by The Computing Australia Group | WordPress is no longer used just as a CMS for blogs. More and more web designers and developers are using WP to create web pages for small and big companies. WordPress is highly flexible and easily customisable, and there are over 55,000+ plugins and counting to get you the maximum benefit out of your WP site. Here is The Computing Australia Group list of 15 free WordPress plugins that will enhance you business site.
1. WooCommerce (eCommerce Plugin)
The basic features include:
- 1. Product, Cart, and Checkout pages
- 2. Central dashboard with key metrics
- 3. Configurable shipping options
- 4. Integrated content and commerce across your site
- 5. Secure payment options – credit card and other alternatives
- 6. Automated tax calculations
- 7. Integration with Google Analytics, MailChimp, and Facebook
- 8. Host of free and paid extensions
2. All in One WP Security & Firewall (Security Plugin)
This is one of the best-rated security plugins in the market. It provides complete and comprehensive security for your site and monitors your site for vulnerabilities and server issues.
The main features include:
- 1. User Account Security
- 2. User Login and Registration Security
- 3. Database Security
- 4. File System Security
- 5. Blacklist functionality
- 6. Firewall Protection
- 7. Security Scanner
- 8. Brute Force Login Attack Protection
- 9. Regular updates and additions of New Security Feature
3. UpdraftPlus (Backup Plugin)
- 1. Easy to use
- 2. Much faster
- 3. Allows automatic backup schedules
- 4. Backup storage in clouds
- 5. Provides Restore functionality
4. All in One SEO (SEO Plugin)
Optimising your business website for search engines is very crucial to get more traffic and sales. All in One SEO is a powerful and comprehensive plugin for SEO needs.
Basic version includes features:
- 1. XML Sitemap
- 2. File Editor
- 3. Social Meta
- 4. Robots.txt
- 5. Bad Bot Blocker
- 6. Canonical index
- 7. No-index
5. MonsterInsights (Google Analytics Plugin)
This is one of the best and most popular Google Analytics plugins. The set-up and customisation are quite easy. You get
- 1. Quick and Easy Set-up
- 2. Real-time analytics
- 3. Google Analytics Dashboard
- 4. eCommerce Tracking
- 5. Ads Tracking
- 6. File Download Tracking
- 7. Referral and Link Tracking
- 8. Custom Dimensions
6. W3 Total Cache (Caching Plugin)
Caching plugins improve the speed of your site, which is one of the most crucial factors for SERPs rankings. W3 Total Cache reduces load time on the server by serving cached files to visitors. No list of free WordPress plugins is complete without W3 Total Cache
Key Features include:
- 1. Minifies HTML, JavaScript, CSS
- 2. Mobile friendly
- 3. Compatible with shared hosting
- 4. SSL support
- 5. Caching statistics for performance insights
- 6. Security features
- 7. Reverse proxy integration and many more
7. Beaver Builder (Page Builder Plugin)
This drag and drop page builder allows you to work on the front end of your website without the need to modify the HTML. It is mobile friendly, has customisable and reusable templates and powerful modules, allowing you to edit your business site on the go.
Features include:
- 1. Front End and Live Editing
- 2. Front End Drag and Drop interface
- 3. Multisite capability
- 4. Total Control over Page Layout
- 5. SEO enabled
- 6. Network-Wide settings
- 7. Basic and Advanced Modules
8. Shared Counts (Social Media Plugin)
Social Media engagement is becoming increasingly important to connect with target users and buyers. Sharing buttons on your site lets readers share your posts and pages with others on social media, driving traffic to your site. Shared Count is one of the best free plugins in the market.
Features include:
- 1. Share buttons for Facebook, Pinterest, Yummly, Twitter, and LinkedIn
- 2. Social count display and tracking
- 3. Share button styling and display options
- 4. Does not use cookies, tracking scripts, or store any user data
- 5. One-click retrieval for HTTP while upgrading to HTTPS
9. Lazy Load (Image Optimisation Plugin)
Images help you with SEO, but they also take a lot of load time, slowing down your site. Lazy Load displays images only when they are visible to the user, thereby reducing the HTTP mechanism and improving loading times considerably. The script weight is 10KB, making the plugin lightweight in itself. This plugin works on images in
- 1. Thumbnails
- 2. Post content
- 3. Avatars
- 4. Widget Text
- 5. Smilies
- 6. Iframes
10. Redirection (Redirect Manager Plugin)
With this plugin, easily manage your 301 redirects and track 404 errors to improve user experience and site ranking.
Among other functions this plugin lets you:
- 1. Create and manage redirects quickly and easily
- 2. Redirect based on conditions
- 3. Configure logging option
- 4. Export logs for external viewing
- 5. Display geographic information of an IP address
- 6. Match query parameters
- 7. Import and Export from and to other plugins
11. WP Mail SMTP (Email plugin)
You just cannot do digital marketing without emails. While WordPress uses PHP mail function by default, hosting providers may not be configured correctly. WP Mail SMTP reconfigures the mail function to a SMTP service.
The main features include:
- 1. Automatic Email Log
- 2. Manage notifications
- 3. Team of experts to install and configure WP Mail SMTP
- 4. Connect with SMTP.com
- 5. Supports Zoho Mail, Outlook.com, Gmail, Office 365, Mailgun, SendGrid
- 6. Connect with your web hosting or third party SMTP server
12. Yoast SEO
This plugin helps optimise your website for search engine visibility by providing features such as automatic sitemap generation and keyword analysis. It also makes it easier to create meta descriptions, titles, and headlines that will help strengthen your site’s SEO rankings. Features include:
- 1. Everything you need to start ranking in search engines
- 2. Automatically take care of all your site’s technical SEO
- 3. Access to 5 free academy courses
13. Akismet
This plugin keeps spam comments off your blog or website by automatically checking submitted comments against a database of known spam content. It also saves time by not requiring users to manually vet each comment before allowing them to be published on the site. The free version allows you free spam protection on a website. For a modest fee you can upgrade to unlimited sites and more.
14. Tidio Chat
An excellent choice to get your small website started, no commitment is required. You can add a chat box to your website that offers a range of handy options, including a ticketing system, desktop and mobile apps, chatbots and more. Key features include:
- 1. Live Chat – conversations with 50 users
- 2. Chatbots – conversations with 100 users
- 3. Email Support
- 4. Ticketing system
- 5. Desktop & Mobile Apps
- 6. 3rd party apps integration
- 7. Visitors Info
- 8. JavaScript API
15. Rank Math
Similar to Yoast, Rank Math is a handy SEO tool with a few starter features to get you moving before you decide to go to one of their paid plans. Anyone serious about SEO and promoting their website should consider getting their feet wet with an SEO plugin. It is a great way to start learning the fundamentals of SEO. Key features include:
- 1. Complete Elementor Integration
- 2. Complete Divi Integration
- 3. Free email reports
- 4. 90 days of Google data preserved
- 5. 18 Pre-defined Schema Types
- 6. 5 free content AI credits
Not sure which plugins to opt for your business website? Are you looking for some specific functionality in a plugin? Let our web development team in Perth help you. With our extensive knowledge of web designing and hosting WordPress sites, we are a software development agency that can help you design your WordPress site and to choose the best free and paid plugins for your business site. Contact us today.
Jargon Buster
Brute Force Login Attack : It is a cryptographic attack that simultaneously sends multiple passwords to a server in an attempt to “guess” the password correctly and gain access to a server/website. SERP : Search Engine Results Page (SERP) is the display page you see when you input any search term in the search engine. Typically, those are URLs to different websites matching your search query and Sponsored links(ads). SMTP server : Simple Mail Transfer Protocol is a communication technology behind sending and receiving emails. Article updated on: January 2023 Changed from 11 Essential Free WordPress Plugins for your Business Website to 15 Essential Free WordPress Plugins for your Business Website
