any subscriptions that are required (email and/or social media), and anything else you feel is necessary.

Once you are happy with your page it is time to actually set up the giveaway.

Creating A Giveaway

You will need to decide the type of giveaway, start & end date, prize information, social media images, emails, and linking your social media profiles (only available in the pro version).

Scroll down to the bottom of the page. You will see all of these options. In the General section, you can select the type.

Next, select scheduling. Here you can select the exact start and end time for the giveaway.

Now it is time to enter the prize information.

Click on Prize Info. You can select if most entries win or if entering only gives you a better chance, the number of winners, the actual prize item, and how much it is worth.

Click on Display. Here you can upload images that will appear on various social media platforms like Pinterest, Facebook, and Twitter.

Click on Text & Email. Here you can create the rules and Winner email. The rules should explain all of the rules and terms & conditions of the giveaway. The Winner email should congratulate the winner and instruct them on how they will receive their prize.

The extras section allows you to integrate the giveaway with your social media profiles, but it requires the pro edition of the plugin. If you plan on doing a lot of giveaways in the future, it is worth it to upgrade.

Save all of the changes you made before leaving the page. All that is left to do now is configure the settings.

Settings Configuration

On the left-hand admin panel, click on Settings.

There are 8 tabs in the settings. They include General, Email, Google Captcha, Scripts, Conditions, Sharing Methods, Form, and GDPR.

The majority of the settings are very straight forward and the plugin does a great job of making it as simple as possible. You should take your time and carefully select the best settings for your website.

Every website is unique, thus the selections you make may be different.

Once you are happy with the changes, click on the “Save” button. Congratulations, your giveaway is now ready for use!

Promote it on Social Media

Social media is what makes giveaways so successful in 2019. Being able to use a platform that allows you to reach millions of potential visitors and customers is an amazing opportunity.

Having a strong presence on social media is a surefire way to boost your traffic, and combining it with the appeal of a giveaway is the icing on the cake.

Which platforms are you sharing your giveaway on? What kind of contests will you run in WordPress?

The post How to Perform Contests and Giveaways in WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

In this tutorial, I’ll talk about why you might want to start an email newsletter, and I’ll show you a very capable WordPress plugin that can get you started for free.

Who Needs a Newsletter?

The purpose of a newsletter is to inform. Whether that means informing potential customers about a new product or letting followers know that you have something new for them, the core purpose is the same.

So the answer to “who needs a newsletter?” is anyone who needs to communicate with an audience. An email newsletter is also an effective way to stay in touch with your customers, readers or listeners. This is to remind them you are there and to bring them back to your website.

Social media is an important avenue for engagement. If your goal is to promote yourself or your product, you need a social media presence. But most social media is fleeting and easily missed or ignored.

An email newsletter in someone’s inbox, on the other hand, has to be acted upon. It may be read or it may be deleted, but it can’t be ignored. If that sounds like an ideal situation for your message, you need to start a newsletter.

Starting an Email Newsletter Is Easy, Growing a Mailing List Is…Less Easy

If you’re convinced that you need to start a newsletter, congratulations, you’ve taken the first step. But who is going to be on the receiving end of your newsletter? That’s the second step: growing a mailing list. And it involves collecting email addresses or gaining subscribers.

Which involves convincing people to voluntarily give you their email addresses.

There are a lot of shortcuts to building an email list, but they rarely leave you with a list of any value. Whatever you do, never buy an email list. That’s spamming, and it will work against you.

So how do you build a quality email list?

Use your website

If someone is on your site, you can assume they have an interest in what you’re saying or selling. Create a form that lets them give you their name and email address (more on that later) and make sure they see it.

A link to your form should be on every page of your site. You can also draw attention to the fact that you have a newsletter with a popup or other attention-getting device.

The goal is to make it easy for people to subscribe. But first, they have to know there’s something to subscribe to.

Give something away

Another way to gain addresses quickly is with a giveaway. A word of warning though: for a giveaway to be effective, it has to be related to what you’re doing.

Meaning if you are trying to grow a podcast about books and set up a sweepstake to give away a barbeque grill, you’re not going to gain subscribers who care about books, only those who want a shot at a free grill.

When you email them about your book’s podcast, they’re just going to delete your newsletter, unsubscribe, or worse, report it as spam.

Many people who voluntarily provide their email addresses to newsletters or email lists will report the mailings as spam if the content doesn’t interest them. It’s unavoidable, but you can reduce the likelihood of it happening by building a quality list.

So for your podcast about books, it would be reasonable and appropriate to give away books. Or a blog about movies can give away movies or theater tickets. But with that in mind, you still have to remain relevant to what you’re doing.

Giving away science textbooks then sending a newsletter about romance novels isn’t going to work. You get the idea.

Provide exclusive access or information

Similar to a giveaway, providing access or information that isn’t publicly available on your website is a good way to gain interested subscribers. You’ve probably seen this method used with white papers. But you can provide any number of things to entice a visitor to sign up for your list.

Special posts or episodes, access to “members only” forums or discussion groups, etc. are all good ways to pique someone’s interest. People will trade their email address for information that they value.

You’ve Built a Quality Email Newsletter List, Now What?

We’ll cover the mechanics of sending out your email newsletters in a minute, but first, let’s talk about how to make sure your newsletter is read by the recipients. You can build a solid list, but if you don’t deliver a solid newsletter, people won’t read it.

What makes a great newsletter is equally great content. The best newsletters are:

• Informative – provide information your subscribers want to read. Why did they subscribe to your newsletter? What is it you were offering to them? Keep that in mind when writing.
• Easy on the eyes – images and colors can be used to convey ideas. Even if people don’t read every word of a newsletter, you have a chance to grab them visually.
• Well formatted – use HTML to lay out your newsletter, and remember to give the content room to breathe. Subscribers presented with a wall of text and no open space are more likely to delete or save the email to read later (and it’s easy for “later” to become “never”). Even if you’re presenting a lot of information, break it down into smaller sections that give the impression of an easy read.

Did I Mention Spam?

When you send mass email, either using a commercial email product or your host’s server, you have to take every possible precaution to avoid having your messages marked as spam. Too many spam complaints and your server’s IP address will be added to “blackhole lists.”

Mail servers use such lists to decide which email to reject. Obviously, you don’t want to be on those lists.

I mentioned earlier that some recipients are going to mark your messages as spam regardless of what you do. So let’s look at how to avoid any of your other recipients from doing the same.

Use double opt-in

That means after someone gives you their email address, you send them a confirmation email they have to acknowledge. Typically, that’s done by clicking a link to verify that they want to be added to the list.

Most email marketing programs will default to an opt-in process.

Keep subject lines relevant

Make sure your email subject line is relevant to the content of your newsletter. It may be tempting to use a controversial or shocking subject line to get recipients to open the email, but if the contents of your newsletter aren’t controversial or shocking, you can run into problems.

Any disconnect between the subject and body of the email will cause some recipients to flag your newsletter as spam. Some anti-spam systems scan for “spammy” subject lines and automatically drop those messages into spam folders.

Provide accurate contact information

Don’t mask or otherwise hide who is sending the email. Make sure your name, or the blog or company name, are included along with a valid email address. Depending on where you live, you may also be required to include a physical mailing address, and an unsubscribe link.

Most marketing email you see will include those things in very small print in the footer of the message. That’s fine, but make sure you’re following the rules.

Sending Your Email Newsletter

We’ve talked about why a newsletter can be a benefit and how to start building a list, now let’s talk about how to send the email to subscribers.

There are many email marketing companies out there such as Constant Contact, MailChimp, Aweber and a dozen others. One thing they have in common is a rich set of tools to simplify managing your list and sending email.

Another thing they have in common is subscription fees. If you build a sizable list, the fees can be substantial.

For this tutorial, I wanted to find a free option and one that integrates into WordPress. Here again, there are several options, and I’ve chosen to focus on the “Newsletter” plugin.

Of the free newsletter WordPress plugins, Newsletter has that largest number of installations, is updated often, and has a good 4.5-star rating.

Let’s install it and I’ll show you around.

Installing the Newsletter WordPress Plugin

Log in to your WordPress admin panel.

In the left column navigation mouseover the “Plugins” link and click the “Add New” link.

In the “Search plugins…” box, enter “newsletter.”

Find the Newsletter plugin and click the “Install Now” button.

Click the “Activate” button.

Configuring the Newsletter WordPress Plugin

Newsletter will present you with a tutorial. Click through the tutorial to configure:

Sender – Newsletter suggests an email address here (newsletter@your domain), if you keep the suggestion, make sure the address is set up.

Subscription Forms – This determines whether your newsletter includes a field to ask for the person’s name, privacy checkbox and the text on the subscribe button. The email field is, of course, included by default.

If you don’t think you’ll have a specific use for the subscriber’s name, consider not asking for it. The less personal information you ask for, the more likely people are to click the subscribe button.

Time for some tests! sends a test email. Enter an email address you can check and click the “Send a test message” button. You will receive an email from the system.

If you don’t receive the test email in your inbox, check your spam folder. If the test email doesn’t show up in either location after a few minutes, contact your host and let them know you’re having difficulties emailing from your site.

Adding a Newsletter Sign up Form to Your Site

The next section of the tutorial adds a newsletter sign up form into the sidebar or footer of your WordPress site. To add the form, click the “Take me to my widget settings” button.

In the “Active Widgets” section, scroll down to the Newsletter entries and click “Newsletter” or “Newsletter Minimal.”

Click the “Add Widget” button.

Our example site theme doesn’t use a sidebar, so the only option is “footer.” For themes with a sidebar, you will be able to choose where you wish the newsletter form to appear.

Complete the options for the subscription form.

Here’s what the Newsletter form will look like in the site footer.

And here’s the Newsletter Minimal form.

You may want to visit the Newsletter documentation link and bookmark it for later reference. There is a lot of customization you can do to make sure your mailings look and sound the way you want them to.

Be Part of the Solution

Spam is a problem. Make your newsletter or promotional mailings part of the solution. Always provide something of value, don’t try to trick or deceive your recipients and always be above board about who you are and why you’re showing up in their inbox.

If you take a positive approach to email lists and newsletters, you can reap incredible benefits. The more connected you are to your customers or followers, the more open they will be to your messages and ideas (and, let’s be honest, your sales pitches).

Can you think of ways an email newsletter might benefit your online presence? Have you ever used one of the commercial email marketing companies? What was your experience like?

The post How to Add an Email Newsletter Signup to WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

You could have hundreds upon hundreds of visitors with only three or four people in the mailing list. Which is why you want to boost email and newsletter opt-ins in the best ways possible.

In this tutorial, I’ll share several of the most effective methods to get people to opt into those mailing systems and improve your reach.

Never Underestimate the Value of an Email List

Email lists can help spread the word of your organization while engaging your target audience. While there’s no doubt that some may simply delete the email without reading its contents, the potential for grabbing someone’s attention is worth the effort.

After all, email is still one of the most effective and most utilized methods of online marketing. And powering your strategy with email marketing services improves interactions from those who receive your message.

Here are some of the most effective methods to boost email and newsletter opt-ins I’ve found for WordPress. Find the ones that best work for your brand and strategy.

Opt-in Popups

Many website owners will start with an opt-in pop screen to engage new visitors. An effective method for this is something like Icegram. It’s a popup builder that works with many newsletter plugins for WordPress.

Icegram has a lot of features for engagement, which is why it’s among essential plugins in WordPress for many developers.

You can set popups to launch for first-time visitors, lapsed time, or an exiting the website. You’ll see this method used on a lot of sites today, and for good reason: it works.

Just make sure you don’t get too annoying with these popups. It may discourage return visitors.

A/B Test Opt-in Buttons

Sometimes the simple task of changing a call to action button for opting into a mailing list can increase engagement. In fact, about 85% of people buy a certain product purely because of color.

One way you can do this is by running A/B testing in Google Analytics. You can track which pages with certain colors are the most effective for audience retention and opt-in strategies.

Once you discover which is the more effective, you can keep it as the permanent color. However, it probably wouldn’t hurt to test other colors in the future.

It’s all about fine-tuning the strategy until you find the perfect combination.

Test Button Copy

Colors are not the only thing that can change whether a visitor subscribes to a mailing list or not. Sometimes, even the text itself can inspire action in guests.

Of course, this also works with text links. It’s in your best interest to run a few different tests to find the most effective wording to convert visitors into subscribers.

Size, font, text color, and more can all contribute to influence if a person is going to opt into the email list. And text lists are fairly easy to run. Just simply change the typography of the link or button and track the results.

Keep Signup Simple

If you really want to boost your opt-in strategy, keep the process simple. Adding too many fields to a form can make the experience seem more daunting and could dissuade visitors from signing up.

It’s a bit similar to the checkout process. Many will abandon a shopping cart if checking out takes too long. The end result is a lost sale.

The same can be said about the opt-in process for mailing lists.

You want viable information for your content strategy, but you don’t want to over-burden someone who just wants to be added to the list.

Share the Newsletter or Email List Everywhere

Your website isn’t the only place where you can reach potential subscribers. You can easily promote your opt-in mailing list on other sites such as Facebook, Twitter, or even Instagram.

Using social media apps like Buffer, Hootsuite or SproutSocial, you can engage a wide audience by sharing your opt-in form page on multiple social sites. And the best part is that it would only take a few moments of your time.

Opt-in Links at End of Post

Once a visitor reads your content, why not promote the newsletter or subscription form at the end? You can use a simple link to the signup form or add an attractive button to make the element more pronounced on the page.

Regardless of how you add the opt-in method at the end, make sure you use a call to action. This is when you encourage readers to subscribe by saying something like:
“Signup today and get more information delivered to your inbox.”

Adding an Opt-In Link in Your Email Signature

Have you considered using your email to promote an email opt-in form? Many mailing apps available give you the chance to include a hyperlink in the signature of your email, which you can then use to aim at your subscription page.

This has potential to turn your messages into a method of gaining new subscribers. Each message you send out can work to boost your opt-in rates, especially for someone who sends out a lot of emails on a daily basis.

Keep the Site Clean

Whether you’re building a landing page for the opt-in form or creating a post, you want to limit distractions. For instance, you wouldn’t want an opt-in form for the mailing list on a landing page focusing on selling a product.

In many instances, one or the other will suffer because it distracted the visitor.

Keep your pages and forms clear of things that can take the visitor’s attention away from the underlying purpose.

Show Off Your Testimonials

Testimonials from previous customers help engage new ones. This is because many people trust the opinions of others over most marketing strategies.

For example, you could add a rotating testimonial slider near the opt-in button of your site, which may inspire trust in visitors.

Testimonials are such an effective tool that most businesses include them prominently on the website. Show them off with pride while using a call to action to sign up for your mailing list.

Lock Content for Non-Subscribers

A common method for getting more opt-ins for mailing lists is through the use of locking content. This is when you essentially hide parts of your site from non-subscribers.

Locking content is a common practice, especially among news outlets. It’s a way to encourage people to opt-in or pay for premium access. And it’s a very effective form of generating a mailing list, especially if you have some amazing content.

Plugins like Membership & Content Restriction make setting something like this up quick and easy.

Give them a Reason to Opt-in or Subscribe

A lot of people out there probably wouldn’t mind getting updates from you on a regular basis. This greatly expands your reach and keeps the brand in the minds of consumers. But you need to give them a reason to do so.

Practice an opt-in strategy that works best for you.

How do you get users to opt into your mailing lists? What are the most effective methods you use to engage your audience to increase business?

The post How to Boost Email and Newsletter Opt-ins with WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

Since QR code usage is expected to hit 5.3 billion by 2022, it is probably a good idea to generate WordPress QR codes for your website.

Today, I will show you how you can easily generate QR codes for your WordPress website.

What is a QR Code?

A QR code, which is an abbreviation of Quick Response Code, is the trademark for a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional barcode) that was first designed in 1994 for the automotive industry in Japan.

A barcode is a machine-readable optical label that contains information about the item to which it is attached. In practice, QR codes often contain data for a locator, identifier, or tracker that points to a website or application.

A QR code uses four standardized encoding modes (numeric, alphanumeric, byte/binary, and kanji) to store data efficiently. There are also other extensions that you can use, but these are the main ones.

A QR code consists of black squares arranged in a square grid on a white background, which can be read by an imaging device such as a camera, and processed using Reed–Solomon error correction until the image can be appropriately interpreted.

The required data is then extracted from patterns that are present in both the horizontal and vertical components of the image.

How to Add QR Codes in WordPress

As you might expect, there are a ton of plugins in WordPress that add QR code functionality. In this tutorial, we will be looking at the Qyrr plugin.

Simply put, Qyrr allows your WordPress site to begin generating QR codes. In total, there are 8 different types of QR codes you can create that range from simple text to WhatsApp Messages.

Of course, some of these require the Pro version.

It’s worth mentioning that you can customize the appearance of the QR code. While this isn’t important in terms of function, it can make them fit in with your theme.

You can change the color, size, and even add your logo in the middle.

You can place the QR codes on any page or post using either the dedicated Gutenberg block or alternatively, with a shortcode. Overall, the plugin is very easy to use, so there’s no need to worry about difficulty.

Step 1: Install Qyrr

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

Search for Qyrr in the available search box.

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

Step 2: Create QR Codes In WordPress

This plugin is pretty straightforward and can pretty much be summed up in two steps. Create the QR codes and place the QR codes. As you can imagine, you need to create the QR codes first, so let’s begin.

You may notice there is a settings option for the plugin, but there’s not really much you can configure, at least in the free version.

The only noteworthy thing to mention is you can Import and Export QR codes. So, if you have these available, you can simply add them to your WordPress website with this functionality.

On the left-hand admin panel, click on the Qyrr option.

You’ll be asked if you want to receive email notifications informing you when the plugin updates and other plugins related to it. Feel free to accept or skip as they have no effect on using the plugin.

To begin creating QR codes, click on the “Add New” button.

Creating QR codes with this plugin is pretty straightforward. In the free version, you can create two kinds of QR codes. The first creates links to your posts or pages, whereas the second creates external links.

The first thing you can do is add a title to the QR code. The title is meant to make it easy to locate for editing purposes, so name it appropriately. To actually edit the QR code, click on it.

Doing so will open up some options on the right-hand side.

Click on the Source option. Here, you can choose if you want the QR code to be for a Post/Page or for an External Link. If you choose Post/Page, you will then select either a post or page using the drop-down box.

Alternatively, if you choose External Link, you just need to enter the URL into a box. There are other options here, but none of them are particularly useful.

The General Settings allow you to change the color of the QR code.

You can also upload a logo or label. It’s also possible to download the QR code as a PDF. This is ideal if you want to print it out and display it in a physical location.

Save the changes to continue.

Step 3: Placing QR Codes In WordPress

Now that you have a QR code ready for use, it’s time to actually add it. The easiest way is to just use a Gutenberg block.

To do this, open up any existing post or page, or create a new one. Once inside, add the QR Code Selector block in the desired location.

In the block options on the right side, you can use the drop-down box to select which QR code you want to add. If you only created one code, then there will not be any drop-down options.

Note: If you are not using Gutenberg as your editor, the only option will be to use the shortcode. Refer to the plugin documentation for more information concerning shortcode syntax.

And that’s it. Save the changes and the QR code will appear on your website. You can check it by scanning the code with your smartphone. Remember, you can edit these codes at any time if you need to change a link.

Congratulations on learning how to add QR codes to your WordPress website. If you liked the plugin, consider upgrading to the Pro version for even more QR types. There are a lot more options that your business may find useful.

QR Codes Are Still Useful

QR codes have made a huge comeback, and data suggests that they will continue to grow rapidly over the next several years. And believe it or not, they are finding uses in other forms of media.

A great example of this is video games. There are many games that display a QR code that you can use to view specific in-game stats or are hidden within a map as a secret.

If they continue on this trend, QR codes will find their way into every form of media, so making sure your website is ready for them is a must. Just make sure they don’t take up that much room.

I hope this article showed you a quick and easy way to utilize WordPress QR codes to maximize the visibility of your website links.

Have you been using QR codes on your website already? What types of things do you use QR codes for on a day-to-day basis?

The post How to Generate QR Codes For Your WordPress Website appeared first on GreenGeeks.

When it comes to adding gamification for customer loyalty in WordPress, your options are plentiful. You can do everything from running contests to cash back programs for every purchase made. The hardest part is picking which methods you want to use as all of them can have great benefits.

In this tutorial, I’ll go over several WordPress loyalty program plugins you can install right now. Engage your customers by finding those tools that add a bit of flare to your site.

Importance of Gamification

Gamification is a widely accepted practice in today’s market. In fact, many businesses put this aspect to work among employees. Instead of making a job seem mundane, it’s viewed more as a way to “score” against competition while collecting rewards.

It’s this rewarding system that delivers the greatest impact among today’s shoppers. It’s not a new practice, but it’s one that has grown exponentially in the online community.

Back in the day, you could get a punch card as part of a loyalty program. Buy 10 coffees and get the 11th one free. Nowadays, most of these applications are handled in the digital space.

Gamification is a proven method in driving sales, improving leads and strengthening the bonds between customers and merchant. It boosts reputation while driving repeat business.

It’s one of the reasons why many WordPress users install interactive UX designs for their websites.

5 WordPress Loyalty Program Plugins to Try

There are so many loyalty programs available that it seems unfair to just stick with one and run with it. So, I’ve decided to show you five of my favorite methods to add gamification for customer loyalty in WordPress.

I’m sure you’ll find one of these to be helpful.

1. Gratisfaction

Gratisfaction is probably one of the more intricate plugins in this list. It offers a variety of ways to engage your customers ranging from newsletter subscriptions to points for social shares. Giveaways, referrals, reward points and more are all available in this tool.

If you use external platforms to make sales, such as Etsy, this plugin integrates with those customers. You can then offer discounts for Etsy buyers on your Shopify store, for example.

You can also add the Gratisfaction Social Contest plugin to take the system even further. This lets you connect to potential customers like never before on sites like Facebook while customizing your campaigns.

The only real drawback to Gratisfaction is the limitation the free version has in place. You can only offer up to 100 customers the loyatly program. After that, you need to buy the premium version of the plugin.

2. WooCommerce Wallet

WooCommerce hosting is perhaps one of the most popular ways to sell goods from WordPress. And having something like WooCommerce Wallet only expands what you can offer to customers as well as streamline your business practice.

WooCommerce Wallet is a payment system where customers can add to their balance using a preferred method of payment. It works like any other digital wallet as it provides partial payment abilities, processes refunds and allows users to transfer amounts to others.

The reason it’s on my list today is because of the cashback capability it has as well. You can choose to give customers a chance to earn money back according to the amount of money they spend, a certain product they buy or according to product categories.

For example, you could promote a category specifically for charity items and give shoppers cash back when they buy from those select items.

3. YITH WooCommerce Points and Rewards

Another addition specifically for WooCommerce, the YITH Points and Rewards plugin is another good tool to consider. It gives you a variety of options for engaging customers such as earning a certain number of points for each purchase.

In the free version, admins are capable of making edits to user points while being able to view them all. However, the premium version provides far more functionality including setting extra points for actions on the site.

The system also takes care of users by sending an email notifying the consumer his or her points are about to expire. During a live transaction, YITH will also inform the shopper if there is a discount available according to points collected during the transaction.

Perhaps one of the most appealing elements of this plugin is the automation. Once you set the criteria and make a few settings, Yith controls the rest of the process without input from you. This frees your time to do other things to boost your business.

4. Social Boost

By the same developers who make Gratisfaction, Social Boost is more geared towards a social media presence. Although it does have functionality for on-site marketing, it shines most when integrated with social sites like Facebook, YouTube or Pinterest.

The system comes with a wide range of campaigns for social engagement such as “share & win” and “comment & win” elements. In reality, you can provide offers and discounts for most interactions with a social media account.

You can’t deny the impact of social media, and this plugin gives you the ability to engage all of those potential shoppers. Unfortunately, the system only allows up to 50 leads for free. If you want to take it further, you have to buy the premium version.

5. Beans

Beans comes with several tools for gamification of your WooCommerce store. Not only does it provide points for purchases, but users can also use a built-in dashboard to see the status of things like referral bonuses and tracking their own expenses.

One of the highlights to this system is the integration. It works with a variety of systems such as MailChimp. And combining a reward program with a strong email service can do wonders to generate leads, sales and better brand awareness.

You can set Beans to notify users of existing credit while creating time-based campaigns to promote urgency within customers. People are often more likely to spend the credit if they experience a “use-it-or-lose-it” element.

Like others in this list, Beans is only available for free on a limited basis. It lets you provide a loyalty program for up to 50 transactions per month. Afterward, you need to subscribe to a monthly payment plan.

Engaging Your Customers

Gamification is only one method of creating loyal customers. It’s promoting a symbiotic relationship between your business and those who are interested in buying products. It’s also a proven method to create repeat business from shoppers, which will impact overall success of the business.

What kind of things do you offer your customers to keep them coming back to your store? What kind of loyalty programs are you interested in providing?

The post How to Add Gamification for Customer Loyalty in WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.