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If you want to set your blog up for success, install these WordPress plugins.

WordPress powers millions of blogs worldwide, and the service—particularly WordPress.org—has some of the best customization options you’ll find on the web. You can choose from numerous themes to make your website look how you want it to, and you can install several plugins to enhance the site’s functionalities.

You can use WordPress plugins to make your website compliant with local regulations, stop spam, and improve your marketing campaigns. You’ll find plugins for numerous other purposes as well, and we’ll reveal a dozen of the best options today.

1. CookieYes

CookieYes Plugin on a Website

If your blog operates within the EU or EEA, you must comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Part of these regulations requires you to give users consent before you store cookies in their browsers.

CookieYes is a free plugin that allows you to embed a consent banner on your website. Users can alter and adjust their preferences however they want. After installing the plugin, you can sign up for a CookieYes account and set everything up on your blog.

2. Cookiebot

CookieBot User Consent Plugged In

An alternative to CookieYes is Cookiebot, which helps your site remain compliant with the GDPR. You can also use the tool to comply with the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA), which has been in effect since January 2023.

You can use your Cookiebot banner in more than 40 languages, and the plugin is free for 50 subpages. If you need something more comprehensive as you grow your blog, you can opt for one of the various paid plans.

3. Yoast SEO

Image of the Yoast SEO WordPress Plugin

Search engine optimization (SEO) is crucial if you want others to find your blog on Google, Bing, and so on. Yoast is one of the most effective SEO plugins, and the free version is perfect for beginner bloggers.

The Yoast SEO plugin lets you choose a focus keyword, and you’ll also receive scores for your posts. If you need to fill in some gaps, the tool will give you a list of suggestions—such as adding external links. Moreover, you’ll receive a readability score.

Learning about SEO will take time and experimentation. You can speed up the process with proactive learning, and we’ve got a full guide on how to become an SEO expert.

4. Jetpack

Jetpack Plugin in WordPress

Website performance is just as important as high-quality content for building an audience, and Jetpack is probably the best WordPress plugin for helping in this respect. Jetpack has round-the-clock security features to keep your site safe from external threats, and you can automatically back up your blog.

Jetpack also makes it easier for you to move your blog to a new host later if you want to. You can get analytics tools, too, along with lots of other niceties. If you’re good at coding, you can use various JavaScript tips to optimize your performance.

5. MonsterInsights

Image showing MonsterInsights Overview in WP

MonsterInsights lets you monitor your web traffic more closely. You can look at your conversion rate, average order value, and which devices users are accessing your blog from.

Other metrics you can measure with MonsterInsights include how long people tend to stay on your blog and your total number of sessions. To use MonsterInsights, you’ll need to sign up for Google Analytics.

6. Akismet Anti-Spam

Spam comments are an unfortunate reality for online blogs, but you can minimize the risk by using anti-spam software. Akismet is one way that you can protect your blog from comments that fall into this category.

Akismet uses machine learning to determine what is spam and what isn’t, and you can integrate the service with Jetpack and other tools for your WordPress site. The basic version operates on a pay-what-you-can model, whereas more premium options have fixed pricing.

7. Creative Mail

All artists, including writers, should start an online newsletter for audience engagement, selling opportunities, and various other benefits. Creative Mail is a WordPress-designed option for creating email newsletters, and the plugin is free to use.

After integrating CreativeMail, you can go to it whenever you want from your main WordPress page. You can sync blog posts and use the feature with WooCommerce, and it also integrates with Jetpack. Creative Mail has numerous stock images that you can use to grow your newsletter as well.

8. Classic Editor

WordPress has moved toward the same block editing solutions that you’ll see on sites like Squarespace and Wix, but you can always revert to the previous editing version with the Classic Editor plugin. The Classic Editor lets you determine who is the default editor for each page or blog, and you’ll also get the old layout.

The Classic Editor plugin will continue to receive support and updates until at least 2024.

9. Elementor

Removing as much friction as possible will help you stay consistent in publishing blog posts, and Elementor does that by making editing much easier. The plugin lets you drag and drop elements like you would on some of the other most popular website builders, and you can use more than 90 widgets.

Elementor has support in over 50 languages, and the tool was designed to ensure that your blog continues to perform at an optimal speed. The service has a selection of paid plans, and you can get WooCommerce integration as well.

10. WooCommerce

Your blog probably won’t immediately make money, but you should think about monetization as soon as possible. Listing products you want to sell is one way to do that, and WooCommerce is an open-source plugin that gives you more control over your blog’s e-commerce aspects.

WooCommerce allows you to customize your product pages and choose your preferred payment methods. You can also sell both one-time purchases and subscriptions.

11. UpdraftPlus

UpdraftPlus Plugin on WordPress

You should take every step possible to stop your website content from getting deleted. But if the worst happens, knowing that you have a backup option helps—and UpdraftPlus lets you blog with more confidence by backing up your posts.

UpdraftPlus allows you to schedule your backups, and you can anonymize personal data with the service. It has free and premium versions.

12. Mailchimp4WordPress (MC4W)

Mailchimp is one of the most popular email marketing platforms, and you can integrate the service with your WordPress site via MC4W. MC4W is an unofficial plugin with more than two million active installations as of May 2023, and you can easily connect your account to your site. On top of that, you can design signup forms that can help you grow your mailing list.

Mailchimp4WordPress integrates with WooCommerce, WPForms, and several other plugins. You can manage the service from your dashboard.

Install These Plugins to Give Your WordPress Blog the Best Chance of Growing

You don’t need a perfect website when you launch your blog, but you should, at the very least, have the most essential plugins to set yourself up for long-term success. It’s also smart to think ahead and set up your monetization systems early on, which can save time later.

These plugins will help you measure website performance, stick with regulatory requirements, stop spam, and much more. So, why not integrate them with your site today?

By Danny Maiorca

Sourced from MUO 

By Rajesh Bhimani

Alfred is running a successful bakery shop in the prime city square and his on-site business is not only a favourite place for the locals but is quite a talk of the town for tourists.

Alfred launches his online shop through a WordPress website to expand his business digitally after a flourishing on-site business.

But, the results haven’t been satisfactory for him. It’s not that Alfred wasn’t quick on the trigger, but little knowledge of attracting customers to his online bakery shop is giving him a tough time. Are you facing the same problem as Alfred?

We are here for your rescue.

#EyeOpener: It is not only the case of Alfred; 75% of customers never return to a website after visiting it once.

Given the competition in the online market, it’s tough to attain the interest of your targeted audience or quality leads. Lead refers to a potential customer to whom you can make a sale in your business. It can be a person who mailed/ called you for a quote. A person who downloaded an e-book of your product or service from the website can also be a potential lead.

So, to grow your business, you need to generate quality leads.

It means you need to turn your website visitors into buyers or your customers. You want security first. You need to market your product/service in a way that takes your business to the next level. In order to do that, you must maintain your website properly. You may take the help of any WordPress Website Maintenance Company to keep up your WordPress website, so you can keep generating quality leads and turn them into your customers.

As a word to the wise, the epitome of information regarding the ideal WordPress lead generation plugins will work out the best in such a case.

To guide you on the same, we have curated an impactful guide of some of the best WordPress Lead Generation plugins, which are nothing less than goldmines.

1. MonsterInsights

  • User-Friendly WordPress Analytics Plugin

Well! Don’t judge this plugin by its name. It does huge work like its name, Monster (in a good way).

Google Analytics and Google search console are the epitome of information that comes together in the MonsterInsights plugin for WordPress. It is a recommendable plugin that fetches the data and compiles the same into precise and actionable reports which are easy to understand.

The data recorded through this plugin speaks volumes about the activity of the visitors to your website. To acknowledge you about the same, let’s take a deep dive into what Monster insights show you.

  • This plugin provides information on the web pages that receive the highest amount of traffic or visitors.
  • It acknowledges you on the links that receive the maximum clicks out of all you have included on a particular page for the entire website.
  • It gives you a clear answer on the best-performing call to action buttons placed on your website.

#MarketInsight: MonsterInsights is loved by over 3 million users, among which prestigious brands like Subway, yelp, FedEx, and others are also present.

  • Another major highlight of this plugin is file download tracking that lets you keep an eye on the lead magnet’s performance like ebooks. Further, it recognizes the ordinary downloadable files to offer you a track report on the same.
  • You as a business can get an idea of the most downloadable assets and the others that need some changes for better performance.
  • With an idea over which content is welcoming the most convertible visitors via author tracking, you can get an idea about what content your audience likes and how you can grow your site through it.
  • With all such features on the plate, MonsterInsights help you keep updated with the results of the efforts you are putting into your business.

Availability:

  • Free to use with limited features.
  • Paid version packages starting at $99.50/year

2. Optinmonster

  • Most powerful lead generation plugin

The best-rated WordPress popup plugin, or say the most recommended lead generation software is Optinmonster. It offers you exceptional tools to create email signup forms and popups that will turn out to be highly converting for your WordPress website. The eye-catching opt-in forms lure the visitors and cease their urge to abandon your business website.

  • It further helps in converting your visitors into subscribers and customers that will, in turn, grow your email list optimize conversion rate, and drastically reduce the bounce rate on your website.
  • Including these WordPress plugins will prove to be a bee knee’s approach for your business. You can expect the traction in the rate of quality leads you to get in your business.
  • Quickly deploy campaigns on your site WordPress lead generation plugin can be installed quickly on your website.

#MarketInsight: 1,213,437+ websites use OptinMonster for lead generation.

  • Optinmonster is used to create slide-in, sidebar form, floating bars, spin the wheels pop up, Yes/No pop-up, lightbox pop up, welcome mat pop up, and many more.
  • It has a built-in Analytics tool with which you can track the performance of a website.
  • Every form element is open for testing to check which one would work the best for maximum conversion from headlines, button colors to two different designs.
  • The inbuilt exit-intent Technology works the best to convert your visitor to be a part of your subscriber list by popping up a form when they are about to abandon your site.
  • Segmented email lists can be built with targeted messages on specific pages in all categories.
  • This SAAS platform integrates well with e-commerce platforms, other websites, and Email Marketing Services.

Availability:

  • The basic plan starts at $9/month.
  • If you want to avail just like yes/no forms and exit intent Technology, plans start from $29 per month.

3. WP Forms

  • Exceptional Drag & Drop Form Builder

WP Forms is one of the most user-friendly contact form plugin ideal for even a beginner.

  • The Drag and Drop Form Builder feature eases off the task of creating eye-catching email subscription forms, donation forms, quote forms, payment forms, contact forms, or any other forms.
  • WP Forms offers you in-built options with beautiful graphs and charts to showcase results for polls and surveys.
  • Forms created by WP Forms are 100 % responsive when opened from any device, be it mobile, tablet, or computer, given to its device compatibility.
  • This plugin includes a template goldmine. Give a spark to any form you create with the creative 150+ pre-built form templates available in WP Forms.
  • High-end spam security helps you to block spam form submissions with the help of a captcha and a Honeypot method in WP Forms.
  • The choice of creating multi-page forms when you require more than one page for surveys and detailed order forms is present in WP Forms. Long-form is split into multiple pages to enhance the user experience on your website.

#FunFact: 4,000,000 professionals utilize WP Forms to build smart forms for their requirements. You too, can start using it through a video tutorial on their website.

  • Smoothly integrate your forms with Mailchimp, constant contact, GetResponse, Drip, and many others to enjoy mail services.
  • Conversational Forms are perfect to increase form completion rates and form conversions. It initiates a real-time conversation-like interface by displaying one question at a time.
  • WordPress database is abode to all the saved entries. It means form entries are managed directly from your WordPress dashboard. WP Forms further allows you activities like marking them read, sorting, delete, or export to a .csv file.

Availability:

  • Free version with limited features
  • The paid version starts from $39.50/year.

4. Chatbot

  • AI Chatbots at your service

If you like to work out of the box, the chatbot plugin will help you assist your customers round the clock. It is an ideal plugin to create, deploy, and track chatbots all in one place.

  • You can use the drag and drop option to include new elements to create any class of chatbot with the Customised visual builder.
  • Key tasks are automated right away by creating multipurpose chatbots with an easy-to-use builder or pre-built templates.
  • It includes one-click installation and requires no coding or technical skill, or training to get started. Any unrecognized phrases get saved automatically and suggestions are further available on the same that you can add to your stories.
  • Integrate with one click with Slack, LiveChat, Facebook Messenger, and other with open API, webhooks, and Zapier integrations.
  • AI powers every task for better support, engagement, and to sell across different channels. It works in a background that utilizes natural language processing to understand the most precise meaning of the user. Using machine learning algorithms further improves the performance of the chatbot.
  • Encourage the customers to carry on the conversation on your chatbot with interactive responses. From text, images, buttons to quick replies, you can utilize the chatbot platform to showcase the product and services of your brand.

Availability:

  • Chatbot offers a 14-day free trial to get an insight into its features.
  • The paid version starts at $42/month.

5. Livechat

  • Real-time and prompt live chat plugin

This live chat software shines out with a range of great features. It is a seamless handy chat tool to generate quality leads and further into your customers. It’s easy to use and can easily integrate with several other marketing services.

  • Utilize this plugin to talk with people in real-time. Another highlight of this plugin is that it doesn’t need any login into WordPress for its use.
  • This plugin works seamlessly on any device, be it mobile, laptop, or other.

#PointToNote: If a person tries to contact you through live chat apart from your working hours, a support ticket will be created instead of in your unavailability that you can solve the next day in your working hours.

  • You can start a conversation from your end with an automated message greeting the website visitor. It lures the attention of the visitor to let them know that their query can be directly solved by the support team.
  • Customize the chat window that is most appealing to the visitor and help you grab the attention of the potential leads.
  • If you want to fetch the history of the chat of a particular visitor, you can get the same on Livechat.
  • It also offers the flexibility of including social media icons in your chat group. It can help the visitors give a shout-out to your brand on their social media handles. Brand awareness is thus an added advantage to use this lead generation WordPress plugin.

Availability:

  • Start with a free 14-day trial.
  • Paid version available at $16/month.

6. All in one SEO

  • WordPress SEO plugin

The name of this plugin is enough to tell its story. It has been an assistant to tons of webmasters to combat SEO-related challenges.

It requires no experience to get started! You have to input the correct data in the related fields to get desired results and work done. It is a WordPress SEO plugin that lets you optimize your website so that your content can rank at top positions in search engine results.

  • While using this plugin, you can enjoy automatically generated Meta tags.
  • Any duplicate content is detected easily in your website content which helps you stay away from plagiarism.
  • On-page optimization tools: the powerful tools for page optimization sorts the work of adding descriptions, Meta tags to your pages and optimizing page titles.
  • Be it XML sitemap, Google Analytics, Google Search Console, and Bing Webmaster Tools, and a lot others can be connected with the All-in-one SEO plugin.
  • As you use it more and more, it offers you more control over the SEO tasks through its advanced features.

Availability:

  • Free to use with limited features.
  • Paid version starting at $49.50/year.

7. OneSignal

  • Notification WordPress plugin

Push Notification to your WordPress website as you use this WordPress plugin so that you don’t miss out on any potential leads. You can send notifications on the desktop as well as on your mobile so that you can instantly cater to the queries or requirements of your aspiring customers.

  • Initiate by creating your account. Further, install the plugin the WordPress plugin.
  • You can also choose to alter how push notifications should be displayed to the visitor.

#FunFact: One Signal sends over 5 billion notifications through their platform every day.

  • Your visitor will see a pop-up just when they are browsing on your website. Once they allow it, they choose to receive any new update from you. It can turn them into your loyal followers and customers.
  • You can create user segments, configure notification delivery at pre-set intervals, and customize the opt-in process for your visitors with live chat.
  • A visitor can choose to get notifications from you if you have anything to inform your customers even after they left your website.
  • This WordPress plugin powers notifications from startups to fortune companies.
  • You can re-engage with your audience to attract them with any loyalty program or reward you are offering on your website.

Availability:

  • It’s free to use with a limited set of features.
  • Paid plans start from $9/month.

8. Thrive Leads

  • Email list building plugin

In the era where professional communication is the best way to seek the interest of your potential customers, Thrive leads come as a blessing to all. It compels the user to fill out the information, especially the email addresses.

  • Once you get them in your database, you can advertise your products/ services to them in their inbox.
  • This all-in-one list-building solution helps you build conversion focussed forms to capture the data of your website visitor. The drag and drop editor is the best option to design such forms to persuade the visitor.
  • Not only the designs, but the way you want it to arrive in front of the visitor is another highlight of this plugin. Choose a pop-up form, slide-in form, in-line form, or sticky ribbon one to display your email form in front of your visitor.
  • This plugin supports all types of opt-in forms and a huge range of email marketing services.
  • Analysis and tracking of crucial metrics are available on the dashboard.
  • The A/B testing feature is the golden feature in this plugin is ideal for enhancing the rate of conversion.
  • If you are a beginner, the pre-designed templates will provide you a base to get started. Start building your own once you get the experience of which template gets you the best conversion.

Availability

  • The paid version is available in Thrive Suite at $19/month.

9. Leadpages

  • Landing page WordPress Plugin           

An excellent way of converting your visitors into loyal customers is by creating extravagant and informative landing pages.

  • Start by choosing an optimized and professionally designed template for lead generation and conversion.
  • You can mix and match any element to design a custom landing page.
  • It helps you create conversion-oriented and mobile responsive lead pages for your website.
  • You can include alert bars, pop-ups, opt-in texts, and more on the landing pages created with its drag and drop builder.
  • The easy-to-read analytics report will help you check the performance of landing pages associated with your marketing campaign.
  • The real-time conversion tips and A/B testing further guides the creator in the right direction.
  • Check out the workflows and add leads automatically to your email list as you integrate your favorite online marketing apps with it.

Availability:

  • Start with a free 14-day trial.
  • Paid version plans starting at $27/ month.

Conclusion

Get settled for the best choices listed above for generating innumerable quality leads for your online business. It’s high time that you work for the best to achieve a flourishing business.

Feature Image Credit: provided by the author

By Rajesh Bhimani

Sourced from readwrite