As a new site owner, shared hosting will provide the features you need for a budget-friendly price. However, managed hosting offers several benefits that may tip the scales in its favor and make it worth the extra cost. Therefore, the decision isn’t necessarily clear-cut.

In this post, we’ll explore the pros and cons of shared and managed WordPress hosting. Then we will help you decide the best choice for you by taking a closer look at the differences between the two. Let’s dive in!

What is Shared WordPress Hosting?

If your website is brand new, shared WordPress hosting may be a good initial option for you. While it usually offers fewer features than managed hosting, there are still a number of key benefits:

• Technology continues to improve in a way that allows for more features, such as increased bandwidth, larger amounts of server space, and more administrative options.
• You can build your site and grow both your audience and traffic until you need to upgrade.

Benefits of Shared Hosting

The primary benefit of shared hosting, however, is its pricing. Because you are sharing server resources with other websites, providers can offer you extremely competitive prices.

While your budget may be a primary concern initially, there are some drawbacks of shared hosting to consider before choosing that route:

• You are limited in server space and performance, given that other sites share the same resources.
• There may be restrictions on the types of software you can install, which could potentially limit your site’s ability to scale and grow.
• There are fewer or limited support options, as most basic plans do not include top tier support.

Shared hosting is the most popular solution for most new sites and blogs. It’s budget-friendly, and if you don’t expect to use many resources, it could be some time before you need to upgrade. However, you must weigh up issues of support, site backups, and performance against the lower price point.

What Is Managed WordPress Hosting?

In a nutshell, managed WordPress hosting is when your service provider looks after any server resources specific to your WordPress installation. In other words, tasks such as installing the platform, keeping it updated, and performing backups are usually included as part of your hosting plan.

Benefits of Managed WordPress Hosting

There are several features and benefits to managed WordPress hosting, including:

• Better performance because the server is specifically optimized for WordPress.
• Isolated resources. Unlike shared hosting, the resources included with managed WordPress are only for your website, so you can be confident you won’t encounter performance issues due to “neighbors” accidentally overusing resources
• Access to higher-quality, expert support (again, because the host specializes in WordPress).
• Scalability so your site has room to grow as your traffic increases.
• One-click website staging. Freely experiment and safely test changes to your website in a sandbox environment; you can push the changes to your live website when you are ready for your visitors to see them.
• Built-in caching. Copies of your site’s files are stored in a temporary location called a cache, so they can be accessed more quickly. This helps to improve your site’s performance and the speed at which visitors can view your content. With managed WordPress, you don’t need to configure plug-ins to get caching because it’s already set up at the server level.
• Backups on demand and one-click restore. In addition to automatic, daily backups, you’ll also have the convenience of being able to request backups as you please. This gives you more control and security to protect your online assets before you make changes to your website or whenever you may need them, plus you’ll have peace of mind that you can quickly restore a backup with just a click.

Managed WordPress hosting is a great solution if you need your provider to do the heavy lifting of keeping your platform updated and secure. It lets you simply focus on your content — and running your core business — while not having to sweat the technical stuff. However, shared hosting also has a few benefits you may want to explore.

The Differences Between Managed and Shared WordPress Hosting

Of course, managed and shared hosting are not equal, so you’ll need to consider the key differences based on both your current needs and your overall plan for growth.

When it comes to features, both platforms have their pros and cons:

• Shared WordPress hosting. These packages are more limited with regard to WordPress-specific features. Although you can use tools besides WordPress, you’re limited to the support and maintenance you’ll receive for them.
• Managed WordPress hosting. When it comes to resource management, you’ll rely on your host. This is usually a good thing, as you’ll receive greater support due to the knowledge and expertise your host has. However, there are fewer options for those who wish to optimize their server to their exact requirements.

Shared vs Managed WordPress Hosting

Of course, the ultimate question is: Which hosting plan is right for me? The answer will be based on your budget, needs, and technical expertise.

Shared WordPress Hosting

Shared hosting is great for running a small website, blog, or portfolio site. You should consider shared hosting if:

• You have a small or limited budget and a ‘DIY’ attitude. While price is a legitimate concern, you must also be comfortable with managing your site. Aspects such as backups, WordPress updates, and general server maintenance may be your responsibility, depending on your web host.
• You don’t expect large amounts of web traffic. Because you are sharing server space and resources with others, you may experience lags or slow speeds depending on the makeup of other sites on the server. However, if you don’t expect major traffic on your site, this may not be a deal breaker.
• You would like to integrate WordPress with a different tool. Since shared hosting is generic enough to work with most web-based platforms, you can install practically anything you would like.

Overall, if you’re comfortable working under the hood, and don’t expect to use a lot of server resources, shared hosting may work well for you.

Managed WordPress Hosting

On the other hand, managed WordPress hosting is ideal if you plan to run a medium to large business site or an e-commerce storefront. You should consider a managed WordPress hosting plan if:

• You have a budget that can accommodate the price. Managed WordPress hosting costs a bit more upfront, but it can save you big in the long run with less downtime.
• You can’t (or don’t want to) perform site maintenance. If you’re not technically savvy or simply don’t have the time or inclination to perform site maintenance, investing in managed hosting is perfect for you. You can focus on your content while your host manages the technical aspects.
• You need WordPress-specific support. A managed WordPress host offers support technicians who specialize in everything related to the platform. If you have an issue with your database, or a recent upgrade or plug-in installation, they are much better equipped to help you than a shared service.

If you prefer to delegate your site’s maintenance and see no issues with the slightly higher price, we definitely recommend you go with a managed plan.

However, if you know your site is going to see a great deal of traffic, or you plan to develop applications or websites, opting for managed hosting will let you avoid performance issues down the line.

One important thing to keep in mind about delegating your site’s maintenance to a managed WordPress hosting provider: this upkeep doesn’t typically include regular updating of plug-ins and themes. So, you’ll want to be sure that you maintain those plug-ins and themes  when new versions are available.

There are several places where you can manage themes or plugins updates:

• WordPress, Plugins, Themes and Translations updates can be managed on the Updates Screen located in Dashboard > Updates sub menu.
• Themes updates can be managed on the Appearance Screen.
• Plug-ins updates can be managed on the Plugins Screen.

One easy way to be certain that you never miss the latest plug-in and theme updates, and that you keep your site secure, is to enable auto-updates. To learn how, visit our friends at WordPress here.

Which Hosting Plan is Best?

So, which hosting option is best? Well, it depends on your needs. Many website owners start out with shared hosting because it helps them get started quickly and inexpensively. However, managed WordPress hosting has many benefits for larger websites and power users that should be considered before making a final decision.

In this post, we’ve discussed the differences between shared and managed WordPress hosting and talked about which will work best for your website. To briefly recap:

1. Shared WordPress hosting is a low-priced service in which you share resources with other sites. This is a good starter option for a small website, blog, or portfolio. However, you may need to upgrade as your site and traffic grow. That will require technical know-how and a budget increase.
2. Managed WordPress hosting provides WordPress-specific services, powerful tools, and dedicated resources for your site. Because of those services, tools, and resources, it’s recommended not only for enterprise-level companies’ WordPress sites with high traffic, but for any business site, e-commerce site, established site already getting traffic (including popular blogs), or mid- to large-size agency’s site built on WordPress that would benefit from the optimized stability, performance, and user experience they offer. However, it’s somewhat more expensive so you’ll need to factor that into your decision.

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The post What Is the Difference Between Shared and Managed WordPress Hosting? appeared first on Website Guides, Tips & Knowledge.

In this post, we’ll discuss WordPress shortcodes and why they are helpful. Then, we’ll outline four methods to start using shortcodes on your site. Let’s get started!

WordPress Shortcodes 101

WordPress shortcodes are snippets that quickly embed different files, objects, or pieces of content into your website. They are single lines of HTML code that can include interactive post elements.

A shortcode looks like this, wrapped within two square brackets:

[exampleshortcode]

Shortcodes were introduced in 2008 to make more complex posts and pages easier to create. They provide a simple way to insert and load dynamic content elements on your site.

For instance, you may want to customize your WordPress front page by embedding a Google map to show your retail location. You might even add an introductory video using a shortcode:

Website owners typically use shortcodes in the body of posts, pages, and custom post types. Fortunately, as the Gutenberg block editor has evolved, using shortcodes has become even more user-friendly. We’ll cover this later in the article.

Why You Might Consider Using WordPress Shortcodes

There are a variety of reasons why you may wish to use WordPress shortcodes. For starters, they are often easier to add to your page than learning and writing a long piece of HTML code.

Furthermore, shortcodes can keep your content clean and organized. They don’t take up as much space in your overall post’s HTML. This can help you identify errors easily when using the code editor.

Shortcodes are also reusable. You won’t need to manually add the same features, such as a Call to Action (CTA) or social media buttons, to each post. Instead, you can just paste your shortcode.

WordPress Shortcodes 101 (4 Ways to Use These Snippets)

There are two basic types of shortcodes that you ought to familiarize yourself with: self-closing and enclosing. Self-closing ones stand on their own and don’t need closing tags:

[myshortcode]

Enclosing shortcodes wrap around a specific piece of content to modify it. Therefore, enclosing shortcodes must be closed manually. They typically look like this:

[myshortcode] content [/myshortcode]

You can also change the properties of shortcodes with different attributes. These will affect how the element displays on the front end.

For example, you could change the size of a gallery shortcode by adding a size attribute:

[gallery id="123" size="medium"]​​

If you look through the WordPress Plugin Directory, you’ll find that there are many options to use shortcodes on your WordPress site. Here are four different options!

1. WordPress Default Shortcodes

WordPress comes with basic built-in shortcodes. These snippets enable you to embed additional media directly into your posts.

These shortcodes include:

• [caption]: Wraps captions around content.
• [gallery]: Shows image galleries.
• [audio]: Embeds and plays audio files.
• [video]: Embeds and plays video files.
• [playlist]: Displays collection of audio or video files.
• [embed]: Wraps embedded items.

You can also enable a variety of additional shortcodes through the Jetpack plugin.

First, ensure that the Jetpack module is enabled by clicking on Jetpack in your WordPress dashboard:

Then, select Settings:

Head to the Writing tab, scroll down to the Composing section, and activate Compose using shortcodes to embed media from popular sites:

Once you have toggled this option, you can use the [tweet] shortcode to embed a specific tweet into your post. Just copy the URL of the tweet and paste it within your shortcode brackets:

This will embed the linked tweet into your post. The result will look like this:

You can use these additional shortcodes to embed a host of other media into your content, including Spotify playlists, Google Docs, or recipes.

2. Gutenberg Shortcodes

Gutenberg blocks make adding dynamic content into your posts even easier. The Block Editor enables you to change individual sections easily and apply block-specific settings and formatting rules without using plugins.

The Gutenberg editor has evolved to make it even easier to put together WordPress posts and pages. It offers a user-friendly way to insert shortcodes. Most Gutenberg blocks replace standard shortcodes, but the block editor has proven to be a bit of a moving target, so learning about using shortcodes for functionality is a good idea.

For example, you could use a Gutenberg block to embed the tweet from our previous example instead of a shortcode. You only need to click on the + icon and select the Twitter block:

This method lets you paste the tweet’s URL directly into the block without writing the shortcode in square brackets.

Furthermore, the Gutenberg Block Editor features a Shortcode block. It enables you to manage your snippets in the visual editor without writing the code directly in HTML:

Gutenberg also lets you create reusable blocks, which can come in handy for using the same content snippets in your posts. We can demonstrate this concept with a social media CTA that you might use at the end of posts that you may write on your site.

You can start by selecting the Shortcode block from the pop-up:

Then once you’ve added your CTA snippet, click on the three dots for an options menu and select Add to Reusable blocks:

You can then name the reusable block:

Your snippet will then be saved under the reusable tab, enabling you to use it anywhere across your website, including posts, pages, and widget areas.

3. Plugin Shortcodes

Different WordPress plugins also come with their own shortcodes. Some of these tools can even help you add customizable parameters to existing default shortcodes.

For instance, you can get ready-made shortcodes for contact forms from the Participants Database plugin. You could simply type [pdb_signup] to insert a signup form into a post:

The form will then display on the front end:

If this interests you, you can read more about other WordPress plugins that can enhance your website. These include the Enhanced Media Library plugin, which can help you adjust the parameters for the built-in Playlist and Gallery shortcodes.

However, remember to keep your WordPress shortcode plugins updated. Doing this can ensure that your site runs as fast as possible and isn’t vulnerable to security threats.

4. Custom Shortcodes

If you need even more functionality from shortcodes, it is possible to create custom ones. They can be valuable tools for developers looking to reduce time spent on repetitive coding.

You should note that creating custom shortcodes requires some technical knowledge. If you don’t feel confident with coding, you may want to stick to one of the other strategies we mentioned.

If you want to try this method, consider using a generator such as GenerateWP to assist with formatting your code from scratch. You may fill out different attribute fields to modify the element’s appearance to your liking.

You can then implement these shortcodes using the add_shortcode function. In action, it will look like this:

add_shortcode( string $tag, callable $callback )

However, if you don’t feel comfortable creating a custom shortcode from scratch, there is another way! You can contact our custom web development services team, and we can assist you:

Using DreamHost Pro Services, you just need to fill out a web development request. We will ask you a few simple questions about your website and requirements. Then, we can get to work on implementing your changes on a staged version of your site. Once you have approved the final adjustments, we can apply the new code to your live website!

Use WordPress Shortcodes to Enhance Your Content

WordPress shortcodes can enhance your website content with engaging features for visitors. They can ensure that readers interact with your site and keep coming back for more.

In this post, we have outlined four methods to use WordPress shortcodes on your site:

1. WordPress default shortcodes
2. Gutenberg shortcodes
3. Plugin shortcodes
4. Custom shortcodes

If you feel like you don’t have the technical expertise or the time to write shortcodes or Blocks, don’t worry! You can check out our Website Development Pro Services to learn how we can customize your site with high-quality code.

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The post An Introduction to WordPress Shortcodes (With Examples) appeared first on Website Guides, Tips & Knowledge.

Whether you’re a hobbyist, entrepreneur, or business owner, open source has much to offer. By opting for open software, you can positively impact this vital and innovative community.

In this post, we’ll look at the huge role that Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS) has played in the DreamHost story. We’ll then share three easy ways to support FOSS this February — and beyond. Let’s get started!  

DreamHost’s Open-Source Beginnings

Open source is in our blood and has powered every aspect of our services since the very beginning. DreamHost was founded in 1996 by four California undergraduate students who bonded over a mutual love for open-source tech and discovering new tools. With barely a dime to spend, the four created a web server running Debian Linux, Apache, and Perl.

This became the foundation of a business that hosted websites on top of free software — and DreamHost was born! Our business would not have been possible without open source, and today open software remains at the heart of many DreamHost systems.

We respect our customers’ rights to the information they create, and that includes making sure they’re not locked into any of our services. Open software is such a vital aspect of our business that it’s even encoded into our core values as Embrace Open Source.

The Rise of the Black Box Cloud

The era before cloud computing was a golden age for the open internet. The tech landscape was dominated by some of the best examples of open-source technology. This includes Linux, Apache, and MySQL, plus languages like PHP, Perl, Python, and Ruby.

While the early days of cloud computing were exciting and revolutionary, it was also somewhat of a black box. The software and systems that power Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and many other cloud platforms were closed by design.

This left many users in the dark about implementing the most critical part of their application stack. So while we were excited about what the cloud had to offer, we didn’t want to live in a future dominated by black box technology. That’s why we decided to build our customers what they wanted, using best-of-breed open-source software.

DreamCompute: Partnering With OpenStack 

From the very beginning, we built the DreamHost platform on top of open-source tech. However, in 2014, we took things one step further and launched our DreamCompute service. 

DreamCompute is a public cloud computing service that’s designed to scale. It’s also built with open source at its very core.

Based on the OpenStack cloud computing platform, DreamCompute makes heavy use of open software. The DreamCompute storage nodes run Ceph, the open source and massively distributed fault tolerant storage system.

In addition, the entire system is managed by the Chef automation software, plus other open-source tools. This includes the collectd daemon and Logstash data processing pipeline.

With DreamCompute, we set out to put more power in the hands of our customers than they’d ever had before — and we believe that we achieved that. However, OpenStack is more than just the heart of our DreamCompute service. ​​

We joined OpenStack early in its life, committing code, financial support, and leadership to the project. We joined the OpenInfra Foundation as a Gold member, and DreamHost CEO Simon Anderson was elected to represent us on the OpenStack Foundation Board of Directors for multiple consecutive years. 

Even today, our team is releasing new open-source frameworks, tools, apps, and other projects all of the time. For more information, check out our GitHub repository. 

Open Source Officially Powers 43% of the Web

No discussion about open source would be complete without mentioning the world’s most popular Content Management System (CMS). At DreamHost, we’re proud to have WordPress Core developers on our team while actively contributing to the WordPress Open-Source Project.

WordPress is an example of world-class open-source software, but that doesn’t mean this platform is automatically accessible to everyone. To help bring the power of open source to the masses, we designed our DreamPress hosting plan.

This managed WordPress service removes much of the technical complexity of running a successful website. In this way, we’re making the world’s most powerful open-source CMS available to more people than ever before. 

How to Support Open-Source Software in 2022 (3 Ways)

DreamHost has taken a lot from open source over the years, and we’re not the only ones! If you’ve ever downloaded a project from GitHub, built a WordPress website, or switched from proprietary software to an open alternative, then February is your chance to give back. Here are three ways to support FOSS this February.

1. Use and Promote Open-Source Software

The best way to support open source is to use it! This means actively seeking out open alternatives to your favorite proprietary software. 

If you’re using open projects in your free time, then this is a great start. However, if you really want to contribute to the community, you can always advocate for its use in formal settings, particularly at your workplace. 

Unlike property software, you can often download and install open-source code on your own server or company data center. In a climate where privacy and data security are a huge concern, this is definitely worth mentioning to your boss. 

If you have a particular piece of proprietary software in mind, then finding a replacement may be as simple as heading to your favorite search engine and typing: “open-source alternative to X”. There are also entire directories dedicated to recommending open-source replacements. The Awesome Alternatives list and crowdsourcing AlternativeTo website are two popular resources.

Once you’re using open-source software, you can go one step further and become an evangelist. Despite the religious connotations, today, the term evangelist simply means any person who is an enthusiastic fan of a product, brand, person — or even open-source software. 

Simply engaging with an open project on social media can help raise awareness. If you run your own blog, then you might consider publishing tutorials or articles about your favorite project. 

Even if you don’t run your own website, there are plenty of tech-focused sites that accept guest submissions. All of these simple acts can help spread the word and introduce more people to your favorite open project.

2. Get Involved in the Community

Some successful open-source projects are able to fund full-time staff. However, many projects rely entirely on volunteers. This means there are always opportunities to become a valued member of the open-source community.

To start, you may want to consider following your favorite project across all of the major social networking sites. This includes Twitter, YouTube, Slack, and Facebook.

From here, you can connect with other members of the community and spot opportunities to get involved. This could be anything from supporting an upcoming meetup or webinar right through to answering a question that someone has posted on the project’s official Facebook page.

In addition, open-source projects often feature prominently on question and answer boards such as Stack Overflow and the Quora site. You may even find a board dedicated to your chosen program.

By visiting these boards regularly, you can help other users resolve issues that they’re having with the software in question. This can improve their experience, which will make them more likely to continue using the program. They may even become enthusiastic open-source supporters themselves.

You can minimize the number of complaints and queries that get escalated to the project’s development team by resolving these questions. This leaves them free to focus their efforts on improving the core software.

3. Become a Translator

Research suggests that 74 % of internet users speak a language other than English.

If your favorite open-source project doesn’t support multiple languages, it may struggle to attract an international audience. 

If you’re multilingual, you can help a project connect with an entirely new audience by offering your translation services. Even users who speak multiple languages will usually appreciate being able to enjoy software in their native tongue. In fact, 65% of consumers prefer to access content in their first language. By translating a project into one or more additional languages, you can help boost its appeal. 

For instance, you might translate self-help resources, such as the official documentation, blog posts, and FAQ pages, or user guides. However, these open projects may also need someone to translate User Interface (UI) elements, such as the labels and onscreen tooltips that help people interact with the software. All of this can be invaluable for improving the user experience and helping your favorite project find its spot on the world stage.

Conclusion

At DreamHost, we’re excited to continue contributing to open-source software throughout 2022 — and beyond. However, anyone can take steps to support their favorite open projects. 

With this in mind, let’s quickly recap 3 easy ways to help the open software community:

1. Use open-source alternatives when possible, and promote your favorite programs.
2. Get involved in the community by following open projects on social media and answering questions from users. 
3. Become a translator for your favorite open project. 

When it comes to open software, WordPress is a huge success story. If you want to find out why this platform powers almost half of all websites, our shared website hosting is the fastest and easiest way to get started with WordPress. 

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Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be a challenge. There are dozens of high-quality themes that are ideal for various affiliate marketing niches. By understanding a few of the stand-out options that are available, you can find your perfect fit.

Start Building Your Affiliate Marketing Website Today

This article will walk you through 17 of the leading affiliate marketing themes for 2022. So let’s dive right in!

1. Zeen

We’ll start with a remarkably flexible theme. Zeen can help you create anything from a magazine to an online store – all with highly-customizable features.

Here are just a few options you’ll gain access to:

• Advanced design features to improve the User Experience (UX)
• Built-in product swatches for colors, images, and buttons
• Support for Google voice search

If you’re selling affiliate products, you might be particularly interested in this theme’s various sales features. For example, you can add a prominent ‘add to cart’ function wherever you like. By linking this button to your affiliate partners’ sites, you can provide users with an easy way to purchase products.

Pricing: Zeen costs $39 and comes with six months of support. If you’d like to extend that to 12 months, it will cost an extra $10.13.

2. Astra

Astra is a very popular WordPress theme. With super-light code and countless layout settings, it’s a powerhouse when it comes to fast loading times. However, that’s not all.

Its other powerful features include:

• A huge library of pre-built websites to choose from
• Design flexibility thanks to its compatibility with page builders
• Optimized speeds for all device types

If you’re looking to reduce your site’s bounce rates, Astra might be the best option for you. Faster load times mean you can appeal to even your most impatient visitors. However, you might also choose this theme if you want maximum design freedom.

Pricing: The basic version of Astra is free. However, if you want full functionality, paid options begin at $49. You can also choose from two higher-tier plans with premium features: the Essential Bundle ($169) or the Growth Bundle ($249).

3. Divi

Divi is another incredibly flexible option. This theme enables you to control almost every aspect of your site.

You’re free to choose from a huge variety of design options, such as:

• Subtle shadow features that you can use to highlight certain products
• Dynamic animations to catch your visitors’ attention
• Optional advanced code editing within the engine

Additionally, Divi also has a companion program: the Divi Builder. This page builder is optimized to work with the theme for a smoother website creation experience. If you’re looking for an all-in-one solution for seamless site design, we suggest that you consider Divi.

Pricing: Divi pricing begins at $67 per year. This includes the Divi Builder. If you’d prefer only to pay once, you can also get the same features for a lifetime license fee of $187.

4. Neve

Today’s users can access your website from various devices – and mobile is at the top of that list. So Neve prioritizes modern, mobile-friendly designs to help you reach the maximum number of shoppers.

You might also appreciate a few other stand-out features like:

• Drag-and-drop customization for headers and footers
• Lightweight code for excellent loading times
• Global color palette options for centralized redesigns

We recommend Neve if you have a robust social media following. Visitors usually access these platforms from mobile devices. As such, your promotional links should lead them to a well-optimized mobile version of your website.

Pricing: Neve licenses start at $59 per year. However, the Business plan might be better if you’re making many affiliate sales. This plan starts at $149 per year.

5. Zox News

Zox News is a multi-purpose theme. You don’t have to run a news-based website to use it – as long as you’re looking for a dynamic, effective way to advertise your content, this theme is a smart choice.

Other benefits included in this theme are:

• A free Reviewer Plugin to display reviews and comparison tables alongside your content
• Featured areas to promote specific formats such as videos
• Sticky sidebars to improve site navigation

Zox News also provides you with the choice of eight different article layouts. That’s why we recommend it if you want to provide more dynamic content. Users may feel that too many similarly-structured articles become repetitive. This theme’s built-in variety can help you easily add more diverse formatting.

Pricing: You can purchase Zox News for $55. You’ll also receive six months of support at this price point. To extend that to a full year, you can pay an extra $16.13.

6. Silk

If you’re building a fashion-forward blog meant to show off the latest trends, you might want to consider Silk. However, this theme isn’t just for fashion – as long as you’re seeking a way to showcase your work, Silk can be an excellent fit.

Other stand-out features you may like include:

• A mega-menu option for ease of navigation
• Integrated social tools to make sharing your affiliate offers easy
• A huge selection of top-tier typography tools

If your affiliate sales strategy relies on a more visual approach, this theme can be a smart choice. That’s because Silk is an especially media-friendly theme. Thus, it’s an easy way to share high-quality product photos or videos with your audience.

Pricing: Silk’s pricing starts at €70 per year (about $79). This includes one year of support and updates. If you prefer a one-time fee, you can opt for the lifetime edition.

7. Affiliates Bloglet

If you run a website focused on written content, we recommend that you consider using the Affiliates Bloglet theme. That’s because it offers a clean interface and responsive design.

As such, your visitors can enjoy a minimalist experience no matter where they visit from, in addition to other features like:

• Uncluttered code for better Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Full-width design by default for easy landing page creation
• High-quality font choices

Without busy elements, your blog can take center stage. However, minimalist doesn’t have to mean empty. You can also use the white space around your content. That’s why we recommend Affiliates Bloglet if you’re running ads alongside your affiliate products – there’s plenty of space for them.

Pricing: Affiliates Bloglet is a child theme of Blogrid and thus follows its pricing plans. The premium options start at $29. In addition to Affiliates Bloglet, you’ll also gain access to three other child themes.

8. CouponXL

Many affiliate sites offer deals and coupons as a part of their offers. If this sounds like your strategy, the CouponXL theme might be your perfect fit.

Whether you’re just starting out or an established figure in the affiliate marketing game, this theme can help you with features like:

• Robust integration of payment portals
• MailChimp support to increase your mailing list signups
• A responsive tech support team

Consider choosing the CouponXL theme if you want to use cloaked links. This feature helps you hide potentially spammy-looking URLs. That means you can build user trust while still earning affiliate commissions.

Pricing: You can purchase CouponXL for $39. To upgrade the six months of support to 12, you can pay an additional $10.13.

9. Tokoo

When it comes to promoting affiliate links, images can be extremely influential. That’s because they’re an easy way to demonstrate what you’re selling. If you want to take advantage of this strategy, consider using Tokoo.

Other impressive features of this theme include:

• Responsive menu options for easy navigation
• Predefined design palettes for a quick start
• Minimum white space for a sales-focused approach

If you want to mimic the layout of top-tier ecommerce sites, you might want to choose Tokoo. It can help you apply the same attention-grabbing format to your affiliate products. The variety of image formats on offer will also help with this.

Pricing: Tokoo is available for $59. If you’re not ready to commit, you can also use the free trial offer to take it for a spin.

10. Mai Creative Pro

A stunning website can go a long way towards increasing sales. The more you can emphasize your professional skills, the more you can build up your users’ trust. That’s where Mai Creative Pro comes in.

It combines an aesthetically-pleasing design with clean, functional options such as:

• Highly customizable widget areas
• Full control over the appearance of your header to match your affiliate branding strategy
• Custom page templates to help you build a beautiful site quickly

Mai Creative Pro might be the best choice if you’re a beginner. It may be customizable, but it’s also impressively user-friendly. When combined with the wealth of detailed tutorials, it’s a top choice for your first theme.

Pricing: You can purchase Mai Creative Pro for $99. You can also check out its full demo if you’re still on the fence.

11. Herald

Herald was designed to act as an online newspaper. However, that doesn’t mean you’ll be choosing a limited option. With plenty of ways to prioritize content, you can show off your favorite articles and best affiliate links.

You might also appreciate the following features:

• Nearly 500 variations on your listing layouts
• Unlimited sidebar and color combinations
• Built-in social sharing features

If you’re using affiliate marketing as one of many monetization strategies, you might want to consider Herald. This theme makes it easy to add banner ads to your home page, archives, or even single posts – all without having to know a single line of code.

Pricing: Herald’s price comes in at $69. To upgrade from six to 12 months of support, you can pay an additional $21.38.

12. SteadyIncome

Affiliate marketing can be one of the most effective ways to turn a profit. Getting users to spend time on your site is the crucial first step of this process.

If you’re looking to make a positive impression right away, SteadyIncome can help with features like:

• Partner logo sliders to disclose who you’re working with
• Compatibility with WP Subscribe Pro to help increase the size of your audience
• A featured products section to advertise your biggest earners

We recommend choosing SteadyIncome if you’re prioritizing new customers over repeat ones. The bold, professional design can help establish trust quickly. This, in turn, can help you make sales more efficiently.

Pricing: SteadyIncome costs $39. This will also get you a year of updates and support for unlimited sites. If you change your mind, you can also benefit from the 30-day money-back guarantee.

13. Consulting Multipurpose Classic Elementor

With plenty of modern content areas, Consulting Multipurpose Classic Elementor is a simple way to showcase professional advice. However, that’s not all it can do. You can also use this theme’s organized format for advertising anything from your brand to the products you’re promoting.

Plus, you’ll get access to other features such as:

• The option to sort affiliate partners into discrete categories
• Attractive icons and blurbs for your products
• Built-in tab formatting to help you highlight particular offers

You might want to consider Consulting Multipurpose if you plan to appeal to a more local audience. Features such as integrated Google Maps can help you emphasize a visual location. However, a more global approach is also possible thanks to an included multilingual plugin.

Pricing: For full functionality on a single site, Consulting Multipurpose will cost $75. There are a variety of premium add-ons as well, such as customization services and an extended support period.

14. Sensational

No matter how well-run your website is, marketing your content is key to boosting affiliate sales. As such, finding ways to show off as much of your work as possible can be essential.

Sensational can be the perfect tool for this challenge, with features like:

• Plenty of room for content balanced out by lots of white space
• Subtle professional touches, such as hovering effects and transition slides
• Unlimited color schemes and backgrounds for countless customization options

You might particularly enjoy Sensational if you prefer a column-based approach. Sensational makes the most of this simple format with four different styles to choose from. That means you can spend less time tweaking designs and more time sharing your links.

Pricing: Sensational is currently available for free. It typically goes for $77, so now might be a smart time to give this theme a try.

15. Marketing Pro

A marketing funnel can be an essential tool for affiliate marketers. You start by offering surface-level information to new users and move them towards more detailed content as they get closer to purchasing. Marketing Pro can support this use with its cohesive design flow.

Other contributing features include:

• A commanding banner at the top that leads into more sales-oriented formatting below
• Nine pre-made templates to make redesigning your site easy
• $72 worth of premium plugins

We recommend Marketing Pro if your affiliate offerings are face-to-face services. For example, you might be promoting a life coaching program. This theme focuses on the buyer’s journey to secure conversions for long-term service plans.

Pricing: You can purchase Marketing Pro for $59. The theme offers an impressive amount of documentation, but to extend direct support to a full year, you can pay an extra $17.63.

16. Netube

Netube is a theme designed for building a video magazine. That means it enables you to showcase several videos at once. The large image spaces mean you can display accurate examples of your work without compromising on quality.

You might also appreciate this theme’s other features, such as:

• The option to organize content by criteria, such as highest rated or most views
• Easy opportunities to allow user-generated video uploads
• A subtle, dark design that allows your videos to stand out

We’ve covered a lot of themes that accommodate written content. Netube stands out as one that prioritizes media instead. If you work with a lot of videos, we highly recommend checking Netube out.

Pricing: Netube is available for $59. This will also give you access to any future updates, so you don’t have to worry about your theme becoming obsolete.

17. iffiliate

There are plenty of high-quality themes that can support your affiliate marketing strategy. However, sometimes what you need is a specialized approach to help you focus on your goals. When it comes to promoting your partners’ products, iffiliate is one of the top tools for the job.

It includes features like:

• A bundled mega menu plugin for better navigation
• Ajax live search that makes for a more dynamic UX
• Seamless integration with the Amazon Affiliate program

We’d recommend iffiliate if you’re building a more traditional ecommerce-style site. For example, you can create single-product pages to advertise each partner’s items. You can then replace the checkout links with your affiliate URLs.

Pricing: You can purchase iffiliate for $59. This comes with six months of support, but you can extend this to 12 for an additional $17.63.

The Right Themes Make All the Difference

Let’s face it: being an affiliate marketer can be tough. Fortunately, choosing the right tools can make all the difference. By carefully picking your WordPress theme, you can set your website up for success.

This article walked you through 17 of our favorite themes for affiliate marketing. We’ve considered everything from minimalist designs to media-heavy approaches. We’d recommend checking out the demos for your favorites and testing them fully before settling on your final choice.

If you want to earn more commissions, picking the right theme counts. However, your website also has to perform at its best and provide a top-notch user experience. For that, check out our DreamPress hosting plans!

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Fortunately, you can troubleshoot this issue by following a few simple steps. In some cases, you’ll just need to contact your web host to get it fixed.

In this post, we’ll take a closer look at the “Upload: Failed to write file to disk” error and its main causes. We’ll then show you three simple ways to fix this problem. Let’s get started!

What Causes the “Upload: Failed to Write File to Disk” Error in WordPress

The “Upload: Failed to Write File to Disk” error message typically comes up when you’re trying to upload media files to your WordPress site. There are a few possible causes, the most common one being incorrect file permissions.

Every file and folder on your WordPress site comes with a set of permissions. These are controlled by the web server and determine which site users can access and edit your files and folders. Thus, if the permissions are incorrect, you may be unable to perform certain actions on your site, such as uploading images to your media library.

However, this error could also be caused by other issues, including a full WordPress temporary folder. It’s also possible that you’ve reached the disk space limit provided with your hosting plan.

Next, we’ll take a closer look at these possible causes. We’ll also walk you through a solution for each scenario.

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How to Fix the “Upload: Failed to Write File to Disk” Error in WordPress (3 Ways)

Now, let’s look at three easy ways to fix this disk error in WordPress. As always, we recommend that you perform a backup of your site before proceeding. That way, if something goes wrong, you can restore your site to an earlier version.

1. Change the File Permissions

As we mentioned earlier, the “Upload: Failed to write file to disk” error is likely caused by incorrect file permissions. If you want to check these permissions, you can contact your hosting provider and ask them if they can do it for you. Alternatively, you can do this yourself by accessing your site’s root directory.

First, you’ll need to connect to your site via a Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) client such as FileZilla. You can also access your site’s directory through the file manager in your hosting account.

If you have a DreamHost account, start by navigating to Websites > Files in the sidebar. Then locate your domain and click on the Manage Files button.

This will take you to the file manager. To access your site’s directory, you can open the folder labeled with your domain name. Inside, locate the wp-content folder and right-click on it.

Next, select File permissions.

In the pop-up window, go to the Numeric value field and enter “755” or “750” in the corresponding box. Next, you can select the Recurse into subdirectories and Apply to directories only options and click on OK.

You have now set the correct file permissions for all subdirectories inside the wp-content folder. This includes the uploads folder, which is where your uploaded media files are stored.

However, you’ll also need to set the correct permissions for the files within those folders. To do this, you can right-click on the wp-content folder again and select File permissions.

In the Numeric value field, type in “644”. Then select the Recurse into subdirectories and Apply to files only options, and click on OK.

Don’t worry if you’re still unable to upload files to your site after checking your file permissions. There are a couple of other things you can do to resolve the issue.

2. Empty the WordPress Temporary Folder

If changing the file permissions doesn’t solve the problem, you may need to empty your temporary folder. WordPress processes your media uploads in PHP. This means that your images are first saved in a temporary folder on your web server before being transferred to your uploads folder.

If the temporary folder is full, WordPress won’t be able to write your files to disk until you’ve emptied it. Unfortunately, you cannot access this temporary directory via SFTP.  However, you can simply contact your hosting provider and ask them to empty the folder for you, and then check to see if the error has been resolved. If you have sudo users, you could ask them to clear your temporary folder.

Alternatively, you can try to resolve this issue by defining a new location for WordPress to store your media (instead of the temporary folder). First, you’ll need to connect to your site via an SFTP client or the file manager. Then locate the wp-config.php file, right-click on it, and select View/Edit.

Next, you’ll need to paste in the following code right before the line that reads “That’s all, stop editing! Happy publishing”:

define(‘WP_TEMP_DIR’, dirname(__FILE__) . ‘/wp-content/temp/’);

Save your changes, then navigate to the wp-content folder, open it, and create a new folder inside it called temp.

When you’re done, you can return to your website and try to upload an image. If the file disk error was caused by the temporary folder, the issue should now be resolved.

3. Upgrade Your Hosting Plan

The disk error could also be a sign that you’ve outgrown your current hosting plan. For example, if you’ve been adding a lot of content to your site, including media files, new pages, and plugins, you might have used up all the disk space available in your account.

Your web host may be able to tell you how much disk space you have left. If you’re a DreamHost client, you can check your disk usage by logging into your hosting account and navigating to Billing & Account > Disk Usage in the side menu.

If you’ve reached your disk space limit, you might need to upgrade to a more advanced hosting plan. This will give your site more room to grow. We recommend getting in touch with your hosting provider to discuss the possibility of switching to a higher plan.

Additional WordPress Error Articles

Do you want to learn how to resolve other technical issues on your site? We’ve put together several tutorials to help you troubleshoot the most common WordPress errors:

• How to Troubleshoot the WordPress White Screen of Death
• How to Fix the 500 Internal Server Error in WordPress
• How to Fix Syntax Errors in WordPress
• How to Fix the WordPress Not Sending Email Issue
• How to Fix the Error Establishing a Database Connection
• How to Fix WordPress Error 404 Not Found
• How to Fix White Text and Missing Buttons in WordPress Visual Editor
• How to Fix the Sidebar Below Content Error in WordPress
• What to Do When You’re Locked Out of the WordPress Admin Area

If you’re looking for more information about running a WordPress site, make sure to check out our WordPress Tutorials. This is a collection of guides designed to help you navigate the WordPress dashboard like an expert.

Fix the “Upload: Failed to Write File to Disk” Error

The “Upload: Failed to write file to disk” error message prevents you from uploading files such as images and videos to your WordPress site. Incorrect file permissions on your site normally cause this error. However, you may also be seeing this message because you’ve used all the disk space offered with your hosting plan.

In this article, we looked at three simple ways to fix this common WordPress error:

1. Change the file permissions of your WordPress site using an SFTP client like FileZilla.
2. Empty the WordPress temporary folder by getting in touch with your web host.
3. Upgrade your hosting plan to access more disk space.

At DreamHost, we provide 24/7 expert support to help you efficiently resolve technical issues. We also offer reliable managed WordPress hosting solutions to help you grow your business while also making it easy for you to upgrade to an advanced plan as your site grows.

The post How to Fix the “Upload: Failed to Write File to Disk” Error in WordPress (3 Ways) appeared first on Website Guides, Tips & Knowledge.

Fortunately, several signs will make it clear when it’s time to move to a new host. While they’re not so pleasant to deal with in the moment, these issues may lead you to a better service provider that can help you boost your site’s success.

In this post, we’ll discuss these signs and how to spot them on your website. Then we’ll explain how to migrate your site to a new web hosting platform. Let’s get started!

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How to Know When It’s Time to Migrate (6 Tell-Tale Signs)

It’s possible you’ve been experiencing problems with your website for a while now without really knowing why. In some cases, it may be that your web hosting provider isn’t a good fit for your website. These six signs will let you know it’s time to switch web hosts.

1. You’re Experiencing More Downtime Than Usual

Any time your website is unavailable to users, it’s considered ‘down.’ Even if your site is only unavailable for seconds at a time, it could cause serious problems. For starters, downtime makes your website appear unreliable and low-quality to both users and search engines.

If your site is experiencing frequent outages, your users will come to find they can’t rely on it to be available when needed. The Google algorithm will account for this, and your search engine rankings will fall as well, hurting your site’s visibility.

Plus, if your site generates revenue, you’ll be missing out on income every time your site has an outage. If your site is down often or for long periods of time, you could be losing hundreds or even thousands of dollars. When you’re running an online store, uptime truly affects your bottom line.

Web hosting is one of the most common causes of website downtime, as there are many ways in which your server can impact your site’s availability, including:

• The quality and reliability of your hosting equipment
• The type of server your website is on, as shared servers tend to become overloaded more quickly than other types of servers.
• Your host’s security features, since malicious attacks can lead to downtime.

So, if you keep finding your website is down, there’s a fair chance your host may have something to do with it. Moving to a more reliable server is the best thing for your site in a situation like this.

2. Your Website’s Loading Speed Is Slow

Site speed is also key to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), users’ opinions of your site, and your conversion rate. It’s wise to test your site’s speed every once in a while using tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights and Pingdom to make sure your loading times are staying low and to fix any performance issues.

While a crowded server can certainly slow your loading times, your server’s location also plays a role in how fast your site delivers information to visitors. Servers located far away from end users aren’t able to serve them content as quickly.

An easy way to determine if this is the case for your website is to use Pingdom to test your site speed from a variety of locations. If your site loads quickly from some places yet takes a long time to load in others, you’ll know server location is causing speed issues for users in those regions.

If your host only has servers in one location and doesn’t offer a Content Delivery Network (CDN), it’s almost guaranteed that some portion of your users will experience less-than-ideal site speed. It may be worth looking into hosts with more or different locations, or ones offering a CDN. 

3. Customer Service Isn’t Helpful

A solid relationship with your web host is priceless. For starters, there are going to be times when server-related errors occur on your site. In these instances, you’ll need to be able to get ahold of your host quickly to resolve the issue and get your site back up. Plus, you may sometimes have questions about billing or other account details.

However, the best hosts also offer support in other areas of website management. For example, many hosts provide troubleshooting guidance for different types of errors on your website or support for platforms such as WordPress. 

If your host is difficult to get in touch with, provides inadequate solutions, or doesn’t offer support in areas directly related to your hosting account, consider switching to a new provider. While you may be able to get by without quality customer support, at some point, you’ll have to reach someone for help with a server-related problem, so you’ll want a reliable team at your back.

4. You Need More Space Than Your Current Provider Can Offer

Most websites start small and grow over time. Your current host may have been a great fit when you were first launching your site, but if your traffic levels have increased significantly, this may no longer be the case.

As your site accumulates more recurring users, you’ll need a server that can handle more traffic as well as more and larger website files. Moving from shared hosting to a dedicated server can help, but switching hosts can often provide a greater benefit.

Some providers specialize in shared or Virtual Private Network (VPN) hosting and may not offer dedicated servers. As such, if your site continues to grow, you’ll need a dedicated web hosting service at some point — so a switch may be inevitable.

Other hosts may have dedicated servers available, but still not offer as much storage as you need. Ultimately, you’ll want to compare plans between companies to see which one offers the most space for the best price. 

5. It’s Getting Too Expensive to Stay With Your Current Host

Web hosting is a recurring expense. It’s also sometimes the largest expense associated with running a website, especially for WordPress users working with a free Content Management System (CMS) and mainly free plugins and themes.

It’s true that you often get what you pay for with hosting. However, there are also times when an expensive plan isn’t necessary. If your site is still small and not using the amount of server space you’re paying for, or if your current hosting plan comes with several features you never touch, you’re probably paying too much.

There’s no sense in breaking the bank to host your website when there are plenty of affordable options available. For example, we offer high-quality managed WordPress hosting plans for a low monthly price.

If you’re shelling out more money for web hosting than what your website brings in, you might want to consider downsizing or switching hosts to stay within your budget. Plus, it never hurts to pocket a little extra cash each month. 

6. Server Security Is Sub-Par

As we mentioned earlier in this post, hosts are responsible for securing their servers. Not every provider is as diligent as they should be when it comes to security, and hackers will sometimes exploit weaknesses in your server to gain access to your site.

This can be detrimental to your website for multiple reasons, including:

• The loss of parts or all of your site due to a malicious attack that destroys key files and data.
• Compromised user data, including sensitive information such as private records and credit card details.
• Decreased credibility, as users will see your site as less reliable if it’s hacked.

Investing in secure hosting is a smart move. Even if you have to pay a little extra or go through the trouble of migrating to a new host, you’ll save yourself a lot of trouble down the line. 

Some security features you may want to keep an eye out for are Secure Sockets Layer (SSL/TLS) certificates, malware scanning, and server firewalls. Of course, no matter how secure your server is, you should always follow security best practices for your site itself, too.

How to Migrate Your Website to a New Hosting Provider

If you’ve considered the signs mentioned above and determined you should switch hosting providers, you’ll need to migrate your website. This requires you to copy all your website’s files and move them to your new hosting account.

Typically, the migration process is pretty involved. You’ll have to contact your current host, back up your site files, then use Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) and a client such as FileZilla to connect to your new server and upload your files. You’ll also want to consider transferring your domain since there are benefits to keeping your domain registration and web hosting under one roof.

As you might imagine, there are a lot of things that could go wrong during this process. For example, corrupted backups are always a possibility, and using SFTP still poses a risk to your site’s files as you could mistakenly delete some or all of them (we recommend users always have a recent backup of their site on hand).

These things considered, it’s helpful if you can get an expert on board to help you migrate your site. Fortunately, DreamHost has a solution for you! We’ve partnered with the makers of BlogVault to create the DreamHost Automated Migration, a free WordPress plugin that allows you to quickly and easily migrate your WordPress site to DreamHost. Just follow these steps.

Step 1: Get Your Migration Essentials

Once you’ve signed up for a shared WordPress hosting plan, you’re just a few steps away from moving your website over (if you opted for a DreamPress plan, watch this video). 

To start, log in to your DreamHost panel and go to the Free Migration tab on your home screen. From there, you’ll need to generate your unique migration key which includes all the information our system needs to move your site’s files and databases. Make sure to leave this page open! 

Step 2: Install & Activate the Migration Plugin

Next, you’ll need to log into your existing site’s WordPress dashboard and install and activate the free DreamHost Automated Migration plugin. 

Step 3: Paste Your Key to Start Your Migration

Now that you have the plugin installed, select DreamHost Automated Migration from the left navigation menu and add your migration key that you generated in your DreamHost dashboard. 

Step 4: Track Your Migration Progress

Sit back, relax and let our plugin do the work. You can watch the progress or simply wait for your email confirmation.

Step 5: Update Your DNS

Once your migration is complete, you’ll need to update your domain to point to your newly migrated site at DreamHost — and that’s it! 

If you need any help along the way, be sure to check out the migration FAQs in our Knowledge Base.

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Switching Web Hosts

Hosting can be one of the most confusing aspects of owning a website. With so many options to choose from, it can be difficult to know if your web hosting provider is the best one available for your needs.

If you’ve noticed these issues on your website and have decided it’s time for a change, consider checking out our WordPress hosting plans. Our WordPress hosting service will provide you with the speed, support, and security your WordPress site needs. Plus, DreamHost Automated Migration will make the switch effortless! 

The post Should I Switch Web Hosts? How to Know When It’s Time to Migrate Your Site appeared first on Website Guides, Tips & Knowledge.

Fortunately, online giveaways are a popular and easy way to engage loyal customers, gain new followers, and even encourage user-generated content focused on your brand. What’s more, contests can be a productive way to find new leads.

In this article, we’ll discuss the benefits of using giveaways to promote your business. We’ll also take a look at 10 giveaway tools you can use to create a successful contest.

• Why You Should Run a Giveaway
• How to Create an Online Giveaway Strategy
• 10 Giveaway Tools for Your WordPress Website
• How to Market and Improve Your Contest

So come on down — the prize is right!

Why Your Business Can Benefit From Giving Products Away

Online giveaways and contests can be highly effective ways for your business to attract and keep new customers. At a basic level, they can help to build trust and loyalty for your products. However, the benefits of running contests and giveaways go even further than that.

When it comes to spreading the word about your business, a giveaway can be highly valuable. For example, 95% of people who participate in a contest or giveaway share it with friends online afterward (everyone wants to win a prize). That’s a pretty wide reach for something you can often set up for free. We’ll cover some of the ways you can do that later in this article.

You can also build your email list by using contests to collect user information. In fact, some giveaway apps also include a social sign-in functionality, which has been shown to increase the success rate of online marketing campaigns. This feature gives users the option to sign in to your website or contest using a social media account they already have, saving them from having to create an entirely new account.

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How to Develop an Online Giveaway Strategy That Works

One of the first steps in carrying out a successful online giveaway is to set explicit goals from the start. Planning out all the details of the giveaway is vital, as you don’t want to have a game go astray or forget a critical component of the rules.

More specifically, setting measurable goals for your contest will make it more valuable when you crunch the numbers later and assess whether the Return On Investment (ROI) was worth it. You’ll want to identify whether your goal is to convert leads, gain new leads, promote a product or service, or something else entirely. Then you’ll need to consider exactly how that goal will be measured, so your results will be crystal clear.

Contests and giveaways are also excellent at encouraging user-generated content (UGC). This is a way for brands to invite their followers and customers to contribute to the company’s story online. Contests are one way to do this. For example, check out LEGO’s Moments in Space contest.

Since 64% of marketers agree that building community is essential to their marketing strategies, combining UGC with giveaways and contests is a smart move.

It’s also vital to clarify the type of promotion you’d like to run as you begin to develop your strategy.

• Sweepstakes are prize giveaways where a winner is chosen at random by luck of the draw.
• Contests choose a winner based on merit, such as in the above LEGO contest.
• Lotteries are prize drawings where people have to pay to play — you’ll definitely want to consult with legal counsel before setting one of these up.

Whatever type of promotion you decide to run, make sure that you stay on the right side of giveaway rules in your state (or country) since there could be legal ramifications.

10 Tools to Help You Run a Giveaway on Your WordPress Website

There are lots of options for running giveaways on your WordPress website. However, it’s worth noting that, while some of the applications on our list have well-maintained WordPress plugins, others do not. Let’s go over everything you need to know about 10 popular giveaway solutions that you can start using on your website right now.

1. RafflePress

RafflePress is a free plugin for WordPress with premium upgrade options. It provides a comprehensive package for creating and managing giveaways on your website. This solution comes with a drag-and-drop giveaway builder, fraud protection, viral sharing functionality, and templates. Additionally, it offers tracking and retargeting features, which can help you make an even more significant impact with the work you put into running giveaways.

Price: RafflePress has a free plugin for WordPress. Alternatively, you can upgrade to a premium plan starting at $39.20 per year for a one-site license or $359.20 for an unlimited, lifetime license.

2. Woorise

Woorise is an application that enables you to create a variety of interactive contest elements for your website with a drag-and-drop editor. There is a WordPress plugin for Woorise, but it has not yet been thoroughly tested and vetted, so we recommend caution. In the meantime, you can create what you need through the platform’s website and embed it wherever you need to on your site.

Price: Woorise has a free plan that covers 500 entries, or you can upgrade to one of its annual tiers that all come in just under $100 per month.

3. Easypromos

Easypromos is a more extensive software system with many options and lots of giveaway templates for a quick start-up process. You can create campaigns using 30 different applications designed for specific social media channels, as well as games, quizzes, and coupons. All of these can be embedded on your WordPress website using a custom HTML block or widget.

Price: Easypromos’ pricing is a bit more complicated than some of the other options on our list. You can price a single promotion, purchase the Giveaway app starting at $29 per month, or get all of the company’s applications starting at $159 per month.

4. Heyo

Heyo offers 11 different products and services that are all geared towards building engagement for your brand. You can use them to create various types of photo contests, giveaways, sweepstakes, quizzes, and contests (and even multiformat contests). To use this application with WordPress, you’ll need to create your giveaway within Heyo and use embed codes to add it to your website.

Price: You can choose from Basic, Standard, or Premium plans starting at $25 per month for a year-long contract or contact the company for custom account pricing. There’s also a seven-day free trial offer.

5. Rafflecopter

Rafflecopter is a popular and well-known contest application. It has a very beginner-friendly interface that makes it easy to get a contest up and running quickly. Once you create a contest, you can share it with your social media channels, link it to your website, or embed it on a web page. Rafflecopter’s reputation is one of success, innovation, and quality support.

Price:  You can start with a free plan or upgrade to the Basic plan for $13 per month. There are also Grow ($43) and Premium ($84) plans that can be upgraded on a month-to-month basis for greater flexibility.

6. Gleam

Gleam offers four different applications that cover contests, galleries, rewards, and “capturing.” This means you can create redeemable rewards for your site’s users in return for actions such as sharing your content on social media. You can also use the capture feature to attract more email subscribers. All in all, Gleam is a very visually-engaging option for embedding contests on your WordPress website.

Price: You can get all four applications in an easy-to-use dashboard for $97 per month or purchase just the apps you need for lower monthly payments. For example, the competition app starts at $10 per month.

7. ShortStack

This platform offers a very comprehensive approach to marketing your online products or services. ShortStack collects a seemingly endless number of features and options in one place. Beyond contests and giveaways, ShortStack also offers data management and team collaboration solutions.

Price: ShortStack provides a free plan with limited options. You’ll have to look at its Business plan ($99 per month) or higher to take advantage of the “Embed to WordPress” and popup features.

8. Wishpond

Wishpond offers an integration tool for WordPress and has many marketing solutions to choose from. Contests and giveaways are just the tip of the iceberg with Wishpond. If you’re looking for a giveaway platform that also includes a healthy dose of marketing and engagement tools, this might be your best bet.

Price: Do-it-yourself plans start at $49 per month, but you will have to contact the company for managed account pricing.

9. Woobox

You can run a wide variety of campaigns with Woobox. It includes options for bracket contests, instant winners, and a “winner picker” feature. One of the benefits of Woobox is that you can choose from many pre-built templates and then customize them to match your needs.

Price: You can start with the limited free plan or upgrade to a Standard plan for $32 per month for unlimited entries.

10. KingSumo

If you’re looking for a truly integrated approach to giveaways, KingSumo is a great option. This application is focused on viral giveaways. You can build your campaigns with their dedicated WordPress giveaway plugin right in your website’s admin panel.

Price: A lifetime, single-site license is $198 and includes free updates and customer support. A developer’s license costs $594 for unlimited sites.

How to Market and Improve Your Contest

Promoting your website online can be challenging, partly due to an overwhelming slate of options. The good news is that giveaways can be fun and engaging, as well as cost-effective. Of course, once you create your giveaway, you’ll need to promote it as well. Here are some low-cost ways of getting your giveaway content out in front of potential participants.

• Set up an email marketing campaign
• Write a blog post for your company website
• Partner with relevant influencers to reach your audience
• Share with your social media followers

If you want some insights on how to best use your social networks, check out our social media for small business guide.

Another important aspect of running a contest (especially if you also want to collect valuable marketing data on your target audience) is to include a way for entrants to send you feedback on their experiences.

This could be a simple rating system or a follow-up email with an invitation to complete a survey. Either way, it can be very helpful in determining how to make your next contest experience even better. Plus, it gives you a chance to revamp any elements that didn’t work out the first time.

Eye on the Prize

Aside from being good fun, contests and giveaways have an excellent track record of driving conversions, improving engagement, and boosting brand awareness. Understanding the benefits of running a quality contest and driving entries can help you hone in on all the right elements to include.

There are plenty of reputable contest applications and plugins to help. Whether you choose Rafflecopter, Woorise, ShortStack, Rafflepress, or one of the others we’ve reviewed, you’ll be well placed to run a fully-featured giveaway.

If you need some more plugin recommendations for your website, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve put together a ton of guides to help you choose the right add-ons for your WordPress site.

• 9 of the Most Popular WordPress Plugins
• 10 WordPress Plugins to Maximize Your Lead Generation
• 13 of the Best Security Plugins to Keep Your WordPress Site Safe
• 15 Essential Plugins and Features For Your WordPress Website

Of course, you’ll also need to make sure your web host is up to the task. Here at DreamHost, we have managed WordPress hosting plans that can help you ensure a safe, secure, and seamless contest experience for your customers!

The post How to Run an Online Giveaway on Your WordPress Website appeared first on Website Guides, Tips & Knowledge.

Well, hate to tell you but there are few decisions in life more important than your choice of web hosting. Well, maybe a few. But this is important, too!

You see, your web host provides a “home” for your site on the internet and can determine how well your site performs, how large it can grow, and how easy it is to build and maintain. Choosing the right website hosting plan is crucial when you’re running your site with a Content Management System (CMS) like WordPress.

While there are many different types of WordPress hosting services out there, few are as perfectly balanced as managed hosting. This solution takes the pressure off of you by handling many key aspects of your site, such as its performance and optimization.

In this guide, we’ll answer all the questions you’ve got about managed WordPress hosting. Along the way, I’ll help you decide whether this type of hosting is the right choice for you and introduce our own managed DreamPress service.

Simplify your life with managed hosting? Now, that’s a resolution we can all get behind.

What Is Hosting (And Why Does It Matter)?

Your website host is the service that provides an online home for your website. It stores your site on one or more servers, so anyone can access it using a browser (such as Safari, Firefox, or Chrome). Without this, no one would be able to visit your site unless you host it yourself (which requires a lot of resources and technical know-how).

This means your choice of hosting provider is crucial — and so is your decision about what type of plan to purchase. Choosing the right hosting provider matters, because it will affect:

• Performance — Your provider will do a lot to determine how fast your site runs, which has a huge impact on visitor retention rates.
• Reliability and security — A quality hosting provider will ensure reliable service and provide features to bolster your site’s security.
• Availability of support — When you run into an issue with your site, it helps immensely to have experts you can turn to for help.
• Scalability — Your hosting provider should offer a variety of plans and tiers, so you can upgrade easily as your site grows.
• Platform-specific optimization — Some hosting companies know WordPress inside and out, which means your site will be optimized for the platform.

There are many types of web hosting available, each with its particular strengths and weaknesses. For example, shared hosting is the simplest and cheapest option but is limited in features and scalability. Other options, such as dedicated and Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting, offer their own pros and cons (which we’ll discuss in more detail shortly).

Regardless of type, most hosting providers offer a few basic things. This includes different kinds of servers, tiers of plans, and support options, so you’re able to choose the one that best suits your needs. You can get a small plan with few resources if your requirements are minimal or rent a powerful server if your site is large and complex.

However, it’s worth noting that in typical hosting plans, providers maintain the servers but don’t do much else. You’re responsible for building, maintaining, and optimizing your site, as well as performing any customizations you might need. Managed hosting, which we’ll discuss soon, is a smart alternative if you don’t want to be that hands-on with your hosting. First, however, let’s look at the various types of hosting in more detail.

What Are the Most Common Hosting Solutions Available?

Choosing a hosting plan can be challenging since there are now so many types of web hosting on the market. To help you sort through the options, let’s talk about each common hosting solution in turn.

Shared Hosting

Shared hosting is the tried-and-true original hosting option, and it is one many website owners start with. A shared hosting plan sees you sharing your server and other resources with a number of different sites. The primary advantage of shared hosting is that it’s very cheap — in fact, it’s almost always the lowest-cost plan any web host offers and is often offered as a monthly payment plan.

However, shared hosting plans can be somewhat restrictive with regards to space, features, and other aspects. If your budget is very small and your site doesn’t see a lot of traffic, shared hosting might be a solid option for you.

Dedicated Hosting

With this type of plan, you get a dedicated server that is reserved only for use with your website. Instead of sharing your resources, you’ll be renting an entire server from the hosting provider. Dedicated hosting is great for sites that get a lot of traffic or simply for those who want to ensure better performance and get access to more features.

Of course, it is a more expensive option, so you’ll need some room in your budget. However, dedicated hosting gives you a lot of control over your server and resources so you can customize everything to meet your site’s needs. This means it’s a smart choice if you have a lot of technical know-how or just want as much control as possible.

VPS Hosting

This type provides you with an isolated virtual compartment of a server, rather than a dedicated physical server. For that reason, VPS hosting is something of a halfway point between shared and dedicated hosting. It’s more expensive than a shared setup, but often significantly cheaper than renting your own dedicated server.

However, you do get a lot of control over your virtual server, and depending on the plan, you’ll often get access to plenty of room for your site to grow over time. For all but the most massive sites, VPS is a solid compromise between price and performance.

There are also other hosting options available. Cloud hosting, for example, is a more complex service that is ideal for developers and entrepreneurs who have extensive and specific needs. For now, however, let’s turn our attention to the focus of this piece: managed hosting.

What Is Managed Hosting (And How Does It Work)?

Most hosting services require a certain amount of work on your end to keep your site running smoothly. However, you can get a hosting plan that takes care of many tasks for you and frees you up to focus on important work like creating content and marketing your site. This is called ‘managed hosting,’ and it’s an option well worth checking out.

Why? Because instead of managing the web hosting to-do list yourself, your hosting provider will do it for you. This way your host can guarantee performance and perform vital tasks, such as updates, for you. In a nutshell, a managed hosting plan takes the responsibility for web hosting largely off your hands.

Not to mention, some quality managed hosting plans are also designed with a specific CMS in mind.

For example, WordPress-specific hosting makes it easier to manage your site, because the provider creates an environment at the server level that is optimized for the platform and takes into account the typical needs of its users. Plus, you’ll need to spend much less time managing your site and tinkering under the hood. Finally, you’ll get access to a support team of WordPress experts who know everything about the platform and can resolve issues faster than with non-managed plans.

Before moving on, it’s important to note that managed hosting plans can be a type of shared, dedicated, or VPS hosting.

What Are the Benefits of Managed Hosting?

Based on the above description, you may already have an idea about whether or not managed hosting sounds like the right kind of plan for you. However, before you make a decision, let’s explore this type of hosting in a little more depth.

Managed hosting offers many advantages, including but not limited to:

• Reduced costs and saved time. It’s true that managed hosting tends to be more expensive than a basic shared hosting plan, but it still provides a huge cost advantage over running your own server (and some of the more advanced types of web hosting you can purchase). Plus, you’ll get back a lot of time you would have spent managing your site.
• Advanced performance. Each managed hosting plan is different, but most offer a variety of features including server monitoring, backups, and more. This way, you can be sure that your site is fast and able to handle lots of traffic without difficulty.
• Access to professional expertise and superior service. Unless you have a lot of experience in this area, your hosting provider will likely know more about your site’s hosting needs and technical requirements than you do. By letting your provider take care of these aspects, you’re getting access to expertise you and your team don’t have. Plus, any quality hosting provider will offer plenty of support you can turn to with questions or concerns.

This is an impressive list of benefits and makes a strong case for the value of managed hosting. If you have the budget to afford this type of plan, it’s well worth checking out. So let’s talk about how to decide whether managed hosting is right for you.

Why Would You Want to Use Managed Hosting?

By now, you should have a pretty clear understanding of what managed hosting is and why you might want to consider it over other popular types of hosting. To make your decision as clear as possible, however, let’s explore two reasons why managed hosting might be a strong fit for you and your website.

1. Your Site Is Suffering from Poor Performance

As we’ve discussed, many sites start out on shared hosting plans. This isn’t a bad thing — shared hosting is cheap, accessible, and easy for beginners to use and understand. If you’re starting your very first website or don’t expect your site to grow very large, you might be happy keeping it on a shared hosting plan for its entire lifetime.

However, once your site starts to take off, shared hosting can begin to show its limitations. As your traffic grows and your site gets larger, you might experience dips in performance, slower speeds, and even downtime.

It’s hard to understate the importance of performance. Visitors who have a good experience are more likely to return, while those confronted with pages that are slow to load and features that don’t work properly are much less likely to come back. Poor performance can have a negative effect on your bottom line and makes it difficult to grow your audience even if you aren’t selling anything.

Therefore, if you’re encountering performance issues, it might be time to look at other options. Since managed hosting provides many more resources, either in the form of a virtual or dedicated private server, your website will be equipped to handle plenty of traffic without a hitch. Plus, you’ll have a team of experts whose goal is to optimize your performance and ensure that it remains consistent.

If you aren’t sure whether or not your site is performing well, one thing you can do is test your pages’ loading speed. Simply enter your URL into a site like Pingdom, which will let you know how quickly your site loads in the browser. Most users expect pages to load in under two seconds, so if your times are above this (or if you or your visitors have noticed other performance-related problems), it may be time for an upgrade.

2. You Don’t Have Time to Fully Manage Your Site

The primary feature that distinguishes managed hosting from other types is in the name — it’s managed. That also happens to be its primary advantage for most people who choose this kind of plan. With managed hosting, you get the benefits of a quality web host with very little responsibility or effort on your part.

For this reason, managed hosting can be an attractive option if you’re struggling to find the time to run your site. Maybe it started out small, for example, but received a larger boost in traffic or customers than you were expecting.

A booming website is a wonderful thing, but it also means that your work increases exponentially. You have to create content, engage with your audience, track your analytics, run your business, and possibly even manage contributors or employees — all at the same time.

Moving to a managed hosting plan can help alleviate this pressure by taking some tasks off your hands. You won’t need to worry about optimizing for performance, saving backups, keeping your site up-to-date, and so on. Managed hosting simplifies the work it takes to make a WordPress site fast and secure and saves you from having to install extra plugins yourself. Instead, you’ll be able to focus on the bigger picture and achieving your goals.

How Do I Choose the Right Managed Hosting Service?

If you’ve made it this far, it’s likely that you’re seriously interested in trying out a managed hosting plan for your website. Fortunately, many web hosts offer this option! However, not all hosting plans are created equal, so it’s important to choose your web host and plan carefully.

If you currently have a hosting plan with a provider and you’re happy with their service, you can simply ask for an upgrade. Of course, this is also a perfect time to shop around and see if there are superior options out there. Switching your web host is worth considering if you’re at all dissatisfied with your current plan.

If you’re in the market for a managed hosting plan, here is what you’ll want to look for:

• A web host with a proven track record for performance and uptime.
• Enough space and resources to match your site’s traffic and demands.
• Key features such as security options, analytics, backups, and more.
• Functionality specific to your chosen website platform (such as WordPress).
• Reliable support that’s available whenever you need it.

This may seem like a tall order, but it’s worth holding out for a host that can provide all of the above. That way, you reduce the chances of needing to change hosts again in the near future and you’re more likely to be satisfied with your service over the long-term.

What Is DreamPress?

Before we wrap things up, I’d like to introduce you to our own managed hosting options. DreamHost provides both managed VPS hosting and managed dedicated hosting. However, if your site happens to run on WordPress — drumroll — please turn your attention to DreamPress. This is our managed hosting service designed specifically for the platform and fully optimized for the needs of WordPress users. I think you’ll find that DreamPress meets all the criteria I’ve presented for a quality hosting plan (and then some).

When you choose DreamPress for your WordPress website, you’ll get:

• Excellent speed and uptime.
• Reliable, optimized performance.
• No bandwidth caps or limits on the number of visitors your site can receive.
• Automatic updates to keep your site protected and running smoothly.
• Key security features, such as our built-in firewall.
• 24/7 support through various channels from WordPress experts.
• Daily, automated backups.

DreamPress is the perfect way to simplify the job of running your website by putting key tasks in professional, experienced hands, so you don’t need to worry about them. And unlike some other managed WordPress solutions on the market, DreamPress is powered by cloud technology. What’s more, DreamPress is affordable even for website owners on a tight budget.

Get DreamHost Managed WordPress Hosting

DreamPress Plus and Pro users get access to Jetpack Professional (and 200+ premium themes) at no added cost!

Check Out Plans

Hosting Matters

The hard truth: your web host will play a principal role in your site’s success or failure. Your hosting plan helps determine how large your site can grow, how well it performs, and even how secure it is. To stay competitive, you’ll need great hosting. So keep a resolution to yourself and simplify! Consider a managed service — like our DreamPress plans — to take care of all those nitty, gritty tasks for you.

Now it’s your turn! Do you have any questions about managed hosting and how it can benefit you? Let’s talk hosting like it’s 1997 — did you know we’ve been in business 20+ years? — on Facebook.

The post Your Complete Guide to Managed WordPress Hosting appeared first on Website Guides, Tips & Knowledge.

2019 WordPress Redux

Now, let’s review some of the major WordPress perks we brought you in 2019.

Build & Edit Websites Easier with WP Website Builder

For: All WordPress users

To make your WordPress experience easier than ever, we partnered with BoldGrid to give you access to a premium set of plugins and design tools. Boldgrid’s WP Website Builder bundle offers several useful features, whether you’re starting fresh or just want to try new tools with an existing site. These features include a website creation wizard that builds a starter site for you with preloaded content and a drag-and-drop builder that makes editing simpler for everyone (beginners and pros alike)!

To prove just how versatile this tool is, we put together a tutorial series that demonstrates how you can use WP Website Builder on a number of projects.

• How to Start a Fitness Blog
• How to Start a Food Blog
• How to Start a Photography Blog
• How to Create a Real Estate Website
• How to Create a Restaurant Website

This bundle is usually $60 a year on its own, but our customers get access to it for FREE. If you aren’t taking advantage of it yet, you can install WP Website Builder on any existing or new WordPress website from your DreamHost panel.

More Control with On-Demand Backups

For: DreamPress users

While daily backups are a great feature to have, the ability to create a backup “on demand,” whenever you want, can be hugely beneficial for your convenience and the security of your website assets.

This gives you more control and peace of mind to make changes — any time of the day — knowing you can revert back to the original version if you don’t like it or if something goes wrong. No need to wait on daily backups to do its thing!

Experiment & Test with One-Click Staging Sites

For: DreamPress users

Let’s face it, things break or sometimes don’t have the results we expect. This year we launched one-click staging for DreamPress, which allows users to safely experiment and test code and other changes without risking what’s on the live version of their site. With staging, you can avoid those panic situations and make changes confidently, when you’re ready.

Hassle-Free WordPress Migrations

For: DreamPress users

Moving a site can be scary, take a lot of time, and cost a lot of money. So we added free migrations to DreamPress in 2019 to make transferring from another host easy, straightforward, and worry-free.

Simpler, Better File Management with WebFTP

For: All hosting customers

This year we rolled out a new WebFTP interface to resolve some known issues and improve your experience. With WebFTP, you can now access files quickly with our auto-login feature (no need to remember another password). It also supports SFTP connections, includes a file editor with syntax highlighting, and handles compressed files in a much more efficient way. To access your website’s files via WebFTP, visit your DreamHost account panel.

Continuous Learning with Our WordPress Guides & Tips

For: All WordPress users

We are big fans of sharing information and helping others with the resources and experience we have accumulated over the years. Our motto: never stop learning! Here are just a handful of our most popular WordPress guides from this year.

• The WordPress Blogger Checklist: 10 Things to Do Before Hitting Publish
• 10 Ways to Optimize Your WordPress Website for Speed
• How to Get Started as a WordPress Contributor 
• What is FTP/SFTP? A Guide for WordPress Users
• How to Accept Payments Through Your WordPress Website

What’s Coming in 2020?

• To complement our WordPress Academy tutorials, we’re working on a brand new set of guides and videos that will help WordPress users grow their site’s traffic. Watch this space for an announcement next year.
• Free WordPress Migrations for Everyone. This year we launched free migrations for DreamPress, our managed WordPress solution. It has become more and more evident that moving a WordPress site can be an intimidating task. We think it’s important to open up free migrations to a larger group of WordPress users, so we’re excited to share that this is in our pipeline.
• You tell us! Fill out this short survey to give us feedback on which WordPress features you think we should work on next year.

We are looking forward to 2020 and all the exciting things to come!

The post 2019 Year in Review: WordPress at DreamHost appeared first on Website Guides, Tips & Knowledge.