Are you looking for a plugin to add a table of contents to your WordPress website?

A table of contents can improve readability and make it easier for users to digest lengthy content by letting them jump ahead to any section of a post or page. Google will also use your table of contents to index and rank your pages and posts in search results.

In this article, we’ll show you the best table of contents plugins for WordPress.

Why Use a Table Content Plugin in WordPress?

Adding a table of contents (ToC) to your WordPress website is a great way to help visitors navigate longer blog posts and pages.

You can easily organize and structure your content so it’s easier for people to scan through the article and jump to any section they’re interested in.

It also helps with your WordPress SEO, since search engines like Google can add jump-to-section links next to your website in the search results. Google can also display your table of contents list in featured snippets.

You can manually add a table of contents in WordPress by writing HTML code and CSS or by using advanced settings in the block editor. However, this is time-consuming and can be tricky for beginners because the slightest mistake would mean your table of contents won’t work.

An easier way to create a table of contents is using a WordPress plugin. You won’t have to edit HTML code, and there are more customization options.

Let’s look at some of the best table of contents plugins for WordPress.

1. All in One SEO (AIOSEO)

All in One SEO (AIOSEO) is the best WordPress SEO plugin. It helps you optimize your website for search engines without technical knowledge or having to hiring a professional.

AIOSEO makes it super easy to add a table of contents to your WordPress site. It offers a table of contents block in the WordPress content editor that you can add anywhere in your blog post.

The AIOSEO block will automatically generate a table of contents using your heading levels from H1 to H6.

Unlike other automatic table of content plugin though, AIOSEO actually lets you hide an individual heading or even completely customize the title as needed in the table of content. You can also reorder the headings and change the style from bullet format to numbers.

Aside from that, AIOSEO helps you create XML sitemaps for your site, so search engines can easily discover new content. It also helps add schema markup and increase the visibility of your content in rich snippets.

You can also use the plugin to conduct an SEO audit and see if everything is optimized correctly. AIOSEO will suggest fixing different issues that might stop your site from ranking higher in search results.

AIOSEO premium plans start from $49.60 per year. There is also an AIOSEO Lite version you can try for free.

2. Easy Table of Contents

Easy Table of Contents is a popular plugin that you can use to add a table of contents to your blog posts, landing pages, sidebar, and custom post types.

The plugin is user-friendly and automatically generates a listing using content from the headings in the article. It works seamlessly with the WordPress block editor, classic editor, Divi and Elementor page builders, and more.

Using the plugin, you also get an auto-insert functionality for adding the table of contents in different post types.

Plus, you get other customization options like changing the table’s width, editing the font size, choosing a theme, and selecting the number of headings to use when creating a table of contents.

3. LuckyWP Table of Contents

LuckyWP Table of Contents is the next WordPress ToC plugin on our list. It has multiple customization options to change the look and feel of your table of contents.

For instance, you can pre-built color schemes to match your brand. You also get options to edit the appearance by changing the width, font size, item font size, and colors.

The plugin lets you choose bullets or numbers to show items in the table contents. You can also use decimals and roman numerals in the listing.

Besides that, the plugin offers 3 options to add the table of contents anywhere on your site. For example, you can use a shortcode, widget, or WordPress content editor block.

4. Joli Table Of Contents

Joli Table of Contents is an SEO-friendly table of contents plugin for WordPress.

It’s lightweight and doesn’t hinder the performance of your website. The table of contents only loads when it’s supposed to display. Plus, the table is fully responsive, so you don’t have to worry about optimizing it for different devices.

With the Joli Table of Contents plugin, you get many options to customize the appearance of the table of contents. It comes with 2 themes for the table and 4 free icons for the expanding and collapsing buttons.

Besides that, the plugin lets you choose a numbering prefix, change the font size, adjust the table’s width, add a shadow, and more.

5. CM Table Of Contents

CM Table of Contents by CreativeMindsSolutions is a super easy-to-use plugin for creating a table of contents.

In the plugin, you can choose which post types you’d like the table of contents to appear on, including blog posts, specific pages, sidebar widget areas, and custom pages. You also get to make the table collapse and expand in your content.

The best part about using the CM Table of Contents plugin is that you get different performance settings. This helps you ensure that are no delays when the table of contents loads.

Besides that, there are many styling options for your table of contents. You can change the size, color, weight, and style for each level in the table. The plugin also lets you show the TOC in one or two columns.

6. SimpleTOC – Table of Contents Block

SimpleTOC is the basic WordPress table of contents plugin. It’s beginner friendly and offers standard features.

You can easily add TOC to your blog posts using the SimpleTOC block in the WordPress content editor. The plugin doesn’t require additional configuration, and you can control all the settings from the content editor.

SimpleTOC lets you select the maximum and minimum heading levels it should include in the table of contents, show/hide the table’s heading, and more.

On the downside, you don’t get any customization options compared to other plugins on our list, like AIOSEO. To style the table of contents, you’ll need to use the native styling options in the WordPress theme customizer or full site editor.

7. Heroic Table of Contents

Heroic Table of Contents is another table of contents WordPress plugin that you can use to provide better navigation of your blog posts. The best part is that it’s 100% free.

The plugin offers a WordPress block that you can use to add a table of contents to your post and pages. It provides 4 pre-built table styles to choose from, including outlined, rounded, contrasted, and gray.

Additionally, you can show a collapse or expand icon for your TOC, use bullets, numbers, or plain text in the table, and more formats. Heroic Table of Contents is SEO friendly and mobile responsive, so you don’t have to worry about your site’s load time and user experience.

Which is the Best Table of Contents WordPress Plugin?

If you’re looking for the best plugin to help you optimize your content for search engines and easily add a table of contents, then we recommend All in One SEO (AIOSEO).

You can use the AIOSEO block to add a table of contents, customize it, and hide headings inside the WordPress content editor. Besides that, AIOSEO helps you create sitemaps, optimize your content for SEO, and so much more.

On the other hand, if you’re looking for a dedicated table of contents WordPress plugin, then check out Easy Table of Contents. It is beginner friendly and offers multiple customization options.

We hope that this article helped you learn about the best table of contents plugins for WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on how to start a WordPress blog and the best web design software.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post 7 Best Table of Contents Plugins for WordPress (Expert Pick) first appeared on WPBeginner.

Are you comparing push notifications vs email to figure out which is better?

Push notifications and email marketing are two of the most effective marketing tools to increase conversions and sales. But how are they different and which one should you focus on?

In this article, we will compare push notifications vs email marketing with pros and cons to find out which one is better.

Push Notifications vs Email: Which One is Better?

Push notifications and email marketing are two different marketing channels that each have their own advantages and disadvantages.

Both can help you achieve similar goals like increasing conversions, recovering cart abandonment, boosting sales, and getting more user engagement.

When used properly, they can help you significantly grow your online business.

Due to the difference in the delivery platform, one method could be better suited over the other. For instance, in some places email will be less effective than a push notification and vice versa.

That being said, let’s take a look at push notifications and email and see what are their pros and cons and when one of them is more effective than the other.

Email Marketing – Pros and Cons Explained

Email marketing is the most effective marketing tool available on the market. However, what most people are unclear about is what makes email so effective and when they are using it wrong.

Pros of Email Marketing

Following are some of the advantages of using email marketing in your business strategy.

1. High ROI with Low Costs

As a business, one factor in your decision-making is the costs and what kind of return you should expect.

For every $1 spent on email marketing, $44 is made in return. That’s an ROI of 4400% (source). 

Email marketing has a very high ROI due to low-cost email marketing platforms. These services allow you to send thousands of emails to your customers for a very low cost.

2. Wider Availability to All Customers

Most internet users today have 24/7 access to their email inbox via a variety of devices laptops, mobile, and even smartwatches.

An average internet user checks their email several times a day and due to cheaper unlimited storage, many people don’t bother deleting emails.

This increases the chances of your subject line and a snippet been seen by users even if they don’t open the email.

3. Perfect for Longer Content

Emails can be as long as you need, so you have plenty of room to create an effective copy for your email.

We generally do recommend keeping it short and sweet. However, sometimes you may need to add more information to your email.

You can place multiple calls to action if needed, add several products, provide users instructions on how to do something on the website, and more.

4. Emails Are More Customizable

Emails can be in plain text, or you can use HTML and CSS to create beautiful newsletter templates. You can also add images, link to YouTube videos, create buttons, and more.

Most email service providers allow you to use smart tags to personalize your emails. Plus, you can segment your email list into different user groups.

For instance, you can segment your email list into users who have already made at least one purchase and users who have never bought from you.

You can also set up automated drip notifications that send a sequence of emails with a set frequency to users.

All of this allows you to make your emails look more personalized, professional, and persuasive.

5. Email Isn’t Time Limited

Unlike push notifications, which demand the user’s urgent attention, emails are more relaxed and users can decide to read them later.

Once the email arrives in a user’s inbox, it will sit there until the user takes an action.

Most users check email several times a day, so even if they don’t open it right away, they will scan through your subject line multiple times.

Cons of Email Marketing

Email is cheap and highly effective. There is no doubt that it will remain one of the most efficient marketing tools for businesses in the future.

However, there are certain areas where email puts you at a slight disadvantage.

1. Too Frequent Blog Post Emails

Sending users an email for every blog post doesn’t work very well. Specially if you publish daily or several times a day.

That’s why you see a ton of blogs (including WPBeginner) sending weekly emails with a recap of all the blog posts they published this week.

2. Competition in Your Customer’s Inbox

An average internet user gets a lot of marketing emails each day. Each one of them tries to come up with a creative subject line to get their attention.

You are competing with many other businesses for users’ attention, and this affects your open rates. You have to learn how to write better emails that users actually open and take action.

3. Email Apps like Gmail Assigning Low Priority Labels

Due to huge volume of marketing emails, popular email clients like Gmail may not display any notification for new emails to your users.

Your email may be labeled low priority promotional email among hundreds of other marketing emails. This may reduce the visibility, open rates, and CTR for your email campaigns.

Push Notifications – Pros and Cons Explained

Push notifications are a highly effective marketing tool with higher click-through and open rates. Let’s compare how they stack up against email marketing.

Pros of using Push Notifications

Following are some of the advantages of using push notifications over emails in your marketing strategy.

1. Easy to Subscribe

Push notifications are very easy to subscribe to. Users simply need to click a button to subscribe for notifications.

Whereas in a traditional email sign-up forms, users will have to first go through popups and opt-in forms to fill in their email address, submit the form, and then confirm their subscription via double opt-in.

This easy subscription option in push notification works very well for users as it instantly gets out of their way once they click subscribe. Most push notification software offer 1-click subscription options.

2. Messages Are Delivered to Users Instantly

Push notifications appear on users’ screens as soon as they receive them. Unlike emails, they don’t need to open them separately.

They work on all platforms and are particularly more effective on mobile phones. Basically, users will get the message instantly as a notification regardless of which device they are using.

This increases the visibility of push notifications and makes them much more effective than email marketing.

3. Push Notifications Add Urgency and FOMO

Push notifications appear as mobile notifications, which adds urgency to them.

Users feel that they will not see the notification if they dismiss it, so they don’t want to miss out on anything important.

4. Users Cannot Provide Fake Signup

Push notifications work on users’ browsers, so users cannot provide fake sign-up information.

This is far more effective when comparing to email sign-ups. Many users now enter disposable email addresses that they have made particularly for subscriptions.

Users may also provide wrong email addresses or makeup fake ones to signup. As marketers, this affects the open and CTR rates of your email campaigns.

5. Highly Effective Personalization

Push notifications can be customized for individual users and triggered based on user activity.

You can do this with emails too. However, it becomes more effective when combined with the urgency and FOMO effects of push notifications.

For instance, a user added a product to the cart, you can use push notifications to nudge them into completing the purchase.

You can also add drip push notifications which work very well for blog post alerts and many publishers / bloggers send targeted push notifications based on user’s interest.

Cons of Using Push Notifications

Push notifications work great for most websites. However, to avoid misusing them, you need to keep in mind the following disadvantages.

1. No Lengthy Content

Push notifications have a character limit which varies on different platforms and browsers.

For instance, you can use 30-70 characters for titles and 65 to 200 characters for descriptions.

You’ll have to keep your messages short and persuasive with in these limits.

2. Limited Media Options

Platforms like PushEngage allow you to create rich push notifications with hero images, Gifs, videos, and emojis.

There is still a limit on what you can use to make your notifications more interactive.

3. Can Easily Get Excessive

Push notifications have a much higher CTR, which may compel some website owners to use them more frequently.

This could ruin user experience as they may start getting more than usual notifications.

On the other hand, if the user has signed up for too many notifications, their notification panels may get too many messages from different websites which may affect how they feel about web push notifications.

Which is Better, Push Notifications vs Email?

Push notifications are better than email due to the higher click-through rates, urgency, personalization, and easy subscription options.

However, email is still highly effective for transactional emails, upsells, newsletters, and other campaigns.

We believe that they are two separate tools. While one of them can be more efficient in particular scenarios, the other one may excel in other areas.

Combining email and push notifications is ultimately the best win-win strategy for most businesses.

This is why we use both push notifications and email marketing in our business to get maximum results.

How to Get Started with Push Notifications

To send push notifications, you’ll need to sign up for a push notification service.

We recommend PushEngage because it is the best push notification service on the market.

PushEngage comes with powerful customization options, triggered notifications, automatic drip campaigns, A/B testing, and more features to grow your business.

Plus, it is extremely beginner friendly and much easier to set up without any special technical skills.

For more details, see our tutorial on adding web push notifications to your WordPress site.

How to Get Started with Email Marketing

You’ll need to sign up for an email marketing service to get started.

We recommend using Constant Contact, which is the best email marketing service for small businesses and bloggers.

Constant Contact comes with easier setup, beautiful email templates for every type of campaign, engagement reporting, and dynamic personalization.

For more detailed instructions, see our article on how to start an email newsletter in WordPress.

We hope this article helpes you compare push noticiations vs email and which one is better for your business. You may also want to see our practical tips to grow your email list quickly or see our complete conversion tracking guide.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post Push Notifications vs Email: Which Is Better? (Pros and Cons) first appeared on WPBeginner.

Are you looking for ways to upsell products on your WooCommerce store?

Upselling is a great way to boost your sales and earn more money. You can encourage customers to purchase a more expensive version of your product.

In this article, we’ll show you how to upsell products in WooCommerce.

Why Upsell Products in WooCommerce?

Upselling is a sales technique that you can use to encourage shoppers to purchase a higher-priced product instead of the one they already have in their shopping cart.

These products provide more value to your customers because they have higher quality, include more features, and are more lucrative for your business.

For example, let’s say a customer adds a hiking shoe to their cart. You can offer them higher-quality hiking shoes that are more comfortable, durable, and versatile. Similarly, if you’re selling software or plugins on your WooCommerce store, then you can offer upgrades and addons to customers.

Since upselling persuades customers to buy a higher-priced product, you get to increase your average order value and boost the revenue of your online store. It also helps to increase the visibility of products that aren’t purchased frequently.

That said, let’s see how you can upsell products in WooCommerce. We’ll cover multiple methods, so you can click the links below to jump ahead to your preferred section:

Adding Upsell Products in WooCommerce

In WooCommerce, you can link different products and show them as upsell on the product page.

To start, you’ll need to go to Products » Add New from the WordPress dashboard. You can also edit an existing product.

Next, you can scroll down to the Product Data section and click on the ‘Linked Products’ tab.

Here, you’ll be able to add different products under the ‘Upsell’ section. Simply enter a name and search for the product your want to upsell.

Go ahead and update your product page.

You can now visit your WooCommerce store and see the upsell products under the ‘You may also like’ section.

Creating a WooCommerce Popup to Upsell Products

A great way to upsell your products is by displaying a lightbox popup on your WooCommerce store. It can instantly grab your users’ attention and help boost sales.

You can offer discounts or limited-time offers on high-value goods. Plus, you can show it on specific pages, when a user spends a particular time on a page or is about exit your store.

The best way to create a WooCommerce upsell popup is using OptinMonster. It is the best WordPress popup plugin and lead generation software in the market.

You can choose from multiple pre-built popup templates and campaign types.

Plus, you can use the drag-and-drop campaign builder to customize your upsell popup.

You can edit different blocks, including the existing ones in the template.

After customizing your popup, you can head to the display rules tab and configure when you’d like to show it to your customers.

OptinMonster offers powerful options, including the Exit Intent technology. This allows you to show your campaign just as the user is about to leave your website. Plus, there are many eCommerce-related display options.

For example, you can display your campaign when a visitor views a particular product on your WooCommerce store or adds a certain number of items to a cart.

For more details, you can see our guide on how to create a WooCommerce popup to increase sales.

Offer One-Click Upsells on Checkout Page

Another way to upsell in WooCommerce is by showcasing your products at different points in the customer journey.

For instance, you can display high-priced products on the checkout page and allow users to instantly add them to the cart before placing an order. This helps you optimize your sales funnel, boost sales, and earn more revenue.

The easiest way to upsell products during checkout is by using FunnelKit, formerly known as WooFunnels. It is the best WordPress sales funnel and automation plugin, and it offers a one-click upsell option that you can add to your checkout page.

First, you’ll need to install and activate the Funnel Builder Pro plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you’ll see the FunnelKit setup wizard. You can start by entering the license key and following the onscreen instructions to configure the plugin.

Once the plugin is set up, you can go to FunnelKit » Funnels from your WordPress dashboard.

After that, simply click the ‘Add new funnel’ button.

FunnelKit offers different funnel templates for your WooCommerce store, including store checkout, sales funnel, and lead generation funnel.

Go ahead and select a template for your online store. We’ll use the ‘Optic’ store checkout template for this tutorial.

Next, you can preview the template and choose whether you’d like a one-step, two-step, or three-step funnel. The difference between these is that you can show different checkout steps on other pages.

For example, in one-step checkout, all the information is displayed on a single page. On the other hand, a three-step checkout would show basic information, shipping details, and payment on multiple pages.

After that, click the ‘Import This Funnel’ button at the top.

Next, a popup window will open where you’ll need to enter a name for your funnel.

Go ahead and click the ‘Add’ button.

FunnelKit will now import the template.

On the next screen, you’ll see different pages in the funnel. You can edit each of these pages and add additional steps.

To add a one-click upsell option, simply click the ‘Add Order Bump’ button under the Checkout step.

After that, a popup window will open.

Go ahead and enter a name for your Order Bump and click the ‘Add’ button.

You should now see your Order Bump as a sub-step under the Checkout page.

To add products for upselling, you can edit the order bump page.

Next, you’ll need to add products you’d like to show on checkout.

Simply click the ‘Add Product’ button to continue.

After that, a popup window will open to add your products.

You can search for the products and then click the ‘Add Product’ button.

Next, you will see the products you just added. FunnelKit lets you rearrange its order if there are multiple items.

You can also change the behavior and display position of the goods you’d like to upsell on the checkout page. For example, the plugin lets you show upsell products below the payment gateways, above or below the order summary, inside the mini cart, or above the checkout form.

FunnelKit also offers options to change the design of your order bump.

Simply switch to the ‘Design’ tab to edit the title, description, and style. There are different skins to choose from and additional options to further customize each skin.

Once you’re done, go back to the Store Checkout dashboard in FunnelKit.

Next, click on the dropdown menu next to the title of your store checkout and change the status to Publish.

Your one-click upsell will now be active on your WooCommerce store. You can now visit your online store to see it in action.

For instance, our upsell offer appears after the payment gateway on the checkout page. Customers can add the item to their order with a single click.

Upsell Products on a Custom WooCommerce Thank You Page

In addition to showing products during checkout, you can create a custom thank you page and upsell products on your WooCommerce store.

Many WordPress website owners might think of a thank you page as a small part of their eCommerce store, but it can have a huge impact on your sales. It gives you the opportunity to recommend more valuable items, offer a discount coupon, and increase your sales.

With SeedProd, you can easily create a custom WooCommere thank you page. It is the best website builder and landing page plugin for WordPress.

The plugin offers different pre-built page templates and lots of customization options.

You can use the drag-and-drop page builder to customize your thank you page.

For example, there are blocks for adding text, images, buttons, contact forms, countdown timers, social profiles, and more. Plus, you can control and edit each element on your template.

The best part is that SeedProd offers WooCommerce blocks as well.

You can add a product grid or simply add your best-selling, recent, featured, or top-rated products to the thank you page.

For step-by-step instructions, please see our guide on how to create a custom WooCommerce thank you page.

Automatically Add Products to Cart Using a Coupon

Did you know that you can upsell products by automatically adding them to the customer’s cart? For example, when a customer purchases over $200 worth of goods, you can give them a free gift bag.

With the help of the Advanced Coupons plugin, you can set up personalized coupons in WooCommerce and automatically add products to the cart when a coupon is applied.

You’ll need at least the Advanced Coupon Growth plan to add products via coupons. Once you’ve set up the plugin, go to Coupons » Add New from your WordPress dashboard.

Next, you can enter a coupon code at the top or click the ‘Generate coupon code’ button to automatically create a random code.

After that, scroll down to the Coupon data section and switch to the ‘Add Products’ tab.

From here, you can search for the product you’d like to automatically add to your cart when the coupon code is applied.

There are also options to set the order quantity and add a price or discount for the selected product.

Once you’ve selected a product, click the ‘Add’ button.

You should see your product under the Add Products section. Don’t forget to click the ‘Save Add Products Data’ button.

Besides that, Advanced Coupon also lets you set up cart conditions.

This way, you can set up rules for applying your coupon code. For example, the coupon code will only work if the cart quantity or subtotal is more than a certain amount, or a customer adds products from a specific category.

After setting up these conditions, you can publish your coupon code.

Now, your product will automatically add to the cart whenever a customer enters the discount coupon on checkout.

For more details, please see our guide on how to auto-apply coupons in WooCommerce.

We hope this article helped you learn how to upsell products in WooCommerce. You can also see our guide on the best WooCommerce plugins and how to speed up your WooCommerce performance.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Upsell Products in WooCommerce (5 Easy Ways) first appeared on WPBeginner.