How to Fix ERR_CONNECTION_RESET Error in WordPress

Are you seeing the ERR_CONNECTION_RESET error message when trying to access your WordPress site or someone else’s?

This error message appears in Chrome when your browser cannot connect to the website you’ve requested. Other browsers use different messages to display this error.

In this article, we’ll show you how to fix the ERR_CONNECTION_RESET error in WordPress.

What Is the Fix ERR_CONNECTION_RESET Error in WordPress?

The ERR_CONNECTION_RESET error is a Google Chrome error message.

It is shown when your web browser can contact a website but is unable to properly set up the connection to receive data from the site. As a result, your browser automatically resets the connection, but this stops the server from sending data to the browser.

Other web browsers use different wording when displaying this message, such as “The connection was reset.”

There are lots of common WordPress errors, but this message is vague and doesn’t tell you what to do next. The error may even stop you from visiting your own website and logging in to the WordPress admin area.

Usually, this error means that the WordPress website is working, but something is stopping the browser from accessing it. In most cases, you will only need to fix a problem with your own browser or internet connection.

With that said, let’s see how to troubleshoot and fix the ERR_CONNECTION_RESET error in WordPress. You can follow these troubleshooting steps in order or use the quick links below.

Make Sure the Website Is WorkingRestart Your Internet ConnectionClear Your Browser’s CacheTurn Off Experimental Chrome FeaturesDisable Your Computer’s Firewall and AntivirusReset Your VPN SoftwareDisable Your Proxy ServerClear Your DNS CacheChange Your DNS ServerReset Your TCP/IP Settings

Make Sure the Website Is Working

When you see the ERR_CONNECTION_RESET message, the problem is usually with your computer. However, in rare cases it can be caused by a problem with the website, so you should check to see if the website is actually working using IsItWP’s free uptime checker tool.

Simply visit the Website Uptime Status Checker website, then enter the URL of your own site.

The Uptime Uptime Status Checker tool will quickly check your website.

You’ll get a message letting you know if it is up or down.

If the site is actually down, then you will need to wait until it is back up to address the issue.

If it is your own site, then you should contact your WordPress hosting provider to let them know your website is down.

For more detailed instructions and to learn how to get automatic alerts when your website goes down, see our guide on how to monitor your WordPress website server uptime.

However, if the website is up and working, then the problem is with your own computer or network, and you should follow the troubleshooting steps below.

Restart Your Internet Connection

The simplest way to start troubleshotting is to restart your internet connection.

You should shut down your computer and turn off your internet modem and router. After that, you should wait for at least one minute before turning everything back on.

You can then try visiting the website again to see whether this has fixed the error.

Clear Your Browser’s Cache

Your web browser stores files and data from the websites you visit, so it doesn’t have to download them again. However, this can cause problems if the cached files become outdated or corrupt.

Luckily, it’s simple to clear your browser’s cache so that the data is downloaded again.

First, you can try reloading the page and bypassing the browser cache. If you’re on Windows, you can do this by pressing the CTRL, SHIFT, and R keys at the same time. On a Mac, it will be CMD, SHIFT, and R.

If that doesn’t work, then you need to clear the cache completely.

To do this with Google Chrome, simply click on the three-dotted icon in the upper-right corner and select ‘More Tools’ and then ‘Clear Browsing Data….’

A popup will appear. You should check the box next to ‘Cached images and files.’

Google Chrome will clear the entire cache by default. Another option is to open the ‘Time Range’ dropdown and tell Chrome to only clear content that was cached during a particular time period.

Next, you can check or uncheck any of the other options.

For example, if you only want to clear the cached files, then you can uncheck the ‘Browsing history’ and ‘Cookies and other site data’ boxes.

When you’re ready, click on the ‘Clear data’ button and Chrome will empty the browser cache. Once it’s finished, try revisiting the website to check whether you still get an error.

If you’re using a different browser, then you can see our beginner’s guide on how to clear the browser cache in any browser.

Turn Off Experimental Chrome Features

If you’ve enabled any of Chrome’s experimental features, then it’s possible that one of those may be causing the error.

To turn them off, navigate to chrome://flags/ in Chrome. After that, click the ‘Reset all’ button at the top of the page.

Now try to visit the website. If you still see the error message, then you should move on to the next solution.

Disable Your Computer’s Firewall and Antivirus

Installing antivirus and firewall software on your computer can keep you safe by blocking malware, but sometimes they may block trustworthy websites as well.

To test whether your firewall or antivirus program is blocking the connection, simply disable that software temporarily. Then, try to visit the website that was showing the error.

If the site loads without a problem, then you’ll know that the antivirus program or firewall was to blame. If this is the case, then we don’t recommend disabling it permanently.

Instead, you should check the software’s settings to see if you can whitelist this particular website. In this way, you can access the site while still protecting yourself against hackers, viruses, and other digital threats.

If you’re not sure where to find these settings, then try checking the software’s official documentation, forums, or social media pages for more information. Depending on your software license, you may also be able to contact customer support or the developer for help.

For more tips on protecting yourself against hackers without triggering a connection error, please see our ultimate WordPress security guide.

Reset Your VPN Software

You may have installed Virtual Private Network (VPN) software on your computer to protect your privacy, keep your information secure, and visit sites that are blocked in your location.

However, you may sometimes have problems with a VPN connection, or the VPN might not recognize a website’s IP address. Some VPNs will reconnect automatically if they encounter a problem, but you may have to reconnect your VPN manually.

We recommend checking your provider’s website or documentation for instructions on how to reset your VPN.

Disable Your Proxy Server

You may also experience connection errors when using a proxy server as an extra layer of security or to cache data. You will need to disable the proxy server.

To do this on a Mac, you can start by clicking the ‘Apple’ icon in the toolbar and then selecting ’System Settings…’

Next, you should type ‘proxies’ into the search box on the left and click the ‘Proxies’ menu item.

Now you need to make sure that all the proxy settings are toggled to the Off position.

After that, you should click the ‘OK’ button to save your changes.

You can now try visiting the website to see whether you can access it without any problems.

Clear Your DNS Cache

Your computer stores the IP addresses of all the websites you visit so that the browser doesn’t have to look up the same IP address multiple times. This is called a DNS cache.

This helps websites to load faster, but the cached DNS information can get outdated. This may result in an error message, particularly if the site has moved to a new domain name or you’ve moved WordPress to a new host.

By flushing your DNS cache, you’ll get the latest information about a website, including its new domain name or address.

To help you out, we’ve created a complete guide on how to clear your DNS cache for Mac, Windows, and Google Chrome.

Change Your DNS Server

A DNS server is like the internet’s phone book. It lets your browser know which IP address it needs to visit when you type in a website’s domain name.

Your internet service provider assigns you a DNS server automatically. However, sometimes this server may be unavailable, or it might have the wrong information. When that happens, you’ll experience connection problems.

You can solve this problem by switching to a different public DNS server, such as Google Public DNS. You can use any public server you want, but just be aware that the DNS provider will be able to see all the websites you visit.

On a Mac, you should start by clicking the Apple icon at the top left of the screen and selecting ‘System Settings…’ from the menu. Next, you need to enter ‘dns’ in the search box at the top left of the screen and then click the ‘DNS servers’ entry.

You will now see the address of your current DNS server.

Using the ‘+’ button at the bottom, you can add the two addresses for Google’s DNS servers. These are 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.8.4.

After that, you can click the old DNS server address.

Then, use the ‘-‘ button at the bottom to remove it.

When you’re finished, simply click on the ‘OK’ button to save your changes.

If you’re not using a Mac, then Google offers detailed instructions for most operating systems in their documentation on how to get started with Google Public DNS.

You’re now ready to visit the website to see whether this has removed the error message.

Reset Your TCP/IP Settings

TCP/IP is a set of protocols that control how data is sent and received over the internet.

If there’s a problem with how your internet connection is configured, then renewing your TCP and IP protocol will return the connection to its default settings, which may solve the problem.

On a Mac, you need to open the System Settings app, search for TCP/IP, and then click the TCP/IP entry in the menu.

On this screen, go ahead and click on the ‘Renew DHCP Lease’ button.

You may need to confirm your choice by clicking the ‘Apply’ button on a popup.

On Windows, you need to open the Command Prompt and open a series of commands. You should type each command separately and press the Enter key after each one.

You can now try visiting the website to check whether the error is fixed.

We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to fix the ERR_CONNECTION_RESET error. You may also want to learn why WordPress is free, or check out our list of reasons why you should use WordPress for 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 Fix ERR_CONNECTION_RESET Error in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.

How to Easily Disable the Default WordPress Sitemap

Do you want to disable the default WordPress sitemap on your website?

The default sitemap feature was introduced in WordPress 5.5, and it enables WordPress to publish XML sitemaps for your website automatically. The challenge is that this feature is lacking advanced WordPress SEO features that you need to rank higher.

In this article, we will show you how to easily disable the WordPress sitemap and improve it with a more powerful solution.

Why Should You Disable WordPress Sitemap

An XML sitemap is a file that lists all your website content in an XML format, which makes it easy for search engines to discover and index your content.

Sitemaps are very beneficial for your website as they bring more traffic and improve the SEO rankings of your site.

However, numerous WordPress SEO plugins like All in One SEO, Yoast SEO, and Google XML Sitemaps already implement sitemaps on your website, which results in WordPress pages having two sets of sitemaps.

Duplicate sitemaps for the same WordPress page can confuse search engines and can drop your SEO rankings.

If you’re not using a SEO plugin for your sitemap, then you’re missing out on advanced features. For example, many popular WordPress SEO plugins offer features like Video Sitemap, News Sitemap, RSS Sitemap, etc that you need to outrank your competitors in SEO.

With that being said, let’s see how you can easily disable the default WordPress sitemap.

Method 1. Disable WordPress Sitemap Using WordPress SEO Plugin

If you’re using any of the popular WordPress SEO plugins, then they will automatically disable the default WordPress sitemap feature and replace it with a more powerful solution.

For the sake of this tutorial, we will be demonstrating AIOSEO plugin because that’s the plugin we use on WPBeginner.

All in One SEO is the best WordPress SEO plugin that allows you to easily optimize your WordPress website for search engines and social media platforms. Over 3 million websites use AIOSEO including our own.

By default, All in One SEO will enable their Sitemap feature for you which automatically replaces the basic WordPress sitemaps upon activation.

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

Once activated, you will need to configure the AIOSEO plugin. If you need help, then you can follow our step-by-step guide on how to set up All in One SEO in WordPress correctly.

After that, head over to the All in One SEO » Sitemaps page from the WordPress admin dashboard to review your sitemap settings.

Next, navigate to the ‘General Sitemap’ tab. Here, make sure that the ‘Enable Sitemap’ switch is set to ‘Active’. This will disable the default WordPress sitemap.

Aside from the General Sitemap, we recommend that you enable the video sitemap, news sitemap, as well as the RSS sitemap on your site to maximize your SEO rankings.

Method 2. Disable WordPress Sitemap Using Code Snippet

You can also easily disable the default WordPress sitemap using code, too. You can add the code snippet in your theme’s functions.php file.

However, the biggest problem in adding code to your functions.php file is that even a tiny mistake can break your website.

That is why we recommend using WPCode to add custom code to WordPress. This free plugin makes it easy to add code snippets in WordPress without having to edit your theme’s functions.php file.

First, you need to install and activate the free WPCode plugin. For further instructions, check out our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Next, go to the new Code Snippets entry in the left-hand menu of your WordPress dashboard. This will bring you to the ‘All Snippets’ page.

Next, just click on the ‘Add New’ button.

WPCode will then take you to the ‘Add Snippet’ page where you can choose to add your own custom code or search to find an existing snippet from the WPCode library.

As we have to add custom code, simply hover over ‘Add Your Custom Code (New Snippet)’ option and click ‘Use snippet.’

Now you will be directed to the ‘Create Custom Snippet’ page. You can start by typing a name for your code snippet. It can be anything you like.

Then, select a ‘Code Type’ from the dropdown menu to the right. As we will be using a PHP code, simply click on the ‘PHP Snippet’ option.

Next, simply copy and paste the following PHP code snippet in the ‘Code Preview’.

add_filter( ‘wp_sitemaps_enabled’, ‘__return_false’ );

It will look like this when you’ve done so.

After pasting the code, scroll down to the ‘Insertion’ section where you will find two insert methods.

Simply choose the ‘Auto Insert’ option since you want it to run sitewide.

Now, go to the top of the page, toggle the switch from ‘Inactive’ to ‘Active’ at the top right corner, and then click the ‘Save Snippet’ button.

Once, you have saved and activated the code snippet, it will be active and the default WordPress sitemap disabled.

We hope this article helped you learn how to disable the default WordPress sitemap. You may also want to check out our ultimate WordPress SEO guide to improve your rankings, and see our comparison of the best managed WordPress hosting.

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 Easily Disable the Default WordPress Sitemap first appeared on WPBeginner.

How to Optimize Images for Web Performance without Losing Quality

Did you know that optimizing your images before uploading to WordPress can have a huge impact on your website speed?

When starting a new blog, many beginners simply upload images without optimizing them for the web. These large image files make your website slower.

You can fix this by using image optimization best practices as part of your regular blogging routine.

In this article, we will show you how to optimize your images for faster web performance without losing quality. We will also share automatic image optimization plugins for WordPress that can make your life easy.

Since this is a comprehensive guide on image optimization for the web, we have created an easy-to-follow table of content:

What Is Image Optimization?

Image optimization is a process of saving and delivering images in the smallest possible file size without reducing the overall image quality.

While the process sounds complex, it’s actually quite easy these days. You can use one of the many image optimization plugins and tools to automatically compress images by up to 80% without any visible loss in image quality.

Here’s an example of an optimized vs unoptimized image:

As you can see, when optimized properly the same image can be up to 80% smaller than the original without any loss in quality. In this example, the image is 52% smaller.

How Does Image Optimization Work?

In simple terms, image optimization works by using compression technology.

Compression can be ‘lossy’ or ‘lossless’.

Lossless compression reduces the overall file size with absolutely no loss of image quality. With lossy compression, there may be a minor loss in quality, but ideally, it won’t be noticeable to your visitors.

What Does It Mean to Optimize Images?

You may have received a recommendation to optimize images from your WordPress hosting support or a speed test tool and wonder what you need to do.

You will need to reduce the file size of your images by optimizing them for the web. We’ll show you how to do that step-by-step.

What Are the Benefits of Image Optimization?

While there are many benefits to optimizing your images, here are the top ones that you should know:

Faster website speedImproved SEO rankingsHigher overall conversion rate for sales and leadsLess storage and bandwidth (which can reduce hosting and CDN costs)Faster website backups (which can reduce the cost of backup storage)

Images are the second heaviest item on a web page after video. According to the HTTP archive, images make up 21% of an average webpage’s total weight.

Since we know fast websites rank higher in search engines (SEO) and have better conversions, image optimization is something that every business website must do if they want to succeed online.

Now you might be wondering how big a difference image optimization can really make.

According to a Strangeloop study, a one-second delay in website load time can cost you 7% of sales, 11% fewer pageviews, and a 16% decrease in customer satisfaction.

If these aren’t enough reasons to speed up your website, then you should know that search engines like Google also give preferential SEO treatment to faster-loading websites.

This means that by optimizing your images for the web, you can both improve website speed and boost WordPress SEO rankings.

Video Tutorial

If you’d prefer written instructions, then just keep reading.

How to Save and Optimize Images for Web Performance

The key to successful image optimization for web performance is to find the perfect balance between the lowest file size and acceptable image quality.

The three things that play a huge role in image optimization are:

Image file format (JPEG vs PNG vs GIF)Compression (higher compression = smaller file size)Image dimensions (height and width)

By choosing the right combination of the three, you can reduce your image size by up to 80%.

Let’s take a look at each of these in more detail.

1. Image File Format

For most website owners, the only three image file formats that really matter are JPEG, PNG, and GIF. Choosing the right file type plays an important role in image optimization.

To keep things simple, you want to use JPEGs for photos or images with lots of colors, PNGs for simple images or when you need transparent images, and GIFs for animated images only.

For those who don’t know the difference between each file type, the PNG image format is uncompressed which means it is a higher-quality image. The downside is that file sizes are much larger.

On the other hand, JPEG is a compressed file format that slightly reduces image quality in order to provide a significantly smaller file size.

Whereas GIF only uses 256 colors along with lossless compression which makes it the best choice for animated images.

On WPBeginner, we use all three image formats based on the type of image.

2. Compression

The next thing is image compression which plays a huge role in image optimization.

There are different types and levels of image compression available. The settings for each will vary depending on the image compression tool you use.

Most image editing tools like Adobe Photoshop, ON1 Photo, GIMP, Affinity Photo, and others come with built-in image compression features.

You can also save images normally and then use a web tool like TinyPNG or JPEGmini for easier image compression.

Although they require some manual effort, these two methods allow you to compress images before uploading them to WordPress, and this is what we do on WPBeginner.

There are also several popular WordPress plugins like Optimole and EWWW Image Optimizer that can automatically compress images when you first upload them. This is convenient, and many beginners and even large corporations prefer to use these image optimization plugins.

We will share more about using WordPress plugins later in the article.

3. Image Dimensions

Normally, when you import a photo from your phone or a digital camera, it has a very high resolution and large file dimensions (height and width).

Typically, these photos have a resolution of 300 DPI and dimensions starting from 2000 pixels and more. While high-quality photos are well-suited for print or desktop publishing, their large size makes them unsuitable for websites.

Reducing the image dimensions to something more reasonable can significantly decrease image file size. You can simply resize images using image editing software on your computer.

For example, we optimized a photo with a resolution of 300 DPI and image dimensions of 4900×3200 pixels. The original file size was 1.8 MB.

We chose the JPEG format for higher compression and changed the dimensions to 1200×795 pixels. The file size was reduced to just 103 KB. That’s 94% smaller than the original file size.

Now that you know the three important factors in image optimization, let’s take a look at various image optimization tools for website owners.

Best Image Optimization Tools and Programs

As we mentioned earlier, most image editing software comes with image optimization and compression settings.

Outside of the image editing software, there are also several powerful free image optimization tools that you can use to optimize images for the web (with just a few clicks).

We recommend using these tools to optimize images before you upload them to WordPress, especially if you are a perfectionist.

This method helps you save disk space on your WordPress hosting account, and it guarantees the fastest image with the best quality since you manually review each image.

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is a premium image editing application that lets you export images with a smaller file size for the web.

Using the export dialog, you can choose an image file format (JPG, PNG, GIF) that gives you the smallest file size.

You can also reduce image quality, colors, and other options to further decrease file size.

GIMP

GIMP is a free and open-source alternative to Adobe Photoshop. It can be used to optimize your images for the web. The downside is that it is not as easy to use as some other solutions on this list.

First, you need to open your image in GIMP and then select the File » Export As… option. This will bring up the Export Image dialog box where you can give your file a new name. Next, you need to click the ‘Export’ button.

You will now see the image export options. For JPEG files, you can use the ‘Quality’ slider to select the compression level and reduce file size.

Finally, you should click on the ‘Export’ button to save the optimized image file.

TinyPNG

TinyPNG is a free web app that uses a smart lossy compression technique to reduce the size of your PNG and JPEG files. All you have to do is go to their website and upload your images using simple drag and drop.

They will compress the image and give you a download link.

They also have an extension for Adobe Photoshop which is what we use as part of our image editing process because it lets you access TinyPNG from inside Photoshop.

For developers, they have an API to convert images automatically, and for beginners, they have a WordPress plugin that will do it for you. More on this later.

JPEGmini

JPEGmini uses a lossless compression technology that significantly reduces the size of images without affecting their perceptual quality. You can also compare the quality of your original image and the compressed image.

You can use their web version for free, or purchase the program for your computer. They also have a paid API to automate the process for your server.

ImageOptim

ImageOptim is a Mac utility that allows you to compress images without losing any quality by finding the best compression parameters and removing unnecessary color profiles.

A Windows alternative to this is Trimage.

Best Image Optimization Plugins for WordPress

We believe that the best way to optimize your images is by doing it before uploading them to WordPress. However, if you run a multi-author site or need an automated solution, then you can try a WordPress image compression plugin.

Here is our list of the best WordPress image compression plugins:

Optimole, a popular plugin by the team behind ThemeIsleEWWW Image OptimizerJPEG, PNG & WebP Image Compression, a plugin by the TinyPNG team mentioned aboveImagify, a plugin by the popular WP Rocket teamShortPixel Image OptimizerSmushreSmush.it

These WordPress image optimization plugins will help you speed up your website.

Final Thoughts and Best Practices for Image Optimization

If you’re not saving images optimized for the web, then you need to start doing so now. It will make a huge difference in your site speed, and your users will thank you for it.

Not to mention, faster websites are great for SEO, and you will likely see an increase in your search engine rankings.

Outside of image optimization, the two things that will significantly help you speed up your website are using a WordPress caching plugin and using a WordPress CDN.

Alternatively, you can use a managed WordPress hosting company because they often offer both caching and CDN as part of the platform.

We hope this article helped you learn how to optimize your images in WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on how to improve your WordPress security and the best 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 Optimize Images for Web Performance without Losing Quality first appeared on WPBeginner.

How to Do a Twitch Giveaway in WordPress (Step-by-Step)

Do you want to do a Twitch giveaway in WordPress?

Giveaways can help you get more followers on your Twitch channel. They’re also a great way to engage with the people who already watch you on Twitch.

In this article, we’ll show you how to run a Twitch giveaway in WordPress.

Why Do a Twitch Giveaway in WordPress?

There are many reasons why you may want to do a Twitch giveaway.

Giveaways are popular because they can help you reach a wider audience and increase your followers. You can then ask people to follow you on Twitch, in order to enter your contest.

You can also use a contest to engage with the people who already watch your Twitch channel.

A giveaway with a valuable prize is much more engaging than other content, so watchers who typically don’t interact with you may decide to visit your WordPress website in order to enter the competition. This means you can increase your blog traffic and get more engagement from your Twitch audience.

You can also offer multiple ways to earn more giveaway entries by encouraging users to follow you on Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, join your email list, etc, so you can get your Twitch followers to follow you on other social channels.

With that being said, let’s see how you can do a Twitch giveaway on your WordPress website.

How to Do a Twitch Giveaway in WordPress (Step-by-Step)

The easiest way to create a Twitch giveaway is by using RafflePress. It’s the best WordPress giveaway plugin and lets you create all kinds of contests using a simple drag-and-drop editor.

There is a free version of RafflePress that makes it easy to run giveaways and competitions no matter what your budget. However, in this guide, we’ll be using RafflePress pro as it has ‘Follow us on Twitch’ as an entry method.

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

Upon activation, you’ll see the RafflePress welcome screen in the WordPress dashboard. You can now go ahead and enter your license key.

You’ll find this information in your account on the RafflePress website. Once you’ve done that, click on the ‘Verify Key’ button.

After that, go to RafflePress » Add New.

On the next screen, you’ll need to give your Twitch giveaway a name.

This is just for your reference so you can use anything you want.

Next, choose the template that you want to use. RafflePress has ready-made templates for specific goals such as growing your YouTube channel or going viral.

For this guide, we’ll use the Classic Giveaway template as it lets us create a contest from scratch. Simply hover your mouse over the Classic Giveaway template and then click on the ‘Use this Template’ button when it appears.

This opens the template in RafflePress’ drag and drop builder.

We’ll start by entering some information about the prize so simply click to select the headline area, which shows ‘My Awesome Prize’ by default.

You can now go ahead and type a title into the ‘Name’ field.

You’ll usually want to talk about your exciting prize, but you can use any title you want.

Once you’ve done that, type in a description, which will appear below the headline.

Here, you may want to add some more information about the competition, such as how much the prize is worth and what it has to offer users.

You might also add a photo of the prize, so visitors can see what’s at stake. Even simply adding the product’s logo can make the competition more eye-catching.

To do this, simply click on ‘Select Image.’

Then, either choose an image from the media library or upload a new file from your computer.

When you’ve finished making changes to this section, click on the ‘Done Editing’ button.

Now it’s time to set a start and end date for your giveaway. If you have lots of giveaways planned, then this allows you to schedule them in advance. It also guarantees that your contests will start and end on time, no matter how busy you get.

To schedule the contest, simply enter a date and time into the ‘Giveaway starts…’ and ‘Giveaway ends…’ sections.

By default, RafflePress uses the UTC timezone, but you can change this using the ‘Timezone’ dropdown menu.

Your next task is choosing how visitors will enter the giveaway, by selecting ‘Actions.’

You will now see all the different entry methods. For example, if you want to create a Facebook giveaway to boost engagement, then you can select ‘Like our Page’ or ‘Visit us on Facebook’ as the entry method.

To get more followers on Twitch, just click on the ‘Follow us on Twitch’ action.

You can then type in the text that will appear to the people who visit your WordPress website. This is ‘Follow us on Twitch’ by default, but you can use anything you want.

Next, paste your Twitch link into the ‘Twitch Profile URL’ field.

Every time someone clicks on the link, they’ll be asked to follow you on Twitch and also type in their username, so you can verify that they’re following your account.

You can add multiple entry methods to a single competition. By offering visitors a choice, you can often boost the number of entries you get. For example, some people may not have a Twitch account, but will happily enter the contest by subscribing to your podcast or completing a survey in WordPress.

Some people may even want to boost their chances of winning by using more than one entry method.

If you do offer visitors a choice, then you may want to make some methods more appealing than others. For example, if your main goal is to grow your Twitch followers, then you might make this method worth two entries.

By default, every action is worth one entry, but you can change this by selecting a new number in the ‘Value’ area.

You could also make the Twitch action mandatory, while all other entry methods are optional. This means all participants must follow you on Twitch in order to enter the contest, but they can get additional entries by performing other tasks.

To do this, simply click the ‘Make Mandatory’ slider so that it turns from ‘No’ to ‘Yes.’

To add more entry methods, simply click on the ‘Add Actions’ tab and then follow the same process described above.

Every time you add an action, RafflePress will show the settings you can use to configure that action. For example, if you add ‘Join an Email Newsletter’ as an entry method then you’ll need to select your email marketing service.

By default, RafflePress will show the actions in the order you add them to your competition.

To change this, simply hover over the action in the editor and then grab the dotted button that appears to the left of the action.

Then, move the entry method using drag and drop.

When you’re happy with how the giveaway is set up, you can change how it looks by clicking on the ‘Design’ tab.

Here, you can change the fonts, select a new button color, change the background color, add a background image, and more.

You can even customize the giveaway template using custom CSS.

When you’re happy with how the contest looks, select the ‘Settings’ tab.

Here, you can edit the giveaway’s general settings including its name, URL, and whether it’ll show the total number of entries to visitors.

You can also join the RafflePress affiliate marketing program and make money from your Twitch giveaway.

If you’re using the contest to grow your mailing list or generate leads, then you may want to verify each participant’s email address by selecting the ‘Email Verification’ tab.

Here, click on the ‘Contestant Must Confirm Their Email’ toggle to turn it from ‘No’ to ‘Yes.’

If you’re using Google Analytics to track user engagement, then you can select the ‘Success Tracking’ tab.

This section has two text editors where you can add your tracking scripts.

When you’re happy with how your giveaway is setup, make sure you store your changes by clicking on the ‘Save’ button.

Then, it’s time to make your giveaway live by clicking on the ‘Publish’ tab.

You can add the contest to your site using a shortcode, the RafflePress WordPress block, or by creating a landing page.

If you want to add the giveaway to a post or page, then the easiest option is using the RafflePress WordPress block.

However, if you want to get as many entities as possible, then we recommend choosing the ‘Giveaway Landing Page’ option as it creates a separate page that you can easily share on social media.

To get started, click on ‘Giveaway Landing Page’ and then select the ‘Click here’ link.

If you haven’t already, then type the URL that you want to use into the ‘Page Permalink’ field.

Finally, go ahead and click on ‘View.’

RafflePress will now publish your giveaway as a landing page. If you visit the URL, then you’ll see the giveaway live.

How to Promote your Twitch Giveaway

After creating a giveaway, you’ll want to promote it so more people can enter. Wherever possible, it’s a good idea to promote a giveaway before publishing it, so you can get a ton of entries straight away.

To start, you’ll want to help visitors find your giveaway landing page by promoting it on your site’s most important pages.

One option is adding the giveaway to your navigation menu or sidebar. You can also create a floating bar with a link to the giveaway landing page using a plugin such as OptinMonster.

You might even create a sense of urgency by adding a countdown timer to the floating bar. In this way, you can use FOMO on your WordPress site to get more entries and Twitch followers.

Promoting the giveaway on your social media profiles is also a great way to get more participants. Since these people already follow you on social media, they may be interested in watching your Twitch, so this is a great way to grow your channel.

Sending web push notifications can also boost your participants. You can ask your push notification subscribers to follow you on Twitch if they haven’t already, or to refer any friends or family members who might want to enter the competition.

It’s also important to promote the giveaway to your Twitch audience. They may already be following you on Twitch, but contests are a great way to engage with your followers. For example, you might announce the competition on a stream, or add the giveaway to your Twitch stream panels.

How to Pick a Twitch Giveaway Winner

Once your giveaway closes, it’s time to choose a lucky winner.

To pick a winner at random, simply head over to RafflePress » Giveaways in your WordPress dashboard. If you didn’t set an end date, then you’ll need to hover over the giveaway and click on the ‘End Now’ link when it appears.

When it shows up, click on ‘Needs Winners.’

On the following page, RafflePress will show all the people who entered your giveaway, along with how they entered, their total entries, and more.

Here, just type in the number of winners that you want to pick.

When you’re ready, go ahead and click on the ‘Choose Winners Now’ button. RafflePress will then show the winner highlighted at the top of the list.

You’re now ready to contact the winner and let them know the good news, for example you might send them an email or even announce the winner on a live Twitch stream.

It’s also a good idea to thank everyone for taking part and encourage them to join your giveaways in the future.

Analyze Your Twitch Giveaway

After announcing the winner and thanking your audience, it’s smart to analyze your giveaway. You can use this information to fine-tune all the competitions you run in the future.

If you offered multiple entry methods, then we recommend using RafflePress’ Entries Report to see which method was the most popular.

To see this information, head over to RafflePress » Giveaways and then hover your mouse over the contest that you want to analyze. When the ‘Users’ link appears, give it a click.

On the next screen, click on ‘Entries Report.’

You will now see a pie chart of all the different entry methods, along with the percentage for each method.

Another easy way to analyze your giveaway is by using MonsterInsights.

MonsterInsights is the best WordPress Google Analytics plugin, and it allows you to track all your website activity right from your WordPress dashboard. For example, you can see how people arrived at your giveaway landing page, the actions they took on that page, and more.

By anazlying your website data with MonsterInsights, you can see which actions and promotions drove the most people to your giveaway and the traffic sources that got you the most entries. You can then use this insight to improve your next contest.

We hope this article helped you learn how to do a Twitch giveaway in WordPress. You can also go through our expert pick on the best social media plugins for WordPress, and our step by step guide on how to create an email newsletter.

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 Do a Twitch Giveaway in WordPress (Step-by-Step) first appeared on WPBeginner.

How to Add Rotating Testimonials in WordPress (3 Ways)

Do you want to add rotating testimonials to your WordPress website?

Testimonials are a great way to show social proof and boost your credibility. That’s why so many online businesses proudly display customer testimonials across their websites.

In this article, we’ll show you how to easily add rotating testimonials in WordPress.

Why Add Rotating Testimonials to WordPress?

Many businesses use rotating testimonials to help them win new customers, get more sales and signups to their email list, and more.

If you’re running an online store, then testimonials are a powerful form of social proof that can help turn visitors into customers, and boost your conversion rates.

When it comes to social proof, positive reviews from multiple people are far more credible than a single five-star review. With that in mind, rotating testimonials are a great way to show lots of positive comments in a small space.

Rotating testimonials also add some animation to your WordPress website, which can make your site more eye-catching and engaging.

With that said, let’s see how you can add rotating testimonials to WordPress. Simply use the quick links below to jump to the method you want to use.

Method 1. Adding Rotating Testimonials to WordPress Using WP Testimonials Rotator (Quick and Simple)

If you want to create a simple rotating testimonials section, then you can use a free plugin such as WP Testimonials Rotator.

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

Upon activation, go to WP Testimonials » Add New in your WordPress dashboard.

To get started, type in the title that will appear above the testimonial quote.

You can then add the testimonial in the main text editor.

To help organize your testimonials, you may want to add some categories, in the same way that you add categories and subcategories in WordPress.

After that, scroll to the ‘Testimonial Details’ box and add information such as the person’s name, job title, and company.

You can also add a featured image, which will appear above the testimonial title. For example, you might use the person’s headshot or the product logo.

When you’re happy with the information you’ve entered, click on ‘Publish’ to make it live.

You can now add more testimonials by repeating the same process described above. Once you’ve created all your customer testimonials, it’s time to show them on your website.

Simply open up the post or page where you want to add your rotating testimonials. Then, click the ‘Plus’ icon to open the WordPress block editor. You can then type in ‘Shortcode’ and select the right block when it appears.

After that, you’ll need to add the following shortcode to the box: [sp_testimonials_slider]

Then, click the ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ button to save your changes.

Now your visitors can see all your positive customer testimonials. These testimonials will automatically rotate after each one displays for a few seconds.

Method 2. Adding Custom Rotating Testimonials to WordPress Using SeedProd (More Customizable)

If you want to create a beautiful, fully-customizable testimonials section, then we recommend using a page builder plugin.

SeedProd is one of the best drag and drop WordPress page builder in the market used by over 1 million websites.

It comes with ready-made blocks and more than 180 templates that allow you to create custom pages in WordPress and easily add rotating testimonials to your website.

First, just install and activate the plugin. For more details, see our beginner’s guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Note: There is a free version of SeedProd available, but we’ll be using the Pro version since it has a ready-made testimonial block. It also integrates with all of the best email marketing services you may already be using to promote your products and services.

Upon activation, you need to visit SeedProd » Settings and enter your license key.

You can find this information under your account on the SeedProd website. After entering the key, click on the ‘Verify Key’ button.

After that, go to SeedProd » Pages and then click on the ‘Add New Landing Page’ button.

On the next screen, you’ll be asked to choose a template. SeedProd has dozens of professionally designed templates organized into different campaign types such as ‘lead,’ ‘squeeze,’ and ‘coming soon.’ 

To choose a template, hover over it and then click the ‘Checkmark’ icon.

If you want to start from scratch, then SeedProd also has a blank template that you can use. We’ll be using the ‘Juicy Sales Page’ template in all our images, but you can use any design you want.

Next, go ahead and type in a name for the custom page. SeedProd will automatically create a URL based on the page’s title, but you can change this URL to anything you want.

A descriptive URL will help search engines understand what the page is about, so they can show it to the right users. With that in mind, you may want to add some relevant keywords to the URL.

For more information, please see our guide on how to do keyword research for your WordPress blog.

After entering this information, click on the ‘Save and Start Editing the Page’ button.

This will load the SeedProd page builder interface.

It is a simple drag-and-drop builder that shows a live preview of your page to the right. You will also see block settings on the left.

The left-hand menu has blocks that you can add to your page using drag and drop.

First, we’ll add a customer testimonial block. Simply drag the ‘Testimonials’ block onto the page where you want it to appear.

You can now customize the testimonial by adding images, changing the text, adding the customer’s name, and more.

To make these changes, simply click to select the testimonials block and then use the settings in the left-hand menu.

To create a rotating section, you’ll need to create two or more testimonials by clicking the ‘Add Testimonial’ button.

You can then customize the testimonial. For example, you can type the quote into the text editor or upload an image.

Next, you can change how the rotating testimonials will look and act, by clicking on ‘Carousel Settings’ to expand that section.

Here you can change the color scheme, the slider speed, and whether the slider will scroll through the different customer testimonials automatically.

You can continue to customize the page by adding more blocks and changing the settings in the left-hand menu.

When you’ve finished customizing your page, it’s time to publish it by clicking the dropdown arrow next to ‘Save’ and then selecting the ‘Publish’ option. 

Now if you visit your WordPress blog or website, you’ll see the page with your rotating testimonial live.

Method 3. Adding Rotating Social Media Testimonials to WordPress Using Smash Balloon

If your users are already leaving fantastic reviews on Facebook and Twitter, then you can create a testimonials section using a social media plugin.

Smash Balloon is one of the best WordPress testimonial plugins in the market and supports all of the major social networks. This means you don’t have to copy and paste new testimonials to your WordPress website since they’ll show up automatically.

For example, Smash Balloon’s Facebook Social Reviews Feed lets you display reviews from your Facebook Page on your site. Visitors can see that these reviews come from real Facebook users, which makes them more credible.

Setting up your social networks is simple, and if you want to add rotating Twitter testimonials to your site, then see our guide on how to embed tweets in WordPress. For Facebook, see our guide on how to create a custom Facebook feed.

Once you activate, set up, and connect your social media accounts, your social media testimonials will update automatically every time you get a new review. This can save you a lot of time and effort, and is a great way to keep your website fresh.

Smash Balloon also has plenty of options for filtering and moderating which reviews show up on your website, so you still have complete control.

We hope this article helped you add rotating testimonials to your WordPress website. You may also want to see our expert picks of the best virtual business phone number apps and our beginner’s guide on how to run a giveaway 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.

The post How to Add Rotating Testimonials in WordPress (3 Ways) first appeared on WPBeginner.