Indeed, a good theme, a few effective site-improving plugins, and a reliable host are the basics of a good site, but they’re not enough. Voice search is no longer hype or service enjoyed by early adopters.

You will have to optimize your website for voice search sooner or later, so you’d better jump on the bandwagon before your competitors.

Is Voice Search the Future?

Before preparing your site for voice search, you should have a clear idea about it. Is it the future of search? Does it impact search results? Well, voice search isn’t the future. It’s the present! A bunch of key data reveals the magnitude of the voice search. Here are just a few pieces of eloquent data:

• 27% of the global online population uses voice search on mobile. Young people use it more frequently, but adults aren’t strangers to voice search, either.
• Consumer spending through voice search is expected to reach 18% by 2022. You simply can’t afford to neglect such an important customer segment.
• 20% of mobile queries are voice searches, said Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

It’s not data-backed research, but ask your friends and relatives if they own or plan to purchase a virtual assistant such as Alexa or Google Assistant. I guesstimate that there are enough people interested in purchasing a virtual assistant to make you consider the potential of voice search.

How to Optimize for Voice Search

Optimizing content for voice search isn’t rocket science, but you need a lot of time and a spark of creativity. The following items will shape your strategy to get more relevant results in an environment of perpetual growth of voice search queries.

Leverage Conversational Words

Even though the ultimate purpose is the same, voice and text searches are different. Text search means typing keywords while voice search means using words conversationally. Hence, you have to rewrite content using more conversational words, if possible.

For instance, when talking to a virtual assistant, you’d probably ask considerably more questions than when using a text search.

Answer the Public is a magnificent tool that offers countless suggestions for your keywords. On top of that, it’s simple to use. Visit it, type in your keywords, and it generates suggestions falling into categories such as Questions, Prepositions, Comparisons, Alphabetical, and Related.

Focus on Long-Tail Keywords

Intensive use of long-tail keywords goes hand in hand with conversational words. Generally, when performing a query, people speak more words than they would type. Therefore, focus on long-tail keywords, and you will attract more visitors through voice search.

Long-tail keywords consist of three to five (or even more!) words, and it’s usually easier to rank among the first position for them on search results pages. Short-tail keywords consist of one or two words, and for most of them, it’s hard to get the first position.

Somehow, voice search gives small and medium businesses the chance to rank high for particular keywords. It’s becoming harder and harder for big brands to focus on both short-tail and long-tail keywords. That is another serious reason why you should do your best to optimize your content for voice search.

Speed Matters (Again)

You are right to be annoyed by so many articles about site loading speed. We have also written a lot of articles in this respect.

For example, we showcased the best tools to speed up your site, and this post provides quality tips for speeding up your site. Even though you may be bored with it, speed matters a lot, and it matters for voice search too!

Brian Dean from Backlinko conducted thorough research and found that sites that performed well in PageSpeed do the same for voice search. Mobile users are impatient, and no one will wait for your website to load. Do everything possible to make your site load fast for both text and voice search.

Priority for Local Businesses

Voice search gives local businesses an impressive boost. Just check how the expression “near me” has grown in the last five years on Google Trends. The global lockdown has harmed its growth. (That’s pretty normal. Why would someone search for “near me” when staying at home watching Netflix?) But it will surely return to its ascending trend.

Convince and Convert reveals that voice search is three times more likely to be local. That means that local businesses should make more efforts to optimize the content for voice search. Also, local SEO is vital in getting people to step inside your brick-and-mortar business.

Add content about the proximity of your business to local institutions and tourist traps, use conversational expressions, and optimize the meta title and description for local search.

Featured Snippets

You have probably noticed on a few searches in the past that Google provided a list of steps or a graph to resolve your issue or provide more data right before the search results.

This information is one of Google’s recent additions, and they take the form of featured snippets. These provide the needed information directly within the search results page, saving users’ time.

Mobile users, including voice searchers, are delighted with this format, so aim to get your site in these places. SEO Hackers said that Google Assistant favors featured snippets. Indeed, considering that voice searches are mostly question-based, a list of steps to fix a problem makes sense.

Create FAQ Pages

Voice searchers have provoked a subtle but game-changing shift: they are mostly looking for answers, not information. An FAQ page works miracles in this respect. Essentially, FAQ pages contain short answers to common questions. This approach is perfect for voice search results.

On top of that, an FAQ page is simple to create. Just ask the support team about the customers’ most common pain points. If your business needs an FAQ page and doesn’t have one, you should act immediately.

Improved Readability

This tip comes naturally, but it’s worth mentioning here. Using jargon and overly complicated words doesn’t make you look like an expert. Instead, you disappoint users who need to look for answers on other sites. It’s a webmaster’s worst nightmare.

Google favors sites with clear, easy-to-read content. Rewrite the long phrases, look for simple synonyms, and try to be concise. People and Google like this approach.

Long-Form Content

You probably know that Google likes long-form content, and the search results in the first positions are usually over 1,500 words. Brian Dean’s research offers precious insights: Google likes long-form content for voice search, too.

That’s pretty awesome because you don’t have to create separate content for text and voice search. All you have to do is to create compelling content that completely presents a topic.

Authority Matters

Don’t expect your site to perform well in voice search and perform badly in text search. The authority of your website is capital in both instances. Google prefers authoritative sites because they increase the chances of providing a satisfactory answer to end-users.

How to transform your site into an authoritative source is a lengthy topic. It takes time to convince search engine spiders about your reputation. It boils downs to creating quality content and attracting backlinks from trusted sites.

Official User Guides

User guides are boring, but they include plenty of useful information. You don’t have any choice but to read the main digital assistants’ user guides. Microsoft released a complete guide for Cortana, Apple has one for Siri, and Google has one for Google Assistant.

It takes time to read these guides, but you’d better do it because major players share the information in the online industry.

Wrapping Up

There is no SEO for voice search. It’s just good old SEO particularized for voice search. Willing or not, you have to keep adding fresh and relevant content, promote it like crazy, and acquire as many backlinks as possible. That is nothing new to you.

On top of that, the voice search fits perfectly with the idea that webmasters should focus on the users and not on search engines. Write more naturally, use long-tail keywords, and think about the users’ needs.

Work hard to provide the most excellent content on the internet, and Google will rank your website high, no matter if people use voice or text search.

The post How to Optimize Your Content for Voice Search appeared first on WP Pluginsify.

No matter your skills or experience, you have to stay in the loop. Plugin and theme developers, WordPress maintenance businesses, and design agencies strive to offer the best products and services, and they usually promote their offerings through Twitter.

Indeed, Twitter is addictive, and it can hurt your productivity. However, you will get a lot of value by following accounts relevant to WordPress. Of course, our list isn’t exclusive. We may have missed some cool accounts. Let us know which Twitter accounts you think we’ve missed by dropping a comment.

WordPressTV

WordPressTV – Do you want to participate in WordPress meetups but don’t have the time or money to travel? Are you introverted and avoid connecting with people? WordPressTV is all you need. Follow this account, and you will have tweets with links to cool keynotes on your timelines.

It takes about one hour to watch a keynote, but keep in mind that they are full of useful research, new findings and insights, actionable suggestions, and innovative approaches.

WordCamp Central

WordCamp Central – Coronavirus canceled many WordCamp meetings, but a few of them moved online. Are you actively looking for WordCamp presentations?

Check out this account to watch cool keynotes and find out what’s new with WordCamps. You and your business need to have a strategic overview of WordPress’s evolution, and WordCamps’ presentations are famous for their insights in this respect.

It looks that WordCamps and other WordPress meetups will move online so that you can watch experts’ presentations from the comfort of your home.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce – 2020 is a vital year for every business, from small shops to giant tech companies. Furthermore, WooCommerce is the most famous plugin for creating online shops running on WordPress.

Hence, following the official Twitter account will keep you up to date on the latest novelties in this field. The WooCommerce contribution is a solid stream of relevant information, mostly from its blog.

WP Tavern

WP Tavern has been a constant source of information and news since 2009. This blog isn’t for complex and lengthy tutorials. Instead, you’ll find news, rumors, and events in the WordPress industry.

WP Tavern’s Twitter presence mainly consists of one or two tweets a day sharing its blog posts. Don’t worry about a massive stream of tweets filling up your timeline. In this case, one tweet a day seems like the perfect ratio.

Jetpack

Jetpack – The same as the previous two accounts, Jetpack tweets are links to its blog posts. Have you ever heard about World Backup Day? It’s on March 31, and I found out about it by the following Jetpack on Twitter.

Luckily, you will find more useful things by checking out this account. Business management, cybersecurity, how to use Jetpack, the Jetpack employers, and site performance are just a few topics covered by Jetpack on Twitter.

Yoast

Yoast – The chances are that you are using the Yoast SEO plugin for one of your sites. Follow Yoast’s account to find out what’s new in the industry, the latest plugin updates, and what the Yoast team does. I highly recommend checking out the Yoast blog because the company posts valuable pieces of content only.

Gutenberg Times

Gutenberg Times – Gutenberg is the most significant update to WordPress in recent years. It generated a lot of reactions and controversies, but it managed to stay in the public eye in the end.

Gutenberg Times’s Twitter account is everything you need to learn more about the visual editor. It shares insights about the editor, tips to use it more effectively, and many other cool resources.

WP Beginner

WP Beginner – If you have never heard about WP Beginner, the most famous blog for amateur WordPress users, then you must be living under a rock. Don’t worry! It offers many guides and articles for experts, too.

Check out its Twitter account to stay in the loop with the news. You’ll learn a lot by checking out WP Beginner’s tweets. You’ll get not only the latest articles but also links to other helpful resources, such as the WP Glossary or guides on how to start a blog, improve site security, or monetize a blog.

WPMU Dev

WPMU Dev – WPMU Dev’s Twitter presence is both informative and funny, so it’s a real pleasure to follow this account. Unlike most WordPress businesses’ Twitter accounts, WPMU Dev doesn’t focus solely on its blog posts. The tweets cover the most interesting news of the day with a few good jokes from time to time.

What’s more, some of the tweets feature articles from competitors. Without a doubt, WPMU Dev shares valuable resources and doesn’t rely on its blog posts.

Elementor

Elementor – The Elementor visual editor just passed an unbelievable milestone: 5,000,000 active installs! It confirms the leading status of Elementor in the world of page builders.

Follow Elementor on Twitter to get insights about the latest versions, security bugs and updates, new projects, and other cool resources from its top-class blog.

Another reason to follow Elementor is its solid Twitter presence—a few cool tweets a day are enough to provide value without overrunning its followers’ timelines.

Liquid Web

Liquid Web – Liquid Web is a professional player in the hosting industry, and you will get plenty of valuable information by following the Twitter account.

The tweets are mostly about web hosting, but there are good readings about business management, leadership, coding skills, and, obviously, WordPress.

HostGator

HostGator is another well-known (if not the most well-known) web hosting company. Its Twitter account covers everything about WordPress and small businesses, in addition to offering small bites of quality humor.

Follow HostGator to find out what’s new in the hosting industry, one of the most dynamic markets. Cloud hosting is the most important driver because it comes with so many useful features, and HostGator’s account shares many top-class resources in this respect.

WPShout

WPShout is a well-known blog targeting proficient to advanced users. Its blog posts cover coding tips and tricks to improve your WordPress site. Also, WPShout produces courses aimed at advanced users.

Follow WPShout to have useful pieces of content on your timeline. It takes nerves and time to digest these tweets, but don’t forget that nothing important can be achieved with small endeavors.

Elegant Themes

Elegant Themes – The chances are that you have worked with Divi if you are in the WordPress industry. It is the company that released Divi and many other cool themes and plugins.

Following Elegant Themes on Twitter will genuinely add value to your timeline. For instance, I found out on Twitter that it had partnered with a few hosting providers to make Divi run even smoother.

Post Status

Post Status is a club for WordPress users run by a highly skilled duo of WordPress experts, Brian Krogsgard and Corry Millers. Follow Post Status on Twitter to enjoy professional insights, useful news, interviews, and podcasts with programmers and entrepreneurs. Post Status is famous for the quality of its curated news, so expect only stellar content.

Pagely

Pagely is a premium hosting company that provides outstanding services. However, the price tag means that it’s only for big budgets—the lowest-tier plan will set you back $499 per month.

Follow Pagely on Twitter to get links to the latest blog posts in your timeline and find useful data about WordPress, technology, and business management.

Pagely promotes a few interesting hashtags on Twitter, such as #genderequality, #gendergap, #womenintech, and #innovation, in addition to standard hashtags like #WordPress, #PHP, #coding, and #workremote.

WP Lift

WP Lift is a heavily visited blog for WordPress users hunting for good content, objective reviews, and huge discounts. Follow WP Lift on Twitter to be the first to know about their blog posts and interesting deals and coupons. You’ll get not only quality content but also save money.

UpdraftPlus

UpdraftPlus – Do you want to continually learn new tricks and techniques to improve your site security? Do you want to learn useful tips for backing up and restoring websites?

Follow UpdraftPlus on Twitter, and you’ll get these kinds of resources on your timeline. UpdraftPlus also tweets about hosting, visual editors, effective plugins, and link building. It’s nice that they share both their articles and posts published on other blogs.

WP Newsify

WP Newsify – The word “balance” best describes this account. It shares WP Newsify’s posts and quality contributions from other publishers. The amount of tweets vs. retweets is balanced, too.

WP Newsify’s tweets cover everything related to WordPress and a few adjacent areas, such as social media, copywriting, networking, development, and business. It’s not an exaggeration to compare this account to a curated news source for WordPress users, designers, and developers.

Wordfence

Wordfence – You don’t have any choice but to continually keep an eye on your site’s security. One of the most effective proactive security tips is to stay informed, and Wordfence’s Twitter account is a good source of information.

You must know about the latest security breaches to protect your WordPress assets, and Wordfence’s account is stellar in this respect. Plus, Wordfence shares links to its podcasts and security resources, which are priceless for learning how to run a secure site.

Automattic

Automattic – Don’t expect this account to share resources teaching you how to manage better a WordPress site or lists of the best themes and plugins.

However, I suggest following Automattic to get an overview of the WordPress industry from the top experts and influencers. Learn about WordPress’s and Gutenberg’s future, remote work, and cool WordPress jobs by following Automattic.

Gravity Forms

Gravity Forms – Take a look at this Twitter account if you want to learn more about WordPress forms. They share and retweets only the top articles revealing how to get the most from your site’s forms.

Most of the tweets are well-written tutorials teaching you how to create, fix, and enhance forms; everything focuses on practice, so you won’t waste time reading fluffy content.

World of WordPress

World of WordPress – This Twitter account impresses with its massive number of daily tweets and consistency. I highly recommend that WordPress beginners follow this account. World of WordPress covers everything about WordPress and shares plenty of useful resources.

This account may even share your posts if you submit the links to the website’s admin. Of course, he curates the suggestions, so your contribution may be rejected if it’s below standard.

Advanced WordPress

Advanced WordPress – This account name is pretty suggestive: Advanced WordPress targets experienced WordPress users.

Follow this account to avoid spending time searching for blog posts related to advanced WordPress topics, coding issues, and theme and plugin development. Check out what advanced WordPress users read to become one of them!

Apollo13Themes

Apollo13Themes – Follow this account if you want a constant stream of tweets related to WordPress in your timeline. This account contributes a mix of WordPress tutorials, tips for enhanced productivity and remote work, suggestions to make more accessible and usable sites, and pieces of business advice.

Conclusion

There is nothing more to add than to say just start following the proper accounts from our list. As I emphasized in the intro, there is no perfect list, so we are aware that we may have missed some great accounts.

Still, by following any of our suggestions, your Twitter feed will transform into a source of reliable and useful information.

The post 25+ Must-Follow WordPress Businesses’ Twitter Accounts appeared first on WP Pluginsify.

Under these circumstances, who needs to learn WordPress development? Does it make sense to take online courses to learn WordPress?

The short answer is a big fat, yes! The long answer is below.

Reasons to Learn WordPress Development

Despite the plethora of visual editors, some particular tasks require the fine flair of a developer. The small details make a big difference, and visual editors still lack the refinement of a developer or designer. If you want to be competitive, a page builder isn’t enough.

Disclaimer: I am a big fan of page builders and visual editors. They considerably streamline the life of a webmaster. Much more, I have used plenty of page builders, and I am quite satisfied with them. However, not one has allowed me to have full control over every pixel in a layout.

People are always looking for competent WordPress developers, so that’s another solid reason to learn WordPress development. Coding is mandatory not only for plugin and theme development. You also need basic coding skills to work as a customer support agent, blogger, content creator, and even digital marketer.

While going back to school isn’t feasible for most of us, online courses are handy, cheap, and modern ways to learn. Roll up your sleeves and choose the courses suitable for your skills and expectations.

Courses for Beginners

The Complete WordPress Website Course

The Complete WordPress Website Course – Sadly, there is no miracle when it comes to learning how to code! You learn faster and better only when you practice a lot. The more, the better!

This course targets people who don’t have any knowledge of WordPress. The course comprises 37 hours of complete explanations and seven projects. You won’t learn effective coding, but it’s a mandatory step for beginners to familiarize themselves with WordPress.

Even users who have some WordPress knowledge may enroll in this course. Students will build an online store, a personal site, and a business site. You will learn a lot of useful techniques when building these sites.

WordPress 101

WordPress 101 – If you don’t have much time to learn WordPress, then this course is a reliable alternative. It’s a 130-minute class that starts with teaching you how to install the WordPress core and introducing the dashboard and Gutenberg editor.

Next, you’ll learn how to create content and customize the site. Finally, you will explore a number of Gutenberg blocks and learn how to manage the site. The author condensed a lot of information in this course, so watch carefully.

WordPress Development for Beginners

WordPress Development for Beginners – Daniel Pataki is one of the most famous WordPress experts, and his WordPress classes are pure gold. He created a series of three WordPress classes on the WPMU Dev platform. This one is for less-trained users.

It’s not an easy course. Daniel begins with an introduction to PHP immediately after the Getting Started section. Building themes and plugins, widgets, and menus are the other sections.

Learn WordPress Development: The Basic Course

Learn WordPress Development: The Basic Course – Unlike most courses, this one takes the shape of a blog post, and it doesn’t include video explanations. While videos are more captivating than written text, you shouldn’t skip this effective course.

It presents the roadmap to becoming a WordPress master and the technical languages required to design themes and plugins. On top of that, the author shows both client-side and server-side processes. The last chapter covers WordPress’s hooks system.

Re-read the paragraphs you don’t fully understand because this course provides a clear strategic perspective of WordPress development.

Learn HTML5 Programming From Scratch

Learn HTML5 Programming From Scratch – Are you wondering why I’m featuring an introductory HTML5 course on this list? Skip this class if you consider yourself knowledgeable about HTML. But if you’re new to HTML, then you should take this course.

You won’t ever be able to create or customize themes and plugins without a solid grasp on HTML. This complete course is everything you need to learn the first mandatory technology for a WordPress developer: HTML.

Don’t disregard this course. It’s not a boring presentation of HTML tags. Instead, it includes plenty of advanced HTML5 features.

CSS: The Complete Guide 2020

CSS: The Complete Guide 2020 – Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a style sheet language that makes a perfect team with HTML. Moreover, CSS stylizes the look of HTML tags. This course contains over 22 hours of explanations; it covers everything you need to know about CSS.

Both beginners and experts can sign up for this course. The first chapters focus on the basics, but as you go further, the difficulty level increased. You will learn how to integrate JavaScript snippets and how to use the CSS grid, transitions, and animations, flexbox model, and SASS (Syntactically Awesome Style Sheets).

The Complete PHP MYSQL Professional Course

The Complete PHP MYSQL Professional Course – HTML and CSS are relatively simple to learn. PHP, however, is a more complicated language, but WordPress heavily relies on it. Consequently, you must learn PHP, and this course is a good start. The author explains the PHP basics, but the course is practice-oriented—students have to complete five projects.

Take this course if you want to learn more about Bootstrap; a significant part of the course requires working with it.

Introduction to JavaScript

Introduction to JavaScript – Codeacademy is a reliable online course provider, but you have to pay serious money to get access to its courses. Luckily, some courses are free, including Introduction to JavaScript.

HTML, CSS, and PHP are the pillars of WordPress, but JavaScript gets more and more important. Currently, you could call yourself a WordPress developer without having any idea about JavaScript. However, a basic understanding of JavaScript is a huge advantage.

Check out this introductory course. It’s effective at teaching you the JavaScript basics.

Intermediate Courses

The above courses are enough to get solid WordPress development skills. Once you get through those courses, you’ll know to tweak a theme or a plugin and customize the layout. Still, that’s not enough to become a good WordPress developer. The following classes will transform you into a proficient developer.

WordPress Development for Intermediate Users

WordPress Development for Intermediate Users – Check out this course if you have already signed up for Daniel Pataki’s introductory course, WordPress Development for Beginners.

Instructor Rachel McCollin teaches you in detail about plugin development, custom post types, queries, and loops.

The final section covers working with metadata and internalization. Of course, you have to resolve the final challenge!

Advanced WordPress Gutenberg Blocks, Post Types & Taxonomies

Advanced WordPress Gutenberg Blocks, Post Types & Taxonomies – It’s not easy to learn everything in this course, so be prepared for hard work. The first sections cover custom post types, taxonomies, and meta boxes.

Next, you’ll learn how to create an advanced search form with AJAX, create an infinite scrolling, and develop Gutenberg blocks.

WordPress Web Design and Advanced Theme Development

WordPress Web Design and Advanced Theme Development – This course hits on three major areas: PHP advanced concepts, cloning a big news agency, and converting a static site (based on HTML and CSS) to WordPress.

Some clients will want to convert their static sites to WordPress, and after finishing this course, you can do the job for them. You’ll also learn the basics of good design and work with Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Fireworks.

The Complete WordPress Theme Development Course

The Complete WordPress Theme Development Course – You are ready to get a job as a WordPress developer if you know all the techniques taught in this class. The purpose of the course is to teach you how a theme works and how to create one.

You will learn the anatomy of a WordPress theme, the capital files of a theme, WordPress loops, custom functions, and database management. Before signing up for this course, you should have decent HTML, CSS, and PHP skills.

WordPress: Plugin Development

WordPress: Plugin Development – You are a medium to an advanced developer if you know how to tweak a plugin. This course is for intermediate users who want to improve their plugin development skills. It’s jam-packed with actionable pieces of advice, and you will learn how to create a plugin step by step.

The author delves into the plugin basics and significant plugin building. The WordPress API, filter hooks, adding administration menus, callback functions, and custom functionality are just a few introductory sections in the course.

Next, you’ll dig deeper into advanced plugin functionality. Managing users and roles; working with custom fields, meta boxes, database queries, and custom post types, integrating admin notifications; WP Crons, and transient API are all covered in the second part of the course.

WordPress: Building Child Themes

WordPress: Building Child Themes – You’ll learn how to create and work with a child theme by enrolling in this course. There is no fluff content—it’s two hours of concise and actionable content. You’ll set up the local development environment, choose the parent theme, and create and activate the child theme.

Next, you’ll work with function and template files and add new functionalities. All these activities are reinforced with coding challenges.

WordPress Careers Masterclass

WordPress Careers Masterclass – Will this course teach you how to code? Nope. Is this course useful for intermediate users? Hell yes!

Everyone has bills to pay, and working for peanuts isn’t what you need. Junior WordPress developers should have a clear idea of their potential. This class helps people who want to make a living from WordPress development.

I like the structure of the course. It teaches you to sell your code, services, time, and products.

Advanced Courses

These classes are for the most skilled people. Our strong recommendation is to enroll in these classes only if you meet the prerequisites. You have to have good knowledge of HTML, CSS, PHP, and it’s good to have decent JavaScript skills.

Advanced WordPress Development

Advanced WordPress Development – It is the second course of Daniel Pataki on this list. While the former was for beginners, this one is for advanced users. The class aims to improve students’ coding skills by introducing them to object-oriented programming and developing object-oriented plugins.

Advanced WordPress developers value their time, so saving time is a constant struggle. Check out “Using the Command Line” and “WordPress Automation with WP-CLI” to master your skills and learn how to save your precious time.

WordPress: REST API

WordPress: REST API – REST API is a term that frightens a myriad of WordPress users. Still, you can’t call yourself an experienced WordPress user unless you have a solid grasp on REST API. Schedule two hours to watch the entire set of explanations in this course.

A considerable advantage of this class is that the author provides practical examples to show you how experts use REST API in their projects.

Gutenberg Blocks for WordPress and React Developers

Gutenberg Blocks for WordPress and React Developers – Creating a custom Gutenberg block sounds like a complicated task, but being able to will certainly boost your ego. It’s nice to have such a project on your GitHub profile, and employers will probably appreciate it.

Check out this advanced WordPress development class to learn how to create Gutenberg blocks. In addition to the mandatory combo (HTML, CSS, and PHP), you should also be familiar with JavaScript, ReactJS, and Redux to get the most from this course.

Gutenberg Theme Development

Gutenberg Theme Development – Lots of theme creators complained that Gutenberg caused many issues, but everyone now accepts that the visual editor is the future.

This course suits every advanced user interested in creating Gutenberg-compatible themes. It covers theme development from both the designer and developer perspective.

3 Practical Projects to Learn to Code WordPress Plugins

3 Practical Projects to Learn to Code WordPress Plugins – This course is one of the shortest for learning WordPress development. It aims to teach you how to create three simple plugins. You will develop a hook-activation, a shortcode, and a widget plugin. It will take you around an hour to watch the author’s explanations.

Developer Resources

Developer Resources – This suggestion isn’t an online course about WordPress development, but it’s a too precious resource to skip. It offers a lot of useful tips and recommendations for creating above-standard themes and plugins.

Check out the Code Reference sections to find out what is going on inside WordPress. Coding Standards is where you can read about the standards required to a good WordPress developer. REST API and WP-CLI are two other sections for genuine WordPress experts.

In a nutshell, read this entire documentation from top to bottom.

Over to You

These online courses for WordPress development are enough for everyone to become highly skilled in this area. It will take you days to watch the video explanations and read all the course materials for all of the above classes.

Then you’ll spend a few more days completing all the assignments. It’s a colossal volume of work supposing that you will sign up for all the courses.

There is no need to take all the courses. You know your strong and weak points. Do everything possible to fix the weak points and become a WordPress expert!

The post The Best Online Courses to Learn WordPress Development appeared first on WP Pluginsify.

However, it’s pretty straightforward to create a basic WordPress theme.

There are a few reasons why you should try to create a theme. First, there is no better way to learn than through practice so that you will learn a lot about WordPress. Second, you will sharpen your coding skills. Finally, you will become a genuine WordPress theme developer, an accomplishment you can be proud of!

Without any further ado, here is a beginner’s guide to creating a WordPress theme. It won’t teach you how to design a new best-selling theme, but it’s the perfect start.

The Components of a WordPress Theme

People who have used WordPress for at least a few months have probably heard about the functions.php or index.php files. But you’ll probably need a short recap of the components of a WordPress theme before creating your first theme:

• header.php: a global file that displays a web page’s header.
• footer.php: a global file that displays a web page’s footer.
• sidebar.php: the file responsible for managing the sidebars. The users insert the content into these files through the WordPress dashboard.
• index.php: a vital file. A theme won’t run without this file. By default, it displays the latest blog posts.
• style.css: a file that contains the CSS stylesheet and specifies the theme name and its author. It’s another must-have for a WordPress theme.

Setting Up a Working Environment

Before you can create the first files, you need to set up a working environment. It’s the base of the site that will run on your WordPress theme.

There are two options for setting up a working environment:

1. An online testing site. This method is used less frequently, but it works just fine. In plain English, you buy a domain name and a hosting package to test themes, plugins, or other things.
2. A local development environment. This approach is more effective. You can install some software to create a local environment. Local by Flywheel or DesktopServer are two effective options for creating the environment. Both are relatively simple to install and configure. Just follow the instructions listed on the official sites. Local by Flywheel and DesktopServer has versions for Windows and Mac.

Create the Theme’s Folder

No matter your choice of a working environment, you have to go to the wp-content/themes and create a folder with the name of your theme. It will store the theme’s file.

index.php and style.css

These two files are the cornerstone of every WordPress theme. A basic theme may consist only of these two files.

You should learn about the WordPress hierarchy to better understand the role of index.php. In simple words, it’s the ultimate fallback file. If a user wants to visit a particular page from the WordPress hierarchy that doesn’t exist, WordPress displays index.php. That’s why you can’t create a WordPress theme without index.php.

Open your text editor of choice (even Notepad works fine) and save a blank file as index.php. Do the same for style.css and add these lines of text:

/*
Theme Name: My First Theme
Theme URI: https://testsite.local/
Author: Daniel Pintilie
Author URI: https://wppluginsify.com/
Description: My first WordPress theme
Version: 1
License: GNU General Public License v2 or later
License URI: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html
Tags: clean, basic
*/

Replace “Theme Name” with the name of your theme. Do the same for the theme URI, author, author URI, description, and tags.

This text is mandatory so that WordPress can identify the theme. You have to name and describe your theme and choose a few representative tags. style.css contains all the CSS styling information.

Once you have completed this step, you have created your WordPress theme, and you could stop there. But it’s only a very basic version that lacks any functionality.

Useful Hint: Each WordPress installation comes with a default WordPress theme developed by a skilled team of developers. Consequently, it’s a good idea to study each file of a theme. For instance, check the index.php and style.css files to learn more about how these files look for a complex theme.

Other Noteworthy Files

Under no circumstances, your current theme will win a design award. It will be a long journey until your theme is decent. Consider your new index.php and style.css files as the embryo of your theme. You need more files to reach the desired maturity. Here are a few noteworthy files that are vital for any theme.

Templates Files

You are free to add your own files to your theme, but the following ones are recognized by WordPress. The list isn’t exclusive but has only the most important one:

• home.php: the default home page. It displays the latest blog posts if you decide to go for a static front page (select from your WordPress dashboard Settings > Reading).
• single.php: the template for a post. If your theme is missing a single.php file, it will display index.php.
• page.php: the default file to render when a page is queried.
• category.php: the default file to render when a category is queried.
• search.php: used when the user performs a search query.

functions.php

This file is almost equally important as index.php, even though a theme can theoretically exist without it. The functions.php file is responsible for the entire functionality of the theme. For instance, you place the following code inside functions.php to allow users to add a favicon:

function blog_favicon() {
echo “;
 }
add_action(‘wp_head’, ‘blog_favicon’);

Use a Starter Theme

Building a working theme from scratch on the first try is unrealistic. It’s only suitable for learning purposes. Instead, use a starter theme to streamline the crafting of a WordPress theme.

Underscores

UnderStrap

Sage

These themes are a few massively used starter themes. They include a limited set of files—just enough to make a theme with limited options.

Working with a starter theme is relatively simple. Just follow these steps:

1. Choose and download your favorite starter theme.
2. Install and activate it on your chosen working environment.
3. Go to Appearance > Theme editor and edit the files you want.
4. Upload files via FTP or through cPanel to extend the theme’s functionality.

Use Beaver Themer

Someone once said that there is a plugin for everything. I was reticent to believe that there was a plugin for creating a complete WordPress theme, but there is!

Beaver Themer is an add-on for Beaver Builder—a famous WordPress page builder. Indeed, it doesn’t offer the complete freedom provided by a starter theme, but it’s a huge step forward. More or less, it enables people with no coding skills to design a functional WordPress theme.

Beaver Themer is a plugin add-on, so you have to use both Beaver Builder and Beaver Themer on your site. Go to the WP Beaver Builder home page and click on the Try a Live Demo button to test Beaver Themer for free.

The idea behind this plugin is simple: users can create templates and theme components. For instance, you can create a template for a custom post page or a type of header or particular sidebar as a reusable component. It’s not the easiest plugin to use, but create a WordPress theme from scratch isn’t simple either.

Create a Child Theme

Creating a child theme is different from creating a theme. If you want to develop and sell a theme, this approach isn’t feasible. But you are probably reading this article because you want to learn more about theme development. Eventually, you will develop themes. Under these circumstances, it makes sense to improve your skills by creating and tweaking a child theme.

Before learning how to create a child theme, let’s recap parent and child themes. A child theme inherits the look and functionality of a parent theme but with a bunch of modifications that are separate from the parent theme’s functions.

Here is how to create a child theme:

1. Go to the theme directory and create a new folder for the child theme. For your convenience, name it parent_theme_name_child.
2. Create a style.css file. Open your editor, add the below comment, and save the file.

/*
Theme Name:   Twenty Twenty Child
Theme URI:    http://yourwebsite.com/twentytwenty-child/
Description:  My first child theme
Author:       Daniel Pintilie
Author URI:   https://wppluginsify.com
Template:     twentytwenty
Version:      1.0.0
Tags:         black, green,
Text Domain:  twenty-twenty-child
*/

Pay close attention to theme name and template; theme name is the name of the child theme, while the template is the name of the parent theme.

While the child theme loads, it checks for the existence of various files. If a particular file is within the child theme, then it’s used. Otherwise, the child theme uses the file from the parent theme.

Worth-Mentioning Tips

As you can see, there are many ways to build a theme. Whichever way you choose, it takes a lot of time and serious work to craft a decent product. It’s an amazing feeling when you finish your first theme.

Check out the following suggestions to build a better WordPress theme.

• Learn how to code. I tried to avoid adding snippets of code within this post. Usually, any sequence of code scares non-coders. This article aimed to show you that it is possible to create a WordPress theme with limited knowledge of coding, but you considerably limit your chances of creating a cool theme without coding.
• Learn HTML, CSS, and PHP. HTML and CSS are relatively simple to learn, and there are tons of online resources in this respect. PHP is a whole different story. It requires a lot more effort to understand and write code.
• Be patient and work hard. Working on your own WordPress theme sounds great, but it takes a colossal volume of work. It’s impossible to estimate how much time it will take for a complete newbie to develop a competitive theme. A rough estimation is that it will take you at least a year if you work two hours per day. What do you think? Is my estimation realistic?
• Check out the competition. If you decide to sell themes, you have to plan everything in advance. Start by studying the market and finding an unexploited niche. It’s a step you should give all your attention to.

Over to You

The chances are that you are a little bit confused after reading this article. Theme development is pretty challenging, so your reaction is understandable. But the biggest mistake you can make is to quit following your dream if you want to create a WordPress theme.

If you are a complete beginner, I recommend you start by creating a child theme and customizing it. In this way, you will learn HTML and CSS. Next, go further with a starter theme. Finally, open Notepad and write the first lines of code for your new theme. It’s not a productive approach, but it’s the most challenging.

Finally, keep in mind that nothing great can be achieved without small efforts!

Disclosure: Some of the links in this post are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, we will receive an affiliate commission.

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