WordPress Plugins: Top Wordpress Plugins to Supercharge Your Marketing
1. TOP WORDPRESS PLUGINS TO SUPERCHARGE
YOUR MARKETING
By: Eugene Farber of ContentStrategyHub.com
One of the many reasons I love
WordPress is the ability to extend it’s core
functions with an array of plugins.
It’s very rare that I come across a
functionality that I am looking for, for which
a plugin does not already exist. Here are
just a few of the top WordPress plugins I
use here, and on some of my other
websites, to make the sailing a little more
smooth.
Keep in mind that I say just a few. This is definitely not a definitive list of top WordPress
plugins. In fact, I tried to lean towards the plugins that don’t get as much attention on some
other blogs.
But I am keeping a much lengthier list of plugins and other tools here; which you can get
instant access to.
Anyway, let’s get to it…
Contest Domination
There is actually a funny story why this makes the top WordPress plugins list. I was about to
have a coder friend create a script for me that does exactly what this plugin does.
It’s not for this site, but for another fairly large project I am about to undertake (maybe I’ll
talk about it here later). I found it completely by accident; and when I did, I didn’t hesitate to
pick it up. I’ve tested it out and it works amazingly well. Don’t you just love it when you find
something that perfectly suits your needs?
Content Domination can be used to drive a lot of traffic and create a lot of buzz. I think a
tool like this more than deserves to make the list of top WordPress plugins.
Duplicate Post
2. This plugin makes the top WordPress plugins for two reasons.
The first reason is that it makes it extremely easy to create “series” posts. It’s something
that can save you a lot of time when you are creating content like the “magic content” I talk
about here.
The second reason this makes the top WordPress plugins list is the recent change Google
made to its Website Optimizer tool. That being, they got rid of it .
Now, if you want to use Google to run split tests for free, you must do it from within Google
Analytics. To run a test, you need to create several versions of the same page and test
those variations. This plugin allows you to create a copy of a post or page with just one
click, and then you can edit the copy to test the changes you want.
End Content
This makes the top WordPress plugins list for its ease and functionality. The “End Content”
plugin simply creates a form to input text or code. Whatever you put in automatically shows
up at the end of each blog post. That’s how the opt-in form at the end of each blog post
appears on this blog.
And that form was getting a lot of action until I installed another plugin, which I will mention
further down .
Lazy Load
This makes the top WordPress plugins list because it effects something extremely
important: site speed. Of all the many reasons you should worry about site speed, perhaps
the most important is that studies have shown that site speed is a huge factor in user
experience (and a huge deciding factor of whether visitors will stay on your page or not).
And that effects sales.
The plugin works by delaying the loading of off-screen images until the visitor actually
scrolls down to them.
Qoate Scroll Triggered Box
This makes the top WordPress plugins list because it absolutely destroyed another plugin
that I love (the “End Content” plugin). Until I discovered this plugin, the “End Content” opt-in
3. form was getting a lot of attention. And while it still gets some today, Qoate Scroll Box isn’t
even on the same playing field.
This plugin is the one that powers the opt-in box that slides out of the bottom-right corner of
the screen as visitors scroll down the page. You can customize what goes into the sliding
field, which side it slides out of and how far down the page the user has to scroll to activate
the scroll box.
Pretty powerful stuff, and one of the coolest and most useful plugins I’ve found. Any list of
top WordPress plugins that doesn’t include the “Qoate Scroll Triggered Box” is just
incomplete.
Revision Control
This plugin makes the list of top WordPress plugins because it saves you a lot of resources
by limiting the number of revised copies WordPress saves.
By default, WordPress saves different revisions of pages and blog posts in case you want to
revert to an older version. But do you really need 10 copies of the same blog post? I doubt
it. It just eats up resources.
This plugin allows you to limit the number of revisions that are automatically saved.
Sharebar
We all know the power of social sharing these days. So a list of top WordPress plugins
would just be incomplete without a social sharing plugin.
This plugin creates the bar that follows the reader down the page as they scroll. You can
choose to display buttons from a list of pre-loaded social networks. And you can even
create your own.
Ultimate TinyMCE
This makes the list of top WordPress plugins for me because I’m not a coder. I can code
minimally when I absolutely have to – but prefer not to do it.
The visual editor in WordPress is called “TinyMCE.” This plugin extends the features in the
default visual editor by providing an array of options and buttons that you can display in
your visual editor (i.e. fonts, font sizes, advanced link attributes, video linking, etc.).
4. W3 Total Cache
Did I mention site speed already?
This makes the list of top WordPress plugins because I had to have a cache plugin listed
here, and this happens to be the best [free] one in my opinion.
WordPress Editorial Calendar
Given that this blog focuses a lot on content marketing and strategy, I felt I needed to
include a “strategic” plugin on my top WordPress plugins list.
This plugin creates a plugin of all your posts and drafts so that you can see a visual
representation of the content you have to work with. It also has drag-and-drop capability so
that you can schedule and move posts around very easily.
WordPress SEO by Yoast
Most top WordPress plugins lists will probably opt for the “All-in-one SEO Pack” plugin. But I
find that this one does a much better job. It actually analyzers your content and points you
in the right direction of where you need to improve it for better optimization.
I actually bought a plugin a while back that has more or less the same capabilities as
this free plugin does. In fact, SEO by Yoast is actually better in some areas.
WPtouch
The world is going mobile. And your blog or website should be too. Luckily if you are using
WordPress, optimizing your site for mobile devices is as easy as installing WPTouch.
There are some other mobile optimization plugins out there. And I’ve tried a few of them. I
think this is the best one because it actually allows you to customize some of the smaller
details that get changed in the conversion process.
WP-Optimize
I’ve talked a lot about optimization on this top WordPress plugins list, so let’s end it with a
plugin that’s actually called “WP-Optimize”.
5. This plugin helps you manage and clean your WordPress database. You can get rid of all
the extra data you don’t really need any more to improve site performance and save
resources.
That’s it for now. Those were just a few of the top WordPress plugins. But there’s plenty
more plugins (and other tools) that you can take advantage of. Click to get instant access
to a list of 100+ marketing tools.
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