Friday, May 19, 2023

How to Create a Roundup Post in WordPress (The Easy Way)

Are you looking for an easy way to create roundups and showcases on your WordPress blog?

A roundup post lets you quickly create a new blog article by repurposing your existing content. This list post allows your readers to easily find related content on your blog while improving your website’s internal linking and SEO.

In this article, we will show you how to create a roundup post in WordPress the easy way.

How to Create a Roundup Post in WordPress (The Easy Way)

Why Create Roundup Posts in WordPress?

A roundup or list post features your best articles on a certain subject to give a detailed overview of that topic. Sometimes called ‘listicles,’ these posts offer a collection of helpful content on a particular topic or industry.

For example, you can create a showcase post of your most popular recipes of the year, your best advice for small businesses, or the best reviews on your WordPress website.

Roundup posts are a great way to promote your older articles. They can also showcase the best products in a certain category or solutions to a specific problem.

Plus, these roundups and listicles have another benefit for your WordPress blog. They will improve your internal linking, which in turn will improve your site’s SEO.

With that being said, let’s take a look at how to create a roundup post in WordPress.

How to Create a Roundup Post in WordPress the Easy Way

The first thing you need to do is install and activate the WP Tasty Roundups plugin. For more information, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

WP Tasty Roundups is the easiest way to repurpose your existing content into beautiful roundup posts that rank in search results. Even though the plugin is designed with food blogs in mind, it can be used for any blogging niche or industry.

Upon activation, you will need to navigate to Settings » Tasty Roundups in your WordPress admin dashboard to enter your license key and configure the plugin’s default settings.

Simply paste your license key into the field at the top of the screen. You can find it in the email that was sent to you after buying the plugin. After that, just click the ‘Save license key’ button.

Paste the WP Tasty Roundups License Key

While you are on this page, you can also configure the default style for your listicles. For example, you can display images at the left, top, or right of each post and choose whether to number each post in the list.

By default, the roundup will follow the formatting of the WordPress theme you are using. However, you can customize its text, number, button, and block styles.

Once you have configured the plugin, simply click the ‘Save Changes’ button at the bottom of the page to store your settings.

To make a roundup post, you will need to either create a new post or open an existing post where you want to add the listicle.

After that, you should click the ‘+’ button at the top of the screen and locate ‘Tasty Roundup’ in the Widgets section. Then, you can drag the block where you want it to appear in your post.

Add a Tasty Roundup Block to Your Post

Next, you can use the block to add posts to the roundup from your own blog or other sites.

Each post will have a simple design, consistent formatting, and clear links to your source posts. This creates a good user experience and allows readers to scan your content easily.

Adding a Post From Your Blog

Your list posts will usually include posts from your own WordPress blog, and WP Tasty Roundups makes this easy. Simply type one or two keywords into the built-in search feature, and a list of matching posts will display on your screen.

Searching for a Post to Add to the Roundup

All you need to do is click on the name of the post or the ‘+ Add’ button next to it.

That post will be immediately added to your roundup. The plugin will automatically pull images, titles, descriptions, and links from the post into your roundup list. Later in this article, we will show you how to customize this information.

The Selected Post Will Be Automatically Added to the Roundup

You can add more blog posts to the list post by repeating these steps.

Adding a Post From Another Blog or Website

You can also add posts from other blogs or websites, though this takes a little more work.

When you click the ‘+ Add Post Manually’ button, a blank roundup item is added to the bottom of the Tasty Roundups block.

You Can Add Posts From Other Blogs Manually

Now, you need to manually type the post title and description. You can also use the buttons in the image area to upload a new image or add one from the media library.

Once you have done that, you need to add the article’s URL by clicking the ‘Add link’ icon in the toolbar. Simply paste the article’s URL into the box and press the Enter key or click the ‘Apply’ icon to the right of the URL box.

Adding a Link to a Manual Post

You can see more options by clicking the ‘Link Settings’ down arrow icon on the right. For links to other websites, we recommend enabling the ‘Open in new tab’ toggle. You can also type ‘nofollow’ into the ‘Link Rel’ box so that you don’t pass on your link authority to other sites.

For more information, see our beginner’s guide on how to add nofollow links in WordPress.

After adding the link, a ‘Read More’ button will appear in the article. Clicking this link will take your readers straight to the article.

Once You Add a Link, a Read More Button Will Be Shown With the Post

Customizing Your Roundup

Once you have finished adding all of the articles to your list post, there are a few ways you can customize the roundup.

For example, you can change the order of the posts by selecting a post and then clicking the ‘Move Up’ or ‘Move Down’ buttons on the toolbar. You can also use drag and drop.

Reorder Your Roundup Using Toolbar Buttons or Drag and Drop

You are also able to individually customize each post in the roundup.

For example, using the toolbar buttons, you can change whether the image is displayed on the left, top, or right. You might like to have some posts with the image on the right and others with the image on the left.

Change the Position of Images Using Toolbar Buttons

It’s also possible to edit the title and excerpt. You can format this text using the ‘Bold’ and ‘Italics’ icons in the toolbar. You can even edit the button text.

Additionally, you can change the image displayed in the roundup by clicking the ‘Replace’ button in the toolbar. This will let you upload a new image or choose one from the media library.

You Can Change the Image for a Certain Post Using the Replace Button

Once you have finished creating and customizing your roundup post, you can publish it using the ‘Publish’ or ‘Update’ button at the top of the page.

After that, you can visit your website to see how your roundup post or showcase looks. Here is a preview of our sample roundup.

Preview of the Final Roundup

We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to easily create a roundup post in WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on how to increase your blog traffic or our expert picks for the must-have WordPress 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 Create a Roundup Post in WordPress (The Easy Way) first appeared on WPBeginner.


May 19, 2023 at 04:04PM

Thursday, May 18, 2023

How to View the Mobile Version of WordPress Sites From Desktop

Do you want to preview the mobile version of your WordPress site?

Previewing the mobile layout helps you see how your website looks on mobile devices. When your site is under development or even when it’s live, it’s often easier to view the mobile version on a desktop computer. Then, you can quickly make changes and see their effect.

In this article, we will show you how to view a mobile version of the WordPress site from a desktop.

How to view the mobile version of WordPress sites from desktop

Why You Should Preview Your Mobile Layout

More than 50% of your website visitors will be using their mobile phones to access your site. Around 3% will be using a tablet.

This means that having a site that looks great on mobile is very important.

In fact, mobile is so important that Google is now using a mobile-first index for its website ranking algorithm. This means that Google will use your site’s mobile version for indexing. You can learn more by reading our ultimate guide to WordPress SEO.

Even if you are using a responsive WordPress theme, you still need to check how your site looks on mobile. You might want to create different versions of key landing pages that are optimized for mobile users’ needs.

It’s important to keep in mind that most mobile previews will not be completely perfect because there are so many different mobile screen sizes and browsers. Your final test should always be to look at your site on an actual mobile device.

That said, let’s look at how you can view the mobile version of your WordPress website on a desktop.

We are going to cover two different methods for testing how your site looks on mobile using desktop browsers. You can click the links below to jump to any section:

Video Tutorial

If you’d prefer written instructions, then continue reading.

Method 1: Using WordPress’s Theme Customizer

You can use the WordPress theme customizer to preview the mobile version of your WordPress site.

Simply log in to your WordPress dashboard and go to the Appearance » Customize screen.

Go to theme customizer from WordPress dashboard

This will open up the WordPress theme customizer. For this tutorial, we will be using the Astra theme.

Depending on what theme you are using, you may see slightly different options in the left-hand menu.

View options in theme customizer

At the bottom of the screen, simply click the mobile icon.

You will then see a preview of how your site looks on mobile devices.

View mobile screen preview

This method for previewing the mobile version is particularly useful when you haven’t yet finished creating your blog or when it’s in maintenance mode.

You can now make changes to your website and check how they look before you push them live.

Method 2: Using Google Chrome’s DevTools Device Mode

The Google Chrome browser has a set of developer tools that let you run various checks on any website, including seeing a preview of how it looks on mobile devices.

Simply open the Google Chrome browser on your desktop and visit the page you want to check. This could be the preview of a page on your site, or it could even be your competitor’s website.

Next, you need to right-click on the page and select the ‘Inspect’ option.

Right click to open the inspect option

A new panel will open up on the right-hand side or at the bottom of the screen.

It will look something like this:

View the inspect tool

In the developer view, you will be able to see your site’s HTML source code, CSS, and other details.

Next, you need to click the ‘Toggle Device Toolbar’ button to change to the mobile view.

Click the toggle device toolbar

You will see the preview of your website shrink to the mobile screen size.

Your website’s general appearance will also change in the mobile view. For instance, the menus will collapse, and additional icons will move to the left instead of the right of the menu.

View the mobile version in inspect tool window

When you hover your mouse cursor over the mobile view of your site, it will become a circle. This circle can be moved with your mouse to mimic the touchscreen on a mobile device.

You can also hold down the ‘Shift’ key, then click and move your mouse to simulate pinching the mobile screen to zoom in or out.

Above the mobile view of your site, you will see some additional options.

Change the dimensions for responsiveness

These settings let you do several extra things. You can check how your site would look on different types of smartphones.

For example, you can select a mobile device like an iPhone and see how your site will appear on the device.

You can also simulate your site’s performance on fast or slow 3G connections. You can even rotate the mobile screen using the rotate icon.

Bonus: How to Create Mobile-Specific Content in WordPress

It’s important that your website has a responsive design so that mobile visitors can easily navigate your website.

However, simply having a responsive site may not go far enough. Users on mobile devices are often looking for different things than desktop users.

Many premium themes and plugins let you create elements that display differently on desktop versus mobile. You can also use a page builder plugin like SeedProd to edit your landing pages in mobile view.

Previewing a custom page on mobile

You should consider creating mobile-specific content for your lead generation forms. On mobile devices, these forms should ask for minimal information, ideally just an email address. They should also look good and be easy to close.

For more details, you can see our guide on how to create a landing page in WordPress.

Another great way to create mobile-specific popups and lead-generation forms is with OptinMonster. It is the most powerful WordPress popup plugin and lead-generation tool on the market.

Edit campaign design on mobile

OptinMonster has specific device-targeting display rules that let you show different campaigns to mobile users vs desktop users. You can even combine this with OptinMonster’s geo-targeting feature and other advanced personalization features to get the best conversions.

You can see our guide on how to create mobile popups that convert for more information.

We hope this article helped you learn how to preview the mobile layout of your site. You may also want to see our expert picks for the best plugins to convert a WordPress site into a mobile app and learn how to increase 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 View the Mobile Version of WordPress Sites From Desktop first appeared on WPBeginner.


May 19, 2023 at 12:08AM

How to Add Equipment Rentals to Your WooCommerce Store

Do you want to add equipment rentals to your WooCommerce store?

By renting equipment to your customers, you can keep making money from the same product. You can also connect with a new audience who want to rent products rather than buy them.

In this article, we will show you how to add equipment rentals to your WooCommerce store.

How to add equipment rentals to your WooCommerce store

Why Add Equipment Rentals to Your WooCommerce Store?

By renting equipment to your customers, you can buy a product once and then turn it into an ongoing revenue stream.

If you already have a WooCommerce store selling digital products or physical items, then equipment rentals can be another way to make money.

For example, if you sell party hats and paper plates, then your existing customers might also be interested in larger party equipment rentals, such as a bouncy castle or audio speakers.

You might also be looking to start a completely new equipment rental business. By creating a WooCommerce store that’s optimized for SEO, you can help potential customers discover your business.

Even better, customers can browse your catalog and reserve equipment online. This convenient customer experience will keep people coming back to your equipment rental business rather than switching to a competitor.

With that in mind, let’s see how you can add equipment rentals to WordPress.

How to Add Equipment Rentals to Your WooCommerce Store

In this guide, we are going to assume you already have a WooCommerce store. If you don’t, then you can see our complete guide on WooCommerce made simple.

The easiest way to add equipment rentals to your store is by using Bookings for WooCommerce. This WooCommerce plugin allows you to turn any WooCommerce product into a bookable item that customers can rent for a certain number of days or hours.

An example of rentable equipment, added to the WooCommerce store

You can also create additional services, such as cleaning and delivery fees, and then add them to your equipment rentals.

How to Create a Bookable Product in WooCommerce

First, you will need to install and activate the Bookings for WooCommerce plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you can turn any WooCommerce product into a bookable product. If you have already added the product to your online store, then simply go to Products » All Products.

Here, simply hover over the item that you want to turn into a bookable product, and click on the ‘Edit’ link when it appears.

Editing a rentable WooCommerce product

You can also add the equipment as a new product by going to Products » Add New. Here, you can type in the product’s name, upload a photo, add product categories and tags, type in a description, and more.

For more information on how to set up a WooCommerce product, please see our WooCommerce made simple guide.

Adding equipment and party supply rental products to WooCommerce

No matter whether you create a new product or edit an existing one, you can turn it into a bookable product in exactly the same way.

Simply scroll to the Product Data box and open the dropdown menu that shows ‘Simple product’ by default.

Adding a simple product to an online store using WooCommerce

You can now select ‘Booking Product.’ This gives you access to lots of new settings where you can configure the bookable product.

Set How Many Units Customers Can Rent

You can either offer a set number of units or let the customer choose how many units to rent, using the ‘Quantity’ dropdown.

Adding bookable products to WooCommerce

To let customers rent multiple units, select ‘Customer can choose.’

By default, customers can rent as many units as they want, but you can also add a limit. If a customer types in a higher number, then WooCommerce will show an error message.

Limiting the quantity of units that customers can rent

This is useful if you have limited stock or equipment that’s in high demand.

To set a limit, type a number into the ‘Max Booking Per User’ field.

Limiting how many units a customer can rent on a party rental or similar website

Another option is defining how many units the customer can book. For example, if you rent large or expensive equipment such as heavy farming machinery, then customers may only need to book a single unit.

By setting the quantity in advance, you can remove a step from the booking process and improve the customer experience.

An example of a rentable product on a WooCommerce website

Simply go ahead and open the ‘Quantity’ dropdown and then choose ‘Fixed Unit.’

Now, type in the number you want to use.

How to change the quantity of equipment or party rental equipment in WooCommerce

Require Admin Approval For Equipment Rentals (Optional)

Next, you can decide whether to approve all rental requests automatically or put them on hold until you can manually approve them.

If you have a smaller inventory, then requiring approval can help you avoid rental overlap. It can also help you spot any problems with rental requests before you take any payments.

If you enable admin approval, then you will get a notification every time someone submits a rental request.

A new booking notification, on a WordPress website

Click on this notification, and you will go to WooCommerce » Orders.

Here, you will see all the orders on your WordPress website, with any new bookings marked as ‘On hold.’

Requiring admin approval on a party equipment rental or similar website

You can now click on a new order to see all the information about that booking.

If you want to change the order status, then you need to open the ‘Status’ dropdown and choose an option from the list.

For example, if you are approving the booking, then you might select Pending Payment, Completed, or Processing, depending on your workflow.

Changing the order status on an equipment rental website using WooCommerce

With that done, click on ‘Update’ to save your changes.

As you can see, admin approval gives you more control over your equipment rentals. To require approval, check the box next to ‘Booking Confirmation.’

How to require admin approval on an equipment rental website

Offer Hourly or Daily Equipment Rentals in WooCommerce

By default, customers can rent your equipment for one or more days. However, sometimes you may want to rent equipment based on hours.

To make this change, just open the ‘Booking Unit’ dropdown and select ‘Hour(s).’

How to rent equipment based on hours

You can then choose the start and end time for the booking period, using the ‘Daily booking…’ dropdown menus.

In the following image, customers can only rent equipment between 9 AM and 5 PM.

How to change the duration of rentable equipment in WordPress

After making this change, WooCommerce will add a section where customers can choose a start and end time.

This is perfect for equipment that people only need for a very short period of time. For example, if you provide party equipment rental, then customers may only need the party supplies for a few hours.

How to rent equipment based on days and hours

Add Base and Additional Costs

When you are happy with the information you have entered so far, you need to click on the ‘Costs’ tab.

To start, just type in the Booking Unit Cost, which is the price of booking a single unit.

How to add a cost to a rentable product in WooCommerce

After that, you can add an optional additional cost by typing into the ‘Base Cost’ field.

This might be a booking fee, cleaning fee, or any other cost linked to renting the equipment.

How to add additional costs to a rentable product in WooCommerce

If you add a base cost, then customers will see it as part of the cost breakdown.

In the following image, the product is $50 to rent per day, with a base cost of $10.

An example of a cost breakdown on rentable equipment

Depending on the kind of equipment you rent, you may want to multiply the fee based on how many people plan to use the equipment. This can help you cover additional wear and tear when lots of people use the same product.

To multiply the price based on people, start by checking the boxes next to ‘Booking Unit Cost Per Person’ and ‘Base Cost Per People.’

Multiply the cost of party equipment based on the number of people

With that done, click on the ‘People’ tab.

Here, you need to check the box next to ‘Enable People Option.’

Multiply the price of rentable equipment based on the number of people

With that done, customers will see a new field where they can type in how many people plan to use the equipment.

WooCommerce will also show this information in its cost breakdown.

An example of the cost breakdown on rentable equipment

You may also want to set the minimum and maximum number of people who can use the equipment in a single booking. This can help to avoid customers misusing your equipment.

For example, you may not want an entire workforce to use the same product.

If you have large equipment that’s expensive to deliver or clean, then setting a minimum number of people can help to keep your profit margins healthy.

To set these limits, simply type numbers into the ‘Minimum No. of People’ and ‘Maximum No. of People’ fields.

Adding maximum and minimum limits for rentable equipment in WooCommerce

How to Publish Equipment Rentals to Your WooCommerce Store

Although there are some extra settings you may want to configure, this is all you need to add equipment rentals to your WooCommerce store.

With that being said, you can click on ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ to make the product live on your WooCommerce website. Now, people can rent this equipment directly from the WooCommerce product page.

How to Set Up Services and Additional Costs for Your Equipment Rental Store

Sometimes, you may want to create additional costs and services for your equipment rental store. For example, you might offer to deliver the equipment for an extra fee.

With that in mind, let’s see how you can set up additional costs and services for your WooCommerce store.

How to Add Additional Costs in WooCommerce

Additional costs are fees that WooCommerce adds to one or more products automatically. This feature is useful if there are different costs associated with different pieces of equipment.

For example, you may need to refuel some products after use, while others might need fresh oil.

By adding these costs in the WordPress dashboard, you can easily apply them to different products. It also provides a single location where you can change the cost.

For example, if petrol gets more expensive, then you can update your Refueling cost once, and this change will be applied across your entire online marketplace or store.

An example of a rentable product with additional costs

As you can see in the image above, additional costs simply appear in the cost breakdown as ‘Additional Costs.’ If you want to give the shopper some more information about these charges, then we recommend creating a service instead.

To register an additional cost, you need to go to WP Swings » Bookings for WooCommerce. Here, simply click on ‘Configuration Settings,’ followed by ‘Additional Costs.’

The Bookings for WooCommerce WordPress plugin

To start, type in a name for the additional cost. This is just for your reference, so you can use anything you want.

After that, you need to type in the slug you want to use for the additional cost.

Adding a new booking cost to an equipment rental store

With that done, you can type in an optional description. This typically won’t appear on your website, but some WooCommerce themes show it.

Next, simply type the cost into the ‘Booking Cost’ field.

Adding booking costs to a party equipment rental or similar product

By default, the additional cost gets added to an order once.

However, you can multiply the additional cost based on the booking duration or how many people plan to use the equipment. To do this, click to activate the ‘Multiply by No. of People’ or ‘Multiply by Duration’ toggles.

Multiply a booking by duration and the number of people

When you are happy with the information you have entered, simply type in ‘Add New Booking Cost.’

To create more additional costs, simply repeat the same process described above.

An example of multiple booking costs on a party supply rental website

With that done, you can add this cost to any WooCommerce product.

Simply open the product for editing, and then scroll to the ‘Additional Costs’ box.

Adding extra costs to an equipment rental in WooCommerce

You can now type in the name of the additional cost.

When the right option shows up, give it a click and then select ‘Add.’

The 'Additional Costs' box in a WooCommerce product

You can click on ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ to save your changes. Now, when someone rents this equipment, the additional cost will be applied automatically.

How to Create Additional Services in WooCommerce

You can also create additional services. Unlike additional costs, the name of the service will appear in the cost breakdown.

An example of rentable equipment, with additional services

This helps customers understand your extra fees, so we recommend using services for more expensive charges. It’s also a good idea to use services if you need to add multiple charges to an order so that customers can see a detailed cost breakdown.

You can also make services optional, so the customer can choose whether to add them to the order. This allows you to offer premium additional services such as next-day delivery.

To add services to your WooCommerce store, you need to go to WP Swings » Bookings for WooCommerce. Here, click on ‘Configuration Settings,’ followed by ‘Additional Services.’

Creating additional services for customers on an equipment hire or rentable website

You can now type a name for the service into the ‘Name’ field.

This will be shown to customers, so you will want to use something that helps shoppers understand the extra charge.

How to add an optional service to a party supply rental or similar website

After that, you have to type in a slug, an optional description, and how much the service will cost by following the same process described above.

Again, you can choose whether to multiply the fee based on the duration of the booking or the number of people who plan to use the equipment.

How to add a rentable product to WooCommerce

You can also make a service optional.

This means customers can check a box to add the service to their order.

Offering optional services along with your rentable equipment

This gives shoppers more control over how much it costs to rent equipment from your WooCommerce store.

To make a service optional, simply click to enable the ‘If Optional’ toggle.

Making a service optional on an online store

Another option is to make the service ‘hidden.’

Hidden services simply appear on the product page as ‘Service Cost.’

An example of an optional service, created using WooCommerce

To make a service hidden, click to activate the ‘If Hidden’ toggle.

Next, you may want to enable the ‘If has Quantity’ slider. This allows shoppers to add the same service to their order multiple times.

Adding multiple services to a WooCommerce product

After clicking to enable the ‘If has Quantity’ slider, you may want to set a minimum and maximum quantity.

Simply type a number into the ‘Minimum Quantity’ and ‘Maximum Quantity’ fields.

The Bookings for WooCommerce settings

When you are happy with the information you have entered, click on ‘Add New Booking Service.’

To add more services to your online store, simply follow the same process described above.

Multiple bookings services, added to a rentable equipment website

When it’s time to add a service, simply open the product for editing.

Then, just scroll to the ‘Additional Services’ box.

How to add an additional service to a WooCommerce product

You can now type in the name of the additional service you want to add.

When the right option shows up, simply select it and then click on the ‘Add’ button.

How to add services to party equipment or other rentals

With that done, click on ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ to save your changes.

How to Manage Equipment Rentals on Your WooCommerce Store

After adding equipment to your website, you will need a way to manage your rental bookings.

Every time you get a new booking, you will see a notification in the WordPress toolbar.

A booking notification in the WordPress dashboard

Simply click on this notification to see all your bookings.

You can reach the same screen by going to WooCommerce » Orders.

How to manage rental orders in WooCommerce

To see more information about an order, go ahead and click on it. This takes you to a screen where you can see detailed information about the order and the customer, including their email address and phone number.

You can also change the order status, including canceling or refunding the rental request.

Changing the status of an order on an equipment rental or party supplies website

The Bookings for WooCommerce WordPress plugin also comes with a calendar that shows all your bookings at a glance.

To see this calendar, simply head over to WP Swings » Bookings For WooCommerce. Then, click on the ‘Bookings Calendar’ tab.

An example of a booking calendar for an equipment rental or party supplies rental website

We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to add equipment rentals to your WooCommerce store. You may also want to learn how to create an email newsletter or check out our expert picks for 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 Add Equipment Rentals to Your WooCommerce Store first appeared on WPBeginner.


May 18, 2023 at 04:00PM