WordPress novices and pros alike know there are so many opportunities for customization through the platform.

And many of these occasions live within your WordPress theme.

However, messing around inside a WordPress theme can have dire consequences for the unprepared.

That’s why we’re here to help you get prepared.

Keep reading for an in-depth explanation of WordPress’ theme editor and how to find your best theme, activate it on your website, and personalize it to fit your business and industry.

Note: There are differences between WordPress.com and WordPress.org sites! WordPress.com is an online website builder where you can create an affordable, less-customizable site. WordPress.org is free, open-source software where you can build a custom site that requires web hosting. In this article, we’ll focus on WordPress.org, but both platforms use themes and share many similarities. 

Refresh: The Basics Of WordPress Themes

Before we dive into the details of editing your WordPress theme, let’s quickly refresh our knowledge of what a theme entails.

In WordPress, a theme is basically a group of files that all work together to control the appearance and functionality of a website. These files contain things like page templates, cascading style sheets (CSS), and more.

Every site launched on WordPress comes with a theme. If you want to change the default, you can pick a WordPress theme from the platform’s official theme directory or a popular marketplace such as ThemeForest.

Or, of course, you can customize your theme using any of the processes we’ll discuss in this article, which will range from code-free to full-code tactics.

Theme Vs. Template

Themes are one of the coolest and most adaptable elements of WordPress.

Want to fundamentally change your website’s look and layout?

Just change the theme!

Switching out your theme isn’t hard, thanks to how easy WordPress has made it to find, install, activate, and even edit most themes. With thousands of free options in the WordPress theme directory and thousands more offered by third parties, most people can find a theme that fits their industry, functionality needs, and technical savvy.

However, there is something most themes can’t help you with — and that’s making different pages totally unique from each other.

Say you want different pages to have very different layouts. Or, you want similar design elements on different pages but want the content inside them to be unique. Since themes apply styling to the entire website, this is harder to change via your theme.

That’s where templates come into play.

Templates aren’t unlike themes; they just focus on the features of individual pages or types of pages versus the overall site.

Most themes will come with some predetermined templates for controlling your pages, but you can edit and create your own as well. However, this process can be even more complex than working with themes, so if you’re interested in customizing templates, we strongly recommend reading Decoding WordPress: Custom Templates and Template Parts.

What Is The WordPress Theme Editor?

This section starts with a bit of clarification.

For a long time, Theme Editor was the name for the text editor inside the WordPress admin dashboard, enabling users to edit code within the theme’s files.

That’s still there and will be the focus of much of this article. However, today, it’s technically called Theme File Editor. So, if your WordPress instance is up to date — which it should be for security purposes! — you’ll be working with “Theme File Editor” instead of “Theme Editor.” You’ll notice we still use the older term most of the time because so many people are familiar with it.

We should warn that working in the theme editor should be done with extreme caution. Changes will be lost if your theme is updated or changed. It’s also quite easy to break your website design and functionality — and, worst case, you could even lock yourself out of your site!

If you don’t have a lot of experience with WordPress or coding, we recommend starting with the beginner and no-code editing tactic, and only getting more technical when things start to feel familiar.

Why Use The WordPress Theme Editor?

So why do people jump into the WordPress theme editor knowing it’s so sensitive? Because it’s the best way to get at all the files that make up your WordPress theme.

Most design elements will fall into three files: style.css, functions.php, and templates.

While some themes will have more files containing design features, let’s first discuss the core pieces you can access via the theme editor.

Style.css File (aka Stylesheet)

Most of the design-related elements of a theme — typography, colors, layouts — live in the style.css file, also commonly called the stylesheet.

Modifying, removing, or adding CSS code in this file is an impactful way to alter your website’s style.

Functions.php File

Functions.php is where the code for your theme’s functions and features resides, written in PHP of course.

Again, with extreme caution, code can be edited here to add things to your website header and footer, change navigation menus, update post formatting, etc.

Templates File

Your templates file houses either PHP files or HTML files (depending on the theme) that make up the layout of your website’s pages.

If you want to change how certain pages or page types (think post pages, archive pages, etc.) look, you would make the edits in the template files.

How To Use WordPress Theme Editor

Now, for the main event!

Keep reading to learn everything you should know when picking out, installing, and custom tailoring your WordPress theme.

Choose Your Theme

To shop from WordPress’ theme directory, sign into your WordPress.org website, visit Dashboard, and navigate to Appearance > Themes.

Use the Add New button at the top of the page next to the Themes page title or the Add New Theme plus button to pull up your options.

You can scroll through all the themes on offer or use the feature filter and search bar to narrow down the options.

Click on a theme or hover over it and use the Preview button to learn more about the theme, which may include a description, a demo of what it looks like, and sometimes reviews.

If none of the options match what you’re looking for, you can also visit third-party theme builders and marketplaces like the aforementioned ThemeForest, StudioPress, or Elegant Themes.

Trying to find the same theme featured on a website you love? A resource like WordPress Theme Detector can help with that.

Install And Activate Your Theme

If you’ve chosen a theme you like from inside the WordPress directory, you’ll see an Install button when you click on or hover over it. This theme will be added to your Themes page in a single click.

To use it on your website, go back to the main Themes page (Appearance > Themes) and click Activate to apply it to your website.

And if you choose a theme from another source, it’s still easy to use in WordPress.

On the main Themes page again, use the Add New button at the top of the page next to the Themes title.

On the next page, you’ll see a button in the same place called Upload Theme.

Once you click this, you’ll see where to upload the .zip file you received from the third-party source. Choose Install Now to upload it to your Themes page. From there, you can activate it just like any other theme.

Customize Your Theme

This is your second reminder that making edits directly to your theme can harm your website.

Another option to consider if you want to add functionality or change the appearance of your current theme — plugins! (And widgets!)

WordPress plugins and widgets are tools that extend functionality and update style without making any code edits. Plus, they’re simple to use and very often free! Plugins and widgets can be used to improve site SEO (Yoast), install e-commerce features (WooCommerce), and much more.

If you’re scared to edit theme code or want your upgrades to last even if you switch or update your theme — try plugins and widgets.

If you can’t find any extensions that do what you want and still decide to edit your theme, be sure to back up WordPress.

For extra safety, you can do one more thing to protect your site in case theme editing goes badly and to hold onto your edits throughout theme updates: Install a WordPress child theme.

A WordPress child theme will work exactly like the “normal” theme from which it’s derived — its parent theme. Editing the child theme enables your customizations to live through updates.

With those warnings out of the way, it’s time to customize!

Built-In Theme Editing Tools (First-Timer Friendly)

If you look under the Appearance tab again in Dashboard, you should see either Editor or Customize.

For the most part, Customize is a tool that will help you edit non-block themes, while Editor (which has several names: Site Editor, Block Editor, etc.) is built for block-based themes.

Whichever your theme has, both platforms are highly visual, user-friendly, and feature robust instructions for switching up various site elements.

Customize has more limited options for changing your design, color palette, fonts, etc. The customization options will vary by theme.

However, you can also add custom CSS and/or JavaScript through Customize. Just be sure to hit Publish to apply any updates made.

With the Editor tool for block-based themes, you can get deep into customizing pages, templates, styling, etc. Again, options will vary somewhat by theme.

For most elements within Editor, you can edit the code directly.

For example, if we select Styles and click on the page to begin editing, a panel full of options appears on the right side of the screen.

A toolbar should also open up at the very top of the page. Use the three-dot menu to open a list of choices, including one to switch from Visual editor to Code editor.

This is where you can work within the code. Use the Save button to apply changes to your theme and site.

There’s lots to learn when it comes to this somewhat new way of editing WordPress themes. For more information, check out What Is WordPress Full-Site Editing? And How Will It Affect Your Site?

Host File Manager (Coding Required)

Now we’re moving into coding territory.

For most hosted WordPress sites, you can access and edit the files making up your theme via your host’s file manager.

This file manager will look different for every host, but we can explain how it works within DreamPress.

Once you log in, go to WordPress > Managed WordPress in the sidebar.

Find the website you want to edit and choose Manage.

You should land on the Details page for that website. In the File Upload section, select Manage Files.

Open the folder that has the domain name of your website on it. From there, you can navigate to wp-content > themes. Click on the folder for your current WordPress theme, or whatever other theme you want to edit.

Just like that, you’re looking at all the files where you can make changes to update your theme.

Be sure to save any changes you make inside the file editor.

WordPress Theme File Editor (Most Advanced)

More coding ahead!

To edit your theme from within WordPress, go again to Dashboard and navigate to Appearance > Theme File Editor (this is what used to be called “Theme File Editor”).

The text editor should pop open; on the right side, you should see a list of theme files. Click into these files to make your changes.

Use the Update File button after you have completed your updates. If there are syntax mistakes in the code, WordPress will prevent you from saving your changes and highlight the error so you can fix it more readily.

If you want to edit a theme you aren’t using, there’s a drop-down menu above the text editor where you can select which theme you want to edit.

Remember that choosing a different theme here won’t automatically switch which theme your WordPress website is using.

To do that, go to Appearance > Themes once again to activate a different theme. This is also where you can check whether your themes need updating. It’s important to keep them up to date to install any new security patches the theme developer has rolled out.

Honorable Mention: Page Builder Plugin (No Code)

Page builder plugins typically feature easy-to-use drag-and-drop editors to design website pages — not themes. This is why we’ve classified them as honorable mentions. Elementor and WPBakery are popular examples of page builder plugins.

Where Elementor can be used as a website builder solo, as a WordPress plugin, it can only be used as a page editor.

Technicalities aside, you can still use Elementor to create and edit pages that look exactly how you want — no theme editing required.

To use this plugin, find your way to Plugins > Add New and search “Elementor.”

Use the Install Now button, then click Activate to turn on Elementor in the sidebar of your WordPress dashboard.

We recommend following Elementor’s step-by-step “Getting Started” guide to learn the ins and outs of this tool, as it’s impressively powerful. Once you know the basics, you can use the Elementor plugin to design beautiful individual posts and pages.

While Elementor isn’t a theme editing tool in the traditional sense, it can still be incredibly beneficial for anyone who wants to customize their website without coding.

And if you choose to pay for Elementor Pro, you can actually design your theme within Elementor Theme Builder.

Can We Help You Decode WordPress?

The intricacies of WordPress are practically endless — but that doesn’t mean you can’t take full advantage of the software with the right guidance.

Stay tuned to the DreamHost blog for all the latest WordPress news and learn how our WordPress Hosting and Pro Services can help you make the most of your site.

WordPress + DreamHost

Our automatic updates and strong security defenses take server management off your hands so you can focus on creating a great website.

Check Out Plans

The post Decoding WordPress: Getting To Know WordPress Theme Editor appeared first on Website Guides, Tips & Knowledge.

There are many construction WordPress themes that have been made specifically for this task. The question is, which would be the right design for your business?

To help narrow down the choice, we searched the entire Internet (with a capital I) to find the standout themes for construction. Keep scrolling to see our top picks!

The Best ‌Construction Company WordPress Themes

Whether you’re a nationwide construction company or a one-person business, the following themes should provide the perfect starting point for your website:

1) Ekko

This multi-purpose page builder theme offers a staggering array of features. You have over 250 individual elements to work with, plus 60 page designs, and 40 content blocks. Just as importantly, Ekko comes with 50 full-site templates — including designs for the construction trade.

Key Features:

• Page builder theme with 250+ elements
• 50 full-site templates and 60 page designs
• Responsive designs with advanced customization options

Pricing: One-time $59 purchase including six months of support

2) Astra

This highly popular theme is free, fast, and flexible. Astra is designed to work with all popular page builder plugins, so you can craft your ideal website from scratch. To speed up the process, you can choose from a library of 240 starter templates, including designs for construction.

Key Features:

• Free, fast, and easy to customize
• Works perfectly with most popular page builders
• Over 240 one-click starter sites

Pricing: Free basic version; Pro version with extended customization starts at $59/year or $299 for a lifetime license

3) Themify Ultra

Another versatile theme is Ultra from Themify. This one offers a generous library of “skins” and full demo sites, which you can import and use as the base for your own website. You also have 60 layouts to choose from, and the theme includes 12 free page builder add-ons.

Key Features:

• Import full-site designs with a click
• 60 layouts and 12 page builder add-ons
• Section scrolling, image filters, and more useful features

Pricing: One-time $59 purchase including 12 months of support

4) Tanj

The first of our dedicated construction themes is a beaut. Tanj has the kind of crisp design you would expect from a bespoke website, but it’s almost effortless to set up. It also has 150 pre-styled elements for the Visual Composer page builder and various layout options.

Key Features:

• Modern, responsive design
• 150+ page builder elements, plus multiple layouts
• Comes with advanced customizer plugin

Pricing: One-time $69 purchase including six months of support

5) Yellow Business

Mimicking the bold yellow of a shiny new excavator, Yellow Business is a versatile theme that was made specifically for construction firms. The overall design is minimalistic and bold, with 55 page templates, 75 page builder components, and 13 header styles to choose from. The default design is surprisingly fast to load, as well.

Key Features:

• Minimal theme with hard hat-style color theme
• 55 full-page templates and 75 elements
• Load speed clocked at half a second

Pricing: One-time $59 purchase including six months of support

6) Neve

Another multi-purpose theme, Neve is built for performance and usability. The base design loads in under one second, and you have a nice range of start sites to choose from. Support for popular page builders means you can adapt what you see, and Neve works brilliantly on mobile devices.

Key Features:

• Mobile-first design with excellent performance
• Library of one-click starter sites
• Built-in customization options plus support for page builders

Pricing: Free basic version; Pro upgrade from €99/year (~$111).

7) The Gem 

It would be fair to say that The Gem lives up to its name. This multi-purpose theme comes with over 400 full-site templates, including some great options for the construction trade. It works seamlessly with the Elementor page builder, with multiple pre-made skins and 30 unique elements to experiment with.

Key Features:

• 400 full-site templates
• Page builder editing with 30 unique elements
• Works with WooCommerce, Contact Form 7, Yeost, and more

Pricing: One-time $59 purchase including six months of support

8) Zakra

This multipurpose theme comes with 80 free full-site templates. One of those is named Construction, and it provides an excellent starting point for your business site. This Zakra template includes sections for your service, projects, and team. Meanwhile, the underlying theme is delightfully quick to load.

Key Features:

• Fast, multipurpose theme with 80 templates
• Pre-built sections for services and projects
• Highly customizable and responsive

Pricing: Free version available, with extended features and support starting at $69/year

9) BildPress

The default styling of BildPress is punchy — This theme uses bold colors and large images to capture the attention of potential clients, and you have nine different page layouts to choose from. If you prefer, you can design your own pages using Elementor and other popular plugins.

Key Features:

• Three full-site templates and nine page templates
• Page builder customization
• Supports Mailchimp, Contact Form 7, and more

Pricing: One-time $99 purchase including six months of support

10) Sydney

Although Sydney isn’t specifically designed for construction websites, this versatile theme is still worth your attention. The design is clean and modern, with multiple layouts to choose from and a generous selection of theme options. You can get going quickly by selecting one of many full-site templates.

Key Features:

• Versatile, fast-loading theme
• Multiple layouts to choose from
• Pre-built sections and full-site templates

Pricing: Free, with the pro upgrade offering extended features for $69/year

The Best Themes For Small Construction Businesses

If your firm is more suited to home extensions than major engineering projects, the following themes should better suit your website:

11) BuildPress

You could probably use BuildPress to build any kind of construction website, but we’ve put this one in the small business section because the vibe is very much, “reliable local firm.” If you want to make any changes, the built-in page builder offers 20 different page layouts and seven full-site templates.

Key Features:

• Built-in page builder with site and page templates
• Well coded, with high Google Developer scores
• Works with popular plugins like WooCommerce and Jetpack

Pricing: One-time $99 purchase including six months of support

12) Construction

The developers of this theme don’t win any points for creative naming, but they do deserve credit for their design work. The Construction theme allows you to display the logos of previous clients, pinpoint your head office on a map, and even advertise your vacancies.

Key Features:

• Stylish pre-made sections
• Highly customizable, with color options and over 100 fonts
• SEO-friendly code

Pricing: One-time $59 purchase

13) Construction Landing Page Pro

If you mostly work with homeowners on smaller projects, Construction Landing Page Pro could be all you need. This theme has the key ingredients for impressing clients, but it ultimately encourages them to get in touch via a big front-page form. This isn’t the only ready-made CTA (call to action) either.

Key Features:

• Multiple CTAs including big front-page contact form
• Seven header designs and six page templates
• Sections for services and testimonials

Pricing: One-time $59 purchase, or $149 to include lifetime support

14) Batiment

With a close-to-perfect rating, Batiment is one of the most popular WordPress themes for construction sites. It comes with 11 different homepage designs, along with multiple page designs. We particularly like the pricing table and testimonials sections here, plus the Mailchimp integration for building your email list.

Key Features:

• Specialized design for construction sites
• Multiple homepage and page templates to choose from
• Pricing table and testimonials sections built in

Pricing: One-time $59 purchase including six months of support

15) Brixel Building Construction

In comparison to some other themes so far, Brixel offers a more limited selection of one-click templates. However, you still have six options to choose from, and the built-in page builder means you can adapt each design to your needs. This theme also comes with 50 blocks and an impressive options panel.

Key Features:

• Six full-site templates and 20 page templates
• Page builder with 50 extra elements
• Including premium slider plugin

Pricing: One-time $59 purchase including six months of support

16) Solid Construction 

As the name suggests, Solid Construction is a safe bet for any building business. The design is fairly traditional, but it’s completely responsive and customizable. We also like what this theme provides behind the scenes; the built-in webmaster tools help you reach more clients on popular search engines.

Key Features:

• Clean, professional design with theme options
• Built-in sliders, portfolio, and testimonials
• Webmaster tools for easier SEO

Pricing: Free basic version; Pro theme is $59.99 on a one-year license

17) RinBuild

Many construction themes go with a high-viz color scheme. RinBuild takes a different approach, with a sophisticated dark blue look. You can change this along with all the fonts and many other aspects of the theme, and because it’s built on top of a page builder, you can create your own layouts.

Key Features:

• Eight one-click page designs
• Highly customizable via page builder and theme options
• Compatible with Contact Form 7, Elementor, Google Fonts, and Google Maps

Pricing: One-time $33 purchase including six months of support

18) Etalon

There’s a lot to like about Etalon. Aimed at a range of professional services, this theme provides a very clean base for building your website. The library of full-site templates covers construction work, and you get useful features like a pre-designed portfolio carousel and a pop-up contact form.

Key Features:

• 20+ full-site templates with page builder
• Pricing, portfolio, and testimonial sections
• Pop-up contact forms to attract clients

Pricing: One-time $59 purchase including six months of support

19) GTBuilder

The best way to describe GTBuilder is as a quickstart theme. It includes four homepage designs, although they all look quite similar. That said, the overall look is very professional, and the theme provides a ready-made design for every individual page you could need: services, team, projects, contact, and so on.

Key Features:

• Professional design with four homepage layouts
• Includes templates for all key pages
• Page builder features and useful SEO tools

Pricing: One-time $39 purchase including six months of support

20) Neer

While the base design of Neer could work well for any construction business, the strength of this theme is the built-in page builder. With over 50 pre-made elements, you can construct your ideal website using drag-and-drop controls.

Key Features:

• Page builder with 50+ unique elements
• Create custom widgets and forms
• Supports WooCommerce

Pricing: One-time $59 purchase including six months of support

The Best Themes For Construction Trades

The construction industry is made up of many individual trades. The following themes should help you build a business website to promote your niche skills:

21) Renovation

You could definitely use the Renovation theme for a general construction company website. However, we think it’s best suited to a more specialized business. Designed on top of a page builder, this theme provides loads of customization options, and the default homepage template gives you the space to list your services.

Key Features:

• Customization via page builder
• Premium slider plugin included
• Strong support for mobile devices

Pricing: One-time $59 purchase including six months of support

22) Actura

The design of Actura is definitely more residential than corporate. That said, this is still a theme with plenty of professional credibility. It comes with three homepage layouts, 15 example page designs, and 60 page builder elements. We love the SEO features, too.

Key Features:

• Polished page builder design with 60+ elements
• Unlimited color choices, plus animation effects
• SEO optimized

Pricing: One-time $37 purchase including six months of support

23) ProRange

Made for decorating and renovation companies, ProRange provides a classy backdrop for any construction brand. The default color palette is subtle, creating a nice contrast with your chosen images. The theme can shapeshift into various layouts, and you can spice things up with parallax scrolling and embedded Google Maps.

Key Features:

• Sleek, subtle design with multiple layouts
• Drag-and-drop page builder
• Parallax scrolling and support for Google Maps

Pricing: One-time $69 purchase including six months of support

24) ServiceMaster

Made with various small businesses in mind, ServiceMaster has a friendly front end that functions to build trust with potential clients. Among the 12 homepage templates, you will find designs for painters, handymen, and roofers. Plus, they can easily be adapted for other trades.

Key Features:

• WPBakery page builder with 12 homepage templates
• Pricing tables, team section, and testimonials
• Over 1,000 font and color options

Pricing: One-time $85 purchase including six months of support

25) Tradesmen

With a long list of elements and customization options, Tradesmen is a page-builder theme that can be adapted to your needs. You can insert sliders, maps, and popups wherever you see fit, while e-commerce support means you can even take client bookings online. Plus, it works well on mobile devices.

Key Features:

• Page builder theme with customization options
• E-commerce support
• Premium slider plugin included

Pricing:  One-time $59 purchase including six months of support

26) BuildMe

When you install BuildMe, you get 12 full-site templates you can install with one click. In other words, this theme is a shortcut to a great website. Each of the designs is visually appealing, with common features including parallax scrolling effects and image grids. Thanks to page builder support, you can make each template your own.

Key Features:

• 12 one-click site templates
• Page builder features with 40+ elements
• Modern design with parallax scrolling effect

Pricing: One-time $59 purchase including six months of support

27) Handyman

Don’t be fooled by the name; Handyman works for a range of building companies. The standout feature here is an appointment booking system, allowing you to slot in small jobs whenever you have a free space in the calendar. It also has a portfolio section and pre-made modules for testimonials, services, and pricing.

Key Features:

• User-friendly page builder theme
• One-click demo content and pre-made construction modules
• Strong SEO tools

Pricing: One-time $69 purchase including six months of support

28) Craftsman

If you have an impressive track record, Craftsman can help you showcase your previous work. This theme offers six different portfolio styles, and each can be customized using the built-in page builder. We also like the price calculator feature and the slick testimonials module.

Key Features:

• Strong portfolio templates, testimonials modules
• Price calculator feature
• Translation ready thanks to WPML support

Pricing: One-time $49 purchase including six months of support

29) Hendy

Hendy is another handyman theme that is capable of much more. It provides ten website templates, which you can easily access through a one-click demo importer. Each of these designs is optimized for a specific trade, and they all work with a range of popular WordPress plugins.

Key Features:

• Page builder theme with ten full-site templates
• Multiple header formats
• Works with Elementor, Mailchimp, WPML, and more

Pricing: One-time $59 purchase including six months of support

30) BlueCollar

This highly adaptable theme isn’t flashy but should be a hit with potential clients. The design is clean and uncluttered, with sections for your service, client testimonials, and plenty of CTAs. BlueCollar is also optimized for RTL translation and the Gutenberg block editor.

Key Features:

• Clean code and uncluttered design
• Supports multiple page builders
• Modules for people, projects, services, testimonials, and FAQs

Pricing: One-time $49 purchase including six months of support

The Best Themes For Structural Engineers

Along with trades, construction involves plenty of structural engineering. If you work in this field, the following themes should help to promote your business online:

31) Architeck

Clearly aimed at the premium end of construction, Architeck is a page builder theme with plenty of professional polish. You have 17 different homepage templates and 950 pre-made blocks to choose from, each decorated with a lovely orange and blue color scheme. Under the hood, this theme syncs nicely with WooCommerce, Elementor, and other top plugins.

Key Features:

• 17 homepage templates
• Page builder with 950 elements
• Works with WooCommerce, Elementor, Mailchimp, and other plugins

Pricing: One-time $69 purchase including six months of support

32) Wilmër

Thanks to some modern design choices, Wilmër feels more high-tech than some other themes in this list. The bold color scheme catches the eye, and we love the subtle icons. Behind the scenes, you can customize the entire layout using Visual Composer and Elementor.

Key Features:

• Page builder design with nine preset homepages
• 60 shortcodes and 20 portfolio layouts
• Long list of pre-made sections

Pricing: One-time $75 purchase including six months of support

33) Structure

The standout feature of Structure is choice. You have 15 homepage layouts to choose from, all optimized for the engineering and construction trades. It also comes with multiple plugins, which enable better slideshows and image grids.

Key Features:

• 15 homepage layouts to choose from
• Page builder editing
• 16 color schemes and six header configurations

Pricing: One-time $59 purchase including six months of support

34) ArcHub

Billed as a “site builder”, ArcHub is a theme that comes with 30 template websites, over 200 pre-designed sections, and 40 page designs. You can install any of the templates with one click, and you can build unique pages using a wide selection of layouts.

Key Features:

• Elementor page builder theme with 200 templates sections
•  30 site templates and 40 page designs
• Off-canvas sidebar and section designer

Pricing: One-time $39 purchase including six months of support

35) Exponent

Exponent is a multi-purpose business theme with a very modern take on design. It comes with 33 full-site templates, including demos made specifically for construction trades. The built-in page builder lets you adapt those templates with a live preview of headers, footers, and content areas.

Key Features:

• 33 site demos and over 200 page layouts
• Visual page builder covering headers, footers, and page content
• Custom portfolio pages, galleries, and carousels

Pricing: One-time $59 purchase including six months of support

36) TheBuilt

With more of a corporate twist, TheBuilt is a theme that is well-suited to large firms. The package includes multiple homepage and header layouts, 14 portfolio designs, and a selection of pre-made sliders. The admin panel offers unlimited color settings, over 650 fonts, and a whole heap of additional options.

Key Features:

• Multiple homepage and header layouts for page builder
• 14 portfolio designs and eight animation styles
• Pre-made designs for Revolution Slider

Pricing: One-time $59 purchase including six months of support

37) Baumeister

The Baumeister theme is actually aimed at firms in the heavy industries, but it works just as well for engineers. It offers several homepage designs, each headed up by a full-screen background image and a strong CTA. The modular design makes this theme perfect for page builder modifications, and it even has social media features.

Key Features:

• Many different layouts, customizable via page builder
• Modules for infographics, services, pricing, and clients
• Retina ready, with over 1,000 font options

Pricing: One-time $79 purchase including six months of support

38) Innox

There’s nothing subtle about Innox. This bold, punchy theme would look at home on a construction site, with its strong fonts and a high-viz color scheme. The structure is based on the Elementor page builder, with dynamic color options and one-click demo imports.

Key Features:

• Bold, punchy design based on Elementor page builder
• Plenty of shortcodes and layout options
• Compatible with popular SEO plugins

Pricing: One-time $59 purchase including six months of support

39) Enginir

You could use Enginir “out of the box” to create an online presence — but you wouldn’t be using this theme to its full potential. You have seven full-site demos to choose from, and over 50 page builder blocks. The live theme customer is pretty powerful, too.

Key Features:

• Page builder with seven full-site templates and 50+ blocks
• Live theme customizer
• Optimized for SEO

Pricing: One-time $55 purchase including six months of support

The Best Themes For Architectural Firms

Every construction project involves the work of an architect. While many WordPress themes focus on the building side, the following themes can help you to promote your architectural practice:

40) Ratio

You get 15 homepage designs to choose from with Ratio, and 25 portfolio variants. Put together, this bundle of options allows you to create a site dominated by images of your work. Each template is modern and clean, and the theme comes with an impressive collection of page builder elements.

Key Features:

• 15 homepages and 25 portfolio styles
• Full-screen galleries and scrollable project list
• Works with WooCommerce, Slider Revolution, Contact Form 7, more

Pricing: One-time $79 purchase including six months of support

41) Konstruktion

With crisp lines and plenty of white space, Konstruktion has the feel of a modern art gallery. As such, this premium theme is perfect for showing off renderings and completed examples of your work. This page builder theme also has over 30 pre-designed pages and a massive library of free stock images.

Key Features:

• Modern, clean design
• 30+ full-page designs plus page builder functionality
• Full support for 12 popular plugins incl. Elementor, Advanced Custom Fields, and WooCommerce

Pricing: One-time $89 purchase including six months of support

42) MIES

It would be fair to say that MIES is a very striking theme. It’s a theme based around imagery, with a front-page gallery for your previous work that includes a neat filtering system, allowing visitors to find examples that are relevant to them. It’s fast and customizable as well.

Key Features:

• Design based around parallax header
• Front-page portfolio with sorting features
• Highly customizable design

Pricing: One-time $75 purchase including six months of support

43) StructurePress

White with gold trim, StructurePress is a very classy theme. It treads a careful line between showcase and marketing tool, with beautiful galleries and pre-designed contact and quote forms. As an added bonus, this multilingual theme has been translated into 14 languages.

Key Features:

• Built-in forms for contact and quotes
• News section
• Comes with page builder and WP Customizer support

Pricing: One-time $99 purchase including six months of support

44) Prague

It would be fair to say that Prague provides a unique user experience. Based heavily around images, this theme offers interactive banners, and galleries with unique layouts and scrolling effects. You have 29 homepage designs in total and 45 page layouts.

Key Features:

• Theme packed with unique galleries
• 29 homepage layouts and 45 page layouts
• CTAs, Google Maps, and page builder editing

Pricing: One-time $69 purchase including six months of support

45) SKT Glass

Although SKT Glass was primarily designed for companies that fit windows, it can easily be adapted for an architecture firm. The design is clean and modern, with plenty of space for images. You can experiment with multiple premade homepage sections and over 1,000 pre-loaded background images.

Key Features:

• Clean, modern design with space for images
• Page builder editing with multiple sections
• License includes demo images and covers unlimited sites

Pricing: Free basic version; Pro version is priced at $39

The Best Free Construction WordPress Themes

If your budget is tight, or you just want to try out WordPress without committing, you might want to consider downloading a free theme. Here are some of your best options:

46) Construction Kit

One of the best free themes for companies on a budget is Construction Kit. The base design of this theme is neat and professional —Plus, thanks to support for most popular page builder plugins, you can adjust everything you see. The theme is also SEO-friendly and optimized for WooCommerce.

Key Features:

• Neat, professional design
• Works with most popular page builder plugins
• Supports WooCommerce

47) Building Construction Architecture

If your needs are simple, Building Construction Architecture can help you make a solid WordPress website. The free version of this theme only offers one homepage layout, but it’s a pretty good one. Plus, you can switch things up quite easily using Elementor.

Key Features:

• Modern theme with banner image and CTA
• Theme options, and works with Elementor page builder
• Responsive and SEO friendly

48) Construction Business

Visually, Construction Business is very similar to the theme above. The homepage layout includes a large slider with a CTA, and more sections below. However, the free version of this theme provides more customization options than the one above, plus support for WooCommerce.

Key Features:

• Simple, clean design with homepage slider
• Advanced theme options
• Multiple construction-related sections

49) Construction Hub

The design of Construction Hub breaks the mold a little. The main slider and primary CTA go above the main header, and then visitors see a grid of your projects. It looks good for a free theme and comes with social media integrations.

Key Features:

• Unique layout with slider and CTA above header
• Social media integration
• Works with WooCommerce

50) Construction Builders

With plenty of space for eye-catching images, Construction Builders is a theme that helps you to showcase your craft. You get eight different homepage designs to choose from, along with a live customizer that allows you to preview any changes. Plus, the pre-built CTA that comes with this theme should drive inquiries.

Key Features:

• Eight preset homepage designs
• Built-in customizer with live preview
• Sections for projects, services, and testimonials

51) Consted 

The design of Consted is up there with many premium themes. The combination of orange and blue looks sharp, and the layout of this theme will please your marketing department since it can be easily adapted.

Key Features:

• Crisp orange and blue theme with strong layout
• Optimized for most popular page builders
• Supports key SEO tools

52) Jetblack Construction

With great typography and multiple layouts, Jetblack Construction is an outstanding freebie. This child theme has a premium look to it, in part thanks to an animated homepage slider and various customizable sections. Despite these features, the theme feels very zippy in action.

Key Features:

• Multiple layout options
• Good choice of typography
• Animated hero slider

53) Artful Constructions

There’s nothing particularly flashy about Artful Constructions. This free theme has a neat layout, featuring a full-width hero image and an eye-catching call to action. The default color scheme is a familiar bright yellow, but you can quickly switch between various color palettes to make something unique.

Key Features:

• Full-width homepage banner
• Eye-catching CTA buttons
• Support for multiple color schemes

54) Construction Light

Considering it doesn’t cost a dime, Construction Light delivers many features. Designed to work with page builder plugins, this theme comes with sections for your portfolio, customer testimonials, and profiles of your team. It supports WooCommerce as well.

Key Features:

• Ten pre-made blocks for page builders
• Banner slider with call to action
• Support for WooCommerce, Elementor, and more

55) Construction Bell

You get a surprising number of features with the free version of Construction Bell. The theme includes eight homepage sections, the same number of custom widgets, and basic WooCommerce integration. It even comes with technical support.

Key Features:

• Multiple homepage sections and custom widgets
• Includes designs for About Us and Services
• Basic support for WooCommerce

How To Build A Great Construction Website With WordPress

The list above should hopefully provide plenty of inspiration for the design of your construction company website.

That said, there is more to launching your site than simply picking a theme. Here’s a quick guided tour of the complete process:

Step 1: Grab Your Domain Name And Hosting

Creating a website starts with purchasing a domain name that represents your construction company and finding a suitable hosting package.

At DreamHost, we make it easy to find your ideal domain. We also offer specialized hosting that is optimized for WordPress websites. We can even manage your site if you’d like.

If you prefer to use a regular hosting account, you can use our one-click installer to set up WordPress in minutes.

Step 2: Choose And Install Your Construction WordPress Template

The list above covers only a fraction of the available themes for your WordPress website. You can find many more in the official WordPress theme directory, and on sites like ThemeForest. We even wrote a guide to choosing the right theme for your website.

To install your chosen theme, go to your WordPress dashboard, select Appearance > Themes > Add New > Upload Theme, then browse for your theme’s .zip file.

After installing and activating the theme, you can customize it. Go to Appearance > Customize and you can tweak various elements like color scheme, fonts, logo, and more.

Step 3: Add Some Plugins

Plugins extend the functionality of your WordPress website. Here are some examples that are likely to be useful for construction firms:

• Portfolio and Projects — Showcase your previous work in a neatly ordered grid
• wpForms — Add a contact form so potential clients can reach you directly via your website (you will find this plugin in your DreamHost Panel)
• Yoast SEO — This plugin can help you appear higher up the search results on Google and Bing
• Wordfence Security — Enhance your security so it’s harder for hackers to take down your site

To install any new plugin, go to Plugins > Add New in your dashboard, search for the plugin, click Install Now, and then Activate.

Check out our monster guide to WordPress plugins for more useful additions!

Step 4: Create Key Pages

Every construction website needs certain pages, like About Us, Services, Projects, and Contact. You might also consider adding a Portfolio page, and a News section.

To create a new page, enter your admin area and navigate to Pages > Add New. Give your new page a title, and then add some relevant content.

Step 5: Set Up Your Website’s Navigation

Lastly, make sure to set up a main menu to ensure visitors can easily navigate your website.

Go to Appearance > Menus, create a new menu, add your pages, and assign the menu to a location (usually the header).

Launch Your Site Today With DreamHost

If this seems like a lot to take in, don’t worry — even a complete beginner can set up a WordPress website in a few hours.

DreamHost makes the process easy. We offer specialized WordPress hosting, one-click installers, and recommended plugins to help you get started faster.

Need more help? Our team can design a custom theme for you, optimize your site for SEO, and handle everyday maintenance.

Just as importantly, all our hosting plans come with a 100% uptime guarantee. This means potential clients will always be able to access your shiny new construction site!

WordPress-Optimized Hosting to Power Your Purpose

DreamHost makes sure your WordPress website is fast, secure and always up so your visitors trust you.

Choose Your Plan

The post 55 Construction WordPress Themes That Clients Will Love appeared first on Website Guides, Tips & Knowledge.

Fortunately, building your restaurant website using WordPress is pretty easy. This content management system allows you to design an online space that perfectly matches your brand, complete with menus and a booking form.

To make the process simple, we recommend choosing a pre-built theme. Not sure what you’re looking for? Here’s a generous serving of WordPress themes for your restaurant business and some tips on how to use them.

The Best WordPress Themes For Restaurant Websites

Whether you’re starting from scratch or aiming to refresh your current website, the following themes should help you promote your restaurant online in style:

1) Astra: Most Customizable Theme For Restaurant Websites

Although Astra wasn’t made specifically for restaurant websites, it comes with several starter templates that were designed with food establishments in mind.

These templates allow you to showcase your food via slick image lightboxes and carousels. They also cater to booking systems, so your diners can reserve a table with ease.

The underlying theme is fast to load and easy to customize without code. It works nicely with most page builders, and you have plenty of theme options to play with.

Key Features:

• Multiple restaurant starter templates with customization options
• Support for most reservation plugins
• Fast to load and SEO-friendly

Pricing: Basic version is free; Extended pro version starts at $59/yr. Also available on a lifetime basis for $299.

2) Jevelin: Best Multipurpose Theme For Restaurant Websites

With over 40 pre-made starter templates and 50 styled elements, Jevelin is a premium theme that gives you plenty of creative control. Just as importantly, it has built-in features that will appeal to restaurant owners.

Slider Revolution is part of the package, meaning you can design beautiful slideshows for your homepage. Native support for Contact Form 7 gives you the option to build a DIY reservation system, and support for WooCommerce allows you to process orders online.

Although Jevelin is not specifically aimed at restaurant owners, the crisp and modern design will work well for all eateries.

Key Features:

• Wide selection of starter sites and pre-styled elements
• Drag-and-drop editing
• Crisp design, with plenty of customization options

Pricing: One-time purchase of $59, including 6 months of support.

3) Rosa 2: Most Stylish WordPress Restaurant Theme

Designed specifically for restaurants, Rosa 2 is a mighty stylish theme. Parallax scrolling effects provide a healthy dose of visual polish, and you can choose from a range of eye-catching fonts.

In fact, you can customize almost everything about this theme. That’s because the design is made up of individual blocks, each of which can be adapted to your preferences.

For instance, Rosa 2 has a ready-made menu block that you can drop in anywhere. It also provides deep support for online ordering systems via WooCommerce.

Key Features:

• Parallax scrolling effects and branding options
• Block-based editor with restaurant-specific elements
• Support for e-commerce via WooCommerce add-on

Pricing: Free Lite version; Main theme is priced at €75/yr (~$82). WooCommerce add-on is priced at €15 (~$16).

4) Osteria: Best Café And Bistro WordPress Theme

If your business offers a more casual dining experience, Osteria might be a better fit. As with Rosa, this theme provides eye-catching scrolling effects, a choice of over 600 fonts, and support for WooCommerce.

Another key feature here is the built-in reservation system. This allows diners to book a table on any device. In fact, the whole design is responsive, so it works nicely on phones, tablets, and computers.

Strong SEO and good loading speeds complete the package.

Key Features:

• Scrolling effects, plus color and font customization
• Reservation system and support for online orders
• Responsive, SEO-friendly, and fast to load

Pricing: Starts at €115/yr (~$125); WooCommerce add-on is €15 (~$16).

5) Restaurant Food Delivery: Best Theme For Takeout Restaurants

Not all restaurants fit in the fine-dining niche. If your business is more like a casual outfit rather than a tuxedo, the Restaurant Food Delivery theme could serve you well.

It’s not as fancy as some other themes on this list, but your food takes the limelight. Using the default layout, any visitor can start browsing your menu right on the homepage.

In addition, you can set up an ordering system with this theme because it provides full support for WooCommerce and Contact Form 7.

Key Features:

• Homepage menu with category tabs
• Built-in sliders and over 100 fonts to choose from
• Works with WooCommerce, Contact Form 7, and Elementor

Pricing: Free basic version; Main theme starts at $49.

6) Foodica: Best Restaurant Theme For Food Blogging

Writing about food, produce, and your process can be an effective way to promote your restaurant online. If you decide to go down this route, consider using Foodica.

Aimed primarily at food bloggers, this theme delivers your content with stylish fonts and plenty of white space. The minimalist, magazine-like design includes a homepage carousel, 10 preset color palettes, social media options, and full e-commerce support.

This is not a theme for the hard sell, but it does provide all the ingredients for a successful restaurant website.

Key Features:

• Clean, magazine-type design with color and font options
• Social media and e-commerce integrations
• Built-in recipe display feature

Pricing: Free limited version; main theme from €69/yr (~$75).

7) Auberge: Best WordPress Theme For Restaurant Menus

With Auberge, your menu takes center stage. This theme works in harmony with the Jetpack menu builder, allowing you to showcase all your dishes in neat sections.

We like the default homepage design, too. Along with a nice big cover image, you can add a brief description of your establishment, your opening hours, and your phone number.

Auberge also combines with the Restaurant Reservations plugin to provide a slick table booking system. In addition, with the paid version of this theme, you can build the perfect layout via Beaver Builder.

Key Features:

• Full support for Jetpack menus and the Restaurant Reservations plugin
• Smart frontpage design that includes opening hours and contact details
• Works with Beaver Builder

Pricing: Free basic version; Main theme is $44 as a one-time purchase.

8) FoodHunt: Best Page Builder Theme For Restaurant Websites

The default layout of FoodHunt is easy on the eye. There’s nothing too fancy here, but the design is clean and modern. This theme stands out in the many ways it can be customized.

For a start, FoodHunt works with every major page builder you can think of. That means you can craft your own layouts from scratch. The theme also offers a whole heap of built-in customization options for colors, fonts, and widgets.

Key Features:

• Works with Gutenberg, Beaver Builder, Brizy, Elementor, and SiteOrigin
• Two starter templates and loads of customization options
• Excellent performance and SEO-friendly

Pricing: Free basic version; Pro version with full feature list starts at $69 with a year of support.

9) Tamarind Restaurant: Best Theme For Fine Dining Restaurants

When you offer a fine dining experience, it’s important to show the quality of your menu. Tamarind Restaurant is a theme well-suited to this task.

The design of this theme is classy and fresh, with multiple menu styles to choose from and plenty of places for imagery. Revolution Slider is included, and you can choose from several homepage templates.

Tamarind Restaurant is based on a page builder, so you can create your layouts as you please. In addition, support for OpenTable and Contact Forms 7 makes it easy to take reservations.

Key Features:

• Classy, fresh design with multiple menu styles
• Page builder and slider features included
• Take bookings via OpenTable and Contact Forms 7

Pricing: One-time purchase of $59, including 6 months of support.

10) Appetizer: Best Theme For Attracting Reservations

With a punchy default color scheme and fun animations, Appetizer is a theme that will work best for restaurants with a distinctive character. It’s the online equivalent of an upmarket burger joint.

What we particularly like about this theme is that it encourages visitors to reserve a table. It has a CTA built into the front page slider, and this button links to a booking form page.

Of course, this is just the default template. The pro version of Appetizer provides plenty of latitude for changing things up.

Key Features:

• Bold, punchy design featuring animated elements
• Front page slider featuring booking CTA
• Pre-styled menu and online store sections

Pricing: Free basic theme; Pro license is priced at $59.

11) Ristorante: Most Creative WordPress Theme For Restaurants

Want to stand out from the crowd? Ristorante is an elegant, shape-shifting theme that allows you to build a truly unique online brand.

The theme is built in sections, which you can rearrange using the supplied page builder. There are six different layouts for food menus, and you can split dishes into visual categories.

WooCommerce support allows you to take orders online and sell gift cards, and Ristorante even offers event management tools so you can host special dine-in evenings.

Key Features:

• Elegant design with page builder customization
• 6 menu layouts and templates for individual dishes
• Event management and e-commerce support

Pricing: One-time purchase of $39, including 6 months of support.

12) Resca: Best WordPress Theme For Table Booking 

A great restaurant website should put your food on display and encourage visitors to make a table booking. Resca covers both angles but particularly excels when it comes to reservations.

You have two options here: take bookings via OpenTable, or through the built-in reservation form. The former even allows people to book on behalf of others and earn points in the OpenTable loyalty program.

On other fronts, Resca provides a stylish parallax effect and extensive WooCommerce support.

Key Features:

• Two table booking options, menu display plugin
• Three layouts with parallax scrolling
• Support for OpenTable and WooCommerce

Pricing: One-time purchase of $44, including 6 months of support.

13) Eatery: Best Responsive Theme For Restaurant Websites

Most of the themes on this list follow the principles of responsive design — that is, they can adapt to various display sizes. Eatery is a theme that implements this idea spectacularly well.

On desktop, the theme has a side-mounted menu and a full-size image background. On mobile devices, the layout condenses into a neat single column.

All the other key features you would expect are present and accounted for. Visitors can view menus, make reservations, and sign up for your events.

Key Features:

• Responsive design with 5 preset styles
• Customizable menu templates
• Event management and reservation systems

Pricing: One-time purchase of $59, including 6 months of support.

14) Foxeresto: Best One-Page WordPress Restaurant Theme

In many cases, a good one-page website will perform better than a cluttered design with many individual pages, and the Foxeresto theme was designed for this purpose.

The default design is made up of multiple sections, including areas that highlight your specials, your regular menu items, and customer reviews. A simple booking form allows you to take reservations, and the theme includes a couple of gallery styles for showing off your dishes.

Because Foxeresto is built upon the WPBakery Page Builder, you can rearrange all the sections above to suit your needs.

Key Features:

• One-page design with multiple sections
• Booking form, online menu, and galleries
• Drag-and-drop editing via page builder

Pricing: One-time $69 purchase, including 6 months of support.

15) Ekko: Best One-Click Restaurant Theme

For owners with limited time, Ekko provides a neat shortcut for creating an online presence. This multi-purpose theme has a one-click restaurant website template that matches up against any dedicated theme.

The two demo sites we really enjoy are Pizza and Restaurant. The former is best suited to pizzerias, while the latter delivers the kind of slick presentation that would be a good fit for any dining venue.

There’s plenty of functionality here, too. Ekko helps you show off your menus, customer reviews, and dining events with minimalistic flair.

Key Features:

• Multiple full-site templates
• Highly customizable
• Over 200 pre-styled blocks to play with

Pricing: One-time $59 purchase, including 6 months of support.

16) Cinnamon Restaurant: Restaurant Theme With The Most Stylish Menus

Cinnamon Restaurant is the “sister” theme of Tamarind Restaurant. Both offer a similar range of features in a slightly different package.

What differentiates this theme is the way it handles menus. You’ll have seven different layouts to choose from, including image grids and accordion-style categories.

Away from the food, Cinnamon allows you to accept reservations and online delivery orders and create events. It’s also pretty easy to adapt because it is based on a page builder.

Key Features:

• 7 food menu layouts
• Supports reservations, online orders, and event management
• Page builder with customization options

Pricing: One-time $59 purchase, including 6 months of support.

17) Restaurant And Cafe: Best Free Lightweight Theme

If your budget is tight, Restaurant and Cafe is a theme worth your attention.

The free version of this theme covers all the basics, including a simple menu section and a reservation system. Better still, you can set up your own store via WooCommerce integration. To reiterate, this is all available for free.

Of course, the pro version offers plenty more. With a paid upgrade, you get predefined pages, various header styles, and a choice of 600 fonts.

Key Features:

• Solid free version with menus and reservation form
• Responsive design
• Pro version adds pre-styled pages and customization options

Pricing: Free basic version; Pro version from $59.

18) GloriaFood: Best Free Restaurant Theme

Who would have thought that the best free restaurant theme would come from cloud computing giant, Oracle?

GloriaFood rivals many premium themes in terms of both design and features. The basic layout is clean and uncluttered, with customization options and widget areas to grab visitors’ attention.

Better still, this theme is designed to work with Oracle’s own plug-and-play ordering system. This allows you to take unlimited orders and table reservations with no commission, and you can track your takings via the companion mobile app.

Key Features:

• Free theme with built-in customizer
• Works with plugin for online ordering and reservations
• Syncs with mobile restaurant app

Pricing: Free

19) Cookery: Best Theme For Restaurant Marketing

It’s worth remembering that creating a website is only the first step towards promoting your restaurant. Building a successful food business involves attracting new customers and keeping loyal diners.

Cookery is a theme to help with marketing tasks. It has built-in sections to promote your Instagram and your newsletter, including an email sign-up form.

The pro version comes with some interesting extras, such as pages for promoting your own recipe books and cooking courses.

Key Features:

• Sections for promoting your newsletter and Instagram
• Support for various sliders, landing pages, and sidebars
• Pre-styled pages for courses, recipes, and books.

Pricing: Free basic edition; Full theme starts at $59.

20) Zakra: Best Restaurant Theme For Performance

Zakra is another one of those multi-purpose themes that can be adapted to anyone’s specific needs. The Restaurant starter template is the area to focus on here.

The design is super elegant, with floral flourishes instead of regular separators, and appealing layouts. It has spaces for the menu, testimonials from your customers, and a gallery for foodie photos.

In addition to this visual appeal, Zakra offers exceptional performance. The underlying code is clean and optimized, meaning load times are under one second.

Key Features:

• Elegant, responsive design with customization options
• Sections for menus, testimonials, photos, and newsletter sign-up
• AMP-ready and excellent performance

Pricing: The underlying Zakra theme comes free with extended premium versions. Paid options start at $69/yr. Restaurant starter template is free.

21) Foodoholic: Best Minimalist Restaurant Theme

The best restaurant websites make food the center of attention — and that’s exactly what you get with Foodoholic.

This minimalist theme puts your best dish in the spotlight, along with links to your content and a personal profile. Other sections include a full-width menu and a neat block for showcasing testimonials.

The free version of Foodoholic is stacked with features, but you get more customization options when you upgrade.

Key Features:

• Clean, minimalist design with an eye-catching banner
• Sections for menus, chef profiles, blog posts, and reviews
• Customizable layouts, header, footer, and more

Pricing: Free basic version; Pro version from $59.99/yr.

22) Lzrestaurant: Best Theme For Casual Dining Restaurants

The big and bold design of the Lzrestaurant theme lends itself to casual dining brands. It’s not down-market, but the vibe here is definitely sneakers and hoodies rather than dress shoes and a jacket.

Lzrestaurant allows you to put a reservation form right on your home page. You can also display your menu categories with photos and show your venue in a video.

The newsletter sign-up section is another area of strength. Here, you can offer a discount to people who subscribe, and there’s a field for accepting coupon codes.

Key Features:

• Vibrant, eye-catching style with theme options
• Sections for menus, testimonials, videos, and subscription
• Works with WooCommerce

Pricing: Free basic version; Full theme is priced at $59.

23) Yummy: Best Photo Theme For Restaurants

It’s often said that diners eat with their eyes as much as their taste buds. Yummy is a theme that takes this idea to heart.

This theme hits you with loads of photos, from the full-screen header slideshow to the beautiful parallax backgrounds. It even has space for a couple of decorative images in the characterful menu section.

The free version of this theme covers the essentials. Meanwhile, the pro version introduces multiple-page templates and extensive customization options.

Key Features:

• Image-rich design with parallax scrolling
• Advanced customization
• Support for WooCommerce

Pricing:  Free basic version; Full theme is priced at $59.

24) Giardino: Best WordPress Theme For Italian Restaurants

Own an Italian restaurant? Whether you’re in downtown New York or the backstreets of Bologna, the Giardino theme should fit perfectly.

With a muted green color scheme and plenty of white space, this theme looks best when you load the front page with pizza and pasta. The default fonts add a sense of rustic authenticity, and you even have space to add profiles of your staff.

Under the hood, this theme is designed with a page builder plugin, so you can rearrange the elements as you see fit.

Key Features:

• Specifically made for Italian restaurants
• Page builder design
• High-end, clean design

Pricing: One-time $69 purchase, including 6 months of support.

25) Delicio: Best WooCommerce Restaurant Theme

Our final recommended theme is Delicio, which is an excellent choice if you’re planning to set up online ordering with WooCommerce.

You have two options: use the basic plugin or create an advanced ordering system using a premium WooCommerce add-on. Either way, your diners get a very stylish user experience.

Delicio can also handle OpenTable bookings, and it has a slick front page with multiple pre-made sections to choose from.

Key Features:

• Deep WooCommerce support for online ordering
• Reservation forms that sync with OpenTable
• Customizable, responsive design

Pricing: From €69/yr (~$75).

How To Create Your Restaurant Website With WordPress

The list above should hopefully provide plenty of inspiration about the design of your restaurant website, but how exactly do you set it all up? If you’re still a bit shaky on the answer, here’s a quick five-step process to follow:

1) Choose Your Domain Name And Web Host

Choosing a web host is the first crucial step in getting your restaurant website up and running. Your host is where all your data, files, and media will be stored and maintained.

There are a few things to consider when choosing your host. Consider what you are likely to need in the first year of running your site, and look at what each provider has to offer.

Some key areas to focus on include:

• Security: A website crash on a Friday night can mean losing business if your customers want to book a weekend lunch. Make sure to review the security features of potential web hosts to see what protection they offer. Backup and restoration options are a good place to start.
• Software: If you need to get your restaurant site online fast, partnering with a host that offers easy software options can be a big help. Find out whether your host offers one-click installation and optimization features.
• Support: Web hosts typically offer increasing levels of support as you upgrade to higher-tier plans. You’ll want to decide whether you need 24/7 expert support or if you can wait a little while for a ticket to be answered.
• Extras: You might find that choosing between several high-quality web hosts is hard. If that’s the case, you can closely examine what extras each host offers. If you know you could benefit from premium themes, pre-installed e-commerce options, or site builders, reviewing these options might be a good way to break a tie.

While deciding what type of hosting you need, keep in mind that here at DreamHost, we offer a wide range of WordPress plans to choose from.

Once you have a host picked out, you get to decide on a name for your new website.

Some best practices might be helpful in this process. While .com is still the most recognized and respected top-level domain, there are many other options. The most important thing is to make sure your domain is short and memorable.

Remember, your hosting plan might come with extra goodies. For example, some hosts offer free add-ons. Here at DreamHost, we’re excited to be able to provide access to a handy site builder tool.

To get started, you’ll need to select WP Website Builder as an option during checkout of your DreamHost plan purchase. Then, we’ll automatically install WordPress and premium website builder plugins for WordPress (Inspirations and Page & Post Builder), built by our friends at BoldGrid.

2) Install a Dedicated Restaurant Theme

Once you choose a host and set up your site with its domain name, you can start thinking about website design.

If you want to get up and running quickly, the list above should provide plenty of inspiration. All you need to do is download your chosen theme and upload it to your site under Appearance > Themes > Add New.

Another option is using WP Website Builder, our built-in site designer. This tool lets you create the perfect website via drag-and-drop controls. Alternatively, you can import a ready-made template with a couple of clicks. Check out the Restaurant category for a selection of suitable designs.

3) Select Plugins To Expand Your Site’s Feature Set

While WP Website Builder includes several plugins to help create and improve your restaurant site, you might want to explore a few other tools, as well. Plugins, true to their name, plug right in to your WordPress site and theme to extend their existing options.

Whether you plan on offering new menu items every week, only on holidays, or whenever you feel like it, plugins can help you manage those changes. Additionally, other plugins can help you develop an online reservation system or organize in-house events.

One plugin to check out is Five Star Restaurant Reservations.

This solution is packed with features to help you manage all aspects of taking online reservations and table bookings. You can accept, reject, or block reservations as needed. Additionally, you can set up specific user roles for your staff and send notifications to customers.

4) Create Engaging Content

Once you have your design in place, you’ll want to solidify the content strategy for your restaurant.

Whether you choose to feature blog content, exciting menus, or just pictures of your tasty-looking food, WordPress has you covered. Even the rotisserie giant Boston Market uses WordPress for its restaurant website.

There are several ways to publish content with WordPress, including various options within the WordPress Edit Post area. Additionally, you can check out a plugin like WP Scheduled Posts.

This tool can help you create an editorial calendar to keep your blog fresh and up to date. That way, you won’t have to worry about forgetting to post a timely article or showcasing outdated content.

Once you establish your approach to content, you might want to turn to social media channels to spread the news about your new website.

5) Build An Email List

Building up a loyal clientele can take some time. Creating the opportunity for potential customers to sign up for an email list can be a smart strategy.

Creating an email list for your restaurant gives you a direct link to your customers. You can send menu announcements, hours-of-operation updates, and discount offers.

There are a lot of great marketing tools. Mailchimp is a popular email newsletter and list management service. You’ll need to create a free account, and then a plugin that can connect your site to this service instantly.

With Mailchimp, you can fully integrate your WordPress site with your email marketing campaigns. That way, you can bring in as many new patrons as possible.

How To Set Up Curbside Pickup And Delivery

For many restaurants, curbside pickup and delivery are good ways to make some extra money on a busy weekend.

While you can use third-party platforms to handle online orders, setting up a system on your own website is much more cost-efficient in the long run.

The easiest way to achieve this is by adding WooCommerce to your WordPress site. This plugin is free and very powerful. Here’s how to set it up for online food orders:

1) Configure A Local Shipping Zone

• In your WordPress dashboard, go to WooCommerce > Settings > Shipping
• Click on Add Shipping Zone
• Name the shipping zone descriptively and select your region
• Opt to limit to specific ZIP/postcodes for accurate service area mapping
• Remember to save your changes

2) Enable Local Pickup As A Shipping Option

• Still on your local shipping zone page, click Add shipping method
• Select Local Pickup from the dropdown and click Add shipping method

Note: For a more customized pickup setup, consider the Local Pickup Plus WooCommerce extension.

3) Add A Flat Rate Shipping Option For Local Delivery

• Next, add a second shipping option: Flat Rate.
• Click Edit and change the method title to Local Delivery, optionally adding a delivery fee.
• Click on Save changes

Note: Both ‘Local Pickup’ and ‘Local Delivery’ will now appear at checkout.

4) Install ‘Order Delivery Date For WooCommerce’ Plugin To Manage Requests

• Install and activate the Order Delivery Date for WooCommerce plugin
• In your WordPress dashboard, go to Order Delivery Date
• Select the checkbox next to Enable Delivery Date capture on the checkout page
• Choose which days you’re available for delivery
• Set the minimum number of hours you need to prepare an order for delivery
• Specify how many days in advance customers can schedule an order
• Select the checkbox next to Selection of the delivery date on the checkout page will become mandatory
• Set the maximum number of deliveries you can handle per day
• Enable default sorting of orders by delivery date for the WooCommerce Orders page
• Remember to save your changes

And that’s it! You’re ready to become the local takeout place that everyone talks about.

Launch Your Restaurant Website Today With DreamHost

The restaurant business can be competitive. Along with tasty food and creative dishes, customers are looking for an experience that often goes beyond the time they spend in your physical establishment. Creating a standout restaurant website design can help them feel more connected to your business and keep them coming back for more.

Here at DreamHost, we want you to be able to put your energy into making delicious meals and not worry about whether your website maintenance and support is taken care of.

That’s why we offer complete WordPress hosting solutions, now served with a side of our premium website builder tools, so you can focus on making Instagram-worthy food!

WordPress + DreamHost

Our automatic updates and strong security defenses take server management off your hands so you can focus on creating a great website.

Check Out Plans

The post Order Up! Here Are 25 WordPress Themes Perfect For Your Restaurant Website appeared first on Website Guides, Tips & Knowledge.

The only question is, which ones should you install?

We created this epic guide to provide the answer. In the list below, we’re going to introduce the hundred best WordPress plugins known to humankind — including some exciting new entrants in the AI space.

The Best Website and Page Builder Plugins

There are thousands of great ready-made themes for WordPress, but if you want to make something truly unique, try working with these page builder plugins:

1) Essential Blocks

If you’re new to using page builders, Essential Blocks is a great starting point.

Designed to extend WordPress’ Gutenberg editor, this plugin gives you more than 40 pre-styled blocks to work with. Each block is customizable, and you can use them in both pages and posts. If that sounds like too much hard work, you can access 1,000 full-page templates through an add-on subscription.

Key Features:

• Extends Gutenberg editor
• Over 40 element blocks
• Responsive designs and fast to load

Pricing: Free; Pro license with extra blocks is $49 per site

2) Elementor

If you’re just starting your website, you can benefit from using a page builder plugin such as Elementor. This tool has a drag-and-drop editor to design your website’s appearance on the front end. You can also import pre-designed pages, blocks, and templates to speed up the creation process, and get creative with animations and motion effects.

Key Features:

• Over 40 free widgets
• Performance improvements with reduced CSS and JavaScript files
• Ready-to-go website kits and templates

Pricing: Free version with limited features; Elementor Pro starts at $59 per year

3) Beaver Builder

In comparison with many drag-and-drop page builders, Beaver Builder uses “clean” code that conforms to WordPress standards. This means your work will remain intact, even if you choose to remove the plugin later. You also get a good range of design elements to choose from, and a choice between visual and in-line editing.

Key Features: 

• Drag-and-drop editor that leaves behind “clean” code
• Responsive designs featuring over 30 elements
• Excellent loading speeds for a page builder

Pricing: Free Lite version with limited features; Premium plans start at $99 per year.

4) Spectra

Designed to work in tandem with the Gutenberg editor, Spectra serves up over 20 full website templates that work with the free Astra WordPress theme. If you prefer to take control yourself, you have a generous supply of stylish blocks to play with. What’s more, this free tool works nicely with various other plugins, including WooCommerce.

Key Features:

• Page builder plugin designed to extend Gutenberg
• Over 20 pre-made site designs that can be installed with a click
• Works with other plugins, including WooCommerce, LifterLMS, and more

Pricing: Free

5) Cornerstone

A relative newcomer, Cornerstone is a powerful theme builder that combines pre-styled elements with extensive options for design customization. Aimed at professionals and advanced WordPress users, this plugin offers an impressive array of tools, and it delivers excellent performance thanks to a lightweight codebase. Plus, it has great SEO features built in.

Key Features:

• Theme builder with element library and conditional logic
• Extensive design customization options
• Lightweight plugin that delivers “clean” semantic code

Pricing: $69 one-time fee, or available in a yearly subscription

6) Themify Builder

With 60 pre-made layouts and the same number of animation effects, Themify Builder is a page builder with plenty to offer. This plugin delivers the usual drag-and-drop editing experience, with plenty of modules and custom styling options. It hasn’t quite received the same level of admiration as other builders in this roundup, but it’s still a solid, free option.

Key Features:

• Drag-and-drop page builder with over 60 predesigned layouts
• Customizable responsive styling and adjustable columns
• Full revisions history

Pricing: Free

7) Otter Gutenberg Page Builder

Gutenberg is WordPress’ built-in editor for designing posts and pages. While it does have some pre-designed block patterns, it might have more limited functionality than you expect. Fortunately, the Otter Gutenberg Page Builder plugin extends the features of the Block Editor — without drastically slowing your load speeds.

Key Features:

• Many block types, including the Maps Block, Product Review Block, About Author Block, and more
• Over 50 different block templates
• Built-in responsive settings to control color, animation, and typography

Pricing: Free, with the Premium version providing extra features from ~$52 per year.

8) Getwid by MotoPress

When it comes to keeping your site up to date and adding new content, Getwid by Motopress can give your workflow a needed boost. This drag-and-drop builder system extends WordPress’ native block editor, allowing you to create content using predefined elements. This can be a huge timesaver, especially if you frequently add and customize blog posts, pages, or other content types.

Key Features:

• 40+ Gutenberg blocks to extend WordPress’ default library
• 35+ pre-built block templates you can use to create pages quickly
• Built-in toolset allows for quick editing of posts and pages

Pricing: Free basic version, which can be extended with premium add-ons. Get access to the full library of Motopress plugins with an annual membership, starting at $299 per year.

9) Responsive Menu

WordPress provides a flexible menu system out of the box. But if you’re looking for even more control, Responsive Menu lets you customize menus to your heart’s content. It serves up more than 150 options, covering text, fonts, colors, buttons, animations, background images, and custom logos.

Key Features:

• Provides more than 150 menu options that can be customized to your liking
• Lets you alter key elements of your menus, such as fonts, colors, sizes, and animations
• Offers various menu placements

Pricing: Free basic version; Advanced features start at $49 per year.

10) Slider Revolution

Slider Revolution is another popular plugin included in many premium WordPress themes. It helps you spruce up the design of your site with sliders and carousels that contain images, posts, videos, and other content. It’s particularly good for creating an eye-catching front page, and the plugin offers a dedicated editing tool for this task.

Key Features:

• Includes a visual, drag-and-drop page editor to simplify the design process
• Lets you add sliders, carousels, and hero scenes to your site
• Offers a front-page designer so that you can customize your home page

Pricing: Plans start at $35 per year.

Bonus: WP Website Builder by DreamHost

When you host your website with DreamHost, you get access to our powerful WordPress site builder.

This easy-to-use tool allows you to create the perfect layout for your site using drag-and-drop controls. Need some inspiration? Our library of over 200 full-site templates should help you get started. The WP Website Builder also offers valuable SEO recommendations, great content editing tools, and a handy quickstart wizard.

Key Features:

• Easy drag-and-drop editing of pages and posts, with loads of stylish elements to choose
• SEO recommendations to ensure your content ranks highly on search engines
• Over 200 full site templates, which you can install with a couple of clicks

Pricing: The website builder is included free with all our hosting plans, starting from just $2.59 per month.

The Best WordPress SEO Plugins

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a proven strategy to help your site rank higher in search engines such as Google and Bing. However, it can be challenging to remember its complicated rules and guidelines. These plugins can help make the process a whole lot easier:

11) Yoast SEO

Yoast SEO provides an easy way to hone in on keywords and customize how your posts appear on search engine results pages. To help optimize content, this plugin uses a simple traffic light system – A green light indicates that a post or page is good to go, while a yellow or red light means improvement is needed.

Key Features:

• Optimize your search engine results with titles, URLs, and meta descriptions
• Analyze your pages and posts and find areas for improvement
• Control which of your site pages are displayed in Google search results

Pricing: Core plugin is free; Premium costs $99 per year.

12) All in One SEO (AIOSEO)

With more than 3 million installs to date, AIOSEO is an incredibly popular SEO plugin. It provides a complete set of tools for optimizing your site, packaged in a clean interface. E-commerce and local SEO are strong points for this plugin, along with the beginner-friendly auditing features.

Key Features:

• Easy editing for meta titles, meta descriptions, and SEO keywords
• Schema markup, XML sitemaps, and Google Search Console tools
• Social media integrations

Pricing:  Lite version is free; Pro version with extended features starts at $124 per year.

13) SEO Plugin by Squirrly SEO

Boasting over 650 individual features, Squirrly SEO’s plugin is clearly very capable. However, there is one particular tool that gets us excited: the A.I. SEO consultant. This tool analyzes your site and provides step-by-step instructions on how to optimize it for search. It’s a great idea that can really help those of us with limited SEO knowledge.

Key Features: 

• Over 650 individual features for SEO
• AI-powered assistant provides task list for better optimization
• Keyword research tool that uses fresh data and unique algorithms

Pricing: All features are free with limited usage; Premium plans start at $29.99 per month.

14) SEOPress

Also joining the AI bandwagon is SEOPress. This on-site SEO plugin can create a good meta title and description for any page automatically, and it provides plenty of guidance for content creation. Tight integration with Google and Microsoft analytics allows you to gain key search insights, and SEOPress can even set alt text for images on your website.

Key Features:

• Content analysis covering unlimited keywords
• Automatically fills metadata and alt titles using AI
• Integrates with Google, Microsoft, IndexNow, and OpenGraph

Pricing: Free with core features; Pro version starts at $49 per year.

15) WPSSO

Providing structured data is essential for SEO because it helps search engines and other platforms index the content on your website. WPSSO is a plugin that makes it easy to create and format structured data for every major search engine and plenty of social media sites. It can optimize your images for various platforms, too.

Key Features:

• Creates structured data, optimized for a range of search engines and social media platforms
• Optimizes image sizing for various platforms
• Supports over 500 different schema types

Pricing: Core version is free; Premium features require a $59 one-time purchase. Free add-ons are also available.

16) Rank Math SEO

Billed as the “Swiss Army knife of WordPress SEO,” Rank Math is definitely versatile. One of the first SEO plugins to introduce AI features, this tool provides an intelligent writing assistant. As you compose posts and website copy, the plugin provides dynamic suggestions that should guide you toward the front page of Google.

Key Features:

• AI writing assistant that provides dynamic suggestions
• Smart link recommendations
• Support for 16 types of schema markups

Pricing: Free with basic features; Pro plans with extended features start at $59 per year.

17) The SEO Framework

If optimizing every pixel of your website sounds like hard work, The SEO Framework is worth your attention. This plugin comes preconfigured, and it can intelligently create important SEO meta tags for all of your content. If you’re willing to put in some effort, the plugin provides plenty of good advice. In fact, it follows Google’s best practices exactly.

Key Features:

• Intelligently creates meta tags in any language
• Color-coded overview helps you see which pages need improvement
• Notifies Google and Bing about site changes

Pricing: Free, with premium extensions available.

18) Redirection

When making changes to your website, you may accidentally create broken links. With Redirection, you can fix this issue by redirecting old content to a new URL. This plugin makes it easy to manage all your redirects in one place, even if you’re not familiar with the inner workings of Apache or Nginx.

Key Features:

• Track 404 errors and implement many redirect types
• Migrate old permalinks to a new structure
• Add HTTP headers to your website

Pricing: Free

19) WP 301 Redirects

A slightly more advanced tool, WP 301 Redirects helps you fix three common website errors: redirections, 404 errors, and bad outbound links. It’s really easy to use, and you get full control over redirects and error messages. You can even use it with localization plugins; keep scrolling to see our top picks.

Key Features:

• Create redirects for pages, posts, custom post types, and archives
• Works with translation plugins
• Bulk redirect management

Pricing: Core features are free; Pro license with extended features available on a one-time purchase, starting at $79.

20) Internal Link Juicer

Adding internal links within your content is vital if you want your content to turn up in search results. Inserting links manually can be a chore, but you can automate most of the process with Internal Link Juicer. This highly rated plugin finds suitable posts and pages that already exist on your site, and suggests adding a link when appropriate.

Key Features:

• Automatic link building based on your chosen keywords
• Customizable link output, including tags
• Appears on the post editor screen

Pricing: Free with all core features; Premium version with extended linking options is $69.99 per site.

The Best Security Plugins

Losing full control of your website is a nightmare scenario for any WordPress user. Thankfully, there are loads of great security plugins that can stop threats and reduce spam comments:

21) Akismet

Eradicating spam is crucial for securing your website, so it’s important to find tools that monitor comments and emails. Akismet is a plugin from Automattic (makers of WordPress) that filters malicious links and irrelevant content from your site by checking against a global, constantly maintained database. As a result, visitors to your site can enjoy your content without having to wade through the trolls and avoid virus-ridden links.

Key Features:

• Checks all comments on your site automatically and filters out potential spam
• Lets you review what’s been marked as spam so that you can correct the plugin if necessary
• Evaluates contact form submissions to ensure you receive legitimate responses

Pricing: Pay what you want for personal websites; Commercial licenses start at $9.95 per month.

22) Sucuri Security

Sucuri is a popular full-featured security plugin for WordPress. It offers a lot of great features, such as a comprehensive scanning module and easy-to-use monitoring tools. The plugin can even walk you through the recovery steps after an attack. The only key component missing here is a firewall, but we have no complaints, given that Sucuri is completely free.

Key Features:

• Offers continuous malware scanning
• Stops hacks and DDoS attacks immediately
• Provides help for accessing hacked websites

Pricing: Free

23) Jetpack

Jetpack was created by the WordPress developers at Automattic. Although it isn’t a dedicated security plugin, a number of its features can help to protect your site — such as the simple set-and-forget brute-force prevention module. On premium plans, you can also take advantage of malware scanning and automatic site backups to help protect you further.

Key Features:

• Prevents brute-force attacks from botnets and hackers
• Monitors your site for downtime and keeps you updated with notifications
• Provides automatic backups on higher-tiered plans

Pricing: Core features are free; Paid plans start at $5.95 per month, bundled with Akismet credits.

Related: Using Jetpack with DreamPress

24) IThemes Security

Yet another full-featured and popular plugin, iThemes Security is arguably the most comprehensive option on this list. The plugin is packed with features such as login URL obfuscation, a way to change your admin username, and a global dashboard restriction mode based on the time and date. In addition, the premium version includes advanced features such as malware scanning and a Google reCAPTCHA box.

Key Features:

• Ban the IP addresses of known attackers from your site
• Monitors your files to check for any unauthorized changes
• Limits the number of login attempts allowed to prevent brute force attacks

Pricing: Free, with Pro upgrade available for $99 per year.

25) WPS Hide Login 

Hackers using bots will often seek out sites using the default URLs, attacking those they find. To prevent this, WPS Hide Login allows you to change the standard WordPress login URL to a custom one. It’s a pretty simple tool, but it provides a valuable service.

Key Features:

• Provides an easy-to-use, simple interface
• Prevents brute force attacks by letting you change the default login URL
• Doesn’t add rewrite rules

Pricing: Free

26) BulletProof Security

BulletProof Security provides strong protection against SQL injections and other WordPress exploits. In addition, this plugin features a firewall that prevents malicious scripts from executing before they reach your WordPress core files. The premium version adds further features, such as suspicious activity alerts and greater protection against a wider range of threats.

Key Features:

• Enables you to perform full or partial database backups
• Prevents the occurrence of brute-force attacks
• Alerts you when suspected malicious activity affects your site

Pricing: Free, with extended features under a Pro license priced at $69.95.

27) All-In-One Security (AIOS)

Ideal for those who are less familiar with security settings, All-In-One Security (AIOS) makes it easy to defend your content. A simple meter on your dashboard scores the current security of your site. You can then use the wealth of features to shore up any holes in the armor. It has some excellent features around login security, as well.

Key Features:

• Password strength tool ensures you and your visitors are creating secure passwords
• Protects against brute force attacks with the Login Lockdown feature
• Offers one-click database backups, and firewall protection against Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)

Pricing: Core features are free; Premium plan (including malware scanning) starts at $70 per year.

28) Security Ninja

While some security tools bombard you with features, Security Ninja is a lean security plugin that gives you full control over what features you want to implement. The plugin’s main selling feature is the number of tests you can conduct — more than 50 with a single click. You also get a WordPress core file scanner and an event logger, plus you can schedule your scans.

Key Features:

• More than 50 security tests, including brute-force attacks and password strength tests
• Checks for vulnerabilities such as zero-day attacks
• Hides your WordPress version number to prevent hackers from exploiting vulnerabilities in older versions

Pricing: Free with core features; Pro plan with extended features is $39.99 per year, per site.

29) WP Hide & Security Enhancer

Some hackers search for old, vulnerable versions of WordPress, so it’s vital to keep yours up to date. With WP Hide & Security Enhancer, no one will even know you run a WordPress website! With this plugin activated, any WordPress-related identification within your HTML files will be removed or obfuscated without affecting your site’s functionality.

Key Features:

• Removes the WordPress version number.
• Blocks access to WordPress’ default core files.
• Doesn’t change your directory

Pricing: Free core version; Single-site license with full features is priced at $39.

30) Shield Security

Like many other plugins in this section, Shield Security acts as your website’s first line of defense. It only lets trusted, non-harmful traffic through while blocking other malicious traffic. To ensure its protection can’t be removed, the plugin requires an access key before any changes are made — a neat failsafe.

Key Features:

• Blocks malicious URLs and their requests, along with automated spambot comments
• Provides security against brute-force attacks via 2FA
• Instant bot blocking

Pricing: Free; Extra features available via premium upgrade, starting at $79 per year.

31) WordPress Security by CleanTalk

WordPress Security by CleanTalk is a simple plugin that mainly prevents brute-force attacks. If a user fails to log into WordPress, the Security Brute Force Firewall adds a short delay before you can try again. This stops constant attacks on the login screen. It’s a simple and effective way to keep many hackers at bay.

Key Features:

• Security firewall to filter access to your site by IP, networks, or countries
• Provides a daily security report sent to your email
• Sets a delay between login attempts to prevent brute-force attacks

Pricing: Free

32) miniOrange’s Google Authenticator

Our final plugin in this section handles a vital security feature: Two-Factor Authentication (2FA). This offers an additional layer of login protection by requiring login attempts to be verified via a trusted device. Google Authenticator is one of the best available 2FA solutions. The plugin is simple to use and is enabled via scanning a QR code using a mobile device.

Key Features:

• Log in to your site if you aren’t able to utilize 2FA
• Customize your own set of security questions
• Provides multiple login options

Pricing: Free; Enterprise upgrade available (user-based pricing)

33) WP Force SSL

If you haven’t yet heard about HTTPS and SSL, this is an important topic to read up on. In short, HTTPS is a way to encrypt your site’s data more securely, and SSL is a type of certificate that enables this technology to work properly. WP Force SSL is a plugin that redirects traffic toward the secure version of your site, utilizing both of these standards.

Key Features:

• Redirects traffic from the HTTP to the HTTPS version of your site
• Handles the redirection automatically after minimal setup
• Offers loads of security tests

Pricing: Free

The Best WordPress Lead Generation Plugins

Many people use WordPress to build business websites. If your aim is to generate interest in your product or services, these lead generation plugins should help you to engage with potential customers:

34) Contact Form by WPForms

Including a contact form directly on your site allows visitors to share their thoughts on your content or to sign up for your services. Contact Form by WPForms makes it really easy to create custom forms for such purposes. This plugin features a drag-and-drop interface, and several pre-built templates to speed up the process.

Key Features:

• Create and customize contact forms, and insert them into your WordPress pages and posts
• Makes it easy to add unique fields to your forms
• reCAPTCHA solution to combat form spam

Pricing: Free; Pro from $99 per year .

35) Popup Builder by OptinMonster

Want to build an email list? Popups by OptinMonster can help. This plugin lets you create custom opt-in forms and pop-ups that will attract the attention of visitors and encourage them to sign up. Every interaction with a pop-up form is tracked, and you can even set up A/B testing to find the most effective designs.

Key Features:

• Create and customize opt-in forms, with mobile-friendly templates to help get you started
• Build a variety of pop-up types, such as timed, scroll-triggered, and mobile-specific
• Provides testing tools to help you get the most out of your lead generation efforts

Pricing: Free to download, but most features require a premium subscription; Plans start at $16 per month.

36) Icegram Engage

Another plugin that can help you build great sign-up forms is Icegram Engage. The pop-ups and CTAs from this tool are a little more basic on the design side, but you still have a ton of customization options and loads of great templates to choose from. Just as importantly, Icegram Enage is secure and compliant with GDPR.

Key Features:

• Engage visitors with pop-ups, action bars, countdown timers, and more
• User behavior and exit intent targeting
• Over 100 base designs to choose from

Pricing: Free with basic features; Premium plans from $129 per year.

37) Icegram Express

Once you have built a subscriber list, you will need to create some content to send out to your audience. Part of the same suite of tools, Icegram Express allows you to send email newsletters and set up automated email updates from your WordPress Admin area. It also provides features for collecting, verifying, and analyzing new subscribers.

Key Features:

• Create and send custom newsletters from inside WordPress
• Automated updates when new WordPress blog posts are published
• Verify new signups and measure the performance of each email campaign

Pricing: Free with basic features; Premium plans from $129 per year.

38) Responsive Contact Form Builder & Lead Generation

It might not have the catchiest name, but Responsive Contact Form Builder & Lead Generation is a well-made plugin for creating custom forms. You get nine different field types to work with, various sizing and styling options, and plenty of premade designs. It works with page builders like Elementor and Gutenberg, and you can even set up autoresponders via the plugin.

Key Features:

• Create and customize forms, starting from scratch or from pre-built templates
• Lets you add custom fields and reorder them using a drag-and-drop system
• Offers multiple ways to receive and store lead information (such as through email and in a database)

Pricing: Free to use with core features; Pro version with extended options is priced at $49 per year.

39) Lead Call Buttons

While email and social media are great for lead generation, the Lead Call Buttons plugin adds special CTA buttons to the mobile version of your site, making it easy for people to call you with a single click. Alternatively, you can add a link to your address or allow people to schedule an appointment with a tap.

Key Features:

• Add Call Now, Map, and Schedule buttons to the mobile view of your website
• Provides options for customizing the look and functionality of your CTA buttons
• Includes the ability to track links

Pricing: Free

40) Easy Forms for MailChimp

MailChimp is a big name in email marketing — so it’s no surprise that the platform has a dedicated plugin. Easy Forms for MailChimp makes it easy to add MailChimp sign-up forms to your posts, pages, and sidebars, and it automatically pulls in your subscription list information from your MailChimp account.

Key Features:

• Build MailChimp subscription forms and add them to your pages and posts
• Multiple options for placing your forms, and custom CSS classes for additional styling
• Integrates with and pulls in the information from your MailChimp subscriber list

Pricing: Free

41) Sumo

Sumo is a highly popular lead generation toolkit that includes an eclectic range of useful features. You can use this plugin to create pop-ups and floating bars to grab potential customers’ attention and add share buttons across your site. Sumo can also handle email marketing, focusing on drip campaigns for e-commerce stores. It even provides analytics to help you figure out what’s working.

Key Features:

• List Builder that helps create stylish pop-ups, full-screen CTAs and targeted pop-ups, scroll boxes, and more
• Social sharing features to encourage site visitors to engage with your content
• Heat maps for fine-tuning your lead generation efforts

Pricing: Free base version; Pro plan with full features priced at $39 per month.

42) HubSpot 

Some WordPress plugins provide specific, targeted features, while others offer comprehensive packages of functionality. HubSpot definitely falls into the second category. This plugin handles classic lead generation tasks such as email list building, newsletter creation, and attracting leads through on-site CTAs. But it also lets you track leads and user behavior on your site, and it works with the Hubspot CRM.

Key Features:

• Create user-friendly pop-up forms for collecting contact information
• Loads of analytics tools to track traffic, leads, conversions, and more
• Integrates with over 1,000 other platforms, including MailChimp, Shopify, and Magento

Pricing: All core features are free; Premium plans start at $50 per month.

43) Optin Forms

While there are a lot of plugins that offer lead capture features, Optin Forms stands out for two main reasons: ease of use, and integrations. This targeted plugin helps you build compelling forms that look great without writing a line of HTML or CSS. Just as importantly, you can use Optin Forms alongside AWeber, MailChimp, GetResponse, iContact, and many other email marketing solutions.

Key Features:

• Build custom opt-in forms and add them to your site with a click or using a shortcode
• Offers initial designs you can personalize to suit your needs and tastes.
• Integrates with a range of popular email marketing services

Pricing: Free

44) LiveChat

Live chat can help you make an immediate connection with visitors to your site. There are many live chat plugins for WordPress, but we’d recommend starting with LiveChat. It’s not the cheapest, but the quality of this add-on cannot be ignored. It works seamlessly with most major page builders, all themes, and every major e-commerce plugin.

Key Features:

• Adds live chat to your website so you can communicate directly with visitors
• Syncs with your social, messaging, and email channels
• Offers customization and chat history features

Pricing: Free; Pro version with additional features, starting at $20 per month.

45) Ninja Forms

There are dozens of contact form plugins we could have included in this list, but Ninja Forms is undoubtedly the most user-friendly. This neat little plugin lets you get creative, customizing forms to your exact needs using simple controls. It’s a solid choice for beginners and developers alike.

Key Features:

• Drag-and-drop form builder with unique fields, actions, and more
• Enables you to create success messages for users, or direct them to a particular page after completing a form
• Provides advanced options for developers, such as built-in hooks and filters

Pricing: All core features are free; Can be extended with a monthly membership or individual add-ons.

Honorable Mention: LatePoint

LatePoint is a WordPress plugin that’s all about making scheduling a breeze. It’s super handy for all kinds of businesses, from salons to fitness studios. The plugin simplifies the booking process, making it straightforward and user-friendly both for the business owners and their clients.

Key Features:

• A helpful and intuitive dashboard for easy management
• Fully extendable and modular for developers
• Easily integrate with 3rd party apps and plugins

Pricing: A free 7-day sandbox trial is available, with basic plans starting at $49/year.

The Best WordPress Performance Plugins

WordPress does a decent job of serving up content in a timely fashion, but if you want to provide the best possible user experience, these performance plugins should cut your load times down to size:

46) WP Super Cache

As you may have noticed, the folks at Automattic develop many functional yet crucial plugins for WordPress. WP Super Cache is no exception. This plugin caches your pages as static HTML files, with minimal setup required. Actually, it offers three different caching modes, each with increasing customization options.

Key Features:

• Three different ways of caching files: Simple, Expert, and WP-Cache caching
• Basic CDN support with an integrated OSSDL CDN off-linker
• Customizable garbage collection settings

Pricing: Free

47) W3 Total Cache

W3 Total Cache is a pretty comprehensive performance plugin, designed to improve both the speed and user experience of your website. The main attraction here is caching: page, object, database, and browser. However, the plugin also offers minification and HTTP compression of the code underlying your site. It all adds up to greatly reduced loading times.

Key Features:

• Page, database, object, and browser caching
• HTML, CSS, and JavaScript minification to reduce file sizes
• Content Delivery Network (CDN) integration

Pricing: Free

48) EWWW Image Optimizer

Using large or poorly optimized images can slow down your site, hurting your overall user experience. EWWW Image Optimizer is a tool that converts, resizes, and compresses images on your site for speed. It’s straightforward to set up, and the plugin adapts to different devices to ensure that you won’t see any significant drop-off in image quality.

Key Features:

• Automatically optimizes images and converts them into the best file format for performance
• Provides various compression options, such as pixel-perfect and high compression
• Includes security features like SSL encryption and free 30-day image backups

Pricing: Free; Premium plans with extra features start at $7 per month.

49) Smush

You could describe Smush as an image optimizer, but that is a bit of an understatement. This impressive plugin offers 2x compression, smart resizing for all standard image formats, and lazy loading. It’s fast, flexible, and easy to use. What’s more, Smush has its own servers — so all the work is handled remotely.

• Lossless compression to optimize images without a noticeable drop in quality
• Lazy loading for faster load times
• Bulk “Smush” for optimizing multiple images at once

Pricing: Core features are free; Pro plan offers background optimization, starting at $7.50 per month.

50) WP Rocket

As a premium caching plugin, you would probably expect WP Rocket to offer more than free alternatives, and to be honest, it delivers in style. This tool provides powerful page caching, GZIP compression, and e-commerce optimization. It can also handle the minification of CSS and JS files, and works with most popular themes and plugins. As an added bonus, you get the extra performance boost of lazy loading on images and iframes.

Key Features:

• Wide-ranging caching features, including page caching, cache preloading, and browser caching
• Works with most popular themes and plugins
• Lazing loading for images and iframes, database optimization, and CDN support

Pricing: Starting at $59 per year.

51) Proxy Cache Purge

After you update your content, Proxy Cache Purge requests your proxy service to delete its cache. This ensures that visitors always get the latest version of your site while still enjoying the performance benefits of caching. You can use this plugin to purge your entire cache or set up automatic purging on specific post and page types.

Key Features:

• Requests purges for entire cache or specific pages
• Temporarily disable the cache during development
• Enables plugins to hook into the purge actions

Pricing: Free

52) WP Fastest Cache

Another caching plugin option, WP Fastest Cache focuses on simplicity. It’s designed to “get out of the way” and let you focus on speeding up your website, not managing plugin settings. Loyal users rave about its simple configuration and excellent support.

Key Features:

• CDN Support
• WP-CLI cache clearing
• Premium plan offers greatly expanded functionality

Pricing: Free

53) Perfmatters

Developed by two brothers with substantial experience in tech, Perfmatters provides a wide array of performance-enhancing features. This premium plugin offers database optimization, lazy loading for videos and iFrames, and a unique script manager that allows you to control which plugins are loaded on each page of your site.

Key Features:

• Script Manager that allows selective enabling/disabling of plugins and scripts
• Lazy loading for images, videos, and iframes
• Database optimization and quick toggle options for reducing load times

Pricing: Starts at $24.95 per year.

54) Autoptimize

One of the most well-known plugins for performance, Autoptimize minifies and caches scripts and styles to improve loading times. It can also inject CSS into the page head and defer scripts to the footer, all in the name of faster browsing. This plugin can even optimize Google Fonts and remove the unnecessary code that comes with WordPress emojis.

Key Features:

• Minifies and caches scripts, styles, and HTML
• Moves and defers scripts to the footer, injects CSS into page headers
• Optimizes images and Google Fonts

Pricing: Free, with enhanced features starting at $5 per month.

55) NitroPack

According to the makers of this performance plugin, installing NitroPack can drastically speed up your site in just five minutes. In fact, they claim that the average site should see a 69% PageSpeed score boost from using this tool. Whether or not you believe these numbers, there’s no doubt that NitroPack is a worthy addition to this list.

Key Features: 

• Can be installed and configured with zero technical knowledge
• Advanced caching, minification, compression, and image optimization
• Built-in global CDN

Pricing: Free with limited features; Premium plans start at $17.50 per month.

The Best WordPress E-Commerce Plugins

Did you know that you can build a great online store with WordPress? Whether you’re selling T-shirts or digital downloads, these plugins can help you create your e-commerce empire:

56) WooCommerce

If we’re going to talk about selling products via WordPress, the conversation has to start with WooCommerce. By far the most popular e-commerce plugin, this platform provides a remarkable list of features completely free — from inventory tracking to shipping label printing. It might take a while to get your head around all of the options here, but it’s definitely worth the effort.

Key Features:

• Create a storefront in minutes, with loads of ready-made themes and customization options
• Custom product pages with drag-and-drop editor
• Sell products, downloads, subscriptions, bookings, memberships, and more

Pricing: Free, with premium upgrades available.

Want to get set up with WooCommerce faster? Try our dedicated e-commerce hosting!

57) Easy Digital Downloads

If your online store specializes in digital products, you might want to try Easy Digital Downloads. Optimized for products like themes, courses, and ebooks, this free plugin offers strong file protection and loads of payment processing options, including PayPal and Stripe. It works with pretty much any theme, and we especially like the clean and customizable checkout.

Key Features:

• Optimized for selling digital products, with file protection
• Works with any theme
• Strong customer management and promotion features

Pricing: Free for core features; Advanced features available through “Passes” starting at $199 per year.

58) Ecwid Ecommerce Shopping Cart

Originally promoted as a social media e-commerce platform, Ecwid now plays nicely with WordPress. This means you can set up a store on your website, and it will sync with your Facebook and Instagram profiles. You will need an Ecwid account to unlock this compelling package, but this will also give you access to a dedicated mobile app. Pretty useful, we think.

Key Features:

• Shopping cart with multiple payment options, automatic taxes, and shipping
• Products sync between your website and social media profiles
• Dedicated mobile apps for managing your store

Pricing: Free with limited features; Paid plans start at $19 per month.

59) SellKit

WooCommerce is pretty powerful straight out of the box, but with SellKit, you can optimize the checkout area to drive more sales. For instance, this plugin lets you add one-click upsells and autocomplete on forms. You can even offer custom discounts based on user behavior. Of course, you can also measure the effectiveness of every change using the built-in analytics tools.

Key Features:

• Vast range of tools for optimizing the checkout experience in WooCommerce
• Rule-based triggers for “bump” offers and one-click upsells
• Custom sales funnel builder with loads of ready-made templates

Pricing:  Free with limited features; Premium plans start from $59 per year.

60) ShopWP

If you’re really into e-commerce, there is a fair chance you already have a store hosted with Shopify. ShopWP allows you to bring all your products across to your WordPress website and present them perfectly. This plugin uses no iFrames — it’s all native and optimized for search. You can even drop in products using a shortcode.

• Syncs Shopify data to ensure your product listings on WordPress are always up-to-date
• Seamless shopping cart experience powered by JavaScript
• Provides 10+ shortcodes and works with top page builders

Pricing: Free with core features; Premium plan with advanced display options starts at $199 per year.

61) WP EasyCart

WooCommerce not floating your boat? WP EasyCart is a worthy alternative. Ten years in the making, this shopping cart plugin serves up a variety of useful e-commerce features — from live shipping estimates to cart abandonment emails. You also get to choose from loads of great payment options, including Amazon Pay and Square.

Key Features:

• Multiple product types and product page customization
• Allows you to sell subscriptions and memberships
• Inventory management and order fulfillment tools

Pricing:  Free version with core features; Premium plan with extended features starts at $69 per year.

62) Wish List for WooCommerce

There are many add-ons made for WooCommerce that expand the base features of the plugin. These include official extensions, along with unofficial plugins and themes developed by the community — Wish List for WooCommerce is one such add-on. Quite simply, it adds a wish-list feature to your online store so customers can save their favorite products.

Key Features:

• Adds a customizable wish-list feature to your site
• Offers a dedicated widget that points to your wish-list page
• Lets users share their lists on email and social media

Pricing: Free

63) FunnelKit 

For anyone who is serious about building a successful store, FunnelKit could be really useful. This highly-rated WordPress funnel builder is one of the best plugins for enhancing WooCommerce. Using simple controls, you can streamline your checkout, add relevant upsells, and create opt-in forms. Plus, it comes with over 20 great e-commerce templates.

Key Features:

• Streamlined checkouts, with express pay options and address autocomplete
• A/B testing and traffic routing to the better-performing page
• In-depth insights and analytics, including open rate, clickthrough rate, revenue made, orders placed, and more

Pricing: Free version with basic features; Full feature list on premium plans, starting at $129 per year.

64) AffiliateWP

One good way to drive potential customers to your site is through affiliate marketing. AffiliateWP helps you take advantage of this approach. The plugin makes creating and managing your affiliate program for your WooCommerce store incredibly simple. Fraud protection ensures that affiliates can’t make money from endlessly clicking on their own links, and you can see your revenue stacking up via the built-in analytics.

Key Features:

• Reliable tracking with fraud protection and smart commission rules
• One-click payouts for affiliates
• No extra fees

Pricing: Starts at $299 per year.

65) FOMO & Social Proof Notifications by TrustPulse

Social proof, such as customer reviews and testimonials, can be a powerful tool in e-commerce. TrustPulse’s plugin helps you leverage the activity of your customers to make new sales, with pop-ups that deliver timely messages. More specifically, this FOMO-generating tool shows activity from other visitors on your site — like when someone makes a purchase.

Key Features:

• Instant pop-ups show when someone takes action on your site, creating a sense of real-time activity
• Customizable notifications that can be adapted to your brand
• Designed to work with WooCommerce

Pricing: Basic plugin is free with limitations; Premium plans start at $9 per month.

The Best Website Admin WordPress Plugins

WordPress makes it relatively easy to keep your website running smoothly. However, you can enhance the core functionality by installing the right plugins. Here are some website admin tools to consider:

66) Easy Updates Manager

To keep any WordPress site running efficiently, you must ensure the system, your themes, and your plugins are updated regularly. Easy Updates Manager helps take care of this process automatically. This lightweight plugin is simple to use, and you can customize the settings so that only the updates you want are installed.

Key Features:

• Lets you enable or disable updates for plugins, themes, WordPress, and more
• Automate updates for all software of a particular type, or only for specific plugins and themes
• Provides user customization options, such as the ability to block certain users from performing updates

Pricing: Core features are free; Premium upgrade with extended features from $29 per year.

Want to make updates even easier? When you host your site with DreamPress, we keep your WordPress updated automatically.

67) UpdraftPlus 

Backing up your site is really important if you want to avoid downtime. UpdraftPlus makes it really easy. This plugin lets you upload a copy to the most popular cloud storage platforms, such as Dropbox and Google Drive. You can even set an automatic backup schedule. Once you have a backup, the plugin allows you to restore your site with a few clicks.

Key Features:

• Supports both manual and automatic scheduled backups
• Provides encryption to your backups
• Enables you to upload your backups to any number of cloud storage providers

Pricing: Free with basic features; Premium upgrade starts at $70.

68) Duplicator

A good WordPress backup plugin is Duplicator. Downloaded over 30 million times, this plugin lets you save a complete clone of your site. This can work for ad hoc backups, but it’s perhaps more useful for migrating your site or creating a locally hosted version. With the premium version of this plugin, you can also schedule automatic backups.

Key Features:

• Create backups of your WordPress website automatically and save them to the cloud
• Clone, copy, or migrate your site to another server
• Makes it easy to create a staging site for testing purposes.

Pricing: Free version allows manual cloning; Premium version with scheduled backups and cloud storage integrations, starts at $99 per year.

69) WPFront User Role Editor

By default, WordPress lets you assign varying roles to individual users. These user roles have different permissions levels —for example, an Administrator can edit or change just about anything on the site. If you find yourself wanting to adjust the default settings, try WPFront User Role Editor. This plugin lets you create new roles, edit and rename the default roles, and more.

Key Features:

• Lets you create, rename, edit, and manage user roles on your site
• Adds or removes capabilities from specific roles
• Enables you to assign multiple roles to each user

Pricing: Free with very limited features; Pro license is priced at $89 per site.

70) User Role Editor

User Role Editor is another plugin that enables you to customize the default WordPress user roles, and determine exactly what each type of user should be able to do. The free version of this tool is pretty generous, giving you granular control over user permissions. Upgrade to the premium version, and you gain the ability to hide specific menu items from various user types.

Key Features:

• Edit the capabilities of the default WordPress user roles.
• Add and customize new user roles
• Assign more than one role to a single user.

Pricing: Free version with core features; Extended premium version starts at $29 per month, or $89 for a lifetime license.

71) Oasis Workflow

The goal of Oasis Workflow is to help you manage your site more efficiently, particularly when it comes to creating and publishing content. The plugin provides a drag-and-drop interface that enables you to create a custom workflow for you and your team. You can assign tasks, give them custom statuses, and move them around or reassign them as necessary.

Key Features:

• Drag-and-drop workflow designer with an easy-to-use interface
• Create, assign, and reassign tasks as needed.
• User-based rules to automatically route tasks to the correct team members

Pricing: Free version covers most core features; Premium version adds automations, starting at $119.

72) Enhanced Media Library

The WordPress Media Library lets you upload images, videos, and other media files to add to your site. Enhanced Media Library makes it more powerful. For example, this plugin allows you to categorize and tag media items so they’re easier to organize and find. Plus, you’ll get access to a variety of useful shortcodes and a more flexible way to control media file types.

Key Features:

• Lets you add categories and tags to files in your Media Library
• Provides filters to help you search through and sort your media files
• Adds shortcodes that enable you to categorize media items on the front end

Pricing: Free, with extra features/the pro license priced at $25.

73) ACOS – Custom Admin Color Scheme

While you can’t customize the back end of WordPress as much as the front end, you can make a few tweaks. With ACOS, you can liven things up with a splash of color. WordPress already comes with eight color schemes for your admin area, but this plugin adds eight more– You’ll have double the options!

Key Features:

• Adds eight new color schemes for your WordPress admin area
• Lets you quickly switch between schemes
• Reverts to default color schemes with a click

Pricing: Free

74) Admin Menu Editor

Even though WordPress is pretty intuitive, all the different options can feel overwhelming for new site owners. Admin Menu Editor helps you reduce the visual clutter by enabling and disabling specific menu items in the admin area. You can even add your own custom links to the menu.

Key Features:  

• Rename, rearrange, and add menu items
• Drag-and-drop controls
• Custom branding for your login screen

Pricing: Free basic plugin; Premium version available with per-user control, starting at $39.

75) Advanced Custom Fields (ACF)

Out of the box, WordPress can handle a lot of different data types. But if you want to add something extra to your posts and pages, Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) can help. This very intuitive plugin allows you to add and display custom fields almost anywhere, with 30 different field types to choose from.

Key Features: 

• Add fields to posts, users, taxonomy terms, media, comments, and more
• Intuitive field creation process
• Over 30 field types, and supports custom post types

Pricing: Free; Separate pro version available for $49 per year.

77) MainWP

Running more than one WordPress site? MainWP lets you manage them all from a single dashboard. This free, open-source plugin is great for handling updates, installing themes, and even managing users across your sites. You can also review comments in bulk, and monitor uptime across your online empire.

• Manage all your WordPress sites from one central dashboard
• Handle updates for themes, plugins, and core WordPress files
• Post and edit content across all your sites from the dashboard.

Pricing: The main plugin is free; Pro plans with extensions included start at $29 per month.

The Best WordPress Analytics and Reporting Plugins

Whether you want to reach more readers or attract new customers, understanding how people are interacting with your site is really important. These analytics plugins can reveal all:

78) MonsterInsights

MonsterInsights is the most popular Google Analytics plugin for WordPress. It provides a Google-specific dashboard right in your WordPress admin panel, and you can track your customers across multiple platforms and devices. Unlike other link-tracking plugins, MonsterInsights won’t slow down your website.

Key Features:

• Provides custom reports for data regarding Audience, Behavior, Content, E-commerce, Forms, Search Console, and Custom Dimensions
• Offers easy integration with WooCommerce for product and sales tracking
• Enables use of tracking for Google Adsense and affiliate links

Pricing: The core plugin is free; Premium versions start at $99.50 per year.

79) Site Kit by Google

Google offers many free tools to analyze your website’s success. With Google Site Kit, all of these products are combined in your WordPress dashboard. This means you can explore page speed, SEO, and audience analytics, and set up various Google products without code.

Key Features:

• Implements site analytics on your WordPress dashboard
• Provides metrics from Search Console, AdSense, PageSpeed Insights, and more
• Integrates Google tools without editing your website’s source code

Pricing: Free

80) StatCounter

Most WordPress analytics plugins allow you to analyze your audience over a period of time. But with StatCounter, you can see this data in real-time. This tool can track almost anything you can dream of, from keyword activity to the presence of cookie blocking. You can view the data inside your WordPress admin area, or get StatCounter to send you email reports.

Key Features:

• Granular visitor analytics covering visitor paths, duration of visit, exit pages, and more
• Real-time statistics
• Visitor alerts when certain users return to your site

Pricing: Free with basic StatCounter account; Paid plans start at $9 per month.

81) WP Statistics

If you don’t want to rely solely on Google products, you can take control of your analytics with WP Statistics. This powerful plugin captures a wide range of data about your audience, which you can view in your admin area or export to popular file types. We like the colorful design, too.

Key Features:

• Captures visitor data including IP, browser, search engine, OS, and location
• View stats in WordPress or export your data
• GDPR compliant

Pricing: Free; Premium extensions available from $39 per year.

82) Matomo Analytics

Honed for business, Matomo Analytics is a plugin that provides valuable insights, without sacrificing privacy. In fact, you own 100% of the data that this plugin collects, and the plugin comes with an opt-out widget for your users. The whole package is completely free to use, and easy enough for even a WordPress beginner to install.

Key Features:

• Powerful visitor analytics tools and visualizations
• Strong privacy protection
• Supports data import from Google Analytics or WP Statistics

Pricing: Free, with premium upgrades starting at $39 per year.

83) Conversios

Aimed at e-commerce websites, Conversios is an analytics plugin that helps you track customers from the moment they click on your ad to the instant they make a purchase. To make this work, the plugin combines Google Analytics 4, Google Ads, Microsoft Ads, and the tracking systems for most social media platforms.

Key Features:

• Pixel manager to track events across all popular social channels
• Remarketing features to engage potential customers
• Works with Google Analytics 4 and Google Tag Manager

Pricing: Free; Premium features start at $99 per year.

84) Independent Analytics

Independent Analytics strikes a nice balance between features and usability. Yet another alternative to Google Analytics, this free plugin lets you track views, visitors, and referrers. It’s completely compliant with GDPR, and has almost no impact on the performance of your site.

Key Features:

• Comprehensive analytics dashboard within WordPress
• Full GDPR compliance with additional configuration
• Deep WordPress integration for valuable traffic source insights​

Pricing: Free; Pro version adds real-time data for $99 per year.

85) ExactMetrics

Our favorite thing about ExactMetrics is that this plugin allows you to check your Google Analytics data via your WordPress Dashboard. But this isn’t the only worthwhile feature; for instance, it can handle Meta Pixel and Bing Ads tracking. ExactMetrics can even send you a weekly update about your traffic.

Key Features:

• Displays Google Analytics data in your WordPress Dashboard
• Supports dual-tracking with Google Analytics 3 and GA4
• Weekly email updates with your traffic numbers

Pricing: Lite version is free with limited features; ExactMetrics Pro offers the full feature list, starting at $99.50 per year.

86) 10WebAnalytics

Part of a larger suite of marketing tools, 10WebAnalytics is another plugin that brings Google Analytics to your WordPress admin. While not as polished as some of the other plugins in this section, it works well and delivers an impressive amount of data.

Key Features:

• Displays all of your Google Analytics reports
• Supports custom notifications and alerts
• Lets you create and manage goals

Pricing: Free with limited features; Premium packs start at $85.

87) WP Google Analytics Events

It’s time to get a little bit nerdy. Google Analytics 4 allows you to create custom events — user actions on your site that you want to track. WP Google Analytics Events allows you to set up these events without messing around with code.

Key Features:

• Code-free interface for creating custom events
• Track in-page navigation and contact form submissions
• Integrates with Google Tag Manager

Pricing: Free; Premium upgrades start at $79 per year.

The Best WordPress Localization Plugins

If you want to reach a global audience with your WordPress site, it’s a good idea to translate your content. These localization plugins can help you adapt your website for different markets:

88) ConveyThis

Offering fast and accurate automatic machine translation for 120 languages, ConveyThis is a great tool for localizing any WordPress website. It can also translate attributes, alt text, meta-text, and page URLs. Plus, it works with pretty much any theme or other plugin, including WooCommerce​.

Key Features:

• Fast, accurate machine translation in 120 languages
• SEO-friendly output
• Works with 100% of themes and plugins

Pricing: Free for up to 2,500 words in one language; Upgrades start at $7.99 per month.

89) Loco Translate

For website owners who are happy to get more hands-on, Loco Translate provides an in-browser editing tool for WordPress translation files. The interface is pretty easy to navigate, and the plugin offers keyboard shortcuts for faster translating. You don’t necessarily need to translate content manually; this plugin integrates with translation APIs, including DeepL, Google, Microsoft, and Yandex.

Key Features:

• Translation management inside WordPress Admin
• Integrates with top automated translation tools
• Built-in locale codes for every region of the world

Pricing:  Free up to 2,000 translations, and then $5.95 per month.

90) Polylang

Polylang allows you to create a bilingual or multilingual WordPress site with a translation tool covering custom post types, custom taxonomies, widgets, and menus. It provides full support for right-to-left (RTL) language scripts, and can automatically download and update WordPress language packs​.

Key Features:

• Translation management that covers custom post types, custom taxonomies, widgets, and navigation
• Support for RTL scripts
• Based on core WordPress technology for better performance

Pricing: Base plugin is free to use; Pro version starts at €99 (~$105).

91) GTranslate

When you need a quick translation for something you see online, which app do you use? Probably Google Translate. The GTranslate plugin drops that same functionality into your WordPress site. It can translate over 100 languages on the fly, with full support for all right-to-left (RTL) languages​.​ Upgrade to the premium version, and you get the benefits of neural machine translation.

Key Features:

• Adds real-time Google Translation to your website, without the Google branding
• Works on posts, pages, widgets, menus, and more
• Premium version offers multilingual SEO and neural machine translations

Pricing: All core features are free; Premium plans start at $9.99 per month.

92) TranslatePress

Most localization plugins have the usability of 90s database software. TranslatePress stands out thanks to its user-friendly interface that allows you to easily translate the entire page at once. The plugin even covers the content from your shortcodes, forms, and page builders. If you don’t want to handle localization yourself, you can do automatic translations with Google Translate.

Key Features:

• Live on-page editor allows you to translate content with context
• Works on content from shortcodes, forms, and page builders
• Provides Google Translate integration and support for WooCommerce

Pricing: Free; Premium add-ons start at €7.99 (~$8.53) per month.

93) Google Language Translator

Now part of the GTranslate family, Google Language Translator is a plugin that offers similar features in a slightly different package. This tool automatically hooks up to the Google Translate API automatically and can fetch translations for any supported language. It works on posts, pages, categories, tags, menus, and widgets, along with content from other plugins​​.

Key Features:

• Automatic translation with Google Translate API
• Translates content from themes and other plugins
• Premium version offers multilingual SEO and neural machine translations

Pricing: All core features are free; Premium plans start at $9.99 per month.

94) Weglot Translate

It would probably be fair to say that Weglot Translate is one of the easiest translation plugins to configure. There’s even a multilingual user guide if you need it. The plugin works with all themes and other plugins, and it follows Google’s best practices for good SEO. In terms of machine translation, you have a choice of DeepL, Google, Microsoft, and Yandex.

Key Features:

• Easy to install and detects new content for translation
• Follows SEO best practices
• Provides high-quality machine translation and access to professional human translation

Pricing: Free for the first 2,000 words; Paid plans start from $17 per month.

95) Bogo

If you’re just looking for a way to manage translations of your content, Bogo should do just fine. This free plugin lets you set up a multilingual site, with a language switcher widget to help visitors find the right version for them. It’s simple, but very efficient.

Key Features:

• Adds localization options to your WordPress admin
• Includes language switcher widget
• Based on WordPress core features

Pricing: Free

Bonus: AI Plugins for WordPress

Artificial intelligence is changing the way we interact with the web. It is also providing website owners with new tools, like these AI plugins for WordPress:

96) AI Engine

AI Engine lets you play with ChatGPT and other GPT models. You can use it to generate content and images, suggest titles, and create excerpts. It also tracks your OpenAI usage stats.

Pricing: Free, but requires OpenAI subscription.

97) WordLift

By leveraging AI, WordLift allows you to compose SEO content faster than you can type. It delivers engaging, accurate writing, and the plugin handles all the chores related to optimizing your posts for search.

Pricing: From €49 (~$52) per month.

98) AI ChatBot

When you’re not around to engage with visitors to your website, AI ChatBot can strike up a conversation. Powered by natural language processing, this impressive plugin is great for providing interactive customer support.

Pricing: Free with limited features; Full version starts at $49 per year.

99) ImageSEO

Alt texts are pretty important for SEO, but filling them out takes time. ImageSEO provides a neat shortcut by using AI technology to automate the whole process.

Pricing: Free for 10 images per month; Paid plans from ​​€4.99 (~$5.30) per month.

100) AI Content Writing Assistant

With 20 different writing styles and over 40 tones to choose from, AI Content Writing Assistant is undoubtedly a versatile plugin. This content generation tool supports multiple languages, and it even works on locally hosted websites.

Pricing: Free

…And That’s Not All

Whew. We’ve made it to the end of our list. But we’ve only scratched the surface of all the amazing extensions, power-ups, and plugins available for your WordPress site. You can find many of these tools and thousands more for free in the WordPress Plugin Directory.

Of course, the world’s top WordPress plugins won’t make much difference to your website if your host isn’t up to the challenge. Here at DreamHost, our hosting plans are optimized specifically for the WordPress platform.

Our managed WordPress hosting makes it really easy to maintain your website and keep it running smoothly — even when you install loads of plugins. And with plans starting at just $16.95 per month, it’s open to anyone.

Don’t need a managed site? Our shared hosting offers the same guaranteed uptime and strong performance, with plans starting at only $2.59 per month.

The post The 100 Best WordPress Plugins (Including New AI Tools) appeared first on Website Guides, Tips & Knowledge.

Well, actually, almost no-one makes calls nowadays. If the plaster cracks or there’s some decorating to do, most people simply search online for a handyman or tradesperson.

In other words, maintaining a great website is incredibly important if you offer home improvement and repair services. In fact, the design of your homepage can be the difference between being booked out, and struggling to find work.

To help you build a compelling online presence, here’s a roundup of the best WordPress themes for your handyman website.

Best WordPress Themes for Handyman Services

One key benefit of powering your business website with WordPress is that you have thousands of great themes to choose from. The tricky part is finding the right design for your brand.

This handpicked list contains various themes, from highly specialized designs to multi-purpose options. But every single entry offers the kind of functionality you need for promoting a trade business, with a head-turning design to match!

1) Terri: Best Theme Designed for Tradespeople

Designed explicitly for handymen, decorators, plumbers, and other tradespeople, Terri provides a solid start to our roundup.

This responsive and Retina-ready theme includes a slick homepage slider, containing a form for inquiries from potential customers. The one-click demo helps you get set up in minutes, and you can customize the color and fonts of the design.

We also like that this theme works with Yoast SEO, meaning you can easily optimize your content for search engines.

Key Features:

• Frontpage slider with built-in inquiry form
• Works with Google Fonts, Contact Form 7, and Yoast SEO
• Responsive design and one-click demo template

Pricing: $49 one-time purchase

2) RenoWise: Best Theme for Multiple Trades 

With nine different pre-built templates for different trades, RenoWise is a versatile theme that can work for various service websites.

The collection of templates covers painting, flooring, renovation, carpentry, and more. Each version comes with relevant imagery, and the layout of each template is honed for that particular trade.

The other great thing about this theme is the built-in features, like a cost calculator for estimates, and an element that shows homes before and after you have completed your work.

Key Features:

• Fast to load and SEO-friendly
• Nine templates for different trades
• Unique features incl. cost calculator and before/after image slider

Pricing: $69 one-time purchase

3) Constructor: Best Drag-and-Drop Theme for Handyman Websites

Although Constructor comes with pre-made designs for tradespeople, this theme stands out because you can create something unique.

The content builder feature allows you to design individual pages using drag-and-drop controls. You have a variety of modules to choose from, including client testimonials and example projects. On top of this, Constructor lets you select your own color scheme and typography via the WordPress Customizer.

This theme also offers up loads of layouts, shortcodes, social media integrations, and scrolling effects. Unsurprisingly, it’s not the fastest theme here, but it’s definitely one of the most powerful.

Key Features:

• Drag-and-drop content builder with customer review modules
• Color and font options via WordPress Customizer
• Pre-built templates for trade businesses

Pricing: $59 one-time purchase

4) ProRange: Best Theme for Home Decorators

With attractive colors and a clean layout, ProRange should appeal to homeowners looking for a handyman with some finesse. This theme is aimed at home decorators, and it actually feels a bit like a paint catalog.

Of course, this is only the default setup. ProRange provides over 750 customization options, so you can make it your own. You can move things around using the WPBakery Page Builder, as well.

Other integrations include Contact Form 7, MailChimp, and WooCommerce — basically everything you need for promoting your company.

Key Features:

• Modern take on web design
• Over 750 customization options
• Works with WPBakery Page Builder, Contact Form 7, MailChimp, WooCommerce, and more

Pricing: $69 one-time purchase

5) BlueCollar: Best Theme for Multiple Home Services

Highly rated by Envato customers, BlueCollar is a no-nonsense theme that is well suited to small businesses.

The overall design is clean and professional, with clickable sections for your various services. Using the WPBakery Page Builder, you can also add sections for testimonials, your team, FAQs, your previous work, and your blog. You have the option to choose your color scheme, too.

But other than that, BlueCollar keeps things simple and user friendly. The underlying code is pretty clean, and you can disable any post types you don’t need.

Key Features:

• Clean, professional design
• Multiple post types incl. people, FAQs, galleries, and services
• Drag-and-drop editing via WPBakery Page Builder

Pricing: $49 one-time purchase

6) Renovate: Most Powerful Theme for Home Repair Websites

It would be fair to say that Renovate is a theme that is packed with functionality. It comes with a variety of great page builder templates, several premium plugins, and a design that is optimized for sales.

This theme is pleasing on an aesthetic level, as well. All of the default modules are clean and uncluttered, with roomy tables for pricing estimates and colorful tabs that store longer descriptions.

Plus, you can set up your own online store for accessories and service packages.

Key Features:

• Page builder, slider, and cost calculator plugins included
• 20+ page builder templates
• Unlimited custom menus and sidebars

Pricing: $69 one-time purchase

7) ProHauz: Best Theme for Home Improvement Services

With six full-site templates for home improvement and maintenance services, ProHauz is a theme that you can use straight out of the box.

The pre-made designs are packed with visual interest, and you have plenty of space to insert your own images and promote your own products. In fact, you can make a pretty compelling one-page website with this theme.

If you want to create something with more depth, you have multiple headers and layouts to play with, and more than 20 elements.

Key Features:

• 6 full-site templates for home improvement services
• Highly visual design with images, icons, and parallax scrolling
• Over 20 individual elements available

Pricing: $69 one-time purchase

8) Constructo: Best Theme for Building Service Websites

Even though Constucto is more aimed at construction firms, this theme can definitely work for other services and trades.

It comes with 11 pre-made demos, each with a large hero image or slider to catch the attention of potential clients. In the admin area, you will find a rich selection of customization options, and you can transform any page using Visual Composer plugin.

We particularly like the fact that this theme is 100% responsive. If someone stumbles upon your professional website on their phone, they should be able to navigate easily.

Key Features:

• 11 pre-made demos for different services
• Works with Visual Composer plugin and WooCommerce
• Design is 100% responsive and easy to customize

Pricing: $59 one-time purchase

9) Plumbing: Best Theme for Handyman Plumbers

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Plumbing is one of the cleanest themes on this list. It practically sparkles like white bathroom tiles.

Just as importantly, this dazzling theme comes with three pristine site templates, an assortment of page designs, and some really useful lead generation features.

For example, this theme allows you to set up online bookings, build your own pricing tables, and fill out ready-made testimonial blocks. It works with Elementor and WooCommerce, as well.

Key Features:

• Clean, white design with three demo templates
• Online booking system, ecommerce options, testimonials
• Works with Elementor, MailChimp, and WooCommerce

Pricing: $69 one-time purchase

10) MrFix: Most Versatile Theme for Home Repair Services

With 60 pre-built elements and a striking default color scheme, MrFix delivers a generous helping of professional polish.

This particular theme is designed for appliance repair businesses, but it can work for a variety of services. The package includes three homepage designs, each with a strong call-to-action. You can drag and drop modules into any order, and change the colors as you see fit.

In the admin area, MrFix helps you with SEO. The theme has been optimized for search, and it has built-in fields for your meta description, site title, and more.

Key Features:

• 3 homepage layouts and 60 pre-built elements
• Strong call to action in default designs
• Good SEO features

Pricing: $59 one-time purchase

11) Boldman: Best Theme Builder Template for Tradespeople

Want to try your hand at website design? Boldman is a theme for tradespeople that works with both Elementor and WPBakery — two popular drag-and-drop page builders.

In fact, this highly rated theme enhances these plugins with over 70 custom elements, and builders for both headers and footers. You also have plenty of layouts to choose from.

If all that customization sounds like hard work, Boldman provides an easier option. With over 100 full-site templates and 25 page demos, it’s easy to see why this theme is popular with business owners.

Key Features:

• Extended support for Elementor and WPBakery page builders
• Over 70 custom elements and 100 full-site templates
• Support for WooCommerce online stores

Pricing: $66 one-time purchase

12) Renovation: Best Page Builder Theme for Construction

If you’re definitely going to use a page builder, you might want to consider using the Renovation theme. It was designed specifically for use with Elementor and WPBakery.

This theme gives you seven different homepage layouts to work with, along with three different blog layouts and 14 page templates. Each design can be rearranged using your chosen page builder, and you can build your own headers and footers.

The default look here is slick, if a little uninspiring. But it’s easy enough to change things up using the various theme options.

Key Features:

• Designed for Elementor and WPBakery page builders
• 7 homepage designs and 3 blog layouts
• Support for WooCommerce, Google Fonts, and Contact Form 7

Pricing: $59 one-time purchase

13) Construction: Best Full-Screen Theme for Trade Websites

While the Construction theme offers a variety of more standard layouts, the main attraction here is the full-screen homepage.

This design allows you to display a large image related to your work, supplemented with blocks that contain key links. It’s a super-engaging template that should deliver plenty of leads.

Aside from this particular layout, you have multiple homepage designs, page templates, headers, and footers to experiment with. And as a bonus, this theme even comes with a couple of useful SEO plugins.

Key Features:

• Full screen homepage layout and other options
• Works with Elementor and WPBakery
• Fast to load, and SEO plugins included

Pricing: $69 one-time purchase

14) ElectroServ: Best Theme for Electrical Services

If your trade is electrical services, ElectroServ would make a good choice for your professional website. It would actually work well for almost any trade.

As with many other themes on this list, you get page builder features, loads of pre-made templates, and plenty of customization options. The design is simple but effective, and ElectroServ works with third-party plugins like MailChimp and Visual Composer.

We also like how easily you can set up online bookings with this theme, and create good-looking forms.

Key Features:

• Page builder features and pre-made templates
• Works with MailChimp, Visual Composer, and Contact Form 7
• Easily set up online booking and contact forms

Pricing: $69 one-time purchase

15) SturdyFix: Best Ready-Made Theme for Handyman Websites

While SturdyFix does work with the Elementor page builder, the real advantage of this theme comes from the ready-made templates.

All of the designs are modern and clean, with premium stock images included. This means you can publish your new site with minimal editing.

Of course, you can still adjust the colors and fonts if you want. SturdyFix also provides an extensive menu of widgets and shortcodes, including a testimonials list and a box for listing your service areas.

Key Features:

• Full-site templates with images included
• Extensive shortcodes and widgets
• Compatible with Elementor

Pricing: $79 one-time purchase

16) Yellow Hats: Best Theme for Construction Business Websites

Yellow Hats is primarily aimed at the construction industry. It comes with 35 full-site demos, each with an appealing full-width slider and prominent CTAs.

These layouts are designed using a huge array of reusable UI elements, which you can place anywhere using the Visual Composer page builder. More than 350 of these modules are available, each with its own settings.

Yellow Hats also offers loads of different menu options, several blog layouts, 15 slider presets, and plenty of theme options.

Key Features:

• 35 full-site demos and 350 UI elements
• Works with Visual Composer and WooCommerce
• Multiple homepage, menu, and blog layouts

Pricing: $49 one-time purchase

17) Fixtor: Best Modern Theme for Handyman Services

There is nothing particularly flashy about Fixtor — and that’s precisely why we like it.

This theme applies the principles of modern web design in a package that is perfect for sole traders and small home maintenance firms. The five different homepage templates are clean and efficient, with your business phone number displayed prominently or a link to your contact page.

Another nice feature is the visual layout on the services page. Using small squares in a grid, you can easily show off your talents and add some details.

Key Features:

• Clean, modern design with compelling layouts and white space
• Works with Elementor, MailChimp, and WooCommerce
• Search optimization and social media integrations

Pricing: $49 one-time purchase

18) Sway: Best Multipurpose Theme for Tradespeople 

You don’t necessarily need a specialized template to make a great website. Sway is a general small business theme that you can adapt to your trade, and it will look fantastic.

This theme comes with over 300 template blocks and 50 content elements, which you can piece together using the WPBakery page builder. The default styling is impeccable, and extensive theme options allow you to make any number of changes.

With 18 portfolio layouts and four project templates, Sway also helps you to showcase your previous work.

Key Features:

• Page builder with 300 elements and 50 content blocks
• Numerous blog, portfolio, and online store templates
• 45 full-site designs

Pricing: $59 one-time purchase

19) Handyman: Best Responsive Theme for Repair Service Websites

Pretty desktop themes are great, but more than half of people now search on mobile devices. The Handyman theme will put you in prime position to catch those potential clients.

Based on Visual Composer code, the layout of this theme adapts beautifully to smaller screens, with swipe controls and mobile-friendly sliders.

The search optimization of this theme is another strength, and you get a nice selection of custom widgets to spice up footers and sidebars.

Key Features:

• Responsive design with strong mobile optimization
• SEO and ecommerce features
• Various homepage layouts, built with Visual Composer

Pricing: $69 one-time purchase

20) HomeCare: Best One-Click Handyman Website Theme

If you want to create a site without putting in hours of effort, HomeCare is worth your attention.

Based on Elementor and a collection of other plugins, this theme allows you to install a clean, responsive template with a couple of clicks. You get multiple ready-made pages to choose from, and you can even use the stock images from the default design.

In terms of functionality, you can build your email list with MailChimp and set up shop with Ecwid.

Key Features:

• Ready to publish in a couple of clicks
• Easy to adapt using Elementor
• SEO friendly and responsive

Pricing: $67 one-time purchase

Best Free Themes for Handyman Service Websites

Don’t fancy paying for a premium theme? You’re in luck. The following five themes are all completely free, and they offer many of the same features as the premium themes above.

21) Chique Construction: Best Free Handyman Theme with Slider

If you compare Chique Construction with many premium themes on this list, you probably won’t notice much difference.

A child theme of the Chique theme, this freebie has a stylish image slider at the top of the homepage, and sections for testimonials and portfolio projects. It’s also responsive, and you get a decent selection of theme options.

Key Features:

• Great homepage slider
• Testimonial and portfolio content types
• Responsive design with theme options

22) Building Construction Architecture: Free Bootstrap Theme for Handyman Websites

It might not have the catchiest name, but Building Construction Architecture is a solid free choice for any trade business.

Based on Bizberg, this child theme uses the Bootstrap framework to adapt to different devices and browsers. The base design is pretty straightforward and modern, and support for Elementor means you can make it your own.

Key Features:

• Responsive design based on the Bootstrap framework
• SEO friendly
• Works with Elementor

23) Construction Kit: Best Free Page Builder Theme for Tradespeople

At first glance, Construction Kit seems like a very simple theme. But because it works with a long list of page builders, anyone can turn it into something special.

You can use this theme with Elementor, Beaver Builder, Brizy, KingComposer, and other similar apps. The responsive design works well on mobile devices, and WooCommerce support means you can set up your own online store.

Key Features:

• Works with most page builder plugins
• SEO friendly and responsive
• Supports WooCommerce

24) Blocksy: Best Free Lightweight Theme for Handyman Websites

This all-purpose theme is free, incredibly fast, and optimized for page builders.

You don’t necessarily need to use a drag-and-drop editor to get the most out of Blocksy. The basic design is super clean, and you can import various starter sites with the one-click installation.

If you’re happy to be more involved with the design process, you can work with Gutenberg, Brizy, Elementor, or Beaver Builder.

Key Features:

• Very impressive speed
• One-click starter sites available
• Works with Brizy, Elementor, and Beaver Builder

25) Construction Landing Page: Free Handyman Theme for Inquiries

Many free themes skip the features that make WordPress useful for business. Not so with Construction Landing Page.

This speedy, responsive theme slaps an inquiry form at the top of your homepage, meaning potential clients don’t have to navigate to make contact.

Visitors who want more information can visit your services and client sections, and you can build a stylish little portfolio with this theme. It has great user reviews, too.

Key Features:

• Fast and responsive design
• Call-to-action on default homepage
• Portfolio, services, and client sections

How to Build a Great Handyman Website

Of course, choosing a theme is only part of the process of setting up your site. Here’s a quick guide to building the best handyman website the world has ever seen:

• Grab a memorable domain — Register a domain that matches the name of your business. Alternatively, choose something short, snappy, and memorable.
• Find a reliable hosting provider — Dreamhost offers hosting with a 100% uptime guarantee, and some of our packages come with WordPress pre-installed.
• Optimize your site — From theme options to the site title, it’s worth taking some time to get your new WordPress website set up correctly.
• Choose your pages — You don’t need a million pages to have a great website. But for a handyman or trade business, we would recommend having services and contact pages, as a minimum.
• Decorate your site with high-quality images — It’s easy to ruin a beautiful theme with bad photos. On the flip side, adding high-quality images to your website can really grab the attention of visitors.
• Take advantage of plugins — Check out the WordPress plugin directory for instant upgrades to security, performance, SEO, and much more.
• Highlight your results — In writing and pictures, make sure to talk about what you have achieved for previous customers. You can mention years of experience, but people mainly want to know about results.

Complete each of the steps mentioned above, and you should be near to publishing your handyman or trade website. The whole process shouldn’t take you longer than a few hours; our guide to WordPress will help you with the details.

If you get stuck, remember that DreamHost is here to simplify this process for you. From WordPress hosting and custom web design to SEO and website management, our team of in-house experts can help you build the ultimate online brand.

Do More with DreamPress

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

Check Out Plans

The post 25 WordPress Themes Perfect for Your Handyman Website appeared first on Website Guides, Tips & Knowledge.

For any writer trying to build an audience or attract professional clients, a good author website is essential.

Many writers choose to create their digital presence with WordPress. It’s easy to use and optimized for publishing, after all.

If you decide to follow this path, you will need to select a design. But with thousands of WordPress themes aimed at authors and journalists, the options can feel overwhelming.

To help you narrow down the options, we have searched high and low for the best themes for writers. Here are our top picks!

Best Themes for Authors and Novelists

To start our roundup, let’s keep it literary. The following themes are all good choices if you want to promote your author brand and sell your latest books in style.

1) Astra: Best Author Theme for Customization

Optimized for the WordPress Site Editor and third-party page builders, Astra provides a complete no-code design package.

The base theme is very clean and readable, and Pro users can choose their own fonts and colors. If you’re looking to save time, Astra Pro includes a library of 180 full-site templates.

Another key feature of Astra is performance. With a load time of half a second, you won’t keep your readers waiting.

Key Features:

• Lots of customization options
• Works with most popular site builders
• Lightweight theme with strong performance

Price: Free, Astra Pro from $47/year or $227 lifetime license

2) BookWise: Best Theme Template for Selling Books

BookWise isn’t strictly a standalone theme — it’s actually one of the default setups for the Thrive Theme builder. Much like Astra, this gives you the option to build out your own design or choose something from a vast template library.

The difference here is that the blocks and templates are aimed at authors, so you can create sections for reviews, characters, purchase links, and more.

This template’s focus is mainly on selling books. It lets you easily promote author events, and set up your own online store.

Key features:

• Drag-and-drop customization
• Template library with designs aimed at authors
• Events and e-commerce features baked in

Pricing: $99 as part of the Thrive Theme Builder

3) MyBook: Best Theme for Promoting Your Latest Release

This theme has a homepage design that really helps show off your latest title. It also includes an author bio section, and an area for placing your affiliate ecommerce links (e.g. Amazon, Bookshop).

If you prefer to sell your book via your own site, MyBook is compatible with WooCommerce. In addition, a built-in email newsletter feature makes it easy to keep in touch with your audience, and reusable content blocks allow you to build custom portfolio pages.

Key Features:

• Front page design that displays a book cover
• WooCommerce support for selling direct
• Newsletter integrations for building your email list

Price: $49 one-time purchase

4) Book: Best Author Theme for Promoting eBooks

Made for selling digital titles, Book is a premium theme that provides a visually appealing landing page design.

The default layout is made for promoting ebook titles, but you can use the built-in theme builder to create your design. This theme comes with FontAwesome and Google Fonts ready to use, as well.

You can find many more customization options behind the scenes. Given all these options, we appreciate the incredibly thorough documentation that comes with this theme.

Key features:

• Theme builder and customization options
• Strong landing page design with call-to-action
• Native support for Google Fonts, FontAwesome, MailChimp, and Twitter

Pricing:  $59 one-time purchase

5) Read WP: Best Author Theme for Readability

With an excellent choice of fonts and plenty of negative space, this premium theme is perfect for any of the minimalists among us.

If you find yourself wanting to change things up though, Read WP provides access to 600 Google Fonts and three different layouts. Professional writers will appreciate the portfolio feature, and the design is fully responsive — so it looks the part on all devices.

Key Features:

• Elegant typography that highlights your writing
• Three different blog layouts
• Dedicated portfolio section

Price: $49 one-time purchase

6) Book Author: Best Theme for Self Publishers

There’s something about the Book Author theme that feels very Penguin Classics. Perhaps it’s the bold scheme, or the particular way in which at which the books are displayed.

Nevertheless, this theme is certainly aimed at self-publishing authors — particularly folks with multiple titles or a book series. The design is crisp, with six possible layouts, an advanced homepage slider, and the ability to create an online catalog. Plus, you can sell digital downloads of your various works.

Key features:

• Multiple layouts
• Huge array of cataloging and ecommerce options
• Easy to customize with colors and fonts

Pricing: $69 one-time purchase

7) Gindur: Best Theme for Online Novels

And now, for something a little different.

Gindur features medieval inspired typography, but the design is cutting-edge — Built for publishing stories, this theme is both responsive and Retina-ready. It’s snappy as all get out, too.

Most aspects of Gindur are customizable, so you can easily swap out that ornate blackletter font if you’d like. Meanwhile, built-in SEO optimization could help give you a head start on other writers in your genre.

Key features:

• Set up for online publishing
• Responsive, Retina-ready, and fast to load
• SEO optimization

Pricing: $39 one-time purchase

8) Book Landing Page: Best Free Theme for Authors

If you only want a simple one-page website to promote your writing, the free version of Book Landing Page might cover your needs.

The design of this theme lets you show off a single title alongside a big old buy button. Further down the page, you have seven sections to play with, including a tabbed box for preview snippets. It feels best suited to non-fiction titles, but you could use it for any type of book.

While it’s not the most visually distinctive template on this list, you really can’t complain for the low low price of $0.

Key features:

• Seven home page sections
• Social media integration and search optimization
• Ready for translation

Pricing: Free, with Premium upgrade available for $59

9) Novela: Best Author Theme for Readers

This innovative theme allows you to create immersive previews of your ebooks, complete with page-turning animations.

The default landing page is pretty striking, too, with a big background image and parallax scrolling effects. Just as importantly, you have sections for your author bio, and for introducing your characters.

On the business side, Novela allows you to set up and sell digital downloads. In fact, the whole theme is really optimized for ebook sales.

Key Features:

• Unique book-like preview mode
• Optimized for digital downloads
• Visually striking design with loads of customization options

Pricing: $59 one-time purchase

10) Leona: The Most Powerful Theme for Authors

Featuring a dazzling assortment of shortcodes and widgets, Leona is perhaps the most powerful author focused theme in this list.

That’s not the only thing we like — this theme offers WooCommerce and MailChimp integrations, social media widgets, Google Fonts support, and a preview mode similar to the one in Novela.

Just as importantly, the design of Leona is crisp, contemporary, and completely responsive.

Key features:

• Loads of shortcodes and widgets built in
• Integrates with MailChimp, WooCommerce, and Twitter
• Modern design and excellent documentation

Pricing: $64 one-time purchase

11) Bookory: Best Online Book Store Theme

If you’re trying to create more of an online store than just another author site, consider using Bookory.

This theme allows you to choose from five handsome front page designs, each carefully honed for ecommerce. You also get five product page layouts to choose from, and dedicated templates for your author page.

Bookory lets you get even more creative via the Elementor theme builder. That said, you might want to stick with the default options, as this theme has a good PageSpeed score out of the box.

Key Features:

• Slick, responsive ecommerce store design
• Multiple front page and product page templates
• Works with WooCommerce and Elementor

Pricing: $69 one-time purchase

12) Auteur: Best Blogging Theme for Authors

Blogging can be a good way to promote your next book and encourage interactions with readers. But not all blogging themes are suited to selling books.

Auteur bridges this gap with 10 stylish blogging layouts and three commerce designs. It also has everything you would expect from a dedicated author theme, such as email signup forms, individual book pages, and author bio sections.

If you want to go off-piste, Auteur lets you build layouts via the WPBakery Plugin. This makes it a little more complex to use than some other themes — and somewhat less performant if you go too wild with the page builder — but it is still very flexible.

Key Features:

• Layouts for books, blogging, and ecommerce
• Block-based theme building options
• Integrations with WooCommerce, Contact Form 7, and MailChimp

Pricing: $60 one-time purchase

13) ChapterOne: Best Page Builder Theme for Authors

For authors who want to build a website that stands out from the crowd, ChapterOne could be a good purchase.

Although this theme is really aimed at publishers, there is plenty to interest individual writers. The front page gives you ample opportunities to show off your new book and older titles. You can also set up shop with support for digital editions and even audiobooks.

Flexibility is another strength of ChapterOne, with over 800 Google Fonts, multiple blog layouts and header types, and plenty of useful shortcodes.

Key Features:

• Several homepage designs, each optimized for promoting books
• Contemporary design that can be customized
• Powerful ecommerce templates including various media types

Pricing: $79 one-time purchase

14) Brooklyn: Best One-Click Theme for Authors

Although Brooklyn offers a bewildering array of customization options, this theme makes it easy to set up an author site.

This is due to the 52 ready-made site templates that come free with the theme. In the library, you will find some great options for building your site, and you can install each design with just a click.

If you want to make adjustments, Brooklyn gives you 60 blocks to play with and over 100 customization panels to explore. It even has an advanced slider maker.

It all might be a bit overwhelming for first-time WordPress users, but power users will love it.

Key Features:

• 52 ready-made site templates
• Block-based page builder with 60 elements
• Over 2,500 individual customization options

Pricing: $59 one-time purchase

15) Bridge: Author Theme With the Most Features

Designed for creatives, Bridge is another theme that packs in a phenomenal number of features. And as with Brooklyn, you have plenty of ready-made demo sites to choose from.

If you prefer to build something yourself, this theme works with two page builders. With over 200 individual elements at your disposal, you should be able to cook up something special.

This all comes in addition to e-commerce features, full integration with your social media profiles, interactive tours, powerful search, and much more.

Key Features:

• Works with two page builders, includes 200 elements
• 610 one-click demo sites
• Ecommerce, social media, and search features

Pricing: $69 one-time purchase

Best Themes for Bloggers and Journalists

Of course, not every writer wants to be a New York Times bestselling author.

If you’re more interested in blogging, journaling, or journalism, the following themes should be a good fit for your online presence.

16) Typology: Best Minimalist Theme for Writers

If you really want your words to shine, Typology could be the theme for you.

The design is much more stripped back in comparison to some other themes on this list, but there is still plenty of visual impact, thanks to bold color choices.

You can change those colors if you want, and the theme provides plenty of control over ​​typography. Plus, you can’t forget the impressive performance.

Key features:

• Minimalist yet bold design with focus on written content
• Well suited to blogs, with ad units included
• Strong performance and SEO optimization

Pricing: $59 one-time purchase

17) Maktub: Best Magazine-Style Theme

At the other end of the web design spectrum, you will find Maktub. This colorful theme delivers content with some visual punch, although the focus is still on typography.

This is also a theme built for speed. It has a perfect PageSpeed score of 100, and MakTub is optimized for AMP. This functionality could be very valuable if you’re trying to attract new readers.

On top of this lightweight frame, you can add 11 custom widgets and customize various parts of the theme — with only one plugin required.

Key Features:

• Bold color scheme and strong typography
• Good performance
• AMP optimization

Pricing: $35 one-time purchase

18) Gutentype: Most Versatile Theme for Bloggers

Designed to work with the native WordPress site editor and Elementor website builder, this shapeshifting theme lets you choose from 18 different premade page layouts.

While not explicitly designed for writers, Gutentype still delivers your written content in style. The design is clean, with plenty of white space and excellent optimization for mobile devices.

Aside from the layouts, this theme allows you to get creative with custom post types, social media integrations, dozens of shortcodes, and seven widget areas.

Key Features:

• 18 different page layouts
• Clean, modern website design
• Works with WooCommerce, Elementor, and WordPress’ site editor

Pricing: $69 one-time purchase

19) Starter: Best Minimal Theme for Bloggers

One of the key selling points of the Starter theme is that it contains only 55 files.

Unsurprisingly, this means you have fewer preset layouts to choose from, but both of the available options are very easy on the eyes, and the theme delivers good performance thanks to clean code.

Even with the small size of this theme, you still get five post types, customizable colors and fonts, and a blog template that is highly readable.

Key Features:

• Lightweight theme with clean code
• Very modern, minimal design with focus on readability
• Three post layouts (left, right, without sidebar)

Pricing: $49 one-time purchase

20) Gema: Best Minimalist Theme for Personal Blogs

Opening a site made with Gema is like flicking through the pages of a glossy magazine. It’s a style of elegant fonts, white space, and large images.

We particularly like the header area of this theme. The name of your site is writ large, and the vertical menu is inset so that it blends in nicely with your latest posts.

In addition, Gema has features that will impress website visitors in other ways. Along with the usual color and font options, you can create drop caps and introduce a light hover effect wherever it feels right.

Key Features:

• Distinctive, minimalist front page design
• Interesting effects and typography
• Responsive, search optimized, good performance

Pricing: €115 (~$128) one-time purchase or €75/year (~$83)

21) Jason: Best Theme for Independent Journalists

A different theme from the same stable, Jason would work well for anyone who is trying to build a personal brand in journalism.

The design here is halfway between a simple blog and a digital magazine, with space devoted to images and nice touches of color throughout.

We particularly like the built-in logo generator, which lets you experiment with different typography to create something unique. Jason also has a good archive section, which means readers can find posts on any topic without the help of a search engine.

Key Features:

• Lively design with large images and a sidebar
• Customizable colors and fonts, and built-in logo builder
• Works nicely with WordPress’ site editor

Pricing: €115 (~$128) one-time purchase or €75/year (~$83)

22) Tove: Best Free Theme for Bloggers

This pretty little theme from Swedish designer, Anders Noren, is completely free and packed with personality.

Although originally designed for café and restaurant websites, you can easily adapt Tove for blogging. The default design is playful yet clean, with easy-to-read fonts and over 40 preset block patterns.

Because many of these elements include buttons, you could link to an external purchase page or another author platform.

Key Features:

• Playful, colorful design
• Over 40 block patterns
• Lightweight at under 200 kilobytes

Pricing: Free

Best Themes for Professional Writers

If you’re the type of author who prefers to work for other people, you might need a slightly different type of website.

In this final section, we’re going to focus on themes that should work for professional copywriters, ghostwriters, and content marketers.

23) Corner: Best Portfolio Theme for Writers

A key part of securing work as a writer is impressing potential clients with your body of work. Corner has a dedicated portfolio section for this purpose, with various layout options to choose from.

There is nothing very flashy about this theme. The look is clean, refined, and polished. But with Elementor integration and plenty of customization options, you can easily make it your own.

Key Features:

• Clean, professional design
• Portfolio feature with several layouts
• Block editor support plus Elementor and Google Fonts

Pricing: $49/year

24) Sydney Pro: Best Professional Theme for Writers

Everything about Sydney Pro has been finely tuned with creative professionals in mind. This freemium theme lets you choose from a variety of layouts, headers, and footers, each promoting your brand in a different way.

The design here is razor sharp and stripped back, although there are splashes of color for key elements. Sydney Pro also lets you create a compelling blog, utilize pre-made sections, and build multiple sidebars.

Plus, it works with tools like HubSpot, Tutor LMS, WooCommerce, and Toolset.

Key Features:

• Refined, professional design with pre-built sections
• Multiple homepage, blog, and sidebar layouts
• Works with a range of third-party platforms

Pricing: Free version available, Pro from $69/year

25) Neve: Most Flexible Theme for Professional Writers

Used by a wide range of business owners, Neve is fast and flexible.

You can choose from over 100 default layouts, all of which deliver good performance. Alternatively, you can use a theme builder of your choice. Neve works with Beaver Builder, Elementor, Visual Composer, and many more.

What’s more, Neve adds features to these third-party plugins — so you get an extended version of Elementor and WooCommerce with this theme. It’s pretty nifty if you want to make something unique.

Key Features:

• Fast, lightweight theme with 100 preset designs
• Works with Elementor, Brizy, Beaver Builder, Visual Composer, and more
• Extends popular plugins like WooCommerce

Pricing: Free version with limited features; Pro version is €69/year (~$77)

How to Build a Great Author Website

Each of the themes mentioned above can provide a great starting point for building your author website.

But if you want to maximize the impact of your new site, there are a few tasks you should complete before you launch. Here’s a quick step-by-step guide:

1. Register a unique domain name — Use your name, your brand, or even your tagline; just make sure it’s something memorable.
2. Choose a reliable host — At DreamHost, we offer 100% Uptime Guarantee to ensure that your readers can always access your author site.
3. Optimize the design for readability — Don’t worry about dazzling design; make sure readers can enjoy your work.
4. Include a call to action on your homepage — Don’t be shy about selling your book; make sure to put at least one buy button on your homepage.
5. Add social proof — Sharing testimonials is a proven way to persuade potential customers.
6. Create a blog — Most of the best author websites include a blog, and publishing regular posts can be an effective book marketing strategy.
7. Ask people to opt-in — Start building your email list so you can share news with readers, like a new book release or guest podcast appearance.
8. Let your readers get in touch — Fans of your work might want to send their appreciation or ask questions, so make sure to include appropriate contact information or even a standalone contact page.

We hope this guide has given you some ideas for your website and the confidence to start building your brand. Just remember: if you get stuck, we have a team of expert web designers ready to help!

Do More with DreamPress

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

Check Out Plans

The post 25 WordPress Themes Perfect for Your Author Website appeared first on Website Guides, Tips & Knowledge.

It’s super easy to monetize your WordPress website with Google AdSense. Better yet, it’s a hassle-free approach since Google matches you with relevant companies and lets you integrate ads seamlessly into your pages.

In this post, we’ll take a closer look at using ads to monetize your site. Then, we’ll introduce you to Google AdSense and show you three ways it can help you make serious money from your WordPress website. Let’s get started!

The Different Types of Ads You Can Sell on Your Site

Typically, you can choose from four main ad types on your site. This section will explain each of them to help you pick the best option for your pages.

CPC/ PPC Ads

CPC (Cost Per Click), also known as PPC (Pay Per Click) ads, are some of the most popular options. In short, you make money every time a user clicks on one of your advertisements.

For example, you might price your ad space at $2 per click — When a brand approaches you with a PPC/CPC campaign of $2000, it’s essentially paying for 1000 clicks on your site. The company will pay you every time the ad is clicked on until they’ve exhausted all of its budget.

CPM Ads

Cost Per Mille (CPM) ad pays you for every 1,000 impressions. Typically, “impression” refers to the number of times the ad is viewed on your site. Therefore, this advertisement tends to work best on high-traffic websites.

These ads are popular with advertisers because they only need to pay you once their ads have been viewed. Like PPC ads, a $2000 campaign with an ad cost of $2 enables brands to gain 1 million impressions (or views) on your site.

CPM ads are often cheaper than PPC ads because they require less effort on your part. All you need to do is advertise on your pages, and you’ll get paid when visitors land on your site.

Affiliate Ads

Affiliate ads are also known as CPA (Cost Per Action) because they rely on user behaviors. However, advertisers can be super selective about the action(s) they want to be completed.

For example, some businesses will only pay you when a user clicks on the ad and completes a purchase. However, some companies will pay you just for generating a lead. This means that users only need to click on the advertisement.

Affiliate ads are much more expensive on a CPA basis. While you can find PPC ads going for $2, affiliate ads tend to be at the higher end of the scale at around $50 per action.

This means there’s the potential to generate higher earnings than other ad types. However, there’s no guarantee that your visitors will complete the desired action.

Flat-Fee Ads

Flat-fee ads have the most straightforward pricing model, so they’re popular with advertisers and website owners who don’t want to mess about with calculations.

Just as they sound, flat-fee ads pay according to a predetermined price. For instance, you might set your rate at $2000 per month for a banner ad on your website.

Unlike other ad types, your earnings aren’t based on views or actions — Once the company stops paying the fee, you take the ad down from your website.

Why You Should Consider Monetizing Your Website with Ads

Although it might sound like a lot of work, there are many reasons to consider monetizing your website with ads. For starters, at the most obvious level, it’s one of the easiest ways to start making passive income.

This is especially true for high-traffic sites that could be generating plenty of revenue. Plus, placing ads enables you to make money without significant changes to your business or content.

Moreover, ads are great for content creators and bloggers with no physical services or products to sell:

Of course, the downside to running advertisements is that you risk annoying your visitors and disrupting the User Experience (UX). However, since ads are so widely used now, most web users expect to see them at some point while browsing.

Better yet, with advanced targeting algorithms, it’s now easier to find ads that fit your branding and customer base. That way, you can display advertisements that offer value, making them less annoying.

An Introduction to Google AdSense

There are many different ways to sell ads on your website. For instance, you might sell ad space directly if you want to handle negotiations. However, this approach can be a little intimidating for many website owners.

Alternatively, you could reach out to specific advertisers you want to work with, which can be a great way to form authentic collaborations with brands you admire. However, this option works best if you’ve already established a strong presence or have some valuable connections.

The easiest way to sell ads on your site, though, is to use an automated advertising network like Google AdSense:

Google AdSense is a network of advertisers and websites, all vetted by Google. The platform matches you with suitable advertisers that fit your brand and audience. Plus, Google handles all of the payment processing.

Therefore, it’s a super simple way to get started. This makes Google AdSense a popular choice for website owners that prefer to focus on building their businesses or creating great content.

Additionally, this approach enables you to display more relevant advertisements to your visitors. This is because Google runs different ads based on factors such as cookies and demographics.

How You’ll Get Paid with Google AdSense

The way you get paid with Google AdSense depends mainly on the types of ads that you run. As stated before, if you choose PPC/CPC, you’ll get paid every time a visitor clicks on your advertisement. The rates vary according to your website quality, niche, ad size, and more.

On the other hand, if you opt for CPM ads, you’ll be paid just for advertising on your web pages. These advertisements tend to pay less than PPC bids because they require far less effort on your part.

With an Active View CPM, the impression must be measured as “viewable” — It works similarly to the CPM model but with additional criteria.

For example, at least 50% of the ad needs to be shown for at least a second. Therefore, the bid for Active View CPM tends to be higher than traditional CPM ads.

Finally, you can get paid for CPE (Cost Per Engagement) ads. In this instance, your earnings are generated according to the level of user activity on your site, such as clicking or hovering over a lightbox.

How to Monetize Your WordPress Website with Google AdSense (3 Ways)

To get started with Google AdSense, you’ll first need to create an account with Google. If you use a service like Gmail, Docs, or Drive, you might already have one. If not, you can create a new account by visiting Google AdSense.

Before you continue, it’s important to know that there are specific eligibility requirements for Google AdSense. For instance, you’ll need to ensure that your content complies with the AdSense program policies, and you must be the website owner.

If you meet all the criteria, you can create your Google AdSense account by clicking on Get Started. This will take you to a short signup page where you’ll need to fill in some details about your website:

Complete all the fields and select Start using AdSense at the bottom of the page.

You’ll have to wait for your account to be approved, which might take a little while. If your site isn’t approved, it might be too new, or you don’t have enough content yet. Other reasons for declining your account include plagiarized material, security issues, or problems with your website’s code.

Once your account is approved, log in to Google AdSense to retrieve your ad code. You’ll need it to display ads on your site.

There are a few different ways to implement Google ads on your pages. Firstly, you can insert your ads manually. Otherwise, you might use a plugin or enable Google AdSense auto ads. This way, Google will decide when, where, and how many ads to show on your pages.

Method 1: Manually Implement Google AdSense Ads in WordPress

The manual route might be the best option if you’d prefer to place ads individually on your website. This way, you’ll get more control over the placement and display of the advertisements.

To get started with this method, head to your Google AdSense account and click on Ads in the menu to the left. Then, select By ad unit:

Here, you’ll be able to select your ad types, such as display, in-feed, or multiplex. Display ads are the most common because they can go anywhere on your site. Meanwhile, in-feed advertisements sit in a list of articles or products on your pages, in-article ones display within your content, and multiplex ads display in a grid.

Make your selection. Then, you’ll be taken to a new screen where you can give your ad a name and select the appropriate size:

It’s also a good idea to make your ad responsive. That way, you can optimize your content for mobile devices and tablets.

At this point, click on Create, and Google will generate your ad code:

Now, you can insert your ad code within a new post or page in WordPress. Alternatively, you can add it as a widget by going to Appearance > Widgets in your dashboard.

Whichever way you choose, you’ll need to add a new block (or widget) and select Custom HTML:

Then, enter your code and save the changes.

Method 2: Use an Ad Management Plugin to Display Google AdSense Ads in WordPress

If you’re a beginner, you might not want to mess around with code on your site. Fortunately, you can use a plugin to display Google ads.

There are several plugins available to help you display ads in WordPress. Here are some of the best tools to consider:

• Adsanity: Enables you to manage direct and automated ads in WordPress.
• Ad Inserter: Adds the advertisement code in optimal positions on your site, such as opt-in forms, header scripts, and JavaScript.
• Ads by WPQuads: Integrates with all Google AdSense ads, including display, in-feed, and automated advertisements with fixed and responsive sizes.
• WPCode: A great option for displaying banner ads in headers and footers.
• Google Site Kit: Google’s official WordPress plugin.

All of these plugins provide an easy way to display Google AdSense ads on WordPress sites. We’ll guide you through a quick tutorial on how to get started with Ad Inserter.

Display Google AdSense Ads with Ad Inserter

To get started with Ad Inserter, you’ll need to install and activate the plugin in WordPress. First, head to Plugins > Add New.

Then, search for “Ad Inserter” and click on Install Now > Activate:

Ad Inserter supports several ad networks, so you’ll need to configure the plugin’s settings. To do this, head to Settings > Ad Inserter:

The plugin enables you to display up to 16 advertisements on your site, each with its own ad block. Better yet, you can determine specific page(s) where you want your ads to appear and even choose the exact location on each page.

For instance, if you want ads to appear in your posts, check the box that says Posts. Then, use the Insertion dropdown menu to specify the precise placement for the advertisement, such as before images, after content, or between comments:

Then, paste your Google AdSense code into Block 1 and adjust the display settings below. In our example, our ad will display after the second paragraph of our posts:

Make sure to save your settings before exiting the plugin.

Method 3: Enable Google Auto Ads in WordPress

If you’re short on time or don’t know the best locations for ads, you might prefer to use Google auto ads. This way, you only need to add one code snippet to WordPress, and Google will take care of the location, size, and type of advertisement you’ll display.

To enable Google auto ads, log in to your Google AdSense account and click on Ads. Then, switch to the By site tab:

Now, select Get code to generate the auto-ads code, and copy it:

All you need to do now is add the code snippet to the pages where you want to display your ad. For example, you might insert the code into your theme’s header between the <head></head> tags. However, it’s important to note that this snippet will disappear if you switch or update your current theme.

Therefore, it can be a better idea to use a child theme or a plugin like WPCode to manage your Google auto ads:

This also tends to be a simpler way to do things since you don’t need to edit HTML code on your pages manually.

Once you’ve installed and activated the plugin, head to Code Snippets > Header & Footer, then paste your Google auto ads code into the editor:

Now, click on Save Changes. At this point, your Google AdSense code will be added to all pages on your site.

Google AdSense Best Practices

You’re now ready to start monetizing your website with Google AdSense. Remember the following important considerations to get the most out of your ads:

• Don’t click on your own ads. Clicking on your ads is fraudulent and can result in Google disabling your AdSense account.

• Avoid placing ads on e-commerce sites. If you sell products or services, you won’t want to redirect potential customers elsewhere to spend their money.
• Experiment with different ad units. Straight off the bat, you’re unlikely to know the types of ads that will resonate with your users best. Therefore, it’s a good idea to try out different ad sizes and placements and see which gets the best results.
• Track your results. It’s important to measure the performance of your ad spaces to identify areas you can improve. Tools like Google Site Kit enable you to analyze and optimize your site.

Additionally, Google has its own list of ad best practices that you can check out to improve your campaigns.

Monetize Your Website with Google AdSense

Monetizing your website with ads allows you to make a passive income without lifting a finger. Plus, Google AdSense provides an easy way to earn money from your site using relevant advertisements that won’t harm your UX.

To recap, here are three ways to monetize your WordPress website with Google AdSense:

1. Manually implement Google AdSense ads in WordPress using HTML.
2. Use an ad management plugin such as Ad Inserter.
3. Enable Google auto ads in WordPress.

If you want to sit back and let your website run itself, we recommend switching to managed hosting. At DreamHost, we’ll take care of your site maintenance tasks, including automated backups, optimizing your site’s speed with in-built caching, and software updates. This way, you will have more time to focus on growing your business. So check out our plans today!

Do More with DreamPress

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

Check Out Plans

The post How to Add Google AdSense to Your WordPress Website appeared first on Website Guides, Tips & Knowledge.

But if you do move or delete a page, users could potentially be presented with a 404 error that prevents them from accessing your content, often leading to an exit. If you don’t properly set up redirects, you may increase your bounce/exit rates, which harms user experience (and potentially organic rankings).

Fortunately, it is easy to create 301 redirects in WordPress — by adding a 301 redirect for moved or removed pages, users (and search engines) will be whisked off to the new, updated URL. Whether you use a redirection plugin or edit your site files, building 301 redirects can effectively fix any broken links on your site.

In this post, we’ll explain what 301 redirects are and when you might want to use them. Then, we’ll show you four ways to create a 301 redirect in WordPress. Let’s get started!

An Introduction to Redirects

To get started, you’ll need to know what redirects are. Put simply, any redirect will send users and search engines to another web address. This automatically redirects the requested URL to a different location.

As a website owner, you can use a temporary or permanent redirect to prevent your visitors from seeing error pages. These “Not Found” errors, otherwise known as 404 errors, inturrupt the browsing experience and can lead to visitors exiting your website.

There are many other different redirect types as well. Each one sends a unique HTTP status code from a web server to a browser. These codes indicate how the content is being moved.

Here are the most common URL redirect types:

• 301: Permanent redirect from one URL to another.
• 302: Temporarily redirect to a new URL.
• 303: Non-cacheable redirect to temporarily replace content.
• 307: Informs search engines that the redirect may periodically update.
• 308: Permanent redirect that disallows changes from POST to GET request methods.
• Meta refresh: Client-side redirect that often appears as a refresh countdown timer.

By far, the most used redirect type is a 301 redirect. This will inform both search engines and online users that the original resource is no longer available. Instead, it will permanently redirect to a new page.

Whenever someone clicks on the original link, they’ll automatically be taken to a different URL. The redirect will seamlessly direct users to the correct pages on your website and prevent them from seeing 404 errors.

Reasons You Might Use a 301 Redirect

Since there are different redirect types, it can be difficult to know which is right for your website. Fortunately, 301 redirects are useful when performing a few essential management tasks.

One of the most common reasons to use a 301 redirect is when you’re deleting old content. If a post is no longer relevant but still receives traffic, you’ll want to take these users to an updated resource.

In this case, 301 redirects tell search engines that you’re permanently moving the URL. Since it will preserve your traffic and backlinks, this redirect can improve your Search Engine Optimization (SEO). However, keep in mind that it can take time for search bots to discover the new page and associate it with the same ranking.

Additionally, you may implement 301 redirects if you’re moving to a new domain. If you don’t redirect your URLs, you may quickly lose your current audience. However, 301 redirects will seamlessly take visitors to your new location.

Similarly, a 301 redirect can be useful when moving from an HTTP to an HTTPS connection. To make sure users visit the secure version of your website, it’s best to permanently redirect your content.

You might also want to consolidate separate posts. After compiling the information onto one page, you can redirect all the old links to the new location.

How to Create 301 Redirects in WordPress (4 Methods)

Now that you know about 301 redirects, you may want to apply them to your website. Let’s discuss some best practices when creating 301 redirects in WordPress!

Method 1: Install a Redirection Plugin

One of the best ways to extend the native functionality of WordPress is to install a plugin. Fortunately, there are many useful plugins available for creating and managing your website’s redirects.

For example, Redirection is a free tool that adds a redirect manager to your site. You can use this plugin to set up 301 redirects, track broken links, migrate permalinks, and much more:

To get started, install and activate Redirection in WordPress. Then, navigate to Tools > Redirection. On this welcome page, click on Start Setup:

For the next step, you’ll need to decide whether you want Redirection to monitor permalinks, redirects, and 404 errors on your site. If so, enable these options and select Continue:

After this, the plugin will test your REST API to see if it can communicate with WordPress properly. Once you receive a ‘Good’ rating, you can click on Finish Setup:

Now you’ll be able to create a 301 redirect! To do this, find Tools > Redirection > Add New. Then, add your source URL and target URL:

Lastly, click on the gear icon to open additional settings. Be sure to select a 301 – Moved Permanently HTTP code:

When you’re finished, hit Add Redirect. Now, whenever users visit the old URL, their browser will automatically reroute to the new resource!

Method 2: Use Your SEO Plugin

Although you can install new redirection plugins like Redirection or Simple 301 Redirects, you may already have all the tools you need to create redirects on your website. Often, SEO plugins provide redirection managers along with Search Engine Optimization features.

Rank Math is a free SEO plugin with built-in redirection tools. With this tool, you’ll be able to enable, disable, and delete any of your site’s redirects. Plus, it even imports information from the Redirection plugin:

After you install and activate Rank Math, open the dashboard. Then, find the Redirections tool and enable it:

Now you’ll have a new Redirections tab. On this page, click on Add New:

First, you can add your original source URL, which will be the content you’re redirecting from. By hitting Add another, you can paste URLs in bulk. This can be an efficient way to consolidate multiple pieces of content into one source:

Next to each URL, choose Exact Match if you want to redirect this exact link. However, you can also enter a more general term. By selecting Contains instead, every page with that keyword will be redirected:

Under Destination URL, insert the link you want users to visit. Be sure to also select 301 Permanent Move as the redirection type before hitting Add Redirection.

Method 3: Edit Your .htaccess File

If you want to avoid installing another plugin, you can also create 301 redirects manually. Since this involves editing your site files, be sure to back up your website first. This will save a copy of your current website to revert back to if anything goes wrong.

Next, you’ll need to connect to a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) client or your host’s file manager. For DreamHost users, sign into your account panel. Then, navigate to Websites > Manage Websites > Manage Files SFTP > Manage:

This will open DreamHost’s file manager. Here, you’ll need to find the .htaccess file within the root directory:

If you don’t want to back up your entire website, you can simply download this original file. If you experience any problems, you can re-upload it to the server:

Once you locate the .htaccess file, right-click on it and select Edit. If you’re using the DreamHost file manager, a text editor will automatically open:

Right below the ‘# END WordPress’ line, add this new coding to create a 301 redirect:

RewriteEngine On
Redirect 301 /new-content/ https://mywebsite.com/new-content/

Be sure to update both of these URLs so that they’re unique to your website. Keep in mind that if you already have Rewrite Engine on in your .htaccess file’s coding, you don’t need to repeat it. You can simply copy and paste the redirect code.

As we mentioned earlier, you may want to redirect your entire website to a new domain. In this case, you can use the following coding instead:

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^olddomain.com [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www.olddomain.com [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://newdomain.com/$1 [L,R=301,NC]

If you’re migrating your website from an HTTP to HTTPS connection, you can also do this in your .htaccess file. Simply paste this code:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTPS} off
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://%{HTTP_HOST}%{REQUEST_URI} [L,R=301]

After this, save the file and close it.

Method 4: Create a Server-Side Redirect

As another alternative, you can also create 301 redirects in PHP. This will be a server-side redirect that uses header() functions.

PHP redirects are server-facing, so they can often be faster and more secure. However, this is a fairly technical process that can easily go wrong. Make sure you’re knowledgeable in PHP coding before getting started.

To properly redirect in PHP, you’ll need to write a header() function. In the location response-header field, define the URL where you want to send search engines and users:

header('HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently');
header('Location: https://www.example.com/newurl');
exit();

Be sure to include a die() or exit() function at the end of the header. Without it, search engines like Google may process the original page and ignore your new redirect.

How to Troubleshoot 301 Redirects

After you create a 301 redirect, it may not perform correctly. Sometimes, it’ll turn into a redirect chain or loop. This happens when there are multiple redirects between the original URL and the target URL.

If your website has a redirect chain, visitors can see a ‘Too many redirects’ error. Essentially, the browser won’t be able to fulfill the redirect and display the correct page.

As the site owner, you may not notice redirect chains. To check for any errors, you can enter URLs into a redirect checker like HTTP Status:

You’ll be able to paste up to 100 URLs into the text box. Then, hit Check status. At the bottom of the page, you’ll see the HTTP status code and the number of redirects:

If the page loads correctly, you’ll see a ‘200’ HTTP status code. You should also make sure there is only one redirect for every URL. Otherwise, you’ll likely have a redirect chain.

Common Redirect Mistakes

A common mistake when building website redirects is confusing 301 and 302 redirect types. Although both will redirect to a new page, they communicate with search engines in different ways. Since this can negatively impact your SEO, it’s important to know the difference.

As we mentioned earlier, 301 redirects are permanent. This will inform search crawlers to stop indexing the original content because it was permanently moved. In this case, the new content will receive the link equity of the old page.

On the other hand, 302 redirects indicate that the redirect is temporary. If you’re testing out a new redesign, you may temporarily redirect visitors to another location during development. A 302 redirect tells search engines that the original content will return, so it needs to keep its PageRank and indexing.

Additionally, you’ll want to regularly keep track of any redirects you create. If you don’t, your site could end up with infinite redirect loops that increase your bounce rate. Ultimately, you’ll want both search crawlers and online users to easily and quickly access the right content.

Lastly, make sure you redirect to updated content that is relevant to the original page. Since visitors clicked on the original link, you’ll need to provide helpful information.

This will ensure the transition is smooth, preventing users from quickly leaving and going to your competitor. Plus, it will make sure crawlers continue to understand your content so you rank higher in search results.

Permanently Redirect Old Links

If you’re trying to consolidate your online content or move to a new domain, you’ll need to set up 301 redirects. This can help you maintain steady traffic and avoid losing your high Google search ranking. Plus, redirects can prevent visitors from clicking on broken links.

To review, here’s how to create 301 redirects in WordPress:

1. Install the Redirection plugin.
2. Use an SEO plugin like Rank Math.
3. Edit your .htaccess file.
4. Create a server-side redirect with PHP.

Are you worried that your redirects will negatively affect your SEO? Here at DreamHost, we provide professional SEO marketing services to help your website rank high in search results!

Search Engine Optimization Made Easy

We take the guesswork (and actual work) out of growing your website traffic with SEO.

Learn More

The post How to Create 301 Redirects in WordPress (4 Methods) appeared first on Website Guides, Tips & Knowledge.

Fortunately, you can easily create well-designed featured images for your articles. Once you know how to find the right photos, size them correctly, and optimize them for search engines, you can instantly revitalize your WordPress posts.

In this post, we’ll explain what a featured image is. Then, we’ll share some tips on how to use them. Let’s get started!

What is a Featured Image?

In WordPress, the featured image is the visual representation of a specific post, page, or custom post type. When someone visits your website, these images will usually appear at the top of posts or in your blog feed:

Essentially, the featured image is the default thumbnail of your post. If someone shares the post on social media, this image will appear with the link:

In WordPress, the featured image settings are determined by your theme. This includes the location and size of your images.

Typically, featured images are displayed in the following places:

• The top area of posts or pages
• Pages on your website that link to blog posts, like your WordPress homepage, recommended posts section, or search results
• Thumbnails for social media links

Sometimes, featured images may be included in image galleries or sliders. You may also see them as background images.

The Advantages of Using Featured Images

If you’re new to WordPress, you might be wondering why you need a featured image for every post on your website. However, these can be the key to making a good first impression with new visitors.

After users click on a link to one of your posts, featured images are often the first thing they’ll see and this can engage them enough to continue reading the article:

You’ll likely have a list of your published posts on your homepage. You can motivate visitors to read your content by including well-designed featured images.

Plus, having a featured image for each post can help you establish visual consistency on your website:

When you share your posts on social media, featured images can help advertise your content to users browsing their feeds. A well-designed image can increase engagement and generate more clicks to your site.

What is the Ideal WordPress Featured Image Size?

As we mentioned earlier, different WordPress themes can have various sizes for featured images. However, the general size is 1200 x 628 pixels.

Here’s how this would look with the default Twenty Twenty-Two theme:

This size will work effectively with many WordPress themes. However, your featured image sizing may vary based on your personal preference and the layout of your theme.

It’s important to note that WordPress will resize your images to its default settings. Whenever you upload an image, it creates three different versions:

• Thumbnail: 150 x 150 px
• Medium: 300 x 300 px
• Large: 1024 x 1024 px

If you want to keep the original size of the featured image, this will be its ‘Full Size.’ To edit any of these sizing options, you can navigate to Settings > Media:

Here, you can update the width and height with new values. Once you save your changes, uploaded images will resize to these dimensions.

You can also add a custom featured image size. Before you do so, it’s a good idea to back up your website. After this step, you can add the following code to your functions.php file:

add_image_size( string $name, int $width, int $height, bool|array $crop = false )

Make sure to update these values with your new featured image sizes. Here’s an example of how this might look:

add_image_size( 'post-thumbnail size', 800, 1500 );

Next, you’ll need to display the new size within your theme. In your theme template file, update the_post_thumbnail() function:

if ( has_post_thumbnail() ) {
the_post_thumbnail( 'your-custom-size' );
}

Once you save the file, you’ll have a new custom-featured image!

How to Set a Featured Image in WordPress

To set a featured image, open your WordPress dashboard and create a new post. Then, in the right-hand sidebar, look for the Featured Image section:

Here, click on Set Featured Image. This will open a pop-up where you can upload your media file. Alternatively, you can select an image from your Media Library:

If you need to adjust the size, find the Edit Image button. Then, use the various editing options to scale, crop, rotate, or flip the image as needed:

When you’re done, hit Set featured image. You’ll now see a preview of the image while you create the post:

Before you publish the post, you’ll want to preview it to ensure the featured image is showing. Remember that your theme may require more specific dimensions to work correctly. You can refer to your theme’s documentation if you experience difficulties during this process.

Additionally, you can install a few plugins to make this process easier. For example, Auto Featured Image will automatically use the first photo in your post as the featured image. You can also use Default featured image to select a picture that will be used as a featured image in case you forget to add one to a post.

How to Create the Perfect WordPress Featured Image (6 Tips)

Featured images can turn your website into an engaging, media-rich experience. Let’s discuss some best practices for creating them!

1. Be Relevant and Consistent

When used correctly, featured images can enhance your blog posts and make them more attractive to visitors, but there are a few things you’ll need to keep in mind.

First, you’ll want to avoid using random images. A featured image should serve as an introduction to a post, so it needs to be relevant to the content.

For example, if you run a food blog, you probably publish posts with new recipes. In this case, your featured image can be a photo of the finished meal:

It’s also good practice to keep your featured images consistent throughout your entire website. Since these will be displayed on your homepage, archive, and blog, you’ll want photos that align with your web design:

To find the right featured image, consider your current WordPress theme and layout. Then, select a high-resolution image that can be easily scaled down. After you finish creating the post, make sure to preview it to evaluate how well the image fits into your website.

2. Avoid Using Copyrighted Images

As you’re browsing images on the Internet, you may stumble across a photo that would look great as a featured image. However, before you upload it to your WordPress site, you’ll need to ensure that it isn’t copyrighted to avoid legal issues.

When sourcing images, you can typically use anything under a Creative Commons license. These will be free to download and use on your website, except if they’re for commercial purposes.

To find Creative Commons images, open Google Images. Then, click on Tools > Usage Rights > Creative Commons licenses. Once you refine your search, you’ll get a wealth of free images to choose from:

There are also entire websites with these stock images. On a platform like Unsplash, you can download high-resolution photos that are free from copyright claims:

Another alternative is to make your own featured images. By taking photos yourself or creating graphics in Canva, you can ensure that you avoid any copyright violations. Plus, these will be completely original!

3. Optimize Featured Images to Reduce File Size

If you publish posts on a regular basis, featured images will start taking up a lot of space in your Media Library. If they aren’t optimized properly, these photos could negatively affect your site performance.

Essentially, optimizing your images involves reducing their file sizes. By compressing your featured images, you can minimize your loading time.

If you don’t do this, you could end up with a poor Core Web Vitals score. Images might take too long to render, and you’ll see performance issues in your PageSpeed Insights reports:

Fortunately, there’s an easy solution for this common image issue. A plugin like TinyPNG can automatically compress images as you upload them:

Plus, you’ll even be able to compress all images that you’ve already uploaded to your website. TinyPNG lets you bulk optimize any JPEG, PNG, or WebP images in your Media Library.

4. Regenerate Old Thumbnails

When you upload images to WordPress, it will resize them according to the pixel guidelines in your settings. Once you set new default sizes, your previously uploaded images will still have the outdated sizing.

If you want to resize your featured images, you can manually reupload them. However, this will take some time.

To solve this problem, you can install a WordPress plugin like reGenerate Thumbnails Advanced. This tool can regenerate the thumbnails for each of the images in your Media Library:

After you install and activate the plugin, go to Tools > Regenerate Thumbnails. Under Regenerate Options, select the box next to Regenerate only Featured Images:

Finally, hit Regenerate. This will automatically update all your featured images with the correct sizing.

5. Optimize Images for Search Engines

As a website owner, you probably already know how vitally important Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is. If you want to avoid paying for expensive advertising methods, you’ll want to rise to the top of search results by optimizing your content. This can help you bring in more organic traffic.

Having featured images can help you improve your site’s SEO. By simply tweaking a few elements, you can make your images more appealing to search engines and users.

First, you’ll want to make sure to add alt text. This will describe the featured image to search engines and screen readers. For instance, you could write “Orange and white cat standing in a pumpkin patch”:

Remember to include the post’s keyword in the alt text. This way, Google can understand what the post is about and rank it higher for related queries. Similarly, you can include these target keywords in the title, caption, and description for the featured image.

6. Enhance Social Post Thumbnails

Social media can be the perfect platform for promoting your blog posts. Before you encourage social sharing, it’s crucial to optimize your featured images for these platforms.

You can easily customize your social media links using a plugin like Yoast SEO. For example, the premium version enables you to see previews of your Twitter and Facebook thumbnails.

To get started, install and activate Yoast SEO. Next, find Yoast SEO > Social. On this page, fill out the URLs for your various social media pages:

Then, open a new post and scroll down to the Yoast SEO settings. In the Social tab, you can click on Select image to upload your featured image.

You can also add a title and description for each social media platform. This will give visitors a taste of your content. Once you publish the post on social media, it will have a featured image and snippet that conveys precisely what the article is about.

Use Featured Images Effectively

Featured images can help make your posts stand out. Whether people are browsing your content on social media or your website, they can look at the featured image to see what the post is about before they start reading it.

To review, here’s how you can create the perfect WordPress featured image:

1. Be relevant and consistent.
2. Find copyright-free images on platforms like Unsplash.
3. Compress featured images with TinyPNG.
4. Regenerate old thumbnails with reGenerate Thumbnails Advanced.
5. Optimize images for search engines using keyword-focused alt text.
6. Enhance social post thumbnails with Yoast SEO’s social settings.

When you create your own featured images, you can build an original website without facing copyright issues. At DreamHost, our custom website design services can help you use the right images on your site.

DreamHost Makes Web Design Easy

Our designers can create a gorgeous website from SCRATCH to perfectly match your brand and vision — all coded with WordPress so you can manage your content going forward.

Learn More

The post How to Create the Perfect WordPress Featured Image (Sizing & Design Guide) appeared first on Website Guides, Tips & Knowledge.