WordPress has become the website platform of choice for many small businesses. In fact, take a look at these 31 WordPress products that can help improve the performance of your website! WordPress is an open-source content management system that is free but priceless. One of the biggest advantages of WordPress is that it can be customized with a multitude of plugins from third-party developers that can enhance your website. From photo galleries to shopping carts, to password-protected areas, to SEO packages; the list of available goes on and on. Some are useful, others not so much and few are indispensable. I put together a list of the plugins that make will enhance your WordPress experience – a few of the suggestions from Megan Totka of Small Business Trends who had some great ideas.

Online Backup for WordPress

The thought of losing the content on my website keeps me up at night but a good back plugin that backup the database is a source of comfort. This free, easy-to-use plug-in allows you to schedule automated daily or weekly backups, perform manual backups, and more.

Akismet

If you are going to allow comments on your blog posts you will need to install Akismet to avoid spam. This plugin will delete unwanted comments before they get posted, sparing visitors from having to read through oodles of bogus comments.

All in One SEO Pack

The first true all-in-one SEO solution for WordPress, including on-page content analysis, XML sitemaps, and much more.

Visual Form Builder

While I usually use Custom Contact Forms by Talor Lovett I was just introduced to Visual Form Builder and it is very cool. Using a simple drag and drop concept you can create all sorts of forms with ease. It’s easy to do this with the Visual Form Builder plugin which lets you create all kinds of forms for your site with no coding required.

Google Analytics for WordPress

Sure, WordPress gives you a way to insert a tracking code from Google Analytics directly into your theme, so why add yet another plugin to your site?
Because with the Google Analytics for WordPress plugin, you get extra features: Automatic tracking for site speed, outbound links, downloads, custom variable support, link tagging, debug mode, login and registration form tracking, and more.

W3 Total Cache

W3 Total Cache is the highest-rated and most complete WordPress performance plugin. Dramatically improve the speed and user experience of your site as well as your ranking on Google which now considers speed as a factor. The plugin adds browser, page, object, and database caching to WordPress.

Relevanssi

The default search feature for WordPress is not the best as results are ranked according to publication date, rather than relevance to the search term. Relevanssi is a WordPress plugin that fixes the search. You get the best results first, with highlights showing the exact part of the document that matched the query.

After the Deadline

Get a personal proofreader for your content that catches more errors than the native WordPress spell check. This plugin comes with basic spelling and grammar and includes contextual spell checking, advanced style checking, and intelligent grammar checking to virtually wipe out mistakes in your posts.

WP Social Share

Social Networks are very popular these days and are a great source to get readers for your blog. WP Social Share plugin helps you and your users to share blog posts directly from your blog to social network sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.

Website wizards have made our life easier in many ways, although sometimes they can create roadblocks. I have crossed paths with Sitebuilder a number of times as many hosts offer the software as an easy, do-it-yourself, web building tool.
While it simplifies the process in one sense, it does its limitations.

• Immobility: Sitebuilder allows a user to select a template from which to create their website. The problem is that the site is not transferable, exportable, or portable in any way. That means that you are married to the host and, should you choose to end your relationship, you must start anew as with any divorce.
• Slow Load Time: While Sitebuilder is easy on the front end, the backend is heavy in excess code causing two issues:

1. A load time that is 15 seconds slower than the average website.
2. Deterring search engines who like prefer pages with clean code.

• Amateurish Design: Sitebuilder templates are less sophisticated to start but when a rookie takes control of the design the sites often take a turn for the worse graphically speaking.

When is Sitebuilder a good choice?

For businesses that are in a hurry to establish an online presence but lack the technical knowledge, how a good Sitebuilder template may fit the bill. The key is to make an informed decision and be aware of its limitations in advance.

The internet has made discriminating shoppers out of all of us. From clothing boutiques to preschools to restaurants, we are making decisions based on a web experience. A subpar experience on a restaurant website translates into lost reservations and lost dollars. Every industry has specific needs that dictate what components must be included on their website. For restaurants, it’s simple. Your website must include FIVE specific details to in order convert visitors into real reservations.

1. Hours of Operation
2. Contact Info or a Reservation link
3. Menus – be sure they are current.
4. Photos – beautiful photos are crucial and will tell your story.
5. Customer Reviews – The proof is in the pudding. Links to social media sites such as YELP and UrbanSpoon.

Trying to weed through the clutter as it relates to online marketing can be a daunting task for a business owner. In fact, just navigating the terminology of the internet world can be enough to scare away the most ambitious in the group. There are essentially four marketing musts that a business needs to be competitive in the online marketing world.

1. A Good Website – This will ensure that your business can be found online, provide useful information about your products and services and close the sale.
2. A Facebook Page – The purpose of Facebook is to develop relationships, network with your customers and become an authority in your field.
3. A Twitter Page – To gather information about your clients and your competition, to share valuable information, and to drive traffic to your website.
4. A LinkedIn Account – to offer an inside view of your company and professional credentials. LinkedIn allows you to showcase professional know-how and to network with others in your industry.

The theory is that your company website will sit at the center of the workflow pattern and the social media accounts will act as a feeder to the website. There’s no need to sign up for all the social media platforms out there – just stick with the basics until you are comfortable.

Hackers have been trying to break into websites 24/7 and spammers have been equally busy at their craft.

WP websites are generally hosted in a fairly lavish environment with high amounts of bandwidth. They offer a desirable place for hackers to take up residence and set up a command center from which to launch attacks on visitors and other websites on that server.

LOCK THE ENTRYWAY

Typically hackers work like an amateur burglar who walks down a hallway testing doorknobs until they find one that opens. To avoid this type of break-in be sure that you are not using the default ‘admin’ as the username and come up with a strong password.

UPDATE PLUG-INS & THEMES

Just as it is important to keep your antivirus software up-to-date on your computer, it is important for business owners to protect their CMS platform by regularly updating plug-ins, themes & Word Press when updates are available.

CAPTCHA

As annoying as they are, installing CAPTCHA fields will make it more difficult for spam robots to send and create a traffic jam on the mail server.

DISABLE COMMENTS

In an ideal world, comments would be a welcome addition to a blog. But in the real word comments add little value to the conversation and disabling them will cut back on the time that the blog administrator spends weeding out the spam.

Does your website look good in Google’s Instant Preview?

Instant previews allow visitors to see what a webpage looks like before they actually look at the web page. Just do a Google search and you’ll notice a double arrow icon next to each search result (it used to be a magnifying glass). If you hover your pointer over the arrow a snapshot of the website will appear.

How does your website look? It is clear and graphically appealing? If it isn’t you could be scaring potential clients away before they have a chance to visit your site. Remember that first impressions make a difference.