There are 58,000+ plugins for WordPress website, and it can be difficult to decide which plugins to use. In this huge number, there are also various niche-specific plugins. 

There are, however, many plugins that every website should use. In this article we will look at the Top 11 most important plugins for your WordPress website. But, before that, let’s clearly define the meaning of the term ‘Wordpress plugin’.

What is a WordPress Plugin?

WordPress Plugins are bits of software (tools) that contain functionality that you can add to your WordPress website. They can also be used to improve/expand the existing functionality of your WordPress website. 

WordPress plugins allow you to add a new function to your WordPress website without writing or editing code. If you want to add a new feature/function to your website, there is probably a plugin for that whether it relates to Ecommerce, SEO, Design features, social media, or security. There are numerous plugins for everything.

Now let’s have a look at the Top 11 crucial plugins for a WordPress website:

Top 11 Must-have Plugins for your WordPress website in 2021

1. Yoast SEO

Search engines are the best to drive organic traffic. Every day, Google handles more than 9 billion searches. The organic traffic that you get is based on the SEO of your website. 

Yoast SEO is the most popular SEO tool for WordPress websites, and since 2008 it has helped millions of websites to rank higher in the search engine results. 

Key Features:

• Helps in finding and adding the right keywords to your website to improve the ranking, indexing, and reach of your website.
• Shows the optimized percentage of your website and can improve it with suggestions.
• The readability check helps you in improving the quality of your content. 

Price:

Yoast SEO offers a base version for free. Yoast also provides a premium version that comes with advanced features and support. The pricing begins at $89/year. 

2. WPForms

Every website needs a contact form so that visitors can easily contact you directly. It is an important part of your website because this is where a visitor can be converted into a lead/client. 

The drag and drop feature of the plugin allows you to easily create contact forms, payment forms, online subscription forms, online order forms, and any other form that you want. 

Key Features:

• Creation of fascinating forms for free.
• Integration with multiple payment platforms to build the perfect form in less than 5 minutes. 
• Pre-built templates to build your form quickly. 

Price:

WPForm offers a free version and also a premium version that comes with multiple templates and integrations. Pricing for the premium version starts from $ 39.50/year. 

3. UpdraftPlus

UpdraftPlus is a backup plugin that offers automatic and manual backups for WordPress sites. 

On average, 30,000 websites get hacked each day. Moreover, plugin updates can cause crashes and errors. At times like this, a backup can save you time and money. All WordPress websites should have a backup strategy. 

Key Features:

• Automatic and manual backups as per your requirement. 
• Easy restoration of your website to a previous version. 
• Local as well as cloud backup. 

Price:

UpdraftPlus offers a free, as well as a premium version which is priced at $42 per year and up. 

4. Elementor

Elementor is a website designing tool that you can use to craft your page with attractive and appealing original designs. The plugin allows you to create attractive designs and provide impressive effects without spending money on graphic designers. 

Key Features:

• Customization of your website based on your preference and taste. 
• Effects like background overlays, hover effects, animations, and many more with just drag and drop. 
• 150+ templates to enhance your website into a beautiful masterpiece. 

Price:

The Elementor plugin is free for use, but a pro version is also available which provides more features and benfits. The premium version costs $49/year and up.

5. Constant Contact

How do you connect with your users when they have left your site? Email is most widely used for customer contact. 

Constant Contact is a marketing tool plugin that allows you to create an email list and then send impactful and effective newsletters to the users. 

Key Features:

• A very useful email marketing tool. 
• Easy and quick set-up for even non-tech users. 
• Effortless creation of email lists. 

Price:

The Constant Contact pricing plan begins at $20/month.

6. Wordfence Security

Almost 30% of all websites are powered by WordPress and, as a result, it has become one of the most frequently hacked platforms. The Wordfence security plugin can help safeguard you from hackers. 

The plugin can put up a firewall, perform regular security checks, and help get rid of malware. 

Key Features:

• Provides complete protection to your website. 
• Works in autopilot mode.
• Helps to block thousands of attacks every month. 

Price:

It offers a free version and also a premium version that costs $99 per license and up. 

7. Optimole

Did you know that if your website takes more than 3 seconds to load, you will lose half of your visitors? In many cases, they will not visit your website again. 

Images take more time to load, and therefore they can increase your website’s loading time. You do not want your website’s content to kill your website’s loading speed. In such a case, optimizing images can help you improve your website’s loading speed, and Optimole helps you by doing this. 

Key Features:

• Automatically compresses graphical content. 
• Optimizes PNG and JPEG images. 
• Helps in resizing images uploaded to your website. 

Price:

The Plugin can be used for free up to 5,000 visitors a month. After that, you can use the premium version for $22.52 per month. 

8. Revive Old Post

The most used mobile app category is social media apps. People use social media apps regularly, and they spend hours on these apps. Therefore the best place to target them is on social media platforms. 

The perfect plugin for this is the Revive old post plugin which can bring more traffic to your website by taking your website’s old and new publications and sharing them on Twitter and Facebook. 

Key Features:

• Auto sharing of your site’s new and old articles on FB & Twitter. 
• Drive more traffic to your website
• Helps in scheduling social media posts. 

Price:

Revive Old Post offers a free version or you can opt for the premium version which has more features. Premium version pricing starts at $88.50/year. 

9. Sassy Social Share

Have you seen various social media buttons when you read articles or when you are on a website? These little social media buttons allow you to effortlessly share the content of a website/web page on social media platforms. 

Sassy Social Share plugin allows you to add these social media buttons to your website so that visitors can easily share your content. 

Key Features:

• Offers sharing buttons for all the widely used social media platforms. 
• Displays the current share counts for each page. 
• Allows you to pick and customize button styles. 

Price:

You can choose the free version with basic functionalities, or you can opt for the premium version that comes with various add-ons and is priced at $7.99 and up.

10. Cookie Notice and Compliance for GDPR/CCPA

Do you receive a cookie notification/pop-up when you visit a new website? This is mandatory for various countries under their laws and regulations for data privacy. 

You can enable cookie notifications for your site using the Cookie Notice and Compliance for GDPR/CCPA plugin. 

Key Features:

• Showcases the cookie notice to all visitors. 
• Provides a notice template or allows you to write your own cookie notice. 
• Enables visitors to check the cookie settings of your website. 

Price:

Cookie Notice and Compliance for GDPR/CCPA is a free plugin. 

11. WP Rocket

WP Rocket is a plugin that will decrease your site’s load time and increase page speed. It is a cache plugin that creates a dynamic cache of your webpages so that the server can easily and quickly load them, resulting in faster loading speeds. 

Having a faster website has a direct impact on your site’s  UX. 

Key Features:

• Creates cache of your website’s dynamically generated pages
• Helps load pages faster
• Improves the user-experience of your website. 

Price:

WP Rocket’s premium version pricing starts at $49/year.

Conclusion

This sums up our picks of the Top 11 crucial plugins for your WordPress website. We hope you find some interesting plugins in this list and that it helps you decide which plugins to use.

If we missed any must-have WordPress plugins that you think should be in this list, do let us know in the comment section. 

The post Top 11 Must-have Plugins for WordPress Websites in 2021 appeared first on SiteProNews.

1. Voice Search Becomes the New Norm

Voice-based user searches are quickly transplanting written searches – more so than ever in 2019 predictions. By 2020, experts predict voice searches will account for 50 percent of all online searches. In 2016, just 20 percent of online queries were voice searches, which provides perspective on how quickly this trend is growing. Tailor your 2019 web and ad content to accommodate voice search, not just written searches. This means using tactics such as:

• Implementing more longtail keywords and natural language into copy
• Adding voice-friendly content and keywords
• Emphasizing localized content (three times more people use voice search for local
• queries than for non-local ones)
• Optimizing your local business listing on Google My Business
• Anticipating questions users will ask their devices and providing answers

It is imperative to design your business content to accommodate voice-search users, not just written-word users. Otherwise, you’ll miss numerous opportunities to appear in the first page of the search engine result pages (SERPs) during voice-based and often local searches. Make sure your brand achieves visibility when someone performs a “near me” or other localized search by optimizing your content with voice search in mind.

2. Greater Emphasis on Video Marketing

Video marketing isn’t a new trend, but it is picking up steam heading into 2019. Cisco predicts more than 80 percent of all web traffic will take the form of video by 2021. That puts a greater emphasis on video in 2019 than in previous years. Forbes has stated that 90 percent of customers say video helps them make buying decisions, while Aberdeen finds video marketers achieve 66 percent more qualified leads per year. Video gets more views, longer viewing times, and better engagement than static forms of media on websites and in other marketing efforts.

As businesses continue to see exceptional results from video marketing efforts, competitors are reviewing the way video could improve their websites and campaign strategies. If you’ve yet to jump on the video digital marketing train in 2018, make video marketing a top priority at your enterprise in the coming months. Investing in in-house and/or outsourced video content can help you reach new heights in terms of user engagement and lead generation in 2019.

If you don’t think you can afford to produce videos for your company, think again. Studies show that even internal videos created with available resources (e.g., smartphones and webcams) achieve the same or similar results as those produced under professional guidance through external resources. The majority (54 percent) of small companies use internal resources for business video production. Applying video to your strategy will reap rewards in 2019 regardless of how you produce your content.

3. More Marketing Automation (Chatbots Aren’t Dead)

Artificial intelligence (AI) is another hot-button topic that was in most predictions for 2018 website and marketing trends. In 2018, AI expanded its horizons under new technologies, achieving exciting developments such as more humanlike robots and even smarter machine learning. AI and automation in 2019 will continue to dominate the digital marketing sphere in both existing tech, such as chatbots, as well as potentially new tech, such as more advanced conversational user interfaces.

Consider introducing chatbots to your website to provide services a human worker cannot. Simulated human interactions can be enough to make a customer feel heard and appreciated when visiting a website; more so than having no ability to interact with the company at all. Implementing AI in the form of chatbots on your website can make your brand appear more personable and focused on customer care than not having a chat window.

If you want to think outside of the chatbot, there are plenty of upcoming opportunities for new automation tech in 2019. For example, businesses can now use AI to track user behavior with more accuracy than ever, helping to inform content strategies and custom-tailor the buyer journey. There are myriad ways to use AI and marketing automation to benefit your business in 2019. Keep an open mind when it comes to automation for the greatest benefit in the new year.

4. Higher Demand for Authenticity and Transparency

Dial up the authenticity in 2019. Consumers – namely millennials – value authenticity in branded content and will continue to search for and support companies that achieve an authentic voice in 2019. The modern user won’t fall into advertising traps or feel dazzled by fancy marketing-speak. Instead, modern consumers want to feel real connections with brands. This means turning up the charm and walking the walk instead of just talking the talk.

Achieving brand authenticity requires keeping your promises, giving customers glimpses of your personality, and generating trust through consistency. Aim to make the world a better place with your company or profits and showcase how you’re making that happen with your web content. Millennials respond well to companies that don’t focus solely on profits, but instead serve a bigger purpose – such as helping others or saving the planet.

Identify a bigger-than-yourself business goal for 2019 and make it clear in your content. Publish consistent blogs in a tone that matches your company’s personality. Take a stand for something and show your commitment to serve the cause in multiple forms of published content. Show consumers you care about more than your bottom line in 2019 and reap the rewards of establishing yourself as a company that modern consumers can feel good about supporting.

5. Social Media Influencers Are a Brand’s Best Friend

Social media influencers will make their mark on 2019 marketing. Influencer marketing isn’t a new revelation, but in the new year, you’ll find more top brands present on social media in the form of influencer posts and videos, not just brand-published content. As social media continues to take over the digital landscape, social media personalities and stars are reaching celebrity status. Use their fame to your advantage by investing in influencer marketing.

Social media influencer marketing provides an excellent opportunity to connect with your target audience in a language they not only understand but that they want to hear. Rather than bombarding your consumers with interruptive advertisements and pop-up banners across their screens, partner with an influencer to make your message heard. Choose an influencer who matches your brand’s tone, style, personality, and principles. Reach out to that person and see if he or she would consider a partnership.

Social media influencer marketing is a cost-effective and powerful way to build your brand and increase leads through stimulating personality-packed content. Studies show 70 percent of teen consumers trust influencers more than other types of celebrities. Almost half (49 percent) of consumers rely on influencer product recommendations. The average return on investment for influencer marketing is $6.50 for every dollar spent. Join this fast-growing marketing channel early in 2019 and start reaping the rewards.

Are You Ready for Digital Marketing in 2019?

Marketing is always changing, but that doesn’t mean you have to be a step behind. Keep your strategies progressive to constantly impress your target consumers. Keep these five digital marketing predictions in the foreground of your 2019 strategy, and you’ll be ready to take your niche by storm in the New Year.

The post Digital Marketing Trends for 2019 appeared first on SiteProNews.