Top 7 MUST Have WordPress Plugins For Business Owners
by Bill Parlaman
Filed under Bill's Blog, Blogging For Business Tips
In my last post you discovered the ins and outs of WordPress plugins and how they help make websites more functional.
Today I’d like to share with you the “Top 7 MUST Have WordPress Plugins For Business Owners.”
This is NOT the “be all end all” list of plugins. This is just a list of very helpful plugins to improve your website’s usability.
In fact, I’ve purposely left out my favorite SEO WordPress plugins as I’ll share those with you in my next post.
You should also know these 7 WordPress plugins are used ONLY on self hosted WordPress blogs. If you’re running any other type of business blog these plugins are not compatible.
So without any further ado, here are your Top 7 WordPress Plugins For Business Owners:
1. Akismet. SPAMMERS like to visit your blog and post worthless comments to get back-links to their website. Akismet automatically detects SPAM comments and quarantines them. You can either delete or approve them as non-SPAM comments.
2. WordPress Database Backup. Imagine you finally get your business blog up and running and your site crashes or gets hacked. All your hard work down the drain right? Well not if you’re running this little baby. This plugin lets you automatically back up your website. You can either have the file downloaded to your server or have it emailed to you. This plugin is super easy to use. Simply adjust your settings under the “tools” category of your WordPress control panel.
3. TinyMCE Advanced. I’m not a big fan of the default text editor that comes with WordPress. The Tiny MCE Advanced editor plugin puts your text editor on steroids. This plugin allows you to be more creative with your posts and pages offering over 40 additional buttons to choose from on the tool bar. Makes it super easy to change your font styles, font sizes and font colors. The opportunities are endless here.
4. Contact form 7. Easy way to add a contact form to your website. This plugin allows you to set up drop down menus, tick boxes and text boxes. Very flexible and very easy to use.
5. WordPress.com Popular Posts. This handy plugin displays your blog’s most popular posts in the sidebar. Why is this important? Well it keeps your reader on your website longer. This gives you a chance to build rapport and trust with you reader. In the long run building relationships and trust with your readers if the first step in taking them from prospect to buyer.
6. WPTouch iPhone Theme. Smart phone usage is huge. More and more people are visiting websites with their cell phone. If your website is not configured properly it will be a real pain in the backside for your prospect to read your website. This little plugin makes your website more mobile-friendly.
7. Feed Pauser. You may not realize this but once you publish your blog post, a copy is automatically sent to your readers who have subscribed to your blog via your RSS Feed. This is also true if you’ve set your blog to automatically post to your social media sites. Here’s the problem with this, if you’re a poor speller like me, or you edit your post heavily after you publish it, you’ll risk your readers seeing a less than finished post. The feed pauser plugin lets you delay the publication of your RSS feed for up to 20 minutes. This gives you additional time to proof read your posts before it’s sent to all the world to see. The last thing you want is your buyers and prospects reading a post with spelling errors or typing errors.
So there you have it, the Top 7 WordPress Plugins for business owners. In my next post I’ll share with you my favorite WordPress plugins for SEO.
Now go dominate Google, Bill Parlaman
P.S. Are you sick and tired of poor results from your website? Then you need to get your hands on my FREE Report-” How To Get Your Website On The First Page Of Google, Attract More Buyers And Eliminate Your Competition Online Forever!“
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Great post! Another must-have, IMO, would be the flowplayer plug-in. Makes it easier to post vids!
Hi Bill. Do you have a comment on the Thesis WordPress theme? Reviewers love it but I can’t tell a real from a fake review these days. It seems to be a WordPress template on steroids. Thanks, Sean
Hi Sean,
First thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. I have used Thesis in the past but not enough to really comment on. Personally I do not like the way it looks. I much prefer studio press themes. In fact, I use studio press for all my clients websites and my website. I like studio press because it’s easy to customize and make it look like a traditional website.
Bill