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If you’re keen to enhance your online presence, you should be paying close attention to e-mail lists. Subscribers can play a pivotal role in making your blog a long-term success, but you do need the right tools to create a useful and valuable list. MailChimp is one of the world’s top e-mail service providers, whilst WordPress is the most popular CMS on the planet. These tools can both support us in our quest to create a subscribers list.

The benefits of MailChimp

There are many trusted e-mail service providers on the market, so what makes MailChimp so special? Not only is the plugin free to use, it has a simple email subscription widget and there’s little to no chance of you facing issues with corruptions or compatibility. Designing an email and setting up a campaign is also easy, and you can manage your campaigns either from the WP or MC sides. There are many different analytics to look at, allowing you see the different ways your audience responds to different kinds of media. You can also use A/B testing to find new ways to serve them more efficiently.Although one downside of

MailChimp is their quite expensive pricing plans if you go above 2,000 subscribers, thankfully enough there are a lot of MailChimp alternatives.

Get the plugin

To get started, you will need to get the MailChimp plugin from the WP plugin page, download and install it. You will need to activate the plugin. You can also get the plugin from your dashboard. Just go to Plugins>Add New and type MailChimp for WordPress into the search box.

You will need an API key if MailChimp is to function. Make sure you click on the “Get your API key here button.

Once you have clicked to get your API key, you will be taken to the MailChimp site. Once you have registered you will have access to the key. You then need to copy and paste it into the plugin dashboard.

Create your e-mail list

After you have taken these steps, you can start creating your e-mail list, which will help you keep track of subscribers. You will need to add details including company name, address and other information. There is a notification section beneath the form. You can have the notifications sent to9 any of your e-mail addresses. These notifications will tell you about user activity and let you know when someone has subscribed or unsubscribed. It is wise to opt for a daily summary to stay in the loop without being bombarded with notifications.

Make a signup form

You can create a signup form by using the down button on the generated list. To make sure this form appears on your site, you need to go to the widget section and click on Appearance> Widget to make a text widget. Give your widget a simple title and put the code into the widget area. This code will activate the widget.

Exporting old subscriber details

If you need to import an old subscriber lists to your MailChimp account, you can export the list in CSV format or as a delimited text file. Upload the file to MailChimp and edit necessary fields. MailChimp also makes it easy to create and send out newsletters. The templates allow you to build newsletters within moments and distribute them with just one click. You can use the Create Template button for creating a template and follow the instructions. The template will support drag and drop.

The campaign set-up wizard

The campaign can be orchestrated with a wizard. MailChimp has four campaign types including regular, plain-text, A/B testing and RSS campaigns. Once you are ready, you can send the newsletter and press the confirm button to finalise everything. MailChimp will tell you if it finds any errors. You can schedule your campaign by setting the date and time. Paid users can also take advantage of other options including Batch Delivery, Timewarp and Send Time Optimization.

WordPress and MailChimp

MailChimp is widely agreed to be one of the finest newsletter service on the market, and is a great match for WordPress. WP and MC have large active communities that can help you if you ever do run into problems whilst using them or integrating them with one another. WordPress has been the most popular CMS on the market for many years and is extremely SEO-friendly. In fact, it’s said that the main search engines including Google look very favourably upon sites that have been created with WordPress.

WordPress is open source software that is free to use, free to edit and free to distribute. The vast majority of leading hosting companies offer one-click installation of WordPress. It’s always a good ideas to ask about WordPress service before you commit to a hosting package. There are many great reasons for opting for MailChimp too, including the way that enables you to send out newsletters to Twitter followers with one click.

If you have been searching for Google Analytics plugins to boost business and drive traffic, read on. There are many exciting and highly-proficient GA plugins for WordPress on the market that will help you get a deeper insight into the behavior of your site visitors and help you cater for them more effectively. Google Analytics was launched in 2005 after Google purchased Urchin. It is now one of the most popular web analytics services around.

Features of GA include various data visualisation tools including scorecards, motion charts and a dashboard. You can use the platform to view and assess changes in data and behaviour over time. It also offers segmentation for analysis of subsets like conversions and provides you with valuable custom reports alongside e-mail based sharing and communication. The platform integrates with various other Google products such as AdWords. The tool is targeted towards small and medium-sized sites, particularly retail websites.

Let’s take a look at some of the very best Google Analytics plugins for WordPress right now.

Analytics Cat

The process of adding Google Analytics to your WordPress site is quick and easy with Analytics Cat. The plugin doesn’t feature an array of unnecessary features and enables you to add your GA code to your site in under two minutes, without the site being slowed down. All you have to do to get started is install and activate the plugin, copy and paste the GA info and you’re ready to get started. The plugin works straight out of the box, and there is a useful quick-start guide to make the whole process wonderfully uncomplicated. What’s also great is that the plugin is totally free (we actually use this plugin our site).

Google Analytics by MonsterInsights

Google Analytics by MonsterInsights was once known as Google Analytics by Yoast. Free and paid-for versions are available, and the installation process is simple. Once you have configured the plugin, you’ll be able to track visitors, download numbers and click on outbound links. The intuitive plugin features tool that users can get to grips with quickly. You won’t need to open any other site to access analytical data after the plugin is installed, as everything you require can be seen on the dashboard. The plug in also uses lightweight code that doesn’t put vast amounts of pressure on the server. There are demographic and interest-based filters to take advantage of. Many users begin with the free version before graduating to the paid-for one.

WP Statistics

Also easy to get to grips with is WP Statistics. This plug in works flawlessly with a host of search engines including not only Google but Bing, Yahoo and many more. Visits are tracked based on GeoIP, and hashing IP addresses in the database are supported, protecting user privacy. The plugin can also track e-mail stats and place them in reports. You can export XML, TSV and CSV file data with the plug in, which is renowned for the quality and number of its export options. If you regularly need to produce reports to gain access to valuable information about user behaviour, WP Statistics could well be the perfect match for your needs.

Google Analytics WD

Web Dorado’s Google Analytics WD integrates Google Analytics into your site impressively, and there are many useful features to take advantage of, including stats overviews, traffic information, analytics reporting and more. The plugin is pleasingly responsive and has what it takes to give you a real edge over the competition. Free and premium versions are available. If you do find the free version to be somewhat restricted, you can opt for various Pro packages that rise in price depending on the features you require. The Pro plans unlock various features such as ecommerce tracking, pushover notifications, AdWords reports and full GA reporting to name but a few.

WP Power Stats

WP Power Stats works independently and has no connection with GA. It has built-in options that let you track visitors and generate reports based on a number of elements. Filters can be used to obtain greater analysis, and nine languages are supported. The plug in tells you about page views, unique views, devices used for viewing, browsers used, traffic sources, search terms, the geographical locations of visitors, operation systems and referrers details.

Analytics Stats Counter Statistics

This simple but valuable and reliable plugin only has a modest number of features, yet each one it does offer is incredibly useful. The plugin gives you an excellent insight into the activity happening around your site and supports IPv4 and IPv6 connections. It has an uncluttered analytic meter and can give you information about landing page performance, unique visitors, returning visitors, page views and stats based on geographical locations, screen resolution and more. The plugin app can prove very helpful if you’re running multiple blogs.

Google Analytics Dashboard for WP

The Google Analytics Dashboard for WP may be perfect for you if funds are limited. The powerful plugin is available for free and has a popular live stats function that appears on each page or post. One limitation of the plugin is that you’re likely to get more use out of it as an advanced user, however it retains a vast host of valuable features, such as enabling you to add your own GA tracking code and show stats in the WP dashboard.

Analytify

This unfussy, popular plugin provides you with a detailed breakdown of post stats on the back and frontends. Rather than having to work your way through various individual sections of Google Analytics, you can see everything you need on a single page. There are increasing numbers of add-ons being prepared for the plugin, such as a feature that will allow you to track Woo Commerce and Easy Digital Downloads activity.

We hope you found our guide to the best Google Analytics plugins for WordPress useful. Hopefully, you’ll find something in the above list that meets your needs, preferences and budget perfectly.

Okay so you have a website that you are about to launch, you have created loads of awesome content, you have some of the best features that you can have for a website and you’re ready to roll. You know that your visitors are going to love your website because you spent aging crafting unique, high quality content that is focused on your target audience.

What you should always remember is that it is important to effectively measure any kind of marketing method, whether it is an email campaign being measured for click throughs, or how many visitors are viewing each page on your website. These are key measurements of how well your marketing is working.

Google Analytics is a hugely popular choice when it comes to tracking website usage, partly because it is so easy to use and partly because it is free.

If you’re new to using Google Analytics, then here are some simple steps you will need to take to get up and running:

– Visit https://www.google.com/analytics to sign up for a new account. If you already have a Google account, you can use that one so you don’t need to create another account.

You might also want to take a quick look at the demo video to give you a better understanding of how everything works.

– Once you have either created your new account or signed in with your existing Google account, the following screen will then be displayed:

– For the purposes of this article, we are looking at tracking website usage but you can also use Google Analytics to track mobile app usage. You will be given the following fields to select from:

– Select ‘Website’.

– Enter an account name for the website you want to track (if you want to track several websites then make sure you can differentiate between each one easily).

– Enter the website name and URL, followed by the type of business from the drop down list. Make sure that you select the correct time zone.

– The next section covers data sharing details which basically gives Google permission to access your data to provide analytical data and support, as well as using it for benchmarking. If you have any concerns about how your data will be used then read the privacy policy.

– Once you have selected your data sharing options, you can generate your tracking ID by clicking on the button at the bottom of the page:

– Read through the Terms of Service and if you are happy, click on the ‘I Accept’ button.

– You will then be presented with your unique tracking ID with the code that you will need to paste into any page on your website that you wish to track. The ID looks like UA-12345678-1 in terms of format.

– Familiarise yourself with some of the settings and if you want to monitor organic searches (where people have found you using a search engine), there is any area to add more than the default list of search engines.

At this point you will have successfully set up your account details ready to start using Google Analytics.

– You now have the choice between manually entering your code into your WordPress site or opt for one of the many plugins that will do it all for you.

A popular choice is the Google Analytics Dashboard for WP. So you need to go to Add New Plugin within your WordPress site and find the plugin that you want to add. Install your plugin as you normally would (you can get more advice on how to install a plugin) and you will get the following page:

– Because you have already set up your Google Analytics account details, all you need to get started is to click Get Access Code. Copy the code that you are given into the Access Code field and you are ready to go.

You will be able to see a Google Analytics section has been added to your dashboard and you can find all of your website usage information in here.

Do you need to know how to block IP addresses in WordPress? If so, read on. There are many good reasons for blocking certain IP addresses from accessing your site. Many people choose to do this so they can avoid spam and reduce the likelihood of their sites being hacked. This article has been produced to tell you how to block IP addresses and tell you more about which IP addresses you may need to block to avoid attacks from cyber criminals and similar unscrupulous types.

What are IP addresses?

IP addresses can be compared to real-life addresses and telephone numbers. The addresses consist of 4 sets of numbers between 0 and 255 that are separated by dots. All computers that connect to the internet have IP addresses, which are given to them by ISPs or Internet Service Providers. Each time someone visits your site, their IP address is stored in your access log. In turn, each time you visit a website, the event is logged and your IP is stored. The fact that IP addresses are logged is very useful as it makes it easier to identify those engaging in unscrupulous or illegal behavior related to your online space. IP addresses have resulted in many people having action taken against them for cybercrime including cyber bullying, hacking, and more. However, some people opt to hide their IP addresses via VPN services. This can help them protect their personal information.

Reasons for blocking IP addresses

So, why would you need to block an IP address? Blocking an IP address can protect you from spam of various types including e-mail and comment spam, unwanted visitors, hacking and DDOS attacks. Symptoms of a DDOS attack include websites becoming inaccessible or pages taking too long to load. If you start to receive more spam e-mails or spam comments than usual, you may need to block IP addresses to stop this occurring.

Comment spam and DDOS attacks

WordPress can tell you the IP addresses of anyone that has left a comment on your site. Visit the comment page in the WP admin area to link comments up with IP addresses. Do you suspect you have come under a DDOS attack? If so, the first thing you should do is to look at your server’s access log. Login to the cPanel dashboard linked to your WP hosting account. Head to the ‘logs’ section and click the ’Raw Access Logs’ button. Click on your domain name in the access logs page so you can download the access logs file.

You will find the access log file in a gz. Archive file. Click on the file to extract it. There are various options available to you if you don’t currently have a program for extracting such files. You may wish to download a reputable program such as WinZip. Once you have extracted the files, you can open your access log file in a plain text editor such as Notepad. The file consists of raw data relating to all requests that have been made to your site. All lines start with the IP address that has made the request. Take care to avoid blocking yourself, trusted users, and search engines from your site. If an IP address seems suspicious, there are IP lookup tools online that you can use to find out more about it. If you have a particularly high number of requests from a single address, this could be the source of the unwanted activity. You can copy and paste the IP addresses you are suspicious about into a new text file.

How to stop IP addresses leaving comments

Do you simply wish to prevent certain users from leaving comments? If so, you can do this in the WP admin area. Go to Settings » Discussion and scroll until you reach the ‘Comment Blacklist’ text box. The process is relatively simple – just copy and paste the unwanted IP addresses and click on ‘save changes’. Users with the IP addresses will now be unable to leave comments, though they will still be able to visit your site. However, this should help you win the battle against spam and help you deliver a better user experience for those who aren’t abusing your service. The offending users will see an error message when they attempt to leave a comment.

Have hackers attacked your site?

If you need to take more drastic steps to challenge those misusing your site, help is at hand. You can block IP addresses via cPanel to stop them from gaining access to or viewing your site. This step may be for you if you have come under attack from DDOS or hackers. Login to the cPanel dashboard of the hosting account and head to the security section. You then need to click on the ‘IP Address Deny Manager’ button. This facility enables you to add any IP addresses that you need to block and can be of great value whether you need to block one or several addresses. If you do decide to unblock certain IP addresses – perhaps after learning someone else was responsible for the malicious behavior – you can do so in the same page.

Are you being attacked by addresses from across the world?

There may be situations where these steps are not enough. If you have come under attack from hacking attempts and DDOS threats from various random addresses from across the world, you can use a Web Application Firewall (WAF) for extra protection. One example of such a service is Sucuri, which is designed to protect you from such attacks and is ideal if keeping up with scores of offending IP addresses is simply not realistic. All of your site traffic will be sent through their servers so it can be assessed for suspicious behaviour. The facility can block all IP addresses deemed to be suspicious of accessing your site. The above steps can help you thwart hackers and keep your WordPress site safe from malicious attacks, so why not get started today?

WordPress started out as a simple blogging platform and over time has almost become a full framework for applications. One thing that hasn’t evolved much with time is the text editor or the kitchen sink. Users have been resorting to plugins to add functionality and to give it some style. While WordPress 4.0 did dramatically improve the editor, there’s still plenty of room left for more customization and improvement.

Why Would You Customize The Editor?

One of the biggest problems with the editor is that you still have to click the preview button to get a feel of how your front end looks. When you add up the time spent switching between your previews and back to your editor to make additional content changes, you’d be surprised how much time is wasted. Basically, you’ll instantly receive the benefit of a true WYSIWYG editor when you customize the text editor to look and function like the front end of your site.

If you’re a reseller or build WordPress sites for people, then you know that a lot of your clients aren’t going to be technically capable of managing their own sites or changing content. This is when they end up calling you at 4AM to tell you that they accidentally removed something when they tried to edit their site.

This happens a lot…

Having a true WYSIWYG editor for your text editor will dramatically reduce all of these mishaps. Why doesn’t WordPress have a true front-end editor yet? No one knows but the promise of having one has been on the horizon for years and competitors such as Weebly and Squarespace have made their sites super user friendly by adding front-end editors. It may be because there’s a downside to the front-end editors in terms of functionality and content flow when creating content.

Not only that but most of the front-end editors that are offered by those competitors aren’t solid, have bugs, create disgusting code and don’t have things such as Meta boxes. So while you can try to use a plugin like Visual Composer, be warned that not only does it create messy code but they’re often buggy and unreliable. I can’t count the number of times I’ve clicked save and nothing happened or things were deleted for no reason. This isn’t exactly ideal for a text editor.

Warning: This is an advanced tutorial and beginner things like WordPress installation won’t be explained. You should have knowledge of how WordPress works and CSS before beginning.

Step 1 – A Fresh Install

Make sure you’re doing this on a brand new fresh install of WordPress, preferably a remote version on your own computer. It shouldn’t need to be said but don’t do this with someone’s website to test things out, do this on a test website, try out a free theme if you need to.

Step 2 – Understanding the Core

Once there’s same sample content via your fresh WordPress install and a fresh theme to look at, you have to understand how the core of WordPress works and the functions of the text editor to get the most out of it. TinyMCE is a great tool but it’s completely ignorant of anything going on outside the editor. There’s one core file that controls TinyMCE but thankfully for us, the creators have allowed us to load additional stylesheets into it.

While it’s great that ever since 3.0.0, you’ve been able to add stylesheets in a function called add_editor_style in includes/theme.php, we’re going to be looking at more efficient ways to call the function. The very first thing we need to do is look for a file called editor-style.css. Does this file exist already for your theme?

The editor should look for the file editor-style.css by default but we can check for this in the development console. It’s F12 for most browsers and on the right hand pane, we can easily see that it indeed is pulling style from editor-style.css. A quick re-cap so far:

• WordPress is powered by a powerful editor called TinyMCE but it lacks some core functionality that we’re going to be messing with
• TinyMCE while it does come with core styling allows for the overwriting of its styling with a native function in WordPress
• WordPress calls this function add_editor_style in includes/theme.php to allow people to do such a thing

Step 3 – Making Some Changes

Taking the steps above, if you’ve determined that there is an editor’s stylesheet in your theme’s folder, then you want to make sure you save a backup of this file and copy it. Call it something like custom-editor-style.css and place it in the exact same folder location. This is far more efficient than backing up the entire theme and database.

Next, we need for WordPress to actively search for that file rather than trying to find the default one. To do this, navigate to your theme’s folder and look for functions.php. We need to open this up and call add_editor_style to make sure that it’s going to use your new stylesheet rather than the old one.

Add the following code to the theme’s function.php and when you’re done, simply hit save. If you’re editing directly from a FTP client, make sure you re-upload the file.

// This is the code for adding a custom stylesheet to the WordPress post editor

function my_theme_add_editor_styles() {

  add_editor_style( 'custom-editor-style.css' );

}

add_action( 'admin_init', 'my_theme_add_editor_styles' );

Where custom-editor-style.css is, if you’ve named your new file something different, change it to that name. Next, we need to make sure that the editor is actually using the stylesheet and the default stylesheet isn’t overriding your new one. Simply look at the inspector to confirm this. Earlier we confirmed you’d need some CSS knowledge so you should have a few changes already made in that stylesheet to see if any of the changes have gone through.

Are the changes being tracked by the backend as well? Let’s do a quick test by changing the color of your headers. Find the following in your stylesheet or add it if it’s not there. By default, all of the headers should be listed.

h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 {color: red; font-size: 35px;}

You can make the color whatever hexcode or color you want and you change the font-size to whatever you want but this is for testing purposes at this point. Is everything working great so far? It should be but let’s test something else by adding a little splash of border to the images in TinyMCE.

For this, all we have to do is target the TinyMCE main styling ID which is by default, #tinymce. This is the ID that it automatically generates in the body, regardless of the WordPress version you’re using, as long as it has TinyMCE. When we generate a border for our images, we should see the results instantly. This is the last CSS example we’re going to do because the entire point of this is to make sure that we have complete control over the styling of TinyMCE.

To generate a border around all TinyMCE images, simply type in the following in the stylesheet we made:

#tinymce img {border: 5px solid blue;}

From this point on, you should be able to style everything the way you want it now that we’ve confirmed the style changes are taking effect. If you’re new to CSS or styling, there are plenty of guides online such as Codeacademy that’s 100% free and has great tutorials on styling and a lot more.

What about Sites That Don’t Have an Existing Editor Stylesheet?

If this is the case, which it usually isn’t, you can simply open up the custom-editor-style.css file and replace the contents of that file with this:

@import url(‘my-style.css’);

The first time you do this, don’t panic if things look broken. It will take some time going back and forth, making sure changes were saved, etc. The steps above should give you a nice base to work with and if you’re new to styling, it should give you some practice as well. One great file to look at is the basic styling sheet for the theme Twenty Sixteen. This is a nice starting point and can help you map out your styling strategy for customizing your own.

Conclusion

That’s simply it. With a couple of steps you can begin editing the default look and behavior of your editor to feel far more like a WYSIWYG editor and like the front-end. There’s so much more you can do with the editor as well, such as adding styling based on different post types or custom post types. For these advanced tutorials, we’d highly recommend consulting with the WordPress documentation before touching anything.

While there are some plugins that do this for you, they need to be constantly updated, most of them are outdated, they slow down the site and plugins like Visual Composer as mentioned earlier are notorious for bugs, breaking your site, producing messy code and slowing down the site. The steps mentioned above are a great starting point for creating a truly customized text editor. We’re still years away from a fully functional WYSIWYG TinyMCE that works flawlessly.

Believe it or not, there’s a lot of psychology behind the conversion rate of your website and influencing factors. One of those biggest factors aside from having a user friendly design is the colors of your website. A great design only takes you so far but if you have a poor color scheme, you could be bleeding potential customers. We’ve experienced huge gains from A/B testing on UK Web Host Review by testing different colour combinations.

Why do colors affect us so much? You may not even realize it but when you’re browsing a site, there’s three different factors to take into consideration when theorizing how color affects people so much.

First, there’s contrast. The contrast of two colors is simply the difference between them. In art, you use contrast so that you can focus your attention towards a specific element and this is the exact same thing in web design. You use two different colors not only to grab the viewers’ attention and focus on a particular element but it’s also useful for readability. For example, light font on a light background is poor design and contrast.

Complementation is the second factor in color theory. When you look at a color wheel, you might notice there’s two colors that seem to be the complete opposite of each other. Red certainly looks nothing like green but it’s the complementary color. These colors when they’re used together make a great theme and have been shown to increase your conversion ratings.

Finally, there’s vibrancy. In general, this is the mood that a color sets for the visitor. Different studies have shown that warmer colors such as red, yellow or orange have been known to energize people. However, cooler colors such as blue, purple and green have put people into a more relaxed state. Red is one color that’s known to make people alert and green is known to get people in the shopping mood.

Colors & Their Vibrancy

How over millions of years have we developed a mindset to react different to colors? No one truly knows because this isn’t something that we actively taught ourselves. Also, different cultures approach different colors differently as well. For the primary focus of this article, we’re going to focus on increasing your conversions with the western audience and what studies have shown.

When designing your theme or site, keep all of this in mind and think about the demographic you’re targeting. It could be the difference between a 10% bounce rate and a 60% bounce rate with a dramatic drop in conversions or clicks.

Red – This color is known to keep people alert and put people on edge. It’s the color of excitement and it’s also the color of passion. Numerous lingerie and adult online stories try to utilize red whenever possible, such as the front page of Victoria’s Secret showcasing red lingerie. Obviously there’s a lot of other factors as to why that company is successful but when you want someone to feel excited or passionate, this is your go to color.

Yellow – When you think about the color yellow, you probably visualize the summer time and a nice cool breeze. Yellow is warmth and also represents hospitality. This color can put people into a relaxed state of mind or give them a little more trustworthy feeling of the site they’re on.

Orange – As you may have guessed, orange is usually associated with Thanksgiving and Halloween. Orange is the color that represents the start of autumn and harvest. This is common tradition for the west as September through November is when Thanksgiving and Halloween occur. However, this color isn’t particularly known to affect one’s mood so much above the others.

Blue – There’s primarily two different mood factors here for blue. First, there’s the negative context of blue which means sadness or depression. It’s commonly used by pharmaceutical companies trying to sell anti-depressants and the sales numbers don’t lie, it works. However, in a positive context it means authority, power and trust. Believe it or not, a blue tie in an interview can give you an authority look. This is the same reason banks love to use blue on their logos.

Green – This color is one of the broadest colors out there that can be used for a wide variety of things. First, there’s the luck of the Irish, which is why you commonly see green themes everywhere during the month of March. Then, you have pro-environmental groups that use green as their main theme because it represents nature and environment. However, green can also be used by get rich quick sites or sites trying to get you to buy something because it embodies the traits of jealousy and envy.

You see some rich smug guy on a get rich quick page driving a nice car? There’s more than likely pictures of money with some hints of green on it. This is designed to make you jealous to bring you one step closer to clicking that purchase button. It’s not because rich people are obsessed with the color green.

White – This is the most common background color used on websites. It represents peace or purity and isn’t threatening in any manner. It’s also used for religion, weddings and hospitals.

Black – This is the most depressing color on the list as people commonly think of death and formality with this color. However, for web design purposes, if used correctly, it can be a color of force or control.

Brown – This is not an appealing color for your website and in most cases should be avoided but it represents the Earth and health. It’s known to be stable or dependable.

Pink – The stereotypical color that is thought to be every woman’s favorite. Why are western women so attracted to the color pink? The reason for this is because pink is known to represent fun, childhood and sweetness. It’s also thought to be the color of femininity.

Understanding It All and How to Use Different Colors

In order to effectively gauge what color scheme works best for your WordPress site, you need to understand the conversion funnel or at least have one mapped out. While the colors are being taken into consideration, there’s a specific process that happens when a user comes to your website. First, they have to become aware of the elements you want their attention drawn to – VPNGeeks is a good example of a site that has a clear and concise layout.

Second, they need to become interested in what you’re selling. Third, they need to have the desire to press forward with the decision. Finally, there’s the conversion.

Awareness – This is essentially the marketing of your website or your brand. A brand can exist on its own but your website won’t get customers or traffic simply by existing. People need to be aware that your site exists and you need to understand your target audience in order to attract customers.

Interest – Once your visitors have landed on your site, you now need to interest them. You need to act fast because the average user only spends a few seconds on a website before they close the tab, creating a bounce. A bounce is when someone visits your page and leaves it without visiting any other links on the page. This negatively impacts your SEO. This stage should focus on the color scheme, your headlines, your images and compelling copy content.

Desire – Anyone can build interest in a product, if they weren’t interested already but now you need to give them the tool to want what you’re selling. You need to conclude with a multitude of different things in order to build desire other than your product simply existing. You need testimonials, you need a great color scheme that represents the mood of your product and audience and you should give the customers options.

When you’re planning out a site, it’s a general rule of thumb to have 3 different colors selected that best represents your demographic, your brand and your product. Not only do you want your design to be visually impressive but using the guide above, you want something that will positively impact their mood based on what you’re selling. For example, selling wedding services with a primarily black theme will tank your conversions.

You also have to take colors into consideration when designing your call to action button. The call to action button is when people finally reach the desire stage and are ready to purchase. This is the button clicked when they’re ready to make a purchase. Studies have shown that red call to action buttons have been the most effective for most websites.

Before you even begin, what is the goal of your website? What do you hope to accomplish?

One Time Sales – Are you hoping to capture customers for a one time sale?

Email Opt In – Do you hope to capture emails so that you can send our promotional offers and newsletters?

Recurring Sales – Do you hope to acquire customers for a monthly or yearly service?

Affiliation – Are you affiliating for another website and sending visitors to another sales page?

Maximizing your WordPress conversion rate has very little to do with your personal preferences. You really have to step into the mindset of your customers and think about what they want to see and what kind of tone you’re setting when someone first sees the website.