WordPress Plugins for Small Businesses

Building or managing your own website? Here are our recommendations for WordPress plugins that are universally helpful, no matter what your industry is.

YOAST SEO

What it does

Yoast’s SEO plugin allows users to easily optimize their webpages. Easily edit meta and title tags, image information, and desired keywords all in one place. Yoast SEO also evaluates content based on word count, passive voice, connector words, and more.

Why it’s needed

Whether you are just starting to learn SEO or are a seasoned expert, Yoast SEO provides a shortcut to entering in vital SEO information on the page. It also coaches content to be SEO optimized. View all of your pages’ SEO and content all in one place, with indicators to let you know if the page can be optimized even more.

EASY GOOGLE FONTS

What it does

Google Fonts is a type foundry founded by Google to provide free, easy-to-use fonts to the general public. The Easy Google Fonts plugin allows users to change their fonts based on the category (h1, h2, p), or on a specific page. The plugin comes in the form of a widget and does not require coding.

Why it’s needed

To kick your website up a notch, use fonts other than the basic recognized web fonts. Using Google Fonts correctly can add a level of professionalism and set your website apart. We recommend sticking to font families with several different variations. For example, Google’s Roboto comes in Roboto Condensed, Roboto Slab, and regular Roboto with light, bold, oblique, small caps, and more.

SIMPLE SOCIAL ICONS

What it does

Simple Social Icons displays icons that link users to various social profiles. Customize color, shape, alignment, and more through this widget form.

Why it’s needed

If you do not have customized social icons, Simple Social Icons is the way to go. Enter all of your social data into one place, then choose where to put all of the icons on the site. Since it’s a functioning widget with an option for shortcode, placement options are endless.

BACKUPBUDDY

What it does

Backup Buddy…backs up your website. Choose to do a manual backup or schedule reoccurring ones.

Why it’s needed

Keep your website and sanity safe! Losing a website can cost thousands of dollars to recover. Better safe than sorry.

CONTACT FORM 7

What it does

Contact Form 7 allows users to create multiple contact forms, allowing for customization, CAPTCHA, spam filtering, and generates easy-to-use shortcode. It stores forms in a database that is easily accessible.

Why it’s needed

While there are several great form plugins, Contact Form 7 remains the most reliable and supported. It may not have drag-and-drop form features, but what it lacks in user interface it makes up for in maintenance and lack of bugs. If you are looking for a simple, reliable form that doesn’t need a lot of CSS, Contact Form 7 is worth looking into.

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