7 Best WordPress User Registration Plugins (Compared) – 2021

Are you looking for a way to let users register on your WordPress site?

User registration forms let your users create accounts to leave comments, add posts, access premium content, and more.

In this article, we’ll share the best WordPress user registration plugins that you can use on your site.

Why Use a WordPress User Registration Plugin for WordPress?

Using a WordPress user registration plugin gives your visitors a way to create an account on your website.

WordPress has built-in functionality to help you manage user registrations. But, it’s quite limited and will give users access to the admin area of your site.

By using a user registration plugin, you can create custom registration and login forms, easily customize user roles, and much more.

This gives you more flexibility and control over the entire user registration process. Plus, it’s more secure, and can help you stop spam accounts.

There are all kinds of reasons that visitors would need to register on your site:

• Have users register to access premium content
• Create a subscriber-only online store (eCommerce)
• Let users register and submit guest posts without giving admin access
• Create a subscriber-only online community
• Give discounts and coupons to registered users
• Make users register to leave comments and perform other actions on your site

That being said, let’s take a look at some of the best WordPress user registration plugins that you can use on your own WordPress website.

1. WPForms

WPForms is the best contact form plugin for WordPress. It’s incredibly beginner-friendly and used by over 4 million WordPress sites.

The free version of the plugin comes with contact form features like basic form fields, spam protection, email notifications and more.

However, to create a custom user registration page, you’ll need the premium version which comes with the User Registration Form addon.

The addon lets you quickly build custom user registration and login forms.

This lets your users simply create an account on your WordPress site without the hassle.

Your registration forms are fully customizable. You can add and change fields like user name, user bio, assign various user roles, and more.

It also has built-in spam protection via manual admin approval or an email verification link.

2. Formidable Forms

Formidable Forms is the most advanced WordPress form builder in the market. It goes beyond basic contact forms and is more of a form-based solution.

This means you can use the drag and drop interface to create advanced forms like surveys, quizzes, payment forms, and more.

It also allows you to build job board listings, directories, smart calculators, and much more.

It’s not the most intuitive form builder, but it’s geared towards more advanced users who need high levels of control and customization.

With the Business and Elite plans, you can simply add registration forms to your WordPress site. This lets users register and edit their profiles from the front-end of your site.

There are all kinds of advanced options available like custom password reset pages, user nickname fields, auto populate forms with user data, and custom developer options.

Another cool feature is the ability to let users create a subsite on a multisite network, all from your site’s front-end.

3. MemberPress

MemberPress is the best WordPress membership plugin . It’s very easy to use and is equipped with all the necessary features to create a membership site in WordPress.

Once you’ve set up the plugin, enabling user registration only takes a couple of clicks. The plugin automatically creates your membership thank you, account, and login pages.

Beyond quickly registering new users, it has advanced user management features that let you see your existing users, sort by date, and even edit their profiles.

You can even set up automated welcome emails for new users, or redirect them to a welcome page.

Embedding registration forms into your site is easy with the custom shortcode.

It’s also easy to integrate MemberPress with WooCommerce via a third-party plugin.

This lets you create a members-only ecommerce store, create WooCommerce registration forms, send new user registration emails and more.

A lot of website owners use MemberPress to create and sell online courses.

4. WP User Manager

WP User Manager is a free customizable WordPress user registration plugin. It lets you create simple frontend user registration forms.

This plugin is very flexible and gives you full control over your WordPress user registration pages.

You can add the registration forms you’ve created to your site with the included form shortcodes.

You’ll find additional features that let you add user profile pages, send new user registration emails, display directories of your members, and set up content restrictions.

The premium version of the plugin gives you access to additional features like the ability to add custom fields to your forms, built-in email verification, social login, GDPR data compliance, and WooCommerce integration.

5. ProfilePress

ProfilePress is a WordPress user registration plugin that lets you add simple frontend user registration forms anywhere on your site.

There’s an included shortcode you can add to your posts, pages, widget areas, and sidebar to display your user registration forms easily.

The free version of the plugin is pretty basic, but it can be customized to match your site’s design with custom CSS and HTML.

You can also set up custom redirects to send users to a new page once they create an account, log in, or log out.

There’s premium version of ProfilePress has customizable themes, social login features, multi-step registration forms, and more.

If you’re running an ecommerce store, you can use the WooCommerce integration to manage your registration and account forms with this plugin.

6. SeedProd

SeedProd is the best drag and drop WordPress page builder used by over 1 million sites. It allows you to create completely custom pages in WordPress without writing a single line of code.

The plugin comes with an easy to use drag and drop builder, a stunning template collection, and pre-designed sections to speed up the page building process.

It only takes a few clicks to build a completely custom landing page.

Best of all, SeedProd integrates with WPForms. You can create a registration form using WPForms, then customize this form with the SeedProd page builder.

You can use the free version of SeedProd to create your custom registration page.

However, the premium version has over 100 professionally-designed templates, subscriber management features, additional content blocks, premium integrations, and much more.

7. OptinMonster

OptinMonster is the best email capture plugin in the market. It helps you convert more users into subscribers and paying customers.

It has dozens of pre-made templates and lets you create a range of different dynamic lead forms like popups, floating bars, slide-in scroll boxes, and more.

Best of all, OptinMonster allows you to show the right message, to the right users, at the right time, so you can get the highest conversions possible.

You can integrate the registration forms you’ve created with WPForms to enable a lot of unique features.

For example, you can create popups that have your user registration form.

These popups can be timed to display before a user leaves the page with Exit-Intent® technology.

Another great feature is restricting premium content. To view your content, users need to register and create an account on your site.

You can also enable form tracking to see how well your user registration forms are converting or if any visitors are leaving before completing the form.

By improving your conversions, you can grow your subscribers and revenue without having to spend time increasing your traffic.

Which is the Best User Registration Plugin for WordPress?

The WordPress plugins we recommend in this article can help you create different kinds of user registration forms. However, deciding the best WordPress user registration plugin will vary based on your needs.

If you’re a beginner and want the simplest solution, then go with WPForms.

If you’re a developer and want to create complex registration forms, there’s no better pick than Formidable Forms.

If you’re looking for an all-in-one WordPress membership solution, then you should use MemberPress.

Overall, the best pick for the WordPress user registration plugin is WPForms.

Not only do you have a user registration form builder and user management tools, but it integrates with SeedProd and OptinMonster for form design and tracking.

We hoped this article helped you find the best WordPress user registration plugin for WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on how to add CAPTCHA to your WordPress registration forms, and our list of must have plugins for WordPress business sites.

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 User Registration Plugins (Compared) – 2021 appeared first on WPBeginner.

March 12, 2021 at 06:00PM

Ultimate Guide to Geotargeting in WordPress – Step by Step

Do you want to use Geotargeting in WordPress to enhance the customer experience?

Geotargeting allows website owners to show personalized content to users based on their geographic location. It helps improve user experience and conversion rates for businesses.

In this ultimate guide, we’ll show you how to use Geotargeting in WordPress to boost sales and customer satisfaction.

Why Use GeoTargeting in WordPress?

Geotargeting or Geo-Location targeting is a marketing technique that allows businesses to offer custom user experiences based on a customer’s geographic location.

You can use geotargeting to make your content, products, and website more relevant to the customer. Research shows that it helps build user interest, boosts engagement, results in higher conversions, and generate more sales.

A Google study found that 61% of smartphone owners prefer to buy from sites that customize information for their location.

For instance, a real estate website can use geotargeting to show specific real estate listings in a user’s region. Similarly, an online store can offer customers free shipping by detecting their geolocation first.

Having that said, now let’s take a look at some of the easiest ways to use geotargeting effectively in WordPress. Here is a quick overview of what we’ll cover in this guide.

• Tracking User Geographic Locations in WordPress
• Using Geotargeting in WordPress and WooCommerce with OptinMonster
• Using Geolocation Data in WordPress Forms
• Using GeoTargeting in WooCommerce

Tracking User Geographic Locations in WordPress

Before you learn how to target users in different geographic locations, you need to gather the data about where your users are coming from.

The easiest way to track user’s geographic locations is by using MonsterInsights. It is the best Google Analytics plugin for WordPress and allows you to easily track website visitors.

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

Upon activation, the plugin will automatically guide you to connect your WordPress website to your Google Analytics account. If you need help, then see our step-by-step guide on how to install Google Analytics in WordPress.

After that, you can view your website traffic reports by visiting the Insights » Reports page.

It will show you a section of the top 10 countries, and you can view more data by clicking on the ‘View Countries Report’ button. This will take you to the Google Analytics website where you will see a full list of countries.

You can click on each country to see how users from that country used your website, how many pages they viewed, how much time they spent, did they convert, and more.

You can then adjust your strategies to target regions that are not performing so well and find more ways to increase revenues from locations that are doing well.

Using Geotargeting in WordPress and WooCommerce with OptinMonster

The most common use of geotargeting is to show personalized content to your users based on their location.

This is where OptinMonster comes in.

It is the best conversion optimization software in the world because it helps you convert abandoning website visitors into customers and subscribers.

It also comes equipped with incredibly powerful display rules including geotargeting to show targeted messages on your website.

First, you’ll need to sign up for an OptinMonster account.

Note: You’ll need at least their Growth plan to access Goetargeting features.

After signing up, switch to your WordPress website to install and activate the OptinMonster plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

This plugin acts as a connector between your WordPress website and your OptinMonster account.

Upon activation, you need to visit OptinMonster » Settings page and click on the ‘Connect existing account’ button.

This will bring up a popup where you can log in and connect your WordPress site to your OptinMonster account.

Now that your WordPress site is connected, you are ready to create your first geotargeted campaign. Go to the OptinMonster » Campaigns page and click on the ‘Add New’ button.

First, you’ll need to choose your campaign type. OptinMonster supports lightbox popups, floating bars, inline optins, fullscreen, slide-in, and gamified campaigns.

For the sake of this tutorial, we’ll choose a lightbox popup campaign. Below that, you can select a campaign template by clicking on it.

Next, you need to enter a name for your campaign. You can enter any name here, and then click on the ‘Start building’ button.

This will launch OptinMonster’s campaign builder interface with a live preview of your campaign in the right panel.

You can simply point and click on any item in the preview to edit, move, or delete it. You can also add new elements from the left column.

Let’s add some personalized geotargeted messaging to this campaign. To do that, we will be using an OptinMonster feature called Smart Tag.

Simply click on a text area or add a new text block and then in the text toolbar click on the Smart Tag button.

It will show you a list of smart dynamic texts that you can add to your content.

We’ll add smart tag to our campaign. This tag will automatically detect user’s city and display it in the campaign content.

Once you are finished editing your campaign, you can switch to the ‘Display Rules’ tab. This is where you can configure when to show your campaign.

Next, you need to create a new Ruleset and use Physical location as the condition to check.

After that, you will be asked to select the criteria you want to match. For instance, we want to show this campaign if the visitors’ location is in Florida.

Click on the Validate button to make sure that your condition is setup correctly. After that, click on the Next Step button to continue.

Next, you’ll be asked which campaign view you want to show and if you want to use special effects.

Click on the Next Step button to continue and save your ruleset.

Now that everything is set up, you can switch to the Publish tab to make your campaign go to live. Simply switch to the ‘Publish Status’ from Draft to Publish by clicking on it.

Don’t forget to click on the Save changes button to save your campaign settings and then click on the close button to exit the builder.

After that, you’ll be redirected back to your WordPress site, where you can configure where and when you want to display the campaign.

Simply set the status from pending to published and click on the ‘Save Changes’ button to launch your campaign.

You can now visit your WordPress website in incognito mode to view your campaign. You’ll need to be in the location that you are targeting to view the campaign.

Note: If you are not located in that region, then you can check out a VPN service that has servers located in that region. This will allow you to mimic the location you want to target with your geotargeting campaigns.

Other Geotargeting Campaign Ideas for WordPress using OptinMonster

A header bar announcing free shipping with a countdown timer to trigger the FOMO effect.

A slide-in message targeting local users to request a callback from your sales team.

Here is an example of an inline campaign to help users discover content relevant to their location.

Using Geolocation Data in WordPress Forms

Forms help you generate leads, engage with customers and website visitors, and grow your business. Using geolocation data, you can learn more about your customers and offer them more local content.

For this, you’ll need WPForms. It is the best WordPress form builder plugin on the market and allows you to create any kind of form you need.

It also comes with a Geolocation addon that helps you collect users’ geolocation information with form submissions.

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

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

Next, you need to visit WPForms » Addons page. From here, you need to click on the ‘Install Addon’ button next to the GeoLocation Addon.

WPForms will now fetch, install, and activate the addon for you.

You can now go ahead and create your first form by visiting WPForms » Add New page. You’ll start by entering a name for your form and choose a template.

A template is a starting point that you can use to quickly make forms. You can start with a blank form too, if you want.

Clicking on a template will launch the form builder interface. On the right, you’ll see pre-loaded form fields based on the template you choose. You can add new fields from the column on your left side.

You can also just click on any field to edit it, drag and drop to move it, or delete any form field.

Once you are finished, don’t forget to click on the Save button to publish your form.

Your form is now ready. In order to collect Geolocation data, you need to add the form to your website.

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 form and click on the (+) add new block button.

Locate the WPForms block and add it to your post.

From block settings, simply select the form you created earlier. WPForms will load a live preview of your form in the content editor. You can now save your post or page and view your form in action.

Viewing Geolocation Data for Your Form Entries

After you have added the form to your website, wait for it to collect a few form entries or go ahead and add a few test entries on your own.

After that, you can go to WPForms » Entries page and click on your form name to view entries. On the Entries page, click on the View link next to any entry to view the details.

On the entry details page, you will see a box with user’s Geographic location marked on the map.

Using Geolocation Data for Your WordPress Forms

Geolocation data can be used to grow your business. You can figure out which regions are showing more interest in your products, services, or website.

You can match this data with your Google Analytics reports to see which regions are not performing well. If your business serves a global audience, then you may consider offering forms in local languages.

Using GeoTargeting in WooCommerce

WooCommerce is the biggest eCommerce platform in the world that runs on top of WordPress. It comes with built-in geolocation feature that allows you to detect user’s location and use it to display taxes and shipping information.

For this section, we assume that you have already set up your online store. If you haven’t, then follow our guide on how to create an online store for step by step instructions.

After that, you need to visit WooCommerce » Settings page and scroll down to the ‘General Options’ section.

From here you can select the countries or regions where you sell or ship to. You can also modify the ‘Default customer location’ option.

By default, WooCommerce assumes customer’s location to ‘no location’. You can change that to use your store address or use Geolocate to find the customer’s country.

Note: Geolocate feature will only lookup user’s country using their IP address and WooCommerce uses a third-party integration to fetch this information.

You can also use Geolocate with page cache support. The downside of choosing this is that your product URLs will show a v=XXXX string.

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

Next, you need to switch to the Integrations tab and you’ll see an option where you’ll be asked to provide a MaxMind API key.

This third-party service will lookup for GeoLocation information for your WooCommerce store.

Now, you need to sign up for a MaxMind free account. Once you have completed the sign up, go ahead and login to your account dashboard.

From here you need to click on Services » Manage License Keys menu. On the next page, click on the Generate New License Key button.

After that, simply copy the generated API key and paste it into your WooCommerce settings.

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

WooCommerce will now start using Geolocate data to calculate taxes and shipping costs. However, you’ll still need to configure shipping zones, shipping costs, and taxes.

We hope this article helped you learn how to use GeoTargeting in WordPress boost sales and improve user experience. You may also want to see our proven tips to increase website traffic, and our comparison of the best business phone services 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 Ultimate Guide to Geotargeting in WordPress – Step by Step appeared first on WPBeginner.

March 11, 2021 at 06:00PM

How to Know if Your WordPress Website Uses Cookies

Do you want to know if your WordPress website uses cookies?

Cookies are tiny files used by websites to store temporary information in users’ browsers. Many countries have different cookie laws that require website owners to disclose which cookies they use and what information they track and store.

In this article, we will explain how to find out if your WordPress website uses cookies and how you can manage those cookies to comply with local laws.

What are Cookies?

Cookies are small files containing data sent by a website to store in a user’s browser. Cookies play a significant role on the web and are widely used to improve user experience.

WordPress uses two types of cookies out of the box.

First, there are session cookies. These cookies are used to login and are set for all logged-in users on a WordPress website.

Then, there are comment cookies. These cookies are set when users leave a comment on your WordPress blog. Their purpose is to store user’s name, email address, and URL information so that they don’t have to re-enter it the next time they comment on your website.

Apart from WordPress, third-party plugins and tools may also set cookies for your WordPress website.

What are Cookie Laws?

Cookies are a powerful tool that can be used to track a lot of information about users. Considering the privacy risks, many countries and regions have enacted laws that set compliance guidelines for website owners.

For instance, European Union has GDPR Law and ePrivacy Directive. Similarly, countries like Canada, UK, Japan, and many more have laws that require website owners to get user consent and disclose the information they collect, store, and track about users.

That’s the reason why you see cookie popups on many different websites. These banners allow website owners to comply with GDPR, cookie laws, and other privacy laws in different countries.

How to See Which Cookies Are Stored by a WordPress Website

All modern web browsers make it easy to view the cookies set by any website you visit.

Google Chrome

In Google Chrome, first, you need to visit your WordPress website. After that, click on the Padlock or Not Secure icon in the browser’s address bar. This will open a menu where you need to click on ‘Cookies’.

This will bring up the cookies popup where you will see all the cookies set by that particular website in your browser.

You can also view these cookies by using the Inspect tool. Simply visit your website and left-click anywhere to select the Inspect tool.

This will split your browser window and you’ll see the developer console panel. From here you need to switch to the ‘Application’ tab.

Next, you need to click on the Cookies menu from the left column and you’ll be able to see all the cookies stored on your site. More importantly, you’ll be able to see the data stored by the cookie under the ‘Value’ column.

Mozilla Firefox

In Firefox, you need to visit the website you want to check and then right-click anywhere to select the ‘Inspect Element’ tool.

This will split the browser window and you’ll see the developer console panel. From here, you need to switch to the ‘Storage’ tab and click on ‘Cookies’ to view all the cookies.

Plugins That Allow You to Turn Off Cookies

Now when reviewing cookies set by your WordPress website, you may notice that there are some cookies set by different WordPress plugins you are using.

As a website owner, you may not want to use these cookies to comply with cookie laws in different countries and limit your liabilities.

However, not all WordPress plugins come with easy ways to turn off cookies and make your website compliant. Following are some of the plugins that allow you to easily turn off cookies without breaking plugin functionality.

1. MonsterInsights

MonsterInsights is the best Google Analytics plugin on the market. It allows you to properly install Google Analytics and setup EU compliance addon.

First, you need to install and activate the MonsterInsights plugin. For more help, see our article on how to install Google Analytics in WordPress.

Once you have set up the plugin, go to Insights » Addons page and install EU Compliance addon.

The addon works out of the box, and there are no settings for you to configure. You can see it’s enabled by visiting Insights » Settings page and switching to the Engagement tab.

The addon will now automatically anonymizes IP addresses, disable the Demographics and Interests Reports, turn off user and author tracking, and more. It also integrates with Cookie Notice and CookieBot plugins automatically.

2. WPForms

WPForms is the best WordPress contact form plugin on the market. It allows you to easily create GDPR compliant forms for your WordPress website.

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

Upon activation, you need to visit WPForms » Settings page and switch to the General tab.

From here you need to scroll down to the GDPR section and check the box next to GDPR enhancements option.

Checking the option will expand it and you’ll see the option to disable user cookies and user details for all forms.

WPForms also allows you to make individual forms GDPR compliant. For more details, see our article on how to create GDPR compliant forms in WordPress.

3. OptinMonster

OptinMonster is the best lead generation software on the market. It helps you create GDPR compliant optin forms and lead campaigns for your website.

It allows you to easily add a Privacy Policy with a customizable checkbox. Users can then only submit the form once they’ve checked the box. It also allows you to enable double optin for your forms.

Plus, OptinMonster lets you target visitors based on their location. That way, you can make sure you’re showing GDPR-compliant optins to customers in EU countries. OptinMonster only creates cookies to improve user experience on your website and these cookies can only be utilized for on-site tracking.

4. Smash Balloon

Smash Balloon is the best social media plugin for WordPress websites. It allows you to create social media feeds that are compliant with cookie and GDPR laws.

The plugin detects if you have a cookie notification plugin enabled and then holds any cookies until user give cookie consent.

More Ways to Comply with Cookie Laws for WordPress Websites

It is the responsibility of a website owner to comply with cookie laws in different regions. Here are some basic steps to make your website more compliant.

1. Add a Privacy Policy Page

A privacy policy page is legally required to comply with privacy and cookie laws in different regions. See our guide on how to easily add a privacy policy page to your WordPress website.

2. Install a Cookie Notification Plugin

Cookie notification plugins show a notification on your website that it uses cookies and seek consent from the users.

Cookie Notice and CookieBot are two of the most popular cookie notification plugins that are compatible with many other popular WordPress plugins.

For more options, see our list of the best WordPress GDPR plugins to improve compliance.

3. Keep an Eye on Plugins and Tools that Use Cookies

Check your website cookies to make sure that you can connect each cookie to a installed plugin and tool on your website. When installing new WordPress plugins or third-party tools, make sure to check if they have options to make them GDPR and cookie law compliant.

We hope this article helped you learn how to check if your WordPress website uses cookies and ways to make your website compliant with cookie laws.

You may also want to see our WordPress security guide to make sure that any data that you collect on your website is properly secured.

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 Know if Your WordPress Website Uses Cookies appeared first on WPBeginner.

March 10, 2021 at 06:00PM