Thursday, January 26, 2023

How to Display Popular Posts by Day, Week, and Month in WordPress

Do you want to display your most popular posts by day, week, month, or even all-time in WordPress?

Popular posts allow your visitors to quickly discover your top content, which helps you increase user engagement, pageviews, and conversions.

In this article, we will show you how to display popular posts by day, week, month, and all time in WordPress.

Display popular posts by day week month and all time in WordPress

Why Display Popular Posts in WordPress?

When you start a WordPress blog, you don’t have much content, which allows you to display selected posts in a sidebar widget manually.

However, as your website grows, you will notice that older articles on your website don’t get much exposure. By showcasing your top content, you allow new users to quickly discover the best articles on your website. This boosts user engagement on your website and increases your page views.

Now the problem is that if you are showing your all-time popular articles, then a very limited set of articles get repeated exposure. You can diversify it by displaying popular posts by day, week, or month as well.

Let’s take a look at how to easily display popular posts in WordPress by day, week, month, or all time.

Add Popular Posts by Day, Week, and Month in WordPress

The best way to show popular posts in WordPress is using MonsterInsights. It’s the best Analytics plugin for WordPress and helps you set up Google Analytics without editing code.

For this tutorial, we’ll use the MonsterInsights Pro version because it lets you automatically show top posts from Google Analytics.

There is also a MonsterInsights Lite version that’s free and also includes the Popular Posts feature, but does not connect to GA.

First, you’ll need to install and activate the MonsterInsights plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you will be directed toward the MonsterInsights welcome screen. Go ahead and click the ‘Launch the Wizard’ button.

Launch setup wizard

After that, you can follow the onscreen instructions to configure Google Analytics. For more details, please see our guide on how to install Google Analytics in WordPress.

With MonsterInsights, you can also set up a Google Analytics 4 property. This is the new version of Analytics. The previous Universal Analytics version will sunset on July 1, 2023, and you won’t be able to track website data after this date. That’s why now is the best time to switch to Google Analytics 4 and protect your data.

Now that you’ve added Google Analytics to your website, the next step is to go to Insights » Popular Posts from your WordPress dashboard.

MonsterInsights lets you show your top articles within the content, in the sidebar as a widget, and display popular products if you have an online store.

For this tutorial, we’ll use ‘Inline Popular Posts’ and show featured articles within the content of other blog posts.

Popular post in MonsterInsights

The plugin comes with prebuilt themes, and you can see a preview of how your popular posts will appear on the website.

Once you’ve chosen a theme, simply scroll down to see more customization options. For instance, you can change the title color and size, edit the color of the label and background, and more.

Preview of popular post and customization options

Show Popular Posts by Day, Week, Month, and All Time in WordPress

Next, you’ll need to choose how the plugin will determine your popular posts. Let’s see how you can show posts by day, week, month, and all time.

Displaying Popular Posts by Day, Week, and All Time

In MonsterInsights, you can manually select which posts appear in the Popular Posts widget.

This is useful when displaying top content from a specific day or week. Plus, you can also show your all-time best articles anywhere on your website.

Simply select the ‘Curated’ option under Sort By section and then choose the articles you want to feature.

These could be your evergreen content, weekly announcement or news, trending topics from a particular day, and more.

Just begin typing the name of the posts you want to include, and then select them as their name pops up in the field. To continuously display your top posts of all time, you simply need to select them, and as long as ‘Curated’ is chosen, they will appear as popular posts.

Select curated articles to feature

However, if you want to display popular posts by the day or the week, you will have to manually change some of these curated posts so they stay fresh for your audience.

For instance, if you are featuring different WooCommerce products weekly, you will need to choose which posts are listed under ‘Curated’ each week.

Displaying Popular Posts by Month and All Time

In MonsterInsights, you get multiple options to automatically show popular posts by month and all time.

First, you can show your most commented pages from the last 30 days by selecting the ‘Comments’ option. The plugin will randomly rotate blog posts with the highest comments and show them in the popular post widget.

Sort your popular posts

Similarly, MonsterInsights also lets you automatically display popular posts based on social shares using the ‘SharedCount’ option.

It integrates with the SharedCount and helps you display your all-time most shared articles. This way, people can easily find content that’s driving social engagement.

Show popular posts by SharedCount

MonsterInsights also offers an option to show the top 5 posts from Google Analytics in the last 30 days. This way you can show your top-performing content from last month or all-time anywhere on your site.

First, you’ll need to select the ‘Curated’ option under the ‘Sort By’ section.

After that, you can enable the ‘Add Top 5 Posts from Google Analytics’ option under the Automated + Curated section.

Add top 5 posts automatically

To ensure that your data is being fetched from Google Analytics, click the ‘Test Automated Posts’ button under ‘Automated + Curated.’

A popup message will now appear, showing that the popular posts are being fetched correctly. You can click the ‘Close’ button.

Popular post data is correctly fetched

Do note that you’ll need to set up the ‘Post Type’ custom dimensions in MonsterInsights and Google Analytics to use the Automated + Curated feature.

Custom dimensions are additional metrics you can track in Google Analytics. For more details on custom dimensions and how to configure them, you can see our guides on how to enable author tracking in WordPress and the best time to publish a blog.

Insert Popular Posts to Your WordPress Website

Next, you’ll need to select how you’d like to insert the featured articles.

MonsterInsights offers 2 options, including automatic placement and manual placement.

If you select the ‘Automatic’ option, then you can decide after how many words you’d want the popular post widget to appear. There is also an option to include and exclude pages from display featured posts.

Choose placement option

When you’re done, simply click back to the top and click the ‘Save Changes’ button.

This way, your settings will be saved, and MonsterInsights will automatically display popular posts on your site.

Click the Save Changes Button to Store Your New Widget

On the other hand, you can also show popular posts in any blog post by adding the MonsterInsights block or using a shortcode.

First, add a new post or edit an existing one. Once you’re in the content editor, simply click the ‘+’ button and add the ‘Popular Posts’ block.

Select popular posts block

After that, you can see a preview of your featured articles in the content editor.

Once you’re satisfied with the widget’s appearance, you can go ahead and publish your article.

Preview your popular posts

We hope this article helped you display popular posts by day, week, month, and all time in WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on WordPress SEO and the best WooCommerce plugins.

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 Display Popular Posts by Day, Week, and Month in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.


January 27, 2023 at 01:02AM

How to Import & Export WooCommerce Products with Images

Do you want to import and export WooCommerce products with images?

Importing or exporting WooCommerce products with images allows you to easily move your store or add new products in multiple stores.

In this article, we will show you how to easily import and export WooCommerce products with images.

How to Import & Export WooCommerce Products with Images

Why Import & Export WooCommerce Products?

Many users need to import and export WooCommerce products for a number of reasons.

  • You may want to move products from one WooCommerce store to another
  • You may want to start an online store with a new WordPress website but with the same WooCommerce products
  • You may want to move your website to a new server but need a better way to move products
  • You may want a faster way to add your products to multiple stores that you manage
  • and more

Now normally if you are moving your website to a new server, then you can just duplicate your entire website and set it up on your new host.

We have a complete step-by-step guide for that, see how to easily move WordPress to a new host or server.

On the other hand, if you only want to move products, then this tutorial will help you learn how to properly export and import WooCommerce products with images and other product data.

We’ll show you two methods, you can choose one that works best for you.

Method 1. Import & Export WooCommerce Products without a Plugin

WooCommerce comes with built-in functionality to easily import and export products with images, but without using any additional plugins.

First, you need to visit the Products » All Products page in your WordPress admin area. There, you will see two buttons at the top to ‘Import’ or ‘Export’ products.

Import export WooCommerce products

Let’s first check out how the export feature works.

Exporting WooCommerce Products without Using a Plugin

Simply click on the ‘Export’ button at the top to continue.

On the next screen, you’ll see a bunch of options to choose what data you want to export.

Default WooCommerce product export options

For instance, you can choose to only export certain columns from product data. You can also choose to export specific product types or products in specific categories.

To export all products with images and all other data, you can leave these options unchecked.

Optionally, you can check the ‘Export custom meta.’ If you are unsure, then it’s better to check it so that you have the data.

Go ahead and click on the ‘Generate CSV’ button to continue.

WooCommerce will now prepare a CSV file and download it to your computer.

What is a CSV File?

CSV is short for Comma Separated Values, and it is file type of plain text that separates different columns or fields of data with a comma.

You can open it with any spreadsheet software like Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel. Here is how it would look:

CSV file opened in spreadsheet software

Importing WooCommerce Products without Using a Plugin

Simply go to the Products » All Products page and click on the Import button at the top.

Import products

If your WooCommerce store is empty, then instead of the buttons at the top, you will see buttons at the center of the page.

Click on the ‘Start Import’ button to begin the import.

Start import

This will bring up the import wizard.

First, you need to click on the ‘Choose File’ button to select the WooCommerce export CSV file you downloaded earlier.

Choose import file

Click on the continue button to upload the CSV file.

WooCommerce will now check to see if your CSV file is in a compatible format. After that, it will ask you to map that data to existing WooCommerce product data.

Map columns

The default settings here will work for most WooCommerce stores.

However, you still need to review and if a column is missing, and then click on the drop-down menu next to it and select a matching field if available.

Particularly, if you are using variations attribute for products, then make sure to scroll down to the attributes columns and match fields.

Match attribute fields

This will allow you to ensure that the fields in your CSV file match the corresponding WooCommerce fields.

Click on the ‘Run’ the Importer button to begin.

WooCommerce will now start importing data from CSV file. It will also download any images attached to your products.

Products imported

Once finished, you can visit the Products » All Products page to see the imported products.

Make sure to visit your shop and product pages to check that everything is working as expected.

Method 2. Import & Export WooCommerce Products with a Plugin

For this method, we’ll be using a plugin to import and export WooCommerce products.

The advantage of this method is that it offers more flexible options and also allows you to export / import product reviews.

Plus, it allows you to import / export WooCommerce products in batches which comes in handy if you have a large store with many products and images.

Exporting WooCommerce Products with a Plugin

First, you need to install and activate the Product Import Export for WooCommerce plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

The plugin comes as three separate addons. You’ll need to download and install all of them.

Download plugins

Upon activation, you need to visit the Webtoffee Import Export (Pro) » Export page and select the ‘Product’ as the post type you want to export.

Exporting WooCommerce products using a plugin

On the next screen, you need to select an export method.

The default Quick Export method automatically selects all your products for export.

Quick export method

Optionally, you can also choose ‘Advanced Export’ which allows you to filter products by category, tag, and status.

You can also exclude individual products manually.

Advanced filtering options

Click on the Export button to continue and the plugin will start preparing your product data.

Once finished, you’ll be prompted to download the export file to your computer.

Download export file

Importing WooCommerce Products with a Plugin

Now that you have your export file ready, you can use it to import products on another WooCommerce store.

Simply install and activate the Product Import Export for WooCommerce plugin on the store where you need to import the products.

After that, go to the Webtoffee Import Export (Pro) » Import page and select ‘Product’ as the post type you want to import.

Import products using a plugin

Click on the ‘Step 2: Select import method’ button to continue.

Next, you need to select an import method and upload the exported file you downloaded earlier to your computer.

Import method

Click on the ‘Step 3: Map and Import Columns’ button to continue.

On the next screen, you’ll see a list of fields and the matching fields from your import file. If you see an empty field, you can choose a matching field for it in the next column.

If you are using product variations like sizes and colors, then make sure to click on the Attributes tab to match attribute fields.

Map fields

However, if you are not using any products with variations or custom attributes then you can use the default settings.

Click on the ‘Step 4: Advanced Options / Batch Import’ button to continue.

On the final screen, you’ll see advanced options. For instance, you can choose to match products by ID or SKU, choose what to do if a product already exists, and more.

Import options

If you are importing products into an empty WooCommere store, then you can use the default settings.

Finally, click on the ‘Import’ button to run the product import process.

You’ll see the progress of the import on screen. Once finished, you can click on ‘View Products’ to check if everything has been imported correctly.

products imported

The plugin also allows you to import and export Product Reviews.

If you want to import or export the product reviews too, then simply choose ‘Product Reviews’ post type on the import or export page.

Import or export product reviews

Improve Your WooCommerce Store with Automations

If you find yourself doing a lot of manual work around your WooCommerce store and want to save time, then we recommend using Uncanny Automator for workflow automation.

Uncanny Automator helps you connect over 100+ plugins and apps with a simple no-code visual builder. You can use it to create automated workflows for things that you normally do without writing any code.

There’s a free version that you can try out, and it’s already used by over 20,000 websites.

Aside from workflow automation, if you’re looking for a marketing automation tool for WooCommerce, then we recommend using FunnelKit Automation. It will help you grow your sales and improve conversions without the high costs.

We hope this article helped you learn how to easily import and export WooCommerce products with images in WordPress. You may also want to see our pick of the essential WooCommerce plugins or see these practical tips on recovering abandoned cart sales in WooCommerce.

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 Import & Export WooCommerce Products with Images first appeared on WPBeginner.


January 26, 2023 at 04:13PM

Wednesday, January 25, 2023

10 WordPress Plugins Using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Do you want to use artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies on your WordPress site?

Many WordPress plugins are using AI and machine learning to offer smarter features. There is a chance that you might already be using one of these plugins on your site.

In this article, we will share some of the best WordPress plugins that use artificial intelligence and machine learning.

WordPress Plugins Using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

What are Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning?

If you follow the news, then you must have heard the words artificial intelligence or machine learning being mentioned.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are computer technologies that offer smarter solutions in computer devices, apps, GPS devices, smart TVs, home assistance devices, and more.

Artificial intelligence gives computer programs able to make choices without human intelligence.

Machine learning helps the software learn from experiences, data, and user activity to improve artificial intelligence and make better choices.

These technologies allow developers to automate tasks that would normally need human intelligence.

For example, voice recognition, search patterns, translations, image recognition, and more are currently being used by most modern mobile phones and smart devices.

What’s the difference between artificial intelligence and machine learning?

Artificial intelligence can make decisions based on programmed intelligence.

Machine learning further enhances artificial intelligence by self-learning through user activity and collecting information. This makes artificial intelligence smarter and allows it to make more accurate decisions.

What about machines taking over the world?

Many prominent scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs have expressed concern over the possible threat to human society from artificial intelligence and self-learning machines.

However, it also has great potential to improve the lives of billions of people. That’s why even the most prominent AI skeptics encourage its careful usage for the greater good.

What Can Artificial Intelligence Do for WordPress Websites?

It can provide a smarter and much better user experience for your users.

For example, it can improve WordPress search, grammar and style checking, show related content, improve conversions, boost eCommerce sales, and more.

Your website becomes smarter, faster, and more personalized for your users. This saves you time which allows you to do other things to grow your business.

That being said, let’s take a look at the WordPress plugins that use AI and machine learning.

1. Akismet

Akismet

Akismet is one of the only two plugins that come pre-installed on every WordPress website. It uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to detect spam comments.

Used by millions of websites, Akismet has improved over the years to detect almost all spam submitted by bots. It can also detect spam comments manually submitted by actual human users by learning from their mistakes and recognizing patterns across millions of websites.

For more details, see our Akismet guide for beginners with instructions on how to set it up on your WordPress website.

2. WordLift

WordLift

The WordLift plugin integrates its web-based service to your WordPress website. It offers SEO tips to improve your content with the help of its knowledge graph.

It analyzes your content to offer facts, figures, and media to match and build contextual relationships among your articles which results in better content recommendations. It builds a knowledge graph for your own website, which becomes smarter as you add more content.

3. Grammarly

Grammarly

Grammarly is one of the most popular WordPress plugins. It is an artificial intelligence-powered grammar-checking tool that analyzes the readability of your content to help you write better.

It supports American, British, Canadian, and Australian English languages. It is also available as a Google Chrome addon as an alternative to the JetPack module.

4. Google Language Translator

Google Language Translator

Google Language Translator lets your users easily translate your website content without creating a multilingual WordPress site. It brings Google’s AI and machine learning translation engine to your WordPress website.

You can simply select languages you want to display on your website. After that, you can add the translator to your website using the sidebar widget or shortcode.

For detailed instructions, see our guide on how to add Google Translate to WordPress.

5. MyCurator Content Curation

MyCurator

MyCurator is a cloud-based content curation service. It allows you to add an artificial intelligence-powered content aggregator, which shows content relevant to your selected topics and improves results by learning from what you add or vote on.

You can create a curated content section on your website by fetching the best bits of content relevant to your audience. You can add any article you like to your website with an excerpt and a link back to the source.

6. WebsiteVoice

WebsiteVoice

WebsiteVoice is a free WordPress plugin that converts your text content into high-quality audio. This helps improve user engagement and save time for users to listen to your articles while they’re busy with other routine work.

You’ll need their website token to activate the text-to-speech option on your site. These tokens are free initially, but you have to upgrade to a premium plan to continue using their service.

7. Quttera Web Malware Scanner

Quttera

Quttera Web Malware Scanner allows you to scan your WordPress site for malware and malicious code. This is particularly useful if you suspect that your WordPress site is hacked or blacklisted by search engines.

The plugin uses artificial intelligence to learn from false positives and improves scan results based on usage. While it helps scan an infected website, it doesn’t protect your website from getting affected.

For better security, see our ultimate WordPress security guide to protect your website against hacks, DDOS attacks, and malicious code.

8. ChatBot

ChatBot

ChatBot provides AI-powered virtual chat agent for your website. It uses machine learning to improve the live chat experience and send accurate responses.

You need to sign up for a free account on the plugin’s website. After that, it will start learning as you use it. You can also train it on what to say and how to respond to user queries. This can be handy in keeping users engaged on your website and generating more leads.

9. Link Whisper

LinkWhisper

LinkWhisper is a free WordPress internal linking plugin powered by Artificial Intelligence. It learns from the content on your site and suggests powerful internal linking opportunities to improve your search rankings and grow your traffic.

The plugin looks into your website’s content, including pages and posts. Then it offers suggestions in the WordPress block editor to add internal links while you’re writing and editing an article.

10. ImageSEO

ImageSEO

ImageSEO is a free WordPress image optimization plugin. It uses artificial intelligence to optimize the alt text and title of your images to grow your organic traffic.

The plugin also generates social cards for Twitter, Facebook, and channels. After activating the plugin, you can upload images on the WordPress website, and ImageSEO will write the name, title, and tag for the images automatically. It seamlessly works on single and bulk image uploads.

We hope this article helped you learn about WordPress plugins using artificial intelligence and machine learning. You may also want to see our guide on how to improve your WordPress website speed and performance.

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

The post 10 WordPress Plugins Using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning first appeared on WPBeginner.


January 26, 2023 at 12:21AM

How to Fix the ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED Error in Chrome

Are you seeing the ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED error when trying to access a website or when viewing a website resource using your browser’s inspect tool?

This error message appears when your browser is unable to connect to the website you’ve requested. You might also see it in your browser’s inspect tool when you are exploring why a certain resource on the website won’t load.

In this article, we’ll show you how to fix the ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED error in Chrome.

How to Fix the ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED Error in Chrome

What Is the ‘ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED’ Error in Chrome?

The ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED message is displayed in Google Chrome when it is trying to open a web page or website resource but is unable to do so. This error code is usually included inside an error message such as:

  • ‘This site can’t be reached’
  • ‘Failed to load resource’

There are lots of common WordPress errors, but this error may stop you from visiting your own website and logging in to the WordPress admin area. You’ll typically want to solve this problem as quickly as possible.

Often when you see this error message, your WordPress website is still working, but something is stopping the browser from accessing it. In many cases, you will only need to fix a problem with your own browser or internet connection.

With that being said, let’s take a look at how to fix the ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED error in Chrome. First, we’ll look at how to fix the error when you can’t access an entire website, then we’ll show the solution for when you can’t access a specific file or resource on a website.

How to Fix the ‘This Site Can’t Be Reached’ Error

Usually, this message is displayed when you can’t access an entire website.

You will see the Chrome error message ‘This site can’t be reached’ along with the ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED error code. The message may even suggest a few things to try to fix the error, such as checking the connection, proxy, firewall, and DNS configuration.

This Site Can't Be Reached Error

Other browsers will display similar messages, such as:

  • ‘Unable to connect’
  • ‘Hmmm…can’t reach this page’

There are many things that can interfere with your connection to the website, and you will need to follow some troubleshooting steps to identify and fix the problem.

We’ll briefly cover the steps you should take below. For detailed instructions, see our guide on how to easily fix the ‘This site can’t be reached’ error in WordPress.

Check Your Internet Connection

The simplest fix is to check that you’re connected to the internet and restart your modem and router. Resetting your internet connection may be all it takes to reconnect to your website.

If not, you should check to see whether your website is working. Simply visit the Website Uptime Status Checker website, then enter the URL of your own site.

IsItWP Uptime Checker Tool

If your site is down, then you should contact your WordPress hosting provider to let them know your website is down.

Clear Your Browser Cache

Your web browser stores files and data from the websites you visit, so it doesn’t have to download them again. However, this can cause problems if the cached files become outdated or corrupt.

You can easily clear the browser cache in Google Chrome by clicking on the three-dotted icon in the upper-right corner and then selecting ‘More Tools,’ followed by ‘Clear Browsing Data…’

How to clear the browser cache in Google Chrome

In the popup that appears, check the box next to ‘Cached images and files’ and then click the ‘Clear data’ button.

Now try revisiting the website to check whether you can access it.

Troubleshoot the Software on Your Computer

Some of the security and networking software you run on your computer may be interfering with your connection to the website. This can include your firewall, antivirus software, VPN, and proxy server.

We offer detailed instructions on how to troubleshoot each of these in our guide on how to fix the ‘This site can’t be reached’ error.

Troubleshoot Your DNS Settings

Similar to the browser cache, your computer stores the IP addresses of all the websites you visit. This means the browser doesn’t have to look up the same IP address multiple times.

By flushing your DNS cache, you’ll get the very latest information about a website, including its new domain name or address.

To help you out, we’ve created a complete guide on how to clear your DNS cache for Mac, Windows, and Google Chrome.

If you still can’t access the website after doing this, then you can try changing your DNS server as well. You can follow the detailed instructions in the change the DNS server step of our guide on how to fix the ‘This site can’t be reached’ error.

Add the Addresses for Google's DNS Servers

Reset the TCP/IP Settings

Finally, if there’s a problem with how your internet connection is configured, then renewing your TCP and IP protocol will return the connection to its default settings, which may solve the problem.

You can learn how to do this step-by-step in the reset the TCP/IP settings section of our guide on how to fix the ‘This site can’t be reached’ error.

Click the 'Renew DHCP Lease' Button

How To Fix the ‘Failed To Load Resource’ Error

You might notice that, while your website loads, a certain resource or file doesn’t. This file could be an image or other media file, JavaScript, or a CSS stylesheet. A missing resource can cause your website to misbehave or not function properly.

When that happens, the browser will add a notice in the error console for debugging purposes.

In most cases, you would see this error in your browser’s error console when using the Inspect tool. You might see the error message Failed to load resource: net::ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED.

Refused to Load Resource Error

This error message happens when your website’s code mentions the file, but your browser is unable to download it. This can happen when there is a problem with the file itself, or the URL that points to it.

To fix the problem, you will need to either replace the resource in question or fix the URL. We offer detailed instructions for both of these in our guide on how to fix the ‘Failed to load resource’ error in WordPress.

We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to fix the ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED error in Chrome. You may also want to see our ultimate WordPress security guide, or check out our list of easy ways to increase your blog traffic.

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

The post How to Fix the ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED Error in Chrome first appeared on WPBeginner.


January 25, 2023 at 03:40PM