5 Most Useful WordPress Plugins for Small Businesses
You’re new to WordPress. You’re struggling to figure out each tiny detail of the dashboard: You just discovered how to publish a blog post yesterday, and have no clue how to make sure search engines are indexing your site, not to mention the myriad of other things you know you need to figure out but have no idea how.
You need help.
I know this because I distinctly remember the feeling in the pit of my stomach the first time I logged in and saw a website from a new perspective. I remember all the questions I had. I remember well the worry I had that I would break the website and cause hours of work for someone else.
That’s why I can help. Because I’ve been there.
One of the most useful things about WordPress is how customizable it is: if you can imagine it, then you can create it. And the best part is, that most likely, someone else has already created it and put it in the form of a plugin. WordPress plugins are the best. But, there are thousands of them. At the time I’m writing this, there are 46,445 plugins available for download in the WordPress directly alone. How are you supposed to know which ones are the best? How do you know if it is right for your site?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikdFUcWluyU&feature=emb_title
Don’t panic. I’m here to help.
I’ve compiled an easy list of the most useful WordPress plugins for small business so you don’t have to go searching through the plugin directory for hours on end. This is the list I would have appreciate when I first began managing a WordPress site. You’re welcome.
Yoast
Yoast SEO is a fantastic plugin. It’s extremely useful for the small business owner for several reasons:
- It’s easy to use (which saves a lot of time), and
- It makes it super easy to optimize your posts for search engines.
You’ve heard people talk about meta description, titles, and open graph implementation for sharing posts on social media (in non-geek speak, it’s what the preview of your post looks like when shared socially). Well, this plugin takes care of all of that, plus some. It can also no-follow and/or no-index your posts, create a sitemap, and handle a myriad of other tasks. When plugins take care of so many issues all in one, they get added to this list.
Shortcodes Ultimate
Tired of posting a blog but not being happy with how it looks? As a content writer, this is a major pet peeve of mine. It’s very frustrating to have written a fabulous post, only to have it look not-so-fabulous once you’ve posted it. If you want to publish blog posts with columns, quotes, dividers, buttons, and other snazzy extras, all you need is this plugin. It implements well on many different sites, and will have your blog posts looking fantastic in no time!
Guerilla’s Legal Pages
It’s something that is easy to overlook when you are creating your website: Those pesky legal pages that don’t provide useful content, but are absolutely necessary. Instead of wasting time tracking down the correct verbiage for the privacy policy, or terms, all you have to do is install the Guerilla’s Legal Pages plugin. When activated, this plugin automatically publishes the pages. Then, you can go in and easily make changes to match your business, which saves you oodles of time.
Google Analyticator
Installing Google Analytics is essential for monitoring the success of your website, SEO, and other marketing efforts. While setting up a Google Analytics account is simple enough, many business owners hit a brick wall when it comes to installing the tracking code on their site, because the code must be inserted correctly onto the site in order to track properly. The Google Analyticator plugin allows you to install the tracking code without having to access the source files of your site, making it easy-peasy to track. Which is why it made this list.
Contact Form Tie: Pirate Forms and Contact Form 7
We have a tie between two contact forms. While I did think about swinging the vote toward Pirate Forms simply because of the name (who doesn’t like pirates, matey?!), the other choice is an excellent one for different reasons. Here are the reasons we like each of them:
Pirate Forms
This contact form plugin is ridiculously easy to use. As in, you just install, add your email address, and you’re good to go. You can add the form wherever you want simply by adding a short code. You can’t get much easier than that. The downside to this form is that it’s limited in its functionality. If you want more than one type of form, or you want to change the labels, or send a shnazzy email to the person who submitted the form, you’ll have to go elsewhere.
Contact Form 7
This contact form plugin is also simple to use, but it has many more capabilities. You can have countless types of forms, make them entry-specific, send a great HTML email to the submitter, and even use fancy tools like adding radio buttons. If you’re looking for a simple contact form with limitless capabilities, for free, this is the plugin for you.
The Most Useful WordPress Plugins
We just narrowed the plugin pool from 46,445 plugins to 5. While this list isn’t exhaustive, it will go a long way toward getting your site up and running. This is a list I would have found extremely useful when I first started managing a website.
Note: This list contains no affiliate links. We aren’t associated with any of these plugins, WordPress, or the plugin creators. We just like these tools, and thought you should know about them. Remember: When you build your business, you aren’t alone – we’ve got your back at 4theweb. If you need professional digital marketing services, including SEO, SEM, PPC, content marketing Facebook Advertising, or social media, we are here to get you to where you need to go.