Ecommerce businesses are always looking out for the best tools to enhance their website functionality. And the WordPress content management system is one of such. But although it is a unique CRM platform, you will still require plug-ins for optimal usage.
Thus, the vital question is, how do you know which WordPress plug-ins are the best? Well, we made the job easier for you by sampling several plug-ins for WordPress and came up with this top 10 list. These plug-ins cover SEO, security, e-commerce, speed, social sharing for your website needs, and more. The list is also a mix free and paid WordPress plug-ins that can help grow your online business.
Without waiting any more time, let’s take a look at the top 10 WordPress plug-ins for your business website in 2020.
- SEO Squirrly
The SEO Squirrly plug-in for WordPress is designed for users who aren’t experts in SEO. It is like having an SEO expert right in front of you, telling you what to do. Some of its easy to use SEO assistant features include:
- A tool that analyzes your competitors’ content
- A keyword research assistant that keeps records and updates your keyword portfolio data. It also notifies you when there are better keywords opportunities
- Weekly website progress tracking
- Blogging assistant that helps you to write content-rich and relevant blogs
The content reports feature is ideal if you’re outsourcing your content writing or using multiple writers. For example, if you are outsourcing your professional content writing to a site like Writing Judge. The content reports from this plug-in can help give the writers more insight based on what has been written.
- Google Analytics Dashboard for WP by ExactMetrics
This plug-in may sound like a mouth full, but it is excellent for tracking your website’s real-time traffic details. And the most exciting aspect is that you don’t have to log in or attempt to navigate the complex Google Analytics site. Google Analytics Dashboard for WP by ExactMetrics also allows you to monitor your acquisition channels. There are other analytical statistics features such as:
- Organic searches, bounce rate, page views, and session
- Social networks, search engines, channel and mediums traffic
- Pages, keywords, locations, and 404 errors
It is a free WordPress plug-in you can use for both your personal and commercial websites.
- Easy Social Share Buttons
With the increased social media usage, having a social share button on your website is a must. The Easy social share buttons plug-in makes sure that you can link your social accounts to your website. Thus, it integrates very well with several social media platforms and includes features like:
- Over 50 social network share buttons
- Customizable and animate social buttons for your WordPress site
- Helping you to grow organic social media following and mailing contacts
There are so many other features packed in the Easy social share buttons plug-in for WordPress. You can install the free plug-in to check out more of these features.
MonsterInsights is another top Google Analytics plug-in for WordPress that works for your web traffic. It enables you to connect your e-commerce platform with Google Analytics, so you get to see precisely how people find your website. You’re able to see how they use it and what keeps them engaged on your site. Additionally, all the analytical stats can be seen right inside your WordPress dashboard.
MonsterInsights comes with a free version and a premium version to unlock extra features. Another neat feature about MonsterInsights is that it is beginner-friendly thanks to its tracking settings and workflows. There are also e-commerce analyses, real-time statistics, advert, custom, link, and file download tracking features.
WordPress security for your e-commerce store can be slippery. Thus it always helps to protect your site from hackers. A plug-in like Sucuri is your best option for your WordPress security solution. It helps to reinforce and improve your existing security efforts. Sucuri plug-in for WordPress comes with a file integrity monitoring and security activity logging that competes with the best out there.
Other features include;
- Remote malware scanning and blacklist monitoring
- Security notifications, Post-hack security actions, and significant security hardening
- Protection from XSS attacks, malware threats, DDoS, brute force attacks, etc.
You can install the free Sucuri basic plan to enjoy the features above. And you can upgrade to the premium version for additional features like the Cloud Proxy website application firewall.
- SEMRush
The SEMRush WordPress plug-in is a must-have for all digital marketing professionals and business website owners. It comes with features such as:
- Social media marketing
- Ability to explore your PLA copies and the keywords triggering
- Creating advert texts directly in the SEMRush interface
- timely monitoring and response to customer reviews
- Single-click posting to several social media platforms right from the SEMRush interface.
The SEMRush WordPress plug-in is a marketing strategy essential for any business website in 2020.
- Symple Shortcodes
Symple Shortcodes is an excellent plug-in for adding elements to your site. Even if you don’t have any knowledge of coding, it offers you several extensible options. For instance, a Google Map can be added to any part on your website. Furthermore, you have the freedom to place dividers, testimonials, columns, and more anywhere on your website.
With the Symple Shortcodes plug-in, you can build accordions, social icons, boxes, or highlights using only a few clicks. This free WordPress plug-in also has a clean interface, and it is incredibly user-friendly. Additionally, this free WordPress plug-in uses PHP62.2%, JavaScript21.3%, and CSS16.5% language codes.
- WordFence Security
WordFence is another free and paid version WordPress security plug-in for your website. WordFence Security has several functions, such as:
- Cores file repair and integrity verification for WordPress.
- Scanning for viruses, malware, and backdoor.
- Firewall protection for blocking fake Google crawlers, IP blocking, and whitelisting.
- Email alerts giving your warning on any critical security problems.
- Brute force hacking protection, etc.
- Elementor Page Builder
Elementor Page builder is a popular plug-in for WordPress, due to its useful and easy-to-use features. You can create beautiful pages using only the visual editor. So you don’t need to move between the editor and preview mode continually.
The Elementor simple drag and drop interface enables you to edit your website with ease. It features a visual editor that you can use to drag over 90 widgets for your progress bars creations flexibly. Elementor has a free version with slick features that can enable you to build any e-commerce site. Thus, it is a fantastic website page builder for your blog, an online retail shop, or an essay writing service site like Pick The Writer. The paid pro Elementor business package goes for $199.
- Contact Form 7
The contact form 7 plug-in for the website is another plug-in you need for your site. It comes with several functionalities that can help optimize your email marketing campaigns. Contact Form 7 integrates well with your email contact list and lets you create contact forms with ease. Once you are done, you can also position them anywhere across your website. Other notable features of the plug-in can enable you to:
- Manage several plug-ins on your business website
- Customize all your mail contents with a simple markup
- Use Akismet to filter spam email contacts
- Use CAPTCHA security checks
This free plug-in is a comprehensive website analytics tool that enables you to check how your website traffic is generated and other organic search statistics. With the information and data received, you can create better strategies to increase your website earnings and stay ahead in business.
You can view your entire website’s performance data directly from your WP dashboard. Also, it comes with in-built support for Google AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages), and it’s compatible with WooCommerce. Meaning you can use it as your online store analytics tool.
WordPress Calls to Action is another plug-in that can significantly improve your conversion rate with ease. The plug-in also enables you to build pop-ups, monitor conversion rates, and easily replicate existing calls to action on your website. WordPress Calls to Action is available for free download.
We are all aware of the importance of using social media to grow a business website. With a tool like AccessPress, you can effectively make your website and blogs more social media-friendly. The plug-in makes social sharing very easy and likewise provides social media statistics on your WordPress website. Also, tons of unique inbuilt social share themes, sidebar themes, and other great features are all available for free download.
For one reason or the other, a business gets to a point where it needs to move its website to a new host. Migrate Guru plug-in for WordPress is a smooth and reliable way to move any WordPress site. The plug-in does this by copying the content of your website to its server. Then it also automatically migrates all files to the new host with a simple click.
What makes this plug-in the best for your site’s migration is that it does not overload your servers. Therefore, the risk of a website crash becomes minimal. Migrate Guru is also completely freeto use.
To get your product to more target customers, you will need to advertise your business. That’s where Ad Sanity comes in handy. It’s the best WordPress plug-in for your entire site’s advert management. Additionally, it allows you to create and add ads with ease. You can also publish date-specific or infinite adverts using widgets, shortcodes, and template tags all on your website. AdSanity is also compatible with network ads such as Google Adsense.
Finally
There you have it! The top 15 WordPress plug-ins for your small business website. These free and premium add-ons are user-friendly, cost-effective, and can optimize your website growth. They also cover SEO, security, social media, etc. needs for any e-commerce site you wish to build.
You don’t have to install all these plug-ins at once. So depending on your website needs, you can start with a few.
Author
Dominic Beaulieu is a gaming enthusiast turned tech writer who covers an impressive variety of
topics like design, development process, game marketing, and helps developers with spreading
the word about their creations. He is a fluent French speaker, who also has mastered Dutch,
Norwegian, and Swedish. He has an experience in software translation, tech counseling, project
management and digital marketing tailored for startups.