How to Use Multiple Search Forms In WordPress

Do you want to use multiple search forms in WordPress?

Adding multiple search forms to your site helps your visitors quickly find what they’re looking for and improves user experience.

In this article, we’ll show you how you can add multiple search forms to your WordPress site.

Why Use Multiple Search Forms in WordPress?

WordPress search forms help your visitors find the content they’re looking for. Better content discoverability leads to users spending more time on your website which helps increase your pageviews and reduce your bounce rate.

Also when a user spends more time on your site, they’re more likely to join your email list, purchase a product, or become a subscriber. 

By using multiple search forms on your site, you make it easy for your visitors to search different areas of your website and find a search form at any time.

Plus, you can customize these search forms so that they show different results depending on the location. For example, you can have a sitewide search bar in your header, and create a separate product search bar so visitors can search for a product in your online store.

That being said, let’s show you how to create multiple search forms in WordPress, step by step.

Create a New WordPress Search Algorithm with a WordPress Plugin

The easiest way to add multiple search forms to your WordPress website is by using the SearchWP plugin. It’s one of the best search plugins for WordPress used by over 30,000 sites.

It’s very easy to use, gives you complete control over your WordPress search results, and lets you use multiple different search forms on your site. 

Setting Up SearchWP

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

Upon activation, you need to go to Settings » SearchWP and then click on the ‘License’ menu option.

Here, you need to enter your license key into the ‘License’ box and click the ‘Activate’ button. You can find this information under your account on the SearchWP website. 

After that, you need to click on the ‘Engines’ menu option.

This brings up a screen where you need to set your search engine settings. Think of it like creating your very own Google search algorithm built specifically for your WordPress site and content. 

You need to create a sitewide search engine before you can create multiple custom search forms that show different results.

To adjust the search engine settings, simply click on ‘Posts’, ‘Pages’, ‘Library’, or other custom post type drop downs that are available.

Then, you can adjust the ‘Weight Multiplier’ up or down to change how your search engine will rank that type of content. 

If you want to value the title and page content more than the excerpt, then simply move the sliders accordingly.

Once you’re done, make sure to click the ‘Save Engines’ button.

Now, it’s time to create multiple different search forms you can add to various locations across your site. 

Create Multiple Different Search Forms in WordPress

SearchWP is a very flexible search plugin and makes it easy to create a variety of different types of search forms.

Here are some of the most common types of custom search forms you can create.

Creating Custom Post Type Search Forms

Custom post type search forms are a great way to help your visitors find the most relevant content. For example, we use custom post types here at WPBeginner for our glossary and deals pages, so they’re separate from the rest of our content.

This type of search form is also common on review websites, where you want to separate your product review posts from the rest of the content on your site.

Using SearchWP, you can create individual search forms that only search for content within that specific post type. 

For more details, see our guide on how to create advanced search form in WordPress for custom post types.

Creating Category Search Forms in WordPress

Search by category forms let your visitors search your website by specific categories. If you have a lot of content, then this can help your visitors find what they’re looking for quickly.

Instead of searching through all your articles, you’re giving your visitors control over the exact kind of content they’re looking for. 

For more details, see our guide on how to search by category in WordPress.

Creating Custom Page and Post Search Forms in WordPress

Your default search forms will show all of your pages, posts, and custom post types in the search results. However, there are times when you might want to stop certain pages and posts from appearing.

For example, if you run an online store, then you might want to hide your checkout page, cart page, thank you page, and account page.

Or those who have membership websites might want to hide your premium content and other members-only pages.

Some users might even want to prevent all WordPress pages from appearing in search.  

To learn more, see our step by step guide on how to exclude pages from the WordPress search results.

Add Multiple Search Forms to Your WordPress Site

Now that you’ve created multiple search forms, it’s time to add them to your WordPress site. 

You can add search forms wherever you like, even in the middle of a page or post. The most common places to add search forms are in your WordPress menu, sidebars and footers.

Let’s take a look at how to add your search forms in different areas.

Adding a Search Form to WordPress Menus

Nearly every popular WordPress blog has a simple search form or search bar in the WordPress navigation menu since it’s very noticeable and easy to find.

Since this location is so common, many visitors are used to seeing a search bar in this location and will check here first. 

For more details, see our step by step guide on how to add a search bar to WordPress menus.

Adding Search Forms to WordPress Sidebars

Another common place for your search forms is your sidebar or footer.

When you create a new search algorithm with SearchWP it automatically replaces the default WordPress search, so you can easily add a search bar to your sidebar that shows these improved results.

To do this, simply go to Appearance » Widgets to bring up the blocks based widget editor.

Each widget area of your WordPress theme will have a separate tab in the block editor.

On the Astra theme, the sidebar widget area is called ‘Main Sidebar’, but yours may have a different name depending on your theme.

Simply click the ‘Plus’ add block icon underneath the sidebar where you want to add your widget.

Then, type ‘Search’ into the search bar and click the ‘Search’ block icon.

This will automatically insert a search form into your sidebar.

You can add a title and change the text inside the search box.

When you’re finished, click the ‘Update’ button to make your search form live.

Now, you can visit your site to see your improved search form.

You can add the search block to any widget area of your site. To learn more, see our guide on how to add and use widgets in WordPress.

You can also create a live Ajax search form, similar to the drop down autocomplete feature common to search engines like Google.

For more details, see our guide on how to add live Ajax search to your WordPress site.

Adding Search Forms to WordPress Posts and Pages

Next, you may want to add a custom search form to specific posts and pages. For example, we have a custom search form on our deals page that only searches for specific coupons and deals.

You can also use this for your help desk, knowledge base, FAQs, documentation, and more.

This type of search form can be very helpful for your visitors since it only searches for a very specific kind of content. 

For more details, see our guide on how to add a search form in a WordPress post with a shortcode.

We hope this article helped you learn how to use multiple search forms in WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on how to get a free email domain, and our expert picks of the best GoDaddy alternatives that are cheaper and more reliable. 

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 Use Multiple Search Forms In WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.

March 03, 2022 at 04:00PM

How to Add Categories and Tags for WordPress Pages

Do you want to set up categories and tags for your WordPress pages, but don’t know how to get started?

Categories and tags help you sort your blog posts and make it easier for users to find what they are looking for. However, they’re only available for posts by default, not for pages.

In this article, we will show you how to add categories and tags for WordPress pages.

Why Add Categories and Tags to WordPress Pages?

Categories and tags are default WordPress taxonomies for your blog posts. Categories are a broad grouping of content, while tags help describe specific details of your content. You can read more about the difference in our guide to categories vs tags.

By default, both categories and tags are only limited to blog posts in WordPress.

When you create a new page, you will notice that there is no option to add categories or tags to your WordPress page.

However, you may want to add categories and tags to your WordPress pages. It can help you to organize and sort your content if you have a lot of pages. It can also improve your site navigation and help your visitors to find related pages on your WordPress website more easily.

If you have multiple sales pages for different products in your online store, for example, then you can group them under broad categories.

You can do the same for different feature pages for your apps and software. For example, OptinMonster groups multiple feature pages under the ‘Features’ category.

Let’s see how you can add categories and tags to your WordPress pages.

Adding Categories and Tags to WordPress Pages

The easiest way of setting up categories and tags for your WordPress pages is by using the Pages with category and tag plugin. It’s a free WordPress plugin and works out of the box with no need for additional configuration.

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

Once activated, go to Pages » Add New and you will find post categories and tags now available for your WordPress pages.

Next, you can create categories and tags for your pages.

To add a category, head over Pages » Categories from your WordPress dashboard and then enter a ‘Name’ and ‘Slug’ for your category.

After that, you can scroll down and select a ‘Parent Category’ for your category.

Once you’ve entered these details, simply click the ‘Add New Category’ button.

You can then view your newly added category for your pages.

If you want to delete a category, then simply click the checkbox next to it and select ‘Delete’ from the Bulk Action dropdown and click the ‘Apply’ button.

Next, you can assign your WordPress pages to the categories you just created.

To start, simply edit or create a new page. From the WordPress content editor, you can now select the relevant category from the menu on your right. For instance, we created a feature page and marked it under the Features category.

Similarly, you can add tags for your WordPress page under the ‘Tags’ field. If you want to add multiple tags, then simply separate them using a comma.

For example, you can add keywords and phrases that help describe your content. In our case, we added the terms ‘exit intent’ and ‘OptinMonster’ as tags.

After selecting your category and adding tags, simply update or publish your WordPress page.

We hope this article helped you add post categories and tags to your WordPress pages. You may also want to look at your guide on how to create a business email address, and the best email marketing software.

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 Categories and Tags for WordPress Pages first appeared on WPBeginner.

March 02, 2022 at 05:00PM

How to Add IndexNow in WordPress to Speed Up SEO Results

Are you wondering what is IndexNow, and whether you should add IndexNow in WordPress?

IndexNow is a new SEO initiative created by Microsoft to help your website get indexed faster in search engines. This boosts new content discoverability and speed up your SEO results.

In this article, we will share how to add IndexNow in WordPress to speed up SEO results.

What is IndexNow?

IndexNow is an automatic ping that lets search engines know when a post or page (URL) on your website has been added, updated, or deleted. This allows search engines to quickly update their search results speeding up overall SEO results. Simply put, it’s instant indexing!

This is a new initiative started by Microsoft, and it’s currently supported by both Microsoft Bing and Yandex. A Google spokeperson has also confirmed that they will be testing the IndexNow protocol due to environmental sustainability.

Currently, all search engines use XML sitemaps to discover new content and updates. The challenge is that it can sometimes take days to weeks for search engines to discover new content updates because they visit your website at random intervals.

Search engine bots are inefficient due to their legacy design, and they have a high carbon footprint.

When a search engine bot visits your sitemap, it attempts to visit every single link that it finds on the sitemap as well as every single link that’s inside of each page. This is a resource intensive process, and IndexNow protocol aims to solve that.

Instead of having search engine bots randomly scan every single page on your site to see what’s been updated, IndexNow allows your website to simply ping the search engine to let them know when you publish a new post or update an existing piece of content.

This way they can quickly update their search results while helping the environment.

IndexNow is a win for website owners, win for search engines, and a win for the world.

That being said, let’s take a look at how to add IndexNow in WordPress to speed up your SEO results.

Method 1. How to Add IndexNow in WordPress using AIOSEO

AIOSEO is the best WordPress SEO plugin used by over 3 million websites. We use AIOSEO on WPBeginner to improve our SEO rankings.

In their recent update, AIOSEO became the first WordPress SEO plugin to add IndexNow support for WordPress.

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

For this tutorial, we will be using the premium version of AIOSEO because it includes IndexNow and other powerful SEO features. There is also a free version of AIOSEO that you can use to try it out.

Once activated, you need to go AIOSEO » Feature Manager from your WordPress dashboard to enable the IndexNow feature.

Once enabled, IndexNow is automatically configured and ready to go – no action is needed on your part.

AIOSEO partnered with Microsoft to build this integration, and they made the process beginner friendly. They automatically generate an IndexNow API key for your website and configure it for you, so you don’t have to do anything.

You can verify this by going to AIOSEO » General Settings and click on the Webmaster Tools tab. There you will see the IndexNow icon, and if you click it you’ll see that your website’s IndexNow API key is already pre-configured.

AIOSEO comes with many other powerful features to help you improve your WordPress SEO rankings including Link Assistant, redirection manager, and more.

We have a step by step guide on how to properly setup All in One SEO which also includes instructions how you can switch from Yoast, RankMath, and others to AIOSEO.

Method 2. How to Add IndexNow in WordPress using the IndexNow plugin

While other WordPress SEO plugins have begun to add IndexNow support, most don’t have it yet. If you don’t want to switch to AIOSEO, then you can use this option instead.

First you need to install and activate the IndexNow utility plugin.

For more details, see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to go Settings

» IndexNow in your WordPress dashboard. You will need to click on the Get Started now button, and it will automatically generate your API key and get everything configured.

After that, you will see a screen with IndexNow stats like successful URL submissions and more.

That’s all, you have successfully added IndexNow to WordPress.

Final Thoughts on IndexNow and Future of SEO

IndexNow is a new initiative and it has already been adapted by Microsoft Bing and Yandex. Google is said to be testing support for this, and we really hope they adapt it as well.

We believe that all popular website builder platforms will add IndexNow integrations with AIOSEO leading the way for WordPress, but other companies like Duda, Cloudflare, etc have all added IndexNow integrations in the recent months.

IndexNow is a great solution for both small and large sites, and it’s a SEO professional’s dream come true since it finally speeds up SEO results with nearly instant indexing.

It’s important to emphasize that IndexNow does NOT replace sitemaps. You still should have XML sitemaps, video sitemap, news sitemap, and other advanced sitemaps to help improve your SEO rankings. You should use IndexNow alongside sitemaps to gain a competitive advantage.

We hope this article helped you learn how to add IndexNow in WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on how to do keyword research and our comparison of 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 Add IndexNow in WordPress to Speed Up SEO Results first appeared on WPBeginner.

March 01, 2022 at 05:45PM

How to Add Nofollow Links in WordPress Navigation Menus

Do you need to add nofollow links in your WordPress navigation menus?

Many website owners prefer to add a nofollow tag to external links, but beginners may find this tricky when adding a custom link to a menu.

In this article, we’ll show you how to add nofollow links in WordPress navigation menus.

Why Add Nofollow Links in WordPress Navigation Menus?

If you are running a WordPress website, then you may want to add a nofollow tag when creating external links. This lets search engines know not to pass any link authority from your page to the other website that you’re linking to.

When you link to an external website, search engines consider that as a ranking signal, and they will pass a small portion of your authority to the other website. As a general SEO best practice, you should add nofollow to all external websites that you don’t trust.

You do that by adding the rel="nofollow" attribute to the link like this:

<a href="https://example.com" rel="nofollow">Example</a>

You can learn more in our beginner’s guide on how to add nofollow links in WordPress. However, adding nofollow links to navigation menu items is a little different and can be confusing for beginners.

In this article, we will show you how to add nofollow links in WordPress navigation menus. We’ll cover two methods, and the second method is for those using WordPress 5.9 or higher and a theme that’s compatible with the new theme editor.

• Method 1: Adding Nofollow Links Using the WordPress Menu Editor
• Method 2: Adding Nofollow Links Using the WordPress Theme Editor

Method 1: Adding Nofollow Links Using the WordPress Menu Editor

To get started, simply visit Appearance » Menus in your WordPress admin area.

First, you need to add the external link to your WordPress navigation menu just like you would add any custom link.

To do that, you need to click on the ‘Custom Links’ tab so you can see the URL and Link Text options. Simply enter the URL and link text of the website you are linking to.

After that, you should click the ‘Add to Menu’ button and the link will be added to the ‘Menu structure’ column.

To add the nofollow attribute to the link, you need to click the downward arrow on the right of the menu entry, as pictured in the screenshot above. You can now see the details of the external link you just added, including the URL and navigation label.

If you don’t see the Link Target and Link Relationship options, then you will have to add them.

To show those options, you need to click the ‘Screen Options’ button at the top right corner of the screen. Then check the boxes next to the Link Target and Link Relationship (XFN) options.

Now you can scroll back down to your expanded menu item, and you will notice two new options. Next, simply enter nofollow in the link relationship field.

We recommend that you also click the ‘Open link in a new tab’ checkbox when adding an external link. This is a great way to improve engagement and keep your visitors from leaving your website.

Lastly, click the ‘Save Menu’ button to store your changes.

You can now preview your site to see the new nofollow menu entry.

Let’s make sure that a nofollow attribute has been added to the link.

Simply right click the new link and select ‘Inspect’. Your browser window will split into two windows. In the bottom window, you will be able to see the HTML source for your link. It will display the nofollow attribute with your link.

Method 2: Adding Nofollow Links Using the WordPress Theme Editor

This method is for those who are using WordPress 5.9 or later and have a theme that supports the new WordPress theme editor. In that case, the Appearance » Menus page will not be available to you.

Instead, you should navigate to Appearance » Editor in your WordPress dashboard. This will open the WordPress theme editor.

Adding a New Link to the Navigation Menu

If you need to add a new menu item, then you’ll have to click the blue Block Inserter icon in the top left corner. Next, you should scroll down until you locate the Custom Link block and then drag it onto your navigation menu.

You can now type or paste the URL. If you want, you can also toggle the ‘Open in new tab’ option to the on position. After that, make sure you click the Submit icon at the top right of the popup so that the menu item’s settings are stored.

The link URL will be added to the menu, but you’ll normally want something more descriptive, such as the name of the website. Simply start typing to rename the menu item.

Adding the Nofollow Attribute to a Link

To add the nofollow attribute to a menu item, simply click it and a toolbar will appear.

Next you need to click the link icon on that toolbar. In the settings pane on the right, you need to enter nofollow in the link relationship (‘Link rel’) field.

If you like, you can also add a description and title for the link, and reorder the menu items using the arrow icons on the toolbar.

When you’ve finished, click the ‘Save’ button at the top of the screen. The new custom link will be added and you can visit your website to see how your navigation menu looks now.

We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to add nofollow links in WordPress navigation menus. You may also want to learn how to create automated workflows in WordPress with Uncanny Automator, or check out our list of tips to speed up WordPress performance.

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 Nofollow Links in WordPress Navigation Menus first appeared on WPBeginner.

March 01, 2022

6 Best Credit Monitoring Services for Small Business (2022)

Are you looking for the best credit monitoring service for your small business?

Credit monitoring is an important topic of discussion among website owners and entrepreneurs because of all the recent data breaches that’s been happening. According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), there were 4.7 million identity and credit fraud incidents reported in 2020.

In this article, we have hand-picked some of the best credit monitoring services for your small business that you can use along with your WordPress site.

Why Do You Need a Credit Monitoring Service?

With everything going on in the digital security world, it’s absolutely critical that every small business owner and entrepreneur have a credit monitoring service, so you can quickly detect and prevent identity theft and digital fraud.

A good credit monitoring service allows you to do the following:

• Track your credit reports from all 3 major credit-bureaus and get near real-time alerts for suspicious activities.
• You can setup bank account monitoring from a single dashboard. Their AI-powered algorithm helps you avoid becoming a victim of bank / credit fraud.
• The dark web monitoring reports alert you if any of your passwords, social security number, or bank accounts were compromised as part of any data breach, so you can act fast.
• You get device & wifi security which helps you browse safely wherever you are, and some services also gives you secure password management tools.
• Easily get help from trained professionals with fraud resolution in case an unfortunate event occurs where any of your financial accounts are compromised.
• Most credit monitoring services will also offer up to $1 million dollar in insurance to help protect you and your business.

If you are running an online store or a small business website, then adding a credit monitoring service can help you protect your business and bring peace of mind.

Credit theft can significantly hurt a small business’ ability to open bank accounts, borrow money, get a credit card, and even accept online payments.

While it’s easy to think this would never happen to you, in 2020, WPBeginner founder Syed Balkhi, nearly lost $1.4 million dollars due to a digital fraud. 

After months of stress and countless hours, he recovered vast majority of the money with the help of Department of Homeland security, but all of that could have been prevented if everyone involved was using a comprehensive online security solution.

That being said, let’s take a look at the best credit monitoring services for small business owners & entrepreneurs.

1. Aura

Aura is the best credit monitoring and identity theft protection service when it comes to features, ease of use, and price.

They offer an all-in-one financial security platform with an easy setup and reasonable pricing. Their user interface makes it easy for small business owners to setup credit monitoring, manage their identity protection, financial protection, and device protection from one single app (mobile or desktop).

Their credit monitoring service includes near-real time credit report monitoring for all

three major credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion) which allows you to get instant fraud alerts sometimes up to 4x faster than competition.

The dashboard also includes the ability monitor your credit score, ability to lock your credit profile,

financial transaction monitoring, bank account monitoring, 401k & investment account monitoring, and more.

Aside from their credit monitoring service, you also get all the powerful security features like A.I. powered dark web monitoring, identity verification monitoring, personal information and social security number (SSN) monitoring, criminal and court records monitoring.

All plans include a $1 million dollar identity theft insurance policy to cover eligible losses and any fees due to credit fraud or identity theft. Their expert resolution team is U.S. based, and they work 24/7 to help you recover your identity and assets if you’re a victim of fraud.

Pricing for Aura’s credit monitoring service starts from $9 per month for the Individual plan. Their Family group plan costs $25 per month for up to 10 people, and it includes all credit monitoring features as well as VPN + antivirus. These are special pricing for WPBeginner readers and let you save up to 50% off.

Note: We use Aura on WPBeginner as our credit monitoring service. In our experience, Aura is the best credit monitoring and identity theft protection service in the market from both features and pricing point of view.

As a small business owner, we really like that Aura offers a free VPN and Antivirus software to boost our device & wifi security. This really makes them a comprehensive credit monitoring service + digital security solution.

Their VPN (virtual private network) helps secures your internet connection with military-grade encryption wherever you are. It’s very useful when you’re traveling or working from a public place like Starbucks.

Expert Review: We believe Aura is the best overall credit monitoring service and identity theft protection solution for small businesses with affordable individual and family plans.

2. Identity Guard

Identity Guard is another popular credit monitoring service for entrepreneurs, individuals, and families.

Their credit monitoring and identity theft protection platform includes all the standard functionality you would need in their Value plan such as data breach notifications, dark web monitoring (powered by IBM Watson AI), risk management report, high risk transaction monitoring, safe browsing tools, and $1 million insurance with stolen fund reimbursement.

Their Total and Ultra plans include advanced credit protection features as well such as bank account monitoring, credit & debit card monitoring, 401k & investment monitoring, address change monitoring, social media monitoring reports, monthly credit score report, 3-bureau credit monitoring, and 3-bureau annual credit reports.

Identity Guard pricing starts at $7.50 per month for their Value plan and goes up to $25 per month for the Ultra plan.

As a small business owner (employer), you can also purchase credit monitoring services for your team members and make it part of your overall employee benefits package.

In our research, we found that Identity Guard is a very affordable credit monitoring service that also include premium identity theft protection on their higher plans.

However, they currently do not offer Device and Networking protection services like Aura does such as free VPN, antivirus, or a secure password manager.

Expert Review: Identity Guard is the best credit monitoring service for employers.

3. IdentityForce

IdentityForce is a credit monitoring service by TransUnion which is one of the 3 major credit bureaus in the United States. They are consistently rated as a top identity theft protection service on TrustPilot.

As a major credit bureau, TransUnion have advanced credit monitoring and identity theft service solution for consumers, small business owners, as well as large enterprise and government agencies.

While they offer identity theft protection features in their UltraSecure plan, you need to get their more expensive UltraSecure + Credit plan to get the credit monitoring features which includes

credit monitoring service for all 3-bureau, credit score tracker, quarterly 3 bureau credit reports and credit scores.

With Identity Guard, you get all the powerful identity theft protection features like

smart SSN tracker, bank and credit card activity alerts, dark web monitoring, pay day loan monitoring, social media identity monitoring, medical ID fraud protection, identity threat alerts, and more.

They also have online protection tools to proactively help you fight phishing and keylogging attacks. Their mobile app gives you access to a secure VPN, so you always have a secure internet connection anywhere you go. Other digital securitytools include two-factor authentication, online identity vault, and a secure password manager.

All plans include a $1 million dollar identity theft insurance for stolen fund replacement, and white-glove customer service that can help you resolve any identity fraud case.

Expert Review: IdentityForce is the best credit monitoring service with FICO scores.

4. LifeLock with Norton 360

Norton is one of the most popular internet security companies in the world. In 2017, they acquired LifeLock, a well-known credit monitoring service and identity theft protection solution.

Since then they have created a bundle

Norton 360 with LifeLock to include all the standard credit monitoring features like dark web monitoring, credit monitoring (across 3 bureaus), SSN & credit alerts, ID verification monitoring, data breach notifications, fictitious identity monitoring, ability to lock your identity, suspicious bank & credit card activity alerts, 401k & investment account monitoring, and more.

Along with credit monitoring, you’ll get the Norton AntiVirus and online threat protection software that includes smart firewall, cloud backup, parental controls, privacy monitor, and a secure VPN service.

Their plans include identity theft protection insurance ranging from $25,000 to $1 million depending on the plan you choose.

Norton360 with LifeLock select plan starts at $9.99 per month, but it offers credit monitoring for only 1 bureau. To get comprehensive credit monitoring service from all 3 bureaus, you’ll need the Ultimate Plus plan which costs $29.99 per month.

You could also purchase LifeLock as a standalone credit monitoring service, but it will cost $8.99 per month for one-bureau credit monitoring and $23.99 per month for three-bureau credit monitoring. Also these plans will not include any of the advanced device security features that Norton offers.

If you’re already a Norton user, then upgrading to Norton360 with LifeLock offers the best value for the money.

Expert Review: If you’re already a Norton customer, then LifeLock is the best credit monitoring service for you because you can upgrade for a small premium.

5. IdentityIQ

IdentityIQ is another popular credit monitoring service for small business owners that also include anti-virus software and VPN for online privacy.

Their credit monitoring service include all the standard features you would expect such as 3-bureau credit report monitoring, dark web & internet monitoring, lost wallet assistance, synthetic ID theft protection, up to $1 million dollar identity theft insurance to cover stolen fund reimbursement and offer coverage for lawyers and experts expenses.

The SecureMax plan also offers additional features like enhanced credit report monitoring, alerts on crimes committed in your name, credit score tracker, credit score simulator, and family protection with ID fraud restoration.

One of the big reasons for credit fraud is lack of device & network security, so IdentityIQ includes Bitdefender premium VPN for up to 10 devices as well as Bitdefender total security anti-virus and anti-spyware to help protect your computers. They also offer a password manager for Windows OS, but doesn’t have it for Mac.

Expert Review: IdentityIQ the best credit monitoring service if you’re looking for Bitdefender total security software to be included. Their pricing is a bit on the higher end with SecureMax plan starting at $30.99 per month.

6. Experian IdentityWorks

Experian is one of the 3 major credit bureaus in the US, and they offer a premium credit monitoring service called IdentityWorks.

Their credit monitoring platform has built-in dark web surveillance that does daily scans of over 600,000 web pages to detect if any of your information is stolen.

You will get near real-time credit fraud alerts through their system if they notice any suspicious activity around your social security number, financial accounts, payday loans, false identity validations, social network monitoring, and more.

As one of the 3-bureaus that issue a FICO credit score, Experian will send you daily FICO scores from Experian and quarterly credit score updates from the other credit bureaus. This makes it easy for you to track your actual credit score without any extra cost.

Experian credit monitoring service also makes it easy to lock and unlock your Experian credit file within few clicks. This is a huge time saver because locking credit file is the ultimate credit protection.

IdentityWorks Premium pricing starts at $19.99 per month, and it includes the $1 million dollar identity theft protection insurance which is underwritten by AIG.

You can also get a family plan for $29.99 per month that includes two adults and up to 10 children identity protection.

The downside of Experian is that it does not offer any device or network security features.

Expert Review: Experian’s IdentityWorks platform offer a reliable credit monitoring service with standard identity theft protection features. However they are lacking the modern digital security features that you get with Aura or Norton360.

Which is the Best Credit Protection Service? (Expert Pick)

After carefully research all the top credit monitoring services, we believe that Aura is the best credit monitoring service for small businesses and entrepreneurs.

They offer the most affordable pricing with the most advanced credit monitoring and identity theft features.

The best part is that aside from comprehensive financial fraud protection features, they also include robust device & WiFi security apps to better protect you against cyberthreats.

At WPBeginner, we believe that security is all about risk reduction. Using the Aura smart digital security app, you get military-grade encryption for your online data, so you can have maximum online security.

That’s why, we use Aura in our business, and rate Aura as the #1 best credit monitoring service in the market.

We hope this article helped you find the best credit monitoring service for your small business. You may also want to see our comparison of the best business phone services and best website builder for small business.

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.

Source: We got our identity theft statistics from the U.S. FTC 2020 Consumer Sentinel Network report.

The post 6 Best Credit Monitoring Services for Small Business (2022) first appeared on WPBeginner.

February 28, 2022 at 04:58PM

How to Make Your WordPress Blog Completely Private (4 Ways)

Do you want to make your WordPress blog completely private? 

You can make your blog completely private so that no one but you and your chosen visitors can see the content you publish.

In this article, we’ll show you how to make your WordPress blog completely private. 

Why Make Your WordPress Blog Completely Private?

Usually, when you add a new blog post in WordPress, you’ll want to publish it for the entire world to see. 

However, there are times when you may want to create a private blog or make certain posts private and only available to specific users.

There are all kinds of reasons to make your WordPress blog private:

• A blog that’s being built, or undergoing maintenance, so it’s not fully ready for the public.
• A family blog for sharing your family events, wedding photos, baby pictures, and more.
• A private blog for your private diary or personal journal.
• A space for teams to work on projects and collaborate outside of public view.
• A classroom website with lessons and notes that’s only available to registered students.

That being said, let’s show you how you can make your WordPress blog completely private. Simply use the quick links below to jump straight to the method you want to use.

• Making your WordPress blog completely private with SeedProd
• Creating a private members-only website with MemberPress
• Making your WordPress blog private with My Private Site
• Making individual WordPress blog posts private

Method 1. Making Your WordPress Blog Private with SeedProd

The easiest way to make your blog completely private is by using the SeedProd plugin. It’s the best WordPress theme builder and drag and drop page builder for WordPress used by over 1 million websites.

It lets you easily create coming soon and maintenance mode pages to make your WordPress blog private, plus it makes it easy to build your email list even while you’re building your blog.

It’s also equipped with 150+ different templates you can use to create custom pages like, 404 pages, webinar registration pages, and even entire custom WordPress themes without writing any code.

If you want to create a coming soon page to launch your blog, then see our guide on how to create a beautiful coming soon page in WordPress with SeedProd.

Beyond keeping your blog private, your coming soon page can also help to gauge user interest, build hype, and capture leads.

With your coming soon page live, you can keep your blog private as long as you like. You can even customize your coming soon page to act as a home screen, while your blog remains private.

If you want to put your blog in maintenance mode temporarily, then see our guide on how to put your WordPress site in maintenance mode.

Once your blog is in maintenance mode, you can freely make changes to your blog, or even build a new blog from scratch. Maintenance mode also prevents the search engines from indexing and ranking your site.

Your visitors will only see the maintenance mode screen.

Method 2. Creating a Private Members-Only Website with MemberPress

Another way you can make your blog private is by creating a membership blog that’s entirely private to members. 

The best way to do this is with the MemberPress plugin. It’s one of the best WordPress membership plugins that’s helped creators earn more than $600 million in the last year alone.

It lets you easily create online courses, manage access controls, and add lessons, all within the WordPress block editor.

Plus, it integrates with the top WordPress page builder plugins, lets you add drip content in WordPress for your premium posts, add content paywalls, and lock free content for specific users.

For more details on setting up your members-only website, see our ultimate guide on creating a WordPress membership site.

Method 3. Making Your WordPress Blog Completely Private with My Private Site

Another way you can make your WordPress blog private is by using the My Private Site plugin. This plugin makes it easy to hide your blog and is a great fit for family blogs and companies who never plan on making their content public. 

It can also be used when your website is under construction, but the SeedProd method above does a much better job at helping you create a coming soon or under construction page. 

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

Upon activation, you need to go to My Private Site » Site Privacy to configure the plugin settings.

Next, you need to check the ‘Enable login privacy’ box, so the plugin will make your site private.

Then, click the ‘Save Privacy Status’ button.

With this option enabled, visitors will see your site login screen when trying to visit your website.

Next, click the ‘Landing Page’ menu option.

Here, you can choose where users will be redirected after a successful login. 

Simply select the radio button in the ‘Landing Page After Login’ section, or enter a specific URL into the ’Specified Destination URL’ box.

Then, click the ‘Save Landing Page’ button.

After that, click the ‘Home Page’ menu option. 

Here, you can check the box in the ‘Site Home’ section to make your homepage accessible to visitors. 

We’ll leave the box unchecked, but it can be helpful if you want to show a message to your visitors while keeping the rest of your website hidden. 

If you make changes, then click the ‘Make Page Public’ button.

Next, click the ‘Membership’ menu option.

Here, you can choose whether or not you want users to be able to register to your blog.

To allow visitors to register and view your blog, both boxes must be checked. If you don’t want to allow user registration, then simply leave both boxes unchecked.

Then, click the ‘Update Options’ button.

After that, your WordPress blog will be completely private.

Only users with login credentials will be able to log in and view your blog.

Method 4. Making Individual Blog Posts Completely Private with WordPress Settings

If you only want to make individual blog posts completely private, then you can use the built-in WordPress settings to do this.

Simply open up the blog post you want to make private, or create a new post. Then, on the post editor screen, you’ll see a ‘Visibility’ option in the ‘Status & visibility’ meta box.

Then, you need to click the ‘Public’ link.

This brings up a drop down where you can select the ‘Private’ option or even make your post password protected.

Simply click the radio button to choose the option best for your needs.

If you choose to make your post password protected, then you’ll need to enter a password. Your users will need to enter the password you entered to view the post.

Once you’re finished making changes, make sure to click the ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ button to make your post private.

Now, only admins and editors will be able to view the post when they are logged into the WordPress dashboard.

If you’re the only user on your blog, then you don’t need to worry about this. But, if you have other users, then you need to make sure they have the right user role to view the post.

For more details, see our guide on how to add or remove capabilities to user roles in WordPress.

If you want to make users sign up, or become a member, before viewing your content, then see our guide on how to add content locking in WordPress.

We hope this article helped you learn how to make your WordPress blog completely private. You may also want to see our guide on how to get a free email domain, and our expert picks of the best analytics solutions for WordPress users. 

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 Make Your WordPress Blog Completely Private (4 Ways) first appeared on WPBeginner.

February 25, 2022 at 05:00PM