Every job has its tools. Accounting has paper and pencil to complex software, construction uses hammers and nails. Batman has his utility belt, and an awesome car. Every person needs tools, and preferably the right tools, to get a job done well. We want to make sure that you have some of the best tools available! Here are some plugins for your WordPress site, that we think would help you do business well.
Coming Soon – https://wordpress.org/plugins/coming-soon/
First impressions are important! If you were having visitors to your home for the first time, you would try to make it clean and presentable. At the very least, you would shove everything into a room and quarantine the area. Sometimes a visitor shows up unexpectedly, or while you are in the final stages of cleaning a guest arrives early! This can be true in a digital sense as well. You have work to do on your page, and sometimes it has to be done in iterations. This plugin allows you to create a ‘maintenance’ page so if visitors visit your page, they don’t see the messiness of the work you are doing.
Monster Insights – https://wordpress.org/plugins/google-analytics-for-wordpress/
The more you know and understand about what users on your page are doing, the more you can capture the exact place your website thrives. Monster Insights is a great way to use Google Analytics information in a convenient way. This plugin has a ton of options available for you to pick through, and it is fairly simple to set up.
Jetpack – https://wordpress.org/plugins/jetpack/
With all these other plugins being gathered, it is important to mention Jetpack. Jetpack is often one of the earliest installs for a WordPress user, and with good reason. Jetpack has a ton of services that help with marketing and advertising to get your page seen, as well as tools to help your page load quickly, particularly on mobile devices. An added perk is you can tell people in conversation that you use Jetpack frequently, which at the very least sounds impressive.
Sprout Invoices – https://sproutinvoices.com
Sprout Invoices is a great plugin for a business to help organize their invoicing. This tool allows an individual to create, track, and send out invoices in a fairly efficient manner. Being able to store customer’s profiles, as well as quickly customize invoices for your needs, helps add both a professional and personal touch to your business. Sprout Invoices also is compatible with many other plugins, some of which are below!
Ninja Forms – https://wordpress.org/plugins/ninja-forms/
Ninja Forms is a tool that makes getting information from your visitors much easier. Rather than having them find your email and go back and forth, Ninja Forms allow a user to fill out a form that you have placed on your website, and send the information to your preferred place. This links and supports well with Sprout Invoices, allowing some pre-generated invoices to be made based off of the user’s inputs. This saves a fair bit of time on your end, as there is less tracking to do on the work requested! https://sproutinvoices.com/features/integrations/
If Ninja Forms doesn’t offer the level of customization you would like, Gravity Forms does a similar job, but with a plethora of extra options. https://www.gravityforms.com
Project Panorama – https://wordpress.org/plugins/project-panorama-lite/
It’s vital to know how a project is progressing. It’s also a priority for your customers to know if their project is being worked on, or if it has been neglected. People use tracking tools constantly, specifically in relation to packages. The same is true about the products your customers are paying for, and this tool does just that. It allows you to set up a project management system that allows your clients to see (to your level of comfort) how a project is progressing. It also has compatibility with Sprout Invoices, allowing your customers to know what their next step is involving their invoice, and if it has been sent and paid.
WP eSignature – https://www.approveme.com
Some work may require legal binding signatures before starting. It helps keep your business and documents safe, and can hold people to the agreements they have made. It also ensures validity in payments. The compatibility with Sprout Invoices is great, as once it is installed, you can require signatures automatically before accepting payment.
Optin Monster – https://wordpress.org/plugins/optinmonster/
Every good business needs to build a list of contacts, and people who are interested in their business. The problem is, in today’s fast paced and internet driven society, we are bombarded with different businesses. You need a tool to help your customers remember you, as well as how to contact them. This tool allows you to easily set up a way to request contact information from your visitors. They may not want to do business right now, but they may be interested in hearing from you again, or get an update on your blog! This tool allows you to easily request this information, without hours of coding or set-up. This tool is super helpful for the next one, which is…
MailChimp – https://wordpress.org/plugins/mailchimp-for-wp/
MailChimp does some of the same things that Optin Monster does, but also helps the user generate newsletters. This combination allows you to create a contact list, and with that contact list be able to quickly send out newsletters, general updates, or whatever kind of notices you would like to send! This saves you tons of time from having to compile a contact list, and helps you create a targeted newsletter for your various potential customers!
Yoast SEO – https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-seo/
This plugin is entirely designed to help your work be seen. You don’t spend hours tuning and crafting your website for it to be left on the top shelf and ignored. You want your website to be seen, engaged with, and used! This plugin is great for this purpose: it helps you become noticed on search engines, as well as make your site more accessible on social media.
It is our hope that your WordPress site, and your business, thrives well! You are planting seeds and ideas, but you need tools to water them and make them grow. WordPress has a ton of different options for plugins, and these are some of the best out there.
If you are looking for other great tools to use, take a look at our integrations page. We strive to work with the programs that you want to use, so your business can grow and you can get paid!