Are you trying to log into your WordPress website but can’t get past the login page? If so, you might be stuck in a redirect loop.
When your WordPress login page keeps refreshing after entering your username and password, you’re likely dealing with a caching problem or a plugin error. Fortunately, this is an issue that can be solved quickly.
In this post, we’ll look at the common causes of this redirect loop and then walk you through three simple fixes to help you log back into your website. Let’s get started!
Common Causes of the Login Page Refresh and Redirect Issue in WordPress
The WordPress login redirect issue occurs when the login screen keeps refreshing and redirects you back to the same page. As a result, you’ll be locked out of your site’s admin area.
There are three possible reasons for this error:
Your browser might be storing outdated WordPress files and data.
A recently-installed WordPress theme or plugin might be faulty or incompatible with other plugins.
Your WordPress site might have a corrupted .htaccess file.
You’ll be pleased to know that there’s an easy fix for each scenario. Next, we’ll show you how to troubleshoot the WordPress login redirect error so you can get back into your site.
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How to Fix the WordPress Login Page Refreshing and Redirecting Issue (3 Methods)
Now, let’s go through the three main steps to fixing the WordPress login redirect error. Before proceeding, you might want to perform a backup of your site just in case something goes wrong and you need to restore an earlier version.
1. Clear Your Browser Cookies and Cache
The quickest way to solve the WordPress login redirect issue is by clearing your browser cookies and cache. WordPress uses cookies to store authentication data. Sometimes your browser might retain old files, resulting in a redirect loop when you try to log into your site.
To clear the cookies and cache in Google Chrome, click on the three-dot icon in the top-right corner of your browser. Go to More Tools in the drop-down menu, and then choose Clear browsing data.
In the popup window that appears, set the time range to All time and check the following options: Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files. Finally, click on Clear data.
Once you’ve completed this process, restart your browser and try logging into your WordPress site. If you’re still facing the same login error, head to the next step.
2. Check New Installs and Updates (Plugins and Themes)
As we mentioned earlier, the WordPress login redirect issue may be caused by a theme or plugin you’ve recently installed. Perhaps this new theme or plugin is faulty, or it is incompatible with other plugins on your site.
To determine whether the problem is caused by a theme or plugin, you can do two things:
Deactivate the plugins on your site
Revert to your site’s default theme
First, you’ll need to access your WordPress site via a Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) client or the file manager in your website’s hosting account. If you have a DreamHost account, you can log in and navigate to WordPress > Managed WordPress in the sidebar.
Then find your domain and select Manage. On the next page, click on the Manage Files button in the Details section. This will take you to the file manager. Next, locate and open the folder labeled with your domain name.
To deactivate your plugins, open the wp-content folder in your site’s root directory, and then find the plugins folder and rename it plugins_test.
If this solves the login problem, you’ll need to determine which specific plugin is at fault. To do that, restore the folder’s original name, open it, and rename one of the plugin folders instead. You can repeat this process to deactivate one plugin at a time, testing your login page after each one to identify the culprit.
If you’re still unable to log into your WordPress site after deactivating the plugins, return to the wp-content folder and find the themes folder. Rename the folder themes_test. Your WordPress site will automatically revert to a default theme.
If deactivating these elements solves your login problem, you can head to your WordPress dashboard and perform any necessary updates. You might also want to replace the plugin or theme causing trouble or contact the developer for assistance.
3. Restore Your Default .htaccess File
If you’ve tried the above two methods and are still stuck in the loop, don’t worry. There’s still one last method you can try.
Another possible cause of the WordPress login redirect loop is a corrupted .htaccess file. Located in your site’s root directory, the .htaccess file enables WordPress to interact with your server and generate permalinks for your site.
To access this file, connect to your website through an SFTP client or the file manager in your hosting account. From there, go to your site’s root directory, locate the .htaccess file, and delete it.
Next, try logging into your site. If you’re successful this time, you’ll know that the problem was the .htaccess file.
Finally, you’ll need to create a new .htaccess file. Go to Settings in your WordPress admin dashboard, select Permalinks, and click on the Save Changes button at the bottom of the page.
Note that you don’t need to make any changes on the Permalinks Settings page. Simply hit the blue button, and a new .htaccess file will appear in your site’s root directory.
Additional WordPress Error Resources
Do you want to learn how to troubleshoot other WordPress errors? We’ve put together several guides to help you solve several common WordPress issues:
If you’re looking for more WordPress tips, check out our WordPress Tutorials. This is a collection of guides designed to help you navigate the WordPress dashboard like a pro.
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The WordPress login redirect loop may seem intimidating, but it is a common error. It’s generally caused by a caching issue, a faulty plugin or theme, or a corrupted .htaccess file.
There are three things you can do to get out of this redirect loop:
Clear your browser cookies and cache.
Check to see if the problem is caused by a newly installed theme or plugin.
Delete and restore the .htaccess file in your website’s root folder.
If you want to avoid dealing with WordPress errors in the future, consider switching to DreamPress. Our managed WordPress hosting service takes care of all technical problems for website owners, which means you get to spend less time troubleshooting and more time growing your business!
WordPress has a long, rich history. From releasing new technologies to expanding a tight-knit community, this platform has established itself as an industry giant. However, given its robust timeline, understanding every important development that’s happened over the past few decades can feel overwhelming.
Fortunately, it is possible to grasp the highlights of WordPress’ history. By dividing the platform’s past developments into relevant feature-based groups, you can obtain a big-picture view while still learning about critical details.
In this article, we’ll introduce you to WordPress and cover its developmental timeline. We’ll analyze the history of plugins, themes, community groups, and more before looking at the platform’s future. Let’s get started!
An Introduction to WordPress
Before we discuss its history, let’s spend some time considering WordPress in its current state. This free, open-source Content Management System (CMS) helps people create websites. You can hear a little bit more about it in this video:
There are other important features that define WordPress as well. Of course, since nearly half of all sites run on WordPress, you may already be familiar with the software.
The platform is undeniably an industry giant. As such, even people who have never heard of WordPress have likely visited a site supported by its infrastructure. Additionally, its growth shows no signs of slowing down any time soon.
You might be wondering how we got here, as growth like this doesn’t happen overnight. If you’re trying to predict where WordPress may be headed in the next few years, understanding its past is a solid starting point.
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Let’s kick things off by focusing on the software itself. We’ll take a look at how WordPress has developed since the early days of 2002, dividing the time until now into four distinct phases of development.
2002-2005: Getting Off the Ground
WordPress development began in 2002. It was initiated as an improvement on a competing CMS with waning popularity, b2/cafelog. Nevertheless, the new interface was distinct. Users who decided to give the new blogging platform a shot were greeted by this interface in 2003:
Its structure was based on the b2/cafelog model but with some upgrades. The interface was easier to interact with, and you could also choose from different templates to shape your content. Perhaps most important, however, was the reliance on the General Public License (GPL).
By licensing this CMS under the GPL, WordPress founders ensured that the software would remain free to use. Additionally, this license also enabled users to legally modify the code as much as they’d like. As such, the options for customization and evolution were nearly limitless.
Bloggers everywhere were immediately drawn to this flexible, easy-to-use haven. The number of users started to grow. In 2004, WordPress developers released version 1.2 of the software. This update provided more accessible features, which in turn attracted more users.
By 2005, it was becoming clear that WordPress was a platform with serious potential. Perhaps trying to capitalize on this, developers added the critical page creation function. This change provided users with more tools to create their own websites tailored to their exact needs. The same year also saw the founding of Automattic.
Other features present by this time included posting by email, common registration, and adding multiple authors. The simplicity of use without a price tag remained a priority. Usage continued to grow as more creators discovered this multi-tool for the web. Soon enough, WordPress had a loyal fanbase.
The decisions over the next four years would reflect the value of the WordPress audience. Dedicated users were critical to the platform’s development, as they determined the direction of new features and often contributed time and resources to create them.
In 2006, Automattic was still relatively new. Nevertheless, the company moved forward to trademark WordPress and its logo. This branding remains today.
This legal action wasn’t the only development of the period. Developers continued to improve functionality in 2007. Some changes included refining the User Interface (UI), adding the ability to import features, and fixing various security issues.
Unfortunately, 2007 was also the year that WordPress experienced its first security breach. This shows that WordPress has been a target for malicious actors since the early days. It’s another reason to be vigilant about your site’s defense.
After the software was secured, more developments continued into 2008. One notable occurrence that year was the introduction of shortcodes. Shortcodes enable users to bracket text in posts and replace that text with dynamic features. This addition helped simplify the creation of complex posts.
Another essential feature added in 2008 was one-click updates. You might take it for granted now, but keeping your site current wasn’t always as easy as receiving an alert and clicking on a button. With this feature, more users were likely to complete updates with critical security patches.
Community-focused functionality continued to grow at the end of this period. 2009 saw improvements that included a built-in image editor, simplified video embedding, enhancements to elements that search engines ranked for, and post thumbnails.
Finally, with 2010 came the introduction of the custom post type. This boosted the flexible potential of WordPress even further and ushered in the age of meeting user needs.
The addition of different post formats and an admin bar came in 2011. Both of these features made the WordPress User Experience (UX) easier to navigate. It also improved on the possibilities available to content creators.
The user-forward focus was paying off: In 2011, 50 million blogs ran on WordPress. Consumers seem to have appreciated their main role in the software’s development.
The progression didn’t stop there. In 2012, a new media manager was launched, making it even easier to add photos or videos to posts.
This made WordPress a more welcoming place for media-heavy blogs and text-based creators who enjoyed the simplicity of the interface.
Security and maintenance were evolving too. In 2013, automatic updates were released. This functionality only applied to small updates, but it still saved people time.
The same year, developers took note of the trend toward mobile devices. As such, a new, more responsive interface was added to increase accessibility across multiple devices.
In 2014, streamlined access was a priority for users. Several drag-and-drop improvements were made to the Classic editor, facilitating a more intuitive creative process. The developers also included a gallery preview option, taking significant guesswork out of the image posting equation.
Another media innovation of this year was the new playlist feature. This worked for both audio and visual components, making it simpler for users to post several related media files in a truncated way.
This enabled users to integrate other tools with the platform easily. Therefore, the REST API was a significant contribution to the highly-tailored WordPress experience.
2016-2021: Refining the Modern Approach
You might consider 2016 the beginning of WordPress’ modern age. This is due to its relatively recent history, and also because it marked the start of several influential new features.
For instance, custom CSS was added to the Theme Customizer. This allowed users to make more stylistic changes through the Theme Editor. WordPress.org also announced that it would actively support Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTPS), demonstrating the continued dedication to high-security standards.
2017 brought a modest yet impactful change: new default widgets. These widgets helped users add common content such as images and rich text in an intuitive way. If you’ve made frequent use of widgets on your WordPress dashboard, you might particularly appreciate the change.
After that, 2018 was a watershed year for WordPress history. Developers had been working on a project titled Gutenberg, available as a plugin during the creation stage. Gutenberg laid the foundations for the Block Editor, now the standard editor for WordPress, to thrive.
The Block Editor was revolutionary because it made post creation a more flexible experience. It did so by adding “blocks” or units of content that could freely move around. Each block was specialized for its content type. As such, the Block Editor marked a huge step forward for intuitive WordPress design.
With 2019 came adjustments to the Block Editor, security updates, and better debugging tools. 2020 was largely focused on the Block Editor as well, with new blocks, user improvements, and other changes taking place.
That brings us to today, in 2021. In the past couple of months, alterations have continued to roll out. Security has seen reinforcements, post-editing has been tweaked for ease of use, and behind-the-scenes technology has doubtless continued to develop.
The History of WordPress Plugins
WordPress plugins are third-party software that you can use to enhance your site. There are a huge number of these tools available today. You can search thousands of them with a visit to the WordPress Plugin Directory.
This repository has an inventory of over 58,000 plugins. Some are free, while others offer “freemium” plans (where users can download free versions with the option to upgrade to paid alternatives).
Plugins made their debut in 2004, with WordPress version 1.2. They were always meant to be crowd-sourced — that is, created and distributed by WordPress users themselves. These free-moving, effective extensions were instantly popular with fans.
In 2005, Akismet became the first plugin to be pre-installed with WordPress.
Akismet is an anti-spam tool that remains widely known and used to this day. With it, users could monitor their pages for harmful links or junk content. The release of the tool was an early and significant move towards a more secure platform for all.
The year 2010 saw the introduction of WordPress APIs. This technology made it easier to use third-party software to curate a WordPress website. As such, it’s become a huge asset to plugin creators.
In 2016, WordPress streamlined third-party software updates. Four years later, in 2020, updates were made automatic for plugins, helping to keep sites secure and plugins operational.
Today, the WordPress Plugin Directory remains a repository for third-party software. However, these tools continue to sell on private directories and developers’ personal sites. Therefore, users can rest assured that they have various ways to personalize their WordPress site.
The History of WordPress Themes
WordPress plugins weren’t the only third-party software to make a splash. WordPress themes have also played a critical role in the development of the platform. Themes control the look and feel of your site, giving you the freedom to brand your site however you see fit.
From the beginning, each version of WordPress included a default theme. The first of these was the Classic Theme, followed by Default (also known as Kubrick). To give users more options, the WordPress Theme Directory was launched in 2008, coming four years after its plugin counterpart.
The introduction of this freely available marketplace helped expand the potential for individuality while also supporting community interactions. As such, it was a big moment in WordPress history.
The next important development for themes came in 2012. Users gained access to the Theme Customizer, opening up new possibilities for users willing to make adjustments. Themes became easier than ever to curate for individual sites. Theme previews also started this year, providing a critical front-end view.
The default WordPress themes continued to evolve as well. These themes are typically the first that many users create with and are often designed to make the best use of cutting-edge WordPress technology.
In 2019, the Twenty Twenty theme was released and included a unique feature: It was designed for compatibility with the Block Editor. This decision signaled that the Block Editor was here to stay and encouraged users to optimize their sites for its use.
These days, the Theme Directory remains a robust resource for top-notch themes. However, you can also find plenty of legitimate premium and developer-run sites if you’re on the lookout for even more variety.
The History of the WordPress Community
The history of WordPress is largely defined by its dedication to those who use it most. Here are some critical areas where the WordPress community has grown over the years.
Core Contributors
Let’s begin with the WordPress founders. In 2002, Matt Mullenweg was an active blogger. His platform of choice was the popular b2/cafelog CMS. Mullenweg, along with his fellow users, used this technology heavily.
Unfortunately, the developers stopped updating the project that same year. Without updates or support, Mullenweg and his colleagues were left without a platform. Perhaps feeling that it didn’t make sense for a CMS’s success to hinge on one team of developers, he set out to create his own.
Mullenweg partnered with developer Mike Little to get the project off the ground. Together, the duo released the first version of WordPress in 2003. Later on, the founding of Automattic became critical for the business-side of WordPress.
Automattic proved to be invaluable for the raising of necessary capital. The company received an influx of funding for WordPress, setting the stage for important developments and new features.
By 2010, Automattic had decided to place a heavier emphasis on keeping WordPress open source. The company launched the WordPress Foundation, an organization dedicated to the accessible, community-oriented values of WordPress software.
This decision made WordPress’ reliance on the free exchange of information between users official. This trend continues with the presence of so-called “core contributors.”
Core contributors are individuals who develop WordPress on a consistent basis. WordPress does not employ them, nor are they compensated for their time. Rather, they volunteer their skills to help make WordPress a better platform for everyone.
Considering their significant work, core contributors remain critical to the software’s success. Furthermore, their role as loyal fans collaborating for a better future is largely reflective of the WordPress identity as a whole. If you’re interested in being a part of WordPress history, consider getting involved as a core contributor.
WordCamps
The open-source nature of WordPress earned it plenty of fans in the early days. However, as the WordPress platform grew, users started looking for a more official way to share their passion. In 2006, they found their answer: WordCamps.
WordCamps began as simple ways for WordPress enthusiasts to meet up and discuss the growing project. The idea was a hit, and today there are large annual events for users all around the world.
The scope of WordCamps is fairly broad. However, discussions tend to focus on WordPress’ technological advancements. In this sense, WordCamps center on the development of the user community as a whole. If you’re interested in getting involved with WordCamp, you have a few options.
If you have a knack for administration, for example, you might want to apply to act as an organizer. You might also choose to be a speaker and participate in WordCamp events. Alternatively, you could always apply as a volunteer, and pitch in wherever you’re needed.
WordPress Meetups
WordCamps are relatively structured, global events. However, there’s another option if you’re looking for a community a little closer to home: WordPress Meetups. Organized on the Meetup website, these events boast 822,736 members in over 1,551 groups.
These are localized events, as you can see from the map above. People from across the world can get together with other enthusiasts in their communities and discuss the platform. These gatherings tend to be more informal than the WordCamps.
They also happen more frequently since they require fewer resources to organize. A handful of interested users can simply agree on a meeting place ahead of time or even conduct their meetings over video calls.
Despite the smaller scale of Meetups, they remain vital to the WordPress community. They facilitate the sharing of ideas and provide a sense of community. Moreover, the consistent nature of Meetups can help to develop ideas over time.
There are several WordPress Meetups around the world. However, you may not have any Meetups in your area. It’s also possible that there are dormant groups in your community. This occurs when a Meetup has not been disbanded but has also not been recently active.
Fortunately, anyone can host. Consider visiting the Meetup page and starting your own group! If your local group is inactive, you might try reaching out to current members to re-establish the meetings.
The History of Managed WordPress Hosting
In the early days of WordPress, membership grew quickly. By 2006, there was significant demand for web hosting that could meet the platform’s needs. WordPress had become. Over time, hosting companies learned the best way to tailor their services to WordPress users.
Managed hosting takes many technical tasks off your plate. Site maintenance, security, migration, and upgrades are handled by professionals instead. You can use the extra time to keep your site running exactly the way you want it.
If you want to learn more, you can check out our own managed hosting service: DreamPress. With the addition of high-speed Solid State Drives in 2015, we set ourselves apart from the crowd. We also offer a variety of pricing plans to fit your budget and technical skills.
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WooCommerce is one of the most widely-used plugins available for WordPress today with over five million active installations. However, WooCommerce wasn’t always specifically focused on e-commerce.
In 2008, a few developers founded WooThemes. As you might expect, they largely focused on providing new themes for WordPress users. However, this was soon to change.
2011 saw the use of ecommerce plugins increase. This functionality started to become more popular among WordPress users. As such, the idea of using the platform to support online stores began to spread. WooThemes released WooCommerce to join in on the trend.
WooCommerce became a preferred choice for WordPress users. By 2015, its frequent use caught Automattic’s attention, and the company acquired this popular plugin. By 2017 WooCommerce hit $10 billion in sales — a watershed moment in WordPress history.
Today, the plugin continues to be updated, developed, and improved. However, it’s not without its competitors. Options such as Shopify have sprouted up as formidable alternatives, encouraging more frequent innovations.
Predicting the future is no small task. Nevertheless, we can take a few clues from the history of WordPress up until now to make some educated projections.
For one thing, development continues on the Block Editor. As it improves and becomes a more integrated part of WordPress, we’ll doubtless see new features.
You might also expect this technology to become more intuitive and widely used. If you’re curious about keeping up with these developments, consider installing the Gutenberg plugin to stay informed.
As for WordPress’ popularity, its web share has grown over the past few years. There’s little reason to think that this pattern will change. This seems especially true with the WordPress community actively working to enhance its features.
As odd as it might seem, the internet is still relatively new. Therefore, taking a historical view of it can be difficult. This task only complicates further when you try to focus on something as widespread as WordPress. Fortunately, you can see important trends by looking at key moments of its development.
In this article, we covered the evolution of WordPress features from 2002 onward. Additionally, we looked at specific areas of growth, such as the strength of the WordPress community and the use of third-party software.
We also discussed the history of managed hosting. We’ve been providing WordPress-optimized managed hosting for many years. If you’re interested in taking your site to the next level with ease, consider contacting our team and asking about DreamPress!
You’ve started your own business. Congratulations! Whether you’re selling cupcakes using Grandma’s secret recipe, photographing chic weddings, hosting events, running (around) a preschool, selling handicrafts, or building the next must-have app — pat yourself on the back. The challenge of starting a small business and raking in those first few dollars is no joke.
But don’t you dare rest on your laurels, ahem.
You’ve got a steeper mountain to climb: scaling up. If you are serious about your business and its success — and we know you are — you’ve got to grow, and keep growing, to survive year after year. Once a business is well established, a concentrated focus on scalability can move it from initial profits into big-time revenue.
And you’re in luck: when it comes to scaling your business, the secret ingredient to success is affordable, accessible, and omnipresent. That’s right, the internet is your new best friend.
It’s the 21st century, folks; simply having a website — an essential, indispensable first step — won’t cut it. Real scale and success can be yours by smartly leveraging your business’s presence online. When you combine a great product or service with some internet savvy, any summit you set is in sight.
If you are ready to grow, let us help! The following tips will set you on the path to scaling your business online, the smart way:
Scaling isn’t as hard as it looks, but it isn’t for the faint of heart either. Before you attempt any growth strategies, step back and consider your destination and your starting point. Begin your reflection with these questions:
What Are Your Goals?
Consider your endgame. What does growth look like for you and your business? Do you want to scale a scrappy software startup (alliteration unintended, I swear) or just build a second (or third or fourth) location? Attract higher-paying customers or convert online traffic into more sales? Either way, set a timeline, know your goals, and let them define your next steps. Keep re-evaluating your progress based on your goals — and don’t be afraid to adjust them as you move ahead with your small business.
Is Your Business Really in a Good Place?
Be honest with yourself. If the answer is “no,” scaling is notyour next step. “If your business stinks,” as marketing bigwig Dan Kennedy famously said, “the last thing you want to do is get the word out about it.” Nail your model and perfect your product before attempting any business growth.
If you are going to expand your restaurant’s menu and attract more clientele, you can’t be the one chopping and frying potatoes during the lunch rush. As a small business owner, your first priority is the big picture.
If you haven’t made it a point to get out of the kitchen and into your head, planning your daily activities around building the business and brand, you won’t have the bandwidth or focus to scale successfully. You may need to hire more employees to take the day-to-day operations off your hands.
Evaluate your financing and fundraising options, and know what kind of capital you have to play around with. Do you need to take out a small-business loan, and are you in a position to qualify for one?
The amount of cash you have can skyrocket or ground your growth — luckily, using the internet to scale can be, for the most part, easy on the wallet. As you look at your finances, you may brainstorm ways to cut costs — for example, instead of hiring a cadre of new employees to help you scale, try contracting out the work to freelancers.
Building Your Presence
Are you committed to scaling your business online? Awesome. It’s time to get our hands dirty.
Get Online
Do you already have a website for your business up and running? If so, pass “Go” and collect $200.
If your business doesn’t have a home online yet, there’s no time like the present. Even if you have a traditional brick-and-mortar store with nothing to sell directly online, a website will give customers around-the-clock access to information about your business. You’ll be able to advertise, promote specials, and seek out new customers 24/7, on the clock or off.
Nervous about getting your technical skills up to snuff? It doesn’t get any easier than DreamHost’s WP Website Builder, a suite of premium tools and plugins designed to simplify starting a website and make it easier to edit and manage as it grows.
No matter what, make sure to utilize reliable web hosting that can scale up with your business as it grows and attracts more online traffic. And you guessed it: DreamHost can help you there as well.
Simplify Your Site
You have five seconds or less to convince website visitors to stick around, so what you’re offering has to be simple, clear, and attractive. If website visitors can’t tell immediately what you are selling and how to buy it, they will move on and take their credit cards elsewhere.
Make sure website navigation is clear and consistent from page to page. Don’t plaster videos, photos, and other content all over for the sake of filling up your website; everything should have a purpose that enhances your website’s message.
Update your blog regularly with company updates, profiles on customers, information on products new and old, and free content relevant to your area of expertise. These blog posts can be shared on your social media accounts (more on this later, hang tight!) to draw in more page views. Don’t simply recycle posts from similar websites; create fresh, original, and SEO-friendlycontent to attract new traffic and keep visitors coming back for more.
Not a writer? Consider hiring (or contracting) marketers and copywriters to give your content a fresh face and professional polish.
List with Google My Business
When internet users — which, these days, is almost everyone — have a question or are looking for a specific service near them, there is only one source of information: the almighty Google.
One of the best ways to make sure your small business is discovered is by doing everything you can to make sure it tops Google searches when potential customers are looking for similar products or services. One of the best ways to improve your search engine hits, especially if you own a brick-and-mortar shop, is to register with Google My Business.
Google My Business is Google’s online directory listing for businesses. Millions of companies, big and small, have registered their address, phone number, website, and other details with Google. Registered businesses will show up in Google Maps, which will help you attract more local foot traffic. Customers can add pictures or reviews to your listing, so make sure to encourage people to rate your business, and respond quickly and sensitively to any negative feedback.
Best of all: the listing is completely free!
Fine-tuning Your Site
Once your site is up and running well, it’s time to dig in and really make it work for your business.
Add a Call to Action
Every piece of content on your website (page, post, or anything else) should invite your visitors to do something — otherwise, you could be driving visitors away. Your calls to action can range from simply asking for comments or social media engagement, to inviting users to opt into a newsletter or come to your store for a special sale, to straight out asking or encouraging to purchase your product or service.
Most of us need a little nudge to spur us into action. The purpose of your website should be to offer that nudge, as clearly as possible, and inspire potential customers to commit. Use the goals you set for how you want your business to grow to guide your calls to action.
Build a Public Profile
Marketing is not about selling products; it’s about people and their stories. This is why an “About Us” page on your website is essential and not just filler. The content on this page can actually be a powerful marketing tool.
People buying your product want to know you and will be charmed by an interesting origin story and captivating “person-behind-the-product” narrative. Cultivate your story; create a public persona for the company and share the passion that led you to create your small business. Make sure to be authentic, but dig in to find a story that will resonate with your target market and paint the face behind the business.
Study SEO
Learn everything you can about SEO basics and best practices. SEO is an essential skill; it is no longer optional if you want your voice to be heard among thousands upon thousands of competing messages on the internet. Creating optimized content will drive your website up in search engine results and drive traffic to your website. At times, SEO can be a time-consuming headache for small-business owners, so make sure to hire employees who understand SEO and content marketing or consider outsourcing.
Make It Easy for Customers to Make Purchases
Like, ridiculously easy. Try navigating through your website with fresh eyes — or maybe recruit a friend or generous family member, ideally one not closely acquainted with your business, to give an honest opinion.
How hard is it to figure out what products or services you are selling and where to go to purchase them? Both should be clear and intuitive.
Consider ways you can fine-tune the checkout process (you should be doing this as part of your regular website maintenance anyway), or how you can improve how you offer your product. For example, can you create a form or questionnaire to offer online quotes, rather than requiring potential customers to email you or pick up the phone and call you?
Consider Your Offerings
You may have perfected your product or service, but is there more you can add? If your business is anchored in a brick-and-mortar model, is there something supplemental you can sell exclusively online?
Or maybe you already offer online or in-person consultations. Think about adding more options — shorter (or longer) consultations or a cheaper option for customers to ask a simple question via email or a Skype session. A lower price point may reel in more customers, and maybe even convert to bigger sales in the future.
Reaching Out
Once you’ve nailed your site, it’s time to look outward to help draw traffic in and drive growth.
Build a Database of Potential Customers
Then draw past ones back in — through smart email marketing. Targeted email marketing is much more affordable and more effective than print or other advertising. Anyone who visits your website is a hot lead. Web surfers landed on your page for a reason, so don’t let them slip away — or rather, don’t let your business slip out of their minds.
When they first visit your site, offer a free product or special offer in exchange for their email addresses. This could be a discount code emailed to them, a printable coupon to bring by your store, an email offering free but relevant information, or a subscription to an email newsletter. Do everything you can — that isn’t sketchy or illegal, obviously — to collect email addresses to encourage further interaction.
Offer an opt-in subscription to an emailed newsletter to your social followers, website traffic, and customers. Build your newsletter so that it doesn’t look and read like junk mail, and send it out regularly to any and every email address that you collect. If the content is fresh and compelling, email newsletters can inspire opens and clicks that drive traffic to your website.
Announce company milestones, build community, offer “subscriber only” sales and coupons. Draw on your website’s blog content, and include a call to action in every email. A regular email newsletter will help you build a long-term relationship with customers, and will help you measure responses to your products and marketing techniques.
Work the Weekends
Get the word out and drive foot traffic to your website or physical storefront, even when you’re off duty, by automatically sending out coupons and special promotions on slow days and holidays.
Follow up with Past Sales
People who bought from you once are likely to buy again. Don’t let past customers slip through the cracks; follow up with them and keep reaching out regularly. Consider offering products similar to the purchase they made, request feedback, send coupons, and invite them to subscribe to your newsletter.
Scope out the Competition
You’ve got a pretty good website now — and, as luck would have it, so does your competitor. Time to do some snooping. Check out the websites of any competing businesses, and take a look at their offerings, their calls to action, their free content and newsletters, etc. And then ask yourself what you can offer that is unique or different.
Seek to compete not only in price, value, and quality but by offering something new and more convenient or helpful. Keep tabs on competitor websites to stay apprised of trends.
Second in importance only to getting a website is getting on social media to build your brand and cultivate clientele. Don’t feel pressured to join every platform all at once; consider focusing your efforts on one or two, especially if you target a niche market that tends to prefer a specific platform.
Targeted Social Media Advertising
With targeted Facebook ads, you can reach the customers who would most benefit from your offerings and drive them to your website and store. Social media advertising for your online business can be very affordable and effective because you can create customized advertising and posts that reach the demographics and parameters you specify. Carefully tease relevant content from your website to give your products face time and make clicks irresistible.
Create a Brand
Social media is often the public face of your small business, so name your accounts carefully and consistently. Make sure to pick a handle that is easy to remember and connect with your business. Cultivate a persona that jives with your business and its market across all platforms, and be strategic about what, when, and where you post. For a professional edge, consider hiring or contracting a social media manager.
Cross-Pollinate
Promote website content on each of your channels, but also use social media posts to drive traffic to your other accounts to build followers across each one. A simple post encouraging your Twitter followers to connect on Facebook — complete with a link to your page — would do the trick.
Don’t bore your followers by posting the same content everywhere; again, keep a consistent voice, but experiment with the opportunities unique to each platform to delight and hook your followers.
Connect with businesses and leaders in your field. Like their Facebook pages, comment on posts; invite them to your website, invite them to lunch. Don’t be afraid to rub shoulders with the competition online. It will help you gain exposure among your target audience.
Crowdsource
Is there a product that you know your customers would love, but you don’t quite have enough funds for? Whether your business model is primarily online or not, try a Kickstarter or other crowd-funding campaign to attract — and gauge — interest in your product and get the funding you need to expand your business’s offerings.
A crowdfunding campaign also builds brand loyalty and is very shareable and clickable on your social media accounts. Include links to the campaign on your website, and point visitors to the campaign page back to your website for more information about your other products and services.
Establishing Expertise
You can help your business grow by helping it establish a reputation — a good one, hopefully. Leverage the internet to become known within your market and beyond as an expert in your field.
Create a Community
If you build it, they will be able to come. Create a community space online for your customers and like-minded people to congregate, learn, and share ideas. One way to do this online is by creating a Facebook group, not just a company page, especially if you cater to a niche audience.
Invite your customers to ask questions and build relationships. Use the space as a place to offer sales, exclusive offers, and giveaways for your product. If your group takes off, it can be a great way to know and understand your audience — and for them to understand you and build long-term loyalty. As a side note, you will need to set group ground rules and find someone to moderate posts and resolve conflicts.
Offer Free Content
People search the web for information to learn and solve problems. If you provide bits of expert, useful information for free — like we try to do here on the DreamHost blog, wink — you will get more hits and better search engine rankings. Create shareable videos, articles, infographics, etc., and spread it on social media.
The goal is to create something useful and creative enough that people already within your network will want to share with their friends and family, which will build more exposure for your brand and bring in more potential customers. Always include a link back to your website or a call to action offering more information or encouraging a purchase.
Share your expertise for free and not just as a marketing stunt. Teach or host classes of interest to your customers in your store or broadcast and archive them online. Or make a how-to video to share on your website and tease with your social media accounts. Encourage your customers and followers to share their ideas and suggest future topics.
Host a Free Q&A
Consider regularly asking your customers, on your social media accounts or website blog, to send you questions related to your product or service or its subject area. This works especially well if you are a consultant of some sort.
For example, a baby sleep consultant may ask for specific questions from parents weekly and create a video or blog post answering those questions. This establishes the consultant’s smarts and attention to specific problems while encouraging potential customers to commit to more specific advice. It might be helpful to include an archive of past Q&As on your website.
Spread the News
Gain exposure and develop your reputation for expertise by registering and participating with Help A Reporter Out (HARO). HARO is a free website database that connects reporters and sources.
When you register, you’ll get a regular email with queries from reporters and journalists looking for an expert source to comment on their stories. So if you’re a dietician and spot a query from a journalist looking for a quote for a story on the latest diet fad, you have the potential to position yourself as an expert in front of the audience that you are targeting.
A mention in a news outlet builds credibility for your business and provides a great link back to your website (if the article is published online). Include any mention of your business in the news on your website and share on your social media accounts for additional exposure.
Adding Things Up
When you’re scaling your small business online, you have to know your numbers. The internet makes it simple to track your efforts to scale and test which methods are most — or least — effective for your business with your specific market.
Track Key Metrics
Check clicks, opens, page views, and more. Learn what kinds of things work and what doesn’t. What kinds of discounts, free content offers, blog posts, and email headlines attract more clicks? Don’t be afraid to experiment and track responses to your campaigns. Try your hand at A/B testing and fine-tune your marketing plan based on what entices the most clicks, opens, subscriptions, and purchases from your potential customers.
If you really want your business to scale, you are never going to “set and forget” your website or any of your marketing techniques. You’re not making slow-cooker pork. Everything must be carefully monitored, measured, and adjusted as necessary.
As you work to scale and grow your business online, it is important to track your costs, down to the nickels and dimes. Money can be tight in a small business, and you need to know where and how to spend it best. Here are two important metrics you need to watch closely on a regular basis:
Cost per Lead
A lead is whenever someone downloads your app, signs up for your newsletter, requests a quote or more information, etc. Whether you are collecting names at a trade show, gathering email addresses through a newsletter or other offer, or creating shareable social media infographics, you need to know if how much you are spending is actually paying off in the number of people who respond to your campaign.
Calculate this by dividing how much you spent on marketing (make sure to account for the time you spent and how much you paid for advertising, writers, employees, etc.) by the number of new leads. Regularly ask yourself if the cost is worth the leads generated, and if it is time to experiment and try a new tactic.
Cost per Sale
How much time, effort, and money are spent per actual sale? Calculate this by measuring the amount you spent on finding new customers by the number of people who purchased your product or service. If your cost per sale and your cost to create your products are less than the sales price, you’re making a profit. Yay!
Dive deeper and analyze this cost for each of your offerings, if possible, to find the lowest cost per sale, and see if there is something you can do to attract even more customers to purchase it. Are there products or services that are less profitable? What changes do you need to make to increase profit or decrease cost?
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The suggestions here are a great starting place to help you attract more customers so you can scale your business online. But if you follow every strategy and best practice suggested for small business websites, yours will start to go a little stale. Do you really want your message to get lost amid the thousands of websites employing the same tactics and templates?
Probably not.
So take the advice we’ve given as a place to start. Look at your analytics to see what works best for your e-commerce business and audience, and try breaking a few rules.
For example, take free content. We all love free content, but you are going to find it everywhere. That’s how the internet works. But do you have something really valuable that you can charge for? Curated recipes, exclusive knitting patterns, customized diet plans; valuable content that deserves to be behind a paywall? Did you know you can charge for an email newsletter if it offers enough value to the reader?
Recently an unknown tech blogger built his business by creating a daily email update with posts analyzing or opining on news and technology — and charging monthly for it. The small cost came with great value to the customer, and it proved to be a successfulgrowthstrategy.
The internet is always changing. That means it’s a great place to experiment with both tried-and-true methods and the latest digital marketing trends to see what works for your revenue growth. However you go about building a successful company, DreamHost is here to support you! Learn more about how our affordable hosting plans make it easy for you to create and maintain a digital presence.
WordPress is the perfect platformfor creating just about any type of website. It’s beginner-friendly and very flexible. However, there are certain things it isn’t intended to do by default, so you may find yourself looking for a way to add specific features. Fortunately, the larger WordPress community has created a solution in the form of plugins. These are add-ons you can install on yourWordPress siteto include new options and functionality. There’s likely a plugin available that can accomplish just about anything you might want to do with your website. However, wading through all of the available plugin options can be time-consuming. So in this article, we’ll introduce 10 of the most popular and highly recommended WordPress plugins for 2021.
First though, let’s talk a little more about what plugins are, why they’re so useful, and where you can find them!
An Introduction to WordPress Plugins
The core WordPress platform includes a lot of useful features that make building and running a website simple — even for complete beginners. However, it can only do so much. You may find you want more options or functionality than WordPress core can provide on its own, which is where plugins come in. WordPress pluginsare pieces of add-on software you can download and install to your site. They provide additional features and functionality — sometimes making just one small change, other times implementing an entire suite of options. You can find a plugin that will add nearly anything to your site, including contact forms, an online store, or extra security features. You can even use plugins toboost conversionsandgenerate leads! There are thousands of plugins to choose from, at various price points. We’ll talk more about where to look for them soon, but first, let’s dig a little deeper into why they’re so important.
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Why Plugins Are a Useful Addition to Your WordPress Site
Plugins can add many new features and options to your WordPress site.
As we’ve explained, WordPress is a powerful and flexible solution right out of the box. However, if you want to create a truly memorable and unique site, plugins are a perfect solution. This is true whether you’rerunning a blogor a huge e-commerce site. There are plenty of reasons to consider adding plugins to your WordPress site:
Many plugins add the specific, targeted features and functionality you need for the type of site you’re creating.
Alternatively, some plugins make the practical aspects of building a website easier (such aspage-builder plugins).
Finally, plugins can make your site safer and improve its performance. In fact, we’ve already identified13 of the best security pluginsfor your website.
What’s more, WordPress’ thriving community means there are many excellent free or low-cost plugin options — so you don’t have to break the bank to improve your site. As long as you’re making sure to select the right plugins, there’s really no reason not to take advantage of all the benefits they offer.
How to Find and Choose the Best WordPress Plugins
There are plenty of awesome free plugins in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory.
Now that we’ve discussed why adding plugins to your WordPress site is worthwhile, it’s time to talk about how to do it! With so much choice, it’s crucial tomake your selections carefully. Poorly designed or older plugins can slow down or even break your site. When searching for the best plugins to suit your needs, you’ll want to look for the following things:
Whether the specific features and/or functionality of the plugin matches what you’re looking to achieve.
User reviews and ratings, and the plugin’s overall popularity (a popular plugin isn’t necessarily better, but it’s a good sign).
The plugin’s price and plan options.
How recently the plugin was updated (in general, be wary of anything that’s gone longer than six months without an update).
There are plenty of places online to find plugins, including directories, storefronts, and developers’ websites.
For free plugins, we’d recommend starting with the officialWordPress.org Plugin Directory. It has a myriad of excellent options and displays all the facts you need to make an informed choice.
If you’re interested in premium plugins, you cancheck out CodeCanyonfor an equally impressive selection.
Once you’ve found a plugin you’d like to try out, it’s simple toinstall and activate iton your site. Keep in mind that it’s best to only add one plugin at a time, so if any issues crop up, you can identify the cause. If you’re still feeling overwhelmed by all of the different types of available plugins, don’t worry. That’s why we’ve compiled this list of 10 of our current favorites. Yep, you’re welcome!
10 of the Most Popular WordPress Plugins for 2021
The following plugins are highly recommended for beginners and advanced users alike. Each meets the criteria we discussed in the previous section and offers a unique feature set.
Jetpackis an all-in-one plugin created by the developers of WordPress (Automattic), which offers a whole suite of features activated on a module-by-module basis. This includes functionality such as contact forms, site security, user engagement options, site backups, and much more.
If you pay for the premium version, you’ll also get access to features that can help your site rank higher in search engines, plus several useful advertising tools. While Jetpack Professional is normally $299 per year, you can get it for free with ourDreamPress Plus and DreamPress Pro hostingplans. That way, you’ll have access to both a fully managed hosting system and a comprehensive set of features to keep your site secure.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)is a strategy that, when followed correctly, can help your site rank higher in search engines such as Google and Bing. However, it’s a complicated set of rules and guidelines, and can be challenging to implement effectively. Fortunately,Yoast SEOmakes it easy to optimize your posts and pages by offering you a set of tools to hone your keywords and customize what will appear in search engines.
Key Features:
Enables you to optimize your search engine results, including titles, URLs, and meta descriptions.
Analyzes your pages and posts and points out areas for improvement.
Lets you control what pages of your site are displayed in Google search results.
You’ll likely want your site’s visitors to be able to get in touch with you, whether it’s just to share their thoughts on your content or to sign up for your services. Including a contact form directly on your site is a convenient way to make that possible.Contact Form 7enables you to add multiple such forms to your pages — and customize them so users can submit precisely the information you need.
Key Features:
Lets you create and customize contact forms and insert them into your pages or posts.
Makes it easy to add unique fields to your forms.
Enables you to include areCAPTCHAsolution on your forms to combat spam.
One thing the core WordPress platform doesn’t include by default is the ability to create an e-commerce store. That’s whereWooCommercecomes in. This plugin is the most popular e-commerce solution for WordPress and lets you create an online store to sell physical and/or digital products. Its developers (the folks at Automattic) also offer many useful free and premium extensions that can provide additional functionality for your store.
Key Features:
Enables you to display and sell physical and digital goods directly from your website.
Includes multiple payment and shipping options.
Offers access to a wide range of features via extensions.
There are plenty of plugins available that enable you to add a list of events to your website.The Events Calendaris one of the best since it’s both easy to use and provides high-quality results. Plus, you can fully customize your calendar — and keeping it updated is simple. Key Features:
Lets you create events and add them to one organized calendar.
Enables users to view your calendar in multiple ways.
Incorporates additional features, such as a search function and maps.
Slider Revolutionis another very popular plugin that’s included in many premium WordPress themes. It helps you spruce up your site’s design by enabling you to create sliders, carousels, and more. This plugin offers many options to display your images, posts, videos, and other content in a visually appealing and user-friendly manner.
Key Features:
Includes a visual, drag-and-drop page editor to simplify the design process.
Lets you add sliders, carousels, and hero scenes to your site.
Offers a front-page designer, so you can customize your home page.
These days, it’s difficult to build a successful online presence without thestrategic use of social media. Fortunately, integrating your social media with WordPress is simple withEasy Social Share Buttons for WordPress. Using this plugin, you can add buttons to your site that encourage visitors to share your content via their own social media accounts.
What’s more, there is also a wealth of additional features, such as email opt-in forms, analytics, and many extensions that help enhance the sharing experience.
Key Features:
Enables you to add social media sharing buttons to your posts and pages.
Includes 52 templates to start from, plus many design options and animations.
Integrates with over 50 different social media networks.
Images that aretoo large or poorly optimizedcan slow down your site, hurt your users’ experience, and even drive some visitors away.EWWW Image Optimizeris a powerful, useful tool that optimizes both new and existing images on your site, so they have as little impact on its performance as possible. There’s also a cloud-based version (theEWWW Image Optimizer Cloud) that provides extra security during the process. Key Features:
Automatically optimizes images and converts them to the best file format for performance.
Provides various compression options, such as pixel-perfect and high compression.
Includes security features such as SSL encryption and free 30-day image backups.
Akismetcomes pre-installed on many WordPress installations. It’s easy to overlook this plugin or fail to activate it, but it’s an excellent tool you’ll want to take advantage of. It protects your site from spam comments by filtering them out, so visitors can engage with your content without having to wade through irrelevant advertisements or repeat messages. The free version is sufficient for most sites, but the premium option can be a smart choice for businesses.
Key Features:
Checks all comments to your site automatically and filters out potential spam.
Lets you review what’s been marked as spam, so you can correct the plugin if necessary.
Connects to a global, constantly updated database, which means it’s always improving.
MonsterInsightsis the most popularGoogle Analytics pluginfor WordPress. When you use this tool, you can quickly and easily connect your site up to the Google Analytics platform. You’ll get a Google-specific dashboard right in your WordPress admin panel, so you can make data-driven decisions in the context where it matters most.
MonsterInsights can also help you track your customers across multiple platforms and devices. This includes integration withGoogle’s Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP). Another benefit is that, unlike other link-tracking plugins, MonsterInsights won’t slow your website down. All of these features can help you get a comprehensive picture of your website’s traffic, so you can make improvements.
Key Features:
Provides custom reports for data regarding Audience, Behavior, Content, Ecommerce, Forms, Search Console, and Custom Dimensions.
Offers easy integration with WooCommerce for product and sales tracking.
Enables use tracking for Google Adsense and affiliate links.
WordPress pluginsare such useful tools that it’s almost certain you’ll want a few to round out your site. The only tricky part is choosing the best ones, since there are thousands available that do almost anything you could think of. In this list, we’ve introduced you to 10 excellent plugins that could serve your site well in 2021.
Are you looking for more plugins to add to your WordPress dashboard? We’ve got you covered! Our team has put together several guides to help you choose the best add-ons for your WordPress site.
Of course, the world’s top WordPress plugins won’t make that much of a difference to your website if your web host isn’t up to the challenge. Here at DreamHost, we pride ourselves on ourmanaged WordPress hosting plans. Since they’re optimized specifically for the platform, they ensure a safe, secure, and seamless experience for your WordPress site’s visitors!Check out your options today!
