Many of our users are business owners who often ask us for plugin suggestions. Having the right set of tools can help you take your business to the next level. In this article, we will share the must have WordPress plugins for business websites in 2018.
1. WPForms
As a business owner, allowing your customers to contact you should be your top priority. WPForms is the most beginner friendly contact form plugin for WordPress. This drag & drop online form builder allows you to easily create contact forms, email subscription forms, order forms, payment forms, and other type of online forms with just a few clicks.
We use it on WPBeginner and all of our other sites. There’s a free WPForms Lite version available for those who are looking for a simple solution.
If you want more advanced features, then get the Pro version. Use this WPForms coupon to get 10% off your purchase.
2. MonsterInsights
MonsterInsights is the best Google Analytics plugin for WordPress. It allows you to connect your website with Google Analytics, so you can learn more about your website visitors such as where are they coming from and what are they doing on your website.
You can then optimize your site accordingly to improve your earnings. We have detailed guides on how to install Google Analytics in WordPress and how to use Google Analytics.
MonsterInsights also has a free version. If you would like to take advantage of the advanced features, then you should get the Pro version. Use this MonsterInsights coupon to get 10% off your purchase.
3. OptinMonster
OptinMonster is the most popular conversion rate optimization software. It allows you to convert abandoning website visitors into email subscribers. If you want to grow your email list, then this is a must have WordPress plugin in 2017. Read these case studies to see how much success other businesses are having by using OptinMonster.
4. Constant Contact
Constant Contact is one of the best email marketing service providers. It allows you to build an email lists and send emails to your subscribers.
It is by far the most beginner friendly platform, with quick and easy setup. It comes with built-in tools to add signup forms and also works well with lead generation software like OptinMonster.
5. Sucuri
Security is going to be a big concern for online business owners in 2017. Sucuri’s web application firewall is probably one of the best protection you can get for your site.
They monitor and protect your site from DDoS, malware threats, XSS attacks, brute force attacks, and basically every other type of attack.
If you don’t have a firewall on your website, then add one today.
6. BackupBuddy
While we’re talking about security, there’s no better security than having a reliable backup system.
As a business owner, you cannot afford to lose your business and customer data in case of a hardware failure or an attack on your host’s servers. The first thing you should setup on all your WordPress sites is a backup plugin. We recommend using BackupBuddy because it is one of the most reliable and easiest way to backup and restore your WordPress sites with just a few clicks.
7. Yoast SEO
Yoast SEO (formerly known as WordPress SEO by Yoast) is one of the most popular WordPress plugins. It allows you to optimize your WordPress site for search engines.
It not only helps you add meta tags, it optimizes your site as a whole. We have a complete step by step guide on how to install and setup WordPress SEO by Yoast.
8. W3 Total Cache
Speed is one of the most important SEO factors. Faster websites rank higher in Google, this means more visitors for your business website and more conversions.
W3 Total Cache allows you to serve compressed and cached files to your visitors. This reduces the load on your server and your website becomes faster. Take a look at our beginners guide on how to install and setup W3 Total Cache.
9. MaxCDN
Images and other static content on a website take the longest time to load. If you want to make your website even faster, then you will need to use a CDN to deliver your static files. MaxCDN is the most reliable CDN service, and it integrates easily with WordPress. See our guide on how to install and setup WordPress CDN solution MaxCDN on your site.
10. Envira Gallery
While you can easily create image galleries in WordPress without using a plugin, these galleries are fairly basic. Envira Gallery allows you to create beautiful responsive galleries in WordPress.
You can create multiple galleries, add them anywhere on your site, create albums, open images in lightbox popups, and much more. Take a look at our tutorial on how to easily create responsive WordPress image galleries with Envira.
11. MemberPress
MemberPress allows you to build online communities on your WordPress website. It is the best WordPress membership plugin that allows you to easily add membership options to your WordPress website.
You can create subscriptions and restrict content to users based on their subscription plans. It works with all popular payment ways and plays nicely with online stores using WooCommerce.
12. Shared Counts
Shared Counts is the best WordPress social media plugin. It allows you to easily add social media sharing buttons to your website. Unlike other social sharing plugins, Shared Counts is super-fast and comes with only the social platforms you actually use.
13. LearnDash
LearnDash is the best WordPress LMS plugin to create and sell online courses from your WordPress website. It has a drag and drop course builder that allows you to quickly add lessons, quizzes, assignments to build your course.
For detailed step by step instructions, see our guide on how to create online courses in WordPress using LearnDash.
14. Quick and Easy FAQs
When launching a new product or website, you may need to add a FAQs section in WordPress. You can add a new page with all the frequently asked questions (FAQs), but in most cases FAQs grows as your product evolves and as your customer base grows.
By adding the FAQ section, you can significantly reduce your support overhead and improve conversion. Take a look at how to add a FAQs section in WordPress.
15. Insert Headers and Footers
While managing your WordPress sites, you may sometimes need to add code snippets to your WordPress site’s header or footer. This means you will have to edit the theme files which could get messy and break up your WordPress theme. Insert Headers and Footer allows you to easily add code snippets to your WordPress site without editing your theme files. Take a look at our tutorial on how to add header and footer code in WordPress.
16. CSS Hero
WordPress themes rely on CSS for the visual appearance of your website. If you want to make customization to your theme, then you will have to learn CSS. This can be time consuming for a business owner.
CSS Hero is a WordPress plugin that allows you to customize any WordPress theme without writing a single line of code. Check out our review of how CSS Hero makes WordPress customization easy for more information.
17. Beaver Builder
As a business owner you may soon realize that placing things differently on your pages can result into more conversions and sales. But how do you create those landing pages without learning to code?
Beaver Builder is a powerful drag and drop page builder tool for WordPress. It allows you to easily create your own page layouts using a simple user interface. See our comparison of the best drag and drop page builders for WordPress for more information.
18. Google Apps for Work
Google Apps for Work is a suite of web applications like email, docs, spreadsheets, etc. Created by Google, this powerful suite of office applications is cheaper, easy to deploy, and hassle free. Most importantly, it allows you to use your own business domain name for emails.
19. Freshbooks
Freshbooks is a cloud based accounting software for professionals, freelancers, and agencies. It allows you to easily send invoices to clients, receive payments, and manage your finances. Take a look at our article about creating invoices for clients using WordPress.
20. SEMRush
As a business owner, you need data to find out what your competitors are doing for their websites. SEMRush allows you to look at the keywords where your competitors are ranking. You can checkout their paid keywords as well as their organic traffic. This way you can optimize your own content and marketing strategy. Also checkout our list of best WordPress SEO plugins and tools that you should use.
21. All in One Schema.org Rich Snippets
Rich Snippets are special markup that you can add to your content and describe your content more precisely to search engines. This information is then used by search engines to show your content differently. For example, star ratings below your product listings, maps when someone searches for your business, and so on. All in One Schema.org rich snippets plugin provides you an easy user interface to generate that markup and use it in your WordPress posts and pages.
Check our guide on how to add rich snippets in WordPress.
22. BirchPress
If you need a solution for your business website where your users can book and pay for appointments, then BirchPress is the solution for you. It allows you to easily add a complete online booking system to your WordPress site.
You may also want to see our guide on 5 best WordPress appointment and booking plugins.
23. OutreachPlus
OutreachPlus is the best email outreach software in the market today. It allows you to manage your email outreach campaigns from a single dashboard like a pro.
You will be able to manage followups, send peronalized emails, send trigger based responses, and more. It is super easy to use and allows you to connect multiple email accounts and see all your outreach emails in one inbox.
24. Slack
Slack is a team management, productivity and communication tool. We use it to communicate with our team spread across different timezones and locations. Slack is more convenient than email, and it can integrate with tons of other online tools you may be using. See our guide on how to integrate Slack with WordPress for more information.
We hope this article helped you find some of the best WordPress plugins for your business website. You may also want to take a look at our guide on 25 most common WordPress mistakes that you want to avoid.
If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.
it’s really helpful, I’ve installed the header and footer plugin. saving a lot of time easy to install and work. thank you
Amazing plugins for a business website!
Hi,
I am buliding a WordPress Food Blog for my wife , and Have a doubt,
I installed and activated ” Google Analytics for WordPress Dashboard(GADWP)”
Also
Google Analytics for wordpress by MonsterInsights ” is active.
Can you tell me which to keep , or we can keep both , the better one and advantages over each other.
Expect a quick reply
Regards,
Suresh
Hi Suresh,
You should choose one of them.
It’s really helpful. I just installed a few plugins, I will try the rest.
All plugins are really very useful. WordPress has made it really easy to apply different features with the help of plugins.
Thank you for a very detailed article, learned a lot of new services!
hi, my question can i use Yoast seo and jet pack together i am using jet pack for users to follow the comments and to get the analytics reports there in dashboard currently our blog is using cloudflare and wp rocket for speed and security, i am so confused in using jet pack,
another problem is profile images in comments and author box how to set our images and we are using wp monsters settings currently but how to our image in author profile please guide.
Thanks for sharing this informative post. it is very helpful for beginner.
Please am just new in this system.
How do I get this plugin working in my website?
For that paid for a personal plan and business plan, is it possible for the person to use this plugins in his site?
Hi Victor,
You are probably using WordPress.com. Please see our guide on the difference between self hosted WordPress.org vs free WordPress.com blog.
Very good list. Would you be able to create a list of free plugins and services for newbie WordPress developers?
Hi Lance-Desmond,
Some of these plugins have free versions as well. This includes MonsterInsights, WPForms, Yoast SEO, and more.
Thanks for sharing informative post. it is very helpful for beginner
Very nice list! About back up plugin why not consider also BackWPUp plugin? It’s a complete back up solution for WordPress, free and pro version available. give it a try!
Thanks
Hi, Is there a wordpress plugin that would help us post links on our website based on the recent/ general interest of a particular user or whatever the user has been recently looking for.
Hi!
I really need the social sharing viewer! I need the same plugin that you have in your website where all people can see how many times the article is shared. Can you tell me what’s the name of the plugin that you use?
Thanks man!
Hey Lorenzo,
We use a custom plugin made specifically for WPBeginner website. Please see our list of social media plugins that you can try.
Is there a WordPress theme or plugin to create a website like Fiverr but the seller can create its teamwork (all team members can access the seller’s account)?
Hi Bassem,
Please see our guide on how to create a micro-job website like Fiverr in WordPress.
I wanted to use WPForms for my payment form as I don’t need a login or a cart. Unfortunately, it does not handle taxes
What plugin would you suggest that handles taxes, coupons, custom fields and stripe & paypal? I don’t want something complicated like WooCommerce but just a payment form.
Thanks!
You don’t mention the cost of these plug-ins. I’m trying to do a estimation of the start up costs for our new website.
Hi,
I am building my Ecommerce store now and can you recommend a plugin where people can create and/or log in to “My Account” page using their name and email address? This is the place where they get to see their orders status or changing their billing address as such. Do you have one for recommendation? Thank you!
regards
Hi Eden,
If you are using WooCommerce, then it already has that feature.
Hello
Thank you for all your advice. All your videos on youtube are also great and really helpful.
I just need help on a couple of things as I am new to WordPress.
What Facebook Like plugin can I use? I need a widget and plugin for my viewers to access and like my Fb. I had the Facebook Light Box, but it generated a whole lot of problems causing my Pages not to load. Bluehost assisted me in finding the problem, but advised that I remove the plugin.
Also, do you have all you videos on your website or on YouTube. Can you provide me with a link to all your videos on your site as I am finding this difficult to locate. Thanks again.
Hi Risha,
Please see our guides on how to add Facebook like button and how to add Facebook page plugin in WordPress.
You can subscribe to our YouTube Channel and watch all our video tutorials.
It’s really helpful
Thank you. Nice list.
Can I adjust the size of a sound player plugin. I have several installed in our page but when I adjust the lenght of them will always go bcak to their original size.
Also, will you be able to restore a hacked page with no bakcup of it? I, so, please let me know pricing.
Thanks for your help!
can yoat seo and All In One Schema.org Rich Snippets work together ? or must i only have one of them ?
Hi Rivash,
Yes, they can work together.
Hi,
I’ve found your site WP for beginners extremely useful and written in simple to understand non tekky language (awesome as you Americans say). I did find this section re plugins scary however, because of the price of everything and quite off putting. If I used all those plugins recommended here it would cost a small fortune. Would it be cheaper to pay for WordPress.com business plan and have much of the work done for me and with support? It would be nice to see comparisons with the free plugins, if there are any. Somewhat confused!
Hi Bernie,
You don’t need to use all the plugins. You can choose which plugins you can afford. Also some of the plugins also have free versions that would work just fine as well. You can then upgrade to the paid version as your business grows.
Hi, Im looking for a wordpress plugin that can keep a list of customers and remind me and the customer when there boiler is due serviced annually. Iv looked at some CRM plugins but not found anything that can do what i need. Anyone know of anything that could do that?
Hey, can anyone suggested must tools or plugin for wordpress personal site. just started a new one, and really lost now.
Using Elementor page builder . so easy make a website without write a single code
Hi,
Usually, I never left comments on posts but this one is just perfect.
All these plugins are just pure gold.
Thanks again !
Is jet pack and yoast plug in same?
Do I need to install both ?
Hey Ashu,
No they are not. Yoast SEO is a WordPress SEO plugin. JetPack is a suite of many different plugins and tools packed together. You can install JetPack at any time. However, you should install Yoast SEO right away as it will help you improve SEO as you add new content to your site.