Regularly backing up your WordPress site is one of the most important things you can do. Why is backing up WordPress important? Backing up your WordPress site regularly means you are protecting yourself in case of a hacked site or a server crashing and causing you to lose all your data. Years of hard work put on your site and everything you have written; every post, every link and every comment you have on your blog can be lost in seconds. With a proper backup of your WordPress database and files, you can quickly restore everything back to normal.

What is a backup? A backup is a copy of your WordPress site that you can restore if anything ever goes wrong. A WordPress site consists of two parts: files (that you can see via your FTP) and your database (where all information is stored). How frequently you decide to back up your site is entirely up to you. If you are posting daily, then it would be a good idea to back up more often than you would if you post once a month. You should have at least three backups and keep them in different places or forms. This prevents problems if a single backup becomes corrupted or damaged.

How can I back up my WordPress site? Most website hosts including us provide software to back up your site. Check with your host to find out what services and programs they provide. If they happen to not have any software available to back up your site, you can back up your site with plugins that are available for free or at little cost. Here are a few of the best WordPress backup plugins available.

• UpDraft Plus is a free plugin that gives you a lot of options of where to back up your site. You can back up your site to Amazon S3, Dropbox, Google Drive and your email, just to name a few.
• VaultPress is a premium plugin. A real-time backup and security scanning service. It provides the required functionality to backup and synchronize every post, comment, media file, revision and dashboard settings on their servers.
• BackWPup can be used to save your complete installation including /wp-content/ and push them to an external Backup Service.
• BackupBuddy unlike other WordPress backup plugins, BackupBuddy backs up your entire WordPress installation, including your media library, themes, plugins, widgets, content, settings plus your database.

You can also backup your site via your cPanel:

• Log in to your cPanel.
• Navigate to the “Files” section and click the “backups” button.
• Make sure it’s on the Home Directory option. If you would like an email notification of when your backup is complete, enter your e-mail address.
• Click on the “Generate Backup” button and it will start the backup process. Depending on whether you clicked on “send e-mail notification” you will be e-mailed when the full backup is done.

While WordPress is easy to use, things won’t always go smoothly and users will run into issues on the way. You are bound to encounter a number of common issues while using WordPress at least once.  Here are the most common issues you’ll run into while using WordPress.

Slow WordPress Site
When a person loads your site for the first time, you only have a few seconds to capture their attention. If your site takes too long to load, most people will exit out the site instead of waiting for it to load. There are many reasons why your WordPress Hosting could be running slow, so how do you figure out a solution if you don’t know exactly what could be causing it to run slow? 

Solutions

• Installing an effective caching plugin like W3 Total Cache, or WP Super Cache can help with speeding up your site.
• This common WordPress error can also be the result of a plugin problem.To solve it, deactivate all plugins and then reactivate them one by one until you have found the culprit.
• You can also test your plugin load speed by installing P3 Profile Plugin. This plugin will help identify speed issues that are caused by plugins.
• Check with your hosting provider, it may be an issue with the available bandwidth your hosting provider has available.

Blog keeps coming up blank
Getting the dreaded blank WordPress page can become very time-consuming. There are no error messages nor any other indication of what might have gone wrong. So finding and fixing the problem can be very frustrating. What can be causing the white screen of death?

Solutions

• If you just switched to a new theme and just started getting this error, it could be due to a corrupted or incomplete theme file.
• Plugins. Plugins are not compatible with all versions of WordPress. So before upgrading or installing a plugin, check if it’s compatible with your current version of WordPress.
• You might not have uploaded all of the core files if you recently had to upgrade your version of WordPress. Try uploading one more time to be sure.

505 Internal Server Error
It  means that something went wrong but your server was unable to identify the issue. Now What?

Solutions

• The most likely issue is a corrupted .htaccess file. Log into your site root using FTP and rename your .htaccess file to .htaccess_old. Try loading your site to see if it has solved the problem.
• Try deactivating all of your Plugins to see if it is an issue with a Plugin.
• Switch to the default “Twentyfourteen” theme to see if it is a problem with your custom theme.

404 Error
These pages usually come up when you are searching the web for content and there is no URL to deliver. You will see something along the lines of “The page you are looking for might have been removed, had a name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.”

Solutions

• The most common cause of 404 errors is a change to your website’s permalink structure. When you change your permalink structures, you move all of your internal pages to new URLs. Find a permalink structure you’re happy with from the start, so you don’t have to play around with URLs in the future.
• Double check your links before publishing a post to make sure there are no typos. This can lead to a broken link, which leads to the 404 error.
• Downloading a plugin that can help at detecting broken links can keep the 404 error to a minimum. Broken Links Checker and Redirection great plugins to go with. Redirection checks for current 404 errors and configures the correct place you want visitors to go.

Error Establishing a Database Connection
“Error establishing a database connection” is usually caused by an error in your wp-config.php file.

Solutions

• Acces your site in your FTP client. Open up wp-config.php and ensure that the following are correct: Database name, Database username, Database password, Database host. If your configuration is correct then you can try resetting your MySQL password.
• It can also be hosting issues: the server is down, your database has met its quota and its shutdown. You can contact your hosting provider to see if any of these issues is causing your problem.
• Scan your site to make sure it hasn’t been hacked.

Connection Timed Out
This usually happens when your website’s server is too overloaded and is unable to complete your request, or if you’re on a shared host where your memory limit is restricted.

Solutions

• Again, deactivating plugins can be a solution. If you deactivated all the WordPress plugins and it has solved your issue, reactivate them one by one to see which one is causing the problem.
• Increase your PHP memory limit using the wp-config.php file. If you are not sure how to do this, contact your hosting provider to increase your maximum execution time.

These are 6 of the common WordPress errors users encounter sometime along the line and we hope this list comes in handy when you encounter a WordPress error. Choosing a good WordPress Hosting Provider is key. Take a look at our Managed WordPress Offering.

There is simply no doubt about the quality and flexibility that WordPress has to offer its users. Through its array of eye-catching themes and tools aimed at maximizing image and text quality, WordPress has become the go-to option for many entrepreneurs and bloggers. But considering we live in an age of social media and mobile devices, high-resolution imagery and readability of content is not enough to keep visitors engaged and increase conversion rates.

More and more people nowadays use their phones to read blogs or look up businesses on search engines and whatever content they find of use, they share it instantly on their social media pages. Thus, integrating WordPress social media plug-ins have become part-and-parcel of increasing website traffic. For this reason, we present the top 5 social media plug-ins you need to consider for your WordPress website.

1)   Monarch

One of our first recommended social plug-ins is Monarch. It offers a range of social media icons that are excellent for providing sharing options across a greater spectrum of social media pages. More importantly, it displays share counts once a certain number is reached. This is not only important for showing which social media page your content is shared most on, but also is helpful for positive social proof.

You also have access to a number of tools and options, such as fly-ins and triggered groups, both of which are aimed at encouraging views and increasing sharing.. The only major downside to the plug-in is that it is not free and comes with an $89 dollar subscription per year. Nonetheless, the degree of flexibility and tracking features offered by the plug-in are great means of increasing traffic and conversion rates.

2)   Mashshare

Another great plug-in is Mashshare. This offers a wide variety of add-on features, which provides high customizability and flexibility. As a result, you have the advantage of adapting it according to your specific business goals and metrics. It is also highly responsive, offering visitors a convenient and seamless experience of viewing and engaging with content. Unlike other plug-ins, Mashshare is available free of cost, making it a highly sought-after plug-in by startups.

3)   Sumome Share

Available for only $20 a year, Sumome Share offers a highly responsive and user-friendly interface and is easy to customize. In addition to providing services for Facebook, Linked In, Twitter, and WhatsApp, Sumome Share allows you to change how social media buttons and share counts should be displayed. Furthermore, it contains many other tools and features to help you grow your traffic.

4)   Shareaholic

Shareaholic is more than just a plug-in, it provides social analytics and shows related content to help boost traffic to your website. You also get to control whether share counts should be displayed or not and also provides you supports for websites, such as Shopify, Tumblr, and Drupal. Best of all, Shareaholic is free of cost, so there is no excuse for  not giving it a try.

5)   Easy Social Share Buttons For WordPress

Easy Social Share Buttons for WordPress is best suited for you if you need granular control on social media sharing options. These include control over how social media share buttons should be displayed and the option for the viewer to share images that fit according to the size recommended by different social media networks.

In sum, all the aforementioned social plug-ins offer excellent share options. However, the right choice will depend on your social media marketing goals. If you need to decide which free WordPress themes are good, take a look at our top 5 choices here.

Planning to start an ecommerce website, but don’t know which WordPress platform to base it on? If you can’t decide, go for Woocomerce.
This WordPress plugin is specifically designed for the ecommerce platforms, featuring an array of tools and features to optimize your visitor’s online shopping experience.Woocomerce offers a convenient way of managing a multitude of products and services and related software to offer a seamless customer experience. The plugin has already emerged as one of the top ecommerce platforms already, with 1.6 million downloads and counting. To show just how incredible Woocomerce is, we share 5 top reasons why it is the go to platform for building an ecommerce website.

 

Easy To Use

Woocomerce offers a user-friendly interface like no other. In just a few minutes, you can set up it up and begin selling your product. Customers, on the other hand, instantly feel engaged due to the seamless user experience, converting high traffic into increased sales revenue. WooCommerce also is supported by the maximum number of WordPress themes and developers.

More importantly, its fluidity and responsiveness is witnessed when browsing the website on mobile phones that is beneficial for gaining higher mobile traffic. Entrepreneurs can add product categories and payment options very easily and the checkout option is designed to ensure a smooth buying process.

 

Range of Customizable Themes

Woocomerce is also great to use due to its range of customizable themes. This feature will be useful for creating an ecommerce website that offers an attractive design and layout for easy navigation and readability. If you are not unfamiliar with coding, the themes enable you to edit coding easily and use colors that are according to your preference. Its themes also enable you to change the layouts of checkout, shopping cart, and product listings, giving you far more flexibility in design an ecommerce website of your choice.

 

Analytical Tools

It is hard for one to monitor the effectiveness of their websites without the use of analytics. The range and extent of information requires analytics software that can clearly map out your ecommerce website performance so that you can know which aspects of the design and marketing mix are working and which ones are not. Woocomerce comes with its own analytics software that lays out key pieces of information for strategic decision-making. You can find average orders, number of buyers, number of repeat customers, sales figures, and most and least bought products, among others that can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of your ecommerce website.

Allows Easy Maintenance and Frequent Updates

Plugins can only be of value as long as they are updated frequently to get rid of bugs and other inconsistencies. Otherwise, it becomes difficult to maintain their efficiency. Woocommerce is updated on a regular basis, which means you will not have to worry about maintenance issues or bugs that can distort the customer experience.
In summary, Woocomerce is the go-to platform for creating an ecommerce website. Given its wide range of tools and features, user-friendly interface, range of themes and analytical tools, Woocomerce can offer a smooth online shopping experience for your customers and help you build the credibility you require for your online business.

What is Google Analytics?

Google Analytics is a free web analytics service offered by Google to help track and report website traffic. It is the most used web analytics service on the internet. By getting the Google Analytics for your WordPress site, you will be able to see where all your traffic is coming from, how visitors interact with your site and learn what visitors are searching for in your site. On top of that you can also:

• Discover your top content  This will help you know what articles and content make visitors stay on your site the longest.
• Figure out where your best visitors are located  Determining from where you get the most visitors from, helps you decide who you should target for your ads.
• See what people click on the most See what area of your site gets the most clicks to help you decide where you can place links that you want to be seen.
• Find out what are your worst performing pages Find out on which area of your site visitors exit out from the most.

How to sign up with Google Analytics

In order to sign up with Google Analytics, you have to have a Gmail account. If you already have a Gmail account then you can start signing up on their signup page.

Press the signup button to be directed to the next screen. This screen is where you can start putting in your information. You can choose to track a website or a mobile app and you have to fill in your website name and URL. When you’re done filling in all the information click on the “get tracking id” button to get your tracking id. Copy and save your tracking code once you get to the next window, it will be in the box like the one below:

Copy and save your tracking code once you get to the next window, it will be in the box like the one below:

Installing Google Analytics to your WordPress

You can install Google Analytics through a plugin or through your Theme Header (header.php)

Plugin Method
There are various plugins you can install. I will  be using the Google Analytics plugin. This plugin will allow me to install my tracking ID once I’ve installed it. To put in your tracking code once you’re finished installing it go to your dashboard, Settings > Google Analytics. From there you can put in your tracking code and choose if you want to exclude other users from viewing tracking.

Theme Header (header.php) Method
To install your tracking code go to your dashboard, Appearance> Editor. Once you’re on that screen, go to the right side of the screen and locate the Theme Header link.

On the next screen, locate the “</ head >” tag. You will put your tracking code right before this tag:

After putting in your tracking code press the “update file” button to save changes. You can now check your Google Analytics “Reporting” area to view your site’s analytics. It takes Google 12-24 hours to start reporting actual traffic data.

 

Having a YouTube channel means that you’re always on the lookout to get more subscribers. If you have a WordPress blog/site, then adding a YouTube subscribe button to your site can come in handy to help you gain more subscribers. By adding a YouTube subscribe button to your site, you can turn your visitors into subscribers of your YouTube channel. In this tutorial, I will show you how to turn your website visitors into subscribers of your YouTube channel by simply adding a subscribe button widget on your website.

Method 1 — Adding Subscribe Button via a plugin

To add a subscribe button to your website by using a plugin, go to your dashboard Plugins>AddNew. Go to the search form and type in “youtube subscribe button”. I will be using the first plugin that shows up, which is the YouTube Subscribe Button plugin.

Once you’ve installed and activated the plugin go to your dashboard Appearance > Widgets. You can drag and drop your YouTube subscribe button widget anywhere in the sidebar. From there you can start customizing the features.

To find out your YouTube ID go to this page. Copy your YouTube ID to put in on the ID form. After putting in your channel ID and are finished editing the widget, press save. Your website will now have a YouTube Subscribe button for your website visitors to subscribe to:

Method 2 — Adding YouTube Subscribe Button Manually

To add the YouTube Subscribe button manually, go to the Configure a Button page in Google Developers.

You can put in either your channel name or your channel ID in the form. You can configure the layout and theme to your liking. On the layout you can switch between “full” and “default”. On theme, switch between “dark” and “default”. You can also choose whether you want your subscriber count to be shown. You’ll get a live preview of the changes you are doing to your subscribe button.
Once done, you can copy your code in the code box. After you’re done copying, go to your dashboard Appearance > Widgets. From there, drag and drop the text widget to the sidebar. Paste your code into the box and save changes.

The YouTube subscribe button will now appear on your website.

Organic Search engine Optimization (SEO) and Paid Search Marketing (like Pay per Click or PPC)  form the basis of any company’s digital marketing. This is why there is so much stress on optimizing keywords using the right techniques in order to boost relevancy and search ranking. Websites that use WordPress use content management systems and WordPress Themes also seek to be SEO friendly in order to boost visibility.

However, considering how frequently SEO best practices change and evolve, it can be difficult for businesses and entrepreneurs to know the tips and tricks, as well as the shortcuts, involved in optimizing their search results. WordPress offers users the solution through its range of SEO plugins that can improve the search ranking of your content or website.

The following are a list of the most popular SEO plugins you need to consider using for your WordPress site.

Google Keyword Planner

Deciding which keywords to use can be difficult, especially when users don’t know their target audience too well. Choosing the wrong keywords in an ad campaign can backfire and can be a huge loss in investment. However, through the Google Keyword Planner plugin, you will have insights of how and what your target audience thinks and use it to select the most suitable keywords for your marketing campaigns.
The Google Keyword Planner is free to use and can show what keywords advertisers can use to bid for their campaigns. Advertisers also get to have an estimate of the size of audience approachable by using specific keywords. This can give users the edge in outpacing their rivals with regards to bidding for the right keywords and thus make their marketing efforts that much more efficient and effective.

LinkPatrol

The LinkPatrol plugin enables users to have control over all website links. With it, you can keep a close watch on all outgoing website links and be instantly notified of which links are bringing in traffic and which are not. Unlike other plugins, LinkPatrol is a lot quicker to operate since it does not use up many resources. Because of this, cleaning spam links and anchor text is extremely easy and does not affect your viewing experience.

SEOquake

Considered one of the most used plugins by SEO professionals, SEOquake is available for a range of browsers including Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari web browser, and Opera. SEOquake is excellent for making sure that all outgoing links on the website are SEO friendly. It classifies the SEO friendliness of a website according to page rank, last date of update, age, and alexa rank.

Broken Link Checker

Finding out that your website is filled with dead links is frustrating since it limits your potential for gaining higher traffic and visibility. Using Broken Link Checker, you can quickly find out broken links on your website and fix it without needing to edit your posts. Although the plugin is free, it is very resource intensive and therefore, may not offer a user-friendly experience.
In sum, the aforementioned plugins are some of the best SEO plugins for WordPress. Using any one of these can help boost your search engine visibility and enable your digital marketing to become far more cost-effective.

Tracking your SEO is very important and we have written previously how to add Google analytics to your WordPress website. It’s a good way to track your hard work.

It has been a few weeks since WordPress released its last major edition of 2016, WordPress 4.7, and it already stands out with many cool features and benefits. The latest version introduces several new themes, editing improvements, templates, video headers, shortcuts, and more, all of which can greatly enhance the website experience for visitors and make website management easier and more convenient for you as a business.

In this post, we look at some of these features in more detail and analyze how you can gain from WordPress 4.7.

Twenty Seventeen

Twenty Seventeen is the default theme in the latest WordPress edition, which offers many exciting features and benefits. Compared to previous default themes, Twenty Seventeen is mainly focused on businesses instead of bloggers. This is evident by its starter content that allows users to create and setup their WordPress websites. That being said, Twenty Seventeen theme can also be utilized as a theme for bloggers. Owing to its mobile-friendly viewing experience and crisp images and typography, the theme can enable bloggers to share thoughts on the go and provide visitors with excellent readability.

Theme Setup Flow

WordPress has always listed themes through an easy viewable format. With the latest release, it provides a much more polished and cleaner way of navigating installed and new themes from its theme customizer that can save time and improve user experience. You can even change the layout of how you wish to see themes and can also browse in terms of feature and subject, as well as add it your favorites list.

Admin Language Control Panel

In the past, users saw content in the same language used in the admin interface upon installing WordPress. This is no longer a feature; WordPress 4.7 now enables users to switch the language in their admin interface from that in their user profile so that each user can browse the website in a language that they prefer. For this, you will need to install the languages that each user wishes to use before they can switch.

Editing Improvements

Editing makes up for a big portion of time spent on making corrections and formatting changes to a content piece to engage visitors. The new WordPress edition brings crucial editing changes to make editing less cumbersome and irritating. Instead of the heading selector and paragraph menu appearing at the bottom, it now appears in the top bar. Furthermore, the horizontal and strikethrough line buttons have been moved and put into the kitchen sink bar. More importantly, users have access to various keyboard shortcuts available in the drop down menus and tooltips.

Theme Options

WordPress 4.7 now enables users to set their own page layout, which was not a feature that was available in previous versions. For instance, you can choose on column and cause the content and title to be displayed vertically. More importantly, you can add more pages and also edit existing ones to your choosing for greater flexibility.

In conclusion, the new WordPress 4.7 version introduces users with various interesting and exciting features and benefits that are suited to both business and blogger use. These are crucial for improving website performance and providing content that is convenient and seamless to visitors. Your latest updated WordPress site deserves the best hosting environment – check out our plans here.

For any business website or blog, design is critical for gaining the visitor’s attention and boosting online sales and growth. If your website does not make an excellent first-impression on a visitor in the first few seconds, it is likely that you will lose a potential customer to a rival. Your WordPress website or theme design should consist of rich colors and videos, engaging text, and a smooth and structured layout and flow that can instantly make visitors mesmerized and make them your life-long customers.

This can only be done with the clever use of quality and professional website design tools and practices that an average website owner will hardly consider. Here are 5 essential WordPress design tips you need to know about that can boost your website’s appearance and viewing experience.

1. Use Rich and Engaging Images

Visitors look for instant gratification and what better way to quench their thirst than with large quality images? Your website’s home page should include rich and HD quality images that have the ‘wow’ factor to immediately stun visitors and capture their attention. One of the most common mistakes made by businesses is their poor choice of images. Of course low quality images are free, but if you are a recent business that wishes to establish a solid impression on customers, investing in impressive images is definitely worth every penny.

If you do not have a budget large enough for purchasing quality images, there are many free photo resources you can use, such as Unsplash, for a database of quality photographs.

 

2. Ensure Design Is Responsive

The more responsive your website is, the more seamless the visitor experience will be. Responsive design means that the website can easily adjust to different platforms and devices, such as mobile phones. Customers are making more online searches from mobile phones and if your website is not mobile-friendly, you will not only lose potential customers, but also suffer from lower search engine results.

 

3. Ensure Proper Web Layout

Visitors to your website will look for how the text, images, links, and videos are structured. A good layout can make the difference to how accessible website content and navigation and, more importantly, how high it ranks on search engine results. Design your website from a visitors’ standpoint and consider how each element should be organized for a better browsing experience.

 

4. Don’t Fill Your Website

The assumption ‘more is better’ certainly does not apply to good web design and can make it look unprofessional and messy. Having a little bit of white space does not matter. In fact, the more white space your website has, the cleaner and de-cluttered it will appear to visitors and also make it easier to read and see content.

 

5. Keep Your Colors Simple

Unless you have experience, don’t bother experimenting with tons of colors on your website. There is no point turning your website into a kaleidoscope. Pick two or three colors that signify your brand and ethos and keep it as simple as possible.

 

Now that you have these handy tips, design your website, optimize and host it on XonHost for the best managed WordPress hosting experience like this.

WordPress is perhaps the most popular and common platform used by businesses to establish an online presence and engage their customers with information and news about their list of products and services. It is the world’s most used content management system or CMS.

As a business owner, it is important that you ensure high web loading and navigation speed for your visitors. The average visitor is said to have an attention span of 7 seconds and should your website not load quickly enough, you can easily lose potential customers and cause them to switch to a competitor. In this post, we will look at some of the methods and tips you can use for optimizing your WordPress website page speed.

Use A Quality Managed WordPress Hosting Service

The basic and most fundamental item responsible for your WP website’s speed is the hosting service you choose. Although web page speed is determined by the amount of images, plugins and videos you have, it is also determined by the quality of your web hosting service. Businesses often opt for non-WordPress specialized web hosting plans, such as shared hosting packages, which offer web hosting at an very low rates but with a tremendous loss in performance. Non-specialized generic shared hosting may cost less, but it is not so good in terms of web page speed since the hosting service, resources and bandwidth are shared by multiple users. As a result, frequent website downtime and slow loading speed are very common leaving visitors frustrated.

If you intend on using rich media such as images and video, it is a good idea to opt for a WordPress hosting plan that provides greater bandwidth, disk space, and technical support for downtime sort of like what we offer at XonHost.

Use a lightweight WordPress theme

WordPress has an array of themes that you can choose from to create a personalized look to your website and build a distinct online brand personality. However, be mindful of whether the theme will drag your website page speed down.

Themes that utilize heavy images and animations will use up more bandwidth and processing speed, take longer to load, and ruin a visitor’s web viewing experience. Instead, choose lightweight WordPress themes to increase website speed such as Thesis Theme Framework, which offers plenty of customization tools and good for providing good web page speed.

Compress Web Page Images

Image files are crucial for creating appealing web pages and engaging visitors, but are also the largest in terms of size that can slow down web loading and processing speed. A good way of getting round this problem is to use compressed images. This can prevent your website speed from slowing down and also add a distinct flavor to your online image. Tools, such as WP Smush.it and Tiny PNG, for instance, are particularly useful in this regard and can go a long way in grabbing customer attention without the drawback of slow web loading speed.

Optimize Web Pages

Your web pages should also be optimized for greater website speed and loading. Very often, owners make the mistake of putting out too much information, images, and videos that not only make your website look crammed, but also negatively affect SEO rankings on search engines. Keep your text and number of widgets minimal and get rid of inactive plugins. Here are some design tips we talked in our previous post.