Friday, March 26, 2021

6 Best Video Editing Software of 2021 Compared (Easy & Powerful)

Are you looking for the best video editing software?

Video editing software lets you create professional videos for your WordPress site, Instagram, YouTube, and other social media channels.

In this article, we’ve hand-picked some of the best video editing software that you can use to easily create videos. We have used these tools to create YouTube videos that have gotten over 500 million views.

Best video editing software compared

Why is Choosing the Best Video Editing Software Important?

It’s no secret that video content is taking over the world.

We all use streaming services like Netflix, video-focused social media networks like TikTok, IGTV, and Snapchat. Plus, there’s YouTube, the second largest search engine in the world.

The right video editing software can help you in a lot of ways:

Picking the right video editing software and learning the tool’s ins and outs can transform your WordPress website and online presence.

You can use it to create professional quality videos for your YouTube channel, Facebook ads, Instagram profile, and more.

Over the last 10 years, we have tried all the popular video software in our quest to grow our YouTube channels. The WPBeginner channel has over 233,000 subscribers on YouTube.

We had another channel that we grew to 2.5 million subscribers and 500 million subscribers before selling it in 2018.

While we’re not video pros, we have learnt a few things over the years.

Here are the most important things you’ll need to consider when choosing the best video editing software:

  • The type of videos you’re going to create
  • The kind of computer you’re using (Apple or Windows)
  • The video file types you’re going to be editing
  • The transitions and effects you want to apply
  • Your existing skillset with video editing

Having said that, let’s take a look at some of the best video editing software in the market today.

1. Adobe Premiere Pro

Adobe Premiere Pro

Adobe Premiere Pro is the best all-around video editing software. It’s the industry standard for professionals in Hollywood, television, and is even used by popular YouTubers.

It’s cross platform compatible and works on both Mac and Windows.

If you’re already an Adobe user and are using other products like, Photoshop, After Effects, or Adobe Stock, then it makes sense to use Premiere Pro since it integrates with the other products seamlessly.

It supports the latest 4K, 8K, and VR video formats and can handle multi-angle shots. It also has advanced trimming and editing tools to give you high levels of control.

There are robust color grading, color correction, and compositing features. Plus, there’s chroma key options to remove backgrounds for green screen videos.

You can import from virtually any source or format, and you have an unlimited number of video tracks to flex your creativity.

You’ll even find automated tools with the Adobe Sensei technology, which works to help speed up the editing process.

Finally, there are a ton of exporting options. You can easily export directly to YouTube, Vimeo, and more.

Note: If you want a more affordable and beginner-friendly tool, then Adobe Premiere Elements is a great choice.

Beyond the video editing tools, there’s a wealth of audio editing tools as well. The sound panel comes equipped with features and effects like reverb, compression, amplification, stereo balance, and more.

You can subscribe to Adobe Premiere Pro by itself for $239.88 per year. Or you can purchase the entire Creative Cloud suite ($52.99 per month) which gives you access to all 20+ Adobe apps including Premiere Pro, Photoshop, Illustrator, XD, all Adobe Pro fonts, and collaboration tools.

The creative suite is great value and that’s what we use for our business.

Expert Review: We believe Adobe Premiere Pro is best overall video editing software.

2. Camtasia

Camtasia

Camtasia is primarily known for its screen recording features, but you’ll also find powerful video editing functionality.

The combination of screen recording and editing tools makes it perfect for creating YouTube tutorials, online course lessons, how-to videos, product reviews, and more.

You’ll find a library of video templates you can use to easily create the exact kind of video that you want.

The process for editing videos is very straightforward. Just use the drag and drop editor to edit your video and add animations and transition effects quickly.

There’s also an integration with PowerPoint to help you create captivating presentations and tutorials. You’ll even find cool interactive features like quizzes that you can add to your videos.

You can use the iPhone app to record videos on your phone and edit them using the software. This is great if you’re creating mobile tutorial videos or walkthroughs.

Camtasia offers an individual plan for $249.99, which gives you access to all features and is compatible with both Windows and Mac.

Larger teams can purchase the business license, and there are both education, government, and non-profit discounts available.

Expert Review: We believe Camtasia is best video editing software for online course creators and how-to video editors.

Several of our team members use Camtasia to create screencast tutorial videos for our products.

3. Promo

Promo

Promo is a great online video editor perfect for making marketing videos. It’s incredibly easy to use. Even if you’re not tech-savvy, you can put together promotional content quickly and simply.

If you get stuck when coming up with Instagram video ideas or video ads for Facebook and YouTube, then this tool is for you.

It only takes a couple of clicks to create an engaging video ready to post online. It’s super easy.

All you have to do is choose your campaign type or industry, select from one of 5 million templates, then add customizable animations, video clips, and text. You can even see your changes in real-time.

You’ll find templates in industries like business, real estate, marketing, travel, ecommerce, and recruiting and HR.

Plus, specialized templates for marketing tasks like promo videos, Facebook ads, Instagram ads, YouTube Ads, and LinkedIn ads.

For those who want more creative control, you can start from scratch with a blank template.

The Basic plan starts at $49 per month.

If you create a lot of marketing videos, then the Standard plan gives you access to unlimited premium clips and video downloads, plus you can add watermark to your videos for $99 per month.

The premium plans also give you access to an iOS or Android mobile app, which lets you create videos on the go.

Expert Review: We believe Promo is the best video editor for creating and editing marketing videos. It’s great for business owners, marketers, and non-techy users.

4. Wondershare Filmora

Filmora by Wondershare

Filmora by Wondershare is a very simple and easy to use video editing software. It has a short learning curve, so it’s perfect for those just getting started with video editing.

Even if you’ve never used a video editing software before, you can use this intuitive and easy to navigate editor to create your first video.

As your skills improve, you can take advantage of the advanced editing features this tool offers such as noise removal, speed control, color tuning, and more.

You’ll also find a library of visual effects and built-in titles that are designed with YouTubers in mind. There’s also a library of royalty-free music and sound effects you can use in your videos.

The most recent release added features like motion graphics, color matching, and a keyboard shortcuts editor to help you create your own time saving workflows.

There’s also a free mobile app for editing videos on the go, and simply uploading to Instagram or YouTube.

The premium version costs $69.99 for a lifetime payment, or you can choose to pay $44.99 per year.

There is a free version available, which has all the same features as the paid version. But, your videos will have their company watermark present.

If you want unlimited downloads from the stock film library, then there’s a Bundle plan for $104.87 per year.

Expert Review: We believe Wondershare Filmora is the best beginner-friendly video editing software.

5. Final Cut Pro

Final Cut Pro

Final Cut Pro is the best video editing software for macOS used by over 2 million people. This tool is very easy to use, despite being so powerful.

Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Pro offer a nearly identical set of features. The big difference is Final Cut Pro X isn’t Windows compatible.

It’s equipped with advanced functionality to help you edit videos faster like, Smart Conform cropping, which will ensure that no essential scenes get cut.

There are grouping tools, organization features, animation templates, transitions, and a library of video effects. Plus, built-in audio editing features.

If you’re going to post videos to Facebook or YouTube, then you can use the export feature to automatically optimize and set the right aspect ratio for these platforms.

Since Final Cut Pro isn’t subscription-based, it offers you a simpler pricing model. Pay a one time fee of $299.99 and access the software forever.

Expert Review: We believe Final Cut Pro is the best video editing program for Mac users.

6. CyberLink PowerDirector 365

CyberLink PowerDirector 365

CyberLink PowerDirector 365 is feature-rich high-end video editing software. However, it doesn’t carry the high price tag of tools with a similar set of features.

You’ll find functionality like a 100-track timeline, video correction tools, motion tracking, support for multi-cam editing, and stabilization features (great for GoPro footage).

It also has support for 360-degree video editing and nearly all file formats and file types.

Beyond the standard professional video editing features, there are additional features and pre-made templates for creating slideshows, DVD menus, and even screen recording.

Now, the tool isn’t the most intuitive for beginners. However, there is a massive video tutorial library to help you use the software.

This software starts at $19.99 per month, or you can pay $51.99 for the year, which is $4.33 monthly.

Expert Review: We believe CyberLink PowerDirector 365 is the best for users who need advanced features, but have a small budget.

Which is the Best Video Editing Software for You?

After carefully researching and testing the top video editing software, we believe that Adobe Premiere Pro is the best video editing software in the market.

It’s the industry leading software used for everything from Hollywood productions to YouTube videos and everything in-between.

It has every feature you could want and plenty of tutorials for beginners who are just getting started using the software.

If you’re looking for creating guided video tutorials (screencasts + video), then Camtasia is the best cross-platform video editing software for screen recording.

If you’re looking for an easy tool for creating promo videos for social media ads or marketing campaigns, then Promo.com comes with a lot of templates. It’s made for marketers & non-techies.

Aside from the top video editing software in our list, we also looked at other video editing software like Corel VideoStudio, DaVinci Resolve, Pinnacle Studio, Lightworks, VSDC, Shotcut, and HitFilm Express.

However, we decided not to list them to help make your decision easy and avoid choice paralysis.

Best Video Editing Software FAQs

Having helped thousands of users find the best video editing software for their needs, we’ve answered a lot of questions.

Below are some of the most common questions we’ve received about video editing software providers.

What is the best free video editing app?

The best free video editing app is the iMovie movie maker. The free software comes preinstalled on most Mac machines.

It’s beginner-friendly and has plenty of special effects to enhance your videos. It also works on iPads.

If you’re not using macOS, then Wondershare Filmora has a great free video editing app. It’s packed with advanced features and a beginner learning curve.

What’s the best video editing software for beginners?

The best video editing software for beginners is Filmora. It’s intuitive, easy to use, and comes with filters, overlays, transitions, motion elements, and more.

It also has a mode called “Easy Mode” that lets you create simple edits by choosing a theme and dragging and dropping clips and presets.

Adobe Premiere Element is also pretty beginner friendly.

If you’re looking to create promo videos, then Promo.com is the easiest video editing software for non-techies & marketers.

What do most YouTubers use to edit their videos?

Most YouTubers use popular video editing software like Final Cut Pro, Adobe Premiere Pro, and iMovie. However, most video editing tools have similar features overall.

If you’re starting a YouTube channel, then the best video editing software is one that you can use and fits within your budget. As your channel grows, you can improve your skills and invest in professional video editing software.

We hoped this article helped you find the best video editing software to use with your WordPress site. You may also want to see our expert list of the best webinar software and best online course platforms to create & sell online courses.

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 6 Best Video Editing Software of 2021 Compared (Easy & Powerful) appeared first on WPBeginner.


March 26, 2021 at 05:00PM

Thursday, March 25, 2021

WordPress Body Class 101: Tips and Tricks for Theme Designers

Are you an aspiring WordPress theme designer looking for new ways to use CSS into your themes?

Luckily, WordPress automatically adds CSS classes that you can utilize in your themes. Several of these CSS classes are automatically added to the <body> section of every page on a WordPress site.

In this article, we will explain the WordPress body class with tips and tricks for aspiring theme designers to utilize them in their projects.

Using WordPress body class for theme development
Here is a quick overview of what you’ll learn in this article.

What is WordPress Body Class?

Body class (body_class) is a WordPress function that allows you to assign CSS classes to the body element.

The HTML body tag normally begins in a theme’s header.php file, which loads on every page. This allows you to dynamically figure out which page a user is viewing and then add the CSS classes accordingly.

Normally most starter themes and frameworks already include the body class function inside the HTML body tag. However, if your theme does not have it, then you can add it by modifying the body tag like this:

<body <?php body_class($class); ?>>

Depending on the type of page being displayed, WordPress automatically adds the appropriate classes.

For example, if you are on an archive page, WordPress will automatically add archive class to the body element. It does that for just about every page.

Related: See how WordPress works behind the scenes (infographic)

Here are some examples of common classes that WordPress might add, depending on which page is being displayed:

.rtl {}
.home {}
.blog {}
.archive {}
.date {}
.search {}
.paged {}
.attachment {}
.error404 {}
.single postid-(id) {}
.attachmentid-(id) {}
.attachment-(mime-type) {}
.author {}
.author-(user_nicename) {}
.category {}
.category-(slug) {}
.tag {}
.tag-(slug) {}
.page-parent {}
.page-child parent-pageid-(id) {}
.page-template page-template-(template file name) {}
.search-results {}
.search-no-results {}
.logged-in {}
.paged-(page number) {}
.single-paged-(page number) {}
.page-paged-(page number) {}
.category-paged-(page number) {}
.tag-paged-(page number) {}
.date-paged-(page number) {}
.author-paged-(page number) {}
.search-paged-(page number) {}

As you can see, by having such a powerful resource at hand, you can entirely customize your WordPress page by using just CSS. You can customize specific author profile pages, date-based archives, etc.

That being said, now let’s take a look at how and when would you use the body class.

When to use The WordPress Body Class

First, you need to make sure that your theme’s body element contains the body class function as shown above. If it does, then it will automatically include all the WordPress generated CSS classes mentioned above.

After that, you will also be able to add your own custom CSS classes to the body element. You can add these classes whenever you need them.

For example, if you want to change the appearance of articles by a specific author filed under a specific category.

How to Add Custom Body Classes

WordPress has a filter that you can utilize to add custom body classes when needed. We will show you how to add a body class using the filter before showing you the specific use case scenario just so everyone can be on the same page.

Because body classes are theme specific, you would need to add the following code to your theme’s functions.php file.

function my_class_names($classes) {
        // add 'class-name' to the $classes array
        $classes[] = 'wpb-class';
        // return the $classes array
        return $classes;
}

//Now add test class to the filter
add_filter('body_class','my_class_names');

The above code will add a class “wpb-class” to the body tag on every page on your website. That’s not so bad, right?

Now you can utilize this CSS class in your theme’s stylesheet directly. If you are working on your own website, then you can also add the CSS using the custom CSS feature in theme customizer.

Adding custom CSS in theme customizer

Adding Body Class Using a WordPress Plugin

If you are not working on a client project and don’t want to write code, then this method would be easier for you.

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

Upon activation, you need to visit Settings » Custom Body Class page. From here you can configure plugin settings.

Custom Body Class settings

You can select post types where you want to enable body class feature and who can access it. Don’t forget to click on the save changes button to store your settings.

Next, you can head over to edit any post or page on your WordPress site. On the post edit screen, you will find a new meta box in the right column labeled ‘Post Classes’.

Adding body classes to a post in WordPress

Click to add your custom CSS classes. You can add multiple classes separated by a space.

Once you are done, you can simply save or publish your post. The plugin will now add your custom CSS classes to the body class for that particular post or page.

Using Conditional Tags with The Body Class

The real power of the body_class function comes when it is used with the conditional tags.

These conditional tags are true or false data types that check if a condition is true or false in WordPress. For example, the conditional tag is_home checks if the page currently displayed is the homepage or not.

This allows theme developers to check if a condition is true or false before adding a custom CSS class to the body_class function.

Let’s take a look at some examples of using conditional tags to add custom classes to the body class.

Let’s say you want to style your homepage differently for logged in users with the author user role. While WordPress automatically generates a .home and .logged-in class, it does not detect the user role or add it as a class.

Now, this is a scenario where you can use the conditional tags with some custom code to dynamically add a custom class to the body class.

To achieve this you will add the following code to your theme’s functions.php file.

function wpb_loggedin_user_role_class($classes) { 

// let's check if it is homepage
if ( is_home() ) {

// Now let's check if the logged in user has author user role.  
$user = wp_get_current_user();
if ( in_array( 'author', (array) $user->roles ) ) {
    //The user has the "author" role
    // Add user role to the body class
    $classes[] = 'author';
    // Return the classes array
    return $classes;      
} 
} else { 
// if it is not homepage, then just return default classes
return $classes; 
}
} 

add_filter('body_class', 'wpb_loggedin_user_role_class');

Now, let’s take a look at another useful example. This time we are going to check if the page displayed is a preview of a WordPress draft.

To do that we will use the conditional tag is_preview and then add our custom CSS class.

function add_preview_class($classes) { 
if ( is_preview() )  {
$classes[] = 'preview-mode';
return $classes;
}
return $classes; 
}
add_filter('body_class','add_preview_class');

Now, we will add the following CSS to our theme’s stylesheet to utilize the new custom CSS class we just added.

.preview-mode .site-header:before { 
content:'preview mode';
color:#FFF;
background-color:#ff0000;
}

This is how it looked on our demo site:

Custom preview mode CSS class added to the body class

You may want to check out the full list of conditional tags that you can use in WordPress. This will give you a handy set of ready to use tags for your code.

Other Examples of Dynamically Adding Custom Body Classes

Apart from conditional tags, you can also use other techniques to fetch information from the WordPress database and create custom CSS classes for the body class.

Adding category names to the body class of a single post page

Let’s say you want to customize the appearance of single posts based on the category they are filed in. You can use the body class to achieve this

First, you need to add category names as CSS class on single post pages. To do that, add the following code to your theme’s functions.php file:

// add category nicenames in body class
function category_id_class($classes) {
    global $post;
    foreach((get_the_category($post->ID)) as $category)
        $classes[] = $category->category_nicename;
    return $classes;
}
 
add_filter('body_class', 'category_id_class');

The code above will add the category class in your body class for single post pages. You can then use CSS classes to style it as you wish.

Adding page slug to the body class

Paste the following code in your theme’s functions.php file:

//Page Slug Body Class
function add_slug_body_class( $classes ) {
global $post;
if ( isset( $post ) ) {
$classes[] = $post->post_type . '-' . $post->post_name;
}
return $classes;
}
add_filter( 'body_class', 'add_slug_body_class' );

Browser Detection and Browser Specific Body Classes

Sometimes you may come across issues where your theme may need additional CSS for a particular browser.

Now the good news is that WordPress automatically detects browser upon loading and then temporary stores this information as a global variable.

You just need to check if WordPress detected a specific browser and then add it as a custom CSS class.

Simply, copy and paste the following code in your theme’s functions.php file:


function wpb_browser_body_class($classes) { 
        global $is_iphone, $is_chrome, $is_safari, $is_NS4, $is_opera, $is_macIE, $is_winIE, $is_gecko, $is_lynx, $is_IE, $is_edge;

if ($is_iphone)    $classes[] ='iphone-safari';
elseif ($is_chrome)    $classes[] ='google-chrome';
elseif ($is_safari)    $classes[] ='safari';
elseif ($is_NS4)    $classes[] ='netscape';
elseif ($is_opera)    $classes[] ='opera';
elseif ($is_macIE)    $classes[] ='mac-ie';
elseif ($is_winIE)    $classes[] ='windows-ie';
elseif ($is_gecko)    $classes[] ='firefox';
elseif ($is_lynx)    $classes[] ='lynx';
elseif ($is_IE)      $classes[] ='internet-explorer';
elseif ($is_edge)    $classes[] ='ms-edge';
else $classes[] = 'unknown';
        
return $classes;
}
add_filter('body_class','wpb_browser_body_class');

You can then use classes like:

.ms-edge .navigation {some item goes here}

If it is a small padding or margin issue, then this is a fairly easy way of fixing it.

There are definitely many more scenarios where using the body_class function can save you from writing lengthy lines of code. For example, if you are using a theme framework like Genesis, then you can use it to add custom classes in your child theme.

You can use the body_class function to add CSS classes for full-width page layouts, sidebar content, header and footers, etc.

We hope this article helped you learn how to use the WordPress body class in your themes. You may also want to see our article on how to style each WordPress post differently, and our comparison of best WordPress page builder 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 WordPress Body Class 101: Tips and Tricks for Theme Designers appeared first on WPBeginner.


March 25, 2021 at 03:06PM

Wednesday, March 24, 2021

How to Easily Find and Remove Stolen Content in WordPress (5 Ways)

Are you looking for a way to find and remove stolen content in WordPress?

You’ve worked hard on your website, but now your content has been stolen, published, and is taking traffic away from your brand.

In this article, we’ll show you how you can find and remove stolen content in WordPress, no matter if it’s a single post or your entire site has been copied.

5 ways to find and remove stolen content in WordPress

How and Why is Website Content Stolen?

One widespread method for stealing content is blog content scraping. This is where content is taken from your site, usually via your RSS feed, and republished on another site.

Sometimes your content will be simply copied and pasted directly to another website, including your formatting, images, videos, and more.

Other times, your content will be reposted with attribution and a link back to your website, but without your permission. Although this can help your SEO, you may want to keep your original content hosted on your site only.

Usually, the main motivation for content theft is to profit off of your hard work.

Having your content stolen is a stressful experience that a lot of WordPress site owners unfortunately experience.

Just know that you’re not alone, and it’s a problem that can be fixed.

Here are the 5 most common ways to find and remove stolen content in WordPress.

1. Set Up Automatic Content Theft Notifications

Sometimes your loyal visitors will alert you that your content has been stolen, or they saw it somewhere else on the web.

Luckily, you don’t have to wait for a helpful reader to notify you.

Google Alerts is often used for brand name notifications. You enter the name of your website and get email notifications whenever you’re mentioned online.

But, this same feature can be used to alert you of content that’s being used without your permission.

Simply navigate to Google Alerts. Next, enter the name of your website, your URL, or use a portion of your article.

For example, if you end every blog post with the same CTA, then you can get notifications whenever this appears online.

Set up Google Alerts stolen content

After that, you’ll choose the ‘Sources’. Select ‘Blogs’ and ‘Web’ from the drop-down list. Then, click ‘Create Alert’.

Now, you’ll receive an email whenever your content appears on the web or your website is mentioned.

2. Manually Search for Stolen Content

Copyscape is a plagiarism checker tool that can also be used to find stolen content published elsewhere across the web.

All you have to do is navigate to Copyscape and enter your website URL. You can also enter a page or post URL to see if one of your blog posts or site pages have been copied and stolen.

Copyscape stolen content results

The free version of the tool gives you the top 10 results, which should be enough for smaller WordPress blogs.

If you have a bigger website, or you want results of every single mention of your copied text, then you’ll need to upgrade to the premium version.

The paid version of the tool lets you check up to 10,000 pages with a single click. If you publish a lot of content on your WordPress website, then this could be very useful.

Another manual tool you can use is Grammarly. Grammarly is a popular online grammar checking tool.

The premium version of Grammarly has a built-in plagiarism checker. You can copy and paste your content into the tool, and it’ll run a scan to see if any matches turn up online.

Grammarly plagiarism check

3. Contact the Offending Host or Registrar

So, you’ve found stolen content, now what?

The simplest way to take down stolen content is to file a DMCA complaint against the website.

Usually, if it’s a spam website, or a site that’s scraping your content from your RSS feed, then it can be difficult to find contact information.

However, you can use the IsItWP lookup tool to find out where the domain and website are hosted.

IsItWP website lookup tool

Simply enter the domain that’s published your stolen content and click ‘Analyze Website’.

The tool will pull up any available information, including the web hosting company and registrar.

IsItWP website lookup results

You’ll notice that the host and registrar are shown, even if the website isn’t using WordPress. You can contact the host and registrar directly to try and get the site taken down.

Since stealing content is an illegal activity, web hosting companies don’t want to host websites that are breaking the law.

Most reputable web hosting companies take DMCA requests seriously and will work with you to resolve the situation including removing the pages in violation.

4. Submit a Takedown Notice to Google

Another way to remove stolen content is to contact Google directly.

You need to be careful using this method because it requires a lot of proof, and if you do false reports, then it can get your account in trouble.

There are a few different ways to file a DMCA complaint with Google, but we recommend using the one inside Google Search Console.

First, you’ll need to have your site linked with Google Search Console. If you haven’t done this yet, then see our guide on how to add your WordPress site to Google Search Console.

Then, you can use the Google Search Console Copyright Removal Tool.

Simply click ‘Create a new notice’.

This will bring up a screen where you can enter all of the relevant information including your contact information, what posts were stolen, and the location of the stolen material.

Google Search Console stolen content report

The more detailed information you’re able to provide, the better the chances of the offending site getting taken down.

If you need to gather more information for your complaint, then you can use a tool like Wayback Machine.

Wayback Machine compare content dates

This tool takes takes snapshots of your website at different points in time.

So, you can compare the date you published the article to the offending site who later stole your content.

5. Use an All in One Scanner and Takedown Tool

You can also use the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) tool to help you find duplicate content across the web.

Just enter your URL into the tool and it’ll scour the web for sites that have stolen your content.

DMCA tool request takedown

Once you’ve found a site that plagiarized or stolen your content you can click ‘Launch Managed Takedown’ to start the takedown process.

Note that the results won’t always be stolen content. Sometimes it’ll be infographics, backlinks, unlinked brand mentions, and more.

The discovery and takedown process is similar to the tools above, but instead of having to use multiple tools, you can take care of everything in one place.

DMCA offers premium takedown tools and templates for $10 per month. Or, you can purchase a full service takedown for $199, where their team of experts will get your stolen content removed for you.

Final Thoughts on Dealing with Content Theft

Content theft is a real problem that every website owner deals with. Unfortunately the larger your website gets, the more people will copy you.

Some will do blatant content theft by using automated content scraping tools while others will take inspiration from your content and paraphrase.

As a website owner, it’s extremely frustrating to have your content stolen. We deal with this regularly on WPBeginner. The automated bot sites are easy enough to take down with DMCA complaints.

However since we’re the largest WordPress resource site, many other WordPress bloggers, theme companies, and even some hosting companies routinely copy our headline word-for-word. They may paraphrase the content to make it unique, but we know that inspiration was driven from our articles.

We take this imitation as a form of flattery, and it further validates that we’re continuing to lead in the right way.

If you have a competitor that’s always copying ideas from you, but it’s not blatant copy, then there’s not a lot you can do about it. Don’t let that bring you down, but rather continue to focus on your mission to serve your audience.

We hoped this article helped you learn how to find and remove stolen content in WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on how to prevent image theft in WordPress and learn how to trademark and copyright your blog’s name and logo.

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 Easily Find and Remove Stolen Content in WordPress (5 Ways) appeared first on WPBeginner.


March 24, 2021 at 03:30PM

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

How to Disable Image Attachment Pages in WordPress

Do you want to disable image attachment pages in WordPress?

Image attachment pages can look like incomplete pages on your site. If a visitor views these, then it can leave a poor impression.

In this article, we’ll show you how to disable image attachment pages in WordPress and redirect it to the parent post.

How to disable image attachment pages in WordPress

Why Should You Disable Image Attachment Pages in WordPress?

By default, WordPress creates a single page for every media attachment you have on your site.

This includes images, audio/video files, pdfs, and more. Some users might find this functionality useful, however, most WordPress websites don’t need it.

For example, a photography theme could use the attachment page to display EXIF data. This could show the camera model used, the camera settings, and even the image’s location data.

Often we get complaints from users who accidentally linked their images to the attachment pages, and they don’t like the way it looks.

This is a big issue because many themes don’t have special templates for the image attachment pages.

Sometimes an image on your website can become popular, and people might start landing on the attachment page directly from Google.

Ideally, you want visitors to land on your post and see the image in the context you have used it.

This is why we always recommend users to disable image attachment pages on their WordPress blog.

How to Disable Image Attachment Pages in WordPress (2 Methods)

There are two ways to disable image attachment pages in WordPress.

The first approach uses WordPress plugins, while the second involves adding custom code to WordPress.

You’ll want to choose the method that’s best suited for your skills.

Method 1: Disable Image Attachment Pages in WordPress (with a Plugin)

The easiest way to disable image attachment pages is to use a WordPress plugin. This method is beginner friendly and requires no coding.

We recommend using All in One SEO. It’s the best SEO plugin for WordPress used by over 2 million sites.

The first thing you’ll need to do is install and activate the plugin. To do this, see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Once the plugin is installed and activated, you’ll have a new menu item called ‘All in One SEO’.

Navigate to All in One SEO » Search Appearance. Next, click the ‘Media’ navigation tab.

All in One SEO search appearance media setting

The first setting is ‘Redirect Attachment URLs’. You can disable the setting entirely, redirect to the attachment page, or the attachment parent page.

We recommend redirecting to the ‘Attachment Parent’ page. That way, when a user lands on the image attachment page, they’ll be redirected to your article instead.

All in One SEO select attachment parent

Once you select your preferred setting, make sure to click ‘Save Changes’ before exiting the screen.

If you aren’t using the All in One SEO plugin, you can still disable image attachment pages and redirect users to a parent post using a plugin called Attachment Pages Redirect.

All you have to do is install and activate the plugin. It’ll automatically start redirecting users that land on attachment pages to the parent post.

If no parent post is found, then users will be redirected to your homepage.

This plugin works out of the box and has no settings page. Simple and easy.

Method 2: Disable Image Attachment Pages in WordPress (with Code Snippet)

Another option is to add a code snippet to WordPress that accomplishes the same goal as the plugin above.

If you don’t want to use a plugin or feel that you’re already using too many WordPress plugins, then you can use this method.

First, you’ll need to create a new file in your WordPress theme folder and name it image.php. If your theme already has an image.php file, then you’ll need to edit that file instead.

After that, all you have to do is add the following code as the first line in your image.php file:

<?php wp_redirect(get_permalink($post->post_parent)); ?>

Next, you need to save the image.php file and upload it to your theme directory using FTP or your WordPress hosting control panel.

Now, when a user lands on your image attachment page, they’ll be redirected to the parent post.

We hope this article helped you disable image attachment pages in WordPress. You may also want to see our beginner’s guide to image SEO and our guide on how to fix common image issues in WordPress.

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

The post How to Disable Image Attachment Pages in WordPress appeared first on WPBeginner.


March 23, 2021 at 05:00PM

Monday, March 22, 2021

How to Create a Client Portal in WordPress

Do you want to create a client portal in WordPress?

A client portal allows you to create a dedicated area for clients where they can login to access documents, files, support, and more.

In this article, we’ll show you how to easily create a client portal in WordPress.

Creating a client portal in WordPress

Why and Who Needs a Client Portal in WordPress?

A client portal allows you to efficiently manage client resources online. This reduces support requests, allows clients to help themselves, and provides them a better user experience.

For instance, if you run a photography website, then your clients can download or upload files via their client dashboard.

Similarly, if you run a graphic design or web design agency, then you can use a customer portal where clients can access all the files and information they need.

Example of a client area created in WordPress

Any business that needs to communicate with clients online can benefit from creating a client portal in WordPress.

How to Create a Client Portal in WordPress

Each business has different requirements for its client portal. This is why you need a solution that is flexible, works with other WordPress plugins, and can be easily extended to match your business.

For this tutorial, we will be using MemberPress. It is the best WordPress membership plugin on the market and allows you to easily create members only content, create an account page, login, and registration forms, and more.

It comes with powerful display rules, full membership management, and the ability to create different levels of membership plans.

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

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

MemberPress license key

Next, you need to switch to the ‘Payments’ tab and select a payment method to accept payments for membership subscriptions. You can also create free subscription plans if you want or manually add members by yourself.

MemberPress payment

MemberPress supports PayPal and Stripe. You can also use Authorize.net with their Plus and Pro plans.

After selecting your payment method, you’ll be asked to provide your account details. Once finished, click on the ‘Update Options’ button to save your changes.

Next, you are ready to create a membership plan. This is the subscription plan that you’ll add your clients to.

Simply go to the MemberPress » Memberships page and click on the Add New button.

Add a membership plan

On the next screen, you can give your membership plan a name and set a pricing option. Depending on how you manage your client-contracts, you can choose lifetime, expiring, or fixed expiring plans.

Client subscription plan

Next, you need to create access rules. This allows you to control which parts of your website you want to be protected and available to members-only.

Simply, go to the MemberPress » Rules page and click on the Add New button at the top.

Add new rule

On the next screen, first you need to choose which content you want to restrict under ‘Protected Content’.

MemberPress offers a whole range of options. You can select posts that match certain tags, categories, pages that are under the same parent page, single posts, or any URL.

Set up access rules

For instance, if you use a WordPress knowledge base plugin to manage documentation for clients, then you can restrict those articles to the membership plan. Similarly, you can also restrict any post, page, category, or tag to clients only.

Below that, you need to select who will have access to the protected content. We have chosen the membership plan we created earlier for our clients.

After you have added the access rules, click on the Save Rule button to store your settings.

Creating a Client Account Page in MemberPress

MemberPress allows you to easily create and manage an Account page. This is the page your clients will see when they login to their client account.

First, go to MemberPress » Settings page and switch to the ‘Pages’ tab. From here you can select the page you want to use as the account page.

Set up client account page

By default, MemberPress creates and uses the ‘Account’ page. You can use a different page if you want. After that, simply click on the Edit button to open the page and edit it.

You can edit the page just like you would edit any WordPress page. Any content you add here will be visible to everyone and not just your client.

Editing the Account page in MemberPress

However, you can add custom text here and use the ‘[mepr-account-form]’ shortcode to display the login form anywhere you want.

Account page preview

Customizing Client Account Page in MemberPress

One way to customize the account page in MemberPress is by simply editing it. However, any changes you add here will be visible to everyone and not just your clients.

To add content that is only visible to your clients, you can hide it using MemberPress shortcodes.

For instance, if you only want to show some content to the clients under the VIP membership plan, then you will wrap your content like this:

[mepr-active membership='186']

Client only content goes here

[/mepr-active]

Don’t forget to replace 186 with your own membership ID. You can view membership ID for any plans by visiting MemberPress » Memberships page.

Finding a membership plan ID in MemberPress

Save the changes you made to the Account page and visit your website to see it in action. You’ll need to login with an account with access to the membership plan you created earlier.

Account preview with members only content

Adding Tabs to The Accounts Page in MemberPress

By default, MemberPress will show Home, Subscriptions, Payments, and Logout tabs. If you are comfortable with adding custom code, then you can customize this to add more tabs and show more client-focused content there.

Let’s add a tab with a contact form and another one to list documents clients can access from their dashboard.

Simply add the following code to your theme’s functions.php file or a site-specific plugin.

function mepr_add_some_tabs($user) {
  $support_active = (isset($_GET['action']) && $_GET['action'] == 'premium-support')?'mepr-active-nav-tab':'';
  ?>
    <span class="mepr-nav-item premium-support <?php echo $support_active; ?>">
      <a href="/test4/account/?action=premium-support">Premium Support</a>
    </span>
  <?php
  $documentation_active = (isset($_GET['action']) && $_GET['action'] == 'documentation')?'mepr-active-nav-tab':'';
  ?>
    <span class="mepr-nav-item premium-support <?php echo $documentation_active; ?>">
      <a href="/test4/account/?action=documentation">Documentation</a>
    </span>
  <?php
}
add_action('mepr_account_nav', 'mepr_add_some_tabs');

function mepr_add_tabs_content($action) {
  if($action == 'premium-support'): //Update this 'premium-support' to match what you put above (?action=premium-support)
  ?>
    <div id="custom-support-form">
      // your contact form shortcode here
<?php echo do_shortcode(''); ?> 
    </div>
    
  <?php
  endif;
  if($action == 'documentation'): ?>
  <div id="documentation">
  // shortcode provided by your knowledge base plugin to list articles or manually add content here
<?php echo do_shortcode(' [knowledgebase] '); ?>

  </div>
<?php
 endif; 
}
add_action('mepr_account_nav_content', 'mepr_add_tabs_content');

As you can see we created two tabs, one to display our contact form created with WPForms and the other one to display our knowledge base articles.

We used shortcodes provided by both these plugins inside the code. However, you can also manually add any other content you want here.

Don’t forget to save your changes and preview your account page. This is how it looked on our demo website:

Account page tabs

Adding Custom Content for an Individual Client

MemberPress also allows you to manually modify the Account page for individual members and clients. Simply go to Users » All Users page and click on the ‘Edit’ link below the user you want to change.

Edit user account

Scroll down to the ‘Custom MemberPress Account Message’ and add the content you want to show to that specific client.

Adding content for specific clients

This area works like a regular WYSIWYG editor with formating toolbar at the top. You can also add images, links, shortcodes, galleries, videos, audio, and more.

Don’t forget to click on the ‘Update User’ button to save your changes.

Client specific message on the account page

Adding a Link to Client Area using MemberPress

Now that you’ve created and customized the client area. It is time to make it easily accessible for your clients.

Simply go to the Appearance » Menus page and add the Account page you created earlier to your navigation menu.

Adding the client area link to your navigation menu

You can click on the menu item to change its title. For instance, here we changed it to Client Area.

Don’t forget to click on the Save Menu button to store your settings. You can now visit your website to see your client area in action.

Client area

Clicking on the link will take users to the account page where they can access client shortcuts after log in.

Extending Client Portal with MemberPress

MemberPress is an extremely powerful and highly flexible platform to build your client portal in WordPress.

It allows you to not only easily restrict access to clients only resources. It also helps you easily add any features you want to your client portal.

1. File Downloads

Want to allow your clients to easily download files from your website? MemberPress comes with a File Downloads addon that helps you manage clients only downloads easily.

The download page for the MemberPress file

For step by step details, see our guide on how to manage file downloads in WordPress.

2. Add Learning Courses

MemberPress is also the best WordPress LMS plugin on the market. It allows you to easily create online courses and associate them to your membership plans. This gives your customers easy access to learning resources on your website, while also allowing you to easily manage these resources.

MemberPress Courses Preview

For more details, see our tutorial on how to easily create online courses in WordPress.

3. Add Forms to Clients Area

MemberPress works with WPForms which is the easiest WordPress form builder plugin available.

This allows you to create feedback forms, testimonial forms, run customers surveys, or add support request forms.

Need clients to be able to upload files as well? WPForms allows you easily create file upload forms on your website. You can then embed this form on the account page, or any members-only page on your website.

4. Collect Payments and Upsell Products

As a business owner, you may want to promote other products and services to your existing and past customers.

Using MemberPress as your client portal allows you to integrate with the best email marketing services. This enables you to stay in touch with customers more efficiently and promote other products and services.

MemberPress also works with all popular payment gateways like Stripe and PayPal. This way you can easily collect payments for other services by selling them as a membership plan.

Alternately, you can also add an online store using WooCommerce and sell any products you want on the same website.

We hope this article helped you learn how to create a client portal in WordPress. You may also want to see our comparison of the best business phone services for small business, and best chatbot software to offer better support.

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 Client Portal in WordPress appeared first on WPBeginner.


March 22, 2021 at 03:00PM

Friday, March 19, 2021

6 Best Online Fax Services for Small Business (2021)

Are you looking for the best online fax service for your small business?

Upgrading to an online fax service offers your business more security, speed, and can improve communication across the board.

In this article, we’ve hand-picked some of the best online fax services you can use along with your WordPress website.

Best online fax services for small business

Why You Need an Online Fax Service?

With traditional fax machines you’re limited by the older technology.

However, faxing is still one of the most secure ways to send and receive information. Online fax services combine the power and ease of email with the security of traditional faxing.

Plus, there’s no need to have a physical fax machine or fax modem.

For our business, we often have to send fax when communicating with the government, IRS, and sometimes for high-level bank information.

Online fax services can streamline your faxing process and integrate with the software you’re already using. You can even send faxes directly from your email client of choice.

This means less time spent with your faxing needs, and more time growing your business.

Moving from traditional faxes to an online fax service can help your business in a lot of ways:

  • Can quickly sign documents electronically with a single click
  • Manage, store, and search through faxes in one place
  • Receive and send faxes on the go from your mobile device
  • Save time by filtering out spam and junk faxes
  • Enhance your document storage and security
  • Streamline communication by integrating your faxes with other digital communication

The best part is that online fax is made for remote teams. You don’t need to be in an office to send or receive fax.

That being said, let’s take a look at the best online fax services that you can use to support your small business.

1. Nextiva

Nextiva Fax

Nextiva is the best online fax service for most businesses. It has affordable pricing, flexible plans, and an extensive set of features.

It’s commonly known for its suite of business communication tools and business phone services.

However, Nextiva also offers an excellent online faxing service that’s an excellent fit for most small business owners.

Note: We use the Nextiva business phone service and communication platform on WPBeginner. They service is always reliable, and they have incredible customer support.

What we really like about Nextiva is that it’s perfect for remote teams. You can send and receive fax documents via mobile, desktop, and tablet without being in the office.

If you have a traditional fax machine, Nextiva can also integrate with that as well. They allow you to migrate your existing fax number to their platform.

With that said, a free toll-free number and local phone number are included when you sign up.

If your company is growing and you need additional numbers, you can add numbers from your dashboard with a couple of clicks.

Online storage is automated as well. Nextiva will save all of your incoming and outgoing faxes for 6 months. You can easily download and share your faxes with other members of your team.

Nextiva is used by organizations like Taco Bell, Stanley Steemer, and the Buffalo Bills. However, the plans are well-suited for small businesses as well.

We recommend getting the their unified communication platform that starts at $18.95 per month, and it includes unlimited fax, unlimited voice & video calling, auto-attendant, toll free numbers, and more.

You can also purchase vFax separately starting at $4.95 per month which includes 500 pages, but this plan is limited and doesn’t let you use the full power of Nextiva.

Overall, it’s the best business phone & fax app for growing businesses.

Expert Review: We believe Nextiva is the best online fax service for small business owners. Along with fax, you also get their full business communication platform.

2. RingCentral

RingCentral Fax

RingCentral is another great online fax service for small and growing businesses.

RingCentral is a leader in providing business communication services like phone lines, instant messaging, video conferencing, and of course, online faxes.

RingCentral Fax can work as a standalone service or integrate with the business VoIP and communication platform.

This fax service is best suited for businesses who send a high volume of faxes, like legal offices, or universities. If your company uses outdated physical fax machines, RingCentral can integrate and upgrade your existing fax system.

You’ll also find standard fax features like online cover pages, cloud storage service integration, encryption, and the ability to addon unlimited fax numbers.

There are many integration options available, including Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft Outlook, and more.

It’s also a truly mobile solution. You can set up text messages to alert you of incoming faxes. Or use the mobile app to send, receive, view, and store faxes.

There’s even a built in option to block spam faxes and reduce the total number of junk faxes you receive.

With RingCentral, you can get a large number of pages at an affordable price. The Fax 1500 plan is $17.99 per month for 1500 pages, which breaks down to $0.012 per page.

But the best value is their Standard bundled plan for $24.99 per month. This plan lets you fax an unlimited number of pages per month, plus it bundles business phone calls, video meetings, audio conferencing, business text messages, and more.

The only real downside is that their fax storage is limited to the last 200 faxes. You’ll either need to delete existing faxes, or store them externally.

Expert Review: We believe RingCentral Fax is best for companies who need to send a high volume of faxes or want to bundle business communications together.

3. SRFax

SRFax

SRFax is an online fax service that offers the highest levels of security, privacy, and compliance.

The high security standards make it the best choice for healthcare providers. Security is a must when transmitting sensitive information like patient records and medical information.

You’ll be happy to know that SRFax is fully HIPAA compliant for US-based healthcare practitioners and PHIPA compliant for those based in Canada.

Many online fax services offer HIPAA compliance, but usually, these services deliver the bare minimum. The security features that SRFax provides end up exceeding the HIPAA regulations.

For example, you’ll find application security, hardware and organizational safeguards, user authentication, backups, and around the clock physical security.

Plus, faxes are sent using 2048-bit encryption, while the industry standard is 256-bit.

Beyond security, you’ll find standard features like unlimited storage and cross platforms integration.

There are also Windows and Mac-specific clients that let you send and receive faxes from your preferred programs.

The pricing is a little higher, starting with the Lite plan for $7.95 per month for 200 pages. However, if you need strong security the price is worth it.

You can also send international faxes. The international fax rates are based on the country you’re sending or receiving faxes from.

Expert Review: We believe SRFax is the best online fax service for businesses who need the highest levels of security.

4. Fax.Plus

Fax.Plus

Fax.Plus is one of the best online fax services for small teams. It’s simple to use, and the goal of the service is to save you as much time as possible.

If you’re looking for a way to upgrade your existing fax process while keeping things affordable, this is a great option.

You can even keep your existing fax number for free or add new toll free and local fax numbers.

There are dozens of integrations to manage your faxes within the platforms you’re already using. This means no complicated setup process or wasting time learning the ins and outs of new software.

For example, it integrates with platforms like Microsoft Office, Google Chrome, Slack, Google Drive, G Suite apps, and more.

You’ll also find a bundled iOS and Android app, so you can read, download, and send faxes on the go. The mobile app is as easy to use as the web portal.

It lets you scan documents from your phone, add digital signatures, add notes, organize your archives, send faxes, and more.

You can also optimize faxes with a single click, which makes them easier to read and will send faster.

If you have simple needs and only need to send a handful of faxes every month, then there’s a free plan you can use. This plan lets you send up to 10 pages per month. However, you can’t receive faxes, only send.

Although Fax.Plus is well suited for very small businesses, you’ll find a variety of plans to cater to all types of business needs. The Basic plan is $5.99 per month and lets you send up to 100 pages.

If you’re looking for the best deal, the Business plan lets you send 800 pages every month for $19.99.

Expert Review: We believe Fax.Plus is the best online fax solution for small teams.

5. eFax

eFax

eFax is a well-known name in the online fax services space. It’s feature-rich, easy to use, and places a focus on fax archiving and storage.

This makes it a great choice for organizations that need to store faxes for a long time, like financial and legal institutions, universities, real estate offices, accountants, and more.

Although other fax providers offer fax storage and archiving, none go as deep as eFax. This provider offers unlimited storage for your faxes, plus in-depth fax archiving and organization features.

When faxes are saved, additional information is stored, like the transmission time and date, the recipient and sender name, and more. This makes it easy to sort and find the exact information you’re looking for.

Your faxes are stored automatically, plus older faxes won’t be deleted to make room for new incoming faxes.

Basically, with eFax, you’ll never lose a fax, ever again.

The included mobile app is available for both iOS and Android. It lets you archive, search, download, and forward directly from your phone.

Another great mobile feature is the ability to take pictures of documents and send them as a fax, all while you’re away from the office.

You’ll also find standard functionality like support for electronic signatures, multiple users, cloud storage integrations, and the ability to send a fax to up to 20 recipients.

Plus, there’s support for international faxing, and every fax is sent through an encrypted SSL connection.

eFax has some of the highest pricing on this list. But, for companies who need advanced search, storage, and archive features, it’s still a great choice. Plans start at $16.95 per month for 150 inbound and 150 outbound faxes.

The best value plan is the Pro plan which costs $19.95 per month and lets you send 200 fax pages and receive 200 pages every month.

However, there is a one-time $10 setup fee on both paid plans that you’ll want to be aware of.

Expert Review: We believe eFax is a great choice for businesses who need advanced search, storage, and archive features.

6. MyFax

MyFax

MyFax is an excellent online fax service for small businesses and work from home businesses that send and receive a low volume of faxes.

You could use a free fax service to send faxes every once in a while. However, free services can be unprofessional since you can’t change the cover sheet, and you usually can’t receive faxes either.

We recommend using an affordable service like MyFax instead. MyFax is very simple and can also be used to send faxes anywhere in the world.

All plans come with unlimited fax storage, a free fax number, and a library of pre-built cover templates you can customize to match your brand. You can even search through your fax archives.

There’s also an Android and iOS app to take your faxes on the go.

Smaller teams can take advantage of the Home Office plan for $8.33 per month, which lets you send 100 pages and receive 200 pages every month.

There are also more expensive plans if you need to send or receive additional pages. If you go over the page limits, there’s an overage charge of $0.10 per page.

Expert Review: We believe MyFax is the best online fax service for businesses on a budget.

Which is the Best Online Fax Service for You?

After researching all of the top online fax service providers, we believe that Nextiva is the best online fax provider in the market.

You can send a high volume of faxes for a low price. Plus, it comes with powerful features like business phone, video calls, and other collaboration tools.

Those reasons and more are why Nextiva is the best online fax service and business communication platform in the market. This is also why WPBeginner uses Nextiva.

In our research, RingCentral came in a very close second. The online fax service offers a lot of the same features as Nextiva, for a great price. However, you don’t have the same level of flexibility.

You really can’t go wrong with either of these two online fax services.

We also looked at other fax service providers like MetroFax, HelloFax, FaxZero, GotFreeFax, J2 Global, mFax, and more.

However, our goal is to make it easy for you to choose the best online fax provider without causing choice paralysis, so we didn’t review them all here.

Online Fax Services FAQs

After helping hundreds of business owners find the best online fax services for their needs, we’ve come across a lot of questions.

Below are some of the most frequently asked questions we’ve received about online fax service providers.

How does online faxing work?

Online faxing turns your documents into a file format that’s readable by a fax machine and vice versa.

If you’re sending a document to a fax machine, you’ll enter your recipient’s fax number in your online fax dashboard and attach your file.

The online faxing services translate the document into a file type the fax machine can read and sends it to the recipient over a phone line.

The document is then printed and read as a standard fax or viewed with their online fax service provider.

What is the best free online fax service?

We don’t generally recommend using a free fax service provider, especially in a business setting. Free online fax services allow you to send faxes, but you generally can’t receive faxes or customize the cover sheet.

If you only need to send up to 10 pages a month, then we recommend the Fax.Plus free plan.

This also gives you the ability to upgrade if your faxing needs increase.

What is the safest fax app?

All fax apps are incredibly safe and use encryption to ensure your transmissions are protected. Faxing is one of the most secure forms of communication.

However, SRFax has the highest security protocols out of any online fax app. Their primary focus is providing a secure fax service for healthcare professionals, which needs to comply with HIPAA.

SRFax has strong encryption, spam blocking, user authentication, automatic fax deletion, and more.

Can I fax without a fax machine?

Yes, you can fax without a fax machine. Online faxing services like Nextiva and RingCentral allow you to send faxes via the internet, tablets, and even mobile devices.

You can also send online faxes to a traditional fax machine with an online fax service.

We hope that this guide helped you choose the best online fax service for your small business. You may also want to see our comparison of the best email marketing services, and best AI chatbot software for small business.

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

The post 6 Best Online Fax Services for Small Business (2021) appeared first on WPBeginner.


March 19, 2021 at 05:00PM