How to Easily Import and Export WordPress Users

Do you want to import and export WordPress users from one website to another?

This could be really helpful when you are merging multiple sites and want to automatically shift all users to the new site.

In this article, we will show you how to easily import and export users in WordPress. We’ll also show you how to import export WooCommerce customers as well.

Why or When You May Need to Import and Export Users in WordPress?

While there are several use-cases for importing and exporting WordPress users, the most common scenarios when you need to import and export users are:

• When you purchase a website and want to merge the content and user base.
• When you want to consolidate two sites and merge their content and user base.
• When you want to import customer information into an email list or your CRM.

If you run a membership website or WooCommerce store, then you may also want to keep all your customer data and allow your customers a seamless login experience on the new site aswell.

Let’s take a look at how you can easily import and export users from one WordPress site to another, or move WooCommerce customers from one store to another.

Exporting Users in WordPress

First thing you need to do is install and activate the Import and Export Users and Customers plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to visit the Tools » Import and export users and customers page in WordPress admin area and switch to the Export tab.

From here, you can choose which users you want to export. For instance, you can select by user role and choose to export WooCommerce customers, customers from your membership plugin, or all users.

You can also filter users by date. For instance, you can select users that were created between a specific period.

You can leave the rest of the options to their default values and click on the Download button. The plugin will prepare and download a CSV file to your computer.

CSV or ‘Comma Separated Values’ is a file format which allows you to store data with fields separated by commas. You can open these files in any spreadsheet software like Google Spreadsheets or Microsoft Excel.

Importing WordPress Users

The plugin also makes it easy to import the users back to the same website or a different website.

If you are importing the users to a different WordPress website, then you’ll need to install the plugin on that website as well.

After that, you can go to the Tools » Import and export users and customers page and switch to the ‘Import’ tab.

From here, click on the ‘Choose File’ button to select the CSV file you downloaded earlier.

Below that, you can configure plugin settings to your own requirements. For instance, you can import only users with specific user roles, choose what to do with empty data fields, send emails to users with login link and their credentials, and more.

After reviewing the options, go ahead and click on the ‘Start Importing’ button.

The plugin will start importing WordPress users and will show you a list of users imported.

You can now go to Users » All Users page to see the imported users.

Sending Email to imported users

Now, if you are moving user accounts, then you may want to let them know about the change by sending them an email. The plugin can do that for you during the import but you may want to change the email with your own message.

Simply head over to the Tools » Import and export users and customers page and switch to the Mail Options tab.

By default, the plugin sends the login details to the users in the email. You can add your own message here offering users more details about why they are seeing this email.

Tip: Make sure your WordPress site is able to send email notifications. If you have a lot of users/customers then the plugin may not be able to send notifications. We recommend using the WP Mail SMTP plugin to ensure maximum deliverability. For details, see our guide on how to fix WordPress not sending email issues.

We hope this article helped you easily import and export WordPress users and WooCommerce customers. You may also want to see our guide on how to monitor user activity in WordPress and our ultimate WordPress security guide to keep your website safe.

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 Import and Export WordPress Users appeared first on WPBeginner.

October 29, 2020 at 04:00PM

How to Prevent Text Selection and Copy/Paste in WordPress (Easy)

Recently, one of our readers asked us how they can prevent text selection and copy/paste in WordPress?

Many publishers who want to stop people from stealing their content may want to apply this. This basically just makes it a bit harder for people to copy text from your website.

In this article, we’ll show you how to easily prevent text selection and copy/paste in WordPress.

Why Prevent Text Selection and Copy/Paste on Your WordPress Site?

Many bloggers find that their content gets stolen and used without permission.

This can happen through automated content scraping. It can also happen if someone manually copies part or all of your content.

One way to make this more difficult is to prevent people from copying and pasting your text. You can do this by making it harder for them to select the text on your website.

Remember, tech savvy users can still view the source code or use the Inspect tool to copy anything they want. These techniques will also not stop people who are using auto-blogging tools to fetch the content using RSS.

Keeping this in mind, let’s take a look at a few ways to prevent text selection and copying in WordPress.

Method #1: Preventing Text Selection Using CSS

This method is simpler, and you’ll just need to add some custom CSS code to your WordPress theme. If you haven’t done this before, then take a look at our guide on adding custom CSS to your site before you begin.

First, you need to visit the Appearance » Customize page in WordPress admin area to launch the theme customizer.

In theme customizer, you need to click on the Custom CSS tab from the left column.

Now, you will see a box to add custom CSS to your WordPress theme. Simply copy and paste the following CSS code into that box.

* {
  -webkit-touch-callout: none; /* iOS Safari */
  -webkit-user-select: none; /* Safari */
  -khtml-user-select: none; /* Konqueror HTML */
  -moz-user-select: none; /* Old versions of Firefox */
  -ms-user-select: none; /* Internet Explorer/Edge */
   user-select: none; /* Non-prefixed version, currently supported by Chrome, Opera and Firefox */
}

(Code source)

This is how the code will look when added.

Now, go ahead and try to select some of the text on your page in the live customizer. You will find that you cannot select it.

Don’t forget to click the ‘Publish’ button at the top of the screen to put your changes live for everyone.

Method #2: Preventing Text Selection Using a Plugin

For this method, we will be using a WordPress plugin that disables text selection and right-click. This would also protect images from being downloaded and reused.

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

Upon activation, the plugin will work straight out of the box. Users will no longer be able to copy and paste text from your site. They also will not be able to right click or print your content.

If you want to change the plugin’s settings, it’s easy to do so. Simply go to the Copy Protection page in your WordPress admin. Here, you can choose to enable or disable protection for specific types of content.

Make sure you click the Save Settings button after making any changes.

You can also change the message that will appear if someone tries to print your content. The message will display like this in the print preview and on the printout itself.

Is it a Good Idea to Prevent Text Selection in WordPress?

While many new website owners want to stop people from copy/pasting content from their site, these techniques do not really prevent content theft.

Any slightly tech savvy user can easily open your website code source to copy any content that they want.

Also not everyone copying your text will be a content thief. For instance, some people may want to copy the title to share your post on social media.

This is why it’s not best practice to prevent text selection. We recommend you only use this method if you feel it’s truly needed for your site.

In most cases, it’s better to look for an alternative way to prevent content theft. If a site is re-publishing your content without permission, then you could find out who is hosting the website and send a DMCA takedown notice.

We hope this article helped you learn how to prevent text selection and copy/paste in WordPress. You might also want to see our guide on how to create a membership site with protected content, and our comparison of the best email marketing services for subscriber only content.

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 Prevent Text Selection and Copy/Paste in WordPress (Easy) appeared first on WPBeginner.

October 28, 2020 at 05:00PM

How to Add Email Subscriptions to Your WordPress Blog

Do you want to make it easy for readers to subscribe to your WordPress blog?

Many businesses miss out on the benefits of having a direct connection with their audience through email. By having people subscribe to your email list, you can increase traffic, make more sales, and build a relationship with your audience.

In this article, we’ll show you how to add email subscriptions to your WordPress blog and start building your email list.

Why Should You Add Subscribe via Email Option to Your Site?

While social media is one way to connect with your audience, email is still the most reliable form of communication.

It gives you a direct connection to your readers because you can email subscribers whenever you want. Plus, you have control over email, whereas you have very little control over social media platforms.

For instance, you could post on Facebook or Instagram to thousands of followers, but only a portion of them may see your content due to algorithms that determine your reach.

For more on this topic, see our article on why you should start building your email list (right away).

You might think it’s difficult to add an email subscription option to your website, but it’s not.

With all of the email marketing software available today, it’s become quite easy, and you can get started in just a few clicks.

Since there are dozens of email software to choose from, we’re going to share with you a few solutions we believe work best.

How to Add Email Subscription to Your WordPress Site

First, you’re going to need an email marketing service.

We recommend using Constant Contact because it is the most beginner friendly email marketing service for small businesses.

It comes with built-in tools to see your email performance, such as email opens and click rates. These tools can help you make decisions over time that improve your email campaigns and grow your business.

Their Email Plus option comes with features such as:

• Automations
• Surveys
• Polls
• Coupons
• Online donations
• A/B subject line testing

Constant Contact also works well with other tools like WordPress form plugins, so you can use it to grow your business. You’ll see a few of them, and how they can be used later in this article.

Some alternatives to Constant Contact are SendinBlue, ConvertKit, and MailerLite. All work similarly and have slightly different features.

For now, we’ll show you how to add an email subscription option in WordPress using Constant Contact. You can still follow along even if you’re using another email service as they all share similar concepts.

Creating Your Email Subscription List

The first thing you need to do is sign up for Constant Contact. Simply go to their home page, click on ‘sign up for free’, and fill out your information.

Once you’ve created your account, it’s time to set up your email list.

An email list is simply the list of email addresses that your users will provide when they sign up for your email subscription.

First, you need to click on the ‘Contacts’ button at the top of your Constant Contact dashboard.

This will take you to the contacts page. From there, you need to click on the blue ‘Create List’ button.

You’ll be asked to provide a name for your email list. It can be whatever you want, but we’ll call it ‘My Newsletter’ for this example.

And that’s it. Now you have a new list people can subscribe to.

The next step is to add an email subscription form to your WordPress website where your website visitors can sign up.

Adding Email Subscription Form in WordPress

Constant Contact comes with an email signup form builder, but the easiest way to get started is by using the WPForms plugin. It integrates seamlessly with Constant Contact to set up an optin form easily.

WPForms also has a limited free version called WPForms Lite. It also allows you to connect your forms to Constant Contact.

First, you need to install and activate the WPForms plugin. If you need help, then follow our guide on how to install a plugin for detailed instructions.

Upon activation, you need to visit WPForms » Add New page and then select the ‘Newsletter Signup Form’ template.

On the next page, you’ll get a prompt to set up your email marketing service in the marketing tab. We’ll get to that in a moment.

WPForms will now load a sample newsletter sign up with the form builder interface. It will include first and last name and email address fields to the form.

You can change the form fields if you want. For instance, you can add a full name and email address field. You can click on a form field to change its title or move them up and down.

Once you are satisfied with the signup form, click on the big orange ‘SAVE’ button at the top.

Now, it’s time to set up your confirmation message. This is what your users will see when they submit the form.

Simply, switch to the ‘Settings’ tab and then click on the ‘Confirmation’ section.

By default, WPForms will show a confirmation message which you can change to anything you want. You can also change the confirmation type and redirect users to any page or URL.

Now that your newsletter sign up form is ready. Let’s connect it to Constant Contact.

Simply click on the ‘Marketing’ tab and select ‘Constant Contact’.

Next, click on the ‘Add New Connection’ button and you’ll see a popup that asks you to name your connection. We called ours ‘My Newsletter Form’ but you can name it whatever you want.

After that, click on the ‘Click here to register with Constant Contact’ link.

It will open a popup where you will be asked to allow WPForms to connect with your Constant Contact account.

Click on the ‘Allow’ button to continue.

You’ll be given a long authorization code to register your form.

Copy and paste the authorization code in WPForms settings and provide an account nickname. The ‘Account nickname’ could be anything you want.

Finally, click on the connect button to continue.

On the next screen, you’ll be able to select the fields you want to pass through from your form to Constant Contact.

We selected ‘email’ and ‘full name’ but you can select as many as you want. Just be sure that those two fields are included in your newsletter sign up form fields.

Click the big orange ‘Save’ button when you’re done.

Now that we have the form set up, we want to place it on our WordPress website. For this example, we’re going to place it in our sidebar. But the form can go on any page you want.

Go to Appearance » Widgets page and add the WPForm widget to your sidebar.

Provide a title for your widget and then select your newsletter sign up form. Don’t forget to click on the save button to store your widget settings.

You can now visit your website to see your email subscription form in action.

You now have an email subscription box in your sidebar. And whenever someone fills out their name and email, they get subscribed to your newsletter.

Now that everything is set up, let’s take a look at how to send emails to your subscribers.

How to Write and Send Emails to Your Blog Subscribers

There are a few ways people can get your updates, and that’s through regular emails or an RSS feed.

The RSS feed method automatically sends users an email whenever you publish a new blog post. However, it is less effective, has very low open rates, and users get annoyed when they receive too many emails.

We recommend writing your emails manually. This allows you to make your emails more personalized and conversational, add any content you want, and choose your own frequency.

Most popular bloggers send an email newsletter once a week. You can set your own frequency and schedule the emails ahead of time, so that your users get them on the same day and time every week.

We’ll now walk you through writing your first email and sending it to your subscribers.

First, go to the ‘Campaigns’ page in your Constant Contact account dashboard and then click the ‘Create’ button.

You’ll then select ‘Email’ under ‘Choose a campaign.’

Next, you’ll need to name your newsletter. This is for organization and you can change it later if you want.

After you click on ‘Open in editor,’ you’ll see the option to choose a template. We’ve chosen the Basic Newsletter template for this example, but you can pick anything you want.

On the next page, you’ll be able to edit, add to, or remove any of the elements you see. Here’s what ours looks like as an example:

At the top, you’ll see the subject and preheader. To change this, you just click that area and add whatever you want.

On the left side, you’ll see a handful of options you can drag directly into your newsletter template. You can add text, buttons, images, and more.

In this example, we added a few photos, some text, and some links. To add a link to your newsletter, you can highlight any text you want.

Click the chain link icon, and then paste the link to your blog post, like this:

Click ‘Insert’ and you’re ready to go. Now, for the last step, click ‘Continue’ in the upper right corner and you’ll see the following:

Make sure you check the box next to your list (My Newsletter), and then hit the ‘Send Now’ button at the top.

And that’s how you send your very first email manually. Also, if you want to schedule it for later, you can choose that option and set a date for it to send.

You can repeat this process at any time you want to notify your subscribers about anything new on your blog.

How to Get More Email Subscribers

Did you know that more than 70% people visiting your website will simply never see it again? This why you have added an email subscription option to your blog so that you can notify users about new content, offers, and services.

However, adding just one sign up form in your sidebar is not enough. You’ll need to find more ways to quickly get more email subscribers.

This is where OptinMonster comes in. It is the best conversion optimization software in the world and helps you convert more website visitors into subscribers.

Instead of embedding a form in your sidebar that probably won’t get noticed, you can create opt-in forms that convert well and have been tested on thousands of sites.

With OptinMonster, You’ll get floating header and footer bars, slide-in boxes, welcome mats, inline forms, and lightbox popups.

Next, you need to choose a campaign template that you can further customize to your liking:

For instance, you can set up a popup on your site that triggers when someone is about to hit the back button in their browser. This is known as an exit-intent popup.

So right before someone leaves your site, they get a chance to subscribe, and many do because this has been tested on thousands of sites.

What’s great is OptinMonster integrates perfectly with any email marketing software and all types of websites. For more tips check out these tested and easy ways to grow your email list faster.

We hope this article shows you how to add email subscriptions to your WordPress blog. You may also want to read our guide on how to get a free business email address for your blog, and how to get a free virtual business phone number for your blog.

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 Email Subscriptions to Your WordPress Blog appeared first on WPBeginner.

October 27, 2020 at 04:00PM

How to Easily Add Interactive 360 Degree Images in WordPress

Do you want to add interactive 360 degree images to your WordPress site?

Interactive 360 degree images can be used to create virtual tours or allow users to interact with product images with multiple angles.

In this article, we’ll show you how to easily add interactive 360 degree images in WordPress.

Why Use Interactive 360 Degree Images in WordPress?

There are lots of reasons to use 360 degree images on your WordPress website.

You can use 360 degree photo to show products from all angles on your online store.

Or perhaps you have a real estate website and you want to offer virtual tours using interactive 360 degree images.

Tip: Need to create a 360 degree image? There are plenty of smartphone apps that let you do this.

The problem is that by default WordPress does not show 360 degree images. However, you can still add them using plugins.

That being said, let’s take a look at how to easily add 360 degree interactive images to your website.

Using the Algori 360 Image Plugin for WordPress

The easiest way to add 360 degree rotating images to WordPress is to use the Algori 360 Image plugin. This is a free plugin that supports VR (virtual reality).

Algori 360 adds a new block to the block editor. You simply upload your 3D image to this block.

Note: You can’t use this plugin with the classic editor. Also, you can only add one 360 degree image per page.

First, you need to install and activate the Algori 360 plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, simply edit any existing post or page or create a new one.

On the post edit screen, click on the (+) add new block button and then add the 360° Image block.

Now, it’s time to upload your 360 Image into the block settings.

Just drag your image into the block or click the Upload button to find it on your computer. You can also choose an image that’s already in your media library.

It may take a few minutes for your image to upload and process. You will see a spinning loading circle while it’s doing so. Just wait for the image to appear in the WordPress block editor.

After that, you can go ahead and publish your post to see the 360° image live on your site. If you’re not ready to publish the post, you can preview it instead.

You can drag the image to rotate it. Here’s how it looks on our demo website.

If you have a VR headset, then you can even click the VR button to view the image in virtual reality.

Alternative Interactive 360 Degree Images Plugins to Try

If you want more features or something a bit different from Algori 360 Image, then you can also try one of these other WordPress plugins:

• WP VR – 360 Panorama and Virtual Tour Creator for WordPress – This plugin is designed for virtual tours. It works with several popular drag and drop page builders as well as with the Gutenberg editor. You can also use it with the classic editor.
• SR Product 360° View – With this plugin, you can add 360° rotation to your WooCommerce store products. Note that you need to install and activate WooCommerce before you can use this plugin.

We hope this article helped you learn how to add interactive 360 degree images in WordPress. You may also want to read our article on how to get a virtual business phone number for free, and our list of the must have WordPress plugins for all websites.

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 Add Interactive 360 Degree Images in WordPress appeared first on WPBeginner.

October 26, 2020 at 04:36PM

9 Best WordPress Facebook Plugins to Grow Your Blog

Are you looking for the best Facebook plugins for WordPress?

Facebook is the world’s largest social media platform with more than 2 billion monthly active users. That’s why there are many WordPress Facebook plugins that can help you maximize your online presence.

In this article, we have hand-picked the best WordPress Facebook plugins to grow your website and get more traffic.

Editor’s Note: If you’re looking for chatbot or messenger bot plugins, then please see our list of the best chatbot software for small businesses.

1. Smash Balloon Custom Facebook Feed Pro

Smash Balloon Custom Facebook Feed Pro is the best Facebook plugin for WordPress. It lets you connect your WordPress site to your Facebook account with the click of a button.

With Custom Facebook Feed Pro, you can easily add your Facebook posts to any WordPress post, page, or sidebar. It comes with multiple layout choices with easy to use styling options.

You can take full control of your feed. You can choose to hide things like comments, likes, reactions, and shares.

It supports multiple feeds, so you can use them in different areas of your site. This plugin works with both Facebook pages and groups and helps you drive more engagement towards your Facebook community.

You can also use it to display your Facebook user reviews, embed your Facebook photo albums, create a carousel, and more.

Note: There’s also a free Facebook Feed plugin by Smash Ballon with limited features that you can use.

2. RafflePress

RafflePress is the best contest and giveaways plugin for WordPress. It lets you easily run a contest where people need to take specific actions to enter.

Contests are one of the fastest ways to get a ton of likes and engagement for your Facebook page. RafflePress comes with a built-in giveaway template for growing your Facebook page.

To enter your contest, people will need to visit your page on Facebook and/or view one of your posts or videos.

It comes with a drag and drop contest builder where you can simply add actions and assign them different numbers of entries into the contest.

You can also use it with other popular social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram, or run giveaways to grow your email list.

RafflePress lets you easily draw a winner, too. In fact, you even get a link to email the winner from inside the app itself.

3. Shared Counts

Shared Counts is one of the best social media plugins for WordPress. It allows you to easily add social sharing buttons to your WordPress posts. This includes buttons for Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, LinkedIn, and more.

It is highly optimized for speed and performance and can accurately show shares count for different social sites. It even comes with multiple button styles. This means you can choose the style that looks best on your site.

4. Pixel Cat – Conversion Pixel Manager

Pixel Cat – Conversion Pixel Manager allows you to add Facebook retargeting pixel to your WordPress site. This pixel allows you to show customized ads to Facebook users who have visited your website.

Pixel Cat also helps you track WooCommerce customers and show them better ads in their Facebook feed.

There’s also a Pro version that gives you extra power and flexibility.

5. Social Reviews and Recommendations

Social Reviews and Recommendations lets you display Facebook page reviews on your WordPress website. It comes with an easy to use widget that allows you to connect your website to your Facebook page and display Facebook users’ reviews.

This helps you add social proof to your website and build trust in your brand. The free version works fine, but you will need to pay for the ‘Business’ version to display reviews in the Schema.org rich snippets format.

6. Facebook Page Like Widget

Facebook Page Like Widget allows you to easily add a Facebook page plugin to your blog’s sidebar. It is extremely easy to use and comes with a shortcode that you can use to display the Facebook Like box anywhere on your website.

It comes with the same customization options as the default Facebook page plugin. You can show or hide profile pics, include your page cover, customize width and height, and select language.

7. Nextend Social Login and Register

Nextend Social Login and Register plugin allows users to register and login on your website using their social profiles. It supports login with Facebook, Google, and Twitter.

This plugin works seamlessly with the default WordPress login and registration forms. Users have the option to use Facebook or use the default signup method. Once registered, a user can disconnect their social account at any time by visiting their user profile page inside the admin area.

8. FAuto Poster

FAuto Poster allows you to automatically share new articles on your Facebook page or profile. Upon activation, you will need to connect it to your profile and authorize your website.

It allows you to choose which content you want to share: posts, pages, and custom post types. You can even disable sharing for a single item before publishing it.

FAuto Poster is a lightweight plugin that’s quick and easy to install and configure. There’s also a pro version, which lets you automatically post to Twitter, LinkedIn, and Tumblr as well as to Facebook.

9. Social Snap

Social Snap lets you automatically post your content to Facebook. You can use it for other social media sites as well, including Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

It doesn’t just work for your new content, either. You can also use Social Snap to automatically re-share older content. That way, you can drive more traffic to content you’ve created in the past.

Social Snap also lets you add social links to your posts and pages and display follower counts. This can be a great form of social proof and can help grow your Facebook following.

Bonus: All in One SEO

All in One SEO is one of the best WordPress SEO plugin on the market. It has a huge range of features that let you optimize your content to rank higher in search engines.

Although it’s not a social media plugin, we’ve included it as a bonus on this list for one very important feature. All in One SEO lets you add Open Graph metadata to your content. This means you have more control over how your content displays when it’s shared on Facebook.

Using All in One SEO, you can set a custom image thumbnail to appear alongside your content on Facebook. You can even give your content a different title or description to use on Facebook. Most importantly, it fixes the incorrect thumbnail issue on Facebook.

We hope this article helped you discover the best WordPress Facebook plugins to grow your blog. We also recommend going through our proven tips to drive traffic to your WordPress site, and our comparison of the best email marketing services to connect with your readers.

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 9 Best WordPress Facebook Plugins to Grow Your Blog appeared first on WPBeginner.

October 23, 2020 at 05:00PM