Wednesday, August 24, 2022

How to Automatically Curate Content in WordPress

Do you want to curate content in WordPress automatically?

Content curation allows you to share content from third-party sources on your WordPress website.

In this article, we’ll show you how to curate content in WordPress automatically.

Automating WordPress content curation

What Is Content Curation and How Can You Do It Correctly?

Content curation simply means collecting and sharing select content from different sources.

This lets users see the best content on a specific topic in one location.

For instance, if you run a membership website, then you can curate a section where users see industry news from third-party sources.

Or perhaps you just want to show the top sports highlights from various social media accounts on your site.

Another scenario could be a WordPress multisite where you want to curate content from all the different sites on the network.

A lot of websites are made specifically for content curation using auto-blogging tools.

Curating Content While Avoiding Copyright Infringements and SEO Penalties

Content curation is done with the intent of sharing content. It does so by giving credit to the original source and not stealing the entire copy of their work.

Basically, you can share an article with a small excerpt and an image. It should link to the original source where users can read the full article.

On the other hand, if you decide to publish an entire article with no attribution to original source, then that would be considered stealing content.

Search engines may decide not to rank your website or consider it low quality due to a lack of original content.

Sources you copy from may file a copyright infringement complaint and get those articles removed from search engines.

It may also lead to serious legal troubles, which may cost you financially.

The Internet is full of spam blogs that use content curation tools to set up auto-blogs and make money through ads. That’s not a great idea considering the potential financial and legal costs, and how unsustainable it is in the long run.

That being said, let’s take a look at how to properly set up automatic content curation in WordPress while avoiding copyright and SEO issues.

Properly Setting up Automatic Content Curation in WordPress

The easiest way to curate content on your WordPress website is to simply use the RSS feeds block.

To use this method, start by editing a post or page where you want to display curated content and adding the RSS block to your content area.

Add RSS feed

In the block settings, you need to enter the RSS feed URL of the content source that you want to display.

WordPress will then fetch that feed and display it on screen. You can use block settings to change its style, display excerpt, author, and date information.

RSS block settings

The downside of this method is that you’ll have to add RSS feed for each source separately.

It will be time-consuming and doesn’t look very pretty to the users.

What if you could automate the whole process, combine different sources, and even categorize / sort them?

Let’s take a look at how to properly automate the whole content curation process.

Using RSS Feeds to Automatically Curate Content in WordPress

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

There’s also a premium version of Feedzy with more features, but for the sake of this tutorial, we will use the free version.

Once the plugin is activated, you need to visit Feedzy » Feed Categories page and click on the Add Feed Category button at the top.

Add feed category

One the next screen, you need to provide a title for this category.

Below that, add the URLs of RSS feeds that you want to include. Use commas between each URL to separate them.

Add feed URLs

After that, click on the Publish button to store your feed category.

Repeat the process if you need to create more categories.

Import Curated Content From Feeds to Your WordPress Website

Feedzy can import blog posts from the feeds to your WordPress blog posts.

This way they will be stored in your WordPress database like regular posts and give you flexibility to do different things with the curated content.

However, if you don’t want to import them to your WordPress website, then you can skip this step.

To import blog posts, simply visit the Feedzy » Import Posts page and click on the New Import button at the top.

Importing posts

First, you need to provide a name for this import. This could be anything that helps you identify this import.

Below that, you can add individual RSS Feeds, or choose one of the feed categories you created earlier.

Prepare to import feeds

Next, scroll down a little to the ‘Map Content’ section.

From here, you can map RSS feed items to WordPress blog post settings.

Map content

For instance, you can choose which category to assign for all imported posts.

You can click on the Insert Tag button to map a Feed element to post element. For instance, you can set Item Description to be used as Post content.

Use item tags to map post settings

Next, scroll down to the General Settings section.

From here, you can choose how many posts you want to import.

General import settings

Finally, click on the Save & Activate Importing button to save your changes.

You will now be redirected to the imports page where you will see the import you just created. Simply click on the Run Now button to start importing posts.

Run import

The plugin will now fetch and import posts and add them to your WordPress website in the background.

Once finished, you’ll need to refresh the page to see the import stats.

Import Finished

Feedzy will now automatically fetch new posts from your content sources and import them to your WordPress website.

Displaying Curated Content in WordPress

Now that you have set up and automated import mechanism for the content you want to curate, the next step is to display it on your website.

There are different ways to display curated content in WordPress via Feedzy feeds.

Method 1. Fetch Content via Feedzy RSS Feeds Block

This method is recommended if you decided not to import content to your WordPress website.

Simply edit the post or page where you want to display the curated content and add the Feedzy RSS Feeds block to your content area.

Display Feedzy RSS Feeds

You can then enter a feed URL that you want to display or choose one of the feed categories you created earlier.

You can then use the block settings panel to choose the number of items, style, and other settings for the feed.

Feedzy feeds block settings

Once you are finished, don’t forget to Save or Publish the post and page.

You can now preview it to see your curated content in action.

Feedzy Feeds block preview

Method 2. Display Imported Content in WordPress

This method is more flexible but would only work if you decided to import content directly into your WordPress website.

Simply edit the post or page where you want to display the curated content. On the post edit screen, add the Latest Posts block to your content area.

Add latest posts block

By default, the block will display your most recent articles in a plain list. You can change that under block settings.

From here, you can choose to show excerpt, featured image, number of items, and more.

Latest Posts block settings

You can also switch from list to gallery view, choose number of columns, or only display posts from a specific category.

For instance, let’s say you mapped all imported content to be added to ‘Industry News’ category. Now you can just display that particular category as your curated content.

Style and sort curated content

Once you are finished, you can Save or Publish your post/page and preview it in a new browser tab.

Here is how it looked on our demo website.

Curated content in gallery view

Using either of these methods will automatically display latest posts from your content sources.

Social Media Content Curation in WordPress

What if you wanted to curate content from social media platforms like YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook?

The easiest way to curate social media content in WordPress is by using Smash Balloon.

Smash Balloon is the best social media plugin for WordPress. It allows you to display social media feeds on your WordPress website beautifully.

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

Smash Balloon comes with separate plugins for different social media feeds.

You can also buy the ‘All Access Bundle’, which includes all their plugins + social wall plugin that can combine different social feeds into one.

Upon activation, you can go ahead and start connecting your social media accounts and setting up feeds you would like to display.

Adding social feeds

Follow the on-screen instructions to set up each feed.

You can connect to your social media profiles, third-party sources, search terms, hashtags, playlists, and more.

Depending on what you are trying to fetch, you may be asked to connect to your social media account and give Smash Balloon permission to access your data.

Connect social media profile

Once you have set up your social media feed, you can copy the shortcode from the feeds page.

Copy shortcode

Next, you need to add the shortcode to a post, page, or sidebar widget.

You can now visit your website to see your social feed in action.

Single feed displayed

You can also create a social wall to combine different feeds and display them as one.

Simply go to the Smash Balloon » Create a Social Wall page and copy the shortcode shown on screen.

Copy the social wall shortcode

You can now add this shortcode to any WordPress post, page, or sidebar widget where you want to display your curated social feed.

Here is how it looked on our test website.

Combined social wall preview

For more details, see our tutorial on how to add social media feeds in WordPress.

We hope this article helped you learn how to curate content in WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on ways to make money online from your curated content blog or see our WordPress SEO guide to optimize 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 Automatically Curate Content in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.


August 24, 2022 at 04:05PM

Tuesday, August 23, 2022

How to Build an Amazon Affiliate Store Using WordPress

Do you want to build an Amazon affiliate store using WordPress?

An Amazon affiliate store allows you to sell products from Amazon as an affiliate and earn money on each sale. Due to the low startup and running costs, an Amazon affiliate store is one of the easiest ways to start a new business and make money online.

In this article, we will show you how to easily build an Amazon affiliate store using WordPress. We will also share our expert tips on how to increase your Amazon affiliate earnings.

How to build an Amazon affiliate store using WordPress

What is an Amazon Affiliate Store?

An Amazon affiliate store is an online store that promotes products that are available to buy on Amazon.

Creating an Amazon affiliate store is very different to running your own online store, where you’ll need to source products, manage orders and refunds, ship products, and keep track of inventory. This can take a lot of time, effort, and money.

When you build an affiliate store, you don’t have to worry about any of these things. You can simply add some affiliate links to your website, and Amazon will handle the rest.

When visitors arrive at your website, they’ll see all the different products they can buy on Amazon using your unique affiliate links.

If a visitor clicks on one of your affiliate links and then buys this product on the Amazon website, you’ll earn money from that sale. This is known as an affiliate commission and it’s a great way to make money online blogging with WordPress.

Amazon affiliate stores are popular because of the low startup and running costs.

Amazon also sells a huge range of products. By creating an Amazon affiliate store, you’ll get access to over 75 million different products.

With that in mind, you should have no problems finding products that your visitors will be interested in buying, no matter whether you start a food blog, a photography website, a fashion blog, or any other kind of site.

However, you can’t add Amazon affiliate links to any sites that are mainly aimed at children under 13.

With that being said, let’s see how you can build an Amazon affiliate store using WordPress. If you prefer to jump straight to a particular step then you can use the links below.

Step 1. Getting Started With WooCommerce and WordPress

There are lots of different WordPress eCommerce plugins that you can use to build an Amazon affiliate store, but we recommend using WooCommerce because it’s powerful, flexible, and free.

WooCommerce is also the most popular eCommerce plugin on the market and powers millions of online stores all around the world.

Before you start building your WordPress website, just be aware that there are two types of WordPress software. To get started, you will need to be using the WordPress.org platform (see the difference between WordPress.com vs WordPress.org).

You will also need a WordPress hosting account and a domain name.

When you promote Amazon products on your affiliate site, Amazon is responsible for processing the customer’s credit card details. However, at some point you may want to expand your business and start selling your own products. These can be physical products or even digital downloads such as ebooks.

With that in mind, it’s a good idea to buy a SSL certificate, so you can securely accept credit card payments on your WordPress site in the future.

A domain name typically costs $14.99 per year and hosting costs start from $7.99 per month.

The price of an SSL certificate can vary depending on where you buy the certificate. However, as an estimate you can expect to pay anywhere between $50-200/year for an SSL certificate.

That is a lot of expense for a new affiliate business.

Thankfully, Bluehost, an official WordPress and WooCommerce recommended hosting provider, has agreed to offer our readers a free domain name, a free SSL certificate, and over 60% off web hosting.

Basically, you can start an Amazon affiliate business for $2.75 / month.

Note: Bluehost’s starter plan is a great choice for any Amazon affiliate store. However, if you want to sell your own products and services as well, then you want to take a look at our pick of the best WooCommerce hosting providers.

After buying your Bluehost package, you’ll need to install WordPress and choose a theme. For step by step instructions, see our guide on how to start a WordPress blog.

Once you’ve installed WordPress, you can log into the WordPress dashboard by going to example.com/wp-admin/ in your browser. Just replace “example.com” with your own domain.

Here, simply type in the username and password you created, and then click on ‘Log In.’

The WordPress login page

You’re now in your WordPress dashboard, ready to start building your Amazon affiliate store.

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

As soon as you activate WooCommerce, it will launch a setup wizard where you can type in an address for your store, the industry where your store operates, and the type of products you plan to sell.

Since we want to create an Amazon affiliate store, you don’t need to worry about configuring your WooCommerce settings. With that in mind, you can close the setup wizard by clicking on the ‘Skip setup store details’ link.

Setting up your WooCommerce eCommerce plugin

For step by step instructions on how to configure the WooCommerce settings, see our guide to WooCommerce.

Step 2. Sign up to the Amazon Associates Program

Now you’ve installed WordPress and WooCommerce, you’ll need to sign up to the Amazon Associates program.

Amazon automatically accepts everyone who applies to their affiliate program. However, the Amazon guidelines state that you must drive at least three qualified sales in the first 180 days of your application.

This means that at least three people need to click on your affiliate links and then make a purchase on the Amazon website. If you don’t meet this target within 180 days, then Amazon will remove you from their program and you will no longer earn money from your Amazon affiliate links.

With that in mind, you may want to spend some time increasing your blog traffic and fine-tuning your website’s SEO before applying to the Amazon affiliate program. If you need help, then please see our ultimate SEO guide for beginners.

When you’re ready to become an Amazon affiliate, simply head over to the Amazon Affiliate program website and click on the ‘Sign Up’ button.

The Amazon Associates affiliate program

At this point, you’ll be asked to log into your Amazon account.

There’s no need to create a special Amazon affiliate account, so you can go ahead and type in the email address and password for your existing Amazon account.

Registering for Amazon associates

If you don’t have an Amazon account, then click on ‘Create your Amazon account.’ Amazon will now guide you through the process of creating an account, step by step.

By default, Amazon will send all payments to the primary address for this account. If you’re happy to go ahead and use the default payee, then make sure that ‘The payee listed above’ is selected and then click on the ‘Next’ button.

Becoming an Amazon affiliate

If you want to use a different payee, then click on the ‘Someone else’ radio button.

You can then type in the name and contact phone number for this new payee, and click on the ‘Next’ button.

Adding a new payee to your Amazon associates account

On the next screen, you can type in the website domain where you plan to use your Amazon affiliate links, and then click on ‘Add.’

If you plan to advertise Amazon’s products on more than one domain, then simply repeat the same process described above.

Registering a domain with Amazon associates

After adding all the domains where you plan to use Amazon’s affiliate links, click on ‘Next.’

On the next screen, you’ll need to confirm that your website isn’t mainly aimed at children under 13.

Assuming this is the case, click to select the ‘No’ radio button and then click on ‘Confirm.’

Signing up to the Amazon Associates program

The next step is creating your Amazon Associates profile. To start, type the ID that you would like to use into the ‘What is your preferred Associates Store ID?’ field.

Amazon uses this ID to track and record your commissions. The ID will also be included in your Amazon affiliate links. With that in mind, it’s a good idea to type in the name of your website or company.

Registering as an Amazon affiliate

Amazon will then automatically create an ID based on your preferred ID.

After typing in this information, check that the ‘Your Website List’ box is showing all the domains where you plan to add your Amazon affiliate links.

Once you’ve done that, you’ll need to enter some information about your site. This includes the topics you cover on your website, and the kind of products you plan to promote on your Amazon affiliate store.

Choosing products for your Amazon affiliate store

Amazon will also ask for some basic analytics information such as how many people visit your site every month.

If you’re not already using Google Analytics to record this information, then see our step by step guide on how to install Google Analytics in WordPress for beginners.

Once you’ve entered all this information, click on the ‘Finish’ button.

That’s it. You’re now registered as an Amazon affiliate.

Step 3. How to Find the Best Products for Your Amazon Affiliate Site

Once you’ve signed up to the Amazon Associates program, you’re ready to start creating affiliate links.

You can get affiliate links for most of the physical and digital products sold on the Amazon store. However, there are some products that you can’t get affiliate links for, such as any products sold by Amazon Pharmacy.

Let’s find some products to promote on your new Amazon affiliate store.

To start, sign into your Amazon Associates account. If you scroll to the bottom of the screen, you’ll see some products that Amazon recommends you add to your website.

These recommendations are based on the products your site’s visitors have previously purchased or shown an interest in purchasing.

Amazon Affiliate's recommended products

To add one of these products to your site, simply hover your mouse over the product’s image.

Then, click on the Get Link button when it appears.

How to get an Amazon affiliates link

On the next page, click on the Text Only tab.

Once you’ve done that, click on the ‘Short link’ radio button. Amazon will now show the affiliate link that you can use to add this product to your website.

How to get an Amazon affiliate link for WordPress

Another option is to simply visit the normal Amazon store while logged into your Amazon affiliate account.

Along the top of the screen, you’ll see a new Amazon Associates SiteStripe banner.

How to get an Amazon affiliate link for your website

You can now simply browse the Amazon store as normal. When you find a product that you want to add to your Amazon affiliate store, simply click on the ‘Get Link: Text’ button in the SiteStripe banner.

In the popup that appears, click on the ‘Short link’ radio button. You will now see an affiliate URL for this product.

Getting an Amazon affiliate link for your online store

To help you get sales, it’s important to find products that your visitors will be interested in buying. Here, a good analytics solution for WordPress can help you learn more about the people visit your site, so you can identify the products they may want to buy.

It’s also a good idea to to think about the kind of content you’re publishing, and the content you plan to publish. For example, if you’re creating a fitness blog, then your target audience might be interested in buying gym equipment or health supplements.

Meanwhile, if you’re building an animals and pet related website then you may want to promote products from Amazon’s ‘Pet Supplies’ category.

No matter what products you choose, once you have an affiliate link you’re ready to start adding products to your Amazon affiliate store.

Step 4. Adding Amazon Affiliate Products in WooCommerce

WooCommerce is the best Amazon affiliate store plugin for WordPress. It allows you to import products that are for sale on third-party websites, and then show these products as part of your own online store.

In this way, you can deliver a seamless experience to the people who visit your website.

To start importing products from Amazon, go to the Products » Add New page.

Creating a new WooCommerce product

First, you need to type in a title for the product that you want to promote on your website.

Then, type a detailed description into the post editor.

Adding a product title and description

Once you’ve done that, scroll to the ‘Product data’ box.

Here, open the dropdown that shows ‘Simple product’ by default and click on ‘External/Affiliate product.’

Adding an affiliate product in WooCommerce

You can now either type in or paste the Amazon affiliate URL for this product.

Just because a product costs $10 now, doesn’t mean it will cost $10 forever. Amazon can change the price of its products at any point.

With that in mind, you’ll want to leave both the ‘Regular price’ and ‘Sale price’ fields blank. Your visitors can then check Amazon for the current price.

Next, scroll to the ‘Product short description’ section. Here, you can type in a short description that will appear on your affiliate store’s front page, product category pages, and in the search results.

Adding a short product description in WooCommerce

To encourage visitors to click your link and buy the product, it’s a good idea to add an engaging product image.

To do this, click on the ‘Set product image’ link.

Adding a product image to your Amazon affiliate store

You can then either choose an image from the WordPress media library or upload a file from your computer.

Another option is to create an image gallery by clicking on ‘Add product gallery images.’

When you’re happy with all the information you’ve entered, it’s time to click on ‘Publish.’ Now if you visit the shop page of your affiliate store, you’ll see your Amazon product live.

An Amazon affiliate store built with WooCommerce and WordPress

If you click on the ‘Buy product’ button then the affiliate link will take you to the product’s page on Amazon’s website.

You can now add more Amazon products to your affiliate store by following the same process described above.

Step 5. Customizing Your WordPress Amazon Affiliate Store

Themes control how your Amazon affiliate store looks including the colors, layout, and fonts. Your theme is the face of your online store and can encourage visitors to click on your affiliate links.

By default, WordPress comes with a basic design that has limited WooCommerce support.

The good news is that there are lots of different free and premium WooCommerce-ready themes that you can choose from. To get more sales, you’ll want to choose a theme that looks good, compliments your products, and has exactly the features you need.

To help you make the right choice, we’ve put together a list of the best WooCommerce WordPress themes. You may also want to look at our expert pick of the best WordPress themes for affiliate marketing.

Once you’ve chosen a theme, you can see our guide on how to install a WordPress theme.

Another option is to create your own custom theme using SeedProd. It’s the best page builder plugin for WooCommerce and is used by over 100 million websites.

You can use SeedProd to create a completely custom WordPress theme for your store without having to write a single line of code.

SeedProd even comes with special WooCommerce blocks that you can use to show off your Amazon affiliate products. For example, you can use the Products Grid block to show multiple affiliate products on any page in a nice layout.

SeedProd's WooCommerce blocks

As well as these special WooCommerce blocks, SeedProd also comes with ready-made templates including designs that you can use to create a landing page with WordPress.

For more details, check out our guide on how to create a custom WordPress theme.

You can also add powerful new features to your eCommerce site using plugins.

There are tons of free and premium WooCommerce plugins that you can choose from. To help you find the best plugins for your Amazon affiliate store, check out our expert pick of the best WooCommerce plugins.

Resources to Grow Your Amazon Affiliate Store

Now that you have set up your Amazon affiliate store, it’s time to focus on growing your new affiliate business.

Fortunately, there are many tools, plugins, and resources that can help you get more sales and make money from your Amazon affiliate store.

Let’s start with SEO. As a general rule, the higher your content appears in relevant search engine results, the more visitors you’ll get to your website. This means more potential clicks on your affiliate links.

For a step by step guide on how to fine-tune your Amazon affiliate store for the search engines, please see our WooCommerce SEO guide.

You may also want to install AIOSEO. AIl in One SEO is the best SEO plugin for WordPress and can help you optimize your affiliate site for the search engines.

Once you’re getting more visitors from search engines such as Google, you can check out the best affiliate marketing tools and plugins for WordPress.

By tracking your visitors you can understand what’s working on your Amazon affiliate store, and the areas that you can fine-tune to get more sales.

MonsterInsights is the best Google Analytics plugin for WordPress. It helps you find your best selling Amazon affiliate products as well as products that aren’t doing so well.

You can then make changes to your store based on real data. For more information, see our tutorial on how to track WooCommerce users in WordPress.

Abandoned carts are a huge problem for eCommerce stores. For an affiliate store, this means people will look at the products you’re promoting, but they won’t buy them. In this way, abandoned carts directly affect your affiliate earnings.

To help reduce your cart abandonment rates, we have a detailed guide on how to recover abandoned carts and boost your commissions.

Above all, make sure you continue to add new products to your Amazon affiliate store, post helpful reviews, and use content marketing tools to get more people to visit your website.

FAQs About Running an Amazon Affiliate Store Using WordPress

Since we first published this guide, we have got lots of questions from our readers about how to run a successful Amazon affiliate store using WordPress.

Here are the answers to some of those most frequently asked questions.

1. Can I add products from other affiliate networks?

Yes, you can add products from other affiliate networks to your website. This can be a great way to earn more money, and create a more diverse and robust affiliate business.

2. I live outside the United States, can I join Amazon Affiliate program?

Yes, you can. Currently, the Amazon Associates program is available in over 17 countries. However, every country has its own program and you’ll need to apply separately to each program that you want to join.

3. Do I need to disclose my affiliate partnership?

Yes, you do. Amazon’s program policies and the US laws require you to disclose that you’ll earn a commission when users buy a product.

It is not just limited to Amazon, all websites that use advertising or affiliate marketing to make money need to show a disclaimer. For an example, see our WPBeginner’s disclaimer page.

To meet Amazon’s requirements, you must include a legally compliant disclosure along with your affiliate links, and identify your site as an Amazon associate.

You must also include the following statement on your website:

“As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.”

4. Can I promote Amazon products without creating an affiliate store?

Yes, you can. For example, if you run a blog, then you can add affiliate links to your blog posts. If you do this, then you won’t need to install WooCommerce.

5. What are the Amazon affiliate commission rates?

The amount of commission you get changes depending on the product category. Commission rates can also vary depending on your location.

For a detailed look at the commission rates, you can see the Associates Program Standard Commission Income Statement for your location. For example, the Income Statement for the United States shows that you can expect to earn between 20% and 1% commission depending on the product category.

6. Can I promote Amazon services?

Yes. You’ll typically get a fixed fee every time someone signs up to an Amazon service using your affiliate link. This includes services such as the Prime Video Free Trial.

7. What is the difference between Amazon Associates and Amazon Affiliates?

While they’re very similar, the Amazon Associates program and Amazon Affiliates are two slightly different things.

You become an Amazon Affiliate by signing up to the Amazon Associates program. If you’ve been following along with this guide, then you’re now enrolled in the Amazon Associates program, which makes you an Amazon Affiliate.

8. How much does the Amazon Affiliate program cost?

It’s free to join the Amazon Associates program.

There is no minimum number of sales you need to make before you can start earning commission. However, you will need to refer at least three qualified sales within the first 180 days of becoming an Amazon affiliate.

9. How much does it cost to build an Amazon Affiliate store?

You can start with Bluehost for $2.75 per month and use the free WooCommerce plugin to limit your costs. There are also plenty of free WooCommerce-ready themes that can help you create a professional-looking Amazon affiliate website for minimum cost.

For more information, see our article on how much it costs to build a WordPress website.

We hope this article helped you start an Amazon affiliate store using WordPress. You may also want to see our ultimate step by step WordPress security guide and our expert pick of the best live chat software for small businesses.

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

The post How to Build an Amazon Affiliate Store Using WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.


August 23, 2022 at 03:14PM

Monday, August 22, 2022

How to Automatically Tag Your WordPress Posts and Save Time

Do you want to save time by automatically tagging your WordPress posts?

Tags help websites visitors easily find the content on your website. However, making sure all your content is properly tagged can be time-consuming, especially if you’ve already published lots of content without adding tags.

In this article, we will show you how you can automatically tag your WordPress posts.

How to automatically tag your WordPress posts and save time

Why Automatically Tag Your WordPress Posts?

Tags are one of the easiest ways to organize posts on your WordPress website.

While categories are meant to group your posts broadly, you can use tags to describe the specific details of a post.

For example, your WordPress blog might have a ‘Sports’ category. You can add detailed tags such as ‘football,’ ‘UEFA Champions League,’ and ‘European cup’ to help users find specific topics in that category.

To learn more, see our in-depth comparison of categories vs tags.

Adding tags to your posts can take a lot of time, especially if you use lots of different tags on your website.

You may also miss opportunities to add a relevant tag, which can stop visitors from finding what they’re looking for on your site.

With that in mind, let’s see how you can tag your posts automatically.

How to Automatically Tag Your WordPress Posts and Save Time

The easiest way to tag your WordPress posts automatically is by using TaxoPress.

If a word or phrase in a new blog post’s title or content matches one of your tags, TaxoPress will add that tag to the post.

Let’s look at an example. On your website, imagine you have several tags including recipe, chocolate, and pasta.

If you publish a new post with the title ‘Best Chocolate Cake Recipe,’ then TaxoPress will see two matches in the title and automatically add the tags ‘recipe’ and ‘chocolate.’

To get started with automatically tagging your posts, you’ll need to install and activate the

TaxoPress plugin. If you need more help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin for more details.

In this tutorial, we’re using the free version of TaxoPress which limits you to a single rule for tagging posts. This is enough to automatically tag all your WordPress posts. However, if you want to create multiple rules to use in different ways, then you’ll need to upgrade to TaxoPress Pro.

With that said, your first task upon activation is to create a rule that will automatically tag your WordPress posts. This rule is called an ‘Auto Term.’

To get started, go to TaxoPress » Auto Terms in your WordPress admin area. After that, you need to click on the ‘Add New Auto Terms’ button.

Adding a new auto term with TaxoPress

Next, you will need to type in a title for the new auto term.

The title is just for your reference, so you can use anything you want.

Adding new auto terms to TaxoPress

TaxoPress can automatically tag more than just posts. It can also tag images and pages.

For this article, we will only automatically tag WordPress posts, so just check the ‘Posts’ box.

Tagging WordPress posts automatically

Next, you can open the ‘Taxonomy’ dropdown.

In the list that appears, click on ‘Tags (post_tag).’

Automatically tagging posts in WordPress

When searching for content to tag, TaxoPress will scan a post’s title and content by default. You can change that in the ‘Find term in:’ dropdown and select ‘Post Content’ or ‘Post Title’ only.

Once you’re done selecting options, go ahead and click on the ‘Sources’ tab.

This is where we’ll select the tags that we want to use in this auto term.

Setting a source for your automatic tags

By default, TaxoPress will pull from every tag you’ve ever created on your site. For some sites, that will be way too many.

You can set which ones the plugin has access to by checking the ‘Use only some terms in the selected taxonomy’ box.

Use specific WordPress tags only

Now, in the ‘Choose the terms to use’ field, start typing in the name of a tag.

When the right tag shows up, click on it. Repeat this for all the tags you want to include in this auto term.

Automatically add tags to your WordPress posts

Once you’ve done all that, click on the ‘Options’ tab.

This screen is where you can fine-tune the automatic tagging process.

The TaxoPress 'Options' tab

By default, TaxoPress will add tags for partial matches. This means that if you have a post on your food blog called ‘The best chocolate cake recipes’, then the ‘recipe’ tag will be added even though ‘recipes’ is not an exact match.

If you only want TaxoPress to add tags when there’s an exact match, go ahead and check the ‘Whole words’ box.

Enabling matches for whole words

When you’re happy with the settings, click on the ‘Save Auto Terms’ button.

Now, every time you publish a new post in WordPress, TaxoPress will check the post’s content and title. If it finds a match, then it will add one or more tags to the post automatically.

Save your TaxoPress auto terms

How to Automatically Tag Your Published WordPress Posts

By default, TaxoPress will tag new posts as you publish them. Additionally, the plugin will try to add missing tags when you update an existing post.

TaxoPress can also tag posts that you’ve already published on your site, using the same auto terms you’ve created using the process above.

To get started, go to TaxoPress » Auto Terms. You can then click on the auto term we created earlier.

Editing your TaxoPress auto terms

Once you’ve done that, click on the ‘Existing Content’ tab.

You will now see all of the settings and rules that you previously created.

Automatically tag your published posts

If you have lots of content on your site, then it may take TaxoPress a long time to process it all. While the plugin is tagging existing posts, your site may run slower.

To speed up WordPress performance, it’s a good idea to configure TaxoPress to scan your posts in smaller batches with a longer interval between them.

By default, TaxoPress will scan your content in batches of 20 posts every 10 seconds. You can decrease the number of posts in a batch by simply typing a lower number into the ‘Limit per batches’ field.

Changing TaxoPress' batch settings

You can then increase the time between batches by typing a higher number into the ‘Batches wait time’ field.

Another option is to only scan posts that were published within a certain timeframe.

For example, to only tag posts that were published within the last 6 months, simply open the ‘Limit Auto Terms, based on published date’ dropdown and select ‘6 months ago.’

When you’re happy with these settings, you’re ready to scan the content that’s already live on your website.

To start the process, simply click on the ‘Add Auto Terms to existing content’ button.

How to automatically tag published posts

Once the plugin has finished automatically tagging existing content, you’ll see an ‘All done’ message onscreen. Below that, TaxoPress will show how many posts it checked and how many tags it added to your WordPress posts.

We hope this article helped you learn how to automatically tag your WordPress posts and save time. You can also go through our guide on the best contact form plugins for WordPress and how to create automated workflows with Uncanny Automator.

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 Automatically Tag Your WordPress Posts and Save Time first appeared on WPBeginner.


August 22, 2022 at 04:30PM

Saturday, August 20, 2022

How to Add Underline and Justify Text Buttons in WordPress

Do you need to underline or justify text in WordPress?

WordPress used to have both justify and underline text buttons in the visual editor. However, they have been removed and are no longer available.

In this article, we’ll show you how to add underline and justify text buttons in WordPress.

How to Add Underline and Justify Text Buttons in WordPress

Why Add Underline and Justify Text Buttons in WordPress?

Would you like to restore the missing underline and justify buttons when editing posts and pages on your WordPress website? These buttons were removed from the post editor in WordPress 4.7, but luckily there’s a way to bring them back.

However, there are a few reasons you should consider not underlining and justifying text on your website.

First, underlined text can look like links, and your users may become frustrated when what they think is a link doesn’t work. Also, justified text can make your content harder to read, especially on small screens.

With that being said, let’s take a look at how to add underline and justify text buttons in WordPress. We’ll show you how to do this for the block and classic editor. We’ll also show you how to underline and justify text using keyboard shortcuts, without the need for a button.

Underlining and Justifying Text Using Keyboard Shortcuts

You don’t need a plugin or toolbar icons to underline or justify text in WordPress. Instead, you can simply use a keyboard shortcut.

To underline text, just select the text you want to underline in WordPress and press Ctrl+U on Windows or Command+U on Mac. That’s it. This keyboard shortcut will work with both the block and classic editor.

There’s another keyboard shortcut for justifying text. Simply select the text and press Shift+Alt+J in Windows or Command+Option+J on Mac and your text will be justified.

However, the keyboard combination for justifying text will only work with the classic editor. If you use the block editor, then you will not be able to justify text with a keyboard shortcut and should use the plugin method below.

Adding Underline and Justify Text Buttons to the Block Editor

First, you’ll need to install and activate the Gutenberg Block Editor Toolkit – EditorsKit plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, the plugin will make underline, justify, and other formatting features available when using the WordPress block editor.

These additional icons can’t be added directly to the block editor’s toolbar, but you will find the extra options when clicking the ‘Displays more block tools’ down arrow on the toolbar.

Access Underline and Justify from the 'Displays More Block Tools' Icon

To underline text, you should first select the text, then click the ‘Displays more block tools’ down arrow, and then click on ‘Underline’ from the drop down menu.

To justify a paragraph, first make sure that your cursor is in that paragraph. Then click the ‘Displays more block tools’ down arrow and select ‘Justify’ from the drop down menu.

Adding Underline and Justify Text Buttons to the Classic Editor

If you are using the classic editor, then you should start by installing and activating the Advanced Editor Tools plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you will need to navigate to Settings » Advanced Editor Tools (TinyMCE Advanced) in your admin menu. Next, you need to click on the ‘Classic Editor (TinyMCE)’ tab at the top of the page.

You will notice a preview of the WordPress classic editor. Below the preview, it will show you all the unused buttons.

Now you need to drag and drop underline and justify text buttons from ‘Unused Buttons’ box to the post editor.

Drag the Unused Buttons You Need to the Classic Editor's Toolbar

When you have finished, make sure you click the ‘Save Changes’ button at the top of the screen to store the new settings.

Now when you are creating or editing a WordPress blog post or page, the new formatting buttons will be available on the classic editor’s toolbar.

Underline and Justify Buttons Are Now Available on the Classic Editor's Toolbar

We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to add underline and justify text buttons in WordPress. You may also want to learn why WordPress is free, or check out our list of must have plugins to grow your site.

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 Underline and Justify Text Buttons in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.


August 20, 2022 at 04:03PM

Friday, August 19, 2022

How To Efficiently Manage Post Series in WordPress

Are you looking for a better way to manage post series in WordPress?

If you’re working on an online novel or simply want to cover a broad industry topic, then creating a long post may not work for you. A post series allows you to dig deep into a particular topic and encourage readers to keep coming back for more.

In this article, we’ll show you how to efficiently manage post series in WordPress.

How To Efficiently Manage Post Series in WordPress

Why Publish Post Series in WordPress?

If you are writing about a complex topic on your WordPress website, then it is often better to write a series of posts that break the topic up into smaller chunks than to write one long post.

For example, our ultimate guide to speed up WordPress is a roundup of a series of posts we published on different ways to improve your site’s performance.

When you write a big series of posts like that, it can be tough to help your readers navigate the series and find all the information in the right order.

You could simply add a paragraph before each post telling your users that the post is part of a series and then list the rest of the posts at the bottom. But then you would have to manually update every post each time you publish a new article in the series.

Another solution would be to create a custom taxonomy called ‘Series’, but this also creates more work, such as creating or customizing template files.

Luckily, there is a WordPress plugin that will help you manage a series of articles. Let’s take a look at how to efficiently manage post series in WordPress.

How to Efficiently Manage Post Series in WordPress

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

There is a premium version with more features, but for this tutorial, we’ll use the free plugin.

As soon as the plugin is activated, you will be able to create new series and add posts to it.

Creating a New Series

To create your first series, you’ll need to head over to the Posts » Manage Series page. This looks similar to the page you see when adding new categories.

Once there, you will need to type a name, slug, and description for the series. When you’re finished, you’ll need to click the ‘Add New Series’ button at the bottom of the page.

Add a New Series in WordPress

You’ll notice that the new series is added to the list on the left.

Adding Posts to the Series

Now you can add some blog posts to the series. To start, simply create a new post or edit an old one.

In the settings panel on the right of the screen, you’ll notice a new section called ‘Series’. Simply click the button next to the series you created to add this post.

Add a New Post to Your Series

Make sure you click the ‘Publish’ or ‘Update’ button at the top of the page to push the post live as part of the series.

Next, you should add any other existing posts to the series. As you continue to write new articles, simply repeat this step to add them to the series.

Customizing the Order of Posts in the Series

By default, your articles will be displayed in the order you add them to the series. However, you can customize the post order by visiting the Posts » Publish Series page in your WordPress admin area.

Here you will see all the series you have created, with columns to show how many articles are published, unpublished, and scheduled in each. You will also see links to update the post order, publish or unpublish all, and view the series.

Click the 'Update Order' Link to Reorder Your Posts

To change the order of the posts, you will need to click the ‘Update order’ link. You will now see a list of all the posts in that series.

You can reorder the articles by dragging the post names up or down the list. When you move a post, the ‘Current Part’ number will be updated automatically to reflect the new order.

Drag and Drop Your Posts to Place Them in the Right Order

When you’re happy with the order of the posts, make sure you click the ‘Update Order’ button to store your settings.

Previewing Your Post Series

Now you can visit your WordPress blog to see how your new post series looks. Simply view a post that is part of the series.

At the top of the article, there will be a message that the post is part of a series. You will also see a list of all posts in the series and can easily navigate between them by clicking a link.

Post Order Preview

You will also find links at the bottom of the article to navigate to the next and previous article in the series.

We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to efficiently manage post series in WordPress. You may also want to learn how to track visitors to your WordPress site, or check out our list of must have plugins to grow your site.

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 Efficiently Manage Post Series in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.


August 19, 2022 at 02:03PM