Tag: WP Plugins

One of the main features of the WordPress content publishing software is the ability to quickly expand your WP website or blog’s functionality using applications called ’plugins’.

What Are WordPress Plugins?

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

Why, simple … you download and install an app!

An app is a piece of software that is easy to install and integrates new features into any smart phone.

(Just like there are social sharing apps for smart devices …)

A plugin is similar to an app. You simply install an application that provides new functionality to your WordPress website or blog …

(… there are also social sharing plugins for WP users!)

Almost always, if you decide to add new features to an already-built website, additional cost is involved. Depending on the complexity of the features or enhancements, things can become quite expensive, especially if it involves website development.

This is also applicable when developing a website or business blog. Companies will often pay up-front for added features they may never need.

For this reason, we recommend a cost-effective strategy to developing your presence online presence and WordPress plugins are ideal for doing this.

Imagine being able to:

1) Start simply and inexpensively. Get a professional business web presence up and running fast, then …

2) As the need arises, install new software modules with a couple of mouse clicks that integrate seamlessly with your existing web site, and give your site a whole new and expanded range of possibilities, and also …

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

Well, this is just what plugins let you do!

Plugins – Benefits

We began this article by comparing plugins with apps. Just like some apps are free to download and some may cost a little money, the same is true of WP plugins.

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

WP plugins that you have to pay for are called “Premium” plugins. The good news, is that when you compare it to the cost of investing in professional web development services to get similar features and functionality on your site, most Premium plugins cost very little.

Also, since WordPress makes its code publicly available, anyone can create, rewrite and customize any portion of the WP code. This has allowed thousands of professional software developers to create more new tools that enhance the WordPress platform than you can possibly imagine.

• WordPress plugins allow you to get started simply with only a simple yet professional website and expand as required.
• Plugins allow you to add almost unlimited functionality to any website easily and really cheaply.
• Plugins give your online presence almost endless expansion capabilities.
• Plugins allow anyone to own a site that they can manage.
• Most plugins will typically work “right out of the box” and only require to be installed and activated to give your website or blog immediate capabilities and functionality.
• Some plugins offer more advanced options and could require some configuring.

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

Like many WP themes, tens of thousands of great plugins are available to WordPress users … for FREE!

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

As mentioned earlier, you can find WP plugins that will do just about anything you need done.

There are plugins for:

• User Management
• Content Syndication
• Traffic
• User Engagement
• Social Media
• Media Management Automation
• Improving Website Conversions And Lead Generation
• Data Analysis Applications
• Securing Your

For example, you can expand your business online presence with plugins like the following:

• Contact forms
• Quizzes and polls
• User Surveys
• Rotating ad banners
• E-commerce (from setting up single ordering with PayPal buttons, to complete e-commerce with shopping carts, invoicing, recurring billing, discount codes, etc …)
• Social media integration
• Private Membership sites
• Newsletter opt-in forms
• Sales funnels
• Mobile conversion
• Improving your website’s SEO
• Image galleries (including rotating images, lightboxes, etc.)
• User testimonial forms
• Automatic language translation (e.g. you can instantly change your site’s content from English to Norwegian)
• Statistical reporting (e.g. number of visitors, pages visited, keywords searched, etc.)
• Custom navigation menus
• Customer engagement – contest, live chat, currency conversion, etc.
• Offline storage integration
• Faster page loading
• Event management
• Niche directories
• Automatically sell and manage spots on your blog
• Set up appointments and appointment reminders
• Set up reservations and bookings
• Detect broken links on your pages and send you reports
• Redirect affiliate pages
• Monitor social conversations
• Make your pages printable or downloadable as a PDF file
• Add a site map
• Exclude pages from displaying on areas of your site (e.g. site maps, feeds, etc.)
• Protect page content
• Import content from other CMS platforms
• Perform bulk content edits
• Prevent SPAM commenting
• Customize guest comment displays (e.g. display Facebook posts)
• Insert scripts and code elements into your posts and pages
• Add tables
• Add animated graphic elements and advanced content formatting options
• Create and manage QR codes
• Improve Google local search
• Add business location maps
• Publicize your posts automatically on social pages like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest and others
• Display countdown timers (for special offers, discount coupons, etc …)
• Display custom greetings, timed offers, etc …
• And so much more!

As it’s clear to see, plugins give you virtually limitless business scalability. If you are currently planning to build a website or blog, or your existing website isn’t built with WordPress, then consider getting one in the future, or you could be missing out on some serious functionality.

If you’re still wondering just how powerful and flexible WP plugins are, let’s take a look at some practical advantages of installing a plugin on your website.

For example, if you want to protect your content, you can install plugins to make just a couple of paragraphs on your page or post inaccessible, or transform your WordPress site into a complete membership site with customized login details for every user …

As mentioned previously, you can use free plugins to improve your web site in lots of different ways. From installing features that can enhance your business, your web users’ experience and your understanding of what is taking place on your site …

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

You can also add sophisticated features to your website using relatively inexpensive premium plugins. For example, you can install plugins that automate tasks on your site such as managing customer testimonials and event registration details …

And even set up a complete bookings and reservations system online … all for a tiny fraction of the cost of paying programmers to create custom applications for you …

You can also take advantage of built-in WP commenting features and plugins that will increase your site’s interactivity …

For example, your web visitors can easily:

• Post comments on your site (which can turn into online discussions) using either the native WP commenting feature, or integrated Facebook comments (which then get displayed throughout your visitors’ Facebook pages, giving your site added exposure).
• Bookmark your posts on various social sites.
• Contact you via contact forms
• Engage in online discussions with other customers using forums or even set up an online community on your own site.
• Engage with members of your team using live video chats
• Call your business from their devices while visiting your pages
• Get help and support via a user help desk
• And so much more …

Finally you, can even integrate sophisticated third-party solutions with a WordPress “front end”. This lets you manage your business sales and marketing, while the third-party application handles the technological functions …

Some Useful Information About Plugins

• There are many great WordPress plugins to choose from. Be careful not to overload your server with too many plugins, as this can affect your site’s resources and page loading times. It can also mean more maintenance work for you as a consequence of potential conflicts and errors.
• Install only the plugins you really need. Delete inactive plugins from your site, as these utilize server resources.
• Many free plugins normally come with little to no support from the plugin author. When choosing premium plugins, we recommend that you do a little research first to see what kind of reputation the developer has when it comes to offering support, updates, new improvements, etc. Be sure to check some of our WordPress plugin reviews for more information.
• If you see that a plugin has not been updated for a very long time (e.g. two or more years), then think carefully before installing it. The WordPress platform changes regularly and out-of-date plugins can create problems.
• Ensure that you always update your plugins. Older plugins not only can cause issues, they may also contain security vulnerabilities that can be exploited by hackers and malicious software.

As you can see, plugins are an important part of WordPress and contribute to making WordPress the most preferred CMS available. Plugins also provide WordPress users with an easy, simple and inexpensive way to expand without having to spend thousands of dollars on web developers.

One last thing on the subject of plugins:

Whatever functionality you need for your web site, you can be sure that a someone has probably already created one that will do exactly what you need, and that this plugin will either be available at no cost, or if it’s a premium plugin, that it will be reasonably affordable.

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

And, if by any chance this WP plugin is not available, then one can certainly be created for you for a reasonable price.

Hopefully, now you have a better understanding of plugins – what they are and how they can enhance the functionality of your blog. See our published posts to learn more about usingplugins.

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