I’m always on the hunt for new apps and WordPress plugins that will make me more productive. Those little tools that give you amazing insights and just make this small business thing a little bit easier. So, what are the best free small business plugins for WordPress? I’m so glad you asked. Read on…
Let me start by reviewing SumoMe‘s collection of plugins designed to grow your website traffic. I love the peeps behind this stuff. Pretty much anything AppSumo does is awesome. They make their stuff so simple to use and so unbelievably helpful and so, so, so FREE. I could sit here and have a love fest over them all day, but let me get on with it:
Five of the Best Free Small Business Plugins For WordPress
Heat Maps – The picture above shows a screen shot of a heat map for a website. See those big yellow circles that look like lights? Those are the the places people are clicking. In just a few seconds flat, we’re able to see that the audience is clicking the “get started” more often than the “watch video” button. We can also see which of the offered services people are most interested in learning more about. Good info to have? “Yes” would be a major understatement. This is invaluable insight. I can find out exactly what my audience is interested in and I don’t have to touch my complicated Google Analytics page. It’s like love at first sight. You need this.
Smart Bar – This puppy places a thin, horizontal bar at the top of your site so that you can collect email addresses in a flash. You can customize the bribe er…I mean “offer” you are a giving away in exchange for their address and you can even change the text and the color of the “submit” button to reflect your brand. After all, do you know anyone that really wants to “submit” anything? Me neither. I like to add a little attitude to my call-to-action (CTA) buttons. I have one that says “Make Me Sizzle” and another that says “Hook Me Up.” These C-T-A’s are way more my style and it’s an important thing to be true to your style regardless of when, where or how you’re marketing.
Popupsmart – Pop ups. A lot of users hate them. But we marketers LOVE them. Why? They work. End of story. If you hate pop ups, join the club; however, your own distain for them does not mean you shouldn’t use them. Au contraire mon frere (et ma sœur)! {translation: on the contrary my brother and my sister!} Study after study after study proves that pop ups work. If the end goal is to get people on your list, well then, what are you waiting for? This lovely little pop up does it’s job and a whole lot more. In addition to prompting people to sign up it even tells you when they signed up, how many popups were shown on that particular day and how many converted. List Builder is my BFF.
Are you all still with me? These truly are some of the best free small business plugins for WordPress. Can I hear an “amen?” But wait…there’s more…
Next up, I’m going to introduce you to Yoast–another company that I am madly in love with. If you have a website, chances are you’re hoping people will find it. Search engine optimization (SEO) is a big hairy deal in today’s business world. There’s a reason SEO services aren’t cheap (well, if you’re talking about the legitimate ones anyhow–there are plenty of worthless services out there that will promise you the world for next to nothing and you’ll get exactly what you pay for…next to nothing. But don’t get me started on that.) In order to rank a site for a worthwhile keyword it takes an incredible amount of time, attention to detail and flexibility–because Google LOVES to change it’s algorithm just seconds after you think you’ve mastered how to work it. Enter Yoast. This fancy little tool makes on site optimization easier than ever. Write a page or a post and it will tell you exactly what you need to do to optimize it like a rockstar. Here you’ll enter the keyword you want to rank for, your title and description and it will create a little snapshot of what people will see when they search and find your site on Google. You know those first few lines that you read about right after you search for something and before you click on the most appealing choice? Yep, you can change what that says. And you SHOULD change what it says. Yoast makes it fast and easy. No nerd required. But that’s just the beginning. You’ve got to hook up with Yoast and check out all that they offer. It’s one of those things you’ll wonder how you ever lived without after you get it.
Finally, I’ve got to turn you on to Jetpack. Jetpack does pretty much…everything. At last count, they were offering 34 solutions. There are several that your programmer will love. If you’re not a programmer, here’s one (of MANY) you’ll love. The “sharing” button that makes it really simple to add a bar to the end of every blog post that will enable your readers to quickly share your goodness on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and plenty of other fabulous places. Plus, once people start sharing you can see how many times your blog content was shared across various platforms. For example, I know some of my recent blog posts have hit home runs on Facebook and LinkedIn. Tons of people shared what I wrote and my site traffic skyrocketed as a result. I can also quickly evaluate what type of content my audience is sharing the most. Once I know what ya’ll like, I can create more of it. You get more of what you want (help) and I get more of what I want (traffic and visibility.) Yeah for win win’s! Want some win win’s for yourself? Get Jetpack.
This post could go on and on but I’ll wrap it up for now so you can get some of these goodies I’ve just introduced you to. I’ll write another post with more suggestions later. Go get some of the best free small business plugins for WordPress now. Just click on the links above.
Unsure if any of these are the right plugins for your business? We get it. Developing your marketing plan can be tough. It’s daunting trying to figure out where you can improve! But don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. We’ve developed this quiz that helps you identify the smartest steps you can take right now to get your company to the next level. Take our quiz, now!