The Top 8 WordPress Plugins Every Website Needs

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When you’re pressed for time, which WordPress plugins should you prioritize? With thousands of WordPress plugins to choose from, selecting the plugins that fit your WordPress management needs can be overwhelming.

Using the right plugins for your WordPress site can give your business the flexibility and added functionality you need to succeed. However, it can be a challenge to choose the right WordPress plugins for your business. Should you go for the popular vote? Is it wise to go for free or premium plugins?

Here’s a list to help you sort out the top 8 WordPress plugins that you should use for website management:

 

1.) Yoast SEO

When it comes to search optimization, Yoast SEO is undeniably famous for a good reason. For one, it provides you with real-time analysis of your pages so you can effectively optimize your content, keywords, images, meta descriptions, and titles. 

It also has this great feature that checks on your content’s readability to ensure that you get more engagement going on with your copy.

SEO is essential so that you get to reach both search engines and your target audience organically. Yoast SEO can also automatically generate URLs for you to evade penalties imposed by Google for duplicate content. You can enjoy the benefits of the free version, although the premium version is also loaded with power-packed features that can help you improve your site ranking. 

 

2.) MonsterInsights

There are over 1.9 million websites that trust MonsterInsights making it the top Google Analytics plugin designed for WordPress. It’s important to know where your traffic is coming from, and this is what MonsterInsights can do for your website.

Statistics matter a ton when you are growing your business. With this plugin, connecting your website to Google Analytics is a breeze. It has built-in advanced features and an analytics setup that helps you track all interactions on your website.

It automates tracking, so you won’t have to set up or add custom tracking codes on your website. With MonsterInsights working for you, it’s easy to enable multiple tracking features even if you don’t know how to code.

 

3.) Akismet

If you hate spam as much as I do, then Akismet is the plugin of choice for you. It’s the best way to get rid of spam comments. Enabling comment moderation is recommended to prevent spam comments from overwhelming your website. Akismet is your go-to plugin for eliminating spam quickly, especially if the volume reaches that critical level wherein you don’t have time to moderate everything in one sweep.

Akismet is a product by Automattic that automatically filters and moderates comments that are categorized as spammy. This is very lightweight and won’t need any configurations, so you can just run and forget it.

Akismet can be downloaded for free, but you need an API key to use it on your website. The API key is free if you have personal blogs but there is a premium version for business sites.

 

4.) WooCommerce

If you run an e-commerce site, you must have WooCommerce, which happens to be the most popular WordPress management plugin designed specifically for e-commerce sites.

The free version already has incredible features that help you with stock management and calculating shipping costs and taxes. More so, this standard version also allows you to accept payments via cash on delivery, PayPal, major credit cards, and bank transfers.

If you are looking for advanced functionalities, then opt for the WooCommerce premium version with loads of themes, advanced tools, and add-ons to power up your business in the digital space.

 

5.) Live Chat

Your website should have a live chat tool so you can communicate with your customers in real-time. Price would depend on the number of agents or team members that you have on Live Chat. 

Customer inquiries appear immediately in the chat windows, which helps your agents respond promptly or as soon as possible.

Enjoy the perks of having a live chat feature on your site that’s also complete with analytics and reports that are very helpful if you want to be on top of your numbers. This can also be easily integrated with Google Analytics so that you can see the benefits of the Live Chat plugin for your website.

 

6.) OptinMonster

OptinMonster should definitely be on top of your list of WordPress plugins if you want to generate more eyeballs and sales for your business. It’s a hassle-free lead generation tool that comes with built-in templates that help convert strangers to loyal customers. 

Just choose the campaign type that fits your brand and can attract buyer attention, such as floating bars, welcome mats, pop-ups, and more.

It’s a powerful plugin that helps with proper segmentation and targeting so you can customize or personalize messages to site visitors depending on what page they visited or their location.

OptinMonster forms are elementary to embed by downloading a free connected plugin. This also integrates smoothly with different email marketing tools or services.

 

7.) Elementor

If you don’t know how to code and yet want to build a gorgeous website, then Elementor should be in your toolkit. It has this cool drag-and-drop feature that simplifies building websites. Now, anyone can build websites, and you don’t need to be an expert coder to get it done.

Established in 2016, Elementor has grown in popularity, and over five million websites use it worldwide.

 

8.) Mailchimp

An email list is a goldmine, and Mailchimp can help you build that from zero. However, with so many email marketing services around, it’s hard to decide which one you should use for your business. 

Mailchimp is one of the best and most popular email marketing services out there, which offers a free plan that is beneficial for those who are starting lean. In addition, the MC4WP or Mailchimp for WordPress plugin is actively used and trusted by millions of websites – so there’s no reason you shouldn’t.

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The above WordPress plugins are top-rated and are vouched for by millions of websites globally for website management; that’s why they made it on our list. Overall, it would be best to opt for WordPress Management plugins that will give you total control of your website functionality.

It’s highly recommended to download plugins directly from the WordPress.org repository to ensure security. The goal here is to be minimalist yet effective. It’s always best to choose plugins relevant to your business, minus the bells and whistles.