WordPress sites are the most versatile in that they can be customized to meet varied business needs and marketing requirements. A simple website with the most basic features can be easily scaled up into a robust e-commerce portal incorporating the many plugins that are available for virtually any need.
The best part about using WordPress CMS to build your website is that there is a plugin to cater to virtually any and every need of yours.
Here are a few plugins that will help you get the best marketing performance out of your website.
#1 Editorial Calendar
Content marketing is a very critical component in any marketers’ arsenal, and there is no way you can take it lightly. Young startups and companies give heavy emphasis to content marketing and an evolved strategy and proper planning are essential to run an effective campaign.
Out-of-the-box WordPress sites are not equipped to support consistent content marketing activity. Editorial Calendar is a plugin tailor-made to make a content marketer’s job easy.
This plugin works especially well for small publishing teams. You can drag-and-drop posts and schedule publishing easily with the click of a mouse. You can view entire publishing calendar for a chosen period and have a bird’s eye view of how your content marketing campaign is faring. A single panel provides all information including entire posts and scheduled days and time for posting.
An editorial calendar has a handy ‘quick edit’ feature which allows you to easily edit posts from the panel. Also, a column on the right-hand side displays drafted but yet to be scheduled content.
The plugin also allows for multiple authors where each contributor can schedule, edit and manage his or her posts while other posts remain locked. Restricted access allows you to manage large writing teams and makes the job of the administrators and editors easier where they can access all features of the plugin.
#2 Broken Link Checker
Broken Link Checker plugin allows you to detect and fix broken links on your site.
Broken links can do much damage to the credibility of a site. It can affect user experience, SEO, and conversions. People searching for you online may not find you due to dead web links not directing them to the pages or things they are looking for. This can seriously hamper SEO efforts and existing users will also abandon the site due to frustration. Users get a negative perception of your site and rankings on search engines fall when broken links are strewn across your site.
Once installed, Broken Link Checker plugin parses through the entire site and databases, and monitors links in site pages, comments section, blogroll and custom fields, and alerts you to all detected broken links.
Alerts to broken links appear as popups in the Broken Link Checker widget on the dashboard and a tab will display all broken links allowing you to edit, unlink, dismiss or set them as ‘not broken’.
You can also choose other actions based on more information about the broken link. This plugin has more 400,000 downloads and is preferred by a huge majority of webmasters.
#3 Optin Monster
One of the biggest factors contributing to the success of a website is the number of subscribers it has. When users sign up for newsletters and emails they establish a bond with the company or blog. Engaging, interesting and consistent interactions with the user build brand loyalty and more importantly, trust. It becomes much easier to promote products and services to a user who trusts and loves the brand.
Optin Monster is the best lead generation tool available for WordPress sites and has more than 276,000 websites using it currently. The plugin allows you to create beautiful Optin forms at the right places for optimum results.
You can design Optin forms in various form types including lightbox popups, floating bars, slide-ins and after-post signups. The plugin is highly effective and converts website visitors to subscribers and customers. It has been highly recommended by online media marketing gurus like Neil Patel and Loren Baker.
Another great feature of the plugin is ‘Exit Intent’ that detects user behavior and sends popup messages that offer discounts or other freebies at the exact time the user is about to leave the page, prompting positive action. Optin Monster also allows page-level targeting where you can display unique offers based on user activity and interest.
A/B testing and measuring the performance of your optin features become really easy with this WordPress plugin, helping you tailor marketing campaigns better.
Mobile specific popups and messages allow companies to drive customized campaigns for mobile or app users. Optin Monster is a must-have plugin if you want to drive sales, build customer base and run promotional campaigns on your website.
#4 W3 Total Cache
The loading speed of your website is very important. A slow site can drive away visitors and eventually result in a fall in search engine rankings.
W3 Total Cache highly improves the performance of a site by caching HTML pages, files, images and other web data. The content is stored in local hard drives, and browsers have to just pull it out from within its cache when a user returns to a frequently used site.
W3 Total Cache plugin works by saving dynamically generated HTML files in page, database, object or browser caches and serves them whenever a request is made or a user presses refresh button. This avoids loading PHP scripts all over again from WordPress and the user gets to see a fast-loading site.
The plugin uses GZIP compression and file minification to deliver websites faster. It supports Content Delivery Networks and you can also export your custom settings for future use. WPEngine is a great hosting solution trusted for security, speed, and excellent customer service. It enables great website performance. You can even make use of WPEngine coupon right now to bag a great discount.
A fast website makes online shopping easier, tempts visitors to stay longer exploring the site, coaxes users to act on popups and customized messages, and ultimately helps build brand value. So W3 Total Cache is a must-have plugin for any online marketer.
Conclusion
WordPress plugins are great to enhance the performance, efficiency and speed of websites. Suitably chosen and properly managed plugins result in traction and sales increasing considerably. With regular monitoring, analysis and real-time campaigns, marketers can turn WordPress plugins into sales-creating tools.