This plugin specializes in creating unique displays to show off coaches on your website. With it, you can show off an image of the coach, their name, title, specialty, and much more. As such, it is an essential tool for any life coach website.

Today, I will demonstrate how to use GS Coaches to improve the visitor experience.

What Is a Life Coach Website?

Before we can answer this, let’s go over what a life coach is.

A life coach is an individual who provides consultation for clients to achieve life goals. This can be in regard to physical health, careers, relationships, or any other major aspect of life. Essentially, they give you advice to live a better life.

With that said, a website for a life coach is generally a platform that introduces potential clients to those experts and professionals. It should show off how great the life coach is in specific fields, display clients they helped meet their goals, and allow users to sign up.

In some cases, an entire website will be dedicated to a single life coach, while in others, it could be a full team of them.

Thus, you are going to need a tool that can help you show off multiple coaches.

How to Use GS Coaches

Step 1: Install GS Coaches

GS Coaches is a very simple plugin that exists for one purpose, showing off coaches of any kind on a website. It has several customization options to choose from that help make it a great fit.

In terms of usability, it is quite easy to use as it makes full use of shortcodes. You can place your coach display anywhere you can place a shortcode. This includes posts, pages, sidebars, footers, and more.

This tutorial will cover the free version of the plugin but be aware that the Pro version offers 29 additional themes and templates to give you greater customization.

Let’s start by installing the plugin.

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

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

Find the GS Coaches plugin, and click on the “Install Now” button to activate the plugin for use.

Note: You might notice that there are several other plugins that share the GS moniker. They are all made by GS Plugins and work well together, so consider using some of the other plugins to improve your website if you like this one.

Step 2: Coaches Settings

You can either begin adding your coach information immediately or configure the settings for coaches. I am choosing the latter, but this can be done in any order.

On the left-hand admin panel, click on GS Coach and select the Coaches Settings option.

The settings are divided into several tabs. This may seem like there is a lot to go through, but that’s not the case in the free version. You see, only the first tab is customizable unless you upgrade.

The rest of the tabs are exclusive to the Pro version; thus, we will not cover them in great detail.

The first tab is the Coach Page Settings. Here, you can configure the number of columns to display coaches in, pick the style and theme of the display, if you want the coach links to open a new tab or on the same window when clicked, and the character limit.

Note: Sadly, you can’t actually see what the style and theme look like here, so you may want to make that choice once you have a coach filled in.

Next is the Coache Settings tab. These settings are only available in the Pro version, they mainly consist of toggling additional information that can appear in the display.

This is followed by the Coach Media Settings. Again, this section is exclusive to the Pro version, it’s main focus is toggling what social media platforms are visible in the coach display.

Lastly is the Style Settings tab. Another exclusive tab for the Pro version that consists of style options like font color, font size, alignment, and much more. There is also an Advanced Setting tab. It is pro-exclusive and just controls the coach slug.

Step 3: Add A Coach

Now it is time to actually add a coach to the plugin. This is pretty easy and just consists of adding an image and filling out the necessary fields. This plugin uses the classic editor as the foundation but don’t worry, it is rather intuitive.

With that said, you’ll pretty much be using the editor to write some text, so there’s not much to it.

At the top is a title section, enter the name of the coach.

In the text editor, you can enter a description of the coach. This should be a short, but informative description of yourself and your coaching style. If you remember the settings section from the previous step, there was a character limit.

The default is 100 while the max is 300 characters. Be sure that your description matches the length you specified in that step.

Underneath the text editor is the Coach’s Additional Info section.

Here you can add links to their social media accounts, or their personal website.

You can also opt to leave any field blank and it will not appear in the display. Below is a list of Pro features. We can ignore this for now as we’re using the Free version. Instead, let’s go ahead and add an image for our coach.

This is done by setting it as the featured image. Click on the Set Featured Image option.

Here, you can choose an image from your media library. The image should help create a positive impression of the coach. This can be as simple as a smiling picture, or it could be showing off how the particular coach’s fitness

The bottom line is that you want an image that somewhat matches your life coaching website.

And that really covers what you can do with the free version. Double-check that all of the information you entered is correct and click the “Publish” button to add it to the coach library. You can repeat this step to add more coaches if necessary.

Step 4: Displaying Your Coach

Now that you have a coach added to the plugin, all that is left is to actually display them in WordPress. I said at the start that this is done through shortcodes, thus, it’s just a matter of adding the shortcode to the desired location.

The default Shortcode looks like this:

[gs_coaches theme="gs_coach_grid_1"]

This shortcode can be modified and you can find the full details about it from the official plugin’s page. From here, just go to any post, page, or widget area, add a shortcode block, and paste the shortcode into it.

Save the changes and you can see the coaches displayed on your website like so:

Remember that this plugin has several styles and layout options to choose from, and even more when you upgrade to the Pro version. Be sure to test them out to find the right one for your site.

And with that, we have covered everything you can do with the free version of GS Coaches. Congratulations on learning how to display your coaches in WordPress.

What Else Should a Life Coach Site Include?

While the coaches themselves should be the focal point of such a website, there is another core component that will help bring in new clientele. And that would be testimonials.

The coach is only half of the story, and no matter how impressive your resume is, the truth is that users want to see success stories from your previous clients. Thus, having your clients tell others about their experience is a huge selling point.

As such, testimonials are the perfect inclusion for any website that needs to show off customer relations. For those unaware, these are essentially customer reviews that you can post on your website.

They usually include a short description of their experience, perhaps a star rating, and maybe even a picture of the client. The more realistic the review appears, the better.

You may be questioning why the face is so important, but I assure you it is critical for testimonials. Without a face, anyone could just write a review, which can make users skeptical. While a face doesn’t necessarily mean a review is real, it does help.

Project You Image Today with GS Coaches

As you can see, the GS Coaches plugin is pretty simple to use and features a wide range of customization options to choose from. It is the perfect choice if you are planning to build a life coach website.

Of course, it is only one component. Be sure to find a reliable web hosting company, choose a great theme, and create a stunning website to attract customers. Remember, you can build anything in WordPress.

How easy did you find the GS Coaches plugin? Do you use a different personal coaching plugin for WordPress?

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

Gutenverse enhances the normal editor for WordPress, Gutenberg, and adds a variety of new blocks you can use to build content, and allows you to utilize several templates for specific layouts and sections.

With over 45 blocks to choose from, this plugin is massive, which is why we are going to cover everything the plugin offers.

What Is Gutenverse?

Gutenverse is a page builder plugin for WordPress. It acts as a natural upgrade for Gutenberg and the full-site editor in WordPress.

As such, using this plugin will feel the same as using the default Gutenberg editor, but with more options. Naturally, this makes it a great option if you are already familiar with Gutenberg and simply want more out of it.

There are a large number of new or enhanced blocks you will gain access to. These can be broken up into three categories:

1. General Blocks: These are the general building blocks that every post or page may need at one point or another.
2. Form Blocks: These are the blocks that are specific to forms that contain several styling options.
3. Post Blocks: These blocks provide post templates. Each is highly customizable and can be combined to create new templates.

Of course, blocks are just one aspect of this plugin. It will also introduce global color options and font control for your site. Everything you build with this plugin is naturally responsive and intuitive to use.

With all of that said, let’s get right into what you can do with the Gutenverse plugin.

How to Create Content with Gutenverse

Gutenverse is a very robust plugin, thus we will not cover every little detail, but instead focus on the major aspects that this plugin brings to the table.

With that said, there is still a lot to talk about.

Blocks Overview

Without a doubt, blocks are the bread and butter of this plugin. These blocks are what you will use to build pages in WordPress. Some of them simply act as upgraded versions of default blocks in Gutenberg, while others act as unique tools.

In either case, the blocks in this plugin are often fully customizable and offer you several styling options on top of their core functionality.

Section Block

Without a doubt, the Section block will be present on every page you build with Gutenverse. Simply put, this block allows you to build a full section for a page. Upon adding the block, you will be asked to choose the number of columns.

You can choose up to five columns.

Once you select the number of columns, you will be able to select the layout of said columns. For example, perhaps you want the first column to take up more space than the rest, or a different column. The choice is yours and you simply need to make the selection.

Once selected, you can insert other blocks into each column. Essentially, each column has access to any block you can use in Gutenberg (the sole exception is the Section block). As such, you can build any kind of site section.

For example, it could be something simple like including an image in one column and text in another. Or you could create a pricing table for different services. There’s really no limit on what is possible.

In terms of styling potential, you’ll be able to style each block you add as normally. The Section block itself has several styling options that are accessible in the settings section if you select the block on the right-hand side.

Form Builder

The Form Builder block is another standout feature of this plugin. It can help you generate simple forms for your website and provides a variety of field types like checkboxes, email inputs (great for newsletter signups), and more.

Like every block, simply add the Form builder block to WordPress. You will immediately notice that it just consists of a large “+” symbol. Like everything else in this plugin, the form builder relies on you adding blocks to the form.

While you can add any kind of block, there are dedicated blocks for the form builder. For example, let’s say you want to add a checkbox, Well, just search for the checkbox block and add it.

Or, let’s say you want to create a newsletter sign-up form. You would need to have an email input field. Simply search for the Email Input block and add it.

Here is a more extensive list of all of the form input field blocks you can choose from and a short description for each:

• Date Input: The Date Input block allows users to either manually input a date or select it from a calendar.
• Select: Users can use select an option from a list of drop-down options. The user can only select one option.
• Multi-Select: Works the same as the Select block, but users can select multiple options.
• Number Input: Allow users to input a number. They can do so manually or use the arrows to increase or decrease the value.
• Radio: Add radio buttons to the for that users can select from.
• Switch: Add a toggle switch that users can utilize. Great for options at the end.
• Telp Input: Allow users to input their phone number.
• Text Input: Allow users to enter text on a small scale. (i.e. asking for their career, or car model, etc.)
• Text Area: Provides a large text area for users to write in. Ideal for receiving feedback or providing additional information.

Of course, there’s one more important part of any form, the Submit button. You can actually build a custom button, but there is a dedicated Submit button you can add to any form you build.

Since it works identically to the main Button Block, refer to the next section for more details.

Button Blocks

Buttons are an essential part of any WordPress website. Gutenverse actually has three blocks related to buttons called Button, Multi Buttons, and Submit Buttons.

While these blocks are unique and have their own uses, they ultimately function the same outside of their unique features.

You’ll be able to enter the text for the button and input it like normal. You can also add an icon to every button. This plugin has a great selection of icons to choose from. In this case, I’ll make a simple Home button.

Click on the Choose Icon option from the block toolbar.

This will open up a massive library of icons you can choose from. You can scroll through them or use the search option to find something specific. In this case, I’ll search for a home icon.

You might notice that the icon did not appear when you selected it. That’s because by default, displaying the icon is disabled. All you’ll need to do is select the block and go to the Button Settings on the right and toggle the Show Icon switch.

To add a link to the button, use the link option in the block toolbar.

You can also choose what device the button will appear on. You can choose between Desktop, Tablet, or Mobile. These options are available in the Display options for the block.

There are also several styling options to utilize such as changing the dimensions of the button, the color, the font, the alignment, and much more. Since these are standard options, I’ll leave that to you.

Popup Builder Block

Popups are an essential part of promoting deals, newsletters, and all kinds of content to users on your website. Normally, you would need a dedicated popup builder plugin to add them in WordPress, but Gutenverse comes with a Popup Builder block.

As such, you can build stunning popups for free. It’s one of the best and easiest ways to make popups in WordPress.

To get started, add the Popup Builder block to the post or page that you want it to appear on. It’s important to highlight that while you will need to add it to every post or page where you want it to appear, you can just copy and paste it for reuse.

Once you have it added, click on the block to start building.

This will open up a popup that acts exactly like Gutenberg. You can use all of the blocks in it to build a popup. Just be aware that adding the first block is a bit annoying because the “X” to close the popup overlaps with the “+” to add a new block.

From here, it is identical to building any post or page in WordPress and you can use all of the blocks as you would normally. Once you have everything built, you need to determine where the popup will open.

Exit out of the popup editor and choose the location on the right-hand side.

There are some other styling options available, like animation effects, but I will leave those to you. One thing worth pointing out before we move on would be the lack of open triggers.

This plugin only supports opening popups when a post or page is opened. This means you can’t trigger the popup when a user is about to leave a page (exit intent), or after a certain amount of time has passed. Thus, you may still want a dedicated popup plugin.

Gallery

Many websites build galleries to show off images for different reasons. Some businesses may want to show off their past projects to give customers an idea of what they are capable of. Regardless of what the reason is, Gutenverse has you covered.

The Gallery block allows you to build a full gallery in WordPress in minutes. All you’ll need to do is upload the images and select the gallery appearance.

First, add the Gallery block to the desired location. The block itself is not editable, you will need to use the settings on the right-hand side.

The first settings allow you to configure how the zoom will work. You can choose for it to zoom when users hover over an image or require them to click it.

Below this, you can choose the number of images on display, any animation effect durations, and the number of columns. More importantly, you can find the layout selection for the gallery. You can choose between Grid or Masonry.

If you go to the Gallery Settings, you can begin adding images to each gallery item. You can drag the images in any order you want from here as well.

There are some other settings like the Load-More option to help facilitate larger galleries.

The rest of the settings are the standard customization options offered in every Gutenverse block.

Testimonials

Testimonials remain one of the most important tools for online stores and businesses to build trust. Let’s face it, there are a ton of options for everything on the internet, which is why many users rely on reviews from existing customers.

They want to know how the experience was from another customer. They want assurances that the website is legit, and there is no better way to achieve this than testimonials. Gutenverse has you covered when it comes to this.

Simply add the Testimonials block to a post or page. Once there, you can begin filling out the block, which just consists of adding their testimonial, name, position/customer type, and even has room for an image.

The block offers four templates to choose from. These are located on the right-hand side in the settings area.

You may be a bit concerned about only seeing three testimonial slots, but that’s just because by default that’s all that is visible in the editor. You can adjust this to display more or less.

In fact, the block includes full slider functionality. As such, you can set how fast it loops, the number of testimonials on display, and much more. These options are found in the Slider Settings on the right-hand side.

There is also a Testimonial Item section that allows you to rearrange the testimonials by dragging them to the desired location in a list and you can edit them as well. This is also where you will need to go to add more testimonial slots.

The rest of the settings contain your standard styling options like positioning, animations, and so on.

Google Maps

Google Maps is one of the most useful tools for helping customers find a physical location. As such, it is front and center on most websites that have one, but normally you would need another plugin to add this functionality.

This is yet another block available in Gutenverse. With it, you can display your location and help customers find the best route.

Like any other block, simply add it to a post or page where you want it to appear. The first thing you’ll need to do is enter the location. To do this, check the right-hand side and enter the location.

You’ll also find controls for the map zoom and map height. You can either use the sliders or enter the values manually. No matter what location you enter, users will be able to click on the Directions option to get directions to it.

There is also a Display section that allows you to hide this on specific devices like desktop, mobile, or tablet. You can utilize this feature if necessary.

What really makes this a standout feature of the plugin is that normally, you need to obtain the API code to add this type of functionality to WordPress, but that’s not the case here. It just works.

Social Share & Icons

There is no misunderstanding of the importance of having a presence on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and X (the platform formerly known as Twitter). If handled correctly, you’ll get millions of eyes on your content.

As such, every website has social share buttons or icons on display. Gutenverse comes with two dedicated blocks for these needs.

The first is the Social Icons block. This actually works very similarly to the default WordPress block, but the major difference would be the customization options and the number of social icons available.

The block itself is simple. Just add it to the post or page and click on the Icon option.

This will open up the icon library which is home to hundreds of icons. Every major social media company is represented in this library as well as many smaller sites. While you can scroll down the list, using the search functionality is much faster.

Once you add the icon, you can click on the link option to add a link for when users click on it.

By default, the icons you add will appear in a horizontal grouping. You can change this to vertical in the settings on the right side.

You can use the standard options to configure the position, margins, borders, and whatnot in this area as well. The second block is the Social Share block. This creates a full share button. Functionally, it is identical to the social icons.

The only difference is that this is a button. Therefore, you have some different customization options.

Fun Fact Block

The Fun Fact block for Gutenverse might not be for everyone, but if you are looking to show off an interesting stat in WordPress, this is the block for you. For example, let’s say you want to highlight that you just made your one-millionth sale.

This is a huge milestone for any business, thus you probably want to shout it from the rooftops.

The Fun Fact block allows you to display a fact anywhere in WordPress. Once you add the block to a page or post, you can use the settings on the right-hand side.

Here you can choose to use an existing icon or upload your own image as a banner. In most cases, the image will be a better choice, unless you are showing off that your Facebook page reached a million followers or something where an icon is appropriate.

In the content section of the settings, you can configure the number on display. It consists of a number prefix, value, and suffix, but these are arbitrary field names. You can actually put any type of value into them.

So, back to our example of one million sales. You could write in the prefix option “We Sold” and enter “1000000” in the value box, and finally, put “Units” in the suffix box. You have a lot of freedom, so get creative.

There is also a title that you can fill out. In this case, I’ll just say “Thank You!”

The end results look like this:

It’s a simple block but can be very effective, especially if you take the time to make an eye-catching banner or image to go along with it.

Choose What Blocks to Enable

This plugin offers over 45 blocks for Gutenberg, and the truth is that most websites will not need all of them. By default, every block is enabled in WordPress upon activation. As you can imagine, that can make it a bit harder to find what you are looking for.

Thus, you should actually disable the blocks you do not want to use.

To do this, click on Gutenverse and select the Blocks option.

Here, you will see a full list of every block this plugin adds to WordPress. At the top is a Disable/Enable All button. By default, Enable All is selected. Below this, you will see all of the individual blocks with their own disable/enable switch.

Simply go through the list one by one and disable any blocks you do not want to use.

How Does Gutenverse Compare to Other Page Builders?

Gutenverse is a versatile page builder that definitely stacks up well against other major players. However, it is also very different from the other page builders available. And that’s because it focuses on enhancing the native editing power of WordPress.

If you were to take a look at some of the other more prominent page builders like Elementor, they have one thing in common.

Drag-and-drop editors.

You see, one of the main reasons why users choose to use a page builder is because they find Gutenberg tedious to use. And in the case of Gutenverse, it does nothing to combat this mindset. In fact, you could argue it makes it worse by adding more blocks and options.

With that said, feature-wise, Gutenverse stacks up against the best page builders with customization options, but does lack templates. Many page builders will include page templates that you can work on, while Gutenverse relies on the full-site editor.

Unfortunately, most WordPress themes do not support this yet.

With that said, it also does a lot of things other page builders don’t. Normally, you would need a Form Builder plugin, but that’s baked into Gutenverse, and the same for popups, not to mention all of the other blocks that are offered.

Ultimately, Gutenverse goes in a different direction than most page builders, but as you can see brings a lot to the table.

Take Gutenberg to the Next Level with Gutenverse

As you can see, Gutenverse brings a lot to the table with an incredible selection of customizable blocks. With it, you can build stunning posts and pages in WordPress that are not possible with the default WordPress tools.

While the blocks are easy to use individually, it can take some time to learn what blocks work well together and which ones don’t. As such, there is definitely a learning curve, but that is true for any page builder in WordPress.

How would you rate the Gutenverse plugin? Do you prefer Gutenverse over drop-and-drag page builders like Elementor?

The post How to Get the Most Out of Gutenverse for WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

These include the Yoast FAQ, Yoast Breadcrumbs, and Yoast How To blocks. Each one is designed to help you rank higher on search engines by helping search engines identify what your content is about.

When combined with the other SEO tools that Yoast offers, you’ll be able to make your content stand out in the rankings by displaying more visually appealing search results to users.

Luckily, like most things in Yoast, using these blocks is quite easy. Today, I will explain how each one of these blocks can help you.

What Is Structured Data?

Structured data is data that is organized in such a way that it helps search engines understand the context of the content you write.

How humans view web content and how search engines view it are drastically different. While we may see a beautiful page full of colors and text, a search engine just views raw code. Structured data helps the search engine understand the purpose of that code.

It’s not just search engines, as even social media sites utilize structured data to help turn your post into snippets using the Open Graph Protocol. As such, your website must be structured correctly to have the maximum impact on all platforms.

Failure to do so will result in your website being buried in the search results, which will directly impact the amount of traffic you receive. And even when you do appear in the results, you may not be as visually appealing as the other options.

Thus, you could lose a click because another option looks better when viewed from something like Google.

These Yoast blocks can help you avoid this issue and are quite easy to use.

Using Yoast Structured Data Blocks

The free version of Yoast SEO contains three structured data blocks that include Yoast FAQ, Yoast Breadcrumbs, and Yoast How To. Yoast has also openly stated that they are working on more of these blocks, so expect even more options in the future.

Each one is easy to use and can help improve your website’s SEO if used correctly. This tutorial will cover each one.

Note: This tutorial already assumes you have Yoast SEO installed and set up for use. Thus, that will not be covered in this tutorial.

Yoast FAQ

The Yoast FAQ block is for FAQ content, obviously. FAQs are powerful tools for websites that help answer the most commonly asked questions by their visitors. And by their nature, they also answer some of the most common questions on the internet.

In fact, search engines display a “People Also Ask” section that will take questions and answers from these very sections.

That is if the search engine can identify the question and the answer. Luckily, the Yoast FAQ block makes this simple by utilizing FAQ Schema. From your end, it is incredibly simple and just requires you to add the question and type the answer like so:

You can also add images to the answer but be sure that the question is answered in text form. The block allows you to add multiple questions by simply pressing the “Add question” option. There is no limit, so you can add as many questions as necessary.

When viewing results through Google, or other search engines, users might be able to actually see the full question and answer directly from the search results. This can make your website stand out from the competition.

However, search engines are quite selective with this, so your website will need to have a certain level of authority before this occurs.

When it comes to actually writing the answers, you will have access to all of the normal formatting options offered in WordPress, but you will not have access to block-specific features. For example, you cannot create a list through a block.

Yet, with some, you can simulate one through manual editing. Overall, the block is easy to use and can have a big impact on your FAQ.

Yoast Breadcrumbs

Site navigation remains one of the most important aspects of any website. If your website is difficult to navigate, it can ruin the user experience, and the frustration can drive users away. Similarly, search engines are the same way.

If your website is difficult to navigate, it can negatively impact your SEO. The Yoast Breadcrumbs block can help solve this.

Breadcrumbs are a hierarchy navigation technique that shows users where they are currently on a website. They work particularly well on eCommerce sites as products usually have their own post, which is accessible from a category page, and so on.

For example, let’s say you were viewing a new refrigerator. The breadcrumbs would look like this:

Home » Appliances » Refrigerators » Refrigerator 5000

The Home, Appliances, Refrigerators, and Refrigerator 5000 would all be links that the user could click on to be taken to that respective post or page. The final option is always your current location on the site.

When it comes to actually using the Yoast Breadcrumbs block, there’s not much to actually say. Simply adding the block will show your current breadcrumbs on the site. There is no input on your end as the plugin generates it for you.

You can place it anywhere on a post or page, most websites place it at the top for easier navigation.

Yoast How To

The last block we are covering, and potentially the most impactful is the Yoast How To block. As the name suggests, this is for tutorial-based how-to content. Essentially, if you plan to answer a how-to question with a list of steps, you should use this block.

How-to content remains some of the most popular content on the internet. In fact, any content that answers a user’s question remains the most popular type of content. As such, you should always be aiming to answer a question.

The good news is that just like the rest of the blocks we’ve covered so far, it is extremely easy to use.

You can add the total amount of time the tutorial will take (minutes, hours, days, and so on), the how-to question, a step title, and a step description. It looks like this with no content added:

This makes the block useful for pretty much any kind of content from creating a recipe to showing how to complete a quest in Baldur’s Gate 3.

You can add as many steps as you will need and the steps themselves can contain images to help users follow along. If utilized, a search engine may display the full how-to directly in the search results, which will help the content stand out to visitors.

And with that, you now know how to use these Yoast structured data blocks in WordPress.

The Importance of Structured Data

Three simple words, Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

Structured data helps improve the readability of your content by search engines. Again, search engines do not see content the same way as visitors do, they see it purely as code. Even if you create content that looks identical to these blocks, it isn’t the same.

The content created in these blocks looks very different on a code level, which will improve your website’s SEO.

The better your SEO, the higher your website will rank on Google, and the higher you rank, the more traffic your website will receive. In turn, your website will generate more money due to the increase in traffic.

As such, using structured data like these Yoast SEO blocks is an essential part of maximizing the profitability of your website.

Start Using Yoast Structured Data Blocks Today

As you can see, the Yoast SEO plugin has plenty of tools that can help you improve your site’s SEO by implementing better schema markups. This can help your website perform better in the search results.

The keywords here are “can help,” as just implementing the best schema practices doesn’t guarantee you a place in the search results. Yoast SEO also has plenty of other options when it comes to improving site rankings.

For instance, one of the first things you should do when you build a site is create a sitemap. This is a map of your website that tells a search engine what content is on your website. Yoast SEO can generate this for you.

You should also regularly update the sitemap when adding new content to your website. The plugin also provides SEO tips as you write content to keep track of keyword usage, the number of outbound and inbound links, and much more.

Overall, Yoast SEO is the best plugin for improving your website’s rankings, and these blocks can help you do it faster.

Which Yoast block do you use the most? How easy did you find it to incorporate structured data blocks with Yoast?

The post How to Use the Yoast Structured Data Blocks in WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

There’s no denying that it is easy to get burnt out when producing content for a blog, and eventually, this can lead to low-quality content just to meet deadlines. Adding writing statistics can provide motivation for you to keep going and even speed up the process.

Today, I will demonstrate how you can add writing statistics in WordPress and why you should add them.

How to Add Writing Statistics to WordPress

Step 1: Install Just Writing Statistics

The Just Writing Statistics does not have a lot of installs, but don’t let that fool you into questioning its quality. It is a comprehensive writing statistic plugin that tracks everything you write for WordPress posts and pages.

The plugin is simple to understand; it calculates how many words each post or page is and shows you the total word count, how frequently your write, how many posts you release by year, and other interesting statistics.

It also generates charts and graphs to help you visualize the date.

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

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

Scroll down until you find the Just Writing Statistics plugin and click on the “Install Now” button and activate the plugin for use.

Step 2: Calculate Your Word Count

Don’t worry, you will not be doing any math at all. When you first activate the plugin, you need to have it calculate your total word count. The reason this is not done automatically is because you have the option to select a range.

For example, let’s say you want to just keep track of the current year to see how much writing you have done.

On the left-hand admin panel, click on Writing Statistics and select the Statistics option.

You will see a full description of how the plugin calculates your word count, so be sure to read it. This really just boils down to two choices: count all content or select a time range to perform this calculation.

Simply select the option that suits you best then click on the “Calculate Writing Statistics” button.

The plugin will then commence the calculation. Depending on how much content your site has, the process may take some time. In any event, once it is done, you will be able to see all of your website’s writing stats.

Step 3: Browse Your Writing Statistics

At first glance, you might be overwhelmed by the amount of information on display, but rest assured it is actually very simple to understand. The stats are broken up into several tabs to make it easier to find what you are looking for.

The first tab is Top Content. This is not referring to your most popular or best content, it means the content with the highest word count.

This is useful for identifying what your longest types of content are and how long it takes for you to assemble them.

You’ll find the information in boxes at the top or as a line graph below them.

The All Content tab is identical to the Top Content tab in terms of the way information is presented. The main difference is that this tab is for all of your website’s content.

However, if you don’t have a lot of content, these two tabs could be identical.

The next two tabs are Monthly and Yearly. As the name implies, this covers your website’s writing for a particular month or year. It provides the data for posts, pages, and combined as global options.

You can view a graph to see how each month or year compares over the lifetime of your site (or in the selected range you chose at the start). You can also view it as raw data below the graph for more precise metrics.

The following tab is Author, which allows you to see how much each author is typing. Obviously, this isn’t useful if you only have a single writer. But in a team environment, it can help you see who is doing the most work.

Following this are the Tags and Categories tabs. As the names imply, you can see the total word count for individual tags and categories on your website. This can help you balance out the amount of content that gets written or focus more on what brings in the views.

There is also a Settings tab. Here, you can choose to calculate all of your website’s content or just a specific range, and yes, it is the same as the initial choice at the start, or you can choose content types to exclude.

The final About tab is just plugin information. And that’s everything you can view with this plugin.

Why You Should Add Writing Statistics to WordPress

As you can see, displaying writing statistics in WordPress is very simple and you can see a lot of information, but why do this?

As I said earlier, there are several advantages to viewing these stats, so here are the top reasons to do so.

1. Works Well with Other Analytical Tools

Without a doubt, your website is probably using an analytical tool like Google Analytics. These tools provide data about how well your content performs, and information on what types of visitors are on your site.

If you were to combine this information with writing statistics, it would create a powerful combo. For example, let’s say you see that your most popular content is in the Cats category, while your least popular content is in the Fashion category.

You then check the Categories tab and notice that your Cat blogs have a significantly higher word count than your Fashion blogs. As a result, you might realize you need to increase the length of your Fashion blogs.

After all, search engines deem longer content to be better content. This is just one example, but it should be clear that the tools work well together.

2. Helps You Plan Out Content Better

Knowing how long the typical blog on your website is for a certain category can help you plan your content schedule. This is especially important if you have multiple writers on your team.

You may need to assign additional days based on the length of the piece.

This can also ensure you are balancing the workload between writers. Obviously, if someone is writing more content than the other, you may need to consider if there should be a monetary compensation difference as well.

Of course, this is not just useful information in a team environment. Knowing how long a blog post ends up being, you can properly schedule your own time to write it.

This can help you make time for other work, or just more free time in general.

3. It Can Be a Great Motivation

For some writers, seeing their writing progress can be a great source of motivation. For example, let’s say you plan on writing 20,000 words a month. Well, if you achieve that goal early, you can try and set a new record for yourself.

Creating your own goals is a positive activity for writers that can help boost efficiency and just keep you churning out content at a steady pace. It can also create friendly competitions in a team environment to see who can write the most.

It could even be used to negotiate higher pay rates if you are writing significantly more than others.

Add Writing Statistics Today In WordPress

As you can see, adding writing statistics is very easy and there are a lot of benefits to doing so. More information always provides useful insights into improving your website, and this really applies to every situation or metric.

The more information you have access to, the better the decisions you can make when it comes to your content release schedule. Not only that but ensuring that customers are reacting positively to the content you release is just as important as SEO.

Trust me, if your content is not good, it doesn’t really matter where you rank.

What kind of statistics are you interested in seeing? Do you think WordPress should have writing statistics built in?

The post How to Set Up Writing Statistics in WordPress and Why appeared first on GreenGeeks.

One of the best options in WordPress would be the Simple YouTube Responsive plugin. It focuses entirely on displaying YouTube videos in WordPress and provides useful features like lazy loading, aspect ratio tuning, and more.

Today, I will demonstrate how to add a responsive YouTube embed with Simple YouTube Responsive.

Why Embed YouTube Content in WordPress?

Video content is insanely popular and there is no bigger platform than YouTube. It is the premier way for users to upload and store video content online and it is completely free to use.

Not to mention that it gets billions of views every month, which means your content is more likely to be viewed on YouTube.

This makes it very appealing because storing your own video content eats up a lot of resources. Thus, by choosing to embed your content instead of hosting it directly, you save site resources and improve performance.

Of course, this is just the technical reason. Video content also plays a major role in your website’s SEO. When users click play on a video, Google, and other search engines, see this as user engagement, which improves your rankings.

Not only this but watching a video keeps the users on your page longer, which can improve the bounce rate, which again, can improve your rankings. Simply put, choosing to embed YouTube content in WordPress is full of benefits to your site.

How to Embed YouTube Videos Responsively in WordPress

Step 1: Install Simple YouTube Responsive

As the name implies, this plugin is pretty simple to use. While it does have some useful features, there are not that many, thus setting it up is pretty straightforward.

It’s also worth pointing out that every iframe video in WordPress is responsive.

There is no extra work to make it responsive. As with all plugins, the first step is to install and activate it.

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

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

Scroll down until you find the Simple YouTube Responsive plugin and click on the “Install Now” button and activate the plugin for use.

Step 2: Configure the Settings

The Simple YouTube Responsive plugin does not have anything hard to set up. All of the settings are very simple and easy to understand and deal with things like video dimensions, video looping, autoplay, and so on.

Most of this boils down to choosing an option from the drop-down menu. To find the settings, click on YT Responsive and select the Configure option.

The first option is to assign the aspect ratio of the video. By default, you get the standard 16:9 ratio, but you can change it if needed.

Underneath this, you will also find an option for the video width. By default, you will see 100%. which is based on the video container.

You can also just delete this and enter the exact pixels you want for the width.

Below these options is the Additional Classes box. Here, you can enter custom CSS to customize the display of the video player to better match the design of your website.

You can also leave this blank to just get the default YouTube player.

There is also an option to auto-align the video if you made the video width smaller than the video container below this.

The next three options all control how the video will behave starting with the Autoplay option. If this option is selected, the video will start playing the moment the page is loaded. Many users find this annoying, thus you probably want to turn it off.

Next is the option to loop a video. What this means is when the video ends, it will immediately begin again. This is a good option for shorter content that is under a minute, but not recommended for longer videos.

The last option is to give users the ability to toggle full screen on or off. Some websites avoid full-screen options because that means the user only sees the videos and none of the site content or advertisements.

I would keep it on for convenience, but the choice is yours.

The next section is about Lazy Loading. This is a powerful technique that works for media content like images and videos that simply loads the content when it is visible. This means allowing your page to load faster because it is not loading content the visitor cannot see.

This is particularly useful when you have a lot of images or videos on a single post or page. Simply select the Yes or No option and choose the thumbnail size for your videos.

The last section is for advanced users that are using CSS and JS. Leave these as the default choices if you are not sure what the options actually mean.

Finally, click on the “Save Changes” button to finish.

Step 3: Embed Responsive YouTube Videos

All that’s left is to actually add the videos to WordPress. This plugin does this by utilizing shortcodes. All you would do is place the shortcode with the proper video ID, and that’s it.

There are several shortcodes and you can find a full list in the shortcodes section of the plugin.

First, let’s cover what a YouTube video ID is. To find it, go to the video you want to embed in WordPress and look at the URL. You should notice that it ends with something like: “v=“

What comes after that is your video ID.

Once you have this, all you need to do is add it to the shortcode. The default shortcode is:

[youtube v="XXXXX"]

In this case, the “XXXXX” is where you place the video ID. That’s really all there is to place a responsive YouTube video in WordPress.

Should Video Content Be the Main Content?

It’s no secret that the internet is changing. One of the biggest concerns is that video content will eventually become the normal way to consume content online, which will make written content like blogs or tutorials like this obsolete.

Instead, you will just click on the post and be greeted with a video player.

Clearly, this hasn’t happened yet, and honestly, it probably never will. Yet, that doesn’t mean some websites don’t already do this. The truth is video content is highly effective.

For example, on social media platforms, users retain 95% of the message from a video compared to just 10% from a written counterpart. That is a massive discrepancy. Not only this but being able to listen to content makes it more accessible.

How many times have you chosen to read a blog versus listening to a video on your phone? I’m willing to bet that most people would choose a video on their mobile device. Clearly, video content works as the main content on a website.

However, written content is still extremely efficient when it comes to SEO benefits. Thus, you should still include it. Even if it is just repeating the information in the video.

Embed A Responsive YouTube Video Today

As you can see, adding a responsive YouTube embed is pretty simple. And to be completely honest, you don’t even need a plugin to do it. Instead, you could just paste the video URL into a paragraph block and you have the full video ready to go.

This works very well and is naturally responsive. The reason you probably want a plugin is that you have more control over the size of the video, how it behaves, and can even style it with custom CSS to match your website.

In any case, it is easy to make YouTube iframe responsive in WordPress and you have a ton of options to choose from.

Do you have more video content than written content? Do you find users engage more with video content than written content?

The post How to Add a Responsive YouTube Embed for WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

In this case, we are going to be using the Video Gallery Plugin. It specializes in YouTube and allows you to embed individual videos, full playlists, or entire channels. It features several layout options, so it can fit on any website.

Why Embed a YouTube Playlist in WordPress?

Video content has many advantages, which is why most websites include it in one way or another.

First and foremost, it improves the user experience. Many users don’t want to read a guide on how to do something or an opinion on a topic. Instead, they want to listen to it in a video format. It’s just more convenient.

Video content is also beneficial for your website’s SEO. If a user stays on your site to watch a video, or multiple videos, that tells Google, or other search engines, that not only is the user engaging with your content, they are on the page longer.

As such, embedding an entire playlist with can keep a user engaged and on your page much longer than a single video.

It’s also worth pointing out that displaying your YouTube content also helps promote your own YouTube channel to visitors. If they like the content you have, you might even earn a new subscriber, and they might even share it with friends.

As you can see, there are several advantages to embedding a YouTube playlist in WordPress, so let’s cover how to do it.

How to Embed A YouTube Playlist In WordPress

Step 1: Install Video Gallery

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

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

Due to how common the name video gallery is, there are several plugins that will popup. Thus be on the lookout for the full name “Video Gallery – YouTube Playlist, Channel Gallery by YotuWP.”

When you find it, click on the “Install Now” button and activate the plugin for use.

Step 2: Customize the Settings

As soon as you activate the plugin, you will be brought to the settings section of the plugin. Here, you can customize how your playlist will appear and function wherever you place it. It’s pretty straightforward, so let’s get right into it.

First, you can choose what layout to use. You have three choices: Grid, List, and Mix. The first two are self-explanatory, and the third option (Mix) is a hybrid of the Grid and List layouts. Simply choose the option from the drop-down list.

The next option, Columns, is only if you are choosing the Grid or Mix layout. As the name implies, it determines the number of columns on display. Below this is where you can decide how many videos to display.

Continuing on, you will find a switch for Pagination. This will create multiple pages to display your video content. This is a great option if you plan on including a lot of videos as it can help reduce load times.

Underneath this, you will have an option for the pagination type. Pager is the traditional pagination type that allows you to go to the next or previous page, while Load More just adds a “Load More” button at the bottom users can click.

You’ll also find a video ratio, display video titles, and display video description options. Simply choose the options you would like to include.

Click on the “Save Changes” button when you are done.

This covers the general settings section. There are also settings for the player, styling, effects, and more by selecting the appropriate tab on the left-hand side.

These choices are purely cosmetic, so I’ll leave them to you.

Step 3: Enter Your YouTube API

To actually display a YouTube playlist in WordPress, you’re going to need to enter your YouTube API key. Finding your API key can actually be a bit tricky, but the plugin has made a pretty detailed guide on how to find it, so be sure to check out their guide for help.

Once you have the API key, click on the API tab in the plugin settings.

Paste your API key into the appropriate box.

Save the changes to finish.

Step 4: Add Videos

All that’s really left is to choose the videos or playlists that you want to display in WordPress. On the left-hand admin panel, click on the Shortcode Generator option.

As I said at the start, this plugin can pretty much add any kind of YouTube video content to WordPress. I’m only going to cover the playlist option, but most of the options are the same and just include copying and pasting video URLs.

The first option is the Playlist option. All you need to do is go to your YouTube channel and copy the URL of the playlist you would like to embed in WordPress. Then, click on the verify button.

After it is verified, you will see the shortcode generated at the bottom. All you’ll need to do is copy that shortcode and paste it on the post, page, or widget area you want to display the playlist.

Congratulations on learning how to embed a video playlist in WordPress!

7 Ways to Market Your YouTube Playlist Page

Just because you have your playlist in place on your website doesn’t mean you are done. There are several ways for you to market that playlist to get the best results.

Here are the top 7 ways to market your playlist page.

1. Social Media

I don’t think this one will surprise anyone, but social media is huge, and people love video content. Thus, sharing your video playlist page on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and whatnot is a surefire way to get some eyes on your content.

You can do this directly by creating a tweet that says “Want to see more of our content? Check out this playlist!” Or, you can make it more subtle by including it as a link in your tweet.

That said, the direct approach is usually the best when it comes to social media.

2. Add Links to Your Playlist Page in WordPress

Just creating a playlist page is not good enough. You should also take the time to include several links to that page throughout your website. Not only this, but it should be present in your WordPress menu or even the sidebar area.

The goal should be that a user can get to the playlist page from any other page of your website. Yet, be sure that any links you create actually make sense and are institutive. Deceptive links will hurt your bounce rate.

3. Place It in A Popup

If you have video content in your posts or pages, it might be a good idea to create a targeted popup. For example, if a user watches a video and is about to leave the page, you could create a popup that contains a link to the playlist page.

Exit intent popups are quite common and highly effective, and if it has the right message, they could keep that visitor on your site longer.

4. Trade Links with Other Sites

Link trading has really gained some traction in recent years. This is a practice where one website will create a link to another if that website does the same. This helps boost both websites’ SEO because they look more credible.

Simply have that link be your YouTube playlist page and you can get a lot of views on the page very quickly.

5. Include A Playlist Link in Video Descriptions

It’s important to remember that it is possible for a user to stumble upon any video in your playlist. As such, you should try to include a link to your playlist at the end of the video and in the video description.

This works really well if you choose to display the description on WordPress as then the link will be present every time a video appears.

6. Share Your Link As the Answer to A Question

To this day, the most popular use of the internet is to answer a question. When asking a question, most people will find a link to Quora, Reddit, or some other forum where users can ask and answer questions.

Take advantage of this. If your playlist can answer a question, be sure to create a real answer that leads users to your playlist. Just avoid dropping the URL link with no context. Users on these forums hate that and will downvote you into oblivion.

7. Collaborate with Other YouTubers

This is pretty similar to link trading with other sites, but instead, focuses on YouTube. Building a channel on YouTube is actually very challenging. Most smaller content creators are happy to collaborate with other users to hopefully get some new subscribers.

Collaborating with YouTubers and sharing links to your playlist page through them is a great way to do it.

Embed Your YouTube Playlist Today

As you can see, it is quite easy to embed a YouTube playlist in WordPress. You also have a ton of options to share your WordPress playlist on the internet, and it won’t even cost you money to do so.

Doing so can boost user engagement and keep visitors on your website longer, which can boost your website’s rankings.

How easy did you find the Video Gallery plugin to use? How do you market your playlist page?

The post How to Embed a YouTube Playlist in WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

This is a popular technique in which ads are disguised as part of a user’s feed when looking for recommended content. This can be highly effective as some users may not even realize what they are clicking on is an ad.

In many cases, users actively avoid ads and take steps to avoid seeing ads. Creating in-feed ads can sometimes bypass these actions if they look genuine enough. Thus, it can be a great boost in ad revenue.

Today, I will demonstrate how to add in-feed ads using Google AdSense.

What Does In-Feed Actually Mean?

While most users have experienced in-feed ads on most websites they visit, the definition has become quite broad over the years.

In-feed typically refers to lists of content such as a news feed, post feed, social media feed, or just about anything where you see a variety of different content options presented to you as a user. In the case of WordPress, it is usually post feeds.

For example, let’s say you are looking at the latest posts of your favorite news blog. As you are reading each one, you notice one that says something like “Solar Panels Are Being Given Away for Free in this Zip Code” and it has the word “AD” next to it.

That is an in-feed ad, and you will encounter them on most websites today.

How to Create In-Feed Ads For Google AdSense

There are a variety of ways to create in-feed ads in WordPress, but one of the best ways is with the In-feed ads for Google AdSense plugin. This is an add-on tool for the incredible Advanced Ads plugin, thus you will need to have both installed.

Since this is just an add-on, let’s talk about the main plugin, Advanced Ads. As the name implies, it deals with managing ads in WordPress. It gives you a variety of options to create advertisements for your site, connect with ad networks, and choose the location.

There are several powerful add-ons you can install alongside this plugin to add additional functionality. In this case, the In-Feed ads for Google AdSense gives you the ability to place ads within your post feed in WordPress.

These Advanced Ads bring a lot to the table and an ad inserter, but this tutorial will only be focusing on in-feed ad creation.

Step 1: Install In-Feed Ads For Google AdSense

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

Search for In-Feed Ads For Google AdSense in the available search box. This will pull up additional plugins that you may find helpful.

Scroll down until you find the In-Feed Ads For Google AdSense plugin and click on the “Install Now” button and activate the plugin for use.

Note: You must also have the Advanced Ads plugin installed. This add-on plugin will not work unless you do. If you do not have it installed, you will be prompted to install and activate it after doing the same for this one.

Step 2: Create An AD to Display

Important Note: This plugin does not work if you are currently using an Adblocker. To use this plugin, you must choose to disable it while on your own website. If it is active, the plugin simply will not function.

If you were already using Advanced Ads, then you have already created some ads. In this case, go ahead and skip to step 3.

The good news is that if this is your first time using Advanced Ads, then you’ll be pleased to know it doesn’t take very long to make an ad. To begin, click on Advanced Ads and select the Ads option.

At the top, you can add a title for the ad or ad group you are about to create. The title is only visible for you so name it whatever you like. Below this, you can select what type of ad you wish to create.

You can choose from:

•  Plain Text and Code 
•  Dummy 
•  Rich Content 
•  Image Ad 
•  Ad Group 
•  AdSense Ad 
•  Google Ad Manager Manual
•  AMP

You are free to pick any method here but setting them up is slightly different depending on what you choose. In this case, I will just pick the most common option, an AdSense Ad.

For this, you will just need to enter the Ad Slot Id, or alternatively, connect Advanced Ads with Google AdSense. In this case, the ad would get set up for you. If you selected a different type, just fill out the information that is required.

By the end of this, you will have an ad that is ready for placement on your website. Feel free to make multiple ads if necessary.

Step 3: Create An In-Feed Ad

After installing the add-on, you may notice that no new settings appear when searching through the settings of the Advanced Ads plugin. That’s because there are none. Instead, you will find the option for in-feed ads in the placements area.

Click on Advanced Ads and select the Placements option.

Upon clicking this, a small pop-up window will appear with the settings to create a new ad placement. The top-right option is for AdSense In-Feed, click on it.

This will place the ad in between your website’s post feed. Next, you’ll need to enter a name for the ad placement. You can name it whatever you desire, but something like AdSense In-Feed would be a good title.

After this, you need to actually choose the ad or ad group you would like to display within this space. Simply use the drop-down menu to select the desired option.

Finally, click on the “Save New Placement” button to save the changes.

And that’s it. If you check your website’s post feed, you will see an ad placed in it (assuming you don’t have an adblocker enabled).

Avoid Adding Too Many In-Feed Ads

It is very easy to insert too many ads in WordPress, and in-feed ads can be some of the most annoying to users.

Put yourself in the shoes of a regular user. You are checking out what kind of posts a website has to offer. While checking out the list, you notice that there is an ad every couple of posts. It can be very distracting when trying to find a new post to read.

In fact, you could easily make the argument that these types of ads make it more difficult for users to find more content.

For instance, let’s say a user didn’t notice that they clicked on an ad. Most people’s first instinct is to close that ad, which could mean leaving your site completely. As such, you’ve lost that visitor because the content they are not interested in was displayed to them.

This can even be more annoying on a mobile device where it is much easier to mistakenly tap on something you didn’t intend to.

And just to be clear, this is not a problem exclusive to in-feed ads. There is a reason that 42.7% of internet users use an adblocker.

Find Other Revenue Streams Besides Advertisements

Many WordPress blogs are quick to add Google AdSense as a way to monetize their site. However, there’s no denying that they negatively impact the user experience, which is why many users turn to adblockers.

Ensuring that your ads are not intrusive and overly excessive is a good way to help ensure your website does not make more users install an adblocker of some kind. It is important to look for other revenue options to help combat this.

For instance, many websites offer an ad-free experience for a monthly fee. Many users are happy to pay this if it supports the site versus having to sift through ads. Another avenue would be through affiliate links.

In any case, diversifying your income stream should be a high priority for any website.

How many in-feed ads does your website display? What steps do you take to fight adblockers?

The post How to Add AdSense In-Feed Ads with Advanced Ads appeared first on GreenGeeks.

AI can be used in a variety of ways in WordPress for things like content generation, filling in metadata, chatbots, and much more. And we are still in the infancy stages of AI as it’s only going to get better over the years.

With this said, while AI can prove very useful, the results may still vary wildly. In some cases, you’ll get very useful results, in others, not so much. It’s definitely a mixed bag, to say the least, but with the right know how it can be useful.

Let’s take a look at how you can use AI in WordPress with the AI Engine plugin.

What is AI Engine for WordPress?

The AI Engine is an all-in-one solution for AI in WordPress. Some of its key features include:

• Creating a chatbot
• Generating content and images
• Recommend titles and post excerpts
• Create an AI copilot to assist you
• Support for multiple AI engines (ChatGPT, DaVinci, and more)

The main purpose of the plugin is to help the user save time by implementing AI to perform certain tasks for your website. For instance, filling out post excerpts is not exactly hard work, but it can eat up time, but not for an AI.

This can help speed up your content creation process and that’s just scratching the surface. Its ability to generate content such as entire posts, or images, can be a great starting point for creating new content.

I say starting point because I would not recommend just allowing the AI to write content for you. AI is still learning, and its writing skills leave a lot to be desired. As such, you’ll still need to go through it and make corrections, and ensure it represents your website.

With that said, let’s get started on covering how the AI Engine can help you.

Installing AI Engine in WordPress

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

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

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

Obtaining An OpenAI API Key

Before you can actually use the plugin, you’ll need to connect it with OpenAI. While you can start using the API for free, it is limited in the amount of content you can generate. If you reach this limit, you will need to pay for further access.

The free limit will be more than enough for you to get a feeling of whether using AI can help your content creation.

Click on Meow Apps and select the AI Engine option.

You’ll notice a red message telling you that you need an OpenAI API key. Click on the settings tab, then click on the OpenAI Account link.

This will open up a new tab where you will be prompted to log in to your OpenAI account or create a new one. Do whichever one applies to you.

When creating an account, you will need a valid email address that must be verified, as well as a phone number.

Once you have created an account, click on the “Create new secret key” button.

You’ll be prompted to enter a name, which doesn’t matter, so enter anything you would like. The API key will now be generated. This key is only visible at this time. You can never see it again, so copy it and store the key in a safe location in case you need it again.

Otherwise, you will need to create a new one. Paste the key in WordPress to complete the plugin setup.

With the API key in place, you are now ready to begin using this plugin, so let’s start with the Gutenberg editor.

Adding Titles And Excerpts

The AI Engine plugin fully integrates with Gutenberg, and you can use it to do quite a lot. Let’s start off with two of the most useful features, title and excerpt recommendations.

Start by adding some content to the body. The title recommendation is based on what you write in the body of the content. The more you write, the more accurate the results. To find this option, click on the AI Engine option.

Click on the “Titles” button to generate some titles.

This will pull up recommendations like so:

The results are more varied depending on how much you write. As you can see, sometimes the options are nearly identical to each other. If you click on one of them, it will replace your current title.

The other option was to generate an excerpt for the content. Click on the “Excerpts” button to do so.

Here are what my results looked like:

Simply click on one and you’ll add it to the excerpt section. This can save you a lot of time, as many beginners not only forget to create an excerpt but also struggle to come up with one.

Again, be sure to review what you select and make any corrections.

Using AI Engine in Gutenberg

You’ll also find a variety of options in a paragraph block. Here you can choose to check the grammar of the block, enhance the text, make it longer, make it shorter, or translate the text to another language.

Starting with the Correct Text option, this will scan the text and check for spelling and grammar mistakes. This option does not tell you what is changed or alert you before making a change. For example, I purposely misspelled Waffles as “waffles” and it corrected it.

The Enhance Text option tries to improve the readability of what was written, which often makes it more condensed, but it really depends on the available text.

Thus, this is a bit harder to show off in practice.

The Longer Text option will greatly expand what you have written based on your own research.

Here’s a before and after shot of the Longer text option:

This took 38 words and expanded it to 499 words. Obviously, it is a bit wordy and needs to be edited, but it can be a great resource for finding interesting details you may want to add.

In the opposite direction, the Shorter Text option will do exactly what it says and condense the text. Here are the results:

Another interesting option is the ability to suggest a synonym. This is a great way to improve your vocabulary and find better adjectives to describe a topic. To do this, highlight a word and select the Suggest Synonyms option.

In this case, I highlighted the word tasty, these are my suggestions:

As you can see, the AI will show five results, but it will repeat some of them. It’s a handy tool but still has room for improvement.

Translations

Now you may have noticed that I skipped the translation option, and there is a good reason for this; it is much trickier to use. You see, the translation it creates is based on the language you have selected in WordPress.

Thus, if you tried to translate your text, it actually would just translate your text into the same language, which funny enough, will change some words. Here is a quick breakdown of what you need to do:

1. Write the text in the original language
2. Go to WordPress Settings and change the site language to the desired one
3. Translate your text and save changes
4. Revert the language change in WordPress

You should have already typed some text in Gutenberg. Save the changes and click on Settings and select the General option.

Here you can adjust your core WordPress settings. All you need to do is scroll down and change the Site language option. This will change everything to that native language.

This means all of the menus, options, settings, or anything else in that language.

What it will not change is any of your content that was manually edited. This means any posts, metadata, buttons, or anything you created in the previous language will not be impacted. This will only change stock WordPress options from one language to another.

Be warned, this can make navigating the WordPress menu difficult if you do not understand the language you chose.

In any case, choose the language you want for the translation. In this case, I am selecting Spanish.

Save the changes and return to the post you wish to translate. You’ll notice the text is still in the original language. Choose the Translate Text option. Here is a before and after of the results:

Then you just need to undo the language change. The process is more tedious than it is difficult, so I recommend using a translation plugin. It’s just easier overall.

Image Generation

One of the most useful parts of this plugin would be the generation of AI images. AI-generated images are not created by humans, therefore, they cannot be copyrighted. This means you can use them on your site without any problems.

It also means that people can use your images on their own blogs and websites without repercussions.

Overall, the process is very simple, you’ll enter what kind of image you want the AI to generate, and it will generate a few images based on your input. Do note that you will have to wait several minutes between each image generation.

Click on Tools and select the Generate Images option.

You’ll notice a templates section on the left side. The default option is completely blank, while others have certain words already included that make them match that style. Each one is editable, and you can create your own template.

In this case let’s just do something very simple and type “pancakes, waffles” into the appropriate field.

At the top right of this box, you will notice a # of images box that is set to 3. You can choose to produce more images or less, just remember the more you use the AI the more it costs, thus the default 3 is more than enough.

Click on the Generate Images button. Here are my results:

If you like an image, click on it, and you will be able to see all of the metadata, which is already filled in for you, and more importantly, an option to add it to your media library, or alternatively to download it.

Go ahead and add it to your media library.

And that’s really all there is to it. The image is now useable in WordPress wherever you can place images.

Just keep in mind that AI images are not perfect. Sometimes the AI can make some truly horrifying images, or just produce results that are not what you asked for. As such, you are better off keeping things simple.

This can be a much cheaper alternative than having to pay for stock images.

Chatbot Functionality

Many businesses utilize a chatbot to help customers when inquiring about a product or trying to direct them to the correct department (sales, support, etc.). They can be extremely effective and there are a lot of good options in WordPress.

With AI Engine, you can actually train your own Chatbot to interact with users. It’s important to understand that chatbot services have much better options than using this tool for one. Instead, think of this as more of a digital assistant like Siri.

You can ask it questions and get quick responses. What makes this an interesting tool, is that you can tell the chatbot how to behave and configure, which can make it feel like a natural part of your website.

For example, let’s say you have a website dedicated to Star Wars. You could instruct the AI chatbot to be Yoda. Let’s take a look at that.

Click on Meow Apps and select the AI Engine option. Click on the Chatbots tab.

In the context box, tell the chatbot to “Converse as if you were Yoda.” or whatever you would like.

If you then go to the chatbot on the right and type “Hello” you’ll get the results like this:

Now I did a fun example, here, but you could make the AI mimic a real person like Elon Musk or a US president. Again, it will be like talking to Siri or any other digital assistant. It will not respond with any profanity or talk about explicit material.

If you click on Visual Settings, you can customize the starting message and name of the AI. In this case, I’ll call it Yoda, and change the starting message to “Greeting, young padawan.” to better reflect the AI persona.

The AI settings allow you to choose what AI model to use, the temperature (level of creativity the AI has), and other settings related to messages produced by the AI.

The custom shortcode section is exactly what you think it is. This is where you can find the shortcode that you can place on your website. It is possible to edit the shortcode and make it something unique, but there is not much reason to do so.

With that, you know the basics of creating a Chatbot with AI Engine.

What Does AI Engine Provide?

As you can see, AI Engine provides a lot to WordPress users. With it, you can generate content and images, create a chatbot, fill out metadata, and much more. It brings a lot to the table with tools that can save you time.

The real question is does it replace dedicated tools or services? No, at least not yet.

AI is still in its infancy, and while the potential is there, you can get some pretty bad results with some of these features. This can be damaging for some businesses, which is why using a dedicated tool is the safer/better option.

Hopefully, this guide gave you a good idea of what this plugin brings to the table and how AI might serve your website.

Do you plan on incorporating AI in WordPress? Will AI change the internet?

The post How to Add and Use AI Engine for WordPress appeared first on GreenGeeks.

As a website owner, particularly if you’re hosting a WordPress website, you should be concerned about Error 520. This is because it can indicate that visitors cannot access your website due to issues on “your side.”

This can lead to frustrated visitors and potentially lost business.

In this article, we’ll review some of the common causes of Error 520 and provide tips for troubleshooting and fixing the issue.

How Websites are Rendered

To understand error 520 better, let’s take a quick high-level look at how websites and webpages are rendered through web browsers.
Skip this bit if you already know the nuances of how websites are rendered.

Or, if you’re familiar with concepts such as DNS, proxy servers, CDN, SSL handshake, and the like.

When a visitor types in a website URL into the web browser and presses Enter, the browser, first off, sends a DNS query to the Domain Name System (DNS) server. This is usually provided by the Internet Service Provider (ISP).

The DNS server is responsible for translating the website’s domain name (the one you entered in words) into the corresponding IP address of the server the website is hosted on.

The browser then sends a request to the website’s server address (which it received from the DNS server.) The request is relayed to the website server’s (web server’s) firewall.

This is where the request’s journey “through the internet” unfolds to ultimately render the website on the user’s browser.

If the website is protected (or served) by a Content Delivery Network (CDN) like Cloudflare, which is usually the case, the request first goes to the CDN’s servers. These act as forward proxy servers.

The server (also called the edge server) checks its cache to see if it has the requested content. If it does, it sends the content back to the user’s browser. If it doesn’t, it acts as a reverse proxy server and relays the request to the web server hosting the website and its content.

To do so, the reverse proxy server needs to know the IP address of the web server. This is where DNS comes in again.

A Quick Primer on Firewalls and CDN

CDNs are a geographically distributed network of servers (edge servers) that work together to provide fast delivery of internet content. They are designed to serve content to end-users with high availability and high performance.

Cloudflare is a widely used household name of a CDN that provides a range of services, including content delivery, DDoS protection, and web security.

From the purview of the website and the server it’s hosted on, a Firewall creates a barrier between the trusted internal network and untrusted external networks, such as the Internet.

Based on security policies, it monitors and filters incoming and outgoing traffic.

Coming back to how website content is relayed, the request from the CDN goes through the web server’s firewall and into the web server, where it is processed and responded to (with requested content) back to the user’s browser.

It is, in turn, rendered for the user to view.

Now that we have a broad understanding of how websites are rendered let’s look at how they may be obstructed, resulting in error 520.

How Error 520 Occurs

By displaying error 520, the server is essentially saying that it cannot process the request from the user’s browser. Hence, the website is currently unavailable.

Here are some ways it can occur:

PHP Applications Crashing

Sometimes, the website code written in PHP can crash or stop working properly. When this happens, it can cause Error 520 because the server cannot process the request from the web browser.

Incorrectly Configured DNS Records

At any point during the journey of the web browser’s requests, if the DNS records of your website are not set up correctly and in accordance with the web server, the web browser may not be able to find the website’s server, which can cause Error 520.

Corrupt or Incorrectly Configured .htaccess File

An .htaccess file is a configuration file associated with your website code that tells the web server how to handle certain requests. If this file is damaged or has incorrect settings, it can cause Error 520 because the server doesn’t know how to handle the request properly.

Large Request Headers and Excessive Cookie Usage

When a web browser requests a server, it sends along information called “headers,” which include things like cookies (which remember your preferences on a website). If there are too many headers or cookies, it can overload the server and cause Error 520.

Missing Request Headers

In contrast to the above point, sometimes, the web browser may not send all the necessary information to the server when making a request, and it may not be able to process the request correctly.

Empty Response From Server

It can also happen that the web server or the proxies do not send any response back to the browser, resulting in error 520 because the browser wouldn’t know what to do next.

A Firewall Blocking the Connection

Error 520 can occur if there is a firewall or other security measure in place that is blocking the connection between the reverse proxy server and the origin server.

SSL/TLS Handshake Failure

When a user connects to a website over HTTPS, their browser and the web server engage in an SSL/TLS handshake to establish a secure connection. This involves a series of steps to negotiate the encryption settings and exchange keys for encrypting and decrypting data.

Any issue with the SSL/TLS certificate configuration on the origin server can cause a handshake failure with the reverse proxy server and result in Error 520.

For instance, this can happen if the certificate has expired, is misconfigured, or is invalid.

Overloaded Server

Error 520 also arises if the origin server is overloaded and cannot respond to requests from the reverse proxy server.

How to Troubleshoot and Fix Error 520

There is no need to panic when you come across Error 520. There are several ways to identify and troubleshoot the root cause of the error.

Wait it Out

If you encounter an Error 520 while trying to access a website, you should wait a few minutes and refresh the page to see if the issue has been resolved. The error may arise due to temporary network or server issues.

For instance, the server or network may be experiencing a high volume of traffic or temporary overload that causes it to be unable to process requests.

During this time, the server may be fixing the underlying issue or automatically scaling up its resources to handle the increased load. So, it’s only logical that you give it time to start processing requests again.

Pause/Disable Cloudflare Temporarily

If you use Cloudflare as your reverse proxy server, you can temporarily disable Cloudflare to see if the error disappears. If it does, then you’d know the issue lies with Cloudflare and go about troubleshooting the same.

• Log in to your Cloudflare account
• Go to the Overview tab on the left-hand panel
• Scroll down to the Advanced Actions section
• Click on “Pause Cloudflare on Site” to temporarily disable Cloudflare from your website

Check and UpdateDNS Records

Login to your DNS provider account, the way to which could also be through your hosting provider, Cloudflare, or similar services. Check if the records are correctly configured, particularly the CNAME (Canonical Name) records.

CNAME record tells the DNS resolver to look up the IP address of the domain specified in the CNAME record and use that IP address as the destination for the request.

Depending on the DNS provider, updating the records could take a few minutes to several hours for the changes to take effect globally.

Restart PHP

Log in to your web server or hosting account, and locate the PHP configuration file for your website. It is usually named php.ini or located in a directory named conf.d or php.d.

Edit/review the file and make sure that the settings (such as memory limits, execution time limits, and file upload size limits) are configured correctly.

Enter your server’s command to restart PHP. Sometimes, the way to restart PHP is by restarting the web server itself. The commands vary depending on the type of web server and the software it runs.

Check Web Server Error Logs

Error logs can provide valuable information about an incident or error, such as where and why. Depending on the hosting provider, locating or generating error logs may differ.

Most error logs share a similar structure and offer essential details such as the incident’s date and time, the client’s IP address (if applicable), the error message, and a path to the affected resource or line of code responsible for the issue.

Scrutinize them and try to identify the root cause.

Clear the Website Cache

Clearing a website’s cache deletes the temporary files and data stored on the website’s server, like images, scripts, stylesheets, and other types of website content. This will force the webserver to reload all its content from scratch, which can help resolve errors like Error 520.

Clearing the cache can also cause temporary performance issues, as the website must load all its content again.

It’s essential to weigh the benefits and drawbacks before clearing the cache. Ensure all necessary backups are in place before making any changes to the website’s configuration.

On that note, you may want to clear your browser cache on the off chance that the issue stems from your browser.

Check HTTP Error Response With a cURL Command

Running a cURL command in your command terminal, Windows key + R” and typing “cmd” (Windows) | Applications > Utilities > Terminal (MacOS), simulates a request to your website’s server and receives a detailed response.

The command format is as follows: curl -I http://example.com

By understanding what a successful response and an error response look like after a cURL command execution, you can verify that the web server is configured correctly and responding to requests.

You can also retrieve the server’s HTTP response headers and review the status codes and messages. Leave the review part to the experts (the support team) if you think it may be too much to digest.

Disable .htaccess

If your web server is powered by Apache, which is most likely the case, disabling the .htaccess used to configure web server settings on Apache servers can help resolve Error 520.

You can also verify that Cloudflare IPs are not blocked in .htaccess or your firewall.

The .htaccess (hypertext access) is a configuration file for Apache-hosted sites. For the unacquainted, Apache is a popular open-source web server software.

When there is a conflict between the rules in the .htaccess file and the server settings, or if the file is corrupted, the browser can return Error 520.

Check Headers and Cookies

Large headers and cookies can exceed the maximum allowed size limit of web servers or CDNs (like Cloudflare) which can cause Error 520.

For instance, at the time of writing this piece, the maximum threshold size of Cloudflare’s request headers is 32 KB, 16 KB per individual header.

Here are the steps to check headers and cookies.

1. Open the web page where you are experiencing the 520 error.
2. Right-click anywhere on the page and select “Inspect” from the context menu. This will open the developer tools panel.
3. In the developer tools panel, select the “Network” tab.
4. Make sure the “Preserve log” checkbox is checked.
5. Click on the “Clear” button (stop sign icon) to clear any previous network activity.
6. Reload the page to start capturing network activity.
7. Right-click anywhere in the network activity area and select “Save all as HAR with content.”
8. Choose a location on your computer to save the HAR file and click “Save.”

Analyze it to check for any anomalies, such as excessively large cookies or header sizes. If you find large headers and cookies, you can:

• Remove any unnecessary third-party plugins or scripts from your website
• Limit the request overhead i.e. the amount of unnecessary data that is transmitted between the client and the server during each request
• Use a cookie-free domain for your static assets, such as images, CSS, and JavaScript files

WordPress Specific Measures to Addressing Error 520

In addition to the aforementioned steps, here are a couple more that are more specific to WordPress websites.

• Check the WordPress logs to see if there are any errors that are causing Error 520
• Disable all plugins to see if Error 520 goes away. Then re-enable the plugins one by one to determine which one is causing the problem

Last But Not Least – Seek Professional Support

Although there are several steps that you as a website owner can take to troubleshoot Error 520, there may be situations when addressing the error is not entirely within your control.

For instance, if the error is caused by a temporary network outage or a server maintenance issue, you may have to wait for the server to come back online or for the hosting provider to fix the issue.

Also, resolving issues caused by a bug or configuration oversight may require technical expertise that is beyond your scope.

You may need to acquire support from their hosting provider, web developer, or other technical experts who have experience in troubleshooting server-side errors.

Do not hesitate to seek help from technical experts. After all, waiting too long to address them can result in lost traffic and potential revenue for the website.

The post How to Fix Error 520: A Comprehensive Overview appeared first on GreenGeeks.

A website’s inability to load can be caused by a variety of factors. So, in this article, we’ll look at the possible causes of the ERR CONNECTION TIMED OUT error before looking at possible solutions.

The Internet has grown to become one of the world’s largest networks, connecting the entire globe and facilitating data sharing. However, there are a few errors that disrupt the normal operation of the Internet, reducing users’ efficiency while working on the system.

What is the err_connection_timed_out Error?

The connection timed out error is not a dangerous problem or an infected file that can harm your system. This message primarily informs you that the system was unable to establish a connection with the server.

Let us first examine how the Internet works.

When a user enters a keyword in the search bar or the URL of a website, the system sends a request to the server to allow access to the website’s content. The connection is established after the server checks the request and grants permission to the system, and data packets are shared between the system and the server.

An ERR CONNECTION TIMED OUT error usually indicates that there is a problem with your local network connection. That is not always the case, however.

A connection timed out error appears when your website attempts to do more than your server can handle. It’s especially common on shared hosting, where memory is limited.

When you visit a website that doesn’t load, your browser will try for about 30 seconds before disconnecting. It will then return an “ERR CONNECTION TIMED OUT” error, indicating a communication failure.

In Google Chrome, this may appear as “This site cannot be reached.” Domain.com responded too slowly.”

Because of the various web browsers, operating systems, and servers, the error can manifest itself in a variety of ways.

However, the majority of them have the same or similar meanings. “ERR NETWORK CHANGED” and “ERR CONNECTION REFUSED” are two very similar errors that can usually be resolved using the same troubleshooting steps outlined below.

Another common error code that appears under ‘This site cannot be reached’ is DNS PROBE FINISHED NXDOMAIN, which is a DNS error that essentially means the requested domain does not exist.

The following are some examples of how the error might appear in different browsers.

• Mozilla Firefox
  The error message in Mozilla Firefox will be “The connection has timed out.” Domain.com’s server is taking too long to respond.
• Microsoft Edge
  The error message in Microsoft Edge will be “Hmmm… can’t reach this page.” Domain.com responded too slowly.” It does, however, contain the “ERR CONNECTION TIMED OUT” error in Edge.
• Safari
  The error message in Safari will be “Safari Can’t Open the Page.” Safari is unable to open the page domain.com because the server on which it is hosted is not responding.”

What Causes the err_connection_timed_out Error?

There could be several potential causes for the connection timed out error. Some of these factors include:

• Slow Internet Connection: One of the possible causes of the error is a slow Internet connection. If the system does not have a fast and reliable Internet connection, it is possible that the server accepted the request but the system took too long to respond due to the slow Internet.
• Invalid URL: If a user attempts to access data via an invalid URL, the server automatically rejects the request.
• Server Delay or Error: There doesn’t need to be a problem at the user end only; it is also possible that there is a server delay and that a data timeout occurred before the server could release.
• Firewall Settings: It is possible that the Windows Firewall did not allow data packets to enter the system, causing the browser to display this error.

How to fix the err_connection_timed_out Error

If you see this error on your website, where should you begin troubleshooting? Without a lot of context, it can be frustrating and overwhelming to know where to start.

Typically, these are either client-side issues (problems with your network connection or firewall) or server-side issues (problems with the server where the site is hosted) (memory limits, execution times, etc.).

Let’s take a look at some solutions for ERR CONNECTION TIMED OUT. First, we’ll go over how to fix the problem if you’re getting the error while trying to load the site.

1. Examine Your Internet Connection

To resolve the ERR CONNECTION TIMED OUT error, a browser will usually recommend that you first check your internet connection. Due to poor connectivity, it may be difficult for a site to reach a computer promptly.

Google Chrome, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge all advise you to check your network connection. While this may seem obvious, they all point to first checking your connection because it is one of the most common causes of the error.

Here are a few recommendations:

• Restart your router at home or work. This takes only a few minutes and solves far more problems than most people would like to admit. Disconnect the power supply and wait 30 seconds before plugging it back in to completely power cycle it.
• Examine your wifi connection to see if it is bad or slow. This is common in crowded public wifi hotspots like coffee shops or airports.

If the problems persist, try switching to a different network or restarting any relevant devices if you have access to them.

2. Disable Any Proxy Server Settings or VPN Connections.

A proxy server acts as a go-between for your computer and the website you’re visiting. Its function is to protect the user’s IP address, control which sites can be accessed, and cache site data to improve page loading speed.

However, proxy servers may unintentionally block the website you want to visit, resulting in the ERR CONNECTION TIMED OUT error.

Reset your proxy settings to see if these servers are the source of the problem. For Windows 10 users, go to the Control Panel by pressing the Windows logo key. Select Network and Internet Options from the menu.

Open the Connections tab -> LAN settings in the Internet Properties window. Make sure to untick all of the proxy settings.

Users of macOS can go to System Preferences Network and select Advance. Uncheck each box on the Proxies tab and then click OK.

Reload the page to see if the error has been resolved. If it has, and you require the use of a proxy server for day-to-day tasks, consider reconfiguring the settings or switching to a different provider.

Those who use a VPN service may also experience the ERR CONNECTION TIMED OUT error. In that case, we recommend switching VPN protocols because your ISP or firewall may have blocked the one you’re currently using.

Alternatively, try temporarily disabling the application.

3. Turn Off the Firewall and Antivirus Software, Temporarily

Firewalls and antivirus software are designed to keep users and their systems safe. They regularly scan your device and automatically block any suspicious activity.

However, this level of security can occasionally cause connection problems.

This is because firewalls frequently block unnecessary pages or reject content that is completely safe. This has happened numerous times with software such as AVG.

To see if this is the case for you, disable your firewall and antivirus software. Of course, this is only advised if you are certain that the site you intend to visit is secure.

Furthermore, you should only disable this type of software temporarily. To avoid becoming vulnerable to attacks, turn it back on after you’ve finished checking to see if the error has been resolved.

If you keep getting errors because of your firewall or antivirus software, you should think about changing it and whitelisting the site for access.

4. Change DNS Server

The next option is to change your DNS servers. DNS servers are automatically assigned by your ISP by default. However, you could try temporarily switching to a public DNS server, such as Google or Cloudflare.

Some people prefer to use Google’s public DNS (8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4) over time because it is often more reliable.

Cloudflare also provides free, secure, and lightning-fast DNS (1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1), which we will use in this example. The steps are the same if you want to use Google; simply replace the DNS server addresses with Google’s.

If you’re already using a free DNS server and experiencing problems, removing and reverting it back to your ISP’s DNS servers may help.

Google and Cloudflare aren’t perfect all of the time, and there have been a few instances where switching back has resolved the problem. This is especially true if you’re connecting to a Wi-Fi hotspot in an airport or coffee shop.

Follow these steps if you’re using Windows 10:

• Open the Network and Internet Network and Sharing Center in the Control Panel. On the top left, click Change adapter settings.
• Select Properties by right-clicking on the current connection.
• Select whether your DNS settings should use IPv4 or IPv6 addresses. Then, select Properties.
• Substitute the following IP addresses for the originals:

Use 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.8.4 for IPv4 addresses.

Use 2001:4860:4860::8888 and 2001:4860:4860::8844 for IPv6.

• Restart the browser by clicking OK.

Those running macOS can refer to the following guide: Customize Your Mac with System Settings. On the DNS tab, in the DNS Servers section, click the Plus sign. Enter each IP address one at a time. Select OK.

5. Renew IP Address and Flush DNS

To flush DNS, you must first clear the DNS caches that your computer has saved.

The DNS cache keeps track of the IP addresses of the websites you visit. This saves the computer from having to translate the domain name to the IP address every time you visit the site.

The DNS cache, like browser data, can become out of date. The IP addresses may be outdated, causing problems when attempting to access the site.

Users of Windows 10 can flush DNS by using the Command Prompt. To access the Run command, press the Windows logo and R keys together. Then, in the dialog box, type “cmd” and press OK.

Enter the following into the Command Prompt window:

ipconfig /flushdns

If it is successful, it will display a success message.

Then add the lines below to troubleshoot the network and renew the IP address. Each time you add a new command, make sure to press Enter:

ipconfig /registerdns

ipconfig /release

ipconfig /renew

netsh winsock reset

Restart your computer and open the browser to see if the commands were successful.

For macOS:

Open the Terminal application on macOS and type the following command:

dscacheutil -flushcache

On Macs, there is no success message.

6. Examine Your Hosts File

Every computer has a file called the local host’s file. This is a file containing manual DNS entries that are associated with specific IP addresses.

This is usually only changed when you want to preview your DNS before moving domains to a new host. Alternatively, you may have a local development site running using a tool such as DevKinsta, Vagrant, or Docker.

There are numerous ways this file could have been changed or edited. As a result, it’s always a good idea to double-check that the website you’re trying to access isn’t listed. Simply follow the steps outlined below.

Windows

Additional access to the host’s file is usually required. As a result, the first step is to launch your text editor as an administrator.

Simply go to your start menu, look for your text editor, right-click it, and choose “Run as administrator.” This can be done in any text editor, including Notepad, Notepad++, Atom, and others.

Navigate to File -> Open in the top-left menu and enter the path below into the File name bar.

C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\

Then choose the host file.

Below the last line that begins with the “#” sign, the file will display a list of blocked websites. Delete them and save your changes by pressing Ctrl + S.

macOS

macOS clients can open the Terminal, embed this line underneath, and hit Enter:

sudo nano/private/etc/host

Eliminate the rundown of sites that are underneath the “::1” line.

7. Verify Your Domain’s DNS

You should also ensure that your domain’s DNS is correctly pointed to your hosting provider.

If you recently migrated your WordPress website to a new host, it is possible that the DNS was incorrectly cached on your computer. In that case, step 5 above should suffice.

It could also be that it is too soon and you need to wait a few hours for the DNS to fully propagate.

8. Remove Browser Cache

Web browsers cache information on your computer. This includes your browser history, stored login data, and cookies, which are all preserved to load the relevant sites faster the next time you visit them.

But, before you do anything, you may quickly determine if it’s a browser cache problem by opening your browser in incognito mode.

You might also try a different browser.

If you’re still seeing the issue, you should erase your cache. We’ll use Google Chrome in this example.

Begin by accessing the main menu (in the top-right corner of your browser window). From there, choose More Tools: After that, select Clear browser data.

Make sure that all of the stated file categories are chosen on the subsequent page. Chrome will be unable to remove the full cache if they are not. Instead, it will merely delete the most recent items, which will not provide the intended result.

Another way to finish this procedure is to type the following URL into your browser’s address bar:

chrome://settings/clearBrowserData

The subsequent screen should provide you with the same options as described previously.

WordPress-Specific Fixes for err_connection_timed_out

Sometimes, how your WordPress site is set up can cause a connection time out error. Let’s take a look at what you can check for in WordPress to clear the problem.

The remaining troubleshooting methods will concern the settings of your WordPress site or server.

Examine the Maximum Execution Time

Your site’s maximum execution time. The default time on most servers is 30 seconds. This is the maximum amount of time a PHP script may execute (after which it times out).

On shared hosts, this is usually set to a low value or left at the default.

Because the php.ini file is placed on your server, you cannot simply alter it from WordPress. To change this, we recommend contacting your hosting provider to see if they can assist.

Change the maximum execution time in the php.ini file

Some PHP programs may consume more memory than is permitted, causing the site to take too long to reply to the browser.

The memory limit, like the maximum execution duration, can be increased. However, the quantity should be within the maximum available RAM allowed to your plan by your hosting provider.

If you don’t know the maximum available RAM for your hosting plan, contact the company’s support team or read the documentation.

Open the .htaccess file in File Manager to raise the limit. Then insert the line below, utilizing the maximum available RAM as follows:

memory limit php value 128M

The code should be placed at the bottom. It should be above “END WORDPRESS” if you use WordPress. Finally, click the Save & Close button.

Change the maximum execution time in the .htacess file

Another option is to manually alter the timeout value on the website’s .htaccess file. Locate the .htaccess file in the public html directory. Edit it and paste the following code before the “END WORDPRESS” line:

php value max execution time 120

Finally, click the Save & Close button. Access the website to check if the error has been resolved.

Disable Your Plugins Temporarily

A plugin, like with most WordPress issues, might undoubtedly be the source of the issue. To see if that’s the case, you’ll need to disable all of your site’s plugins.

If you receive the “ERR CONNECTION TIMED OUT” error, this indicates that you do not have access to your WordPress admin area. This implies you’ll have to SFTP into your website. We recommend that you use FileZilla.

Connect to your website using your SFTP client and browse to the WordPress root folder. If you can’t locate it, it’s commonly named public html, html, public, www, or the name of your site.

Navigate to the wp-content directory by opening that folder. Inside, you’ll find a plugins folder, which has distinct subdirectories for each plugin installed on your site (both active and inactive).

What you’re going to do now is right-click on the plugins folder and rename it. To make it easier to identify later, we propose plugins.old or plugins.deactivated.

WordPress will now be unable to locate any of your plugins. When this occurs, the plugins are immediately disabled. Try entering your WordPress dashboard now.

If the timeout problem has disappeared, you can presume that one of your plugins was to blame. All that remains is to determine which one was causing the problem.

Return to the wp-content directory and appropriately rename your original plugins folder. Then, one by one, disable each of your plugins until you locate the problem.

NOTE: GreenGeeks customers can disable all of the plugins from the Manage WordPress dashboard of their accounts. This is perhaps easier and quicker for those who don’t know much about using FTP software.

Activate the Default Theme for a Limited Time

If a theme has bloated code or compatibility difficulties with a website, it may produce ERR CONNECTION TIMED OUT. WordPress suggests returning to the default theme to see whether the theme is the problem.

If the admin interface is unavailable, you can do this operation manually. This means that you must log in to phpMyAdmin to access your WordPress database.

Click on wp options in the phpMyAdmin section. Then, using the names template and stylesheet, identify two queries. They might be found on the second or third page.

When you’ve located them, double-click on the option value column and change the current theme’s name with a default one. It may be twenty-one, twenty-two, or twenty twenty-three.

You may also have a “Default” WRC Theme that comes with the installation of WordPress.

Check to see whether the admin panel and website are now accessible. If they are, consider reinstalling or changing the theme.

Increase the Memory Limit

The WP MEMORY LIMIT option allows you to determine the maximum amount of memory that PHP can utilize. If you’re using shared hosting, it’s most likely set to a low amount, such as 64M.

You can increase the memory limit by adding the following to your wp-config.php file. This must be placed above the wp-settings.php inclusion.

define(‘WP MEMORY LIMIT’, ‘256M’);

Do you know what your current PHP memory limit is? If you have access to your WordPress dashboard and are using WordPress 5.2 or higher, the PHP memory limit may be found under the “Site Health” tool.

Conclusion

Connection and timeout issues are never enjoyable to troubleshoot, but perhaps you now have a bit more information under your belt to help you address them fast.

It’s critical to understand that the “ERR CONNECTION TIMED OUT” error might be caused by a client-side issue, such as a faulty network connection, or by a problem with the server where your WordPress site is hosted.

Do you have any other suggestions for resolving this mistake or problem? Let us know in the comments section below.

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