How to Easily Update URLs When Moving Your WordPress Site

Do you want to update URLs after moving your WordPress site?

It can be pretty time-consuming to manually edit each post or page just to replace old URLs. Luckily, there are WordPress plugin that help you automate the process of updating old URLs.

In this article, we will show you how to easily update URLs when moving your WordPress site.

When and Why Do You Need to Update URLs?

Let’s suppose you moved a WordPress site to a new domain name. You can then change the WordPress address and site URL by visiting the Settings » General page from your WordPress dashboard.

However, this doesn’t change the URLs that you have previously added in your posts and pages. It also does not change the URLs of images you have added to your WordPress site.

Changing all these URLs manually in every blog post and page can be time-consuming. Plus, there will always be a chance that you’ll miss some URLs, which can lead to broken links on your website.

That’s why it’s important to update your URLs when moving your WordPress website.

It helps in providing a smooth user experience for your users, as they’ll easily find the page they’re looking for. Updating URLs also improves your WordPress SEO and allows search engines to find new content for indexing.

Last but not least, you also want to ensure there are proper 301 redirects setup from your old domain to the new domain, so users are always redirected to the right place.

This is extremely important because there are likely other websites that are linking to your old domain including social media posts, Google, and more.

With that said, let’s see how you can quickly and easily update URLs when migrating your WordPress site.

Update URLs After Moving a WordPress Site

The easiest way to update old links on your website is by using the Go Live Update Urls plugin for WordPress. It’s a free WordPress plugin and lets you update URLs in your posts, pages, images, excerpts, widgets, and more.

However, make sure that you have a complete backup of your WordPress site before updating all the links. This will allow you to easily revert back in case something goes wrong during the update process.

Next, you’ll need to install and active the Go Live Update Urls on your site. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you can navigate to Tools » Go Live from your WordPress admin panel.

After that, you can update URLs in your posts, comments, options, user data, and other areas of your site by checking the WordPress core tables options in the plugin.

WordPress core tables are where all your website data is organized and stored. For example, a wp_comments table will have all the information about comments on your site along with data about the person commenting.

Besides that, Go Live Update Urls also lets you update old URLs in the data used by different plugins on your website. However, this is an optional step and you can skip it.

Next, you’ll need to scroll down to the section for updating the old links to the new URLs. Go ahead and enter the ‘Old URL’ and ‘New URL’ in the respective fields.

Once that’s done, simply click the ‘Update Urls’ button. The plugin will now update all the URLs on your site to the new domain.

Redirect Posts & Pages After Updating URLs

After you’ve updated all the URLs on your website, you’ll now need to set up 301 redirects for your entire site to the new domain. This will preserve links from sites that were linking to your old domain and prevent 404 errors.

The easiest way of performing a full site redirect is by using the All in One SEO (AIOSEO) plugin. It’s the best SEO WordPress plugin and is trusted by over 3 million professionals.

AIOSEO offers a powerful redirection manager that lets you redirect old URLs to new ones in just a few clicks. The plugin also helps track 404 errors on your site, so you can quickly find and fix any broken link.

For this tutorial, we’ll be using the AIOSEO Pro version because it includes the redirection manager and other features like sitemaps, custom breadcrumbs, and schema markup. You can also try the free version of AIOSEO to get started.

The first thing you’ll need to do is install and activate the AIOSEO plugin on your site. If you need help, then please refer to our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you will need to go to All in One SEO » Dashboard from your WordPress admin panel. Now click the ‘Launch the Setup Wizard’ button to configure the plugin.

All you have to do is follow the steps in the setup wizard. For more information, see our detailed tutorial on how to setup All in One SEO for WordPress.

1. Setting up Full Site Redirects

This method is super useful when you’re merging two separate WordPress sites into one, or if you’re going to setup a new WordPress install for the new domain because it’ll handle a full site redirect without adding any code.

Simply head over to All in One SEO » Redirects from your WordPress admin area and click the ‘Activate Redirects’ button.

Upon activation, you’ll need to navigate to the ‘Full Site Redirect’ tab and enable the ‘Relocate Site’ toggle. Next, you can enter your new domain name in the ‘Relocate to domain’ option.

After entering your new domain URL, don’t forget to click the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your settings. AIOSEO will now redirect all the links on your site to the new URL.

2. Setting up Individual Post / Page Redirects

AIOSEO also offers different types of redirection methods that you can use to setup individual post / page redirects. We recommend selecting the ‘301 Moved Permanently’ redirection type, as it tells your browser that the page is moved to a new destination permanently and you don’t wish to move it back.

Once you’ve filled out these details, simply click the ‘Add Redirect’ button.

If you want to see the different redirects you’ve created, then simply scroll down and view the logs.

You can see the URLs, number of people that visited the link, the type of redirection you’ve set, and also choose whether to enable or disable the redirect.

In the ‘Settings’ tab under Redirects , you can choose to setup server level redirects as well which are way faster. The default method is set to PHP which is the easiest way to redirect old URLs, and it doesn’t require any server-side configuration.

But you can select ‘Web Server’ as the redirection method, and then choose either Apache or NGINX as your web server. We won’t recommend this method for beginners as it requires technical knowledge.

Bonus: Track Broken Links on Your Website

When you update your URLs to a new domain, it’s also essential to keep an eye on any broken links. These are links that no longer exist and show a 404 error page. They can occur if any URL didn’t get updated properly.

With AIOSEO, it’s very easy to track and fix 404 error pages using the Redirection Manager.

To begin, you can head over to All in One SEO » Redirects from your WordPress dashboard.

Next, go ahead and click the ‘Settings’ tab under Redirects and then click on the toggle to enable the ‘404 Logs’ and ‘Redirect Logs’ options.

Using AIOSEO, you can choose the time period to keep your 404 error logs. We recommend that you select no longer than one month for smooth and optimal WordPress performance.

Once you’ve enabled these options, click the ‘Save Changes’ button at the top to store your settings.

You should now see a new ‘404 Logs’ tab appear under Redirects in AIOSEO. It’s under this tab where the plugin will track and show 404 error pages on your website.

An important thing to note is that you won’t see any data under the 404 Logs tab at first. The plugin will only start to record broken links after you’ve enabled the settings.

However, once the setting is active, go ahead and click on the ‘404 Logs’ tab. You’ll see a list of broken links under the URL column, the number of visits under the Hits column, and the last accessed date.

To fix any broken link, simply click the ‘Add Redirect’ button for the respective URL. AIOSEO will now show options to set up redirection for the 404 error URL.

Go ahead and enter the new link under the ‘Target URL’ field and select ‘301 Moved Permanently’ as the Redirection Type from the dropdown menu.

Next, you’ll need to click the ‘Add Redirect’ button to fix the broken link on your website.

To check if the redirection is working, simply visit the old URL. If you’re redirected to the new URL, then it means you’ve successfully fixed 404 error pages.

We hope this article helped you learn how to update URLs when moving your WordPress site. You may also want to see our comparison of the best email marketing services for small businesses, and best push notification software to grow your traffic.

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 Easily Update URLs When Moving Your WordPress Site appeared first on WPBeginner.

November 11, 2021 at 05:30PM

How to Add Save & Continue Functionality in WordPress Forms

Do you want to allow your user to save and resume their WordPress forms before submission?

If you have complex and lengthy forms, then having the save and continue functionality is helpful for your users. It helps get more form submissions, as people can save their progress and easily submit once they’ve finished.

In this article, we’ll show you how to add a save and continue functionality in WordPress forms to improve form completion rate.

When to Use Save & Continue in WordPress Forms?

Often people don’t submit a form if it takes a lot of time to complete. Having a save and resume feature for your WordPress forms can solve this issue.

Save and continue functionality allows your users to save their form’s progress and resume filling it from where they left.

It offers your visitors the flexibility to complete the form whenever they want, as they don’t have to do it in one go. As a result, you get more form submissions and reduce form abandonment.

Save and continue feature works seamlessly if you have long forms like surveys, questionnaires, job applications, or require multiple people to fill out the details at different stages in a workflow.

That being said, let’s look at how you can add the save and continue functionality in WordPress forms.

Adding Save & Continue Functionality in WordPress Forms

The easiest way of adding save and resume fuctionalility in WordPress is by using WPForms. It’s the best WordPress contact form plugin, and over 5 million website owners use it.

With WPForms, you can create any type of WordPress form, including contact form, payment form, newsletter signup form, and more. It offers a drag and drop form builder, which makes it beginner-friendly to use.

You also get 300+ pre-built form templates, numerous form fields for customization, and integration with popular email marketing tools and payment collection services like PayPal.

Recently, they released a Save and Resume addon that allows your visitors to save their forms and complete them where they last left.

For this tutorial, we’ll be using the WPForms Pro version because it includes the Save and Resume addon. However, there is also a WPForms Lite version you can gat started with.

First, you’ll need to install and activate WPForms on your website. If you need help, then please see our tutorial on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you can head over to WPForms » Settings from your WordPress dashboard and enter your license key. You can find the key in the WPForms account area.

After that, you’ll need to activate the ‘Save and Resume Addon’ by navigating to WPForms » Addons from your WordPress admin area and clicking the ‘Install Addon’ button.

Once the addon is active, you can add the save and continue functionality to an existing form or create a new WordPress form. To start, simply head over to WPForms » Add New page.

On the next screen, you’ll see pre-built templates for your form. You can enter a name for your form and select a template to get started.

For this tutorial, let’s select the Suggestion Form template. You can hover over the template and click the ‘Use Template’ button.

Next, you can edit your form using the drag and drop builder. Simply drag any form field you want to add to your form and drop it onto the template.

WPForms also lets you edit each field in the form. For example, you can edit its label, add a description, change the order of the choices, make a field required, and more.

After that, you can head over to the ‘Settings’ tab from the menu on your left and then select ‘Save and Resume.’

Next, you can click on the toggle for the ‘Enable Save and Resume’ option. This will allow your user to save their form and continue completing it later.

When you enable this option, you’ll unlock more settings to customize the save and resume functionality. For instance, you can change the text that is displayed next to the submit button and let users save their form’s progress.

Besides that, there is an option to enable a disclaimer page, which is shown to users before saving their progress. WPForms also lets you edit the confirmation page settings and change the text displayed on the page.

Next, there are more options if you scroll down. You can ‘Enable Resume Link’ to allow users to copy the form link and paste it into their browsers to resume later.

There is also an option to ‘Enable Email Notification’ that sends the link to the user’s email address, so they can access their form from their inbox.

You can also edit the email text your visitors will see in their inbox and the display message.

WPForms also lets you change the notification settings and the confirmation email that people will get when they submit a form.

When you’ve made the changes, go ahead and click the ‘Save’ button at the top and exit the form builder.

Next, you can add your form to any blog post or page. To start, simply edit an existing page or add a new one. Once you’re in the WordPress editor, click the ‘+’ button and add a WPForms block.

After that, select the form you just created from the dropdown menu and publish your page.

Now, you can visit your page and scroll down to the end of the form to see the ‘Save and Resume Later’ option next to the Submit button.

When someone clicks on the Save and Resume Later option, they’ll see a link to the form, which they can copy. There will also be an option to enter an email address to receive the form link via email.

Now, you can also see if someone partially completed their form and used the save and continue option in WPForms.

All you have to do is navigate to WPForms » Entries from the WordPress dashboard and select your form to view its entries.

On the next screen, you can look for entries that have a ‘Partial’ status. These are people that clicked the Save and Resume functionality and saved their form’s progress.

The status will change to Completed automatically when your user returns and completes the form.

We hope this article helped you learn how to add save and continue functionality in WordPress forms. You may also want to go through our guide on how to start an online store and the best WordPress plugins and tools for business sites.

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 Add Save & Continue Functionality in WordPress Forms appeared first on WPBeginner.

November 10, 2021 at 07:32PM

How to Set Up an Auto Attendant Phone System for Your Website

Do you want to set up an auto attendant phone system for your website?

For business owners, an auto attendant phone system can cut costs, help you answer calls faster, improve customer service, and make your small business look more professional.

In this article, we’ll share a step by step guide on how to easily set up an auto attendant phone system for your WordPress site.

What Do You Need to Set Up an Auto Attendant Phone System for Your Website?

For most small business websites or online stores, you can simply add a phone number to your website. Your visitors can call the phone number to get in touch with you.

However, standard phone services don’t offer advanced features like call forwarding, auto attendant, call waiting, business hours, and more. Plus, it’s expensive to add on simple features like an auto attendant.

To set up an auto attendant phone system the right way, you’ll need to use a virtual business phone service provider.

We recommend using Nextiva since it’s the best business phone service in the market used by brands like Taco Bell, YMCA, Buffalo Bills, and more.

It lets you easily manage your business calls, set up auto attendant, call forwarding, and more at a much cheaper rate than a business landline or mobile provider.

Note: We use Nextiva here at WPBeginner for all of our business phone needs.

Since Nextiva is a VoIP phone service, it will use the internet to make and receive calls instead of traditional landlines.

This helps you save money and gives you access to advanced features like auto attendant, call forwarding, call waiting, voicemail, conference calling, and much more.

You can also get toll free number or choose a business phone number with any location.

It also lets you manage your calls from your current mobile phone, computer, or standard desk phone.

With that said, let’s show you how to set up an auto attendant phone system for your website.

Setting Up an Auto Attendant Phone System

First thing, you need to sign up for a Nextiva account. During the sign up process, you can choose a new business phone number or connect an existing phone number to your account.

After you’ve set up your account, you’ll be able to automatically make and receive calls from your business phone number across any device.

Next, you can set up an auto attendant phone system for your website.

From your account page, you need to click on the ‘Communication’ menu option and then click the ‘Phone System’ button.

This brings you to a screen where you’ll have different options for setting up business phone features.

Next, click the ‘Call flows’ button.

On the next screen, you need to create a new call flow.

Simply click the ‘Create New Flow’ button to get started.

If you’ve created call templates for other features, then they’ll be listed here.

We’ll select the ‘Start from Scratch’ option.

Next, you can give your call flow a name to help you remember.

After that, hover over and click the ‘Phone’ button.

Then, you need to enter your main business phone number.

You can add an extension and additional numbers as well.

Then, click the ‘Save & Continue’ button.

Next, click the ‘Add Action’ button for the next step.

This brings up a menu where you can choose the next action.

To create an auto attendant, you can select the ‘Phone menu’, ‘Dial by extension’, or ‘Dial by name’ options.

We’ll select the ‘Phone menu’ option since this lets us record a greeting and then offer callers options to dial specific departments or team members.

Next, you can choose the ‘Default Greeting’ from the ‘Greeting’ drop down.

You also have the option to record or upload your own greeting.

After that, you can customize the phone menu options that will play after your greeting.

You can use the keypad under the ‘Phone Menu’ for the numbers your callers will dial and the person or department they’ll be redirected to.

For multiple options, click the number, and add the corresponding department in the ‘Menu Options’ section.

Next, you can configure the ‘Advanced Options’ settings.

You can set the timeout length, select an option for dialing the operator, and click the checkbox to allow callers to reach individual team members by dialing their extension.

After that, click the ‘Save & Continue’ button.

This brings you back to your main call flow screen. You need to assign team members and phone numbers to the call options you just created.

Simply click one of the ‘Add action’ buttons.

Then, click the ‘Users and Teams’ menu option.

This lets you assign the action to a specific team member or department.

Next, you can choose who the call will ring, how it will ring, caller ID settings, and more.

Simply select the best options for your business and then click the ‘Save & Continue’ button.

You need to follow the same steps for all of the call menu options you created earlier.

After that, you’ll be taken back to your main call flow screen where you need to click the ‘Add action’ button again to finish your call flow.

Next, you’ll have a variety of different options for what happens if no one answers.

We will select the ‘Voicemail’ option, so callers can leave a message if no one answers the phone.

On the next screen, you can choose your voicemail mailbox and message.

Simply select the team or person from the ‘Voicemail Destination’ drop down, and the right department from the ‘Team’ drop down.

Then, click the ‘Save & Continue’ button.

After that, you need to follow the same steps for each extension.

Once you’re finished, you should see ‘Call ends’ at the end of your different call flows.

Then, click the ‘Go Live’ button at the bottom of the screen to activate the call flow.

Make sure you test out the auto attendant feature to ensure the greeting and call forwarding works properly.

Aside from all the powerful features, our most favorite part about Nextiva is that it lets our team members have a virtual business phone number, so they can only receive calls during certain hours without losing their privacy.

Adding a Click to Call Button in WordPress

Now that you’ve set up an auto attendant phone system, you may want to add a click to call button to your WordPress website. This makes calling as simple as clicking a button.

The first thing you need to do is install and activate the WP Call Button plugin. For more details, see our beginner’s guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to go to Settings » WP Call Button to set up the plugin.

On this screen you can turn on the call button and add your number.

Then, you can customize the appearance of your button and add a sticky button that floats on the screen across your website.

You also have control over where the button appears and can choose to show or hide the button on certain posts and pages.

If you want more control over where the button appears, then you can display it manually. To do this, simply click the ‘Static Call Button’ menu option.

Then, you can change the button settings and copy the shortcode to add to your site.

After you’re finished customizing the plugin settings, make sure to click the ‘Save Changes’ button.

You can also add a sticky button directly to your pages, posts, and widget areas by using the included block.

In the block settings, you can change the colors, size of the text, alignment, and show or hide the phone icon.

Once you’re finished, make sure to click ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ to save your changes.

Now, your visitors will see your click to call button live on your website. When they click the button, they’ll be taken to your auto attendant phone system.

For more details on displaying a click to call button, see our guide on how to add a click to call button in WordPress.

Beyond a business phone, we recommend adding a contact form and even live chat or an AI chatbot, so your visitors can contact you with the method they prefer.

We hope this article helped you learn how to set up an auto attendant phone system for your WordPress site. You may also want to see our guide on how to choose the best website builder and our picks on the best email marketing services for small businesses.

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 Set Up an Auto Attendant Phone System for Your Website appeared first on WPBeginner.

November 09, 2021 at 05:00PM