WordPress websites are at the core of many businesses. And, for this reason, there are some fantastic plugins you should keep an eye out for in 2021 that will help your website remain current and help with some nifty marketing.
WordPress websites have many benefits which most people already know about and because it’s such a dynamic & versatile content management system you need to learn whats current and available now.
These plugins, combined with a web design team that knows what their doing can help customise your website to help capture new leads, perform better, become faster and help you achieve your business goals.
Below are our favourite 10 of the numerous examples of plugins that showcase the power of having a WordPress Web Design. If you have never thought of using WordPress as you’re preferred CMS, these should be enough to convince you.
1. Make your business more social with PeepSo
Socialising online is a great way to build loyalty among your customers and audience, and this is what PeepSo does. You can quickly build a social network plugin for your WordPress website.
It’s like having your own customised Facebook ( not as complex ) social network within your site. An excellent way for customers to interact with each other while at the same time, grow your brand and awareness online.
PeepSo is super quick to install, and it’s priced well for small businesses. All users need to do is pay a yearly subscription fee, create their business profile, and within minutes they are sharing videos, photos and messages.
2. Understand Google Analytics & grow your business with MonsterInsights
Many companies make design or marketing decisions on their website without fully understanding what their customers are doing on the site or consumer behaviour. With MonsterInsights you get real-time data to help you make informed decisions based on data and not guesswork. Far too many businesses rely on second-hand information about their websites actual performance. A big mistake and can cause you to head in the wrong marketing direction.
For 2021 install MonsterInsights and see how quickly you’ll love their interface, the information you can get and make constant tweaks to your site based on this information to help improve performance and conversion rates. If you have a WordPress site, you will be able to make these changes instantly – how good it that!
MonsterInsights says: ” Our Audience Report shows you which country your visitors are from, what are they most interested in, which device are they using, their age, gender, and a whole lot more.”
3. Peace of mind for the security of your website With Sucuri
WordPress is the largest CM4. Get more customers with easy to use Lead Generation Forms With Gravity Forms
We all know how competitive it is online, and we are all looking at ways to reach more customers, grab their attention and market to them. Well, driving more customers to your website is a whole new ball game through SEO, and this article doesn’t have the space for that. But, what we can do is reach out to your customers and get as much information as we can from them through Gravity Forms.
It’s not just about adding a few simple fields; Gravity Forms is about customising your fields based on your audience and what you are trying to achieve. It’s so easy to integrate into your WordPress website, and you can customise so many cool features like welcome emails, for any new subscriber or inquiry. Plus you can also create the style you want, so it’s consistent with your branding.
On their website, it says:’ Build and publish your WordPress forms in just minutes—no drudgery, just quick and easy form-building. Select your fields, configure your options and easily embed forms on your WordPress-powered site using the built-in tools.’
5. Get much better Search Engine Rankings With Yoast SEO
Every business wants to have better SEO rankings. Build a website and ranking it on Google is the name of the game.
With Yoast SEO you can get all the data you need from individual web pages to help improve: page titles, descriptions, page speed, generate site map, implementation of 301’s, content optimisation and other vital small fixes.
The best part about Yoast is that it’s all in real-time so as you fix the errors Yoast will let you know. If you want to get better Google rankings, then this is the ultimate SEO tool. Make sure your web developer has installed Yoast as it’s super easy to do. You will see results and improved Google rankings fairly quickly once Google starts indexing your site.
6. Live Chat with potential customers with Pure Chat
Now you will never miss the opportunity to talk with your customers online with Pure Chat. Once installed, this nifty feature will have a pop-up box at the bottom of your screen so you can chat with customers in real-time. You can even customise the look and style of the chat feature, so it blends in with your branding. In a digital age where everyone wants immediate answers, this is the perfect solution—ideal for all industries and businesses that rely on customer interaction & quick sales.
7. Get your customers to attend events With The Events Calendar
If your company or business relies on people attending events ( whether in person or virtually ) then The Events Calendar is a great plugin. It says on its website: ‘Build your brand, bolster attendance, and connect with your audience’.
It saves loads of time as you can create any event and even sell tickets. Plus it integrates with zoom, which is handy especially in this COVID-19 environment.
8. Engage with your customers with promotions and giveaways with RafflePress
Giveaways and promotions are a great way to keep your customers loyal and coming back to the site for repeat visits. RafflePress allows you to integrate these giveaways, right within your site easily. All items are responsive so that they will work on mobile.
Another nifty feature is that it integrates seamlessly with your email marketing, and social media platforms so that reach out to existing customers about these exciting giveaways and promotions your business has. If you have some great giveaways and freebies, you’ll be surprised how many people start following you on social media for the next big giveaway!
Dangers with too many plugins.
Plugins are a great idea and a quick way to promote your business but the danger of having too many WordPress plugins is that is can slow sites down. Plus, there is a security issue of having to always keep these plugins updated. Some websites can overcome this issue by having a dedicated server for faster speeds or buy larger hosting packages but for most small businesses they need to be aware of the downside of excessive plugin use. Having said that your web design agency will be able to help you decide which are the best plugins for your site and optimise these for faster download times.
In conclusion
WordPress plugins give your business the best advantage of being at the cutting edge of technology. Be adventurous and explore all of these options and see just how quickly they can transform your website into a powerful marketing tool.
About the author
This article was posted by Steven who is one of the marketing team at Hopping Mad Designs. He’s been working on WordPress websites for over a decade and has helped many Sydney businesses succeed online. If you want to get more out of your website and generate more sales leads and engage with your customer base give Steve a call on 02 9360 8514.
