Tag: WordPress Plugin

One of the most useful advantages of choosing the WordPress web site publishing software is the ability to quickly increase your WordPress website or blog’s functionality using inexpensive called plugins.

What Are WordPress Plugins?

No doubt, you probably have a device like a mobile phone. What happens when you would like to access something new on your phone like a new application, game or a new productivity tool?

Why, simple … you download and install an app!

An app is a software application that is very easy to install and adds new functionality to your smart device.

(Just like there are social sharing apps for mobile phones …)

A plugin is very much like an app. You simply download and install an application that adds new functionality to your site …

(… you can also find social sharing plugins for WP sites!)

Almost always, adding a new feature to an already-built site involves additional cost. Depending on how complex the new feature or enhancement is, the cost can be quite significant, especially if web developers need to create new code or edit templates or develop programs that integrate with your current site.

This is also applicable when starting a new website or business blog. Companies often spend up-front on features and options they probably will never need.

To reduce expenses, we recommend using a cost-effective strategy to developing your web site and WP plugins are ideal for helping you achieve this.

Imagine being able to:

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

2) As you need more features or functionality, install new software modules with just a few clicks of the mouse that integrate seamlessly with your web site, giving your site a whole new and expanded range of possibilities, and …

3) Cost not one dollar more to add to your web site?

Well, that’s precisely what WordPress plugins let you do!

Benefits Of WordPress Plugins

Earlier, we compared plugins with apps. In the same way that some apps are free to download and some may cost a little money, so do plugins.

In fact, loads of powerful plugins are available at no cost to WP users.

Plugins that you purchase are called Premium plugins. The good news, is that when compared to the cost of investing in web development services to add similar functionality on your site, most Premium plugins are priced quite cheaply.

Also, since WordPress is an Open Source application, any person can create, rewrite and customize any portion of the code. This has enabled thousands of third-party web developers to enhance and contribute to the WPsoftware.

• Plugins let you start simply with a simple web presence and expand only as required.
• WordPress plugins allow you to add practically endless features to your web site quickly and very inexpensively.
• WordPress plugins give you almost endless expansion capabilities.
• Plugins allow anyone to have a digital presence that they can manage.
• Most plugins typically work “right out of the box” and only require installation and activation to provide your website or blog with new capabilities, enhancements and functionality.
• Some plugins offer more extensive options and could require some configuring.

WP Plugins – Powerful, Flexible … And (Many Are) Completely FREE!

Just like WP themes, thousands of plugins are currently available to WP users … often at no cost!

You can view and download thousands of plugins from the Free WordPress Plugin Repository …

As previously mentioned, you can find WordPress plugins that can do almost anything you want done.

There are plugins for:

• Website Administration
• Content Distribution
• Traffic
• User Engagement
• Social Engagement
• Media Utilities Automation
• Increasing Sales And Opt-In Conversions And Lead Generation
• Data Monitoring & Reporting Applications
• Website SEO

You can expand your WP site with plugins like the following:

• Contact forms
• Polls and quizzes
• Social contests
• Rotating advertising banners
• E-commerce (from setting up single-item sales with PayPal buttons, to full e-commerce stores with shopping carts, invoicing, recurring billing, coupon codes, etc …)
• Social sharing buttons
• Membership sites
• Newsletter subscription forms
• Sales workflow
• Mobile conversion
• Improving your website’s SEO
• Image galleries (with rotating images, lightboxes, etc.)
• Customer feedback forms
• Language translation plugins (e.g. you can instantly change your website’s content from English to Spanish)
• Statistical reporting (e.g. number of visitors, pages visited, keywords searched, etc.)
• Custom navigation menus
• Customer interactivity – contest, live chat, currency conversion, etc.
• Media management
• Faster page loading
• Event management
• Niche directories
• Automatically sell spots on your site
• Set appointments and reminders
• Set up reservations and bookings
• Detect broken hyperlinks on your pages and send you reports
• Redirect URLs
• Monitor what other sites are posting about your business
• Make your pages available for printing or downloading as PDF
• Add a site map
• Exclude pages from showing on areas of your site (e.g. sitemaps, feeds, etc.)
• Hide content on your posts and pages
• Migrate information from different publishing platforms
• Perform bulk content replacements
• Fight SPAM commenting
• Customize visitor comment displays (e.g. displaying Facebook discussions)
• Insert scripts and script elements into your content
• Add formatted tables
• Add animated graphic elements and advanced font display formatting options
• Add and manage QR codes
• Improve Google search results
• Add a map
• Post your content automatically on social pages like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, StumbleUpon and many others
• Display countdown timers (for expiring offers, discount coupons, etc …)
• Display personal greetings, timed offers, etc …
• And so much more!

As it’s clear to see, plugins give you limitless business flexibility. If you plan to build a website for your business, or your existing site isn’t powered by WordPress, then consider getting one in the future, or you could be missing out on some serious features.

In case you’re still wondering just how powerful and flexible WP plugins are, let’s take a look at some practical advantages of adding an inexpensive plugin to your website.

For example, if you need to publish private content, you can use plugins to make a section of your post or page inaccessible, or transform your WordPress site into a professional membership site with separate login details for all users …

As mentioned previously, you can use free plugins to enhance your web presence in lots of ways. From adding functionality that can improve your business, your website visitors’ experience and your ability to review site metrics …

To extending your site’s reach and visibility across various social sites and search engines …

You can also add complex features to your site using inexpensive premium WordPress plugins. For example, you can download plugins that automate features on your site such as user testimonial and event registration management …

And also set up a complete bookings and reservations system online … all for a small fraction of the cost of paying programmers to design these applications for you …

You can also take advantage of native WP commenting features and plugins that will make your site even more interactive …

For example, your visitors can:

• Post comments on your site (which can turn into online discussions) using either the native WordPress commenting feature, or integrated Facebook comments (which are then shared throughout your visitors’ Facebook pages, giving your site added exposure).
• Bookmark your content on social networking sites.
• Contact you using contact forms
• Engage online with other online users using forums or even set up a private social network on your own domain.
• Engage with your support team using live webcam conferencing and chatrooms
• Call your business from their cellphones while visiting your website
• Get help via a dedicated client support helpdesk
• And much more …

Finally you, can even integrate complex enterprise-level applications within a WordPress “front end”. This lets you control the content that your visitors will see on your web site, while the 3rd-party application handles the technical functions …

Additional Information About WordPress Plugins

• There are lots of plugins available. Be careful not to overload your server with too many plugins, as this can begin to affect your site’s performance and site loading times. It also creates more maintenance work for you as a result of potential conflicts.
• Only keep those plugins you really need. Delete inactive plugins from your site, as these use resources.
• Many free plugins normally receive little to no support from the plugin author. When choosing premium WordPress plugins, make sure you check some reviews online and understand what kind of reputation the plugin developer has when it comes to providing support, upgrades, new features, etc. Be sure to check the plugin reviews we publish on this site for additional information.
• If you see that a plugin has not been updated for a while (e.g. two or more years), then think carefully before installing it. The WordPress platform changes on a frequent basis and older plugins that have not been updated can cause conflicts.
• Make sure to always keep all plugins updated. Older plugins not only can create conflicts, they could also have security vulnerabilities that can be exploited by hackers and malware.

As you can see, WP plugins are an integral part of WordPress and contribute to making it the most popular content management system available. Plugins also provide WordPress users with an easy, simple and inexpensive way to expand without having to spend thousands of dollars on outsourced web developers.

One last thing on the subject of plugins:

If there is any feature you want for your web site, you can guarantee that a someone has probably already created one that will do just what you want it to do, and that this plugin will either be available at no cost, or if it’s a premium plugin, that the cost will be minimal.

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

And, if by any chance this plugin does not exist, then a custom plugin that does precisely what you need it to do can certainly be created for your business at a reasonable cost.

Hopefully, this article has given you a better understanding of plugins – what they are and how they can significantly to improve your web site. See our published posts to learn about more popular WP plugins that we recommend using.

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