2015 is about to come to an end and what a great year it was. We want to thank all of you for your continued support of WPBeginner over the past 6 years of our existence. As we look back at the year of 2015, it was full of success and joy for the WPBeginner team.
WPBeginner 2015 Recap from Syed Balkhi
Like every year, WPBeginner grew in all aspects from traffic to team size to revenue (coming from variety of our projects).
I will be sharing a series of traffic growth tips posts on my personal blog SyedBalkhi.com starting with the one on how we grew our Facebook traffic by 332% this year which will be coming out this week, so go ahead and subscribe to the newsletter (it’ll be good).
A lot of folks haven’t realized, but we added over 204 new video tutorials on WPBeginner’s YouTube channel this year. If you aren’t subscribed to our channel, then I would appreciate your support.
This was also a great year for WPBeginner’s family of products.
We converted our premium WordPress lead generation plugin, OptinMonster, into a complete software as a service (SaaS) application which allows our users to use OptinMonster on all web platforms such as WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, Shopify, custom HTML sites, etc (more details here).
I’m extremely proud of the OptinMonster team. I can’t believe a simple plugin that we built to help us convert more visitors into subscribers for WPBeginner is now used by some of the largest companies in the world. Fun fact: in November alone, OptinMonster popups and subscription forms were viewed over 3 billions times.
Last year, we welcomed Envira Gallery into our family of WordPress products. This year, we released over 20 new extensions to truly make it the most flexible and easy to use WordPress gallery plugin in the market.
In October, we did an overhaul of the site and doubled our sales. Read the full case study on how we did it.
We have a lot of exciting things coming up in 2016 including the launch of at least 4 new projects, complete site redesign of List25, and a major overhaul of Soliloquy our premium slider plugin.
Yes that means we’re growing, and yes we’re hiring. See our open positions.
If you want to keep up with more than just WPBeginner, then you can always follow me on Twitter (@syedbalkhi) where I tweet about our other projects, marketing tips, and tons of other cool things.
Now let’s take a look at the best of WPBeginner in 2015.
Best of WPBeginner in 2015
In 2015, we wrote tons of useful WordPress tutorials. Here’s a hand-picked list of some of our favorite ones.
January 2015
10 Most Wanted Twitter Hacks and Plugins for WordPress – Twitter remained the conversion hub of the web in 2015, so naturally our users wanted to get more out of Twitter by integrating it to their WordPress sites. In this article, we shared 10 of the most wanted Twitter hacks and plugins for WordPress users.
20 Must Have WordPress Plugins for 2015 Expert Pick – At the beginning of the year we shared our expert-pick of the best WordPress plugins of 2015. These plugins continued to be useful throughout the year and hopefully will remain so in next year as well.
How to Disable Title for Selective Posts in WordPress – This is a very handy tutorial because it allows you to selectively hide post titles for specific posts.
How to Add Click to Tweet Boxes in your WordPress Posts – The click to tweet boxes are becoming a trend as more news sites and popular blogs incorporate them. They definitely help you increase engagement and shares.
February 2015
When Should You Change Your WordPress Web Hosting (Top 7 Key Indicators) – Isn’t switching hosting providers hard? Not really. If you’re frustrated with your hosting company, then evaluate these 7 key points before you decide to switch.
How to Moderate New User Registrations in WordPress – Many membership sites often face the problem of dealing with spam or unwanted user registrations on their WordPress sites. In this article, we showed how to moderate new user registrations in WordPress.
How to Add SSL and HTTPS in WordPress – SSL and HTTPS adds a security layer to data transfereed between client’s browser and your server. If your site stores user’s personal or sensitive information then you should implement SSL and start serving your pages through https. In this tutorial, we showed you how to add SSL and HTTPS in WordPress.
How to Archive WordPress Posts without Deleting them – Very handy plugin specially if you’re considering changing the direction of your blog. I wanted to have a fresh start for my personal blog and wanted to hide some posts from public eyes without deleting them, and this plugin works like a charm.
Marach 2015
How to Create a Coupon Site in WordPress – A comprehensive tutorial that shows you how to create a coupon site or add a coupons section in your WordPress site to improve your affiliate earnings.
How to Create a Video Slider in WordPress – Video sliders allow you to create very engaging landing pages. In this article, we showed you how to create a video slider in WordPress.
Beginner’s Guide to Creating Redirects in WordPress – Sometimes you will need to redirect users from one page to another. This action can have drastic affect on your site’s SEO. In this beginner’s guide, we showed you how to easily create redirects in WordPress without losing SEO.
We are often asked by our users to recommend tools, plugins, and themes to help them grow their websites. In March, we shared some very useful lists.
- 43 Beautiful Free WordPress Blog Themes – Looking for the best free theme for your WordPress blog? This is the most comprehensive hand-picked list of free WordPress blog themes
- 6 Best WordPress Plugins for YouTube Publishers – If you are a YouTube publisher, then these WordPress plugins will help you create a more engaging experience on your website.
- 9 Best WordPress SEO Plugins and Tools That You Should Use – Want to know what SEO tools and plugins you should use? We have shared 9 of the best SEO plugins that tools that will help you rank better.
- 5 Best Contact Form Plugins for WordPress Compared – In this article, we have compared 5 best contact form plugins for WordPress with pros and cons.
April 2015
How to Clone a WordPress Site in 7 Easy Steps – Switching to a different host? Want to create a copy of your site to make changes on your local server? Or simply want to create a duplicate site? This tutorial will help.
10 Best Affiliate Marketing Tools and Plugins for WordPress – Affiliate marketing provides an extra source of income to many bloggers and WordPress websites. In this article, we hand-picked some of the best affiliate marketing tools and plugins for WordPress users.
8 Proven Methods to Promote Old Posts in WordPress – Most beginners write their post, share it once and then leave it to die in the archive pages. Want to maximize the traffic from each post? Read this article.
Speeding up WordPress: How We Optimized List25 Performance by 256% – A neat case study that shows how we improved the performance of our popular entertainment site, List25.
May 2015
Optimizing Images with WP Smush (Pro, Cons, and Alternatives) – Images can slow down your website and may affect your SEO and user experience. In this article, we compared WP Smush plugin’s pros and cons. We also shared the best alternatives to optimize your images.
How to Cloak Affiliate Links on Your WordPress Site – Affiliate links are longer and complicated. They also reveal your affiliate username or ID. In this article, we showed you how to cloak affiliate links on your WordPress site.
How to Add a Restaurant Reservation System in WordPress – Starting a restaurant website? Want to add a reservation system? Here’s a step by step tutorial.
June 2015
Switching Away from Disqus Review – Increased Comments by 304% – We used Disqus commenting system for a while on WPBeginner. There were a number of issues that made us switch away from Disqus. In this article, we shared our switching away from Disqus review and how it increased our comments by 304%.
CSS Hero Review: WordPress Design Customization Made Easy – One of the main issues that WordPress beginners come across is editing their themes. Often they cannot just go and change something because it requires writing CSS and HTML code. In this article, we reviewed CSS Hero and how it makes WordPress design customization easier.
Beginner’s Guide on How to Backdate Your WordPress Posts – Everytime I share this with a beginner user, they’re surprised. Yes, you can backdate your posts in WordPress.
Beginner’s Guide to WordPress User Roles – We created an infographic that explains the different user roles and permissions in WordPress.
July 2015
Which is the Best WordPress Slider? Performance + Quality Compared – There are so many WordPress slider plugins in the market. We decided to pick the best WordPress sliders and compare them for performance and quality.
How to Add Email Subscriptions to Your WordPress Blog – Our users often asked us what is the best way to add email subscription option to their WordPress sites? In this article, we showed how to add email subscription to your WordPress blog.
How to Add the Facebook Author Tag in WordPress – This is a really easy way to get your personal brand noticed on Facebook. If you don’t have Facebook Author tags added on your site, then I highly recommend doing so. It takes less than 2 minutes.
August 2015
How to Create a Welcome Gate in WordPress – Welcome Gate are fullscreen popovers that allow you to boost your conversion rates. Traditional welcome gate usually just redirect user to a new page or take over users screen. Google punishes websites using these kind of techniques. In this article, we showed you the proper way to create a welcome gate in WordPress without ruining your SEO.
How to Add Title and NoFollow to Insert Link Popup in WordPress – A handy solution that makes inserting links a little bit faster by adding two of the most needed items in the insert link box.
How to Add a Portfolio to Your WordPress Site – Most users usually go for a portfolio theme when they need to showcase their work on a site. However, most these themes limit your options to add other kind of content. In this article, we showed you how to add a portfolio to your WordPress site without switching themes.
How to Fix This Site Contains Harmful Programs Error in WordPress – A very frustrating error which means that your site was hacked. This article outlines the step by step process on how you can fix that.
September 2015
How to Add Content Upgrades in WordPress and Grow Your Email List – Content upgrades is the marketing technique that everyone is talking about. It is very simple, you offer your users a chance to get bonus content by performing an action. In this article, we showed you how to add content upgrades in WordPress and grow your email list.
19+ Free Google Tools Every WordPress Blogger Should Use – Google offers several highly useful tools that anyone can use for free. In this article, we hand-picked 19+ free Google tools that every WordPress blogger should use.
13 Plugins and Tips to Improve WordPress Admin Area – Little known plugins and tips to improve your overall WordPress admin experience.
How to Customize WordPress Excerpts (No Coding Required) – We get asked this question a lot, so we decided to do an article which shows multiple ways to create custom excerpts in WordPress.
October 2015
How to Add Inline Related Posts in WordPress Blog Posts – Many news and magazine sites display related articles in the middle of their articles. It increases their page views and provides users the most relevant content. In this article, we showed you how to add inline related posts in WordPress and decrease your bounce rate.
Checklist: 11 Things To Do Before Launching a WordPress Site – Launching a new website brings lots of excitement. You may also worry about missing out something important before the launch. In this article, we shared a 11 points checklist of things to do before launching a WordPress site.
How to Create a Pre-Publish Blog Post Checklist in WordPress – Want to avoid mistakes and create a perfect blog post? You can do this by adding a pre-publish checklist to help you speed up the editorial process.
November 2015
11 Ways to Get More Comments on Your WordPress Blog Posts – Comments are the best way to engage your users and build a community around your WordPress site. In this article, we shared 11 ways to get more comments on your WordPress blog posts.
How to Add Front-End Login Page and Widgets in WordPress – If you run a WordPress site where users are required to login to use some features of the site. WordPress allows any users access to the wp-admin directory when they login. In this article, we showed how you can allow users to login from the front-end of your website without visiting WordPress admin area.
How to Add a Frequently Asked Questions – FAQs Section in WordPress – Got a business site? Then you probably want to consider adding a FAQ section to help reduce support questions.
How to Add Beautiful Event Timeline in WordPress – This is a really cool plugin that allows you to show a beautiful event timeline without changing your theme. Best part is that it’s really easy to use.
December 2015
How to Rollback WordPress Plugins (Version Control for Beginners) – Have you ever updated a WordPress plugin and realized that it broke your website? In this article, we showed you how to rollback WordPress plugins to previous versions.
How to Easily Add CSS Animations in WordPress – Many popular sites use CSS animations to add sliding effects, bouncing elements, and flipping tables. These attention seeker elements make your website look more interactive and engaging. In this article, we showed you how to easily add CSS animations to your WordPress site without writing any code.
Beginner’s Guide: How to Use Rich Snippets in WordPress – Want to improve your SEO and get more clicks on your listings? Rich snippets can help your site stand out in search listings.
41 Best Free WordPress Photography Themes – Are you a photographer? Want to showcase your beautiful photos? Use one of these free 41 photography themes.
These were some of the best WordPress tutorials on WPBeginner in 2015. We hope that you liked them.
We would like to thank you once again for supporting us throughout the year by offering feedback, sharing our articles, leaving comments and suggesting topic ideas. We are really very thankful. We hope to add even more useful tutorials in 2016.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
Faisal Masood
Thanks for the awesome Wordpress 2015 list.
Thanks
Faisal Masood
Eric Musyoki
Hello, how can one make money from WordPress blog?? To be precise, as a beginner, what am I supposed to do in order to earn some amount from my WordPress blog? urgent please!!!
Shafat
Hello!
I’m just starting a blog on WP and turning it to an e-commerce store. This post has all the details, a wealth of information, to turn my blog into a successful e-store.. This is really nice of you. God bless you.