How to Allow Users to Upload Images on a WordPress Site

Do you want users to be able to upload images on your WordPress site?

If you want to accept guest post submissions, product reviews, or run a photo contest, then you will need to allow users to upload images. However, you may not want to give them access to your WordPress admin area.

In this article, we’ll show you how to safely allow users to upload images on a WordPress site without giving them access to WordPress admin.

Allowing Users to Safely Upload Images in WordPress

If you want to run a multi-author blog, then the easiest way to allow users to upload images is by adding them as an author on your website.

However giving users access to the WordPress admin area isn’t ideal for one-time scenarios such as guest post submission, product reviews, photo contests, etc.

Luckily there are several WordPress plugins that let users upload images, without compromising your website security or giving them access to the WordPress admin area.

Having said that, let’s take a look at some ways to easily allow users to upload images in WordPress.

Method 1. Let Users Upload Images Using a File Upload Form

This method comes in handy when you only need users to upload an image or another file such as resumes, cover letter, etc.

You can simply create a file upload form that collects the user’s name, email address, the photo / file itself, and any message they want to include.

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

WPForms is the best WordPress form builder plugin that’s used by over 4 million websites. It comes with a file upload field that we’ll be using in this tutorial.

Upon activation you need to visit the WPForms » Settings page in your WordPress dashboard to enter your license key. You can find your license key in your account area on the WPForms site, under the ‘Downloads’ tab.

This is how it will look when you enter it on your site:

Now, go to WPForms » Add New to create your form. We’re going to use the ‘Simple Contact Form’ for this example. Click on it, and your new form will appear.

Next, drag and drop a ‘File Upload’ field onto your form. You can find this field under the ‘Fancy Fields’ section on the left.

Once added, click on the File Upload field on your form to edit it.

We’ll change the name of this field (its label) to “Your Photograph” and specify which file extensions are allowed. We only want image files, so we’re going to allow JPG/JPEG, GIF, and PNG files.

Note: By default, WordPress only allows certain file types to be uploaded. For instance, users won’t be able to upload .svg images, or .zip files unless you explicitly add them to the allow list. We’re going to explain how to do that in a moment.

For now, let’s continue tweaking our field settings. We recommend specifying a maximum file size of 5 MB and check the box next to ‘Required’, so that the user can’t submit the form until they’ve uploaded an image.

The file size limit helps you save disk cost on your WordPress hosting account.

You can also set further options for this field by clicking the downward arrow next to ‘Advanced Options’.

Here, you can choose the style of your upload field. It defaults to a ‘Modern’ drag and drop field. If you want, you can replace it with a ‘Classic’ field that looks like this instead:

You can also choose to store the image in the WordPress Media Library by checking that box. This is a good idea if you’re going to collate your submitted images for a blog post or similar.

Once you are satisfied with your form, you can save and exit the form builder.

Adding Your Image Upload Form in WordPress

Next, you would want to add your form to a WordPress post or page. WPForms makes it super easy to add your forms anywhere on your website.

Simply edit the post or page where you want to add the image upload form. In the WordPress content editor, you need to add the WPForms block to your content area.

After that, you need to select the form you created earlier from the dropdown menu. WPForms will display a preview of your form inside the content area.

You can now save your post or page and view it live to see your image upload form in action.

Allowing Additional File Types to Be Uploaded

Sometimes, your users might see this error when trying to upload a file, even when you’ve allowed that file type in your upload field’s settings:

Sorry, this file type is not permitted for security reasons

The problem is that WordPress only allows certain file types by default. The easiest way to allow more file types is to use a companion plugin.

We recommend the File Upload Types plugin from WPForms.

Once you’ve installed the plugin in WordPress and activated it, go to Settings » File Upload Types.

You can then pick file types from the list that you want to allow, or you can add custom file types.

Note that the list doesn’t include the types that WordPress already allows by default.

Method 2. Allow Users to Upload Images as Guest Authors

A key reason to let users upload images is if you’re collecting guest post submissions. You could also use a very similar method for other user-generated content, like testimonials.

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

Note: You’ll need the ‘Pro’ version (or higher) in order to use the ‘Post Submissions’ addon.

After activating the plugin, you need to visit the WPForms » Settings page in your WordPress dashboard to enter your license key. You can find your license key under the ‘Downloads’ tab of your account on the WPForms site.

This is what you’ll see when you enter the license key on your site:

Next, go to WPForms » Addons to install the Post Submission Addon. Click the ‘Install Addon’ button. It will automatically install and activate

Now, you can start building your guest post submission form.

Go to WPForms » Add New, then scroll down to find the Blog Post Submissions Form.

Click on it, and your new form will be created for you. This will have default fields for the guest author’s details as well as the post’s proposed title, content, featured image, post excerpt, and category.

You can add more fields (sections of your form) if you want. For instance, you might want to add a ‘Website / URL’ field where the author can enter their own blog’s URL.

To change the label on a field or any text on the form, just click on it.

For instance, you can click on the ‘Featured Image’ box and change the ‘Description’ to give your preferred size for featured images.

Files uploaded through the preset ‘Featured Image’ field will be stored in your Media Library within WordPress.

You can toggle this option on and off by clicking on the ‘Advanced Options’ dropdown for the field.

Tip: If you want to create a form from scratch, note that the ‘File Upload’ field does not store files in the Media Library by default. Make sure you switch this setting on if you want to use it.

If you want, you can change the image types that the ‘File Upload’ field will accept. For instance, you might want users to only upload PNG files.

You can also enter a maximum file size, in MB. If you want, you can allow users to upload 2 or more files.

The ‘Modern’ upload field (the default) allows users to drag and drop files. If you prefer, you can change it to a ‘Classic’ field under advanced options. Note that this only allows users to upload a single file.

Once you’ve got all the fields you want on your form, go to the ‘Settings’ tab. You may want to change details under ‘Notifications’ here.

For instance, if your guest posts go to an editor, you’ll want their address in the ‘Send to Email Address’ box.

You might also want to change the confirmation message that a user sees after submitting the form. You can do this under Settings » Confirmation.

Once you’re happy with your form, click the ‘Save’ button at the top of the screen.

Adding the Guest Post Submission Form to Your Site

You can add your form to your site in any post or page. You might want to create a new page specifically for guest post submissions.

If you’re using the Gutenberg (block) editor, simply click the (+) icon to create a new block. Then, select ‘WPForms’ from the ‘Widgets’ section.

Next, you’ll see a WPForms dropdown. Select your form from the list and it’ll be added to your post.

Tip: If you’re still using the Classic editor, then you’ll see an ‘Add Form’ button next to ‘Add Media’ instead. Click this to get a dropdown list of your forms. Select the one you want, then click ‘Add Form’ to put it into your post.

You can use the ‘File Upload’ field in any form you create, of course. That means you can use the above method for any type of user-generated content you’d like to collect.

Method 3. Allow Users to Upload Photos for a Contest

While a file upload form allows users to upload any type of file, it may not be the best solution if you’re running a photo contest.

That’s because WPForms is a form builder, not a contest plugin. It doesn’t come with features like selecting winners, viral sharing, etc.

That’s where RafflePress comes in. It’s the best WordPress giveaway plugin that lets you create viral contests to grow your traffic and social media followers.

You can use it to design a contest widget that lets users upload photos, but also incentivize sharing and other engagement actions to grow your following.

We have created a detailed guide on how to create a photo contest in WordPress with RafflePress that you can follow more details.

We hope this article has helped you learn how to allow users to upload images on a WordPress site. You may also want to see our comparison of the best email marketing services and best push notification software to connect with your visitors after they leave your website.

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 Allow Users to Upload Images on a WordPress Site appeared first on WPBeginner.

February 11, 2021 at 05:00PM

How to Hide Pinterest Images in Your WordPress Blog Posts

Do you want to learn how to hide a Pinterest image in WordPress?

Pinterest can be a great way to drive traffic to your blog, but displaying a Pinterest image in your post can make your content harder to read.

In this article, we’ll show you how to easily hide a Pinterest image in blog posts while still letting readers pin a custom Pinterest image when they share your content on Pinterest.

Why Hide Pinterest Images on WordPress Posts?

Using Pinterest can be a great way to increase blog traffic.

But, the Pinterest recommended image sizes don’t always look good when added to blog posts. That’s because the Pinterest image dimensions are long and narrow (3:2) which doesn’t fit most blog layouts.

Not to mention, these large images have the potential to slow down your website.

So you might be wondering why do bloggers use longer Pinterest images?

• They stand out in the Pinterest pin feed and search results
• They allow you to repin your content with new fresh images
• They get more traffic than traditional image sizes

By hiding the Pinterest images, you can improve the appearance of your blog posts and make your site faster. All while reaping the benefits of letting readers pin a high-quality image.

Does Hiding Images Interfere with Pinterest Terms of Service?

You might have heard that hiding Pinterest images on your WordPress blog goes against the Pinterest Terms of Service (TOS).

But, this isn’t true.

Hiding a Pinterest image on your website is allowed, as long as you meet the following requirements:

• The Pinterest image matches the content of your post
• The Pin description matches the content or title of your post

Essentially, you can hide images on your WordPress blog as long as the image you’re hiding is relevant to your page.

Does Hidden Pinterest Images impact Google Ranking?

For Google to properly rank your site it needs to be able to index your content. This means the search engines crawl your website to see what pages and media your website contains.

Google isn’t necessarily a big fan of hidden images or hidden content. Especially, since hidden content can be associated with spam websites.

However for legitimate use-cases like this one, it’s completely ok for you to hide Pinterest images without impacting your Google ranking.

How to Hide Pinterest Images in WordPress

There are several WordPress plugins that makes it easy to hide Pinterest images in WordPress. There are premium sharing plugins like WPTasty or Grow by Mediavine (formerly Social Pug).

However, we recommend using the free Shared Counts plugin, and their free Shared Counts – Pinterest Image addon.

These plugins are extremely well coded and will not impact your WordPress website speed. Not to mention, they’re 100% free.

This is the plugin that we’re using on WPBeginner to add our social share buttons.

The first thing you’ll need to do is install the Shared Counts plugin. For detailed instructions, please read our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

The plugin settings are fairly straight forward, but we do have a detailed tutorial on adding social sharing buttons to WordPress that you can use as a guide to get started.

Once the Shared Counts plugin is fully set up, you’ll need to install and activate the Shared Counts – Pinterest Image addon to your site.

There are no unique settings to configure for this plugin.

It automatically adds a custom Pinterest image box to your blog posts.

Instead of having users pin random images from your blog post, you can create a higher-quality image that’ll perform better on Pinterest.

When your website visitors click on your Pinterest share button, Pinterest will pop up with the perfect image you’ve created for your post.

To add your custom Pinterest image for your blog posts, simply go to Posts » All Posts in your WordPress dashboard and open up the post you want to edit.

In the WordPress content editor, you’ll see a meta box labeled ‘Pinterest Sharing Image’ in bottom right-hand corner.

You need click on the ‘Select Image’ button and upload a new image or choose an existing image from your media library.

When you’ve found the image you’d like to use, you can add the ‘Title’ and ‘Alt Text’, then click the ‘Use Image’ button.

Next, click ‘Publish’ to publish your new post with the Pinterest sharing image, or ‘Update’ if the post is already live.

Now, when your visitors click the Pinterest share button there will be a pop-up that has your Pinterest image with the proper dimensions.

One of the best parts about using this plugin is that it automatically hides the Pinterest image for you.

Once you add your Pinterest featured image to your blog post, the plugin will add it to the bottom of your post, and apply the “display:none;” element automatically. This makes it completely hidden from view.

There is no need to add the image to your post and manually hide it or make any additional changes.

You might have seen other methods online, like using CSS to hide your Pinterest images, or adding HTML code with the “display:none;” element, but you don’t need to worry about any of that.

The plugin addon takes care of everything for you, which is why we recommend this option above all else.

Finally, it’s important you optimize your images before uploading them to WordPress. This plugin hides the image from view, but it still loads on your post. So, if it’s not properly optimized, then it could slow down your website.

We hope this article helped you learn how to hide Pinterest images on your WordPress blog posts. You may also want to learn how to verify your site on Pinterest for added functionality, and our expert pick of the 40 useful tools to manage and grow 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 Hide Pinterest Images in Your WordPress Blog Posts appeared first on WPBeginner.

February 10, 2021 at 05:00PM

How to Disable Automatic Update Email Notification in WordPress

Do you want to disable automatic update email notifications in WordPress?

By default, WordPress sends email notifications for automatic updates of WordPress plugins, themes, and the core itself.

In this article, we will show you how to easily disable automatic update email notifications in WordPress.

About Automatic Update Notifications in WordPress

WordPress is open-source content management platform that is regularly maintained and updated. Some of these updates are automatically installed, and you will receive an email notification that your site has been updated.

Similarly, WordPress also allows you to enable automatic updates for WordPress plugins and themes too. This means you spend less time updating plugins and more time on growing your business.

You can enable automatic updates for plugins that you trust by visiting Plugins » All Plugins page. Simply click on the ‘Enable auto-updates’ link next to the plugin that you want to update itself.

For WordPress themes, you can visit the Appearance » Themes page and click on a theme. This will bring up theme information popup where you can click on ‘Enable auto-updates’ for that theme.

WordPress will send you an email notification when any of your plugins, theme, or WordPress core is updated.

This can get annoying particularly for users who manage multiple WordPress websites. Wouldn’t it be nice if you can control and turn off these email notifications?

Let’s take a look at how to easily disable automatic update email notifications in WordPress.

Method 1: Disable Automatic Update Email Notification Using Plugin

This method is simpler and does not require you to add any code to your WordPress site. It also gives you the flexibility to select which notifications you want to disable.

First thing you need to do is install and activate the Manage Notification E-mails plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to visit the Settings » Notification e-mails page. This is where the plugin allows you to manage all WordPress notification emails including auto-update notifications.

Simply scroll down to the auto-update options and uncheck the box next to the notifications that you want to disable.

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

That’s all, you have successfully disabled WordPress auto-update email notifications for your website.

Method 2: Disable Automatic Update Email Notification Using Code

This method requires you to add code to your WordPress files. If you haven’t done this before, then take a look at our beginner’s guide on pasting snippets from web into WordPress.

You can use Code Snippets plugin to add custom code in WordPress or manually add this code to your theme’s functions.php file or a site-specific plugin. A better approach would be to use Code Snippets plugin to add custom code in WordPress.

1. Disable Auto Update Notification Emails for Core Updates

Simply add the following code to disable notification emails for automatic updates of the WordPress core.

add_filter( 'auto_core_update_send_email', 'wpb_stop_auto_update_emails', 10, 4 );
 
function wpb_stop_update_emails( $send, $type, $core_update, $result ) {
if ( ! empty( $type ) && $type == 'success' ) {
return false;
}
return true;
}

This code adds a filter to disable email notifications after automatic core updates.

2. Disable Auto Update Notification Emails for Plugins

Add the following code to disable notification emails for automatic updates of WordPress plugins.

add_filter( 'auto_plugin_update_send_email', '__return_false' );

This filter simply disables email notifications for plugin auto-updates.

3. Disable Auto Update Notification Emails for Themes

Add the following code to disable notification emails for automatic updates of WordPress themes.

add_filter( 'auto_theme_update_send_email', '__return_false' );

This filter simply disables email notifications for theme auto-updates.

Rolling Back WordPress Updates if Something Goes Wrong

Because WordPress plugins run on various independent WordPress hosting and sever configurations, it is possible that sometimes a plugin update may result in breaking a feature on your website or making it inaccessible.

This is easy to troubleshoot and fix. First, you need to figure out which plugin has caused the issue by deactivating all WordPress plugins and reactivating them one by one.

Once you have isolated the plugin causing the issue, then you can use WP Rollback plugin. It allows you to switch to the previous version of a WordPress plugin or theme.

For details, see our guide on how to rollback WordPress plugins and themes with step by step instructions.

Improving WordPress Email Deliverability

Even if you disable WordPress auto-update emails, there are other WordPress notification emails that you may not want to miss.

For instance, if you run a WooCommerce store, then you would want to receive notifications when new order is placed.

Similarly, if you sell an online course or run a membership website, then you may want to receive email alerts when new users sign up.

You would also want to make sure that emails sent to users are delivered. Like forgot password emails, payment receipt emails, or order confirmation notifications.

To send emails, WordPress uses the PHP mail function. This function is easily misused by spammers, and your emails may end up in spam.

To make sure all your important WordPress notification emails reach user’s inbox, you need to use a proper SMTP service to send emails.

This is where WP Mail SMTP plugin comes in. It allows you to use an SMTP service to send all your WordPress notification emails.

You can use it with a paid SMTP service provider as well as a free SMTP service like Gmail combined with the free version of WP Mail SMTP plugin.

For more details, see our guide on How to set up WP Mail SMTP on your WordPress site.

That’s all, we hope this article helped you learn how to disable automatic update email notification in WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on 24 must have WordPress plugins for business websites, and our comparison of the best email marketing services to grow your sales.

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 Disable Automatic Update Email Notification in WordPress appeared first on WPBeginner.

February 09, 2021 at 03:40PM

How to Add a Custom Domain Alias for Your WordPress Landing Page

Do you want to add a custom domain alias for your WordPress landing page?

Instead of installing a separate WordPress website, wouldn’t it be nice if you could use your existing WordPress to make landing pages and point different domains to specific custom landing pages?

In this article, we’ll show you how to easily add a custom domain alias for your WordPress landing page.

Why Add a Custom Domain for a WordPress Landing Page?

Let’s say you have a blog where you publish cooking recipes on a domain name called mycookingrecipes.com. Now you want to sell online courses on your website.

A good way to promote your online courses business would be to have its own marketing website using a different domain name (for e.g. awesomecookingcourse.com).

Now, you can make a separate WordPress website and spend your time and money on that, or you can simply add a custom domain and point it to a landing page on your existing website.

This way you can create an awesome landing page (micro-site) that is highly optimized for conversions. At the same time, you can use the same WordPress installation for creating and selling courses.

Similarly, let’s say you are launching a new product on your WooCommerce store. You want to use a custom domain to promote that product without creating a separate WooCommerce store.

This allows you to save time on website maintenance tasks while keeping your WordPress website costs under control.

Another popular use-case for this solution is marketing agencies. If you’re creating PPC landing pages for clients and managing it through a platform like Unbounce, you can now significantly reduce your bill by doing that all from a single WordPress install while still using clients’ custom domains.

That being said, let’s take a look at how to easily add a custom domain alias to your WordPress landing page.

What Do you Need to Add a Custom Domain Alias for Your WordPress Landing Page?

First, you’ll obviously need a new domain name. We recommend using Domain.com as they are one of the best domain name registrars on the market.

They have competitive pricing and you are free to use your domain name with any WordPress hosting company.

Secondly, you’ll need to make sure that your WordPress hosting company allows you to use multiple domains pointing to the same WordPress website.

Lastly, you’ll need SeedProd. It is the best WordPress page builder plugin on the market with a built-in feature to use a custom domain for any landing page on your website.

Note: You’ll need at least their Pro plan to access the domain mapping feature.

Creating Your Landing Page in WordPress

We will start by creating the landing page on your existing WordPress website.

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

Upon activation, you need to visit SeedProd » Settings page to enter your license key. You can find this information under your account on the SeedProd website.

Next, you need to visit SeedProd » Pages page and then click on the ‘Add New Landing Page’ button.

On the next screen, you’ll be asked to choose a template. SeedProd comes with several professionally designed templates that you can use as a starting point.

Simply click to select the template you want to use. You’ll be asked to provide a name for your landing page and choose a URL slug.

After entering the required information, click on the ‘Save and Start Editing the Page’ button to continue.

This will launch the SeedProd’s drag and drop page builder interface.

The page builder is super easy to use. Simply point and click on any item on the page to edit and change it. You can also add new elements by adding blocks from the left panel.

It comes with all commonly used blocks needed to make any type of landing page. You can also add complete sections by switching to the sections tab.

There are common sections like header, footer, hero image, call to action, and more.

You can change any element on your landing page by changing its properties like fonts, size, colors, background images, and more.

You can also connect your landing page to third-party tools by switching to the ‘Connect’ tab. SeedProd supports all top email marketing platforms, Google Analytics, and over 2000+ other apps via Zapier.

Once you are satisfied with your landing page, you can click on the Save button to publish your landing page.

Adding Custom Domain to Your Landing Page

Now that your landing page is ready. Let’s tell SeedProd that this landing page will be displayed by using a custom domain alias.

To do that, you need to simply edit the page and switch to the ‘Settings’ tab. Ther you’ll find the ‘Custom Domain’ option where you need to switch the toggle to turn ON the custom domain.

Below that, you need to provide the domain name that you want to use.

If your custom domain name has an SSL certificate enabled for it, then you need to switch the force HTTPs option as well.

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

If you tried visiting your landing page now, it will show you an error. That’s because SeedProd is trying to use your custom domain name, but the domain name doesn’t point to your website yet.

Let’s change that.

Setting up Custom Domain Alias

You need to point your custom domain alias to your WordPress hosting provider. You can do that by editing the DNS nameservers under your domain registrar account.

Nameservers are part of the global database of the domain name system. Their job is to tell other computers where to find a domain name.

You can find out which nameservers to use for your hosting company by asking their support team. For instance, Bluehost uses the following nameservers for most websites:

ns1.bluehost.com
ns2.bluehost.com

Once you find out the nameservers used by your hosting provider, you need to write them down as you’ll need this information in the next step.

For the sake of this tutorial, we’ll be showing you how to do that for a domain registered at Domain.com by pointing it to Bluehost. However, the basic instructions are the same for most domain registrars.

First, you need to log in to your Domain.com account. After that, you need to click on the ‘DNS & Nameservers’ link in the left-hand sidebar.

Before you start, make sure the correct domain is selected at the top of the screen. Once you have verified the domain is correct, simply scroll down to the NS records section.

First, click the 3 vertical dots next to ns1.domain.com then select Edit.

You will see a popup where you need to edit the nameserver record. Simply type the new nameserver in the ‘Content’ box then click the ‘Update DNS’ button.

Repeat the same process for the ns2.domain.com nameserver record too. You will see your updated nameservers in the list.

For more details and other domain name registrars please see our guide on how to easily change DNS nameservers.

Adding Custom Domain to Your Hosting Account

Now that your custom domain is pointing to your WordPress hosting provider, the next step is to add it to your hosting account.

We’ll show you how to add your domain name in Bluehost. However, the process is the same for most hosting providers.

Simply login to your hosting account dashboard and then go to Domains » Assign page. Here, you need to enter the domain name that you want to add under ‘Use a domain that is not already associated with your account’.

Bluehost will now check if the domain name points to their nameservers. After that, you can scroll down to ‘Addon vs Parked’ section and select ‘Addon’ option.

Below that, you will be given the option to select the directory (folder) you want to use for this domain. You need to choose the directory where your WordPress site is installed.

If you are unsure, you can simply choose public_html option below.

Finally, click on the ‘Assign this domain’ button to add your domain name.

That’s all, you can now enter your custom domain alias in a new browser tab, and it will automatically show your WordPress landing page.

We hope this article helped you point your custom domain alias to your WordPress landing page. You may also want to see our guide on how to create an email newsletter, and our comparison of the best business phone services to boost your landing page conversions.

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 a Custom Domain Alias for Your WordPress Landing Page appeared first on WPBeginner.

February 08, 2021 at 04:22PM

7 Best WordPress Job Board Plugins and Themes

Are you looking for the best WordPress job board plugin? There are several plugins that you can use to easily create an online job board. This can be a way to publish jobs for your own company or to charge other companies to list their jobs.

In this article, we will go through the best WordPress job board plugins and themes that you can use.

Building a Job Board Website with WordPress

WordPress is currently one of the most popular website builders in the market, powering more than 39% of all websites on the internet. It can be used to build almost any kind of website including a job board website.

There are two types of WordPress websites, which often confuses new users. First, there is WordPress.com, a hosted solution. Second, you have WordPress.org, also called self-hosted WordPress. See our article on WordPress.com vs WordPress.org for a side-by-side comparison.

We strongly recommend using self-hosted WordPress.org. It gives you instant access to all WordPress features and functionality without any restrictions.

To get started, you will need a domain name and website hosting. A domain name is your site’s address on the web, like wpbeginner.com or google.com. Web hosting is the storage for all your website files.

We recommend using Bluehost. They are an officially recommended WordPress hosting provider, and one of the largest web hosting companies in the world.

Bluehost is offering our readers a huge discount on their web hosting package. You also get a free domain and a free SSL certificate.

After you have purchased hosting, follow our step by step guide on how to make a website.

Once you have created your WordPress site, you can install a job board plugin or theme.

Let’s take a look at some of the best WordPress job board plugins and themes that you can use to build a job board website.

1. WP Job Manager

WP Job Manager is an extremely easy to use WordPress job board plugin from Automattic. Simply create new pages, add shortcodes, and you can have a live job portal in minutes. It allows recruiters to register on your website and post their job listings. Job hunters can also manage their listings from a simple dashboard.

You can also use it to make money online with paid job postings through premium add-ons. It also has add-ons to send email alerts, to monetize your job board using WooCommerce, add a resume manager, and more.

For detailed instructions, see our article on how to create a job board in WordPress.

2. WPJobBoard

WPJobBoard is a paid WordPress job board plugin that allows you to add a powerful job search engine to your website. It includes a front-end admin panel for employers and recruitment agencies to submit jobs and resumes. It also includes a resume database and employer portal allowing users to search for the right candidate.

The plugin integrates with all WordPress themes and comes with its own free theme as well. It also allows you to accept payments, offer coupons, discounts, and even membership packages to employers.

3. Job Board Manager

Job Board Manager is another great plugin to add a job board to your WordPress website. It’s user-friendly and comes with a shortcode that you can add to different pages for displaying job listings, adding a new job listing, showing the user dashboard, and more.

Job Board Manager is SEO friendly and uses Schema.org rich snippets markup for job listings.

It comes with free add-ons to add company profiles, locations, widgets, and breadcrumbs. You can also use paid add-ons for WooCommerce paid listings, job alerts, an applications manager, and more.

4. Simple Job Board

Simple Job Board is another easy to use WordPress job site plugin. It’s a simple, lightweight plugin that does not allow employers to create an account on your website or add their own job listings.

Instead, you can use it to manually enter job openings with categories and job types. There are no built-in monetization options in the plugin settings, but you can extend it by adding a simple order form in WordPress.

Simple Job Board allows you to add as many details for each listing as needed. You can display custom job application forms for job listings.

5. Apply Online

Apply Online is a classified ads management plugin that allows users to quickly respond to listings. It allows you to easily add a job board to your website and start accepting applications.

It has powerful features like ad categories, filters, application form fields, email notifications, and more. One disadvantage is that you cannot use it to create a paid job listings website, and you will need to add a membership plugin to create subscription plans or use a contact form plugin to accept orders.

6. JobRoller

JobRoller is a powerful WordPress job board theme. It comes with excellent monetization options allowing you to get paid for job listings. It includes separate sections to create a blog page or add landing pages to your job board website.

It supports both employers and job seeker accounts, includes a resume or CV bank, has a job submission form, and comes with Ajax-powered search / filter features. It has multiple display options and a powerful theme options panel which helps you quickly set up everything.

7. JobEngine

JobEngine is a WordPress app theme designed to create a powerful job board website. It has a special front page template to welcome your website visitors.

Job Engine allows your users to easily create an account and list jobs. You can charge for the job openings on a per job basis or create premium plans. You can also sell featured listings separately. It supports PayPal, Stripe, 2Checkout, and Authorize.net payment gateways.

As a theme, it has lots of color customization choices and design options to control the appearance of your job board. You can customize it on the front end using the built-in page builder. It has multiple sidebars, landing page options, and is translation-ready to support multilingual websites.

We hope this article helped you find the best WordPress job board plugins and themes for your website. You may also want to see our ultimate guide to WordPress SEO to help your job board rank well in Google and other search engines.

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 7 Best WordPress Job Board Plugins and Themes appeared first on WPBeginner.

February 05, 2021 at 05:13PM

Beginner’s Guide: How to Publish a Website in 2021 (Step by Step)

Do you want to publish a website but are worried about technical stuff?

It is a misconception that you need to be a web designer or developer to code a website. There are many tools that make it super easy to put your website online without writing any code.

In this article, we’ll show you how to easily publish a website with step by step instructions.

Using a Website Builder to Publish a Website

Most beginners feel that they need to learn programming and web design skills to publish their websites.

It was true in the early days of the internet. At that time, businesses hired web developers or they had to learn coding skills to publish a website on their own.

However, things have changed over the years and technical skills are no longer a hurdle in publishing your content on the web.

These days, beginners, businesses, and even developers use website builders like WordPress to easily publish websites.

More than 69% of all websites on the internet are built using a website builder or CMS platform. This means, even developers don’t need to write code from scratch to publish a website.

These platforms allow anyone in the world to easily publish a website and put it on the internet. We’ll show you the easiest and most popular way to publish your website (no coding required).

1. Publish a Website with WordPress

WordPress is the most popular website builder on the market with the slogan ‘Democratize Publishing’. It is a free (as in freedom) and open-source software that anyone can use to build any type of website.

Over 39% of all websites on the internet are powered by WordPress.

To get started with WordPress, you’ll need a domain name (e.g. wpbeginner.com) and web hosting (this is where your website files are stored).

We recommend using Bluehost. They’re offering WPBeginner users a free domain name and a generous 60% discount on hosting ($2.75/month).

If you want to try an alternative, then we recommend SiteGround or any of these top WordPress hosting providers.

Next, you’ll need to install WordPress. We have a step by step WordPress installation tutorial that’ll walk you through the installation process.

Once you have installed WordPress, you’ll see the WordPress dashboard which looks like this.

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

SeedProd is the best WordPress page builder plugin. It allows you to quickly publish professionally designed web pages for your website using a simple drag and drop user interface.

It is super easy to use and allows you to quickly publish your website with professional designs that are already optimized for sales, conversions, and SEO.

Alternatives to SeedProd

There are several popular page builder tools for WordPress. You can use any of the following to publish your website without any coding or design skills.

• Beaver Builder – A drag and drop WordPress website builder with advanced theme customizations
• Divi Builder – Another beginner friendly WordPress theme builder with tons of ready made templates
• Elementor – A powerful page builder tool for WordPress suitable for both beginners and developers

We believe WordPress is the most beginner-friendly platform to publish your website.

It is widely used and trusted by millions of beginners as well as big name brands like Microsoft, Facebook, and even US government uses WordPress to power the The White House website.

The best part about WordPress is that there are over 58,000 WordPress plugins that let you add just about any functionality to your website such as online store, contact form, SEO features, and more.

You can think of plugins like addons or apps for your iPhone. They make it easy for even first time users to configure and publish a website that search engines love and is easy to use for your customers.

2. Publish a Website with Contact Contact Website Builder

Constant Contact Website builder is an AI-powered website publishing tool suitable for beginners and small businesses.

If you don’t want to go through the trouble of purchasing hosting, domain name, and installing a web application software, then Constant Contact Website Builder would be the right tool for you.

It is an AI-powered website publishing tool that allows you to simply follow a step by step wizard. You’ll answer some questions and it will generate ideal layouts for you complete with the dummy content.

You can customize it in any way you want using a simple drag and drop interface. Once you’re done, simply click the Publish button.

The best part about using Constant Contact Website Builder is that you don’t need to worry about hosting or updates. You also get reliable support via chat, phone, and email.

If you simply want to publish a small business website or a quick online store, then it gets the job done with very little effort.

Alternatives to Constant Contact Website Builder

There are plenty of other fully-hosted, drag and drop website publishing platforms similar to Constant Contact. Following are a few hosted website builders picked by our expert team.

• Wix – a fast growing website builder platform that has all the features you’d need to build a website.
• Gator by HostGator – Fully hosted website builder by the folks behind HostGator. It comes with an intuitive drag and drop publisher with beautiful templates.
• Domain.com Website Builder – A fully hosted website builder with beautiful templates to quickly publish a website.
• GoDaddy – a large domain name registrar that also offer website builder tools.

All of these platforms are easy to use and allow you to publish your website without writing code.

3. Manually Publish Your Website

For those of you are who are eager to learn and willing to dive into basic HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, then this is the route you can take.

Note: If you don’t have any previous experience with these programming languages, then it may take you a while to get enough basic grip to code a reasonably presentable website and publish it online.

There are several online course platforms for students offering courses on web development for beginners. We recommend checking out the one offered by the CodeAcademy.

You can make a website on your computer, but you will still need a domain name (web address for your site) and website hosting service to publish it online.

All websites on the internet need hosting. It provides you storage on an online web server where you can upload and store your website files.

You can sign up with Bluehost which is one of the biggest hosting companies in the world. They are offering WPBeginner users a generous discount + free domain name + free SSL certificate.

Once you have signed up for a hosting account, you can upload the website files from your computer to your website by using an FTP client.

Alternatively, if your web hosting provider has cPanel, then you can use their built-in file manager for uploading your website in the public_html folder. This saves you from learning how to use the FTP server.

We hope this article helped you learn how to easily publish a website. You may also want to see our guide on how to create a professional business email address, and how to get a virtual business phone number for your 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.

The post Beginner’s Guide: How to Publish a Website in 2021 (Step by Step) appeared first on WPBeginner.

February 04, 2021 at 06:00PM