Contact Form 7 is one of the most popular plugins for premium WordPress themes. However, if you are hosting through Azure you may have issues when setting up your site and testing your contact forms. Azure sometimes will block the contact forms from sending you email notifications, defeating the purpose of the contact form. Luckily, there is a simple solution.
Hosting a WordPress Site on Azure
WordPress is one of the most popular content management systems, holding a 60 percent market share for content management systems. With 34 percent of all websites on the Internet powered by WordPress and Microsoft taking the lead as the most popular cloud services supplier, it is no surprise that the two platforms often integrate.
What Are the Benefits of Azure?
Azure is Microsoft’s cloud computing platform that provides Infrastructure, Platform, and Software as a Service. By using Azure, your business can quickly scale up resources to accommodate demand without breaking the bank. Azure offers flexibility and reliability by supporting almost any operating system, framework, or tool, and offering a 99.5 percent availability. One of the most attractive advantages is its global network of servers, letting you host your website in the region you serve.
What Are the Benefits of WordPress?
WordPress is an open-source content management system that enables users to organize and manage content. It was initially designed for creating blogs, but it is now the most popular way to create an eCommerce store. The most attractive quality and the WordPress platform’s most significant benefit is that it is free to use and modify.
Its cost-effectiveness is not the only benefit. WordPress is highly extensible with a vast library of themes and plugins you can use to customize your website. There are over 50,000 plugins to choose from to extend your website’s functionality and integrate it with your preexisting platforms.
Benefits of Working Together
By hosting a WordPress website on Azure, you can benefit from load balancing and auto-scaling. It is relatively easy to set up, but there are a few best practices to run your site optimally.
- Be sure to configure Azure Storage to save your WordPress media library content.
- Use a high-performance database such as MySQL with a consistent connection.
- Always include optimizations such as auto-scale, WebJobs, and stage publishing.
- Use plugins when necessary to smooth out any bugs or missing connections.
Saving the Day with the SendGrid Plugin
By downloading the SendGrid plugin and setting it up correctly, you can stop Azure from blocking the emails from the Contact Form 7 plugin. SendGrid’s WordPress plugin replaces the default wp_mail() function using either an SMTP or API integration with SendGrid to send outgoing email from your WordPress installation.
Setting up for the plugin is simple. Follow the directions below, and after, you should have no problem receiving emails from your Azure based WordPress site.
How to Install the SendGrid Plugin. Step by Step Guide
- Before you begin, make sure you login as an admin on WordPress.
- Navigate to Plugins on your WordPress dashboard and select Add New.
- Search for SendGrid Plugin and click Install Now for the SendGrid Plugin listing.
- Activate the plugin from the Plugins menu in WordPress or the plugin installation screen.
- Create a SendGrid account at http://sendgrid.com/partner/wordpress, creating an account is free and only takes a few minutes.
- Back on your WordPress dashboard, navigate to Settings 🡺 SendGrid Settings and enter your SendGrid credentials.
The Contact Form 7 Azure integration is now complete. Be sure to recheck your contact forms and confirm that everything is working as it should. If not, you may have other configuration issues.
Navigating Website Hosting on the Cloud
Although cloud computing is no longer a novel concept, it can be tricky to navigate. Then, throw in website hosting and platform integration, and things can escalate rather quickly. Cloud computing platforms such as Microsoft Azure, allow companies to experience digital transformation without upending their business.
Continuous innovation, versatility, and cost-effectiveness are benefits dynamic businesses can reap. But it does not go without its hiccups, much like the inability to send emails through Contact Form 7 via Azure hosting on WordPress. Tips and tricks to navigate the bumps in the road make it easier to continue adopting solutions that ultimately level up your business.
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