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6 Essential WordPress plugins for your new website design

by | Oct 26, 2015 | Website Design, Website Optimization

Plugins are like the bells and whistles of website design. They add shimmer and shine to the basic function of a WordPress site, and while there are thousands of free and pay-for plugins out there, we’ve compiled a list of six of the best.

Here are the top six must-have plugins:

  1. WordPress SEO

The first, and most important, plugin is WordPress SEO (Site Engine Optimisation). This is crucial to all ecommerce businesses. Why? Because without it users won’t get to your site. It puts your ecommerce business on the map, and preferably at the top of the list. Research shows that most users visit the top five listings in a search, so if you’re going to use a plugin, use this.

  1. Google Analytics for WordPress

This plugin allows you to track all aspects of your ecommerce site. It allows you to see who visits your site, where they’ve come from and what device they are using. Besides informing you about your audience, it gives you comprehensive reports on bounce rates, behaviour, conversion and real time, among other things.

  1. Mailchimp widget

Email marketing is an inexpensive way to drive traffic to your website and garner new customers. The Mailchimp widget allows you to easily drop an “email sign-up” onto a sidebar, making it a simple process for customers, and also for you to manage your contacts.

  1. NextGen Gallery

Pictures make or break a site and perhaps that’s why this is the most popular WordPress plugin. The NextGen Gallery allows you to have control over the images that you add to your site. You can create galleries and albums with various options available, including a lightbox effect and style and size edits, plus loads more.

  1. Contact Form 7

This is how you add forms to your site, even if you’re not an HTML whizz. The plugin allows you to customize the form to suit your needs and manage multiple forms simultaneously. It’s simple, smart and easy.

  1. Share this

Share this helps you increase social activity on your site by making it easier for visitors to share your content – they simply click a ‘share this’ button. This plugin gives you access to several social media platforms too, including Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.

Need help designing or developing an ecommerce website? Then contact WSI OMS today.