With the help of the internet, our developer and resident WordPress expert Dan, we have managed to compile a pretty comprehensive list of some of the best WordPress plugins available for you to peruse and try at your leisure.
Plugins on WordPress can be a very powerful addition to your website or blog, not least because they enable you to change the functionality and design of your site in almost one fell swoop. They allow you to “extend the functionality of WordPress” to meet you and your users needs.
So, without further ado, here is a list of some of the WordPress Plugins you could be using and maybe even should be using, to improve your blog and website!
Bump This
Bump This is a WordPress plugin which adds an extra button for users when viewing a post. By pressing it, users can “bump” the post. If enough people click the button, and bump the same posts, the most “bumped” blogs will be moved to the top of the list. This is an ideal solution for businesses and indeed individuals publishing a high quantity of content as it allows your uses to help you establish what’s popular.
WordPress SEO
WordPress SEO pretty much does what the name suggests. It allows you to better optimise your site and blog posts especially for search engines. It adds a set of fields below your post editor, directly onto your WordPress Platform which includes: focus keyword, SEO title and Meta Description. You fill these fields in a snippet preview is generated so you can see how your search result will appear.
Better still their is a checklist that tracks how well optimised your blog content or page content is for the focus keyword you choose. A dead simple way to keep your SEO in check. It also goes far beyond this offering much more complex services for those in the know making it a plugin that is as useful for the novice and advanced SEOer.
LeadIn
LeadIn integrates with a number of form plugins for WordPress, so that anytime someone submits a form (ie. a contact form, newsletter sign up form etc.) on your website, they are automatically added to a database of contacts. No only that, but leadin also collects and stores data on each contacts page view history. This information can help you tailor content market to these individuals based on the areas of your site you know they visited.
Firefox OS Bookmark
Firefox OS Bookmark is a newer addition to the array of WordPress plugins available but already it has an excellent reputation if the reviews are anything to go by. This plugin gives you everything you need to register your WordPress-based site as a “hosted app” on their marketplace.
Crazy Egg Heat Map
The Crazy Egg Heat Map plugin is (as the name suggests) a heat mapping tool that tracks the most frequented areas on your web pages, giving you a general visualization of where your visitors click.
YOURLS
YOURLS provides a service comparable to Bitly and allows you to customize a shortened URL link that otherwise wouldn’t actually offer any additional information about the page being linked to.
Q3W2 Fix Widget
Q3W2 allows you to fix the position of your widgets on your page. This way, if you scroll down, up, or side to side your widget will always be visible and immediately accessible. You also have the option to fix multiple widgets into your sidebars.
Comment Redirect
The Comment Redirect plugin allows you to encourage commenter interaction in a more creative way. It works by redirecting commenters who’ve submitted their first comment to a landing page of your choice allowing you to give them follow-up questions, offers, or CTA’s.
WPFront
WPFront is a customizable notification bar that pops up after a predetermined number of seconds in order to advertise a specific promotion, news item, etc. The plugin allows you to create not only a message but also an optional button that can redirect the visitor to a different page on your site.
Plugins Garbage Collector
Plugins Garbage Collector can help boost your page load RPMs by cleaning up your database by removing old, unused plugins. If you want your website running at optimum power, then this plugin is definitely for you.
Askimet
This is a spam filtering plug in that is a simple but invaluable addition to your WordPress blog. It ensures all the unwanted comments you’re likely to see appearing on your blog head straight to the spam folder to be deleted or at the very least head to the pending folder to await your discretion. No comment gets published with Askimet without your say so, without you have to trawl through the nonsense yourself. Nifty.
Shareaholic
This seems an obvious addition to the list but still, if we are going to give you the essentials then this is certainly one of them. Shareaholic instantly adds an array of social media sharing buttons to the bottom of individual blog posts allowing users to share your content more easily, effectively help spread your content across the web. Straight forward but very effective and frankly, this functionality is expected by users today so Shareaholic is an easy way for you to give it to them.
