6 Useful WordPress Plugins for Businesses

I think WordPress is one of the easiest CMS’s out there for any business to use. It may have started out first as a personal blogging platform, but in the past few years it’s evolved into a more functional and useful site. I’ve put together a list of some useful plugins businesses can use, if you’re on the WP platform. This list is small, so feel free to throw any into the comments that you have experience with or find beneficial.

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1. Facebook “Like” button- keeping up with how fast the internet changes in true fashion, this is almost a necessity now. FB has become one of the biggest platforms for sharing and keeping in touch, and getting exposure via the like button is very handy. It’s extremely quick to setup and doesn’t require you to be a Facebook mastermind. You don’t need your API or anything like that. You simply install, fill in the needed information and go.

2. Twitter Tools- This plugin lets you keep your blog connected with Twitter. You can set a custom message so that every time you put a new post on your website, it will automatically tweet out the link for you. This is especially useful if you have a corporate blog and want to keep clients/consumers updated with press releases without spending the time to make identical tweets.

3. Thank Me Later- This plugin is pretty awesome. It allows you to automatically send welcome emails with some information about your RSS feed etc. It eliminates the need to go through every users and send them a “hello” message.

4. Disqus- I recently implemented this on my blog as well and I really like it. Previously, I was just using the regular WP comments section and I got hit with a ton of spam. With Disqus, the users can choose to sign in with any of their accounts (a Disqus account, their FB account, etc) to post a message. You can also “Like” comments that you see and it starts to build up within your Disqus profile. This is a good way to smell out spammers.

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5. WP Super Cache – This plugin helps your page to load faster. It also stores static versions of your website so that it’s not constantly sucking down CPU to reload.

6. WordPress-to-Lead – This has been recently released and I see a ton of value in this. I’ve been using (and still do because I don’t have the need to get leads through my website) a regular contact form through a WordPress plugin. I’m disappointed because often times it gets sent to spam or something I just completely ignore the messages all together. WordPress-to-lead is a plugin that integrates with the Salesforce CRM to create an awesome CRM system. When the customer fills in the form using WTL, it will automatically pull all the customer information and place it into the Salesforce CRM. This is especially useful in eliminating human error when copying and pasting into whatever CRM you may be using. I personally haven’t tried it but I’ve seen it in action. If you aren’t currently using the Salesforce CRM and can’t integrate it, but are curious as to what it does without actually signing up for it, you can see it in a quick video-

This is a great start-up list for your business, no matter how big or small, and can help you get set up on WordPress quickly with lots of options. Of course there are tons more plugins out there, but these are ones that I’ve either tried myself or that someone close to me has tried. of course, with how fast the industry moves, you’ll most likely end up using these for a little bit and replacing it with a newer version or a completely different plugin. But for now, try these out and see how you like them! Any readers have some great plugins to add?