Tag: WordPress 101

One of the main features of WordPress is that you can easily expand your WordPress website’s functionality using inexpensive (even completely free) applications called plugins.

Understanding Plugins

Like most of us, you most likely use a device like a smart phone. What do you do when you would like access to something new on your device like a new software or tool?

You download and install an app!

An app is a software application that is very easy to install and instantly integrates new features into any mobile phone.

(Just as you will find social sharing apps for mobile phones …)

A plugin is like an app. You simply download and install a software that adds new functionality to your web site …

(… there are also social sharing plugins for WordPress!)

Almost always, if you want to add a new feature to a web site, additional cost is involved. Depending on how complex the feature or enhancement is, the cost can be significant, especially if it requires editing code.

This is also applicable when setting up a new web site. Businesses sometimes spend upfront on additional features they may simply not need.

For this reason, we suggest a modular approach to setting up your website and WordPress plugins are ideal for doing this.

Imagine being able to:

1) Start simply and inexpensively. Get a professional-looking web site up and running quickly, then …

2) As you need more features, you can install new applications with only a couple of mouse clicks directly from your dashboard area, and give your site an entirely new and expanded range of useful features, and also …

3) Cost not one cent extra to add to your web site?

Well, this is just what a WP plugin lets you do!

Plugins – Benefits

Earlier, we compared plugins with mobile apps. Just like some apps are free to download and some apps may cost a little money, so do plugins.

In fact, thousands of plugins can be installed on your websites.

Plugins that you buy are called ’Premium’ plugins. The good news, is that when you compare the price of a Premium WordPress plugin to the price of paying for web development services to add the same functionality on your site, most Premium (i.e. paid) plugins are priced quite cheaply.

Also, because WordPress makes its code available to everyone, anyone can create, edit and customize any part of the code. This has allowed thousands of third-party web development companies to enhance the core software application.

• WordPress plugins let you start simply with only a basic website and add new features and enhancements to your site only as necessary.
• Plugins allow you to add almost unlimited functionality to any web site easily and really cheaply.
• Plugins give you virtually unlimited expanding capabilities.
• WP plugins allow non-technical users to have a site that they can manage themselves.
• Most plugins will normally work “right out of the box” and only require to be installed and activated to give your site immediate enhancements and functionality.
• Some plugins offer more extensive features and may need some configuration.

WordPress Plugins – Powerful, Flexible … And (Many Of Them Are) Completely FREE!

Like many WP themes, loads of WP plugins are made available to WordPress users … often at no cost!

You can view and download thousands of WP plugins from the Free WP Plugin Directory …

As mentioned earlier, you will find plugins that can do just about anything you can think of.

There are plugins for:

• Blog Management
• Content Management
• Traffic
• Visitor Engagement
• Social Media
• Media Utilities Automation
• Improving Website Conversions And Lead Generation
• Data & System Monitoring & Reporting Tools
• Securing Your

You can add features to your website with plugins like:

• Contact forms
• Polls and quizzes
• Social contests
• Managing banners
• E-commerce (from managing single-item ordering with PayPal buttons, to full scale e-commerce stores with online shopping carts, payment processing, recurring payments, coupons, etc …)
• Social media integration
• Membership sites
• List-building subscription forms
• Sales workflow
• Mobile conversion
• Improving your website’s Search Engine Optimization
• Image galleries (with rotating images, lightboxes, etc.)
• Customer testimonials
• Language translation (e.g. you can instantly change all content on your pages from English to French)
• Statistical reporting (e.g. number of visitors, pages visited, keywords searched, etc.)
• Custom navigation menus
• Customer interactivity – contest, live chat, currency conversion, etc.
• Media integration
• Faster page loading
• Managing events
• Niche directories
• Automatically sell spots on your site
• Set client appointments and reminders
• Set up reservations and bookings
• Detect broken links and send you reports
• Redirect URLs
• Monitor what other sites are posting about your business
• Make your pages printable or downloadable as a PDF file
• Add a site map
• Exclude specific from displaying on areas of your site (e.g. site maps, feeds, etc.)
• Protect page content
• Import information from non-WP platforms
• Search and replace content
• Block SPAM
• Customize guest discussions (e.g. displaying Facebook posts)
• Inserting scripts and script elements into your posts
• Add and format tables
• Display animated graphic elements and advanced content formatting options
• Create and manage QR codes
• Improve Google search
• Add a map
• Post your posts automatically on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest and many others
• Display countdown timers (for scarcity offers, coupons, etc …)
• Display personalized greetings, timed offers, etc …
• And so much more!

As you can clearly see, WordPress plugins give you practically endless business scalability. If you are currently planning to build a website or blog, or your existing web site isn’t built with WordPress, then consider using WordPress in the future.

If you’re still wondering about the power and flexibility of using plugins, let’s take a look at how you can benefit instantly by installing a plugin on your web site.

For example, if you need to protect your content, you can install plugins to make a section of a post inaccessible, or transform your WordPress site into a full paid membership site with personal login details for every user …

As mentioned previously, free plugins can be used to enhance your web site in lots of ways. From installing functionality that improve your business, your visitors’ experience and your ability to review site metrics …

To increasing your site’s reach across social sites and search engines …

You can also add sophisticated functionality to your site using inexpensive premium plugins. For example, you can buy plugins that automate tasks on your site like user feedback and event registration management …

And even set up a custom-branded bookings and reservations system online … all for a tiny fraction of the cost of paying software developers to create the same functionality for you …

Additionally, you can take advantage of native WordPress commenting features and plugins that will make your site even more interactive …

For example, your web visitors can easily:

• Leave comments on your blog posts (which can turn into online discussions) using either the built-in WordPress commenting function, or integrated Facebook comments (which are then shared throughout a visitors’ Facebook pages, providing you with additional exposure).
• Bookmark your content on bookmarking sites.
• Contact you using contact forms
• Engage online directly with your team through online forums or even set up a private online social network on your own domain.
• Engage with your support team using live web conferencing and chatrooms
• Dial your business directly from their smart phones while visiting your website
• Open a support ticket
• And much more …

You can even integrate complex enterprise-level applications using a WordPress “front end”. This enables you to control the content that your visitors see on your web site, while the third-party application handles the technological areas …

Some Useful Information About WordPress Plugins

• There are lots of plugins to choose from. Be careful not to overload your server with an excessive amount of plugins, as this can start to affect your website’s performance and page loading times. It can also create more maintenance issues for you as a result of possible errors.
• Only keep the plugins you really need to use. Delete inactive plugins from your site, as these use extra resources.
• Many free plugins normally receive little to no support from the plugin author. When considering paid WP plugins, make sure you check some reviews online and understand what kind of reputation the plugin developer has when it comes to offering support, upgrades, new improvements, etc. Be sure to check some of our plugin recommendations for more helpful information.
• If you see that an unsupported plugin has not been updated for a while (e.g. two years), then think twice before using it. WordPress changes often and out-of-date WP plugins can create conflicts.
• Ensure to always update your plugins to the latest version. Older plugin not only can cause problems, they could also contain security vulnerabilities that can be exploited by hackers and malicious software.

As you can see, plugins are an important aspect of WordPress and contribute to making WordPress the most preferred CMS in the world. Plugins also provide WordPress users with easy, simple and inexpensive ways to add new functionality to their web presence without having to spend thousands of dollars on outsourced web development costs.

One last thing on the subject of WordPress plugins:

If there is a feature you need for your web presence, you can guarantee that a plugin currently exists that will do what you need it to do, and that this plugin can either be accessed at no cost, or if it’s a premium plugin, that the cost will be reasonable.

(Whatever you need done, there’s a WordPress plugin for that!)

And, if by chance this plugin is not available, then it can certainly be developed for your business for a very reasonable price.

Hopefully, now you have a better understanding of plugins – what plugins are and how they can enhance the functionality of your WordPress site. See our related posts section to learn about more great WordPress plugins that we recommend using.

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