How to Permanently Delete a WordPress Site from the Internet

Recently, one of our readers asked if it was possible to permanently delete a WordPress site from the internet? Simply deleting your WordPress installation does not completely remove it from the internet. In this article, we will show you how to permanently delete a WordPress site from internet.

When and Why Permanently Delete a WordPress Site from Internet

Sometimes you may need to completely remove a WordPress site from the internet. You can simply delete WordPress files from your server, and it will become unavailable.

However, your site may still appear in search results, cached snapshots, and the Wayback Machine.

It is quite difficult to remove all traces of a website from the internet. There are thousands of websites that aggregate content from other sites, publish screenshots, offer statistics and comparisons.

With the steps highlighted in this article, you can make it difficult to find your deleted website, and its content.

Please note that this article is about deleting your self hosted WordPress.org website. See our guide on the difference between self hosted WordPress.org site vs WordPress.com blog.

If you want to delete a WordPress.com blog, then see this article on how to delete your WordPress.com blog.

Having said that, let’s take a look at how to properly and permanently delete a WordPress site from internet.

Permanently Deleting a WordPress Site from Internet

Here are the steps you can take to properly delete a WordPress site and make it difficult to find.

Step 1: Backup Your WordPress Site

First thing you need to do is to create a complete backup of your WordPress site. Even though you want to delete your site completely, you should still make a backup.

This will come in handy in case you change your mind in the future, or want to access piece of content that you had already deleted.

Step 2: Delete Your WordPress Files

Now you need to delete WordPress files stored on your server. Deleting these files will erase WordPress software as well as your themes, plugins, images and other media files.

You can do that by visiting your WordPress hosting account’s dashboard. Upon login, locate the File Manager icon.

File Manager provides a web based interface to manage files stored on your server. You need to go to the root directory and delete all files stored there.

You can also delete your WordPress files using an FTP client. If you are unfamiliar with FTP, then take a look at our beginner’s guide on using FTP.

Step 3: Block Search Engines Using Robots.txt

Now that you have deleted your website, it is time to block search engines from crawling your website.

We will use robots.txt file to tell search engines that we don’t want our pages to be crawled.

Remember, that robots.txt file is just a directive. It is respected by most search engines, but some lesser known crawlers may completely ignore it. Don’t worry we will show you how to deal with those as well.

First you will need to create a new robots.txt file using file manager in cPanel or FTP.

After creating the file you need to edit it and add the following lines:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /

These two lines disallow all user-agents (crawlers like Googlebot) from accessing all URLs under your domain name.

Step 4: Removing Content From Search Engines

Even though your content does not exist any more, search engines may keep showing it for sometime.

Search engines understand that websites can go down due to technical faults. This is why they keep showing the content for a while hoping that your website will come back.

You will need to explicitly tell search engines that your content is no longer available, and it is removed permanently.

The easiest way to do this is by using the .htaccess file. You will need to create a new file in your website’s root directory and name it .htaccess.

Next, you need to edit the .htaccess file and add this code inside it:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/robots.txt
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.example\.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ - [L,G]

Don’t forget to replace example.com with your own domain name.

This code will redirect all requests to your website and show 410 Error. However, it will allow crawlers to access your robots.txt file.

Despite taking all the steps, this process can still take sometime. You can speed it up further by submitting cache removal request.

Removing Website Snapshots from Wayback Machine

Archive.org’s Wayback Machine is the world’s largest archive of websites. It crawls and stores cached versions of billions of web pages.

Anyone can visit Wayback Machine and look for cached snapshots of any website.

The best way to permanently remove your website from Wayback Machine is by contacting Archive.org and request them to remove snapshots of your content.

Removing your website from Wayback Machine by emailing Archive.org will ensure that your past snapshots are never included again.

Even when your domain registration is expired and transferred to a new owner, Archive.org will not enable archiving for that domain ever again.

That’s all, we hope this article helped you learn how to permanently delete a WordPress site from internet. In case you want to start a different website, check out our guide on how to start a WordPress blog for detailed instructions.

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.

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How to Stop Spam Registrations on your WordPress Membership Site

Do you want to stop spam registrations on your WordPress membership site? Spam registrations are a common nuisance for site owners who run membership sites or allow users to register on their website. In this article, we will show you how to stop spam registrations on your WordPress membership site.

Method 1: Stop Spam Registrations Using WPForms

This is the easiest and most efficient way to deal with spam registrations in WordPress.

WPForms is the most beginner friendly WordPress form builder. It comes with a User Registration addon that allows you to easily add user registration form to your site while effectively stopping spam registrations.

WPForms is a premium WordPress plugin. You will need Pro License to access user registration addon.

WPBeginner users can use this WPForms Coupon to get 10% Off on their purchase.

First thing you need to do is install and activate the WPForms plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to visit WPForms » Settings page to verify your license key. You can get this key from your account on WPForms website.

After verification, you need to visit WPForms » Addons page. Scroll down to locate ‘User Registration Addon’.

You need to click on Install Addon button and then click on activate.

Next, you need to create a user registration form. Go to WPForms » Add New page. Provide a title for this form and then select user registration form template.

This will launch the Form Builder with user registration form template. You can edit the fields by clicking on them.

You can also drag and drop fields to rearrange them.

Next, you need to click on the settings panel. This is where you can configure form notifications, confirmation, and user registration settings.

Click on user registration tab to continue.

On this page, you can map the form fields to your WordPress user registration fields.

Scroll down and check the box next to ‘Enable User Activation’ option. This will reveal a drop down menu, where you can select the User activation method.

WPForms uses two creative ways to prevent spam registrations on a WordPress site. You can choose to send a verification email to each user, so that they can confirm their registration.

Alternately, you can require a site administrator to manually approve each registration on your WordPress site.

Choose the option that best suits your needs and click on the save button to store your form settings.

You can now add this form to any page on your WordPress site and then use that page as your user registration page.

Simply edit a page that you want to use as your user registration page. On the page edit screen, click on ‘Add Form’ button.

This will bring up a popup menu. Select user registration form you created from the drop down menu, and then click on add form button.

A shortcode for the user registration form will appear in the page editor. You can now save your page or publish it.

Visit your website to see your spam proof user registration form. Depending on your user activation settings, the plugin will either require users to verify their email address or an admin will have to manually approve each user registration on your site.

Method 2: Stop Spam Registrations with Stop Spammers Plugin

First thing you need to do is install and activate the Stop Spammers Spam Prevention plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Once activated, Go to Stop Spammers » Protection Options. Stop Spammer Registrations is a powerful WordPress plugin which aggressively monitors your website for suspicious spam activity.

The default settings on this page will work for most websites. However, you can uncheck a few of them, if you feel lots of legitimate users are unable to login.

Don’t forget to click on the save changes button to store your settings.

The plugin uses a number of spam prevention techniques. It uses HTTP Referrer and Header requests to verify that a user is genuinely accessing your website.

It also checks against Akismet API for known spamming activity. The plugin also maintains a list of bad hosts known for tolerating spam activity and blocks them.

There is a small chance that sometimes this plugin would lock you out of admin area. If this happens, then simplest solution is to connect to your site through FTP and rename the plugin file from stop-spammer-registrations.php to stop-spammer-registrations.locked.

You can now access admin area of your site and WordPress will automatically deactivate the plugin for you.

Method 3: Stop Spam Registrations Using Sucuri

At WPBeginner, we use Sucuri to protect our website against spammers and other security threats.

Sucuri is a website security monitoring service. It blocks hackers, malicious requests, and spammers from accessing your site or injecting any malicious code.

See how Sucuri helped us block 450,000 WordPress attacks in 3 months.

We hope this article helped you stop spam registrations on your WordPress membership site. You may also want to see our guide on

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.

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How to Add Web Push Notification to Your WordPress Site

Have you noticed the web push notifications used on popular websites like Facebook? Recently one of our readers asked if it was possible to add web push notifications in WordPress. Ofcourse, it is. In this article, we will show you how to add web push notification to your WordPress site.

Why Add Web Push Notifications to Your WordPress Site?

Web push notifications are clickable messages displayed on top of user’s Desktop. They can be shown even when user’s browser is not open.

Aside from desktop, Web push notifications also work on mobile browsers.

Popular sites including Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and many others are already using web push notifications. It is proving to be more engaging than SMS, email marketing, and other social media. According to a survey, push notifications have a 50% open rate on mobile devices.

This means more engaged audience for your WordPress site and significant boost in your overall page views and returning visitors.

Having said that, let’s take a look at how to add web push notifications to a WordPress site.

Setting up Web Push Notifications in WordPress with OneSignal

OneSignal is a free service that allows you to add push notifications to any website, web, or mobile apps.

First thing you need to do is install and activate the OneSignal plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, the plugin will add a new menu item labeled OneSignal in your WordPress admin bar. Clicking on it will take you to plugin’s settings page.

The settings page is divided into Setup and Configuration tabs. The setup tab is actually detailed documentation on how to setup OneSignal push notifications in WordPress. It has the same steps that we will show you in this tutorial.

To setup OneSignal, you will need to add different API keys and application IDs into the plugin settings.

Let’s get started.

Step 1: Create Google Keys

First you need to visit Google Services Wizard website.

Simply provide a name for your app and add an Android package name. OneSignal does not use Android package name, but it is a required field.

Next, choose your country and region, then click on the ‘Choose and configure services’ button.

This will bring you to the next screen where you will be asked to select Google services you want to use with your app. You need to click on ‘Enable Google Cloud Messaging’ button.

You will now see your server API key and Sender ID.

You need to copy your Sender ID and paste it in WordPress plugin’s Configuration tab under Google Project Number field.

You also need to copy your Server API key and paste it in a text file on your computer. You will need this API key later in this tutorial.

Step 2: Setting up Chrome and Firefox Push Notifications

We will now setup push notifications on Chrome and Firefox. First you need to visit OneSignal website and create your free account.

Once you have created your account, you need to login and click on ‘Add a new app’ button.

You will be asked to enter a name for your app. You can use any name you want and then click on ‘Create’ button to continue.

On the next page, you will be asked to select a platform to configure. You need to select ‘Website Push’ and then click on the next button to continue.

After which you will be asked to select browser platform. You will see Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox in one box and Safari in another box.

You need to click on Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox box. We will show you how to setup Safari, later in this article.

Click on the next button to continue.

In the next step, you will be asked to enter your WordPress site url, Google Server API key, and URL for your default notification icon image.

If your website does not support SSL/HTTPS, then you need to check the box next to ‘My site is not fully HTTPS’ option. You can also setup SSL on your website if you like, but it’s not required.

Google Chrome does not support web push notifications for non-ssl or http websites. OneSignal solves this problem by subscribing users to a subdomain on their own https domain.

Checking ‘My site is not fully HTTPS’ option will display HTTP fallback options. You will need to choose a subdomain for your app and enter Google Project Number or Sender ID you generated in the first step.

Click on the Save button to continue. Now you can exit this dialog box. You will be prompted with a notice that your setup isn’t complete yet and can be resumed later. Click Yes to close the dialog box.

Step 3: Getting OneSignal Keys

You now need to get OneSignal Keys for your website. From your app dashboard click on App Settings.

This will take you to your app settings page. You need to click on the Keys and IDs tab.

This will show your OneSignal App ID and Rest API Key.

You need to copy and paste them in OneSignal WordPress plugin’s configuration tab on your site.

Step 4: Setting up Safari Web Push Notifications

Remember we skipped Safari web push notification settings. Now we will show you how to setup Safari web push notifications.

Login to your OneSignal account and go to your App Settings page. Scroll down to web platforms and click on the configure button next to Apple Safari.

This will bring up a dialog box where you will be asked to enter your site name and site url.

Then you need to check the box next to ‘I’d like to upload my own notification icons’ option.

You will now see an option to upload different icon sizes. These are square images, use Photoshop or any image editing program to create icons in the exact sizes.

Click on choose file buttons to upload all your icons.

Click on the Save button and then close the dialog box.

Refresh the App Settings page and scroll down to Web Platforms section. This time you will see ‘Web ID’ under Apple Safari.

You need to copy this web ID and paste it in Configuration tab of OneSignal plugin on your site.

That’s all, you have successfully setup OneSignal web push notifications for your WordPress site.

Step 5: Testing Web Push Notifications on Your WordPress Site

By default, OneSignal plugin will add a subscription icon to your WordPress site. Visit your website in a supported browser and then click on the subscribe button.

You will see the default ‘thank you for subscribing’ message.

Now login to OneSignal account. Click on your app name, and then on App Settings.

Scroll down to the web platforms section and click on the configure button next to Google Chrome and Firefox.

You will see the platform configuration screen which you filled in earlier. Simply click on Save button and then click on Continue.

You will be asked to select target SDK. You need to select WordPress and then click on Next.

Since you only have one subscriber at the moment your subscriber ID will be automatically filled.

Click on the next button, and you will reach the ‘Test Settings’ step.

Click on ‘Send Test Notification’ button.

One Signal will now send a web push notification.

The notifications appearance may differ depending on which browser you used to subscribe. When the notification appears on your computer screen you need to click on it.

It will take you to confirmation screen, showing that you have successfully setup OneSignal web push notifications for your website.

Return back to the configure screen on OneSignal website and click on ‘Check Notification Status‘ button.

You will now see another success message which indicates that you have successfully added web push notifications to your WordPress site.

How to Send Web Push Notifications in WordPress with OneSignal

The OneSignal web push notifications plugin on your WordPress site will automatically send a notification to all subscribers when you publish a new post.

You can also manually send notifications from your OneSignal App Dashboard. Login to your OneSignal account and click on your app name.

From the menu on your left, click on the ‘New Message’ button.

This will bring you to the new message screen. You can enter a title and some content for your notification.

You can also click on the Options, Segment, Schedule/Send Later to further customize your web push notification.

For example, you can link it to a particular page on your site, send it to a particular segment of your users, or schedule it to be sent at a specific time.

We hope this article helped you add web push notification your WordPress site. You may also want to see our list of the best membership plugins for WordPress.

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

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How to Show Simple Blog Stats on Your WordPress Site

Do you want to show stats like total number of posts, comments, registered users, etc to users on your site? In this article, we will show you how to show simple blog stats on your WordPress site.

Why Show Blog Stats on Your WordPress Site?

Building an online community can be a bit difficult for new websites. Getting more traffic and increasing time users spend on your website requires effort and patience.

Simple blog stats like the number of registered users, posts, and comments can show other users that your site is growing fast. It encourages user engagement and builds trust.

It also allows you to easily monitor your site’s growth and plan strategy. For example, if your comments are low, then you can try to get more comments on your posts. If you allow user registration, then you can do more to encourage more users to register.

Having said that, let’s take a look at how to easily show simple blog stats on your WordPress site.

Video Tutorial

If you don’t like the video or need more instructions, then continue reading.

Adding Simple Blog Stats in WordPress

First thing you need to do is install and activate the Simple Blog Stats plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you need to visit Settings » Simple Blog Stats to configure plugin settings.

Simple Blog Stats allows you to add blog stats using shortcodes and template tags.

You can display all the stats by adding a single shortcode [sbs_blog_stats] in a post, page, or a sidebar widget. It will display a list of all your blog stats.

You can also show specific stats like total number of posts by using different shortcodes.

Click on the shortcodes tab to expand it, and you will see the complete list of shortcodes you can use.

Each shortcode has a description below it which explains what information it will show. You will also see two text fields containing the HTML it will add before and after the information.

For example using the shortcode [sbs_comments] will output this HTML:

<span class="sbs-count-comments">135</span>

You can then use the .sbs-count-comments class to add custom CSS styles of your own. You can also change the <span class="sbs-count-comments"> </span> to anything you want.

Don’t forget to click on the save settings button to store your changes.

Here is a list of shortcodes offered by the plugin with description.

• [sbs_posts] displays total number of posts on your site.


• [sbs_pages] displays total number of pages on your site.


• [sbs_drafts] shows total number of drafts on your site.


• [sbs_comments] shows Total number of comments including those approved and those pending approval.


• [sbs_moderated] shows number of comments in pending approval.


• [sbs_approved] shows number of approved comments.


• [sbs_users] displays total number of registered users on your site


• [sbs_cats] shows total number of categories


• [sbs_tags] shows total number of tags.


• [sbs_updated] shows last updated date and time


• [sbs_latest_posts] shows latest post


• [sbs_latest_comments] shows latest comments


• [sbs_blog_stats] displays all blog stats in a bulleted list.

Some of the shortcodes may display information that you probably don’t want to show like number of drafts, comments pending approval, number of categories and tags.

But you can still create a list of blog stats using individual shortcodes. These shortcodes also come in handy when you just want to show specific stats like total number of comments or total number of users on your WordPress site.

That’s all, we hope this article helped you learn how to show simple blog stats on your WordPress site. You may also want to see our list of 7 best analytics solutions for WordPress users.

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.

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How to Create a Multilingual WordPress Site with WPML

Do you want to make your website available in multiple languages? By default, WordPress does not come with features required to create a proper multilingual site. That’s why in this tutorial, we will show you how to create a multilingual WordPress site with the popular WPML plugin.

Why Create a Multilingual WordPress Site Using WPML?

You can use WordPress in any language that you want. It is super easy to create a website in any single language.

Most popular WordPress themes and plugins are also translation ready which makes it easy for anyone in the world to start a WordPress site in their language.

However, by default WordPress can support only one language at a time. What if you wanted to use multiple languages on a site to attact a much wider audience?

Governments, international businesses, and educational institutes often need to offer their website in multiple languages. While machine translations like Google Translate is an option, it’s often not acceptable for most professional organization.

One way to offer multiple language options is to install WordPress in subdomains for each language. This is a lot of hassle, as you will have to manage updates, and backup all those installations.

WPML (WordPress Multilingual Plugin) solves this problem by allowing your website to become multilingual. You can use the same WordPress installation to create content into many different languages.

It offers an easy to use interface for managing translations. It also adds language switching options for your users.

Having said that, let’s see how you can create a multilingual WordPress website with WPML in minutes.

Creating a Multilingual WordPress Site with WPML

First thing you need to do is install and activate the WPML (WordPress Multi-language) plugin. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Note: WPML is a paid plugin, but it’s by far the most comprehensive option. There is a reason why over 400,000 websites use WPML for creating a multilingual WordPress site.

Upon activation, the plugin will add a new menu item labeled ‘WPML’ in your WordPress menu. Clicking on it for the first time will take you to plugin’s settings wizard.

WPML will automatically detect your WordPress site’s language. You can change it here now if you want.

Click on the next button to continue.

On the next screen, you will be asked to select the languages you want to enable on your site. Simply select the languages from the list that you want to add to your site.

You can always add or remove languages later if you need. After selecting your site languages, click on the next button.

Now you will be asked to add a language switcher to your site. This language switcher will allow your users to choose a language to view content in their preferred language.

WPML allows you to automatically add content switcher as a sidebar widget, in your navigation menu, or display as a plain list.

Additionally, you can also choose to select flags or text for language switcher. Once you have made the choice, click on the next button.

As the final step, you will be asked to enter your site key. If you have not generated one yet, then you can click on ‘Generate a key for this site’ button.

This will take you to WPML website, where you will be asked to add the site you are coming from to your WPML account.

Once your site is added, you can click on it to get to your site key. Copy and paste this key into your WordPress site.

That’s all you have successfully finished the WPML setup wizard. You can now click on the Finish button to exit the setup.

Adding Multilingual Content into WordPress with WPML

WPML makes it really easy to translate every area of your WordPress site into multiple languages.

You will be able to easily translate your WordPress posts, pages, tags, categories, and themes into as many languages as you like.

Adding Multilingual Posts and Pages

Simply click on the posts menu to view your existing posts. You will notice the languages columns next to your post titles.

WPML assumes that your existing content is in your site’s primary language. It will show Add buttons for each language next to your posts. Click on the add button under a language to translate a post.

You can also manage translations by editing a post.

On the post edit screen, you will notice the new ‘Language’ meta box to manage translations.

You can add translated content yourself or you can add users and authors to your WordPress site and have them translate your content for you.

WPML also offers a better way to manage users who work as translators on your website. If you purchase their Multilingual CMS Plan, then you can use their translation management module.

Translation management module allows you to add users as translators regardless of what role they have on your WordPress site. You can even add subscribers as translators.

Instead of editing posts, these translators will be able to add translations directly in WPML.

Adding Translations for Categories and Tags

WPML allows you to easily translate categories and tags, or any other custom taxonomies that you may be using.

Visit WPML » Taxonomy Translation and load the custom taxonomies you want to translate.

For example: in this screenshot we selected categories, and it displayed all categories from our example site.

Click on the add button next to the taxonomy term to add the translation.

Translating Navigation Menus

WordPress comes with a robust navigation menu system. WPML allows you to translate it just like you would translate posts or taxonomies.

Visit Appearance » Menus page on your site. If you have more than one menus, then select the menu you want to translate.

In the right hand column, you will see your menu with links to translate into other languages enabled on your site.

Clicking on a language will create a new menu for that language. You will need to add the same menu items as in your primary language menu.

If you have your posts and pages in navigation menus, then you will first need to translate them. After that you can add them from the tabs on the left in edit menu screens.

Don’t forget to click on the save button to save your menu.

Translating Themes, Plugins, & Other Text with WPML

WPML multilingual CMS allows you to choose between official translations of themes and plugins or use its own string translator.

Go to WPML » Themes and plugins localization page.

By default, you will see ‘Don’t use String Translation to translate the theme and plugins’ checked. Below it, you will see another checkbox to automatically load the theme’s .mo file using ‘load_theme_textdomain’.

You can check this box to see if there are any translation files available for your theme. This works only with themes downloaded from the WordPress.org theme directory.

This setting doesn’t work very well for most websites. Not all WordPress themes and plugins have translations available. In some cases the translations are not good or incomplete.

We recommend using WPML’s String Translation module to properly translate your theme and plugins for your own site.

This module will also allow you to translate custom fields, widgets, and other translatable strings generated by WordPress.

We hope this article helped you learn how to create a WordPress multilingual site with WPML. You may also want to see our list of 40 useful tools to manage and grow your WordPress blog.

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.

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