Blog - Hosttouch.com

+1603-574-4786
WebMail
LiveChat
Support

HOW TO CHECK WEBSITE TRAFFIC FOR ANY SITE (7 BEST TOOLS) How to Check Website Traffic for Any Site (7 Best Tools)

06 October 2021
in: Beginners Guide
Tags: ahrefs, aioseo, check website traffic for any site, Do you want to check website traffic stats for any site? We'll show you how to check website traffic for any site using the best tools in the market today., google search console, monsterinsights, semrush, serpstat, similarweb, ubersuggest

Do you want to check website traffic for any site, including your own?

Checking website traffic allows you to see how well your site performs and how it compares to your competition.

In this article, we’ll show you how to check website traffic for any website using various online tools.

Why Should You Check Your Website Traffic?

By checking your website stats, you can easily see how your website is performing.

Your website traffic data will show you where your traffic is coming from, how visitors engage with your site, and what digital marketing strategies are working.

If you want to get more email subscribers, more sales for your online store, or just more traffic overall, then you need to regularly check your website analytics.

By tracking your site’s traffic, you’ll know where your site currently stands and what you can do to improve.

Why Should You Check Your Competitor’s Website Traffic?

Analyzing your competitor’s website traffic statistics can reveal a lot of helpful information such as:

The pages and posts bringing your competitors the most traffic
Which keywords your competitors are ranking for
The channels that are driving them the most traffic

All of this information can be used to improve your content marketing strategy, link building, keyword research process, and more.

By understanding what brings your competition the most traffic, you’ll be able to target those same keywords and topics to generate more traffic for your website.

Best Tools to Check Any Website Traffic (including Competitors)

There are a lot of free and paid traffic checking tools that you can use. Each one has unique features that set them apart.

Most experts use multiple tools to check website traffic estimates for their competitors. We always recommend readers to try at least two different tools to analyze web traffic stats.

By using various tools, you’ll be able to fill in the gaps and get more accurate traffic stats for any website.

As your WordPress site and budget grow, you can invest in multiple tools to gain more insights and dominate your market.

Having said that, let’s take a look at the best tools to check how much traffic a website gets.

1. SEMRush

SEMRush is an all-in-one traffic analysis and competition research tool. It’s the best tool for analyzing and monitoring traffic for any website.

We use this tool at WPBeginner for keyword research, tracking keyword rankings, and a lot more.

Once you enter a competitor URL, you’ll get a detailed breakdown of your competitor’s total traffic.

You’ll be able to see important website metrics like the volume of monthly traffic over time, traffic distribution by country, the keywords that bring them the most traffic, and more.

The Traffic Analytics tab gives you the number of unique visitors, total visits, average visit duration, number of pageviews, and the bounce rate the site receives.

This feature is like looking into your competitor’s Google Analytics account.

Another excellent feature called Bulk Traffic Analysis lets you analyze traffic levels for multiple competitors at once.

Depending on your pricing plan, you can compare up to 200 websites. This gives you a big picture view of your niche, the websites getting the most traffic, and any traffic opportunities you can act on.

You’ll also find detailed traffic analytics reports that give you information like which sites are sending the most referral traffic, which pages on their site are the most valuable, and which locations bring them the most traffic.

You can take advantage of the 14 day trial, or the limited free plan which gives you access to basic website data.

If you want full reports, then the premium plans start at $119.95 per month, which gives you full access to competitor traffic sources, rankings, social media, and more.

2. SimilarWeb

SimilarWeb is an online website traffic checker that gives you an overview of your competitor’s traffic and which channels are the most valuable.

Instead of just providing traffic from search, you’ll get detailed reports of a website’s entire traffic strategy.

Once you run a website through the tool, you’ll get a breakdown of the overall traffic, including a country by country report.

You’ll get engagement metrics like bounce rate, number of pages viewed per visit, average visit duration, and the top traffic sources for that website.

Beyond organic search traffic, you’ll find what paid keywords bring the website traffic, what social channels are the most valuable, and the display networks the site uses to monetize.

Finally, you’ll get a detailed breakdown of the site’s audience, what kind of other sites they’re interested in, the top referring sites, and a list of competitor sites for you to research further.

The free version of the tool provides you with useful traffic data. If you require more detailed reports, then you can create an enterprise account with custom pricing.

3. Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a free tool from Google that lets you analyze your search engine traffic.

This tool gives you a complete picture of how your site is viewed by the search engines.

It shows the number of impressions, clicks, click-through rate (CTR), and the average position of your keywords in the search engines.

This helps you understand what keywords you’re ranking for and the search volume they’re bringing in. This information can help you improve your traffic.

For example, if you find that you’re ranking in position 11, then you can optimize the blog post to try to move it to the first page of the search results.

You can also see which pages are indexed, if any errors are present, and more.

Once you add your site to Google Search Console, you can start viewing your website data.

The easiest way is to connect your Google Search Console account with All in One SEO. For more details, see our guide on how to add your WordPress site to Google Search Console.

You can also use the MonsterInsights tool, mentioned below, to view your keyword rankings inside the WordPress admin area using Google Search Console data.

For more details, see our guide on how to see keywords people use to find your WordPress site.

4. Ubersuggest

Ubersuggest is a free and premium tool from Neil Patel that offers a ton of useful website traffic data.

It’s straightforward to use and the interface is built for beginners. If you’ve never done keyword research or traffic analysis before, then this tool makes it incredibly simple.

The traffic analyzer feature gives you a detailed breakdown of your competitor’s traffic over time, the keywords bringing them the most traffic, and the most popular pages on the site.

All you have to do is enter the website URL you want to analyze and click ‘Search’.

The ‘Traffic Overview’ page gives you the total number of organic keywords the site ranks for, the organic monthly traffic, domain authority, and the total number of backlinks.

You can also dive deeper into each section of the traffic report. For example, you can expand the ‘Top Pages’ results to get a breakdown of each published page on the site and the estimated amount of traffic it brings in every month.

The results also give you the estimated number of backlinks, along with the number of Facebook and Pinterest shares. This data gives you a general overview of what you’ll have to do to outrank that page in the SERPs.

The free version of the tool gives you access to the last 3 months of data. Premium plans start at $29 per month, making it one of the cheapest tools on this list.

5. Serpstat

Serpstat offers a wide range of different SEO tools. What started as a simple keyword research tool has grown into an all-in-one website analysis tool.

Even though it’s packed with features, it’s still very easy to use. Just enter the URL and the tool will generate a traffic report.

There are traffic checking features along with backlink analysis, site auditing, and rank tracking tools.

The traffic analysis features give you all kinds of useful website data, including the organic and paid keywords that are driving traffic, the average number of visitors the site gets per month, and the pages that get the most traffic.

You’ll also find trend information, so you can see how the site’s rankings, traffic, and keywords are performing over time.

The free version of the tool gives you access to a portion of the total data that’s available for a domain name. Premium plans start at $69 per month and give you access to all of the data the tool provides.

6. Ahrefs

Ahrefs is one of the most popular SEO tools in the market trusted by brands like Netflix, Uber, and Facebook. It helps you see how much traffic your competition is getting and why they’re ranking so high.

Ahrefs crawls more than 6 billion web pages every day, with more than 200 million websites in their index. It’s a lot of data, but this gives you actionable insights to help you outrank your competitors and get more traffic.

The interface is very simple and user friendly. Simply enter the website URL in the search field and the tool will pull all available website information.

The search overview report gives you an overview of the organic search traffic a site receives, the domain authority, biggest competitors, and much more.

You can filter the report to view the traffic stats for the year, last 30 days, or all time.

Even though there’s a ton of data present, it’s easy to filter and find the website metrics you’re looking for.

Keep in mind that the traffic data only shows organic search data and not other sources like social media.

There’s a 7 day trial for $7, after that plans start at $99 per month. Considering the amount of data you have access to, it’s surprisingly affordable.

7. MonsterInsights

If you want to analyze your own traffic, then the only tool you should be using is Google Analytics. However, setting up Google Analytics on your own and analyzing your own data can be difficult.

We recommend using MonsterInsights, it’s the best Google Analytics plugin for WordPress and used by over 3 million sites, including Microsoft, Yelp, PlayStation, and more.

It allows you to easily set up Google Analytics in WordPress and view your traffic data directly in your WordPress dashboard.

You’ll be able to see your top performing posts, pages, landing pages, homepage traffic, and more. This helps you understand user behavior and makes it much easier to grow your WordPress blog.

How to Change the Author of a Post in WordPress

Do you want to change the author of a post in WordPress?

Sometimes you may need to change a post to a different author than the user who first uploaded it. You can do this without having to copy and paste the post using a different account.

In this article, we’ll show you how to simply change the author of a post in WordPress with just a few clicks.

Before You Change the Author of a WordPress Post

If you just want to show your own name on a post written by another user on your WordPress site, then you’re ready to follow the instructions in this article.

But, if you want to show a different user as the author, then you need to make sure this user exists on your WordPress site first. See our guide on how to add new users and authors in WordPress for detailed instructions.

You can view and manage all the users on your WordPress site by visiting the Users menu item when logged in with your WordPress administrator account.

If you only want to change the way your name is displayed, then check out our guide on how to add or change your full name in WordPress.

Having said that, let’s look at how to quickly and easily change the author of a post in WordPress. There are a few ways to do this, so use the links below to jump to the method you want to use.

How to Change the Author From the Block Editor
How to Change the Author from the Classic Editor
How to Change the Author from Quick Edit
How to Change the Author of Multiple WordPress Posts

How to Change the Author From the Block Editor

If you use the Gutenberg block editor, then you first need to open the post or page where you want to change the author name. On the post edit screen, you need to make sure Post is selected in the right-hand sidebar.

Then, locate Author under the ‘Status & Visibility’ section and you’ll see a list of available authors to choose from. You need to select the new author name from the drop down menu.

Once you’ve done that, make sure you click ‘Update’ or ‘Save Draft’ to save your changes.

That’s it, you have successfully changed the author of a post in the Gutenberg block editor.

How to Change the Author from the Classic Editor

If you’re using the classic WordPress editor, then simply open the post or page where you want to change the author name. You will likely not see the author panel in the editor, especially if you recently started your WordPress blog.

You will need to click on the Screen Options button at the top right corner of the screen. This will show you a menu with several options that you can show or hide on your post edit screen.

Go ahead and click on the checkbox next to the Author option.

The author panel should now be visible on the screen. You need to click on the current author’s name and then you will see a list of available authors to choose from.

Once you have chosen a new author, make sure you click ‘Update’ or ‘Save Draft’ to save your changes.

Congratulations, you have successfully changed the author of a post in the classic editor.

How to Change the Author from Quick Edit

You can also quickly change the author of a post from the Quick Edit screen while viewing all posts from the Posts » All Posts page.

First, should hover your mouse over the post you wish to change and a menu should appear. Now you need to click the Quick Edit link.

The Quick Edit metabox will now be displayed. You’ll need to click on the current author’s name and select a new author from the list. After that, you should click the Update button to save your changes.

Well done, you have changed the post’s author using Quick Edit.

How to Change the Author of Multiple WordPress Posts

Changing the author for multiple posts using the methods above would take a lot of time. Luckily, there’s an easier way to quickly change the author for multiple WordPress posts at once.

To bulk update authors, you should first navigate to the Posts » All Posts page. This will list all the posts on your WordPress site.

By default, WordPress shows 20 posts per page. If you want to display more posts, then you need to click on Screen Options and change the number of posts you want to display.

Now you need to select the posts where you want to change the author.

After selecting the posts, you should select Edit from the ‘Bulk Actions’ dropdown menu and then click the Apply button.

WordPress will now show you ‘Bulk Edit’ metabox. You need to select the new author by clicking on the dropdown menu next to the Author option.

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

That’s it, you have successfully changed the author for multiple WordPress posts without editing them individually.

How to Optimize Your Author Profiles for SEO

Finally, you may want to optimize your author profile pages to improve your SEO rankings. The author profile is what appears at the bottom of blog posts published under your name.

Here you can add a brief bio, links, and even your social media profiles.

By showcasing your author bio, you can build more credibility and give your readers a chance to learn more about you and the authors on your site.

WordPress allows you to add a brief author bio, but to add social media links you’ll need to use a WordPress author bio plugin.

Aside from that, you’ll also want to improve your Author archive pages where WordPress displays a list of posts written by that author.

To optimize author pages for SEO, we recommend using All in One SEO. It’s the best SEO plugin for WordPress used by over 2 million websites. For more details, see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, simply navigate to Users » Profile to edit your author profile. Next, scroll down to the ‘All in One SEO Pro’ section where you can add links to your Facebook and Twitter profiles and create an author bio.

Once you’ve made the necessary changes, make sure you click ‘Update Profile’ at the bottom of the page.

WordPress Layout Terms Demystified (Quick Reference)

Are you trying to understand what WordPress layout terms mean?

Many beginners come across WordPress layout terms and vocabulary when working on their website. These are words used by designers and developers and average users may find them confusing.

In this guide, we’ll explain some of the most commonly used WordPress layout terms. This will help you understand the lingo used for WordPress website layouts and work on your website like a total pro.

Why Learn WordPress Layout Terms?

WordPress themes control the appearance of your website. You can customize them by visiting the Appearance » Customizer page.

All top WordPress themes come with options to modify your website design using customizer settings, but your options are limited depending on the theme.

For even more flexibility, you can use WordPress page builder plugins like SeedProd.

SeedProd allows you to easily create your own custom layouts using simple drag and drop tools without writing any code.

It also comes with dozens of templates that you can use as a starting point. Plus, it supports WooCommerce which helps you create layouts for your online store as well.

However, as you work on creating a layout for your website, you may come across web design terms that you may not be familiar with.

Learning these website layout terms will help you to understand the building blocks of WordPress website design, so you can more easily create any design you can imagine.

That being said, let’s demystify these common WordPress layout terms to learn what they mean and how to use them.

Here is a quick list of the concepts and terms we’ll explain in this article.

Understanding a Typical WordPress Layout

Header
Custom Header
Custom Background
Content Area
Sidebars
Footer

Other Common Components of a WordPress Layout

Navigation Menus
Widgets
Blocks
Featured Images
Cover Images
Patterns
Buttons
Custom CSS

Layout Terms in WordPress Page Builders

Templates
Blocks and Modules
Sections

Understanding a Typical WordPress Layout

Most websites use a very familiar layout. It looks something like this:

The top area of a website is called the Header, followed by a Content area, and then a Footer at the bottom of the page.

Depending on which page a user is viewing, the layout might be different. For instance, on a WordPress blog page, it may include a sidebar next to the content area.

This basic layout is then filled with other elements, which we’ll talk about later in this article.

Let’s first talk about each of these main sections in more detail.

Header in WordPress Layout

The header in a WordPress layout is the top section of any page. It usually contains your website logo, title, navigation menus, a search form, and other important elements that you want users to see first.

Here is how the header section looks on WPBeginner.

Custom Header in WordPress Theme Customizer

Many popular WordPress themes come with additional features to customize the header area of your WordPress layout. This feature is sometimes called a custom header.

Depending on your WordPress theme, you may be able to add a full-width image to the header with a tagline or a call-to-action button. Some WordPress themes may allow you to change the position of the logo, navigation menus, and header image.

Custom Background in WordPress Theme Customizer

Similar to the custom header feature, some WordPress themes may allow you to set a custom background color or an image across your WordPress website.

You can usually find this option under the theme customizer. However, it is sometimes buried inside other tabs. For more details, take a look at our guide on how to add a background image in WordPress, or how to change the background color in WordPress.

Content Area in WordPress

The content area comes right after the header part of a layout. This is where the main content of the page is displayed.

For a custom homepage layout, the content section may include a call to action, followed by services or products, testimonials, and other important information.

Online stores typically use this area to promote ongoing sales, featured products, best-selling items, and more.

A WordPress blog may use a content-heavy layout with excerpts and images from recent articles, a newsletter sign up form, and more.

Here is how WPBeginner’s homepage layout looks. It is a content-rich website, and that’s why the recent articles take the whole content area.

By default, WordPress uses a blog layout showing your most recent blog posts as the frontpage of your website. However, you can change that and use any page as your front page.

Simply go to Settings » Reading page and choose ‘A static page’ under the ‘Your homepage displays’ option.

After that, you can choose a page that you want to use as your homepage and another one for your blog page. For more details, see our guide on how to create a separate page for your blog posts in WordPress.

Don’t forget to click on the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your settings.

Now you can edit the page you choose to be your homepage and create a custom homepage layout.

Sidebars in WordPress Layouts

As the name suggests, Sidebars typically appear to the right or the left side of the content area.

In WordPress, sidebars are also widget-ready areas. This means you can add widgets to this area and display elements like archives, newsletter sign-up forms, categories, popular content, and more.

Footer Area in WordPress Layouts

The Footer area appears at the bottom of a page layout below the content area. It usually includes a footer widget area where you can display links to important pages like privacy policy, terms and conditions, about page, and more.

Wondering what to put in the footer of your site? See this checklist of things to add to the footer of your WordPress site.

Other Components of a WordPress Layout

Next, we’ll take a look at some of the components of a WordPress layout that you can add to your header, content, sidebar, or footer sections. These are the building blocks that help you make a functioning layout.

Navigation Menus in WordPress

Navigation Menus or Menus are horizontal or vertical lists of links. Most websites have at least one primary navigation menu displayed on top in the header area.

However, some websites use multiple navigation menus in the header area.

WordPress also allows you to display navigation menus as a widget. These menus appear as a vertical list of links and you can place them in sidebars or the footer widget areas.

For more details, see our guide on how to add navigation menus in WordPress.

Using Widgets in a WordPress Layout

Widgets are elements that you can add to the widget-ready areas or sidebars of your WordPress website. Most WordPress themes come with multiple widget-ready areas where you can add widgets.

WordPress comes with several built-in widgets that you can use. Many popular WordPress plugins also come with their own widgets. For example, you can use widgets to add popular post lists, contact forms, banner ads, social media feeds, and more.

You can see all these widgets by visiting Appearance » Widgets page in WordPress admin area.

For more details, see our guide on how to add and use widgets in WordPress.

Using Blocks in WordPress Layouts

WordPress comes with a powerful content editor called the block editor. This editor is designed to help you create beautiful layouts for your WordPress posts and pages using blocks.

There are different types of blocks for the most common elements of any content. For instance, you can add paragraphs, headings, images, galleries, video embeds, columns, tables, and more.

This allows you to create different layouts for each post or page on your WordPress website without installing a plugin or changing your theme.

Featured Images in WordPress Layouts

If you visit the homepage of WPBeginner, you’ll notice thumbnail images next to each article title. These are called featured images.

WordPress allows you to set featured images for your posts and pages. Your WordPress theme then uses these images in different areas of your website. To learn more, see our guide on how to add featured images in WordPress.

Cover Images in WordPress

A cover image is usually a wide image used as a cover photo for a new section in a blog post or page.

You can add it to your post or page using the ‘Cover’ block. The cover block also allows you to use a background color instead of an image.

To learn more, see our detailed guide on the difference between cover image vs featured image.

Using Patterns in WordPress Editor

Patterns were introduced to the WordPress block editor in WordPress 5.5. Each pattern is a collection of blocks arranged in a particular order for commonly used layouts.

You can choose from buttons, header styles, galleries, columns, and more. This makes it easy for beginners to quickly build layouts using common patterns.

It is a relatively new feature so there are a limited set of patterns available. However, more patterns will become available as more WordPress themes and plugins add their own patterns to the block editor.

Adding Buttons in WordPress Layout

Buttons play an important role in modern website design and layout. They provide users with a clear call to action, which helps you grow your business and conversions.

The default block editor comes with its own buttons that you can use in any WordPress post or page.

Your WordPress theme may also come with a call to action button settings under the theme customizer. Most popular WordPress page builder plugins also come with buttons in various styles that you can use.

You can even add click-to-call buttons in WordPress with a plugin.

For more details, see our guide on how to add call to action buttons in WordPress.

Using Custom CSS in WordPress Layouts

CSS is the styling language used to create websites. Your WordPress theme and plugins come with their own CSS rules, but from time to time you may want to change small things like text color, font size, or background color.

This is where Custom CSS comes in. WordPress makes it easier for you to save your own custom CSS rules. Simply go to the Appearance » Customize page and then click on the Additional CSS tab.

From here, you can add your custom CSS rules and you’ll be able to see them applied in the live preview. For more on this topic, see our full guide on how add custom CSS in WordPress.

Layout Terms in WordPress Page Builders

The easiest way to build custom WordPress layouts for your landing pages is by using a WordPress page builder.

We recommend using SeedProd. It is the most beginner friendly WordPress page builder plugin on the market.

Other page builders use similar terms for common tools and features.

Using Templates in WordPress Page Builders

Templates are the quickest way to create a web page layout. All popular page builder plugins come with a bunch of ready-to-use templates that you can use as a starting point.

For instance, SeedProd has templates for different types of pages that you may need, including landing pages, sales pages, 404 pages, coming soon pages, and more.

Modules and Blocks in WordPress Page Builders

Just like the blocks in the default WordPress editor, page builder plugins also use blocks. Some page builders may call them modules or elements, but they are essentially the same thing.

However, page builder plugins come with more blocks than the default editor. For instance, SeedProd includes blocks for testimonials, WooCommerce blocks, Google maps, contact forms, Facebook embeds, and more.

You can use blocks to create your own layouts, move them around, and play around to figure out what works best for your business.

Using Sections in Your WordPress Layouts

Similar to the ‘Patterns’ feature in the default editor, Sections are a set of blocks grouped together to instantly create common areas of a website. For instance, header section, hero image, pricing tables, and more.

Different WordPress page builder plugins may use different terms for them. For instance, in SeedProd they are called sections and Beaver Builder calls them saved rows and columns.

Com vs Net – What’s the Difference Between Domain Extensions

Have you ever wondered what the difference is between .com vs .net domain name extensions? Choosing the right domain name is crucial because it can have an impact on your branding and search rankings.

In this article, we will explain the difference between .com vs .net domain extensions and which one is better for your website.

What Are .Com and .Net Domain Name Extensions?

A domain name is your website’s address on the internet. Ours is wpbeginner.com.

To learn more about domain names, see our beginner’s guide on what is a domain name and how do domains work.

Domain names always have an extension. This is sometimes also called a TLD, which stands for Top Level Domain. For instance:

example.com
example.net
example.org

You can choose from a wide range of domain extensions when making your website.

Most domain extensions don’t have any restrictions on usage and lots of new domain extensions have been created in recent years.

However, extensions were originally created for different types of websites. They have specific meanings.

You need to choose a domain name extension that fits your business while helping you build a recognizable brand in your industry.

Let’s take a look at the difference between the most popular .com vs .net domain extensions to see which is better for your business.

Difference Between .Com vs .Net Domain Names

Com and Net are two of the most popular domain name extensions. If your preferred .com domain name extension is not available, then you might be tempted to use a .net instead.

However, .net isn’t a good option for your business in most cases.

The “com” in the .com domain name indicates a “commercial” site. This can cover business websites, websites that want to make money online, personal websites, blogs, portfolios, and more.

On the other hand, the “net” in the .net domain name extension stands for “network”. It was designed for the internet, networking, and email service providers.

If you’re wondering about .org, that stands for “organization” and was originally intended for use by nonprofit organizations.

When Should You Choose a .Com Domain Name?

The .com domain extension has been synonymous with the internet since the “dot-com bubble” in the late 1990s. Over 40% of all registered domain names are .com domains.

It’s much easier for people to remember a .com domain name than any other domain extension. It’s familiar and reassuring, plus it makes your site look professional.

Also, most mobile keyboards have a dedicated .com button. You won’t find that for .net (or any other extension).

There’s just one problem. You’ve probably noticed that .com domain names are so popular that it feels like all the good ones are already taken!

However, there are still plenty of clever ways to get the perfect .com domain name. Here are some things to try:

Check that your domain name represents your business and what you do. For example, stargardeningservices.com is better than starservices.com.
If your preferred domain name is taken, then you can add a word before or after it to make it unique. Your location could work well here. For example, stargardeninghouston.com.
Make sure your domain name can be easily pronounced and remembered. Don’t use hyphens or numbers in your domain name.
Take advantage of online domain name generators. These free tools will help you come up with clever domain name ideas that are unique and still available. WPBeginner now has an AI-powered free business name generator.

Need more help? We’ve got lots of practical tips and real-life examples in our article on how to choose the best domain name for your website.

When You Should Use the .Net Domain Extension?

The .net extension still makes sense in some cases. You could use it if you offer internet, networking, database hosting, email hosting, or similar services.

You might even want to use a .net domain name if it truly suits your brand.

For example, Behance.net is a popular online design community which uses a .net domain extension for their website. It suits them because they wanted to be a network of artists, designers, and companies looking for talent.

Under 4% of all domain names registered are using the .net domain extension.

Why You Might Be Tempted to Use the .Net Extension

Have you ever tried to register a .com domain and seen something like this?

Domain name registrars often present .net as the top alternative to .com. This might make you think it’s more commonly used than it actually is.

Even the most well-known internet and network service companies use a .com domain name for their business.

Of course, 4% is still a lot of domain names. Over 13 million, in fact. You might wonder who’s using all those .net domain names.

In many cases, the .net domains aren’t really being used.

Many businesses register a .net extension so no-one else can take it. They may not use the .net domain, or they may redirect it to their .com. site.

Also, some companies started with a .net because they couldn’t get the .com they wanted. Most later transferred to a .com domain extension, often keeping the .net domain name registered for technical and legal reasons.

Choosing .Com vs .Net – Which One is Better for SEO?

A lot of our users ask us which domain extension will help them rank higher.

If you’re looking at either .com or .net, it doesn’t make any difference which you choose from an SEO perspective. Search engines will treat both domain extensions the same.

Just focus on SEO best practices and create useful targeted content to rank higher.

The important part is your domain name itself, not the extension.

For example, stargardeningservices.com will rank better than starservices.net because it contains a keyword (gardening services) that people are likely to search for.

How to Buy a Domain Name

There are two ways to get a domain name. You can choose the one that best suits you.

1. Get a FREE Domain Name with Bluehost

To make a website, you need website hosting as well as a domain name.

This may seem a bit confusing when you’re new to creating websites. Make sure you’re clear on the difference between domain name and website hosting.

Usually, you will pay around $14.99/year for a domain name and $7.99/month for hosting. If you are just starting out, then you may feel that’s quite expensive.

Luckily, the folks at Bluehost are offering WPBeginner users a free domain name and a 65% discount on hosting.

→ Click Here to Claim Your Free Domain Name ←

2. Register a Domain Name

If you don’t want to make a website straight away, you can still register a domain name and make a website later.

We recommend using Domain.com for this. They offer features like private registration, easy transfers, easy DNS management, and more. Their search tool shows you premium domains as well as regular ones, too.

To get an exclusive 25% discount on your domain, make sure you go through our link to Domain.com. This will automatically apply our Domain.com coupon code.

How Much Does it Cost to Start a Membership Site? (2021 Edition)

Are you trying to figure out how much does it cost to start a membership site?

There are many different factors that will affect the cost of your membership website. You’ll need to break them down into all the different essentials to keep your budget under control.

In this article, we’ll show you how much does it cost to start a membership site.

How to Calculate the Cost of a Membership Website?

To calculate the cost of a membership website, you’ll need to break down your spending into components.

This includes choosing the right platform, subscription addon, payment processor, and other tools / services that you’ll need. All of them depend on your business requirements, budget, and growth strategy.

To keep this article focused, we will break down our membership site cost analysis into the following major expenses:

Hosting + Setup Costs for a Membership Site
Membership Payment Processing Costs
Membership Site Design Costs
Essential Addons and Extensions Costs
Premium Tools and Addons for a Growth Membership Site
Total Cost of a Membership Website
Tips on Keeping The Costs Down on Your Membership Website

There are several great membership platforms that you can use to build a membership website. Three major players in the industry are MemberPress (WordPress), Shopify, and Teachable.

Shopify and Teachable are SaaS (Software as a Service) platforms. They offer an easier setup initially, but they have limited flexibility and higher costs. More importantly, they charge you based on transactions which will take away a big chunk of your revenue over time.

This is why we recommend using MemberPress, which is the best membership site plugin on the market. They allow you sell unlimited memberships with no extra transaction fees.

It runs on top of WordPress, which is already the best website builder in the world used by over 42% of all websites on the internet.

Plus, you get full control over your membership site with the flexibility to choose your own payment service, integrations, and add any feature that you want.

This lets you control the cost of your membership website and adjust it as your business grows. In the long run, you would be able to make a sustainable business while saving a ton of money.

MemberPress has built-in features to sell online courses, digital subscriptions, and even physical memberships like associations.

Business owners using MemberPress are projected to earn over $600 million in 2021.

Membership Website Hosting and Setup Costs

Just like any other type of website, you’ll need a domain name and web hosting account to start a membership website.

Typically, a domain name costs around $16.99 per year and web hosting plans start at $7.99 per month (paid annually).

This is not cheap, considering that you’ll need to spend money on other components as well.

Luckily, the team at Bluehost have agreed to offer WPBeginner readers a generous 60% discount on hosting with a free domain name + SSL certificate which you’ll need in order to accept payments. Basically, you can get started for as low as $2.75 per month.

→ Click Here to Claim This Exclusive Bluehost Offer ←

Bluehost is one of the best web hosting companies in the world and an officially recommended WordPress hosting service.

Alternative options: If you are looking for an alternative, then SiteGround is another excellent option. For more options, see our expert pick of the best WordPress hosting companies.

Next, you’ll need to get a MemberPress license which starts at $179 / year for a single site license.

This gives you all the features you need such as unlimited members, no transaction fees, ability to accept payments online, subscription management, email automation, easy course builder, marketing integrations, and more.

After you download MemberPress, you can go ahead and follow our step-by-step instructions on how to make a membership website in WordPress.

Estimated costs of hosting and setup:

Domain and web hosting: Starting from $2.75 per month – $25 per month
MemberPress: $179 – $479 (depending on your licensing plan)

Payment Processing Costs for Membership Website

The recurring revenue model is what makes membership websites a lucrative online business idea.

MemberPress supports both Stripe and PayPal payment gateways that you can use to accept credit cards. You can also use Authorize.Net as a payment method with their Pro plan.

While MemberPress doesn’t charge any additional transactional fee, these payment service providers (merchant banks) do have a payment processing fee, and this is controlled by Visa, MasterCard, Amex, and other credit card companies.

You will have to pay these fees no matter which membership platform you use.

For example, PayPal may charge 2.90% of the transaction amount and a fixed rate of $0.30 USD for domestic transactions. It may also charge an additional 1.50% for international transactions.

Similarly, Stripe would charge $2.9%, a $0.30 USD fixed rate fee, and an additional 1% for international transactions.

The benefit of MemberPress is that you don’t pay them any transaction fees for using the platform. Also your payment processing costs only gets lower as your business grows because Stripe offers lower rates for higher processing volumes.

Whereas other providers like Teachable charge you an additional 5% transaction fee for using their platform on top of the fee you pay for payment processing services.

Estimated costs of payment processing:

PayPal: 2.90% + 0.30 fixed rate. Additional 1.50% on international transactions.
Stripe: 2.90% + 0.30 fixed rate. Additional 1% on international transactions.

Design Costs for a Membership Website

Next, you need to choose a design for your membership website. Luckily, there are hundreds of free and paid website templates that work beautifully with MemberPress.

However, you’ll want to stand out from the crowd with a stunning design that looks professional and well polished.

Not only will it create a good impression of your brand, but it’ll also help your customers easily navigate your website. This results in higher engagement and sales.

There are three design options you can choose from based on your budget. We’ll discuss them in low to high pricing order:

Free WordPress themes
Premium WordPress themes
Custom WordPress themes

Free WordPress themes:

Free WordPress themes come with the obvious benefit of saving money, but they often include limited support and customization options compared to paid or premium WordPress themes.

Premium WordPress themes:

Premium or paid WordPress themes come with a price tag, but include more customization options and priority support from developers.

Pricing for premium WordPress themes usually starts at $30 USD per year. Here are some of the most popular membership website themes:

Divi – One of the most versatile WordPress themes suitable to make any kind of website including membership sites.
Astra – Astra is a popular multipurpose WordPress theme that works beautifully with membership sites. It comes with dozens of starter website templates and a 1-click setup.
Ocean WP – Another flexible WordPress theme that comes with powerful customization options.

For more design inspiration, see our pick of the best WordPress membership website themes.

A custom WordPress theme:

A custom WordPress theme is when you hire a WordPress designer/developer to code a unique membership website theme for your website.

This allows you to add custom features to your website and have a unique design that stands out from other membership sites.

However, custom WordPress themes can be very expensive. The cost would depend on the features you want to add and the expertise of the developer.

A custom theme could cost between $1500 to $6000 for a medium-sized business. An enterprise-level design may cost even more than that.

Estimated costs of membership website design:

Free to $30 for a WordPress theme.

$1500 – $6000 for a custom design.

Essential Addons and Extensions Costs

MemberPress runs on top of WordPress, which means you can add more features to your website by using plugins.

A WordPress plugin is a piece of software that adds new functions to your website. For instance, there are contact form plugins, landing page builders, social media plugins, and more.

There are also plugins made specifically for MemberPress as well.

The majority of WordPress plugins are available for free. Even many paid plugins also have a lite or free version that you can use.

You can try to keep your membership website costs down by using free plugins whenever possible.

Here is quick list of essential WordPress plugins that you may need right away. All of them are available for free.

Must-Have Features

WPForms – Allows you to easily add a contact form to your membership website.

MonsterInsights – Connect your membership site to Google Analytics and see how users find and use your website. This helps you learn how to bring more users and make more sales.

WP Mail SMTP – Emails are crucial for running a membership website. WP Mail SMTP fixes WordPress email deliverability by issue by properly sending emails using an SMTP server.

Marketing and SEO

All in One SEO – Easily optimize your membership website SEO to get more free traffic from search engines.

PushEngage – Easily send push notifications to your users on mobile as well as desktop. It helps increase website traffic, improve conversions, and grow your business.

OptinMonster – helps you improve conversion rates by converting website visitors into subscribers and paying customers.

Bonus Tools

SeedProd – An intuitive drag and drop page builder that allows you to quickly create custom landing pages and design layouts.

Uncanny Automator – Create automated workflows to manage your membership website. This helps you save time and create better user experience for your customers.

RafflePress – Easily run giveaways and contests for your members to boost engagement and grow your traffic.

Need even more features? Here are some of the must have WordPress plugins that you may want to check out. Many of them are free or have a free version.

Estimated costs of addons and extensions:

Free to Unlimited.

We recommend starting out with free versions of plugins whenever possible. This keeps your costs down and you can choose to buy premium plugins later as your business grows.

Premium Tools and Addons for a Growth Membership Site

We recommend all users to start with shared hosting and use free plugins and theme to keep the costs down. This saves you money and allows you to focus on growing your business.

Once your business starts growing, then you can choose to invest some money on extra features and premium tools. Following are a few additional features that you can later add to your website when you can justify the cost.

Email Marketing – We recommend using Constant Contact which is the best email marketing service for small businesses. For advanced marketing automation, you can use either Drip, ConvertKit, or HubSpot.

Live Chat Support – Live chat software helps you convert more users into paying members. We recommend using LiveChat which is the best customer service platform on the market. (Cost: Starting from $16 per agent per month)

Business Phone Service – A business phone number allows you to easily manage business calls using one number. We recommend using Nextiva, which is the best phone company for small businesses. (Cost: $18.95 per month)

Note: All of these additional services are not necessary to build a membership website. You can choose to add them to your site as your business grows.

Total Cost of Building a Membership Website

Now that we have covered the main areas of spending, let’s take a look at the total cost to build a membership website.

Keep in mind that your costs would increase as your business grows or you are able to invest more into it. We have broken down the cost range into three categories.

Starter Membership Website (Recommended): $212 per year or $17.66 per month (Shared hosting $2.75 / month, MemberPress $179 / year, free plugins and theme).
Growth Membership Website: $300 – $1000 (WordPress hosting upgrade $4.99/mo, MemberPress Pro $299/yr, paid plugins and marketing services).

For enterprise level membership websites the costs could go higher. They can choose dedicated hosting server, custom design, and hire developers to write custom WordPress plugins.

The best part about using MemberPress to build your membership website is that you are in charge of controlling the cost.

This means you don’t pay for anything that you don’t need right away, and you can still build a powerful membership website.

Tips on Keeping The Costs Down on Your Membership Site

Building a membership website with WordPress and MemberPress allows you to choose how you spend money on your membership website.

HOW TO CHANGE THE ADMIN COLOR

Do you want to change the admin color scheme in WordPress?

Changing the color scheme of the WordPress admin lets you create a custom dashboard for you and your team. The color scheme can match the design of your brand, or just feature your favorite colors.

In this article, we’ll show you how to change the admin color scheme in WordPress easily.

Why Change the Admin Color Scheme in WordPress?

If you’re not a fan of the default admin color scheme in WordPress, then you can easily change the color scheme to something you like.

How to Automatically Post to Facebook From WordPress

Do you want your blog posts to be automatically posted to Facebook from your WordPress site?

Facebook is one of the largest social media sites in the world with more than 2 billion active users. Sharing your blog posts there will help increase pageviews and drive traffic to your site.

In this article, we’ll show you how to automatically post to Facebook whenever you publish a new WordPress blog post.

Why Automatically Share WordPress Posts on Facebook?

The easiest way to build a following and staying in touch with your users is by building an email list. Still, you can’t ignore the huge userbase of social media websites like Facebook.

As the largest social media website, Facebook has more than 2 billion active users. This global audience can become a big source of traffic for your WordPress website.

You will need to engage with users on Facebook to build a strong following. This means answering comments, sharing content, and posting regular updates on Facebook.

This can become overwhelming, so we’ve put together a complete social media cheat sheet for WordPress to help you get started.

With that being said, let’s have a look at how to easily post to Facebook when you publish a new post in WordPress.

Automatically Post to Facebook from WordPress Using Uncanny Automator

Uncanny Automator is the best WordPress automation plugin that helps create automated workflows without writing any code.

It connects with 50+ plugins and thousands of apps, including Facebook, Google Drive, Slack, Asana, Twitter, Instagram, and more.

A free version is available and gives you 1,000 free credits to use with Facebook. Once you have used those credits you’ll need a Pro account or higher to continue posting automatically to Facebook.

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

Upon activation, you will also be asked to install the free version of Uncanny Automator. This light version of the plugin is limited in features but is used as the base for the Pro version.

Next, you need to navigate to the Automator » License Activation page to enter your license key. You can find this information under your account on the Uncanny Automator website.

Connecting Your Facebook Page to Uncanny Automator

Before you can start to create a Facebook automation, you’ll need to connect your Facebook page to Uncanny Automator.

To do that, navigate to Automator » Settings and click on the Facebook tab. Once there, you’ll need to click the Connect Facebook Pages button.

After you click this button, a popup will appear where you can log in to your Facebook account.

Once you log in you will be asked if you want to continue and let Uncanny Automator receive your name and profile picture. You’ll need to click the ‘Continue as’ button.

Next, you’ll be asked whether you want to use an Instagram business account with Uncanny Automator. You might like to do that if you plan to create automated workflows with Instagram, too.

For this tutorial, we’ll just click the Next button.

You’ll then be shown a list of your Facebook pages. You need to select the one you wish to post to and then click the Next button.

Having done that, you’ll be asked to give Uncanny Automator permission to do certain things with your Instagram account and Facebook page.

You need to answer Yes to the options regarding the Facebook page, and then you should click the Done button.

You should answer Yes to the Instagram options as well if you plan to create Instagram automations using Uncanny Automator.

Uncanny Automator is now linked to Facebook and you should click the OK button to finish the setup.

Automatically Posting to Facebook from Uncanny Automator

Now we’re ready to create an automated workflow to post to Facebook. Uncanny Automator calls these ‘Recipes’. Simply navigate to the Automator » Add new page to create your first recipe.

You’ll be asked to select whether you want to create a ‘Logged-in’ recipe or an ‘Everyone’; recipe. You should select ‘Logged-in users’ and then click the Confirm button.

You can now start to build your first Uncanny Automator recipe.

First, you’ll need to add a title. We’ll call the recipe ‘Automatically Post to Facebook’ and type this in the title field.

Next, you need to define the condition that will trigger the action. We want to post to Facebook whenever a WordPress post is published. So you’ll need to click the WordPress icon under ‘Select an integration’.

You’ll now see a list of WordPress triggers. You should search for ‘publish’ and choose the trigger called ‘A user publishes a type of post with a taxonomy term in a taxonomy‘.

For this tutorial, we want to post to Facebook when we publish a blog post, not a page. So we’ll change the post type to Post and leave the other settings unchanged. Don’t forget to save your settings by clicking the Save button.

If you only want certain types of content to be posted on Facebook, then you can choose a single category or tag by selecting the appropriate options from the Taxonomy and Taxonomy term drop downs.

Next, you’ll need to choose the action that will happen each time a post is published. Start by clicking the ‘Add action’ button.

You should now see the list of integrated services that Uncanny Automator supports. Simply click the Facebook button.

You’ll now see a list of Facebook actions. You should select the option that says ‘Publish a post to a Facebook page’.

If you have connected to more than one Facebook page, then you’ll need to select the one you wish to post to.

After that, you should type the message in the Message text box that you wish to be published to your Facebook page with each post.

Next, you need to add the post title and URL to the message. You need to press the Enter key to start a new line, and then you should click the asterisk button at the right of the Message text box.

Now you need to click the down arrow icon next to ‘A user publishes a Post’ to access the fields that add information about the post that has been published.

The available tokens include the post type and title, the post URL and content, and more. You should click on ‘Post title’ to insert it into the message.

Follow the same steps to add the post URL to a line of its own. The message should now look like the screenshot below, and you can customize it to suit your own WordPress site and Facebook page.

Don’t forget to click the Save button to store your action.

If you like, you can set add a delay before Uncanny Automator posts to Facebook. That way you can schedule the post for when your social media audience is most active.

You need to hover your mouse above the Live switch on the right until a Delay button appears. Once you click it you’ll be able to choose whether the action will be triggered after a time delay or on a specific date and time.

Now your recipe is complete but inactive. The trigger and action have been set, but won’t be activated when you publish a new post. To change that, you need to switch the toggle button from Draft to Live.

Now that your recipe is live, the next time you publish a post on your WordPress website, a message will also be posted to your Facebook page.

To test this, we published a new blog post on our test site, and this is how the post appeared on our Facebook page.

If you see that the right thumbnail image isn’t appearing, then you can see our guide on how to fix the incorrect Facebook thumbnail issue in WordPress.

We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to automatically post to Facebook from WordPress.

Making this the first true generator on the internet

06 May 2019
in: New Technologies,Web Designs
Tags: aloom, landing, shopping intergraded

Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making it look like readable English. Many desktop publishing packages and web page editors now use Lorem Ipsum as their default model text, and a search for ‘lorem ipsum’ will uncover many web sites still in their infancy. Various versions have evolved over the years Read More »

Versions have evolved over the years

06 April 2019
in: Make Money Online,Web Designs
Tags: aloom, king theme, premium wordpress theme

Page 3 of 4 < Previous 1 234 Next >