Would you like to learn more about custom post types?

WordPress allows you to create custom types of content. Besides posts and pages, you might like to add other types of content to your website, such as products, reviews, or recipes.

In this article, we will share the 12 most useful WordPress custom post types tutorials.

What Are Custom Post Types in WordPress?

Custom post types are a type of content on your WordPress site that are not the default posts and pages. Custom post types are often added to a WordPress site using custom code or plugins.

For example, you can create custom post types for portfolios, testimonials, and products. Many WordPress plugins also use custom post types to store data on your website.

How can you use custom post types on your WordPress website?

As the largest free WordPress resource site for beginners, we’ve written a lot about custom post types over the years. Let’s take a look at the most useful custom post types tutorials here on WPBeginner.

1. Decide Whether You Need A Custom Post Type

Before you start creating custom post types or taxonomies on your WordPress site, it’s important to evaluate your needs. A lot of times you can get the same results with the default WordPress posts and pages.

With the help of built-in categories and tags, you can sort your content in many different ways. For example, with pages, you can set up a hierarchical layout of content with child pages. You can also set up subcategories.

Using the default WordPress features makes content management easier in many ways. For example, a custom post type wouldn’t appear on your blog page or in your post RSS feeds.

After looking at the default options, you may find that you don’t need custom post types after all.

If you are unsure, then refer to this guide about when you need a custom post type or taxonomy in WordPress.

2. Create Custom Post Types in WordPress

Once you decide that you do need a custom post type, you’ll need to create it. You can do this with a plugin, or manually by using code.

The Custom Post Type UI plugin makes it easy to create custom post types and is recommended for most users. You do this from the ‘Edit/Add Post Types’ page.

Alternatively, you can add a custom post type by pasting a code snippet into your theme’s functions.php file. The advantage of this method is your custom post types won’t disappear if the plugin is deactivated, but it’s only suitable if you’re comfortable handling code.

To learn more, see our guide on how to create custom post types in WordPress.

3. Create a Custom Post Types Archive Page

Adding custom post types in WordPress has become very easy thanks to the Custom Post Type UI plugin. However, many beginners have trouble displaying them on their websites.

To add a custom post type archive page, you first need to make sure that archives are enabled for your custom post type. In most cases they are, but if not then you can enable them in Custom Post Type UI’s advanced options or by using code.

Now you can visit the custom post type archive page. Let’s say your custom post type is called ‘movies’ and you have SEO friendly permalinks enabled. Then your post type archive will be located at:

You’ll need to replace ‘example.com’ with your own domain name, and ‘movies’ with your custom post type name.

You can now add this archive page to your navigation menu. You can also customize it by adding a custom template to your WordPress theme or using a theme builder like SeedProd.

We show you how to do all of these things step by step in our guide on how to create a custom post types archive page in WordPress.

4. Add Custom Post Types to Your Main RSS Feed

By default, WordPress only includes your blog posts in your site’s main RSS feed. This means that your custom post type content won’t be visible to your main RSS feed subscribers.

You can easily include all publicly available post types into your main RSS feed by adding the following code to your theme’s functions.php file or a site-specific plugin.

However, you can use a different code snippet to only include specific custom post types.

For more detail on both methods, see our guide on how to add custom post types to your main WordPress RSS feed.

5. Make a Separate RSS Feed for Each Custom Post Type

WordPress automatically generates separate RSS feeds for different archive pages of your website, including custom post types.

Let’s say you have a custom post type called ‘movies’ on your website. We’ve already seen that you can view all content created in that post type by visiting the post type archive page.

To view the RSS feed, all you need to do is add /feed/ to the custom post type archive URL.

Alternately, you can also view the feed by adding the post type parameter to your main WordPress RSS feed. For example:

Now that you know how to access the RSS feeds for any custom post type on your website, you can use that URL to create links to your custom post type feeds.

For instance, you may want to display an icon or plain text link on the custom post type archive page, so that your visitors can easily subscribe to those posts.

To learn how to do that, see our guide on how to make a separate RSS feed for each custom post type in WordPress.

6. Include Custom Post Types in Search Results

By default, WordPress will never show custom post types in its on-site search results. That means your visitors may miss out on some great content, and you’ll miss out on extra page views.

The easiest way to include custom post types in WordPress search is with the SearchWP plugin. It’s easy to use and lets you search content that isn’t included in the default WordPress search.

To include custom post types in your searches, simply click on the plugin’s ‘Sources & Settings’ button. Here you can put a checkmark next to each post type you wish to include in search results.

You can also choose how important each custom post type is when displaying search results, and customize the search engine in other ways.

To learn how, see our step by step guide on how to include custom post types in WordPress search results.

7. Create a Search Form for Custom Post Types

You can also create a custom search form that will only show results from your custom post type. For example, if you have a custom post type called ‘movies’, then you can create a special movie search form that only returns movies in the search results.

This kind of custom search helps your visitors view more pages and spend more time on your website. This will give off positive WordPress SEO signals like lower bounce rate and increased dwell time.

You can create an advanced search form for custom post types using the SearchWP plugin. It allows you to create a second search engine that will only search your custom post type. You can then create a custom search form that you can add to your posts or sidebar.

For more details, see our guide on how to create an advanced search form in WordPress for custom post types.

8. Add Categories to a Custom Post Type

By default, WordPress categories can only be used to organize posts, not custom post types.

You could create a custom taxonomy to organize your custom posts, but what if you want to use the same categories you use for your blog posts?

The easiest way to associate your custom post type with categories is the Custom Post Type UI plugin. It adds a ’Taxonomies’ area in the settings for each custom post type.

Simply check the ‘Categories (WP Core)’ box and you will be able to use categories to organize your custom post types.

See our guide on how to add categories to a custom post type in WordPress to learn more.

9. Add Sticky Posts for Custom Post Types

The sticky posts feature in WordPress allows you to add featured posts. By default, it only works for blog posts and not for custom post types.

You can enable sticky posts for your custom post types as well by installing the Sticky Posts – Switch plugin. You simply check the box next to the custom post types that you wish to support this feature.

Now when you visit the admin page for that custom post type, you will notice a new column where you can make posts sticky.

All you need to do is click the star next to the posts you wish to feature.

These sticky posts will be shown on your WordPress home page. To display sticky posts on your custom post type archive page as well, you’ll need to add some code to your theme files.

You’ll find all the details in our guide on how to add sticky posts in WordPress custom post type archives.

10. Add User Submitted Content to Custom Post Types

You may want to allow users to submit content for custom post types on your site, such as movie reviews or recipes. This is an easy way of adding extra content to your site.

One way to do this is by giving users access to your WordPress admin area and assigning them the author user role. Alternatively, you can add a submission form to your website.

You can do that using the WPForms plugin. You will need the Pro version to access the post submissions addon, and the provided ‘Blog Post Submission Form’ template makes creating the form simple.

By default, user submitted posts are saved as ‘Drafts’ pending review. You can change the post type in the form’s settings so content is submitted to a custom post type instead.

For more details, see our guide on how to allow users to submit posts to your WordPress site.

11. Switch or Convert Custom Post Types

You may come across situations where you will have to merge or convert custom post types. For example, you may want to move items from one post type to another.

Simply install and activate the Post Type Switcher plugin. Upon activation, you should go to the custom post type admin page and select the posts you want to move.

When you bulk edit the posts, you will notice there is a new drop down menu allowing you to change the post type for that item.

You can learn more in our guide on how to switch or convert custom post types in WordPress.

12. Add Custom Meta Boxes for Post Types

Custom meta boxes allow you to add custom fields to the WordPress post editor screen. This way you can create additional input fields for your post types.

The easiest way to create custom meta fields in WordPress is by using the Advanced Custom Fields plugin. Simply click the ‘Add New’ button on the Custom Fields page.

After that, you should follow the on-screen instructions to create a group of custom fields to add to your custom post type.

For further details, see our step by step guide on how to add custom meta boxes in WordPress posts and post types.

We hope this tutorial helped you learn some cool tricks for custom post types in WordPress. You may also want to see our ultimate WordPress security guide, or check out our list of tips on how to speed up WordPress performance.

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

The post 12 Most Useful WordPress Custom Post Types Tutorials first appeared on WPBeginner.

Do you want to try WordPress for free without buying domain name or hosting?

Normally, you need a domain name and hosting to build a WordPress website. However, many users may want to give it a try before spending money.

In this article, we’ll show you multiple ways to try WordPress for free without domain or hosting. We’ll also talk about things to try in WordPress and making a live website.

Why Try WordPress for Free without Domain or Hosting?

Normally, you need a domain name and a hosting account to make a WordPress website.

A domain name usually costs $14.99 per year (often non-refundable) and web hosting starts at $7.99 per month (usually paid yearly).

Now that’s a significant amount of money if all you want is to try WordPress.

Unfortunately, the WordPress.org website doesn’t offer any free WordPress trial.

Luckily, there are still plenty of ways to try WordPress for free without buying a domain name or signing up for a hosting account.

Let’s take a look at some of the easiest ways to try self-hosted WordPress.org for free (no domain or hosting account needed).

Try WordPress Online with a Full Refund (unrestricted but requires credit card payment upfront)Try WordPress for Free on Your Computer (unlimited free WordPress development)Try WordPress with WordPress.com (modified WordPress experience with limited functionality)Things to Try in Your Free WordPress DemoLaunching Your WordPress Website

1. Try WordPress Online with Full Refund on Hosting

The easiest way to try WordPress online is by using a a WordPress hosting company that offers a risk-free money back guarantee (i.e full refund for up to 30 days or even 90 days in some cases).

The benefit of this method is that you get to try WordPress for building your website. If you like it, then you can make your website online with a single click (no extra work needed).

And if you don’t like it, then you can request a full refund from your WordPress hosting company.

For this method, you’ll need a credit card to pay for the WordPress hosting upfront, but if you don’t like it, then you can get a full refund.

Here are some of the largest WordPress hosting companies that offer a full refund policy:

Bluehost – offers free domain + web hosting with 30 day money back guarantee.Hostinger – offers free domain + web hosting with a 30 day refund policy.SiteGround – offers cloud WordPress hosting with risk-free 30 day refund policy.Dreamhost – offers free domain + WordPress hosting with 97 day refund policy.

All of the above hosting companies come with WordPress pre-installed, or they offer 1-click WordPress setup option.

You can quickly get started with any of them to try WordPress online risk free.

For the sake of this tutorial, we will show a step by step process on what this looks like with Bluehost which is one of the top WordPress recommended hosting provider.

First, you need to visit the Bluehost website and click on the green ‘Get Started Now’ button.

Next, you’ll be asked to choose a plan.

We recommend starting with Basic since you just want to try WordPress. You can always upgrade your hosting plan if you decide to stay on Bluehost.

Now you’ll be asked to choose a domain name. Bluehost is currently offering WPBeginner users a free domain name and 72% discount using our Bluehost coupon .

However, if you register a domain name, then the company will deduct the domain cost when you ask for a refund. You need to click on ‘I’ll create my domain later’ option at the bottom to skip this step, so you qualify for a full refund.

Next, you’ll be asked to provide personal details and finalize the hosting package.

It is important that you uncheck all optional extra addons on this page.

Addon costs are non-refundable, and you are only eligible for the full refund of your hosting bill, not addons.

Lastly, you need to enter your payment information to complete the purchase.

Bluehost will now create your hosting account and will send you an email with instructions on how to access your hosting control panel.

From your hosting control panel, you’ll notice that Bluehost has already installed WordPress for you. You can simply click on the log into WordPress button to access your website.

Requesting Refund on Bluehost

Login to your Bluehost account dashboard and click on the Support icon. From there, you need to scroll down to the contact section and start a live chat session.

Once connected to a live chat agent, you can request them to issue a full refund and cancel your account.

Important: If you’re using a hosting company that’s not mentioned above, then please make sure to read and fully understand their refund policy before making a purchase. If in doubt, reach out to the hosting company by dropping them an email.

2. Try WordPress on Your Computer

Another popular way to try WordPress is by installing it on your computer. This is what many expert developers do for client websites.

This method allows you to try WordPress for free without buying any domain or hosting. You can install plugins, themes, and make a complete website on your own computer.

The downside is that your website is limited to your own computer and not publicly viewable over the internet, but you can always make your local website online using our tutorial later.

There are several amazing free software available that allow you to set all this up on your computer.

The easiest of them all is called Local. It allows you to easily set up a local WordPress development environment on your computer. It works on MacOS, Windows, and Linux.

Simply head over to Local website and download it for your operating system.

Depending on your operating system, the installation wizard may differ slightly. For MacOS, simply click on the downloaded package and then drag and drop Local.app to the Applications folder.

Once you have installed Local, open the app on your computer.

Then click on the ‘Create a new site’ button.

Next, you’ll be asked to provide a title for your website.

Simply enter any name you want to website for your demo site and click on the Continue button.

After that, you’ll be asked to choose local environment. For instance, which server software you want to use, which MySQL or PHP version to use.

If you are not sure, then you can simply use the Preferred options and click Continue.

On the next screen, you’ll be able to choose a username and password to access WordPress admin area of your local site.

You can also change the WordPress admin email, in case you need to recover your login info.

Click on the Continue button to finish the set up wizard.

Local will now fetch and install the latest version of WordPress and create a new local website for you.

Once finished, you’ll see your local website details. From here, you can click on the WP Admin button to access WordPress dashboard.

If for some reason Local doesn’t work, or you simply want to try an alternative, then you can check out MAMP (for MacOS) or WAMP (for Windows).

3. Try WordPress with WordPress.com (No Domain Needed)

Another option that you’ll often come across for trying WordPress is WordPress.com.

Before you do that, it is important that you understand how WordPress.com is different from a self-hosted WordPress.org website.

WordPress.com is a website hosting company and a publishing platform. Basically, you don’t need to install WordPress or take care of any website maintenance.

The downside is that you don’t get full control over the software running in the background. This takes away the flexibility and freedom.

WordPress.com have a limited free plan that you can try. However, it will be missing many features of a self-hosted WordPress.org website.

For more on this topic, see our detailed guide on the differences between WordPress.com vs WordPress.org.

In the recent years, WordPress.com has added a Pro plan that lets you install plugins and themes, but it is far more expensive than other WordPress hosting options that we have shared above.

Things You May Want to Try in WordPress

Now that you have created a free WordPress website, you are probably wondering which things you should try.

1. Creating Content in WordPress

We recommend you start with creating blog posts and making some must have pages for your website.

2. Choosing a Website Design

After that, you may want to choose a design for your website. There are so many free and paid WordPress themes that you can use. We recommend picking up a free theme and customizing it to make your own.

You can even install a free page builder plugin like SeedProd to experience designing your website with a drag & drop interface.

3. Exploring WordPress Plugins

The real power of WordPress comes from WordPress plugins. These are like apps for your WordPress website and allow you to extend website functionality by adding new features.

There are over 60,000+ free WordPress plugins available.

Following are a few must have WordPress plugins that you should try.

1. WPForms – It allows you to add a beautiful contact form or survey to your website. There is a WPForms Lite version that you can try for free.

2. All in One SEO for WordPress – It is the best WordPress SEO plugin on the market and helps you optimize your website for search engines. There is also a AIOSEO free version that you can try.

3. SmashBalloon – It is the best WordPress social media plugin that allows you to display content from your social media accounts in beautiful galleries and layouts. There is a free version of Smash Ballon for Instagram feed, Facebook feed, Twitter feed, and YouTube feed.

Need more plugin suggestions? See our full list of essential WordPress plugins that you can try on your free WordPress demo.

4. Learning WordPress Basics

Now if you are struggling finding your way around WordPress or just want to cover WordPress basics, then you can learn WordPress for free right here.

WPBeginner is the world’s largest WordPress resource site for beginners. We have been around since 2009 and have a massive library of resources for beginners.

The best place to start, would be our page on how to learn WordPress for free. There, you’ll find a step by step WordPress program divided into seven days of training.

You can also start with our free WordPress video series. That’s also a step by step program for beginners.

Once you have covered the basics, you can continue exploring WordPress Tutorials, check out WordPress glossary, or subscribe to our YouTube channel for a regular installment of WordPress tips, tricks, and how-tos.

Launching Your WordPress Website

Once you have tried WordPress, you may want to officially launch a live WordPress website.

To do that, you’ll need a domain name and a hosting account.

We recommend using Bluehost. They are the largest WordPress hosting companies and have agreed to offer WPBeginner users free domain name and a generous discount on hosting.

Once you have signed up, you can follow our step by step instructions on how to make a website.

Now, some of you may want to move the site you created on your free WordPress trial to your new website.

Simply follow our guide on how to move your WordPress site to new host. We’ll walk you through migrating your WordPress website.

We hope this article helped you learn how to try WordPress for free without domain name. You may also want to see our comparison of the best website builders on the market, or see our guide on how to add create an online store and start selling.

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 Try WordPress for Free Without a Domain or Hosting first appeared on WPBeginner.

Do you want to add a YouTube subscribe button in WordPress?

Having a YouTube subscribe button on your blog makes it easy for visitors to find your videos and subscribe to your YouTube channel.

In this article, we will show you how you can add a YouTube subscribe button to your WordPress website.

Why Add YouTube Subscribe Button in WordPress?

A YouTube channel is a great way to reach a new audience, boost your website engagement, and increase your blog traffic.

In fact, many websites also have a YouTube channel including WPBeginner.

If you’ve launched a YouTube channel to support your WordPress blog, then you should make it easy for visitors to subscribe to your YouTube channel.

That’s where a YouTube subscribe button comes in.

This button lets visitors subscribe to your channel within seconds. A subscribe button can also promote your YouTube channel to visitors who may not have heard of it yet.

In this post we have two different ways to add a YouTube subscribe button in WordPress. If you prefer to jump straight to a particular method, then you can use the links below.

Method 1. Manually adding YouTube subscribe button codeMethod 2. Using plugin to add a YouTube subscribe bar

Method 1: Manually Adding YouTube Subscribe Button Code

One method is to create a YouTube subscribe button on the Google Developer website. You can then add this button to any widget, post or page using shortcode.

The first thing you need to do is visit the YouTube subscribe button page.

Here, you’ll need to type in your YouTube channel name or ID into the ‘Channel Name or ID’ field. To get this information, open a new tab in your browser and then head over to the YouTube homepage.

You can then click on your profile picture in the top right corner, and select ‘Settings.’

In the left-hand menu, go ahead and click on Advanced Settings.

Once you’ve done that, simply find the ‘Channel ID’ field and click on its ‘Copy’ button.

Now, switch back to the YouTube subscribe button page and paste the Channel ID into the ‘Channel Name or ID’ field.

The preview will now update to show the total number of YouTube subscribers you have.

There are two different layouts that you can use for your YouTube subscribe button. The ‘default’ layout shows the subscribe button and your total number of YouTube subscribers.

The other option is ‘full layout.’ This shows the YouTube subscribe button, your subscriber count, plus your channel’s profile picture and the title of your YouTube channel.

To see how your YouTube subscribe button will look with the full layout, simply open the ‘Layout’ dropdown and then click on ‘full.’

The preview will now update to show how your YouTube subscribe button will look with the full layout applied.

After choosing between the default and full layouts, you can choose a theme for your YouTube subscribe button.

The default theme is a white background, but you can switch to a dark theme if you prefer. This adds a darker background to your YouTube subscribe button.

To see how your subscribe button will look with the different themes, open the ‘Theme’ dropdown. You can now switch between ‘default’ and ‘dark,’ to see which theme you like the best for your website.

In the following image, you can see a YouTube subscribe button with the dark theme.

By default, the YouTube subscribe button shows your total number of YouTube followers. Showing how many people follow you on YouTube is a powerful form of social proof.

If visitors see that lots of people are following your YouTube channel, they’re more likely to see your website as an authority in your blogging niche. This can also convince more people to subscribe to your channel.

However, sometimes you may want to hide your total number of YouTube subscribers. For example, if you’re a new channel, then you may want to build your following before showing the total subscriber count on your WordPress website.

To hide how many people are subscribed to your YouTube channel, simply open the ‘Subscriber count’ dropdown and then click on ‘hidden.’

As you customize the subscribe button, Google will update the button’s embed code.

When you’re happy with how your button looks, you can go ahead and copy all of the code in the ‘Code’ section.

Now, you can simply paste the code into any widget, post or page on your WordPress site. For more details on how to place the code, you can see our guide on how to add a shortcode in WordPress.

Once you’re done, don’t forget to save your changes. You can now visit your WordPress website to see the YouTube subscribe button live.

Method 2: Using Plugin to Add a YouTube Subscribe Bar

Another way to add a YouTube subscribe button on your website is by using the YouTube Subscribe Bar plugin. Once set up, this free plugin automatically adds a ‘Subscribe to YouTube channel’ bar to every YouTube video that you embed on your website.

This subscribe bar will appear on your own YouTube videos, but also videos that you embed from other channels. This is perfect for sharing useful third-party YouTube videos on your site, while still encouraging people to subscribe to your channel.

Just be aware that this plugin only works for YouTube videos that you embed using the oEmbed format. The easiest way to embed a YouTube video using oEmbed is to head over to the YouTube video, and then click on its ‘Share’ button.

This opens a popup with various different ways that you can embed the video. To learn more about the different options, please see our guide on how to easily embed videos in WordPress blog posts.

Since we want to use oEmbed, make sure you select the ‘Embed’ option. Then, go ahead and click on ‘Copy.’

Once you’ve done that, simply open the page or post where you want to embed the video. Then, click on the + icon and search for ‘Embed.’

When you see the ‘Embed’ block, give it a click to add this block to your page or post.

You can then paste the YouTube embed link into the block.

Once you’ve done that, click on the ‘Embed’ button to embed the video. You can then save or publish the page as normal.

You will need to follow this process for every YouTube video where you want to show the subscribe bar.

Once you’ve embedded at least one video, you can go ahead and install and activate the YouTube Subscribe Bar plugin. To learn more, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activating the YouTube Subscribe Bar plugin, head over to Settings » YouTube Subscribe Bar.

In the ‘YouTube Channel ID’ field, type in or paste your channel ID. You can get this ID by following the same process described above.

In the ‘Subscribe to channel text’ field, simply type in the text that you want to show in your subscribe bar.

By default, this plugin uses ‘Subscribe to my YouTube Channel’ but you can use anything that you want.

After that, you can change the color of the bar’s background and text using the color settings towards the bottom of the page. You can also change the bar’s layout, and choose between light and dark themes.

The settings that work best will vary depending on your WordPress theme. With that in mind, you may want to try different settings to see what looks the best on your WordPress website.

When you’re happy with your changes, you can publish your subscribe bar by clicking on the ‘Save Changes’ button.

You can now visit any page or post where you’ve embedded a YouTube video, to see the subscribe bar in action.

How to Turn Website Visitors Into YouTube Subscribers

Adding a YouTube subscribe button to your WordPress site is a great way to get more subscribers. However, there are lots more ways to encourage your website’s visitors to become YouTube subscribers.

If you blog and create videos about similar topics, then you can easily embed YouTube videos in your WordPress blog posts.

If the visitor is interested in the blog post, then they may also be interested in the related YouTube video. This means there’s a good chance they’ll watch the video, and then subscribe to your YouTube channel.

Even better, if you have lots of related videos then you can organize these videos into YouTube playlists. You can then embed the YouTube playlist on your WordPress website.

An effective playlist will guide your visitors from one video to the next one in order, keeping them engaged in your content. If a visitor watches and enjoys an entire YouTube playlist, then it’s likely they’ll subscribe to your channel.

If you regularly post YouTube videos to your channel, then you may want to show the latest videos from your YouTube channel in WordPress.

This is an easy way to show visitors that you run an active YouTube channel. If the visitor likes what they see on your website, they may decide to subscribe to your channel so they never miss another video.

We hope this article helped you learn how to add a YouTube subscribe button in WordPress. You may also want to check out our guide on how to embed a Facebook video in WordPress and the best YouTube video gallery plugins for 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 YouTube Subscribe Button in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.