WordPress plugins are great for marketing because they help you achieve goals quickly and efficiently. You can attract traffic to a site, increase sales, or boost conversion rates for other metrics.
Some plugins help you automate your workflows or optimize websites according to the latest search engine algorithms.
When a content management system is identifiable on a website, over 64% are using WordPress. That means around 40% of all sites use this platform, which is why knowing how to market using its plugins is essential for brand growth.
WooCommerce is the most popular plugin, used on one-fifth of the websites that install WordPress. Elementor (17.3%) and WPBakery (14.3%) are equally popular.
Elementor and WPBakery make it easier to build websites in WordPress, but they don’t necessarily help with the marketing work.
That means fewer than 1% of WordPress websites install a marketing plugin that gets used for marketing purposes.
WordPress and Marketing Is a Natural Relationship
WordPress websites get plenty of traffic each month, but that isn’t the only reason why this platform is successful for so many people today.
You can install a WordPress website in less than five minutes that already offers some optimization benefits. That means you can begin your SEO marketing journey right away since everything installs with a few clicks.
Once you start exploring the different plugins that are available for brand growth, you’ll have even more ways to expand your reach to current and future audiences.
With nearly 60,000 WordPress plugins available, it’s fair to say that some are old, and others are gold. How can you separate the best from the rest when you’re ready to do some marketing work?
The first step is determining the path you want your marketing to take. Are you looking to expand the natural SEO benefits that WordPress provides? Do you need to stay at the top of the mind of an existing customer base?
Is your goal to create or expand resources in the world of email marketing?
Steps to Follow to Create a WordPress Marketing Plan
Before you decide what WordPress plugins to use, it’s crucial to have a marketing plan available to follow. Here are the steps to follow to build this necessary foundation.
- Define what you offer. Be clear about what you’re selling on WordPress, including the features of each product or service. Find out how what you do benefits your clients, and why your approach is better than the competition.
- Create a brand mission, even if you’re a company of one. Why are you creating a WP site to reach out to potential customers?
- Define the target audience for your website. Who do you expect to be marketing your products or services toward each day? You’ll want to consider different socioeconomic demographics, ranging from household income to personality traits. Find what people want or need within the scope of what you provide.
- Conduct a thorough market analysis to define your competition and discover different trends. You might find a service gap where your company can find some space, but will customers want to buy what you have?
- If you have competitors, look at their SWOT analysis. What steps can you take to differentiate yourself from what they’re doing?
- Outline your goals and define your brand positioning. Your marketing efforts should target specific outcomes, such as retaining customers or increasing online sales.
- Create the key points for your marketing strategy. Where do you hope the plugins will help when you’re ready to generate more traffic?
- Set a budget for your marketing investments and stick to it.
- Create a campaign that makes sense within your brand’s messaging while using the benefits of the plugins that you select. Try to be as consistent with your goals as possible when reaching out to others.
- Define your key performance indicators and metrics to ensure you know that success is happening, or if changes need to be made to improve results.
Before Using Plugins, Help WordPress Market for You
Once you have a WordPress marketing plan for your brand and business, it is time to look at the content management system’s structure to enhance potential results.
Anyone can install a plugin and hope it will help meet their marketing needs. People create posts, focus on SEO, and manage calendars daily with mixed results.
If you want less of a hit-or-miss experience, try taking these additional steps to ensure you receive your envisioned outcomes.
Use Responsive WordPress Themes
Search engines prefer websites with mobile-friendly designs over those without them. If all things are equal and the difference is responsiveness, that site will typically rank higher.
When creating a WordPress site, look for themes marked as being “responsive” or “mobile friend.” That doesn’t mean they’ll be optimized, but it will put you on a path that can generate successful results.
After installing the theme, it helps to review your mobile traffic metrics to ensure the results are within your KPI ballpark.
Optimize WordPress Site Images
Speed is an essential ranking factor when looking at how organic search engine rankings break down at local, regional, and national levels.
With so many sites using WooCommerce, you can expect dozens, if not hundreds, of high-quality images for visitors to review. That means the files stored in WP can impact how quickly a page loads.
Before you start working with marketing-specific plugins, you might consider using an image compression plugin to reduce the file sizes of your images.
You can also use Dropbox to import to WordPress.
Build an XML Sitemap
Search engines want to index your WordPress site to rank it. One of the ways they accomplish this outcome is by looking at the list of all the pages on your site, which is called a “sitemap.”
WordPress creates one for you automatically, but that doesn’t mean it’s optimized or ready to support your marketing efforts.
You can use a sitemap generator plugin to optimize this process, track index pages, and tell search engines when your site receives updates.
Split Test Your Landing Pages
Although A/B testing is helpful, it can also be a process that involves a lot of trial and error. If you have two landing pages that don’t work great when you start, it’s like comparing two math tests that both received a failing grade.
When your initial analytics don’t provide many insights into why bounce rates are high or traffic is slow, the split testing process can offer the info needed to progress your marketing efforts.
WordPress plugins let you implement the A/B testing structure without going through the work of creating duplicate designs with minor variations. You’ll receive insights into the areas that work and those that need improvement.
Use Exit Popups on Your WP Site
Interruption marketing has several advantages and disadvantages to consider. When a popup appears on a person’s screen, they get an opportunity to evaluate the offer.
Exit popups have a 2.9% conversion rate. Small businesses receive about the same percentage from their email marketing efforts.
Instead of blasting visitors with popups on every page or each time they switch away from a browser to a Word document, place this asset where your biggest returns are. When an exit popup is on your home page, there won’t be a disruption to the user experience.
Enable Comments
Sometimes, comments can feel like a mixed bag, especially when someone wants to troll your brand.
When you respond to comments, whether the information left is positive or negative, you’re showing people who you are. It’s a chance to build a community around the content you create, which typically leads to more traffic.
People want to trust the brands they include in their lives. Although spam can create slowing issues if it comes in large waves, you can install Disqus or a similar plugin that lets visitors log in and subscribe.
Akismet is a great tool to use in this category because it works to filter the spam from your posts.
Check for Broken Links
Search engines take note of any broken links found on your site. If you’re using WordPress plugins for SEO marketing, the results of their presence could cause the site’s rankings to take a hit.
Although you could check each link manually, a tool like Broken Link Checker lets you simplify the process.
After scanning your posts, you’ll receive a status report on each one. You can edit them from the dashboard, reducing the time it takes to correct this issue.
What Are the Best Marketing Plugins to Use?
If you’re ready to start taking your WordPress marketing work to another level, the following plugins have a proven reputation for delivering successful outcomes.
Each marketing plugin provides specific benefits that your brand and business could find useful when reaching out to new customers.
How Do the Best Marketing Plugins Help Me?
Mailster lets you send a beautiful email newsletter while staying in WordPress. It’s super simple to get started since you can import CMS or Excel data for your list. You can even create a new one from scratch. Several incredible templates are available, making it a straightforward process to match your brand and tone. Collect leads, build campaigns, and send with one of several integrations.
When you incorporate OptinMonster, you’re adding a popup plugin that generates leads effectively. You can boost subscriptions, grow your email list, and develop your sales funnels. Several design elements are included, such as slide-in forms and floating bars.
AIOSEO (All in One Search Engine Optimization) is on over three million websites because it lets you take care of various technical enhancements without needing in-depth coding knowledge. Advanced features are included, including smart schema markup.
SeedProd is an interesting plugin because it helps you make landing pages quickly. It integrates with numerous email marketing services, lets you set up 404 or coming soon pages, and comes with several templates you can use right away.
When you incorporate WPForms into your WordPress site, you can build several forms that help you do everything from creating payment opportunities to registration documents. Over 300 templates are available with this plugin. You can find user journey reports, track abandonment, and gain geolocation insights.
Uncanny Automator lets you create potent marketing workflows on WordPress while reducing the time it takes to complete tasks. This plugin works with over 70 others, allowing you to integrate Zoom meetings, tweet posts, or send text notifications from WooCommerce.
With Revive Old Post, you can engage more people on social media by sharing previous content. The plugin automatically offers links to older posts, incorporates hashtags, and gives you scheduling options to manage.
AdSanity simplifies your advertising management. You create ad units that are groupable, rotatable, and schedulable to maximize your outreach and earning potential. You can use it to sell ads directly or with advertising programs from Google and others.
With TrustPulse, you receive social proof to boost conversions. It displays the latest customer interactions on the website, such as subscribing to a newsletter or purchasing a product. It adds the fear of missing out to your sales funnel when used appropriately.
Are You Ready to Start Marketing with WordPress Today?
WordPress plugins are an under-utilized marketing option. When you incorporate these tools into your campaigns and overall plans, they become practical tools that lead you closer to your goals.
When you use the correct tools at the right time, whether you’re building landing pages or developing SEO, your WordPress dashboard becomes a one-stop destination that helps your business grow.
Before downloading a WordPress plugin for your marketing, please remember to do your due diligence to ensure it meets your needs.
- Does it have the features and tools to help you accomplish your goals?
- When was the last time it was updated?
- How many users have rated it, and how high is the rating?
Some plugins require more updates than others, but a good general rule is to use those that received an update within the past six months.
When you have these tools available, you’ll find that WordPress plugins are great for marketing.
