Allow your customers to reach you via Skype (Tutorial on adding the button to WordPress)

Hello friends,

In this tutorial I am going to present to you one convenient way for a communication with your website visitors and current (or potential) customers. I will be covering the steps that you need to go through for WordPress, however the tips that you are going to discover in this post can be applied to other websites as well.

So let’s begin – this tutorial will describe how to add the official Skype Contact Me Button for your WordPress website so that your customers can reach you.

First of all – what is Skype (in case you haven’t heard about it yet)?

Skype is a great technological solution that allows you to communicate with other people (family, friends, co-workers, customers, etc) over the Internet. The program can be used for making free audio and video calls from one Skype client to another as well as chatting and file sharing.

Skype can also be used for calling mobile phones and landlines after the purchase of Skype credit. There is also a business version of the tool.

There are Skype clients for mobile devices, Windows, Linux, Mac, Wearables and Xbox devices. The official website is skype.com.

Skype is quite popular and millions of people worldwide are using it every day.

Second – how to add the official Skype button for WordPress (and any other website)?

Begin by visiting this link. Here you will need to adjust a few settings and when you are done you are going to receive a code that you need to add to your website. But we’ll get back to this in a moment.

Add your Skype Name in the respective field. Next choose what your buttons should do. It can allow your customers to call you directly or to start a chat with you. Of course you may select both functions. Next select the color of the button and its size. After you do this you will get a preview of the Skype Contact Me button as well as the code that I have mentioned above.

Now it’s time to copy it and head to your WordPress website. Add a widget that supports HTML. For example the classic Text Widget is great for this purpose. If you are using a Page Builder you may choose a different widget type (which will also result in the possibility of adding the Skype Contact Me button wherever you want). This code can be added in your theme’s templates as well.

When you do this you have to update your Skype settings so that you can accept incoming calls or chat messages from Skype users that are not currently in your contact list. After this final step the Skype Contact Me button is successfully integrated with your WordPress website and your customers can reach you with ease.

These steps can be applied for any other website type. Simply discover where you can add the code and you are done.

That’s all friends! What do you think of this tutorial? Share any thoughts and questions in the comment section below.

See you soon!

How to secure WordPress content with passwords [Tutorial]

Hello friends,

In this tutorial I will show you how to secure any part of your WordPress content with passwords.

Before we begin, let’s take a moment to discuss why you would want to password protect your content in the first place.

In most cases this is not needed. In fact if you are aiming at generating high traffic to your WordPress website you’d want to have as much content as possible. You’d also want to have fresh content each week and most importantly you’d want your content to be accessible by users and bots.

However in some cases it is worth having some or all of the content hidden from the bots and the public. Here are some example situations:

How to secure WordPress content with passwords?

Option 1: The integrated password protection for WordPress:

This method will work on self-hosted sites as well as on wordpress.com blogs. Simply create a new post or a page. Then click on the “Edit” link next to Visibility and choose the  “Password protected” radio button. Then type your password and you are done! Bear in mind that additional steps are required to hide the password protected content entirely – i.e. from Homepage and Archives. Here is a guide on how to achieve this: Click here.

Add password protection to any WordPress post or page

Option 2: Secure only a portion of the content with passwords:

This method requires a plugin and this means that only self-hosted websites can benefit from it.

Begin by downloading, installing and activating the WordPress plugin Content Protector.

After you do this you will get a new section in your dashboard from where you can enter the plugin’s settings. You may add a message that informs users that part of the content is secured using a password. You may set the password and adjust various other settings as well.

Here are some of the Content Protector capabilities:

Next add shortcodes around the part of the content that you want to be secured using a password and publish it. You may also use the TinyMCE dialog menu in order to add shortcodes without making a mistake.

Option 3: Hide all content completely from non-registered users:

This can be achieved for self-hosted sites only. You need a plugin like WP Maintenance Mode. However I personally do not recommend this option. Use it only for maintenance modes only.

So what do you think, friends? Share any thoughts and questions in the comment form below.

See you soon!

How to quickly restore Facebook comments to your WordPress website after migration to SSL

Hello friends,

In today’s post I will share with you one quick and easy to apply fix for your “lost” Facebook comments after you’ve managed to move your website to SSL.

Before we begin – let’s define when this tutorial will be useful for you.

First of all you have to be using Facebook comments for your WordPress website. As you know from our previous posts on the topic, this is a great way to allow more people to get involved with your content without the need of additional registrations. Also each Facebook comment increases the popularity of your website within the social media.

For the purpose of this tutorial you may need to use the plugin “Facebook Comments”. Read more about it here: Facebook Comments for WordPress.

Second – this tutorial will be useful if you have just migrated from non-SSL to a SSL version of your WordPress website by using the “Really Simple SSL” plugin. Read how to achieve this from our post: Really Simple SSL – the proper way to secure WordPress.

Now let’s assume that you have been using Facebook Comments for a while before the migration to SSL. You have set up the plugin correctly and your visitors have commented on your website at least once and you are sure that the comments have been displayed correctly. Then you have decided to migrate to SSL and the comments are gone.

This is where our tutorial begins. Prepare to learn how to quickly restore Facebook comments to your WordPress website after migration to SSL!

Your Facebook comments are not lost! You can check them out in your moderation tool. They may have been disabled or hidden, but they are still there. Re-enable them if needed and then return to your WordPress website.

Create a child theme if you haven’t done this already. This will ensure that your Facebook comments won’t get lost again during your theme’s update. If you have set up your child theme successfully simply create a new functions.php file for it. This can be a blank file (i.e. without any content in it). Save it and then edit it.

Add the following code:

function rsssl_exclude_http_url($html) { 
//replace the https url back to http 
$html = str_replace('data-href="https://www.domain.com', 'data-href="http://www.domain.com', $html); 
return $html; 
} 
add_filter("rsssl_fixer_output","rsssl_exclude_http_url");

Change domain.com to your website’s domain name (with or without www). Do this for both entries (http and https) in the code above. Save the file and clear your cache.

Reload the post or page where you were certain that you had Facebook comments before the migration to SSL. They should be back once again.

In case you are not using a child theme you can add this code to your main functions.php file and save it. However when your theme gets updated this code will be lost and you will need to re-enter it once again.

That’s all friends! For more information and other solutions for the “lost” Facebook comments after migrating to SSL for your WordPress website, please read this post: How to recover Facebook likes after moving to https/ssl.

If you have any questions or other feedback, please share them in the comment section below. See you soon, friends!

SB Welcome Email Editor – The WordPress plugin that sends custom welcome emails

Hello friends,

Have ever wanted to surprise your newly registered users with great-looking custom welcome emails? If so then you may have been wondering how can you do this.

In today’s post I will present to you the WordPress plugin that will allow you to send custom welcome emails that will not only provide quality in terms of looks and functionalities, but also in terms of useful content. This plugin is called SB Welcome Email Editor.

Why would I need such a plugin in the first place?

The default email that each registered user will receive looks boring. You will also not be able to change its contents. By default it will present the user with their username, a link to generate a password and a link for the currently set wp-login page.

While this may be useful enough for some users, others might expect a little bit more information or options. Especially if you are aiming at building a community website.

How SB Welcome Email Editor works?

When you download, install and activate the plugin you will get a new sub section under Settings -> SB Welcome Email. There you will be able to create your custom email messages.

Once you get on this screen you will see the possible tags that you can choose from in order to create easily the email structure that you desire. Some of the choices are:

[site_url], [login_url], [user_email], [user_login], [plaintext_password], [blog_name], [admin_email], [user_id], [custom_fields], [first_name], [last_name], [date], [time]

In order to provide the information or the functionality that you desire, all you need to do is to select and copy one of the tags and then paste it within the editor’s fields. Simple as that!

SB Welcome Email Editor - General Settings for creating custom welcome emails for your WordPress website

SB Welcome Email Editor can be used to create custom emails to newly registered users and to the admin users of your WordPress website as well. You can create custom HTML emails (which will provide you with more options in terms of design and formatting) or plain text emails. The customization is also applicable for the emails that are to be sent when a user is requesting a password reset.

You will be able to customize the following:

When you are done setting all of these for the 3 email types (emails to users, emails to the admin, password reset emails) you have to click on the “Update Settings” button in order to save your work.

Once you are done with this you can send a Test Email in order to verify that SB Welcome Email Editor has been configured correctly.

What should I have in mind when using this plugin?

If you are intending to have many user registrations, then you must bear in mind that many emails are going to be sent. So in order not to burden your host’s email server you should use WP Mail SMTP and a custom mail server. Read more about this topic in our post: Integrate custom mail server/service for WordPress

That’s all folks! What do you think of SB Welcome Email Editor? Would you use it? Share any thoughts and questions in the comment section below.

See you soon!

Polylang – a way to create bilingual or multilingual WordPress site

Hello friends,

In this post I will show you another great alternative to the popular WPML plugin. By using it you will be able to have different language versions of your website so that you can target different audiences.

This solution is called Polylang and it is another way to create bilingual or multilingual WordPress site.

Polylang - WordPress Plugin for managing different languages and translations of your website

What does Polylang do exactly?

Polylang makes it extremely easy to create content in any language. For this purpose you only need to download and install the plugin and then activate it. After this is done you can start writing your new post. Let’s assume that your default language (before installing Polylang) for WordPress is English. However you want to create a post in German language so that you can target German visitors. So simply write your new post in German language. Fill in all the needed details (for example alternative texts for images, SEO meta information, excerpts, etc) in this language as well and then save the progress. When you are done with this you can tell Polylang that this post is in German language and it will be shown only for the German version of your website. Simple as that!

And if you intend to translate it later – no problem! Polylang will allow you to do just this if you wish. However bear in mind that this step is considered to be optional. But what is more important is that you will be able to make translations not only from the main language of your WordPress website to another one, but also from any secondary language as well.

If you have ever used WPML for the purpose of creation bilingual or multilingual WordPress site, then you will be happy to notice that the functionality and the way of usage of Polylang is similar. This makes it easy for you if you want to change plugins for some reason.

What other features does Polylang provide?

You will be able to add as many languages as you desire. Polylang also supports RTL language scripts. Another great feature is that for each chosen language, this wonderful plugin will check for language packs and will install them automatically. If an update is available for any of them it will also be processed automatically. This ensures you that you will be always providing the latest versions of any translations.

Speaking of translations – let’s see what exactly can be translated by using Polylang. The options are many. For example you will be able to translate content in your posts and pages. This plugin will make sure that you can have a bilingual or multilingual WordPress media library as well. The translation capabilities of Polylang also apply for your categories, tags, menus and even widget content. This plugin will be able to translate additional content types as well. For example if you want to run it with WooCommerce you can have a bilingual or multilingual WordPress e-commerce website with ease. However a premium addon is required in order to allow these two plugins to work together.

But if you want to translate custom post types, custom taxonomies, sticky posts and post formats, RSS feeds and the default WordPress widgets, then you can relax! Why? Because Polylang will allow you to take care of them without any additional hassles.

When translating you can re-use the same categories and tags as well as some of the other SEO meta elements from the original post. Polylang will make sure that they will be copied over to the translated version.

Polylang sets languages based on the content of the language code in the URL. Alternatively you can use a new subdomain of domain per language. Switching languages can be done by using a customizable switcher which can be placed as a widget or as a part of your main WordPress navigation menu.

What if I want to migrate from WPML to Polylang? Is it possible?

Sure! All you have to do is install and activate the plugin WPML to Polylang and follow its instructions.

This great plugin has a PRO version as well. Make sure that you check it out as well. You can do this from the official website polylang.pro.

That’s all friends! What do you think of this great plugin? Will you use to to make your website bilingual or multilingual? Share any thoughts and questions in the comment section below.

See you soon, friends!

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

Responsive Lightbox by dFactory – [Review]

Hello friends,

In this post I will make a review on one plugin that will allow your website visitors to experience better image viewing on your posts and pages.

The plugin that will allow you to achieve this is called Responsive Lightbox by dFactory.

Responsive Lightbox by dFactory - WordPress Plugin

What does Responsive Lightbox by dFactory do?

It will simply add the beatiful lightbox (overlay) effect for your WordPress website. Thus your images will stand out when clicked upon. They will appear in a stylish window that will provide options for switching images and closing the current view. Also some info about the image will be presented as well.

What is so special about this plugin?

Responsive Lightbox by dFactory will not only present your images in style but it will also do this with consideration for the devices that your visitors are using to browse your WordPress website. This means that the lightbox effect will look great on any device due to its responsiveness. And let’s not forget that having an optimized responsive website is very important for SEO (especially for mobile optimization).

How to work with Responsive Lightbox by dFactory?

Begin by downloading the plugin (ether from WordPress.org or from the plugin installer system in your dashboard).

Then install and activate it. Next you need to set some settings in the admin panel of your WordPress website.

The General Settings are first.

There you need to decide what your default lightbox will look like. You can choose from SwipeBox, prettyPhoto, FancyBox, Nivo Lightbox, Image Lightbox, TosRUs, Featherlight.

Next you need to set up the rel selector that the effect will be applied to.

After this you have to decide whether or not to enable the effect for WordPress image links.

Next you can choose a single image title and then choose to display your images as a gallery or not. Speaking of galleries – Responsive Lightbox by dFactory can be enabled for them as well. You can even set the image size for them and the image title as well.

What is more important is that Responsive Lightbox by dFactory can be used to display embedded videos from YouTube and Vimeo in a stylish lightbox effect. You can read more on the topic of embedding videos from this post in our website.

Responsive Lightbox by dFactory can be enabled for widgets and comments. The plugin can be forced for different WordPress gallery replacements like Jetpack or Visual Composer galleries. Responsive Lightbox by dFactory can also replace the default product gallery lightbox from WooCommerce.

There are some other settings that you need to take care of before you go on to the next tab. Remember to save your changes.

The Lightbox tab is second.

Here you need to adjust stand-alone settings for each of the default lightbox effects. Simply select the one that you chose in the General tab and adjust its settings. The image below presents the options for SwipeBox:

Again you need to save your settings or progress will be lost. After you are done you can start enjoying your new lightbox effects.

This plugin also comes with its own *.pot file for translations.

A few words on the premium extensions for Responsive Lightbox by dFactory.

This plugin provides premium extensions that will enhance its functionality. For most website the free version will be enough but if you are aiming at providing premium experience for your visitors and you have the budget, you can consider bringing Responsive Lightbox by dFactory to another level by purchasing some (or all) of the extensions. The third tab in the plugin settings can provide more information as well as the official website of the plugin developers: dfactory.eu .

So what do you think friends? Will you give this plugin a try? 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

Various ways of embedding YouTube videos in WordPress

Hello friends,

As you know YouTube is a powerful social network that can increase your website traffic and brand awareness (if used properly). That is why it is always a good idea to consider creating your own channel and start uploading videos related to your business. These may be presentations, tutorials, reviews, etc. You should keep in mind that this channel and each of the videos, that you are going to create and upload, need to be branded appropriately with texts that contain relevant keywords and phrases. This will help for SEO as well. Also you should bear in mind that you have to follow YouTube rules when uploading video content, so make sure that you get familiar with the requirements.

So if you are really considering starting your own channel you need to be familiar with the ways of integrating your content with your website. That is why in this post I will present to you various ways of embedding YouTube videos in WordPress.

You can also find this post useful if you just want to embed content created by others to your personal blog or website.

Why do I need a guide on embedding YouTube videos in WordPress? Isn’t this supported out of the box?

You are right! WordPress does support out of the box embedding of YouTube videos (and videos from other websites). By default all you need to do is just paste the link of the video and voila – it will be added to your post or page without any problems.

However there are some cases that require a different approach than the default one. You may want to place a video at a special location on your website with special formatting. And these are the tips and tricks that you are going to find in this post.

OK – What other ways of embedding YouTube videos do exist?

The next popular method is related to the embed code that you can get from YouTube for each video. Simply right click on one and select the option to copy the embed code. Then paste it in the desired location on your WordPress website.

By default this code may look like this:

<iframe width="854" height="480" src="YOUTUBE VIDEO URL" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

You will be able to change the width and height values in this iframe. A suitable location for it may be a text widget.

Another way of embedding a YouTube video in WordPress is by using the “embed” shortcode. You can find more information about it in the WordPress Codex (click to read). This method is suitable when you want to add videos as part of your sentences. By default this is not possible as any additional text that wraps the oEmbed code will be considered as part of it and you will encounter an error. But the “embed” shortcode fixes this issue. Here is how to use this method (replace the …… with the video url and ** with [ at the beginning and respectively ] at the end for both “embed” and “/embed”) :

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit -**embed**……**/embed**. Sed semper urna et enim pulvinar faucibus.

This will add the video as part of the first sentence (as you can see the dot is placed after the embed structure).

Another method is by using Jetpack. Simply install and activate this plugin and then go to the admin panel. Select Jetpack – Settings and activate Shortcode embeds. This will allow you to easily manipulate the width and height of the video. Here is an example (again replace ** with [ at the beginning and ] at the end of the url):

**YouTube URL**&w=800&h=600

And you should be able to receive an embedded YouTube video with the desired dimensions.

Any other methods that I may find suitable for embedding YouTube videos in WordPress? Some plugins maybe?

If you thought that there are no plugins for this purpose – you thought wrong. There are various great solutions that you may use. Here are some of them:

Page Builders

Most (if not all) page building solutions for WordPress provide ways of embedding YouTube videos. You can easily set up different options (not only related to size but to similar videos, autoplay, etc). What is most important is that this method will allow you to place the video where you want exactly the way you want it. Without any coding, of course. Check our selection of great page builders from here.

YouTube Embed

YouTube Embed Plugin for WordPress

This plugin will provide various options embedding YouTube videos in WordPress.  Download it from here.

Lazy Load for Videos

Lazy Load for Videos Plugin for WordPress

Lazy loading is essential for faster website. Especially if you have many embedded YouTube videos on one place. This WordPress plugin is a great solution for YouTube and Vimeo embeds as well. Get it from here.

WP Video Lightbox

WP VIdeo Lightbox Plugin for WordPress

If you want to embed YouTube, Vimeo and other videos in a stylish lightbox then this is the WordPress plugin for you! Grab it from here. You can also read our review for this great plugin.

That’s all friends! Share your thoughts and questions on these methods in the comment section below. I hope that you are going to find them useful.

See you soon!

How to add animated GIF files to a WordPress post – tips & tricks

Hello friends,

In this post I will be speaking of the popular animated GIF files. You will find what are they and how can they be quite useful for your audience.

But the main thing that you are going to learn are some tips and tricks about how to add animated GIF files in your WordPress posts and pages the right way.

What are animated GIF files?

Animated GIF files are a set of slides (frames) that follow each other and thus create an animated effect. These media formats can end with a loop (i.e. start from the beginning automatically) or end when the final frame has passed. The animated GIFs can be used in various cases. I will share 3 of the most common ones:

How to properly add animated GIF files to WordPress?

You can do this in several ways:

In case you want to go with the first option, you will have to bear in mind that WordPress will treat animated GIFs as ordinary GIF images. Therefore the different thumbnails that are going to be created will contain only the first frame of the file and it will not be animated at all.

So the solution here is to select ‘Full Size’ when adding the animated GIF file to your WordPress posts or pages as it will be the original one and it will contain all of its frames.

In case you decide to go with the second option you will have to find a reliable cloud solution or FTP server. Upload the files there or create a specified sub-domain for this purpose and use it as a storage for the GIF files. Then use the WordPress function to add multimedia from an external URL. Provide the link to the animated GIF file and add it to your post or page.

I need to inform you that the second option is my favorite one. It makes your website faster which is very important for SEO.

The third option is only suitable if you are using Giphy as a reliable source for great animated GIFs.

Giphypress is a great way of adding animated GIFs from Giphy to WordPress

Simply download and install the plugin and then activate it. A new icon will appear in the visual WordPress editor that will allow you to search and add files from Giphy. Simple as that!

How to optimize animated GIFs for SEO?

An animated GIF is smaller than a video file but it still needs to be optimized. Even if you go with the second option you still need each file to be as small as possible. Try to find the most suitable combination between quality and file size when creating the GIF. Remember that smaller files result in quality loss. In case the software or the tool that you are using to create the animated GIF cannot optimize it enough you can try using this great online tool called Ezgif. It is an animated GIF editor and image editor. You will be able to create and optimize animated GIFs with ease! Remember that you still need to download the optimized file as it will soon be deleted from the Ezgif server.

When you are done simply upload it either to your WordPress website or to the external solution and you are done! Simple as that and you will have animated GIFs in your posts and pages.

That’s all folks! If you have any questions please share them in the comment section below. Don’t forget to share this post in social media as well.

See you soon!

Fight SPAM in WordPress with Antispam Bee

Hello friends,

Do you want to have spammy WordPress websites? No? I thought so! So the main question now is how to fight SPAM correctly? There are various ways of doing this. In this post I have chosen to review one of the popular plugins for that purpose.

Presenting Antispam Bee

Antispam Bee may be just the tool that will help you to fight SPAM for your WordPress website.

What is the risk of getting SPAM hits for WordPress?

From moderate to high (at least in my opinion). A non-protected WordPress website is a potential target for comment SPAM and trackback SPAM. That is why it is always a good idea to have a tool that can deal with these hits.

How does Antispam Bee help me fight SPAM for my WordPress website?

This wonderful plugin will be able to deal with the average SPAM – comments and trackbacks. Antispam Bee does this without the need to have captchas. Also this plugin is ad-free and also completely free of charge to use. What is more important is that it complies with the European data privacy standards. So you can be confident that you are getting a great solution that will aid you in your battle with SPAM. And it will do this effectively.

How to use Antispam Bee?

Download and install the plugin. Then activate it. After this you can adjust some settings in the WordPress admin panel.

What are the features of Antispam Bee?

This plugin can help with comment approval and if you have approved a comment for any commenter then they are listed as trusted. Also if your commenter has a Gravatar then they are also trusted.

Antispam Bee takes comment time into consideration. Therefore if too many comments are posted within a short amount of time then this is a sign for SPAM.

Having trouble with SPAM comments from various languages? Don’t worry anymore! Antispam Bee can be set to monitor for comments in certain language only. This ensures that only comments from your target audience can appear on your WordPress website. Speaking of this – the plugin can block or allow comments based on their geographical location. This means that you can choose which countries are considered as accepted and only comments from them will be shown.

Antispam Bee can treat BBCode as spam. This plugin can also validate the IP from which a comment is posted and block it in case of suspicion. Antispam Bee also uses regular expressions and can search in a local SPAM database for comments that have been previously marked as spammy. This can be matched against a public database as well in order to ensure protection.

Want to know if you are getting SPAM hits? Antispam Bee can notify you and your other admins by email. Want to delete SPAM comments after a couple of days automatically? Antispam Bee can be instructed to do this in your desired amount of days. You can also limit approval for only comments and pings. But beware that this instructs Antispam Bee to delete any other comment types automatically.

This plugin also selects SPAM indicators that will help it determine a comment as SPAM and delete it directly. You can set Antispam Bee for some optional features as well. For example you may want to exclude trackbacks and pingbacks from potential SPAM detection and you can also check comments on your archive pages (if you have enabled them).

Last but not least – Antispam Bee can provide detailed statistics in your WordPress dashboard.

What else do I need to know about using Antispam Bee?

This plugin may not be compatible with other comment solutions besides the default WordPress comment system.

Another important feature is that Antispam Bee does not contain any paid services or limitations.

For other information and questions please make sure that you have read the FAQ section of the WordPress.org page of the plugin.

So what do you think friends? Will you use Antispam Bee for your website? Share any thoughts and questions in the comment section below and spread the word about this post in social media.

Thank you and see you soon!