Kit (formerly ConvertKit) – vs Smush – Image Optimization, Compression, Lazy Load, WebP & CDN

Kit makes it easy to create, send and manage your email marketing campaigns; grow your email subscribers lists; send targeted email newsletters; sell more products and build your membership site – all by easily embedding email marketing / email subscriber forms anywhere on your WordPress web site, either using pre-designed forms from Kit or building your own with the Form Builder block. New to Kit? Creating an account is 100% free for your first 10,000 subscribers, making Kit an email marketing solution for everyone – whether you’re new to email newsletter marketing or a seasoned professional email newsletter marketer. Email Newsletter and Email Marketing Features Design email newsletter subscription forms in Kit, automatically appending them to any WordPress post or page, or displaying forms within your WordPress content using the supplied Gutenberg block, shortcode options and the Form Builder block. Perfect for building your email subscribers lists and growing your newsletter audience. Build landing pages in Kit, and display landing pages on a WordPress page to capture additional email subscribers for your newsletter List past email newsletters on your WordPress site to engage your newsletter subscribers Email Subscription Forms and Newsletter Forms Design forms in Kit, choosing from a variety of designs, customisable to your branding for your email newsletter strategy. Email newsletter sign up forms can be configured to: Send free content, such as a PDF newsletter Display when the user is about to leave the page Subscribe to an email newsletter, with powerful tagging and segmentation options for your newsletter subscribers Embedding Kit email subscription forms on your WordPress web site with the Kit Plugin is quick and simple: Choose a default form to be displayed below each individual Post Type (Pages, Posts and other public Post Types, such as WooCommerce Products) to grow your email subscribers Choose a specific email marketing form to be displayed below a specific Page, Post or custom post type Turn off form embedding at both site wide and/or individual Page/Post level to control your email newsletter strategy For greater control, Kit’s email marketing subscription forms can be displayed in specific sections of your WordPress site’s content, sidebars and footers by: Using the Kit Forms block in Gutenberg Using the [convertkit] shortcode in the Classic Editor Using the Form Builder block in Gutenberg, to build fully custom subscription forms directly in WordPress – perfect for following your theme’s styles Start collecting email subscribers today, building your newsletter audience and taking your email marketing to the next level. Form Builder Block Kit’s Form Builder block, for the WordPress block editor, gives complete control to design and customize your own subscription and email marketing forms – directly in WordPress. With the Form Builder block, you can: Add fields such as first name, email address, and custom fields Apply tags and sequences to subscribers for powerful segmentation Enable reCAPTCHA protection (if configured in your Kit account) Style forms using block editor controls, with full support for your block theme’s CSS and styling This makes the Form Builder block ideal for: Subscription forms to grow your email subscribers list Contact forms that connect directly to Kit Custom forms tailored to your email marketing strategy Build forms exactly how you want them, without touching a line of code, and start collecting the right email subscribers from day one. Membership Sites and Membership Content Protection Create powerful membership sites with Kit’s Membership Content feature. Require email subscribers to either purchase a Kit Product, or subscribe for free, to access your membership content – whether that’s a course, ebook, digital download, album, presets, coaching and more. This membership functionality transforms your WordPress site into a comprehensive membership platform. Subscribers access their membership by entering their email address, receiving a one time passcode by email and clicking the link in the email. That’s it – no complex membership plugins or payment gateways to configure for your membership site. There’s no limit to the number of Kit Products you can create for your membership site, and each can be assigned to one or more WordPress Pages and Posts, instantly turning them into membership-only content for your paid subscribers. Build a thriving membership community with ease. Whether you’re creating a paid membership site, or offering free membership access, Kit’s membership features provide the flexibility to monetize your content through membership subscriptions while growing your email subscribers list simultaneously. Pair membership content with a custom signup experience built using the Form Builder block, so visitors can join your membership site directly from the same page that pitches it – no separate landing page required. Send Email Newsletters and Email Marketing Campaigns Use Kit’s email marketing feature to build and send email newsletters to your subscribers and leads, with options to send email newsletters to segments of your newsletter subscriber list. Embed existing email newsletters on your WordPress web site, ensuring visitors never miss your email newsletter content, by: Using the Kit Broadcasts block in Gutenberg Using the [convertkit_broadcasts] shortcode in the Classic Editor Landing Pages for Email Newsletter Growth Design landing pages in Kit’s intuitive editor, choosing from a variety of landing page designs, customisable to your branding and ideal for building your email subscribers list or selling a product. Additional landing pages can then be embedded on your WordPress web site. Simply create or edit a WordPress Page, choose the Kit landing page from the Kit meta box settings to display, and you’re all set to begin growing your email subscribers list more effectively with targeted landing pages. Sell Products and Membership Access Embed buttons (or link text) to sell your Kit Products and Tip Jars in seconds – whether that’s digital goods, paid email newsletters, membership access, membership-only content, music, coaching and more. Perfect for membership sites and monetization. List Email Newsletters Continue your email marketing strategy by automatically publishing your past email newsletters to WordPress Posts, defining a WordPress author, category and cut-off date within the Plugin’s settings to keep your newsletter subscribers informed. Prefer to just list existing broadcasts, each linked to your Kit profile? Use the Broadcasts block or shortcode to embed your existing newsletters in any WordPress Page, Post or Custom Post Type, providing more touchpoints for your email newsletter content. Plugin Integrations With the Kit for WordPress Plugin, you also get integrations with: Elementor: Form and Broadcast widgets natively integrated with Elementor, to embed Kit forms and broadcast lists for your email newsletter strategy Contact Form 7: Automatically add email subscribers to Kit when they submit a Contact Form 7 form WishList Member: Automatically subscribe, unsubscribe and tag users based on their membership level – perfect for membership site management Our other WordPress Plugins provide further integrations between WordPress and Kit: Kit for WooCommerce: Subscribe, tag and assign sequences to customers at checkout, and send order data to Kit Kit for Gravity Forms: Automatically add email subscribers to Kit when they submit a Gravity Form, with tagging options What is Kit? Kit is the go-to email marketing hub for creators that helps you grow and monetize your audience with ease. Grow your audience: Increase subscribers with beautiful landing pages, sign up forms, and link pages that make your work stand out. Automate your email marketing: Create lasting connections and promote like a pro with our intuitive email editor, powerful sales funnels and subscriber list segmentation using tags. Sell your digital products: Market and sell your digital products and subscriptions with Kit to drive higher conversions and save big on fees. Documentation Full Plugin documentation can be found here. Configuration Configure the plugin by navigating to Settings > Kit in the WordPress Administration Menu, and clicking the Connect button Once connected, define the default forms to display on Pages, Posts and/or Custom Post Types (Optional) choose a specific Form to display when editing a Page, Post or Custom Post Type in the Page/Post/Custom Post Type’s Kit settings (Optional) use the Kit Form Shortcode or Block to insert Forms into your Page, Post or Custom Post Type content to enhance your email newsletter reach

Compress images, optimize images, and enable image lazy load automatically with the powerful Smush image optimizer to keep your WordPress site fast, without losing quality. Smush makes it easy to optimize images, compress images, and deliver images faster across your entire WordPress site. This all-in-one image optimizer automatically reduces image file sizes, enables image lazy load, and serves modern formats like WebP and AVIF, all without breaking image quality or adding extra work. Whether you’re running a blog, store, or portfolio, Smush helps you optimize images at scale and keep your site fast with a trusted WordPress image optimizer. Trusted by 1+ Million Sites | 4.8/5 Star Rating Get everything you need to optimize images and speed up your site. Smush works out of the box with no complicated setup – just install and let it handle the rest. Compress images without losing quality Reduce image file size automatically while keeping your images sharp and clear. Smush is an easy-to-use image optimizer which let’s you compress images using both lossless and lossy compression, giving you the best balance of quality and performance without extra work. You can also compress images outside the media library using Directory Smush, making it easy to optimize images stored in theme folders, plugins, or other directories on your server. Lazy load images for faster pages Enable image lazy load across your site so images load only when needed. This image optimizer improves initial page speed and creates a smoother experience for visitors without extra configuration. Serve WebP and AVIF images automatically (PRO) Convert images to WebP and AVIF and serve them automatically to supported browsers. Smush helps you optimize images using next-gen formats to reduce file size and improve load times across your WordPress site. Deliver images faster with an Image CDN (PRO) Serve images through a global image CDN to reduce latency and improve load times for visitors around the world. 119 global CDN servers Up to 500 GB of bandwidth Faster image delivery based on visitor location Improved performance for image-heavy and high-traffic sites Automatically resize and fix image dimensions (PRO) Eliminate common PageSpeed warnings and improve layout stability with automatic image sizing. Smush dynamically resizes images to perfectly fit their containers, regardless of original size, helping fix the “Properly size images” warning in Google PageSpeed Insights. It also automatically adds missing width and height attributes to your images, improving rendering speed and reducing layout shifts. This helps you meet the “Ensure images have explicit width and height” recommendation without any manual work. Optimize your entire site, automatically Smush works across your whole site as a powerful image optimizer to optimize images as you upload them and maintain performance over time without manual work. Optimize images automatically on upload Compress images in bulk or individually Works with your existing media library No need to re-upload images Enable image lazy load across your site Convert images to WebP and AVIF Deliver images with an integrated image CDN Automatically resize and serve correctly sized images Optimize images outside the media library with Directory Smush Built for performance Smush improves page speed and overall performance by reducing image weight and improving how images are delivered. Reduce page load times Improve user experience Better performance for image-heavy pages Supports image lazy load and preload images (PRO) for faster perceived performance Works with your existing setup Smush is built to work with your current WordPress setup, including popular themes, page builders, and plugins. Compatible with Gutenberg, Elementor, WPBakery, and more Works with WooCommerce stores No need to change your workflow Easy to enable and configure Designed to be simple You don’t need to be a performance expert to optimize images with Smush image optimizer. Works out of the box Simple settings when you need them No technical knowledge required Safe to use on any site Why choose Smush? There are plenty of image optimization plugins, but Smush focuses on making it easy to optimize images, compress images, and improve performance without complexity. As a leading WordPress image optimizer, Smush gives you powerful optimization tools without the technical hassle. Trusted by over 1 million WordPress users Built specifically for WordPress Regular updates and improvements Backed by the WPMU DEV team Get started in minutes Install Smush, activate it, and start to compress images, optimize images, and enable image lazy load right away. This easy-to-use image optimizer helps most sites see improvements immediately without changing how they upload or manage images. About Us WPMU DEV is a premium supplier of quality WordPress plugins, services and support. Learn more here: https://wpmudev.com/ Don’t forget to stay up to date on everything WordPress from the Internet’s number one resource: WPMU DEV Blog Hey, one more thing… we hope you enjoy our free offerings as much as we’ve loved making them for you! Contact and Credits Originally written by Alex Dunae at Dialect (dialect.ca, e-mail ‘alex’ at ‘dialect dot ca’), 2008-11.