The world of WordPress is overflowing with possibilities, offering over 60,000 plugins to transform and optimise your website. Yet, with such an abundance of choices, selecting the right plugins can be overwhelming. This is why our specialists at Yellowball assist businesses just like yours to install plugins for SEO, Social Media, Backup and Speed, as well as ones to assist in running your business.
In this article, we explore the ins and outs of WordPress plugins, as well as the most popular WordPress plugins for your business.
What plugins should I have on WordPress?
There’s no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to WordPress plugins. The plugins you choose really depend on your website’s specific needs. However, there are a few essential plugins that almost all WordPress websites require. It’s important to note that plugins can be tailored to your unique requirements.
Top WordPress Plugins
Here’s a list of the best WordPress plugins to help you unlock the full potential of your website.
Best membership plugin for WordPress: MemberPress
MemberPress is a top choice for creating online courses, communities, and membership sites within WordPress. This premium WordPress membership plugin offers subscription management, content access control, and seamless integration with payment gateways like Stripe, PayPal, and Authorize.net. Its powerful features include drip content, course management, quizzes, certifications, group memberships, and more, making it a revenue-generating powerhouse for creators.
Best directory plugin for WordPress: Directorist
Directorist Business Directory plugin is a highly optimised tool designed for managing online directory businesses. With Directorist, there’s no need to be a coder, you can effortlessly create directories that are categorised by location, interests, and more. This results in a dynamic and user-friendly experience.
Best WordPress backup plugin: Duplicator
Duplicator is one of the most popular WordPress backup plugins available. Duplicator allows for automatic backups with storage options, such as Google Drive, Dropbox, Amazon S3, FTP, and more. Furthermore, it makes website restoration much simpler, while offering features such as multisite support, archive encryption, recovery points, and easy migration. This makes it an essential tool for every WordPress site.
Best WordPress security plugin: iThemes Security
iThemes Security helps you to protect your WordPress website from potential threats. Offering over 30 security measures, it includes features, such as password expiration, two-factor authentication, reCAPTCHA, and malware scanning. It even offers security templates customised to your site’s needs, whether it’s an online store, blog, or portfolio.
Best WordPress Google Analytics plugin: MonsterInsights
MonsterInsights is the ultimate Google Analytics plugin for WordPress. It seamlessly connects your website to Google Analytics, providing user-friendly reports directly in your WordPress dashboard. These reports include critical data such as popular pages, form conversions, user behaviour, and more, all of which enable you to optimise your website for increased traffic, subscribers, and revenue.
Best booking plugin for WordPress: WPForms
WPForms is the most user-friendly contact form plugin for WordPress. Its drag-and-drop builder allows for easy creation of contact forms, email subscription forms, payment forms, and surveys. With over 1,000 pre-built form templates and integration with popular marketing and payment platforms, WPForms makes form creation a breeze and offers powerful features for lead generation and user engagement.
Best WordPress SEO plugin: All in One SEO
All in One SEO is a comprehensive solution for optimising your WordPress site for search engines. It simplifies tasks such as schema markup, on-page SEO, and XML sitemap creation. This plugin helps you boost your site’s visibility and improve its search engine ranking.
Best landing page-focused plugin for WordPress: SeedProd
SeedProd helps you to create high-converting landing pages for your website. It offers page elements that are designed to boost your website’s conversion rate and includes templates for webinars, product sales, thank-you pages, 404 pages, coming soon pages, and maintenance mode, all of which help your website achieve the success it deserves.
Best schema plugin for WordPress: Schema Pro
With Schema Pro, it’s easy to add schema markup to your website. Whether it’s structured data for videos, phone numbers, recipes, or more, Schema Pro does the work for you – no coding expertise required. Let the plugin effortlessly implement the necessary code, allowing you to concentrate on crafting exceptional content.
Mailchimp for WordPress: MC4WP
This WordPress Mailchimp plugin facilitates the expansion of your Mailchimp email list. It enables the creation of visually appealing and user-friendly signup forms and seamless integration with any pre-existing form on your WordPress site, including contact, comment, or checkout forms.
WordPress Plugin FAQs
What are plugins in WordPress?
A WordPress plugin is a piece of software that integrates with your WordPress site. Plugins can help to add more functionality to your site, enabling further customisation.
How many plugins should I use in WordPress?
A typical WordPress website may use anywhere from 15 to 18 plugins. However, when it comes to maintaining optimal website performance, the quantity of your plugins is not as important as the quality. Overloading your WordPress site with unnecessary plugins can ultimately slow it down, as they may clash with each other. The key is to understand your plugins and ensure they serve unique and valuable functions without redundancy.
What is the most used WordPress plugin?
Yoast SEO is widely considered to be one of the most used WordPress plugins, other popular plugins include WooCommerce and Contact Form 7.
Are plugins free on WordPress?
Many WordPress plugins are free, however some require payment.
We’re plugged in!
It’s also important to note that the type and quantity of plugins your website will need is highly dependent on your type of business. It’s not uncommon to use at least 15 to 18 different plugins, and remember that choosing high-quality plugins will always serve your website well!
At Yellowball, we understand this, so if you need an agency that truly understands how to choose the best possible WordPress plugins for your business, search no more – Yellowball is a web design and development agency based in London, UK, contact us today and ask us about our web expertise.
Learn more about the Best WordPress plugins for website speed, How to speed up your WordPress website and the Best WordPress themes in our guides.