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Most companies nowadays have a website to promote their digital marketing activities. However, creating and managing a brand’s online presence requires effort and frustration. That’s where a flexible and reliable management system comes into play. You guessed it right: we are talking about WordPress.
WordPress is a robust platform that enables you to build a professional website, from an online store to a company blog. The benefits of its usage are countless. You can use sophisticated tools to create an engaging website and track its performance. Installing a wide variety of plugins to add features is one of the critical benefits WordPress offers, among others.
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There are over 60,000 plugins available in its Plugin Directory, which can be accessed directly from your dashboard. Some are free, while others are premium products that you can get from third-party marketplaces. Finding the right plugins to optimize your WordPress website becomes overwhelming with so many options. Let’s see how we can simplify things for you.
What Should You Look for in a WordPress Plugin?
An unsuitable plugin hurts your website’s reputation in various ways. It could slow it down, complicate the user experience, or, even worse, compromise its security. To avoid any inconvenience, here are the key factors to consider before deciding on the best WordPress plugins to gear up your website:
Active installations
The general rule is that the more active the plugin’s installations are, the more trustworthy it is considered. This number indicates that it works correctly and without causing website disturbances. You can find that number inside the WordPress plugin repository under the Details tab. Nonetheless, don’t base your decision solely on that since there are lesser-used—or newest, for that matter—plugins that are high-performing and credible.
Update frequency
If a developer hasn’t updated its plugin for long, chances are there’s something wrong, and you can’t be sure it’s safe to use. After all, many plugins are designed by volunteer developers who are not motivated to keep updating them. The frequency of a plugin’s update indicates the developer’s level of involvement. Ideally, the updates should be aligned with the WordPress ones. Fortunately, checking this information inside the Details tab and the active installations is easy.
Compatibility
It’s essential to check the plugin’s compatibility with your version of WordPress. Many people fall into the common WordPress mistake of installing plugins that aren’t compatible with their WordPress website. That could lead to existing plugins malfunctioning and damaging the user experience. Once more, the Details tab will guide which WordPress versions are compatible with a specific plugin.
User reviews
Last, you want to read user reviews to discover if a plugin offers a stable experience or faces criticism. The reviews may be controversial, so don’t limit yourself only to positive feedback to see the whole picture. However, if a plugin has more negative reviews than positive ones, that should alarm you. Also, check the customer support section because that’s where you’ll be searching if you get stuck using the plugin. You can find both tabs inside the plugin repository, next to the product’s Details tab.
Recommended WordPress Plugins To Try
After focusing on the key elements a high-standard plugin should have, it’s time to move to the tricky part: the actual decision. We have compiled a list of the best WordPress plugins every WordPress blog and website has to try:
Yoast SEO
Yoast SEO is one of the most recommended WordPress plugins. It uses real-time analysis to optimize your pages to rank higher on search engines. By pages, we mean every page element, like images, titles, or meta descriptions. You even gain access to labels and meta description templates to create them according to SEO best practices.
Also, the plugin analyzes your content for readability, checking the length of your sentences or if you use passive voice too much. Not only that, but it analyzes it for keywords to help you balance great content with SEO. Yoast SEO allows you to create XML sitemaps and generate URLs automatically to avoid getting punished by Google for duplicate content. The free version of Yoast SEO is enough to improve your site’s ranking. If you need more, opt for the premium version, which is quite pricey but includes advanced features.
Akismet Spam Protection
Dealing with a large volume of spam comments on your site and posts can get the best of you, costing you time and effort. Akismet prevents that by checking and filtering comments that seem spammy and sends them back to you to evaluate them. The plugin is also set to identify misleading links, which are usually included in spam comments.
Akismet is simple and easy to run since it works in the background and doesn’t require configuration settings. Moreover, it’s easily integrated with contact form plugins, helping you check form submissions for spam content. Akismet can be activated by entering an API key, but you will need a paid subscription when you build a commercial site.
Moosend Website Connector
Moosend Website Connector is a WordPress plugin designed to boost conversions and track visitors and website events. It segments visitors based on their actions and then creates automated email campaigns to target them. You can monitor your campaign performance according to several metrics, such as the devices or email programs viewed on, top locations, best-performing days, and more.
This plugin allows you to track events such as page views, add-to-cart actions, or completed purchases. Then, those actions are automatically linked to your campaigns, highlighting the best-performing campaigns in engagement. Also, Moosend’s robust automation helps you retarget cart abandoners or send product recommendations based on each visitor’s specific behavior. Want to hear the best part? It’s free for you to install through the WordPress plugin repository.
MonsterInsights
MonsterInsights is WordPress’s most popular Google Analytics plugin for tracking your website performance. You can connect your Google Analytics account with your website through its seamless integration. MonsterInsights brings real-time statistics directly to your WordPress dashboard without logging into your Google Analytics profile. You can monitor things like:
- Number of visits and pages visited.
- Geographical origin of your website traffic
- Actions performed by visitors
With MonsterInsights, you can access those insights quickly without dealing with codes. That way, you detect and solve every potential issue and optimize your website to increase traffic and acquire more subscribers. There’s even a WooCommerce integration that lets you set up e-commerce analytics. You can download its Lite version free from the WordPress repository, but users consider its full potential unlocked with the premium version.
OptinMonster
OptinMonster is an all-in-one plugin well-known for its lead generation capabilities. Its advanced features help you turn abandoned visitors into customers and email recipients. This plugin comes with a wide range of high-performing templates to create popups, floating bars, gamified spin-a-wheel, or full-screen welcome mats to grab visitors’ attention.
With its powerful exit-intent technology, you can recover website abandoners and show personalized campaigns exactly when they are about to leave. You can also use its onsite retargeting for returning visitors through customized offers according to their interactions. There’s a free version available inside the WordPress plugin repository, allowing you to embed OptinMonster forms on your website.
WooCommerce
WooCommerce is the best e-commerce plugin for WordPress. It allows you to customize every step of your purchasing process and boost customer experience on your website. It provides everything you need to build an online store, from storefront creation to order management. Its step-by-step setup wizard makes it easy to install it quickly and customize it with limitless options like coupons, bookings, product variations, etc.
Choose between its hundreds of free and paid extensions to enhance your e-commerce site with marketing and payment options. More specifically, WooCommerce integrates with 100+ region-specific payment gateways. Extensive and straightforward documentation and an official support forum are available for assistance. WooCommerce is free, but it can be extended further with paid add-ons, or you may go for the premium version with features like the one-page checkout.
SeedProd
SeedProd is considered one of the top website and landing page WordPress plugins. Creating a website allows you to import pre-built themes and customize them using its flexible drag-and-drop builder; no coding is needed. However, what most business owners love about this tool is its versatility in creating landing pages. You can create a custom design or choose between 150+ eye-catching templates.
Whether talking about landing pages for real estate agents or a landing page for your upcoming webinar on generating leads on LinkedIn, SeedProd has a ready-made template. Take advantage of several template categories such as landing pages, coming soon plugin, webinar registration pages, or maintenance mode pages. As you would expect from a powerful builder, you can add numerous widgets like image carousels or social profiles. Its Lite version is free on WordPress, but paid versions offer additional capabilities.
WPForms
Creating different types of forms is at the heart of every website. WPForms is a user-friendly WordPress plugin that gives you the tools to complete order forms, contact forms, polls, surveys, donations, and more. With its drag-and-drop functionality, you can build any form with a few clicks and without coding.
But if you don’t want to create one from scratch, WPForms comes with more than 300 ready-made, responsive templates to adapt to your website needs. If you worry about connecting your forms with your favorite tools, we should mention that WPForms integrates email marketing, CRM, and payment platforms. You can get the Lite version for free, but the Pro version provides all the features needed for robust lead generation.
Final Words
When you are faced with the decision of which recommended WordPress plugins are the best for your business, the options are countless. These plugins may vary depending on the type of website you own, the simplicity of the setup process, the features offered in free versions, or the pricing plans of paid ones.
We presented a list of what we consider to be the best recommended WordPress plugins. They are versatile enough to use on any business site while being dedicated to certain aspects of your business. But more importantly, these plugins are user-friendly and easy to install. So, from SEO and e-commerce to email marketing and lead generation, you are now equipped to make your WordPress website a powerful ally to grow your business.
Author: Maria Fintanidou works as a Copywriter for email marketing automation software Moosend, creating the Help Articles (FAQs) and overseeing the platform’s translations in Greek and Spanish. She loves exploring new cultures and ways of thinking through traveling, reading, and language learning.