Alternatives for the WP Mail SMTP Plugin

Hello friends,

As you know one of the best plugins for managing your outgoing WordPress emails is WP Mail SMTP. I am always recommending its usage and I am also personally using it every time when possible. This great plugin simply works!

However there might be chances that you may need to think of an alternative. So in this post I will present several alternatives for WP Mail SMTP which might be useful for you.

Why would I ever need an alternative for WP Mail SMTP?

Simply because your clients may want you to use another plugin for various reasons. The other possibility is the eventual conflict between WP Mail SMTP and another plugin that you use. However if such case ever occurs I strongly encourage you to try contacting both development teams with the issue and I am sure that they will find out a solution. Also I think that such a conflict should almost never occur, but you know what they say – never say “never”.

So just to be on the safe side, here are the suitable alternatives for WP Mail SMTP:

Note: The order is random and it is not based on any ratings, nor results.

I. WP Mail Bank

This plugin has received high ratings from the WordPress community. It should be a great alternative for you to use. WP Mail Bank has two options of sending emails. One is simply to use the SMTP settings that you have provided. This should work similar to WP Mail SMTP. The other option for WP Mail Bank is the built-in PHPMailer. The plugin offers a premium version as well. You can check it out.

II. Easy WP SMTP

This is another handy plugin that you may use. Its settings are quite similar to the one that WP Mail SMTP offers. You should be able to enter the settings for your outgoing email server fast and easy and you can also compose a test message with subject and body that you can send to one of your email addresses.

III. Postman SMTP

This plugin is also used by many WordPress websites. It works with the latest security standards and it also utilizes OAuth 2.0 which improves the security for your email password. Why? Because the plugin will not store it in the WordPress database and thus it will not be found in case of a hacker attack on your website.

IV. WP SMTP

Despite of the fact that this plugin hasn’t been updated in the last 3 years (based on the post creation date) it simply works. I tried it on a test installation recently and the test emails were received without any problems. However I should say that using an outdated plugin is a bit risky so proceed with caution and at your own risk. It offers a similar interface as Easy WP SMTP. Again you may compose a custom test message without any difficulties.

So there you have it friends! Four suitable alternatives for WP Mail SMTP that you can rely on in case you cannot use this great plugin. I am once again recommending that you try it first since I am personally more than happy with it.

What do you think of WP Mail SMTP? Or any of its alternatives? Share your thoughts and questions in the comment section below.

See you soon friends!

Easy Digital Downloads – a way to sell your digital content

Hello friends,

In today’s post I will present to you one WordPress plugin that will be ideal for those of you who want to transform their website into an eCommerce place for digital products. This solution is called Easy Digital Downloads!

What does Easy Digital Downloads do?

This plugin provides the complete functionality needed for a standard eCommerce solution for digital products. The free version is powerful enough to get you started. However if you want better support and access to additional extensions that will enhance the overall functionality, you have to consider purchasing some of the plans provided on the official website of the plugin.

However in this post I will be covering the free version of Easy Digital Downloads. You can download it from WordPress.org.

This version provides you with:

How to use Easy Digital Downloads?

I have already provided the link to the official website and the WordPress.org page of the plugin. Download it from one of these places and then install and activate. Once you do this you will get a new menu in your WordPress admin panel. It will be called Downloads and will contain several sub-menus:

A note on the pages, created by the plugin – if you delete them you can re-create them at a later point. Make sure to add the generated shortcodes for each page to the new ones in order to start using them for Easy Digital Downloads. These shortcodes can be found under Settings in the General tab.

Once you are ready with the settings you can start selling your digital products.

So, what do you think, friends? Will you give Easy Digital Downloads a try? Share your thoughts and questions in the comment section below.

See you soon, friends!

DrawIt – the diagram creation tool for WordPress

Hello friends,

In this post I will present to you one solution that I am certain that you are going to fall in love with. Especially if your website aims to provide detailed graphical information about processes or services or something else.

Presenting: DrawIt – the diagram creation tool for WordPress.

What is DrawIt?

This is a WordPress plugin that you can download, install and activate for free. When you do this your visual and text editors will receive new functions that will allow you to create and insert beautiful diagrams in your posts and pages.

DrawIt utilizes the draw.io website. However (according to the plugin development team) it is not affiliated with them.

This WordPress plugin is an Open Source software.

How to work with DrawIt?

I have already presented the way of getting the plugin up and running on your website. Now you have to adjust some settings which are quite optional, but still – you should check them out.

In order to do this head to the WordPress admin panel. Choose Settings -> DrawIt (draw.io).

From there you can adjust the following:

Now you can go ahead and create your first diagram directly into your WordPress visual editor. Create a new post or a page.

Add diagram to your WordPress website

By clicking on the button in the toolbar you will be provided access to a new window which has all the necessary tools for the diagram creation. When you are done with your work simply click on Save and the image will be stored in the WordPress library and automatically inserted into the post or a page that you are creating.

DrawIt - diagram editor window

In case you want to insert a previously created diagram you can do this from the Add Media button and proceed like you do with regular images stored in the library. However in the Media Library you will notice a new link that provides access to the diagram editor and you can create a new diagram and insert it automatically when done.

If you are a fan of the WordPress Text editor you can click on the DrawIt button and the editor will show once again.

Simple as that!

So what do you think? Will you use DrawIt for your WordPress websites? Share any thoughts and questions in the comment section below.

See you soon, friends!

*The screenshots in the post are from the WordPress.org page of the plugin.

Worona – the solution to build your first WordPress mobile app

Hello friends,

Have you ever wanted to transform your WordPress website into a mobile app that your visitors can download and install on their Android or iOS based devices? If you have, then this post is just the one that you need to read. Here I will present to you Worona – the solution to build your first WordPress mobile app.

What is Worona?

This is a free platform that will make your website mobile-ready in just a couple of steps. It is that easy! This solution is a plugin for WordPress that will provide you with an online dashboard which purpose is to allow you to create the design and content of your mobile application and also to publish it with a few clicks.

Why would I need Worona? My WordPress website is already equipped with a responsive design and is optimized for mobile devices.

Doing what you have already done is no longer an extra. It is mandatory in today’s web where the majority of visits come from mobile devices. And since the requirements for a speedy mobile-optimized website are constantly increasing, the standard optimization and responsiveness may not be enough. Your visitors want speed – period. If your website is slow they may abandon it no matter the quality of your content. If you don’t want negative Google Analytics reports (or similar from another tracking tool) you will have to provide all possible options for speed.

Here come the mobile apps. They may provide the needed speed as well as delivering compelling mobile experiences. Thus your website will stand out from the crowd and will allow its users to engage better and more with it. Worona is just one of the tools that will help you achieve this.

What makes Worona special in our current case is that it will work with your WordPress website.

So finally you will end up with:

How to use Worona?

Download, install and activate the plugin. Then head to your WordPress admin panel and select Worona -> Admin.

Follow the three steps:

After these are done you can utilize the fourth option which is to configure your website. The configuration options are easy to use and you apply them with a couple of clicks.

At the end of this process you will be able to get your mobile app and if you want you can publish it on Android app store. If you do not want to go through the process by yourselves you can purchase a premium option that will get your app published for you.

Unfortunately you cannot publish it on Apple App Store due to the strict store guidelines which Apple has. The Worona team is currently not able to offer this service at the moment (as stated on the FAQ on the WordPress.org page of the plugin).

So let’s summarize what Worona will do for you:

And all of this is for FREE! Worona is (according to the team) will be free and open-source.

Worona team also aims to provide you with additional features in the future. So keep an eye out for them.

So would you use this solution, friends? Share your thoughts in the comment section below. For more information visit the official website of Worona. You can also find out more about the solution from this official video as well:

Create custom content types and fields for WordPress using Pods

Hello friends,

As you know WordPress can support custom content types and fields. They allow you to extend the functionalities of our favorite CMS. There are different ways of adding them however the one that I am going to present to you right now is probably one of the best there is.

Presenting – Pods – the framework that allows you to create custom content types and fields and to manage them from only one location in your WordPress website.

Pods - WordPress Plugin & Framework

What is Pods?

This project is a framework that helps you grow your development skills and also allows you to manage additional content that is better that the standard WordPress posts and pages functionalities. The official website for Pods is pods.io. From there you can read the official User Guide for using this framework. You can also check out the forums and Slack chat that will be useful for getting additional help with Pods. On the official website you can check out additional plugins and you can also download and install them.

What to do with Pods?

This single WordPress plugin will work like a magic wand. Why? Because you will be able to add any custom content type that your website needs for its specific purposes. It doesn’t matter if you want something big or something small – Pods will just be there for you!

This WordPress plugin will be useful for:

When you create or extend a content type, you might want to add some of the additional plugins that will allow other WordPress plugins to utilize these custom content types. You can check for such plugins in WordPress.org or on the official Pods website.

Speaking of adding fields – Pods provides you with various options for fields. You can use them or create your own.

The fields that are available have their set of options. For example you may add Date/Time fields, Color Picker fields, Avatars fields, Text fields, etc. For a detailed list, make sure that you check the WordPress.org page of Pods.

How to start using Pods?

Simply download, install and activate the plugin. Then head to the WordPress admin panel and from there click on Pods Admin -> Components. Enable the ones that you desire to use. Then you can check out the Templates section and add new templates.

Next you should check the Settings sub-menu. From there you can clean the Pods cache and see system information about your WordPress installation and hosting. From the settings sub-menu you can also Reset Pods data or Deactivate and Delete Pods data.

Finally click on the Add New sub-menu and from there you can start creating your own custom content type or extend the existing content types. Just follow the wizard and make sure that you have read the User Guide on the Pods website.

Add Nes Pods to WordPress

And that’s all friends! Would you give Pods a try? Share any thoughts and questions about this framework in the comments section below.

See you soon, friends!

Add testimonials to your WordPress website with Easy Testimonials

Hello friends,

Do you want to increase your brand awareness and conversions rates and attract more customers to your WordPress website? I am sure that you do! So in today’s post I will be talking about testimonials – why are they needed as a social proofing tool and how can they help you. I will also make a review of one easy to use WordPress plugin that is created for this purpose.

So let’s see how you can add testimonials to your WordPress website with Easy Testimonials.

First things – first! Why testimonials are important and why should you have them on your website?

Testimonials are know to beat any other type of content marketing in terms of effectiveness. The reason for this is simple. Nowadays the Internet is huge and you can purchase goods and services from a vast amount of websites. However some of them are made just to scam the customers and to take their money by providing inadequate services or low-quality goods. The good news is that most websites are not aiming at this! Their owners understand that profitable business is based on the foundations of trust. That is why they want to provide their customers with the best quality of both goods and services.

But how to convince customers that your website is one of the “good guys” and what you are aiming to sell is with the best quality and optimal price? By doing some marketing and PR. And to be more specific – you’d want to pay special attention to content marketing by providing your customers with reviews, blog posts, etc. And of course you’d want to display testimonials from happy customers that have already made purchases and were more than satisfied.

These testimonials will be telling your new customers a couple of things. First – this website is genuine and I will not get scammed here. Second – I will know exactly what to search for and what to purchase from this website.

Of course the latter usage of testimonials is related to websites that aim to sell goods from different manufacturers.

In most cases you’d want to display testimonials for the first reason – so that your new customers can be attracted.

Let’s not forget that testimonials are a sure way of increasing conversions rates on your website, when used correctly and effectively!

How to add testimonials on WordPress with Easy Testimonials?

Download and install the plugin. Then activate it and head to the new menu called Testimonials in your WordPress admin panel. From there you can see your already created testimonials, add new ones and manage their categories.

Each testimonial can be created by using the WordPress visual or text editors. You can add the content and format it according to your needs. After this you can add some information about the customer who has given this testimonial. You will be able to add:

Each testimonial can have a specific category or categories. Adding them is similar to adding categories to your WordPress posts. You can choose from the existing ones or add a new one. You can also add a featured image for the testimonial. When you are done editing/creating it you can use the generated shortcode in order to display it on a specific post or page on your WordPress website.

Create/Edit a testimonial

If you want to edit the plugin’s settings you have to go to another newly created menu in the WordPress admin panel. It will be called Easy Testimonials Settings. It contains several sub-menus:

The plugin also provides a widget for displaying random testimonials. It can be added to any of your WordPress widget areas and you can configure its behavior as well.

Another widget is also available. It is called Testimonial Cycle Widget and it can display testimonials in a slideshow.

There is also a Testimonial List Widget that will display testimonials as lists.

If you want to display only a single testimonial – there is also a widget for this. And another one if you want to display testimonials in a grid.

Easy Testimonials is a free plugin. However it also has a professional version that unlocks all of its capabilities. For example the submission form for your customers and users. They will be able to write the content by themselves and also upload images with testimonials. This form can be integrated with captcha plugins so that you can be protected from spam. The PRO version also provides you with many other benefits as well. Make sure that you check them out in the WordPress.org page of the plugin.

Easy Testimonials is also SEO friendly. The plugin uses uses schema.org compliant JSON-LD markup, so that your testimonials appear correctly in search results. Let’s not forget that the testimonial content is also adding additional text and images for indexation purposes as well.

So what do you think, friends? Will you use Easy Testimonials on your WordPress website? Share any thoughts and questions in the comment section below.

See you soon, friends!

*The images are embedded from the WordPress.org page of the plugin.

Protect your WordPress images with Image Watermark

Hello friends,

Do you want to protect your uploaded images from theft? There are several ways to do this however one of the most popular ones is to add a watermark to them. This will not prohibit your visitors of downloading them, however the chances to use them on other websites will be highly reduced. The reason for this is because they will be popularizing your website by presenting your watermark and their visitors will know that the image is not genuine. So in other words they will have to be making free advertising for your own WordPress website on one hand and on the other – they will be confessing that they are using stolen images.

So in this post I will be presenting the plugin Image Watermark and its ability to protect your WordPress images.

What exactly is a watermark?

This is some text or image (or both) that is placed on another image. The idea is that the watermark will not prevent the users from seeing the content of the image it protects but it will make it almost impossible to steal it and modify it. The typical watermark is with reduced opacity or almost completely translucent. It is placed either in the center of the image and thus covering almost all of it or is situated in some of the image’s corners.

Another type of watermark is a non-translucent image which replaces some of the protected image’s content and is usually placed in the corners.

Bear in mind that the corner placement of the watermarks reduces the protection as the image can simply be cropped and it will no longer have a watermark. However this type of watermark protection ensures that your visitors will get a good-looking picture. So it’s up to you to decide.

How to use Image Watermark?

Download, install and activate the plugin. Then head to Settings in your WordPress admin panel. There you will get a new menu called Watermark. In it you have to adjust a few settings:

After you adjust these settings you have to save them.

Now you have to upload a new image to your WordPress media library. It will be protected with a watermark automatically! As for your previously uploaded images – simply head to the media library and manually apply the watermark to them.

Simple as that!

So what do you think, friends? Will you use Image Watermark for your WordPress websites? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

See you soon, friends!

*The image above is embedded from the WordPress.org page of the plugin.

Embed and display the contents of your documents in WordPress

Hello friends,

In this post I will present to you one efficient and stylish solution that will allow you to upload any document on your WordPress website and then display its contents by using either Google Docs Viewer or Microsoft Office Online.

No additional plugins will be required besides the one that you will need to have installed and activated.

The plugin that you will need on your WordPress website is called Embed Any Document.

Embed Any Document - WordPress Plugin for uploading and embedding any documents

Download it and the install and activate it. Once you do this you will be able to add your documents with ease. For this purpose simply create a new post or page. Make sure that you are using the WordPress visual editor. A new button will be displayed there that will allow you to upload your documents. It is called “Add Document”. Click on it and you will be able to choose how to add your documents. The premium version called Embed Any Document Plus allows you to add files from your cloud accounts. The free version is limited to upload the document on your website or to add a link that points to it (in case you want to embed files that you have already uploaded somewhere else).

When you choose the first option you will be presented with several options:

A shortcode is being generated and presented to you. You can view it or copy it if you want to use it somewhere else again. Make your choices by using the options below and then click on the Insert button.

You can now preview your post/page and the contents of the uploaded document will be available for you. Simple as that. If you have decided to add a download link you can also download your document.

If you go with the second option (add document from URL) you need to provide the URL of the document and then you can go through the same options.

You can set new default values for them if you go to Settings -> Embed Any Document

How to fix the issue related to not being able to upload some documents on your WordPress website?

Some file types are not considered safe to be uploaded. That is why you may encounter an error stating: “Sorry, this file type is not permitted for security reasons.” This will happen when you try to upload the specific file. In order to fix this you have to enable all file types. To do this simply edit wp-config.php and add some code above:

/* That’s all, stop editing! Happy blogging. */

The code that you have to add is:

define(‘ALLOW_UNFILTERED_UPLOADS’, true);

Save the file, reload your website and you will be able to upload all file types without any further problems.

That’s all friends! Share any thoughts on this great plugin in the comment section below.

See you soon!

Add files to any WordPress post or page using Google Drive Embedder

Hello friends,

Have you ever wanted to display an important document from Google Drive on your WordPress website? This can be done with ease! And in this post I will present to you how you can do it.

Before we begin, I am going to mention what is required for this process to work. First of all you are going to need the Google Apps Login plugin (the free or the premium version). You can get it from here. Next you need  to have either one of the G Suite Account types or a personal Gmail Account.  After this you need to install the Login plugin and configure it so that the required access is provided between your WordPress website and your Google Cloud Console. Just follow the instructions provided for this plugin in its settings page in your WordPress admin panel.

Once you do this it is time to continue with the actual plugin that will allow you to add files to any WordPress post or page. This plugin is called Google Drive Embedder.

Google Drive Embedder

If the above mentioned requirements are met you can download and install this plugin. Then activate Google Drive Embedder and head to Settings -> Google Drive Embedder so that you can adjust the plugin settings. Once you do this you will be able to proceed with adding files from Google Drive to your WordPress posts and pages.

So create a new post or page (or edit existing ones). In the visual editor you will get a new button. It should be displayed right next to the button that allows you to add files from the WordPress Media Library. This new button will be called “Add Drive File”. Click on it and you will be able to see all files that the plugin has access to from your Google Drive. You will be able to select not only uploaded files (like PDF’s, MS Word Documents, Images, etc) but also the Google Docs files (the ones that you have created using Google Docs and Google Drive).

Select the needed file and then choose one of the three possible options:

After you make your choice you have to click on “Insert File” and then you have to publish your post or page (or save it as a draft). Once you view it in the frontend of your website, you will be able to interact with the added Google Drive file depending on the ways you have decided to display it.

Simple as that! Google Drive Embedder also has a premium and an enterprise versions as well.

The premium one will provide extra features to the plugin’s functionalities such as:

The enterprise version is meant to be used for companies, especially if WordPress is used as an enterprise intranet solution. There are advanced features that will allow you to combine your corporate Google Drive and your corporate WordPress intranet into one powerful document sharing system.

Want to find out more about Google Drive Embedder?

Check the wordpress.org page of the plugin as well as this video:

That’s all friends! Will you use Google Drive Embedder  for your WordPress website? Share your thoughts and questions in the comment section below.

See you soon, friends!