How to Manage, Track, and Control File Downloads in WordPress

Are you looking for easy ways to manage, track, and control file downloads on your WordPress site?

A WordPress file download manager can help you easily manage downloads, track analytics, and control permissions on file downloads. With the right tools, you can even sell file downloads and make money.

In this article, we will show you how to easily manage, track, and control file downloads in WordPress.

Why Manage, Track, and Control File Downloads in WordPress?

There are many reasons why you would want to manage, track, and/or control your file downloads in WordPress.

For example, you may want to only certain paying customers to download files, or you may simply want to track which free downloads on your site are bringing the most engagement.

On other hands, you might simply want to restrict certain files based on user roles.

In this article, we’re going to take you through 3 different methods. Just click on the links to jump straight to the method you want to use:

• Tracking file downloads in WordPress using MonsterInsights
• Controlling file downloads in WordPress using MemberPress
• Managing file downloads in WordPress using WooCommerce

Method 1. Tracking File Downloads in WordPress Using MonsterInsights

If you offer free downloads on your website, then you may not be concerned about managing or controlling downloads.

However, it is still best practice to at least track file downloads. This lets you easily discover which of your free downloads are the most popular.

This will help you know where to invest your resources when creating new content.

Unfortunately, Google Analytics doesn’t automatically support file download tracking. The good news is that you can track downloads using MonsterInsights, the best Google Analytics plugin for WordPress.

First, you need to install and activate the MonsterInsights plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

MonsterInsights makes it super easy to connect WordPress to your Google Analytics account. If you need help, then follow the instructions in our guide on installing Google Analytics in WordPress.

Note: File download tracking is available in the free version of MonsterInsights as well, so you can see the reports inside Google Analytics. However to see advanced reports inside your WordPress dashboard, you’ll need the Pro version.

Once you have set up the plugin, it will automatically start tracking file downloads as events. You don’t need to do any further configuration. To see statistics about your downloads, just go to Insights » Reports and switch to the Publishers tab:

Scroll down, and you will see your top download links. These will be listed along with their anchor text:

If you have more than 1 link to a specific file, then those links will be listed separately here. This is useful if you want to find out exactly how users are downloading files.

What if you want a report of which files are the most popular, regardless of the links used? Simply click the ‘View All Download Links Report’ button.

This will take you straight into Google Analytics, where you will see a report with the URLs of your downloaded files:

By default, MonsterInsights tracks downloads for all common file types including documents (.doc and .docx), spreadsheets (.xls and .xlsx), presentations (.ppt and .pptx), PDFs, and zip files.

If you want to track other file types, then that’s easy to do as well. Simply go to Insights » Settings page and then switch to the Engagement tab:

Now, scroll down to the File Downloads section, and you’ll see a list of file extensions currently being tracked:

Simply type in any additional file extensions you want to track. Just make sure you put a comma between them.

Once you’re done, don’t forget to click the ‘Save Changes’ button at the top to save your settings.

MonsterInsights will now start tracking all files ending with the file extension you added in settings.

We recommend installing MonsterInsights alongside both the #2 and #3 solution for managing and control file download access because MonsterInsights will help you see the right stats that matter.

Method 2. Controlling File Downloads in WordPress Using MemberPress

If you want to sell online courses or digital downloads, then a great way to control and manage file downloads is to use MemberPress.

It is the best WordPress membership plugin that lets you lock premium content on your site, so that it’s only available to registered users or paying members.

MemberPress has an addon called MemberPress Downloads that lets you track each files that your members download. It also gives you advanced access control, letting you upload multiple files and tag, categorize, and list them easily.

Aside from files, you can also protect other content on your site as well. This is a great option if you are building courses or premium content library that you only want members to be able to access.

First, you need to install and activate the MemberPress plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, go to the MemberPress » Settings » License page in the WordPress admin area to enter your license key. You will find this information under your account on the MemberPress website.

Next, go to the MemberPress » Add-ons page. Here, you simply need to find the Downloads add-on. Go ahead and click the ‘Install Add-on’ button to add it to your site:

Now, you just need to go to the MP Downloads » Files page and click the ‘Add New’ button to create a new download.

First, you need to enter a title for your download.

Once you’ve done that, upload the file that you want to use. You can also choose additional options on this page, such as adding categories or tags to your download.

We’re going to give our file the tag ‘paid-members’ so that this file and others can be easily protected by a MemberPress rule.

When you’re ready, click the Publish button to put your downloadable file live.

If you don’t already have a rule to protect the file’s tag, simply create one under MemberPress » Rules. Just click the ‘Add New’ button to create a new rule:

You will then see the page for adding a new rule:

In the Content & Access section, click on the dropdown below Protected Content. Select ‘Files with File Tag’ and in the box next to this, type and select the tag you’re using:

Then, under Access Conditions, click the dropdown. Simply select ‘Membership’ then the name of the appropriate membership level:

Note: If you haven’t yet set up any memberships, go ahead and do so under MemberPress » Memberships.

Now, go to the MP Downloads » Files page again. You will see your file listed here. It should have the correct access type based on its tag.

Just click the ‘Copy Shortcode’ link to get the shortcode for your file.

Next, paste this shortcode into any post or page on your WordPress site.

We’re going to create a new page for our file download. First, go to Pages » Add New in your WordPress admin. Then, go ahead and paste your shortcode into your page. WordPress will automatically create a shortcode block for you:

Once you’ve added all the content you want on your page, simply click the Publish button to put it live on your site. Remember to protect your page using MemberPress rules if you want both the page and the file to only be accessible to members.

You can view your download stats by visiting the MP Downnloads » Stats page. From here you will see the list of users who downloaded the file with a time stamp.

If you need further instructions, then please refer to our step by step guide on how to create a membership site in WordPress.

Method 3. Managing File Downloads in WordPress Using WooCommerce

This method is for users who want to sell file downloads along with physical goods like shirts, swags, etc.

For this method, we will be using WooCommerce, which is the most popular eCommerce plugin for WordPress.

It is perfect for users who want to sell file downloads or users who want to make an online store.

WooCommerce can be used to sell both digital downloads and physical goods. You can also use it as your WordPress download manager to offer free downloads. It also lets you easily track customers, manage downloads, and view stats.

Let’s get started.

The first thing you need to do is install and activate the WooCommerce plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you should see the WooCommerce setup wizard. Simply click the ‘Yes please’ button to get your store up and running quickly:

Then, WooCommerce will prompt you to enter details about your store. Just follow the on-screen instructions to finish the wizard.

At Step 3, make sure you select ‘Downloads’ for your product type:

Once you finish the setup process, you will see your WooCommerce store’s dashboard:

Now, go to the Products » Add New page to add your first file download as a product.

Go ahead and give your product a title and a description. After that, scroll down to the ‘Product data’ section.

Here, you need to check the ‘Virtual’ and ‘Downloadable’ checkboxes to indicate that the product is a digital download.

You also need to enter the price. If you’re creating a free download, you need to put 0 here.

After that, click on the Add File button to upload the file for your digital download.

If you want, you can use the other options on the page. For example, you can add product images, add a short description, select product category, and more.

Once you are satisfied, click the Publish button to make your product available.

Your users can now go to the product page and add the product to their cart. If it is a free product, then they will be able to check out without adding payment information. Otherwise, they can pay as normal.

After the checkout, the user can download the file to their computer.

Tracking File Downloads in WooCommerce

To view how your file downloads are doing, just go to the WooCommerce » Reports page. From here you will see your sales by date, by products, and by categories:

Simply click on the ‘Sales by Product’ link then click the name of your download to see how it’s doing:

This shows you how many people have ordered your download. If you want to see how many have actually downloaded it, just click on the ‘Customer downloads’ link:

Tracking WooCommerce Conversions Like a Pro

WooCommerce can show you the number of downloads, customers, and the files they bought. However, it will not show you what led the user to the conversion.

This is really important information that helps you make important decisions about growing your business.

This is where MonsterInsights comes in.

It is the best Google Analytics plugin for WooCommerce and helps you track WooCommerce conversions. For step by step instructions, see our guide on how to easily set up WooCommerce conversion tracking.

If you haven’t started with WooCommerce yet, then take a look at our guide on best WooCommerce hosting providers to get setup, then choose from the best WooCommerce themes, and install the best WooCommerce plugins to get started the right way.

We hope this article helped you learn how to manage, track, and control file downloads in WordPress. You may also want to see our tips on the best email marketing services to better sell your digital downloads.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Manage, Track, and Control File Downloads in WordPress appeared first on WPBeginner.

September 24, 2020 at 04:08PM

Webflow vs WordPress – Which One is Better? (Comparison)

Are you comparing Webflow vs WordPress and wondering which one is better for you?

Webflow and WordPress are both popular website builders that allow you to easily create a website. However, they both have their own pros and cons that you may want to compare before starting your next project.

In this article, we’ll compare Webflow vs WordPress with their pros and cons to figure out which one is better.

What to Look for in Website Platform

Before we compare Webflow vs WordPress, let’s talk about the main things you should be looking for when choosing a website builder for your project.

These will also be the parameters we will use for our WordPress vs Webflow comparison. You can click on any of them to jump directly to the relevant section.

• Overview – An introduction of WordPress and Webflow
• Ease of Use – How easy it is to learn using them for an absolute newcomer.
• Costs – How much does it cost to start a website.
• Design and templates – What are your web design options
• Ecommerce – Can you use it to sell things online
• Addons & Integrations – Can you extend the platform’s functionality with addons and third-party tools
• Support – Can you get help quickly and easily when you need it?

Note: This comparison is between Webflow and self-hosted WordPress.org (not Webflow vs WordPress.com). See our guide on the differences between self-hosted WordPress.org vs WordPress.com.

Overview – Webflow vs WordPress

Webflow and WordPress are both website building platforms. WordPress has been around for more than 17 years now and is wildly popular among developers, designers, marketers, bloggers, and businesses.

Webflow was launched in 2013 and has been steadily growing in numbers since then. Offering a visual and fully hosted WordPress alternative to designers and general users.

WordPress overview

WordPress is the most popular website builder in the world. It powers more than 38% of all websites on the internet.

WordPress is free and open-source software, which means anyone can download and use it to make a blog, business website, online store, and more.

To start a WordPress website, you need a domain name and a web hosting account. There are many great WordPress hosting providers that offer 1-click WordPress installation and super easy setup.

Webflow overview

Webflow is an easy to use website builder that offers a visual web design tool to make your website.

It is a hosted software, which means you use the software as a service. They make money by offering paid features, upgrades, and selling hosting services.

You can make a Webflow account and connect it to your domain name. You can also download your website and host it on any other hosting platform.

Now that we have talked about both platforms. Let’s see how they stack up against each other.

1. Ease of Use

Most users starting a website are not programmers or coders. They need an easy to use platform that they can use without hiring developers or paying someone to help.

Let’s see how Webflow vs WordPress perform in this regard.

WordPress – Ease of Use

WordPress is used by more than 38% of all websites on the internet. That’s millions of users from every corner of the world and at different skill levels.

It is fairly easy to use. However, it does come with a slight learning curve. Beginners will need to familiarize themselves with WordPress glossary and concepts such as themes, plugins, the difference between posts vs pages, categories vs tags, and more.

Adding content to your website is fairly easy. WordPress comes with an intuitive visual editor called the block editor.

You get to make your pages and customize content using blocks. This allows you to make beautiful layouts without ever writing any code.

Don’t like the default WordPress editor? No worries, there are plenty of drag and drop page builders that you can use instead. These page builders are available as add-ons (also known as: plugins) that you can install and most have free versions.

You can start with a ready-made template and change it to fit your need, or you can start from scratch and make your own design.

WordPress comes with thousands of free templates and over 57,000 plugins that help you do just about everything you need without writing any code.

Webflow – Ease of Use

Webflow offers a clean nifty dashboard to manage your website. It comes with a visual interface to design your content. You can write your content and design layouts with a live preview.

Webflow comes with different templates that you can use for your project and edit them using their visual editor. The Webflow visual editor has a ton of features, and beginners may struggle a bit to find their way around it.

You can point and click on any element to change its properties. You can also add new elements using the add new element button from the left panel.

Webflow is made for designers and developers. If you are a content publisher, then you may miss features that are quite common among other CMS platforms like post types, categories and tags, discussion and comments, etc.

Winner – WordPress

Both Webflow and WordPress offer a point and click editor. Ready to get started templates and layouts.

Webflow’s default editor is easier to use, but it still has the same learning curve associated with WordPress. On the other hand, WordPress is extensible so you can replace the default editor with a page builder that suits your need.

Webflow’s CMS capabilities are also not the same as WordPress. There are fewer options to add tags and categories to your content types, no native comments feature, and the design elements just get in your way if you just want to write. This makes it a bit difficult to use for content publishers.

Costs – Webflow vs WordPress

For most users, the cost of building a website is a major factor in choosing a platform.

If you are just starting an online business, then you may want to keep your costs down as much as possible with the intention to invest more as your business grows.

Let’s compare the costs of building a website with Webflow and WordPress and what are your options to keep the costs down.

WordPress – Costs

WordPress the software itself is free, but you’ll need to pay for a domain name and hosting. You’ll also be paying for any premium plugins, themes, or any third party service you may need for your business.

Normally, a domain name costs $14.99 per year and website hosting packages start from $7.99 per month (usually paid annually). Now that’s not cheap if you are just starting out and testing the waters.

Luckily, Bluehost has agreed to offer WPBeginner users a free domain name with a generous discount on hosting. Basically, you can get started for just $2.75 per month.

→ Click Here to Claim This Exclusive Bluehost Offer ←

Bluehost is one of the top WordPress hosting companies and an officially recommended WordPress hosting provider.

WordPress also has the advantage of a massive ecosystem. There are more than 57,000 free plugins available in WordPress.org plugin directory alone and thousands of free themes to choose from.

This allows you to keep your costs down as you build your site using free plugins and themes. Even most premium WordPress plugins and themes have free versions that you can use without paying anything.

For more on this topic, see our guide on the cost of building a WordPress site. It has a detailed break down of different scenarios with practical tips to keep your costs down without affecting functionality or missing anything.

Webflow – Costs

Webflow offers a limited free version that allows you to make your website and host it using a subdomain with Webflow branding.

They have two types of paid plans the Site Plans and Account Plans.

Site Plans are priced per site, allow you to use your own domain name (domain price not included), and are priced based on the type of site you want to make.

They are divided into Basic, CMS, Business, and Enterprise levels. Each level increases your account limits and adds new features.

Site Plans also has an additional category of Ecommerce Plans which allow you to create online stores and are again further divided into multiple levels.

Site plans start from $16 per month, eCommerce plans start from $29 per month. You’ll be billed annually, and if you choose to pay month-to-month that would cost you extra.

Then there are the Account Plans. These allow you to manage multiple websites as projects, you can host them with Webflow, or download the code and host them elsewhere. However, things like forms and eCommerce checkout may not work if you export the site code.

Account plans start from $16 per month (billed annually).

Winner – WordPress

Using WordPress, you get all the features at much lower costs. You can add any additional features by using free plugins. You can even create an online store without additional costs.

Of course, your WordPress website costs will grow as your website gets more traffic, but you can hold it off and allow your business to take off before you upgrade hosting, or buy premium addons for your website.

Design and Templates – Webflow vs WordPress

Not everyone making a website is a designer. As a beginner, you may use the design tools, but the end result may not be as good as a professionally designed website.

Let’s see how WordPress and Webflow handle design and templates to make things easier for users.

WordPress – Design and Templates

WordPress gives you access to thousands of WordPress themes (website design templates). Many of them are completely free to use and most of them are mobile-friendly out of the box.

You can start with any of these professionally designed WordPress themes to make your website. You can change your website’s theme at any time and switch to a different theme. They are easy to use and you can customize them within WordPress using a live customizer.

Unlike Webflow, WordPress keeps design elements separate from content. This ensures that design is consistent throughout your website.

You can also use a theme and then use a page builder plugin to create landing pages. These page builders also come with professionally designed templates that you can make your own.

Can’t find a theme that you like? Don’t worry, you can even use tools like Beaver Themer to make your own templates and themes without ever writing any code.

Webflow – Design and Templates

Webflow has dozens of paid and free templates that you can use. All of them are mobile responsive and can be used for different types of websites.

You can select a template when starting a new project. However, once you select a template you cannot change it. You can create a new project and then select a different template.

Editing your templates is easy. Webflow is a visual design tool, so it comes with a powerful visual editor to change any element on any page of your website.

Any changes you make to the layout elements like header, navigation, and footer will be applied sitewide.

Winner – WordPress

By keeping the content and functionality away from the design, WordPress is able to offer a lot more flexibility than Webflow. It also gives users access to a wider variety of designs and tools to edit a website’s appearance.

Ecommerce – Webflow vs WordPress

Ecommerce features allow you to sell things online. It is essential for many businesses to have a robust eCommerce platform to grow and run their business.

Let’s see how WordPress and Webflow handle eCommerce.

WordPress – Ecommerce

You need WordPress to use the most popular eCommerce platform in the world, WooCommerce. This free WordPress plugin is used by millions of large and small online stores around the world.

WooCommerce also comes with its own WooCommerce addons / plugins which help you easily add new features to your online store. You also get access to hundreds of WooCommerce themes to choose a design for your eCommerce website.

With WooCommerce you also get to choose from a wide range of payment gateways including PayPal, Stripe, Authorize.Net, and dozens

WordPress also has several other eCommerce and shopping cart plugins that you can use. You can sell digital subscriptions using MemberPress, or software downloads with Easy Digital Downloads.

Webflow – Ecommerce

Webflow offers limited eCommerce functionality when compared with options available for WordPress. The number of products you can sell depends on your plan (starting from eCommerce Standard plan at $29 per month for 500 products).

They use Stripe as the payment service. With the Standard plan, Webflow will also charge a 2% fee per transaction which is apart from the Stripe’s transaction fees.

Adding products to your site is easy. You simply fill out a form to provide product details, images, and other options.

Webflow is not suitable to sell membership or subscription-based products. It can be used to sell digital goods like software, apps, music, ebooks, and more.

Winner – WordPress

WordPress has a more flexible platform to sell anything you want. It has more payment options, addons, and no restrictions on how many products you add.

You can use WooCommerce or any other eCommerce plugin to get started. You also have the freedom to move your store to any other hosting service without breaking anything.

Webflow is more expensive, charges a transaction fee (on the standard plan), limits the number of products, and there are fewer features / integrations available.

Addons and Integrations

It is simply not possible for any website builder to include everything. That’s why you need the ability to extend it using third-party tools and integrations.

Let’s take a look at how WordPress and Webflow handle that.

WordPress – Addons & Integrations

The real power of WordPress comes from WordPress plugins. These are like apps for your WordPress website. You can simply install them to add new features to your website.

There are more than 57,000 free WordPress plugins available. Even more if you count premium plugins (paid). They cover a range of features such as creating contact forms, installing Google Analytics, adding SEO features, backups, security, and more.

WordPress works with all popular third-party services and tools that you may need to grow your business. Whether you are looking for an email marketing service, live chat software, help desk, or a business phone service, WordPress works seamlessly with all popular providers.

Webflow – Addons & Integrations

Webflow offers a limited number of integrations with third party services. Some integrations work out of the box, but for most integrations, you’ll have to follow a tutorial on how to connect it with your Webflow project.

Some integrations may break if you move your website to a different hosting service. For instance, forms may not work on your new hosting provider and you’ll need to troubleshoot and find ways to get them to work again.

Winner – WordPress

WordPress is the clear winner here with support for thousands of plugins and third-party tools and services.

Support – Webflow vs WordPress

Even expert web developers need help occasionally. Let’s take a look at the support options available for Webflow vs WordPress.

WordPress – Support

WordPress is a community driven open-source software with lots of free community support available. There are official WordPress support forums, resource sites like WPBeginner, Facebook groups like WPBeginner Engage, and more.

Normally, you can find answers to all your WordPress related questions with a simple Google search. You can follow step by step WordPress guides or watch WordPress video tutorials if you need more visual help.

If you need more help, then you can find and easily hire a developer to fix things for you. Due to the popularity of WordPress, there are thousands of developers that make it super-easy and affordable for small businesses to get help when needed.

For more details see our guide on how to make the most out of WPBeginner’s free resources or how to properly ask for WordPress support and get it.

Webflow – Support

Webflow hosts a massive library of articles and tutorials called Webflow University. There are video tutorials, how-to guides, and step by step articles covering a wide range of topics.

Webflow also provides email-based support to customers which is available Monday through Friday from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm PT. They do have an AI driven chatbot but it doesn’t really offer live chat support.

There is also a Webflow support forum where you can post your question and get help from Webflow users, experts, and staff.

Winner – WordPress

As the largest platform in the world, WordPress has more support options available. Support is available in many languages, provided by third-party developers, and there are a ton of free support options.

Considering the premium pricing of their paid plans, Webflow support services are limited to email support. Many of the shared WordPress hosting companies offer live chat and 24/7 phone support for much less monthly fees.

Conclusion: Webflow vs WordPress – Which is Better?

Considering the criteria we set above, we can confidently say that WordPress is a way better option than Webflow.

It offers more design options, flexibility, support, eCommerce options, and all of this at a lower price. You also have the option to manage your costs and only spend when needed.

Webflow has a fantastic web design tool which works beautifully. However, it has limited CMS features, flexibility, integrations, and support.

We hope this article helped you compare Webflow vs WordPress with their pros and cons. You may also want to see our article debunking the common WordPress myths and check out how WordPress works behind the scenes (infographic).

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post Webflow vs WordPress – Which One is Better? (Comparison) appeared first on WPBeginner.

September 23, 2020 at 05:00PM

How to Show Personalized Content to Different Users in WordPress

Do you want to show different content to different users in WordPress?

Sometimes you may want to show custom content to users from specific locations, on specific dates, or other conditions. Website personalization is not available in WordPress out of the box. However there are easy drag & drop tools that can make life easy.

In this article, we’ll show you how to easily show different content to different users based on specific conditions with dynamic text replacement, content personalization, and more.

Why Show Different Content to Users in WordPress?

Normally, when you publish content on your WordPress website, it just becomes available to everyone. What if you wanted to show a different version of the content to specific users?

For instance, you may want to offer free shipping to customers in a specific geographic location, or show different content to users coming from a particular landing page.

One way to deal with this is by making a membership site and restricting access to content based on a user’s profile.

But not everyone wants to require user login to offer personalization.

That’s where WordPress website personalization solutions can help.

You can use smart conditions to add content personalization on your blogs, product personalization on your online store, and dynamic text replacement on your landing pages.

These conditions can include specific user interactions, their geographic location, time of day, specific pages they’re visiting, specific traffic referrer source, past behavior, and more.

That being said let’s take a look at how to show different content to different users in WordPress.

Method 1. Showing Different Content to Users Using OptinMonster (Website Personalization Made Easy)

OptinMonster is the best conversion optimization tool on the market. It comes with powerful targeting rules which allow you to show personalized campaigns to users based on a large set of display rules.

This method is recommended for all users because it gives you the ability to design your content and comes with more powerful targeting rules. It also works with your existing integrations and third-party apps.

First, you’ll need to sign up for an OptinMonster account. It is a paid tool and you’ll need at least Pro or Growth plan to access all targeting features.

Next, you need to install the OptinMonster plugin on your WordPress site. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to click on the OptinMonster menu in the WordPress admin sidebar.

Next, you need to click on the ‘Connect Your Account’ button to connect your WordPress site to your OptinMonster account.

Design The Content You Want to Show to the Users

Once connected, you need to click on the ‘Create New Campaign’ button at the top.

This will take you to the OptinMonster website where you will be asked to choose a campaign type and template.

OptinMonster offers different campaign types that you can use to show various types of content or targeted messages to your users. This includes lightbox popups, floating bar, fullscreen, inline widget, slide in, and gamified campaigns.

For instance, if you want to show dynamic content inside a WordPress post or page, then you can choose the Inline campaign type.

Each campaign type has dozens of templates to choose from. Simply click to select and use a template.

After that, you will be asked to enter a name for this campaign and select or add the website where it will run.

Next, you’ll enter the OptinMonster’s campaign builder interface. It is a drag and drop tool where you can design your campaign with a live preview.

Simply click on an element in the preview to edit it or add a new element from the left panel. OptinMonster also connects with all top email marketing services so you can show an email sign up form.

While the software was initially designed to help you get more email subscribers, it has now evolved into a full-featured conversion optimization suite.

You can use the campaign builder to create modals and campaigns to add any type of content such as a coupon code, free shipping offer, smart product recommendations, or anything you want.

Once you are done with the design of your campaign, you can click on the Save button at the top to store your changes.

You can always edit your design and change it to match your display rules. We will show you a few design examples tailored for different display scenarios in the next step.

Setting up Display Rules for Campaign

This is the part where you set up the display rules to decide when to show your campaign.

Inside the OptinMonster builder interface, switch to the ‘Display Rules’ tab.

It allows you to create smart rule sets, and choose from a ton of targeting options.

First, you need to choose the conditions to match. There are plenty of options here. Let’s take a brief look a each one of them.

1. Time based Triggers

These triggers allow you to set display rules based on time or date. You can show your campaign content at the specific date, time, or day of the week.

These triggers allow you to show custom messages designed for specific dates and times. For instance, you can show a flash sale coupon on holidays or display a message on special events.

2. Targetting Users Matching Specific Criteria

The targeting section allows you to set display rules based on smart recognition technology. For instance, you can show campaign to users coming from a specific website, referral, landing page, or Geographic location. You can also target based on cookies, ad blocker, and JavaScript variables.

As an independent publisher, you may want to ask visitors to support you by disabling the adblock software. You can show a message only to the users with AdBlock software installed.

Another great usage is to give special offers to visitors coming from a specific URL. For instance, you may want to offer an exclusive discount to users coming from an affiliate partner website.

3. Personalization Targeting

OptinMonster allows you to set personalized display rules based on user behavior. You can show custom campaigns to new user, returning visitor, device targeting, users who have already converted, not converted, have seen another campaign, visited a page, and more.

You can also use OptinMonster’s smart tags feature to display a user’s name, location, and more to show them even more personalized content. This allows you to tailor the content to specific users.

Here’s another example of how smart tags work:

4. Ecommerce Display Rules

These triggers are made specifically to boost conversions on eCommerce websites. You can show content to users based on their shopping behavior. OptinMonster supports WooCommerce, BigCommerce, and Shopify eCommerce platforms.

Ecommerce targeting allows you to show content based on what products users are viewing, number of products in cart, total cart amount, and more.

Bonus: Need more help to reduce cart abandonment on your online store? See our tips on how to recover abandoned cart sales in WooCommerce for some more ideas.

Once you select a condition, you will then be asked to select what to look for. For instance, if you choose a geographic location, then you will be asked to select locations that need to be matched.

After setting up your condition, you can validate it to make sure it is set up correctly and then click on the ‘Next Step’ button.

Next, you will be asked to select the campaign view. Depending on your campaign you can choose from the optin view (the main campaign), success view, or Yes/No view.

Click on the next step button to continue.

You’ll now see a summary of your display rule set. If you want you can add more rules or simply click on the ‘Save’ button at the top to store your changes.

Publish Your Content and Add it to Your Website

OptinMonster also makes it super easy to display campaigns on your website. Simply switch to the publish tab inside the builder and toggle the Status button to ‘Live’.

Don’t forget to click on the ‘Save’ button to store your changes.

You can now go back to your WordPress site and visit OptinMonster » Campaigns page. You’ll see your new campaign listed there (if not, then click on the Refresh campaign button to reload).

Simply click on the ‘Go Live’ link to start displaying your campaign.

You can now test it by visiting your website while matching the conditions you set in the display rules.

For instance, if you set the condition that a user must be visiting from a specific website, then you’ll need to visit your site by clicking on a link on that referral website.

Tip: Clear your WordPress cache and browser cache to make sure you don’t load a cached page. You may also want to use the Incognito mode in your browser to mimic the behavior of a new user.

OptinMonster’s display rules give you a lot of powerful options to show different content to users in WordPress without modifying your templates and code.

Essentially, it lets you leverage additional digital real estate on your site to increase your sales and conversions.

With their A/B testing technology, you can easily test and improve your campaigns to drive better results.

A lot of customers use OptinMonster alongside powerful A/B testing tools like Optimizely, Google Optimize, and more.

Method 2. Showing Different Content to Users using a Plugin

This method is recommended if you want to change the entire content of a post or page in WordPress or show different variations of the same content to your users.

First, you need to install and activate the If-So Dynamic Content plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to visit If-So » All Triggers page and click on the ‘Add New’ button.

This will bring you to the page where you can create a trigger and add the content. First, you have a box where you can select a condition.

The plugin offers a number of conditions based on time, date, URL, geographic location, IP address, and more.

After choosing the trigger, you can add the content that you want to show to the users when that condition is matched.

Below that, you can add another version and use another set of rules to display different content.

Lastly, you’ll see the default content area. This is the content that you want to show the users who don’t qualify the conditions you set above.

Once you are finished, don’t forget to publish your trigger and copy the shortcode shown on the screen.

You can now edit the post or page and add the shortcode in your content where you want to display the trigger.

You can now save and publish your post or page.

After that, go ahead and visit your website to see the trigger in action. If you match the required conditions, then you’ll see the message you set for those conditions. Otherwise, you’ll see the default message you added for the trigger.

We hope this article helped you learn how to easily show different content to different users in WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on how to track conversions on your WordPress site like a pro, and our list of the best marketing automation tools for small businesses.

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The post How to Show Personalized Content to Different Users in WordPress appeared first on WPBeginner.

September 22, 2020 at 04:00PM