How to Sell Excel or Google Spreadsheets in WordPress

Do you want to sell your Microsoft Excel or Google spreadsheets online?

By selling your spreadsheets as downloadable files, you can easily make money without having to pay for shipping or printing. Through WordPress, you can quickly and securely deliver your products to your customers.

In this article, we will show you how to easily sell your Excel or Google spreadsheets online using WordPress.

Which Platform Should You Use to Sell Excel or Google Spreadsheets

First, you’ll need to choose an eCommerce platform that you’ll use to sell your Excel or Google spreadsheets.

Because these spreadsheets are digital files that users can download to their computers after making a purchase, you should pick an eCommerce platform specifically designed for selling digital downloads.

Such a platform would have the proper features, licensing, and subscriptions built in which will make it easier for you to set up your store.

That’s why we recommend using WordPress and Easy Digital Downloads for selling your Excel and Google spreadsheets.

WordPress is the best website builder on the market that is used by over 43% of all the websites on the internet. It is an ideal choice as WordPress gives you full control over your website and allows you to create a user-friendly eCommerce store.

Easy Digital Downloads is the best WordPress plugin to sell digital products. We use EDD ourselves to sell many of our premium WordPress plugins.

With WordPress and Easy Digital Downloads, you can sell as many Microsoft Excel or Google spreadsheets as you want without having to pay high transaction fees.

With that being said, let’s dig in to see how easy it is to create a WordPress site with Easy Digital Downloads, so you can start selling your spreadsheets online.

Step 1. Setting Up Your WordPress Site

Before you start building your site, it’s important to know that there are two types of WordPress software: WordPress.com and WordPress.org.

We will be using WordPress.org as it gives you complete control over your website.

First of all, you’ll need a domain name and WordPress hosting to start selling your spreadsheets.

For detailed information on both, you can check out our guides on how to choose the best domain name and how to pick the best WordPress host.

We recommend using SiteGround for your website. It is a popular hosting provider that offers managed WordPress hosting for Easy Digital Downloads. It comes with a free SSL certificate, pre-installed and optimized EDD, and a huge 73% off.

Basically, you can create a website for less than $5 per month.

For more details on how to set up your WordPress site, you can check out our guide on how to make a WordPress website.

If you don’t want to use SiteGround for. some reason, then we recommend checking out Bluehost, Hostinger, and WPEngine to see if they meet your needs.

Step 2. Setting Up Easy Digital Downloads

The free version of Easy Digital Downloads allows you to create an amazing online store. However, if you want to use add-ons such as Content Restriction, Recommended Products, or Recurring Payments, you will need the Pro version.

For this tutorial, we will use the free version. To begin, just you just need to install and activate the plugin. If you need any help, you can check out our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Once it is installed and activated, go to Downloads » Settings page in your WordPress admin area. First, you need to set your store’s location so the plugin can calculate sales tax and auto-fill some fields.

To do this, scroll until you see the ‘Store Location’ section. In the ‘Bunsiness Country’ dropdown menu, choose the location where your business is based.

After that, you need to fill in the ‘Business Region’ field.

Here you can open the dropdown and choose the state or region your store operates from.

Once you’ve entered the information, click on the ‘Save Changes’ button.

Step 3. Setting Up Your Payment Gateway

When selling Excel or Google spreadsheets online, you’ll need a way to accept credit payments from your customers.

Easy Digital Downloads supports popular payment gateways including Stripe, PayPal, and Amazon Payments. If you want to add more payment gateways, then you may want to take a look at Easy Digital Downloads extensions.

To choose your payment gateway, simply click on the ‘Payments’ tab. Then make sure the ‘General’ tab is selected.

In the ‘Payment Gateways’ section, check the box for all the payment gateways that you want to add to your online store.

If you select more than one payment method, then you’ll also need to choose a default gateway.

You can choose any one you want, but we recommend selecting Stripe as your default gateway because Stripe accepts credit cards as well as Google Pay and Apple pay.

After selecting a default gateway, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on ‘Save Changes.’

Once the page reloads, you will now see some new tabs where you can configure each of your separate payment gateways.

The process of configuring the payment gateway will be slightly different depending which you use. We will be using Stripe as an example.

To start, simply click on the ‘Stripe’ tab. Then, click on the ‘Connect With Stripe’ button.

This launches a setup wizard which will walk you through a step-by-step process of configuring Stripe as your payment gateway. If you use multiple gateways, you’ll just need to repeat these steps for each one.

Also, by default, Easy Digital Downloads shows all your prices in U.S dollars. If you want to show your prices in any other currency, simply click on the ‘Currency’ tab and choose the one you want to use from the dropdown.

Just be aware that some payment gateways may not accept every currency. If you’re unsure, then it is always a good idea to check your chosen payment gateway’s website.

Once you’re done with the currency settings, simply click on the ‘Save Changes’ button at the bottom of the page.

Step 4. Turn Your Spreadsheets Into a Downloadable Product

Now that your WordPress site is set up with Easy Digital Downloads, you’re ready to start selling spreadsheets online.

How to Sell a Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet

To upload your first Excel spreadsheet for sale, simply go to Downloads » Add New in your admin panel.

Once you’re in the content editor, add a name for your Excel spreadsheet in the ‘Enter Download Name Here’ field.

This name will be shown on the product’s page, so be sure to use one that describes exactly what your spreadsheet does.

Next, type in the description that will appear on the product’s page.

Many online stores use product categories and tags, too. These can help shoppers find the products they’re looking for.

You can create tags and categories for your spreadsheets using the ‘Add New Download Tag’ and ‘Add New Download Category’ options.

After that, scroll to the ‘Download Prices’ section.

Then simply enter the price they’ll pay to download the spreadsheet.

Next, you have to attach a ‘Download Image’ to the spreadsheet. This will appear as a featured image on the product page. You can easily create a product image using free design tools such as Canva.

Scroll down to the ‘Download Image’ section in the sidebar and just click on ‘Download Image.’ Then, simply upload any image you want.

After that, you can upload your spreadsheet. Simply scroll down to the ‘Download files’ section and add a suitable name in the ‘File Name’ field.

Then click on the link button in the ‘File URL’ field.

This will launch the WordPress media library.

From here, you can simply upload the Excel spreadsheet from the computer.

Once you’ve uploaded the Excel spreadsheet, simply click on the ‘Publish’ button. Now your product is on sale on your site.

Setting Up Google Sheets For Sale By Placing Link in File URL

Selling Google Sheets on WordPress is a slightly different process. Since Google Sheets only run in a web browser, you cannot sell a downloadable Google Sheets file. All you get is a link.

To sell Google Sheets, you need to create a ‘copy link’ for the spreadsheet that you plan on selling. This copy link allows you to share a copy of your spreadsheet with the customers upon purchase.

To create this link, simply go to the Google spreadsheet that you plan on selling and click the ‘Share’ button.

Once you’ve clicked on the ‘Share’ button, a popup will appear.

Now simply click on ‘Anyone with the link’ option in the ‘General Access’ section.

Next, select the ‘Editor’ option from the dropdown menu on the right in the ‘General Access’ section.

After that, simply click on the ‘Copy Link’ button.

After you’ve copied the link, go to the ‘Download Files’ section in Easy Digital Downloads.

Then just paste the link in the ‘File URL’ field.

After pasting the link, remove the edit?usp=sharing section from your link.

You will need to add copy in its place.

Now that you’ve added your Google Sheet’s copy URL, simply click on the ‘Publish’ button.

That’s it! Your spreadsheet will immediately be for sale to customers.

Setting Up Google Sheets For Sale Using Certificate of Download

Another easy way to sell Google Sheets is by creating a certificate of download.

All you have to do is create a Word document and paste the Google Sheet ‘copy link’ into the document.

After pasting the link, remove the edit?usp=sharing section from your link and simply add copy it in its place. Be sure to enable the URL as a hyperlink so that it is clickable.

Now, as you can see in the image above, the copy link looks a bit ugly. To make your certificate of download look more professional, you can use a link-cloaker like Pretty Links.

With this plugin, you can make your links look professional and can also track the number of clicks the links in your certificates get.

Next, simply save the document. We recommend saving it as a PDF.

After that, just head back to the ‘Download Files’ section in EDD and upload the certificate file. Then, simply click on the ‘Publish’ button.

With this method, customers will download the certificate after the purchase. They can then click the link provided in the purchase certificate to access the Google spreadsheet they just bought.

Step 5. Customizing Your Digital Download Emails

Every time someone buys a spreadsheet from your website, Easy Digital Downloads will send an email to that person.

This email will have a link that the customer can use to download the Excel or Google spreadsheet they just purchased.

You may want to customize this email by adding your own text and branding.

To do this, go to Downloads » Settings and click on the ‘Email’ tab. Then, make sure that the ‘General’ tab is selected.

You might want to start by adding a logo to your purchase receipt emails.

This logo will appear right at the top of the email and will help customers identify who the email is from.

Simply click on the ‘Upload File’ button and upload an image or choose one from the WordPress media library.

Additionally, you create more personalized emails, you can use dynamic text in your emails as well.

You can find the list of these variables at the bottom of the tab, and you can paste them into your emails to customize them to your individual customers.

When you’re happy with your purchase email receipts, simply scroll down and click on the ‘Save Changes’ button.

Bonus Tools to Sell More Excel and Google Spreadsheets

Now that you’ve successfully added Google and Excel spreadsheets to your website, your next step is to convince the visitors to buy your downloads.

Here are some of our top picks for plugins that can help you sell more Excel and Google spreadsheets.

All in One SEO is the best SEO plugin for WordPress that can help you optimize your site to get more traffic from search engines.

MonsterInsights is the best analytics solution for WordPress. It helps you see where your visitors are coming from and what they do on your website. You can optimize your business strategy based on real data.

OptinMonster is the conversion optimization software on the market. You can use it to create optin forms to grow your email list and convert visitors into paying customers. It can also reduce shopping cart abandonment.

PushEngage is the best push notification software for WordPress. It allows you to send personalized web push notifications to let your customers. 

We hope this article helped you learn how to sell excel and Google spreadsheets online. You may also want out check out our guide on best email marketing services, and see these easy ways to drive traffic to your website.

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 Sell Excel or Google Spreadsheets in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.

How to Embed a Facebook Group Feed in WordPress

Do you want to embed posts from a Facebook group on your WordPress website?

Promoting your Facebook group on your WordPress site is a great way to get more engagement and grow your followers. The content from your group can also help keep your site fresh, even for regular visitors.

In this article, we’ll show you how to easily add a Facebook group feed in WordPress.

Why Add Facebook Group Content to Your WordPress Site?

Facebook groups can help you build a community, create a sense of loyalty, and build a positive relationship with your users. After they join your group, you can promote blog posts, company updates, or even WooCommerce products to these people without having to spend any money on online ads.

Our WPBeginner Engage Facebook group has over 89 thousand active users and is growing at an incredible pace.

After creating your Facebook group, you’ll want to promote that group and drive people to it. The best way to grow your Facebook group is by embedding the group feed on your WordPress website.

In this way, the people who visit your site can see all the great content you’re posting on Facebook. This will encourage them to check out your group, engage with your content, and maybe even click on the ‘Join’ button.

After embedding the group feed on your site, new posts will appear on your website automatically. This makes it an easy way to keep your site fresh, even for regular visitors.

With that in mind, let’s see how to embed a Facebook group feed in WordPress.

How to Install a Custom Facebook Feed Plugin

The best way to embed a Facebook group feed in WordPress is by using the Smash Balloon Custom Facebook Feed plugin.

This plugin lets you embed Facebook albums, comments, reviews, community posts, and more on your WordPress website.

If you embed videos in WordPress, then Smash Balloon lets users watch that media without having to visit Facebook, by opening a lightbox popup directly on your website.

In this guide, we’ll be using the pro version of Smash Balloon as it allows you to show Facebook albums, videos, and photos on your WordPress website. However, there’s also a free version that allows you to easily embed Facebook status posts in WordPress, no matter what your budget.

The first thing you need to do is install and activate the Smash Balloon Custom Facebook Feed plugin. For more details, see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you’ll need to go to Facebook Feed » Settings and enter your license key into the ‘License Key’ field.

You’ll find this information under your account on the Smash Balloon website.

After entering the key, click on the ‘Activate’ button.

How to add the Smash Balloon App to Your Facebook Group

After that, you’ll need to add Smash Balloon’s Facebook app to the Facebook group that you want to show on your WordPress website.

Note: Due to how the Facebook API is set up, Smash Balloon can only show posts that were made after you added the app to your Facebook group.

With that in mind, let’s go ahead and install the app before we do anything else. In a new tab, log into Facebook and go to your Facebook group.

Then, in the left-hand menu click on ‘Group settings.’

After that, scroll to the ‘Manage advanced settings’ section.

Here, click on the pencil icon next to ‘Apps.’

This opens a popup showing all the apps you’ve already added to this group.

Since we want to install the Smash Balloon app, click on ‘Add Apps.’

In the search bar, type in ‘Smash Balloon WordPress.’

When the right app shows up, give it a click.

A popup will now appear showing all the information the app can access and any actions it can perform.

If you’re happy to go ahead and install the app, then click on ‘Add.’

After a few moments, you should see a message saying that you’ve successfully added the Smash Balloon app to your Facebook group.

Connect Smash Balloon to Your Facebook Group

Now, it’s time to connect your Facebook page WordPress, by going to Facebook Feed » All Feeds and clicking on ‘Add New.’

Smash Balloon lets you show photos, events, videos, albums, and more.

Since we want to embed our Facebook group feed, click on ‘Timeline’ and then select ‘Next.’

After that, you’ll need to select the Facebook group where you’ll get the timeline from.

To get started, click on ‘Add New.’

On the next screen, select the radio button next to ‘Group.’

After that, just click on ‘Connect to Facebook.’

This opens a popup where you can log into your Facebook account and choose the group that you want to use.

After checking the box next to one or more groups, simply click ‘Next.’

You should now see a popup asking you to install the Smash Balloon WordPress app.

Since we already installed this app, you can go ahead and click on ‘Done.’

How to Create a Facebook Group Feed in WordPress

Now you’ve added your Facebook group to Smash Balloon, it’ll show up as an option. Simply click to select the group and then click ‘Next.’

On this screen, you can choose the template you’ll use as the starting point for your Facebook group feed.

All of these templates are fully customizable so you can fine-tune the design depending on how you want to show the status updates, videos, and photos from your Facebook group.

We’re using the ‘Simple Masonry’ template, but you can choose any template you want.

Smash Balloon will now go ahead and create the feed based on your Facebook group and the template you’ve chosen.

This is a good start, but Smash Balloon has lots of settings you can use to customize how this group feed looks on your WordPress blog.

How to Customize Your Facebook Group Feed

The Smash Balloon plugin gives you lots of ways to customize how the feed appears on your website. With that in mind, it’s worth seeing what changes you can make.

On the Facebook Feed » All Feeds screen, find your group feed and then click on its ‘Edit’ button, which looks like a small pencil.

This opens the Smash Balloon feed editor, which shows a preview of your Facebook group feed to the right.

On the left-hand side, you’ll see all the different settings you can use to customize how the posts appear on your site. Most of these settings are self-explanatory, but we’ll quickly cover some key areas.

If you want to change the template you’re using, just click on ‘Template.’

Then, select the ‘Change’ button.

To start, you can change how your group posts are displayed by clicking on ‘Feed Layout.’

On this screen, you can switch between masonry and list layouts, and change the feed height. As you make changes, the preview will update automatically so you can try different settings to see what looks the best for your Facebook group.

By default, the Facebook group feed will show a different number of posts on desktop computers and mobile devices.

You can preview how your feed will look on desktop computers, tablets, and smartphones using the row of buttons in the upper-right corner.

After testing the mobile version of your WordPress website, you may want to change the number of posts that you show on smartphones and tablets.

To make this change, simply find the ‘Number of Posts’ section and type a different number into the ‘Mobile’ field.

You may also want to show fewer columns on smartphones and tablets by changing the ‘Columns’ settings.

For example, in the following image, we’re splitting the content into 3 columns on desktop, 2 columns on tablets, and 1 column on mobile devices.

When you’re happy with the layout, click on the ‘Customize’ link.

This will take you back to the main Smash Balloon editor, ready for you to move onto the next settings screen, which is ‘Color Scheme.’

By default, Smash Balloon uses the same color scheme as your WordPress theme, but on this screen, you can switch to a ‘Light’ or ‘Dark’ color scheme.

Another option is to design your own color scheme by selecting ‘Custom’ and then using the controls to change the background color, change the text color in WordPress, and more.

You can add a header above your group feed, which can include content such as your group’s profile picture and name. This can help visitors understand the content they’re seeing, and how they can find your group on Facebook.

To add a header section, click on ‘Header’ in the left-hand menu.

On this screen, click on the ‘Enable’ slider to turn it from grey to blue.

After adding a header section, you can use the controls to change the size of the header and its color, hide or show your Facebook profile picture, and more.

If you want to remove the header at any point, then simply click to turn off the ‘Enable’ toggle.

After that, you can change how the individual posts look inside your group feed by selecting ‘Post Style’ from the left-hand menu.

After that, click on ‘Post Style’ again.

On this screen, you can choose between a regular and boxed layout.

If you select ‘Boxed’ then you can create a colored background for each post. You can also make the border-radius larger to create curved corners, and add a border shadow.

If you choose ‘Regular’ then you can change the thickness and color of the line that separates your different social media posts.

In the following image, we’ve added a thicker line to the group feed and changed its color.

You can also customize the individual parts within each post by going back to the main settings screen.

Once again, select ‘Post Style’ but this time choose ‘Edit Individual Elements’ instead.

You’ll now see all the different content that Smash Balloon includes in each post, such as the post author, date, shared link box, and more.

To remove a piece of content from your posts, just click to uncheck its box.

You can also customize how each type of content looks by clicking on it.

For example, in the following image, you can see settings to change the size and color of the ‘post action’ links, such as like, share, and comment.

You can also change the ‘View on Facebook’ text by typing into the ‘Customize Text’ field.

By default, Smash Balloon doesn’t add a Facebook ‘like’ button to your feed. This button makes it easier for visitors to join your group, so you may want to add it to your feed by selecting the ‘Like Box’ settings.

Then, simply click on ‘Enable’ so that the toggle turns blue.

You can now use the ‘Position’ dropdown to add the like box below or above the group feed.

You can also use these settings to change the box’s width, or add the group’s cover photo.

To encourage more people to join your group, you may want to show the total number of followers by clicking on the ‘Show fans’ switch.

When you’re happy with how the ‘like’ button is set up, you can move on to the ‘Load More Button’ settings.

The ‘Load More’ button gives visitors an easy way to scroll through more of your feed. If they enjoy this content, then they might decide to join your Facebook group.

With that in mind, you may want to make this button stand out by changing its background color, hover state, and text color.

This button shows ‘Load More’ by default but you can add a custom message by typing into the ‘Text’ field.

Smash Balloon has a lightbox feature that allows visitors to watch your group’s videos and take a closer look at your photos without leaving WordPress.

Visitors can simply click on any video or photo thumbnail to open the lightbox popup.

They can then scroll through the rest of the images and videos in the feed using the arrows.

To customize the default lightbox, simply select ‘Lightbox’ from the left-hand menu.

Here, you can change the color of the lightbox’s text, links, and background colors.

The lightbox popup makes it easy for visitors to explore your feed, but it also allows people to scroll through your photos and videos without visiting your Facebook group.

If you want to get more visitors to your Facebook group then you may want to disable the lightbox feature. To do this, simply click on the ‘Enable’ toggle so it turns from blue to grey.

Now, if a visitor clicks on any photo or video in the group feed, they’ll be taken to your Facebook group in a new tab.

When you’re happy with how the Facebook group feed looks, don’t forget to click on ‘Save’ to store your changes.

You’re now ready to add this feed to your WordPress website.

How to Embed Your Facebook Group Feed in WordPress

You can add your Facebook group feed to WordPress using a block, widget, or shortcode.

If you’ve created more than one feed using Smash Balloon, then you’ll need to know the feed’s code if you’re going to use a block or widget.

To get this information, go to Facebook Feed » All Feeds and then look at the feed=”” part of the shortcode. You’ll need to add this code to the block or widget, so make a note of it.

In the following image, we’ll need to use feed=”1″.

If you want to embed your Facebook group feed in a page or post, then you can use the ‘Custom Facebook Feed’ block.

Simply open the page or post where you want to embed the Facebook feed. Then, click on the ‘+’ icon to add a new block and start typing ‘Custom Facebook Feed.’

When the Facebook block appears, click to add it to your page or post.

The block will show one of your Smash Balloon feeds by default. If this isn’t your Facebook group feed, then find the ‘Shortcode Settings’ section in the right-hand menu.

You can now go ahead and add the feed=”” code, then click on ‘Apply Changes.’

After that, just publish or update the page to make the group feed live on your website.

Another option is to add the feed to any widget-ready area, such as the sidebar or similar section. This allows visitors to see your group feed no matter where they are on your website.

To get started, simply go to Appearance » Widgets in the WordPress dashboard and then click on the blue ‘+’ button.

Once you’ve done that, start typing ‘Custom Facebook Feed’ into the search bar.

When the right widget appears, drag it to where you want to show the feed.

The widget will show one of the feeds you created using Smash Balloon.

If this isn’t your Facebook group feed, then type the feed’s code into the ‘Shortcode Settings’ box. Then, click on ‘Apply Changes.’

You can now click on the ‘Update’ button to make the widget live. For more information, see our complete guide on how to add and use widgets in WordPress.

Finally, you can embed the Facebook group feed on any page, post, or widget-ready area using shortcode.

Simply go to Facebook Feed » All Feeds and copy all the code in the ‘Shortcode’ column. You can now add this code to any shortcode block.

For more information, please see our detailed guide on how to add a shortcode in WordPress.

Note: If you are using a block-enabled theme, you can use the full-site editor to add the ‘Custom Facebook Feed’ block anywhere on your site.

We hope this article helped you learn how to add a Facebook group on your WordPress website. You may also want to see our guide on how to create a contact form in WordPress, or see our expert pick of the best Facebook plugins for your blog.

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 Embed a Facebook Group Feed in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.

How to Create a Thank You Page in WordPress

Do you want to create a thank you page for your WordPress website?

Showing a customized thank you page can help you build a strong relationship with your audience. You can keep people engaged, bring them back to your site, and boost sales.

In this article, we will show you how to create a thank you page in WordPress, step by step. Plus, we’ll also show you when to display your thank you page such as after someone submits a form, makes a purchase on your site, and more.

Why Create a Thank You Page in WordPress?

A thank you page is a web page you can show to your users when they perform an action or complete a task on your WordPress website.

For example, you can show a custom thank you page on your online store after a customer purchases a product. This allows you to cross-sell and upsell your best products and offer exclusive discounts on subsequent purchases.

Similarly, a thank you page can help build an email list and grow your social audience. You can show social sharing buttons to promote your Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other social media channels.

Another situation where a thank you page is helpful is when a user submits a form or leaves a comment on your site. You can show your most popular posts on the thank you page and drive more traffic to your important blog posts.

That said, let’s look at how you can easily create a thank you page in WordPress and how to trigger it in different situations.

Simply click the links below to jump ahead to your preferred section:

Creating a Thank You Page in WordPress

The best way to create a thank you page in WordPress is by using SeedProd. It is the best website builder and landing page builder plugin for WordPress.

The plugin offers drag-and-drop functionality and lots of customization options. Plus, you get to choose from pre-built templates to edit the thank you page according to your liking.

For this tutorial, we will use the SeedProd Pro version because it offers pre-built templates, email integrations, WooCommerce blocks, and more. You can also use the SeedProd Lite version for free.

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

Upon activation, you can go to SeedProd » Settings from your WordPress admin panel. From here, enter the license key and click the ‘Verify key’ button.

You can find the license key in your SeedProd account area.

After the verification, you’ll need to head to SeedProd » Landing Pages from the WordPress dashboard and click the ‘Create New Landing Page’ button.

Next, SeedProd will show you different page templates.

You can filter them from the top to view thank you page templates. From here, simply hover over a design you’d like to use and click the orange tick button.

A popup window will now open. Go ahead and enter a name and URL for your thank you page.

Once that’s done, you can click the ‘Save and Start Editing the Page’ button.

This will launch the SeedProd drag-and-drop page builder.

You can now customize your thank you page by adding new blocks from the menu on the left or rearranging the existing blocks.

For instance, there are blocks for images, text, headlines, videos, contact forms, social profiles, and more.

If you click on a block in the template, then you’ll see more options for customization.

For example, you can edit the text, changing its font, size, spacing, color, and more.

When you’ve made the changes, don’t forget to click the ‘Save’ button at the top.

Next, you can click the ‘Connect’ tab and integrate email marketing services. This is useful if you’ve added a contact form to your thank you and would like to collect leads from customers.

After that, you’ll need to head to the ‘Page Settings’ tab at the top.

Here, click the Page Status toggle to change it from ‘Draft’ to ‘Publish.’

Don’t forget to click the ‘Save’ button at the top when you’re done.

You can now visit your website to see the thank you page in action.

Now, let’s look at different situations when you can trigger the thank you page so that your visitors see it.

Show a Thank You Page After Form Submission in WordPress

After creating a custom thank you page, you can display it when a user submits a form.

For example, you can show social media icons when a visitor signs up for an email newsletter using a form. This way, they can also follow you on different social platforms and help grow your followers.

Similarly, if a user fills out a feedback form, then you can show useful guides, videos, or promote your best content on the thank you page.

With WPForms, you can easily create all types of forms on your website and show a custom thank you page. It is the best WordPress contact form plugin that offers pre-built templates and lots of customization options.

For more details, please see our guide on how to create a contact form in WordPress.

To display your custom thank you page, go ahead and edit a form in WPForms. When you’re in the form builder, simply go to the Settings » Confirmations tab.

Under the Confirmation Type dropdown menu, simply select the ‘Go to URL (Redirect)’ option.

After that, enter the URL for your thank you page in the ‘Confirmation Redirect URL’ field.

Whenever a user fills out and submits a form on your website, they’ll see the custom thank you page you created.

Show a Thank You Page Upon Product Purchase in WooCommerce

If you have a WooCommerce store, then you can show your custom thank you page when a customer purchases your product.

WooCommerce has a default thank you page, but it’s not optimized for conversions. However, you can replace it with your own to get more sales.

For example, you can upsell products on a thank you page, offer exclusive discounts, display the latest promotional campaigns, and more.

We have a full guide on how to easily create custom WooCommerce thank you pages that will walk you through the entire process, step-by-step.

Show a Custom Thank You Page on Your Membership Site

You can also display your thank you page on a membership website when someone purchases a subscription to access exclusive content or enrolls in an online course.

With MemberPress, you can easily set up a membership site. It is the best WordPress membership plugin, and you can use it to sell premium content, subscriptions, digital downloads, and more.

You can learn more by following our ultimate guide to creating a WordPress membership site.

Once you’ve set up memberships, all you have to do is head to MemberPress » Settings from your WordPress dashboard and select the ‘Pages’ tab.

From here, you can click the ‘MemberPress Thank You Page’ dropdown menu and select the custom thank you page.

This way, customers will be redirected to your thank you page whenever they complete the registration or subscription process.

Show a Thank You Page After Comment Submission

Another situation where displaying a custom thank you page is beneficial is after comment submission.

When a visitor submits a comment on your WordPress blog, you can take this opportunity to show your most popular articles or evergreen content through a thank you page.

First, you’ll need to install and activate the Yoast Comment Hacks plugin. For more details, please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you can go to Settings » Comment Hacks from your WordPress dashboard.

Next, scroll down to the ‘Redirect first time commenters’ section. Now, click the ‘Redirect to’ dropdown menu and select your custom thank you page.

Save your settings, and the thank you page that you selected will appear any time a visitor leaves a comment for the first time.

You can see our detailed guide on how to redirect users after form submissions in WordPress for more information.

We hope this article helped you learn how to create a thank you page in WordPress. You may also want to see our ultimate WordPress SEO guide for beginners and the must-have WordPress plugins for business websites.

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 Create a Thank You Page in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.

How to Add Featured Video Thumbnails in WordPress

Do you want to use video for featured thumbnails in WordPress?

By replacing a post or product’s featured image with a featured video, you can make your website much more vibrant and dynamic. Visitors can view these videos from nearly anywhere including your blog archives, homepage, and WooCommerce product pages.

In this article, we will show you how you can add featured video thumbnails in WordPress.

Why Add Featured Video Thumbnails in WordPress?

All popular WordPress themes allow you to add featured images to your posts and products.

These are the primary images, and they often appear at the top of the page and other areas of your site such as your website’s archive pages. Search engines and social media sites may also display a page’s featured image.

A good featured image can get you a lot of user engagement. However, you may be able to get more clicks, pageviews, and even sales by using a featured video thumbnail instead.

If you’ve created an online store, then showing a video at the top of the product page is a great way to make shoppers want to scroll and learn more about that product.

With that being said, let’s see how you can add featured video thumbnails in WordPress.

How to Add Featured Video Thumbnails in WordPress

The easiest way to use videos as featured thumbnails is by using Really Simple Featured Video. This plugin lets you embed videos from popular video hosting websites such as YouTube or Vimeo and use them as featured video thumbnails.

It also works perfectly with WooCommerce and will show the featured video at the top of the product page.

However, just be aware that WooCommerce will show the featured video on the product page only. The featured image thumbnail will still be used in other places, including your WooCommerce store page.

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

After activation, there are a few settings to configure. To get started, go to Settings » Really Simple Featured Video.

On this screen, you can select whether you want to add featured video thumbnails to pages, posts, or WooCommerce products.

To do this, simply click on the ‘Posts,‘ ‘Pages’ or ‘Products’ switches to turn them from grey (disabled) to purple (active). In the following image, we’ve enabled the featured video feature for products, plus posts and pages.

After that, click on the ‘Save changes’ button.

Next, click on the ‘Controls’ tab. Here, you’ll find a ‘Self-hosted videos’ section where you can configure the settings for the videos in your WordPress media library.

While the plugin does support self-hosted videos, this can take up a lot of storage space and bandwidth so we don’t recommend it. To learn more, check out why you should never upload a video to WordPress.

Instead, scroll to the ‘Embed Videos’ section. This is where you will find settings for any videos you embed from third-party video platforms such as YouTube.

When you embed videos from YouTube or Vimeo, Really Simple Featured Video will show the playback controls for that platform.

For example, if you’re embedding a YouTube video then visitors will have access to YouTube’s specific playback features.

However, the ‘Embed videos’ section does have an ‘Autoplay’ switch that you can click to enable, too.

By default, the plugin will play videos with sound turned on. To mute your videos by default, click on the ‘Mute sound’ toggle.

You can also set the featured video thumbnails to play on loop.

Looping videos can be annoying to many visitors, particularly if the video is short and has sound. It’s a good idea to only activate the ‘Loop’ switch if replaying the video over and over improves the visitor experience in some way. For example, you might create a video showing a 360 degree view of a product and then set that clip to loop.

After working your way through the different settings, make sure you click on the ‘Save Changes’ button.

Adding Featured Video Thumbnails to Posts, Pages, and WooCommerce Products

Once you’ve configured how the plugin will show embedded videos, you’re ready to add featured video thumbnails to your WordPress website.

To do this, simply open the post, page, or WooCommerce product where you want to add a featured video thumbnail.

If you’re adding a featured video to a page or post, then you’ll find the ‘Featured Video’ section in the right-hand menu underneath the ‘Discussion’ section.

Want to add a featured video to a WooCommerce product instead?

Then you’ll find the ‘Featured Video’ section underneath the ‘Product gallery‘ section.

To use a video from a video hosting site, simply click on ‘Embed.’

In the new field, you’ll need to paste the URL of the video that you want to embed.

Just make sure that you add the video’s URL in the right format. In the right-hand menu, you’ll see some examples for YouTube, Vimeo, and Dailymotion.

For YouTube, the plugin gives us the following example URL: https://www.youtube.com/embed/vbLgiRQ0Moo

This means you’ll need to use https://www.youtube.com/embed/ as the first part of your URL and then add the ID of the video that you want to embed.

To find the video ID, simply open a new tab in your browser, then go to the YouTube video that you want to embed. Now, take a look at the browser’s address bar.

The video ID is the value that comes after v=. In the following image, we can see that the video ID is DvbFBxKcORA.

After adding the video ID to the first part of the URL, we get the following: https://www.youtube.com/embed/DvbFBxKcORA

You can now go back to the tab with the WordPress block editor and just paste the URL into the ‘Embed’ field. That will add a featured video thumbnail to the post, and then you’re ready to click on either the ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ button.

You can now add featured video thumbnails to more posts, pages, and WooCommerce products by following the same process described above.

On your blog archive or similar page you’ll see that WordPress is now using the videos as the featured thumbnail for your posts and pages.

If you open any page, post, or WooCommerce product, then you’ll see that the featured video also appears at the top of the page, just like a featured image would.

We hope this article helped you learn how to add featured video thumbnails in WordPress. You can also go through our guide on the best YouTube video gallery plugins for WordPress and how to embed a Facebook video.

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 Add Featured Video Thumbnails in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.

How to Use WordPress Recovery Mode (2 Ways)

Do you want to use WordPress recovery mode to fix an error on your website?

The recovery mode feature was introduced in WordPress 5.2, and it allows you to easily to fix fatal errors on your site that can make WordPress’s backend or frontend inaccessible.

In this article, we will show you how to use recovery mode in WordPress.

What is WordPress Recovery Mode

If you’re encountering a WordPress error that’s preventing you from logging into your website, then WordPress will automatically shift into recovery mode.

Recovery mode allows you to access your WordPress admin dashboard by sending a link to your administration email. This email contains details about the error that’s preventing users from accessing their WordPress website.

You can use the link to access your admin dashboard and fix the issue.

For example, your WordPress site may show you a critical error and blocks you from logging into your dashboard.

This is when you can use the WordPress recovery mode feature to regain access. Let’s see how you can use the WordPress recovery mode.

Note: Keep in mind to always back up your WordPress site before attempting to enter recovery mode. If you cannot access your admin area, then check out our guide on how to create a WordPress database backup manually.

Method 1. Using Recovery Mode Through The Email Link

If a WordPress plugin or theme causes an error, then recovery mode can be used to fix it.

You might see a plain white screen when trying to access your account. Sometimes, a message is also shown on the screen.

If that is the case, immediately log in to your administrator email account. Keep in mind to check the inbox of the email address that you provided as the administrator email address to WordPress.

You will receive an email to your WordPress email address that will inform you about the specific error on your website. If WordPress can determine the cause of the outage, this email will have that information.

For example, if there is a file corrupted in your theme directory or a plugin incompatibility, WordPress may be able to tell.

The email will also give you a link to access your WordPress admin dashboard.

Simply click the provided link, and you will be taken to the WordPress admin area. Here, you will see a banner telling you that Recover Mode has been initalized.

You can then log in as normal.

Once in your admin panel, you can deactivate the theme or plugin that’s causing the issue.

Simply go to Plugins » All Plugins and then click the ‘Deactivate’ link under the right one.

If the email sent by WordPress did not specify the plugin or theme that’s causing the error, then you should deactivate all the plugins. After that, try logging into your account.

You can figure out the faulty plugin by then activating the plugins one by one. Once you find the faulty plugin that’s causing the issue, you can find an alternative plugin for it or get support from the plugin developers.

If for some reason your website is showing a plain white screen but you haven’t received any email from WordPress, then you can try method 2 to use recovery mode.

Method 2. Using Recovery Mode Without Email Link

You can use this method to access recovery mode without any email link. You can simply create a WordPress recovery mode link by following the link below to access recovery mode.

example.com/wp-login.php?action=entered_recovery_mode

All you have to do is replace example.com with your own site’s domain name.

This URL will take you to your WordPress admin area where you’ll be asked to log in.

Here you will see an alert that you are logging into Recovery Mode.

Now you can fix any error on your site.

Keep in mind that if you use this method to manually access the Recovery Mode login page, WordPress won’t locate the plugin or theme that’s causing the error itself. You will need to do some work to figure that out on your own.

You can start by simply changing your theme or deactivating all your plugins. This should fix whatever error was occurring and you will be able to access your WordPress website.

From there, you can reactivate plugins one by one to find the issue, or you can even roll back your theme or WordPress version to an earlier one that wasn’t incompatible.

Bonus: Additional Recovery Mode Options

If you’re not clear about the error on your website that’s preventing you from logging in, then you can also try these two options in recovery mode to solve your problem:

Download a site health plugin to diagnose issuesRun a malware scan to be sure your site or server hasn’t been compromised

For example, you can install and activate the Health Check & Troubleshooting plugin. For more instructions, see our guide on how to install a plugin in WordPress.

Once you activate this plugin, it will perform a number of checks on your WordPress site and will detect common errors that may be causing the fluctuation.

Sometimes, malware on your website may be causing the error. You can use recovery mode to scan your website for malicious code and create a completely secure website. For help, you can check out our ultimate WordPress security guide.

You can also ask your WordPress hosting provider for support. If you’re using a top WordPress hosting company like Hostinger, Bluehost, WPEngine, and SiteGround, then their support team will be able to help you resolve the issue.

That’s it! We hoped you learned how to use recovery mode in WordPress. You may also want t check out our pick of the best WordPress SEO plugins and our tutorial on how to fix the critical error in WordPress.

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.

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