Powering around 43% of the internet, WordPress is a big deal.
The platform’s size can seem overwhelming, but there are multiple reasons why it’s a trusted way to build out websites by starting-out agencies and the world’s largest leading brands alike.
One of its many perks is its vast library of plugins. All work as neat shortcuts to help any developer, marketer or content editor to make their websites look better, run more smoothly, boost performance, enhance security, or provide data-baked insights for improvements.
Web-builders will know the necessity in constantly changing their website to feel fresh and enhance the user experience (UX), but it’s simple to chop and change the backend of any site with an impressive arsenal of gadgets, all available within one website hosting platform.
With over 50,000 available, here are our top 8 (free!) picks for WordPress plugins for all digital marketers.
Elementor
Elementor is the #1 tool for building out stunning website experiences using simple drag and drop functionality. Its plugin provides access to its extensive library of templates and widgets to help digital marketers spin up pages that pop in minutes, and it is fully customisable to leverage all your own colour schemes, font and graphics available from your own Enterprise Design System (EDS) to make sure your UI is consistent across all digital channels. No code is needed to make a highly performant website with you in full control.
All In One SEO
The name really hits the nail on the head: a plugin designed for everyone with either little or hefty understanding of how SEO works, translated into nearly 60 languages. If you’re looking to complete an SEO audit of your website, this is the tool for that, with the ability to check how your own site matches up against competitors. Meta tags can be added manually or generated automatically, and 404 errors can by tracked and redirected smoothly. For more advanced users, add-ons include IndexNow for fast content indexing, site maps, and AI integrations such as the ever-useful ChatGPT. It also supports the Google Analytics platform, too.
WP Rocket
We wax lyrical about site speed, as users will often leave any website exceeding page-load times as little as three seconds. One easy remedy is WP Rocket, whose starship influence proves its ability to supercharge those loading speeds, by checking and solving vital performance best practices as soon as it’s launched. As the leading caching plugin for WordPress, its specifically designed for the platform, automatically removing unused CSS and delaying JavaScript execution, all of which clog optimisation, saving you the painful effort of manually doing it yourself.
Google XML Sitemaps
Crafting a full sitemap sounds incredibly long-winded and technical, which is why this plugin’s ability to generate one is exemplary – no wonder it’s been a popular add-on for more than a decade! XML sitemaps alert search engines quickly when content is newly added or adapted, so that the content gets indexed as soon as possible. Getting more eyes on your site is a must using this tool, compatible with all types of pages within WordPress and custom URLs, and despite what the name suggests, also works with Bing, Yahoo and other search engines.
W3 Total Cache
Caching helps to reduce download times by temporarily storing copies of files to be rendered and accessed straight away from a user’s next visit. A website’s overall performance (and resulting search engine rankings) can be bolstered by caching, with W3 Total Cache a popular choice to mitigate slow speeds. It can sustain high traffic periods, and supports multiple Cloud Delivery Network integrations, with various security-based features to maintain the safety of sensitive website data, too. An all-rounder which has seen a ten-fold improvement in overall site performance when fully configured.
WPForms
Digital marketers know the importance of forms for data collection, be it registrations for webinars, to newsletter subscriptions or interactive surveys and polls. WPForms allows users to build out custom forms by dragging and dropping fields, all without code, and boasts 300 readymade templates which can be embedded anywhere on a website from the homepage footer to a sidebar widget, or on blog pages using multi-page forms. It also connects with HubSpot to sync created forms with your existing contacts.
Optinmonster
Regarding subscription lists, that’s another important area digital marketers can simplify to secure more conversions for ROI. Optinmonster is a hugely lauded plugin for lead generation, enabling WordPress users to display opt-in popups on any part of a site or email newsletter, through such interactive guises as floating headers or welcome gates. Marketers can take advantage of its built-in analytics, A/B testing, and Exit-Intent technology to convert users before they leave a site, all responsive to mobile and tablet to make sure no potential client is out of reach.
Broken Link Checker
Simplicity can often be overlooked, and that’s certainly true for this quick plugin. When a link becomes broken and leads to nowhere, it could go under the radar, or tough to locate and fix. Instead, Broken Link Checker constantly monitors a website to deliver health updates in real-time via email or through the WordPress dashboard, where all faulty link edits can be made immediately. When your site performance and search ranking could be drastically affected by broken links, this is the nifty tool to eliminate any worry of missing them.
Plugins are a great way to customise your own digital marketing workflows using WordPress, and we hope you find these picks useful for a range of tasks.
To find out more about getting the most out of your WordPress platform, contact our team of experienced web builders today.
