16 Best WordPress Plugins for Marketers

Are you a marketer trying to make the most out of WordPress? Recently, one of our readers asked us to recommend the best WordPress plugins for marketers. These are the plugins that can help marketers achieve their goals like increasing sales or traffic. In this article, we have hand-picked some of the best WordPress plugin for marketers.

1. OptinMonster

OptinMonster is the best lead generation tool available in the market. It allows you to capture email, boost subscriptions and conversions.

You can add beautiful signup forms without hiring developers. OptinMonster allows you to add signup forms in sidebar, after content, slide in forms, and lightbox popups.

It also comes with built-in analytics and A/B testing to optimize your lead generation efforts. It’s signature Exit Intent technology helps you convert visitors just when they are about to leave your website.

2. ThirstyAffiliates

ThirstyAffiliates is the best affiliate link management tool for WordPress. It allows you to manage your affiliate links inside WordPress, cloak links, and easily add them to your posts.

It also allows you to see how each affiliate link is performing on your site. You can also organize your links into categories. For more details see our guide on how to add Affiliate links in WordPress using ThirstyAffiliates.

3. WPForms

WPForms is the most beginner friendly contact form plugin for WordPress. It allows you to quickly create beautiful forms and add them to your WordPress site.

WPForms comes with an easy to use drag and drop form builder and ready to use templates. It is mobile friendly and highly optimized for speed and SEO. For more details, see our article on WPForms – the most beginner friendly WordPress contact form plugin.

4. Revive Old Post

Social media can be an important source of traffic for any website. Revive Old Post plugin allows you to engage users on social media by sharing your old content.

The plugin automatically shares links to your old posts to your social profiles. You can choose time between posts, use hashtags, include link backs and exclude specific categories or posts.

For detailed instructions, see our guide on how to how to automatically share your old WordPress posts

5. Subscribe To Comments Reloaded

Comments are probably the most powerful user engagement tool on any WordPress site. However, once a user has added their comment, there is no way for them to come back and checkout the discussion.

Subscribe to Comments Reloaded, allows your users to subscribe to comments on your posts. Users will get notification emails whenever there is a new comment on the post. It not only helps you gain more page views, it also helps users keep up with the conversation.

See our guide on how to allow users to subscribe to comments in WordPress for detailed instructions.

6. Inline Related Posts

Many websites display related posts after the end of an article. However, if you publish long form articles, then users will see related posts after scrolling the entire article.

Inline Related Posts plugin solves this problem by allowing you display related posts inside an article. Users are highly engaged during the middle of an article and are more likely click on similar content.

For detailed instructions see our guide on how to add inline related posts in WordPress blog posts.

7. Floating Social Bar

Social sharing buttons tend to slow down websites. Floating Social Bar allows you to add a social sharing bar on your website without compromising the speed.

It adds a horizontal sticky social bar to your WordPress posts. Floating Social Bar does not add tons of irrelevant social networks, it only supports the most popular social platforms.

See our article on adding a floating social share bar in WordPress for more details.

8. WP to Buffer

Buffer is an online service that allows you to schedule updates on your social media profiles on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. WP to Buffer connects your WordPress site to Buffer and automatically adds your blog posts to Buffer.

This allows you to save time spent on sharing articles on social media after hitting the publish button. For more details see our guide on how to schedule WordPress posts for social media with Buffer.

9. Title Experiments Free

Writing attention grabbing titles is the key to good web content. However, how do you figure out which post titles work better with your audience?

Title Experiments Free allows you to run A/B split tests for post titles. You can add multiple titles for a single post and the plugin will randomly show one of the titles to your users.

The plugin calculates the click probability based on how many times a title is displayed, and how often it is clicked by the users.

For detailed step by step instructions, take a look at our guide on how to A/B split test WordPress post titles to get more clicks.

10. Featured Image Optimizer

Just like post titles, featured images also play a crucial role in getting more clicks. Featured Image Optimizer plugin allows you to run A/B split tests for featured images.

Simply edit a post or create a new one. You will notice two new boxes for featured image A, and featured image B. Upload two different featured images and the plugin will start showing different featured image to different users.

See our guide on how to A/B split test featured images in WordPress for more details.

11. Yoast SEO

Search engines are the most important source of traffic for most websites. Yoast SEO is the best SEO plugin for WordPress. It allows you to add meta tags, open graph tags, xml sitemaps, breadcrumb navigation, and so much more.

It can also import your Google Webmaster tools data and comes with a file editor tool to edit robots.txt and .htaccess files in WordPress.

Follow our guide on how to install and setup Yoast SEO plugin with step by step installation instructions.

12. Adsanity

If you run a website supported by ads, then you will need a better way to manage ads in WordPress. Adsanity offers an easier and better way to manage ads on your WordPress site.

You can create as many ad units as you want and then rotate them, group them, or schedule them to maximize your earning potential. You can use it with advertising programs like Adsense or sell your own ads directly.

Check out our guide on how to manage ads in WordPress with Adsanity plugin for more details.

13. Envira Gallery

Images are the most engaging form of content on the web. You can easily add images to your WordPress posts without any plugin. But if you are going to share a lot of photos, then you need Envira Gallery.

Envira Gallery is the best WordPress photo gallery plugin in the market. It allows you to create mobile responsive, SEO friendly, and faster loading image galleries in minutes. You can open up gallery images in beautiful lightbox popups with thumbnail navigations.

For details, check our article on how to easily create responsive WordPress image galleries with Envira.

14. upPrev

Have you seen animated slide in menus for next or previous articles on popular websites like NYTimes? UpPrev plugin allows you to display those animated previous post menus in WordPress.

As a user scrolls down while viewing an article on your website, the plugin displays a slide in menu with the previous post. You can go to Appearance » upPrev to configure plugin settings.

By default it will show the previous post. You can change that to show previous post in the same category or tag. If you are using YARPP related posts plugin, then plugin can show a related post as well.

15. Quick and Easy FAQs

FAQs allow you to quickly answer common questions asked by your visitors. Adding a FAQs section on your website not only reduces the pre-sales queries. It also increases user trust and boosts sales.

Quick and Easy FAQs plugin allows you to easily add beautiful frequently asked question section on your website. You can easily manage questions and answers from a single interface and display them anywhere on your website.

See our guide on how to add a frequently asked questions or FAQs section in WordPress for more details.

16. Testimonials Widget

Testimonials help you add social proof from your existing customers. It builds confidence in your website and service and helps potential customers make decision.

Testimonials Widget provides an easier way to beautifully display testimonials on your WordPress site. It is easy to use and you can add it to any sidebar or widget ready area.

We hope this article helped you find the best WordPress plugins for marketers. You may also want to see our list of 10 best affiliate marketing tools and plugins for WordPress.

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.

The post 16 Best WordPress Plugins for Marketers appeared first on WPBeginner.

11 Best Sales Page WordPress Themes for Marketers

Are you looking for the best sales page WordPress theme for your marketing campaign? Sales page or landing page WordPress themes help marketers convert visitors into paying customers. In this article, we have hand-picked some of the best sales page WordPress themes for marketers.

Why and When You Need a Landing Page or Sales Page Theme?

Studies conducted by MarketingSherpa show that 48% marketers create new landing pages for each campaign and 68% of online businesses use multiple landing pages to generate leads.

If you are a business trying to sell products and services online, then you need a landing page designed to generate sales and leads.

A good landing page has a prominently displayed call to action, followed by a breakdown of features and unique selling points of your product or service.

It helps you avoid distracting web design elements such as sidebars, blog posts, etc. At the same time, it helps you add social proof like testimonials, social profiles, etc.

Combining a landing page WordPress theme with a lead generation software like OptinMonster can increase your leads multiple times.

Pro Tip: Not sure which theme to choose? See our guide on how to choose the best premium theme for your WordPress site.

Having said that, let’s take a look at some of the best sales page WordPress themes to boost your marketing campaigns.

1. Landing

As we mentioned earlier that successful marketers create new landing pages for each marketing campaign. Landing is a powerful WordPress landing page theme that comes with 25+ pre-designed layout.

It also comes with the Themify Builder which allows you to edit existing layouts using a drag and drop interface. You get multiple header types, so you can create countless landing pages with different styles and layout.

It has built-in features like a portfolio, testimonials, events, social media integration, and eCommerce support. All layouts are designed to be fully responsive and look equally great on retina devices as well.

2. Divi

Divi is a drag and drop theme and WordPress page builder. It is an extremely easy to use with 20+ layouts/templates for different kind of websites including landing pages.

You can create and save your own Divi layouts. You can also export a layout from one Divi installation into another. Divi also comes with tons of elements that you can drag and drop anywhere in your layout.

With this kind of flexibility, you can quickly create landing pages for your marketing campaigns. The best part about is that you can reuse your layouts on as many websites as you want and edit them just as easily.

3. Beaver Builder

Beaver Builder is the best drag and drop page builder plugin for WordPress.

It comes with ready to use modules and templates which allow you to create as many landing pages as you like. All templates are fully responsive and look great on any device.

The best part is that it works with any WordPress theme. If you have an existing website, then you don’t even need to change your theme to create awesome landing pages.

4. OnePage

OnePage is a WordPress landing page theme with a drag and drop page builder. It features a fully responsive layout with beautiful ready to use layouts.

Apart from the usual features, it comes with Twitter feed, Pricing table, testimonials, portfolio, and clients sections. It also has parallax backgrounds, built-in slider, and CSS3 animations.

5. Moesia Pro

Moesia Pro is a landing page WordPress theme for business websites. It comes with a drag and drop page builder with different content blocks. You can add and arrange the blocks to easily build your homepage.

It features a fully responsive modern layout and comes with slider, Google fonts, contact page, etc.

It also allows you to easily add services, testimonials, clients, portfolio and social profiles. The page layout uses CSS3 animations which makes your landing page much more engaging.

6. Parallax

Parallax is a modern landing page theme with 40+ ready to use layouts. All layouts are fully responsive and can be easily edited with a drag and drop builder.

Parallax features fly in elements, parallax backgrounds, portfolio, and team sections. It has easy to add animated progress bars, list and grid layouts, and infinite scroll. You can also add image filters like sepia, grayscale, and blur to your images without using Photoshop.

7. Sydney Pro

Sydney Pro is a modern WordPress landing page theme featuring full screen background and fully responsive layout. It comes with five extra templates each with different layout so that you can create as many landing pages as you need.

It comes with full screen video background support which allows you to create highly engaging page headers. Sydney has built-in slider, custom widgets, portfolio, clients, team, and testimonial sections.

8. Roxima

Roxima is a beautiful landing page theme for business websites. It is fully responsive and comes with multiple custom widgets and layout choices.

Roxima comes with built-in about, services, portfolio, client, and team sections which can be easily added to homepage using drag and drop. Theme also features multiple layout choices with endless design possibilities.

9. OneEngine

OneEngine is a one page WordPress theme that can be used as a sales page or landing page. It allows you to easily build your page and add custom sections.

It has a modern design with sections to add your portfolio, testimonials, services, etc.

10. The Launcher

The launcher is a free landing theme for upcoming product launch. It can also be used as a regular landing page for your products or services.

It comes with easy customization options, call to action placement, sticky menu, clients section and pricing table. It is fully responsive, SEO friendly, and compatible with WooCommerce.

11. Illdy

Illdy is a free responsive WordPress landing page theme that can also be used on a business website. It allows you to easily create your landing page using theme customizer.

It comes with about, services, testimonials, projects, and teams sections. Theme comes with its own free companion plugin which adds additional functionality to your theme.

That’s all for now. We hope this article helped you find the best sales page WordPress theme for your website.

Ready to Start Your WordPress Website?

You may also want to check out our guides on:

• How to choose the best WordPress hosting?


• How to Install WordPress (Step by Step)


• How to Start a Blog – Step by Step for Beginners


• 24 must have WordPress plugins for business websites.

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.

The post 11 Best Sales Page WordPress Themes for Marketers appeared first on WPBeginner.

Google+ Communities: An Untapped Gold Mine For Social Media Marketers

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When talking about social media marketing, discussions often focus on decisions about promoted tweets and Facebook ad campaigns.

But how much do you consider Google+ to drive marketing ROI?

I’m not talking about crafting an eye-catching author bio, promoting your Google+ page, or increasing your circles – although those matter, too. Rather, I’m talking about an aspect of Google+ that is often overlooked by social media marketers…

Google+ Communities.

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Google+ Communities offer a great opportunity for marketers to engage, network and promote businesses. With href="http://www.convinceandconvert.com/social-media-strategy/what-every-marketing-department-needs-to-know-about-google/" target="_blank">over 150,000 communities and continuously growing members, it’s about time that you start giving Communities a serious thought.

Types of Communities on Google+

There are two types of Communities you can join/create – Public and Private.

Public Communities: Allow you to post content that can be seen by everyone; the doors can be kept wide open, or you can set the community as ‘ask to join’.

Private Communities: Just like Secret Groups on Facebook, the content in private communities can only be viewed by members. The ‘Search’ function can be used to hide the community.

A community can’t be changed from Private to Public, and vice versa.

Interesting Communities for inspiration

Here are a few Communities making a big difference on Google+ – they’ll make you itch to get involved:

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This is the place to be for the web’s coolest creations, such as building your own WiFi network.

The projects posted in this community are links to how-to videos and web articles detailing DIY projects. It’s an inspiring idea for anyone running a DIY business (hint: make-up artists should take notes).

href="https://plus.google.com/communities/113173227677119032998" target="_blank">Startup Bootstrappers

Curious about providing bootstrapping advice on the web?

Maybe you should contribute to Startup Bootstrappers, where Saul Fleischman has done a great job. The community is a small group of dedicated Google+ members adding as much as they can to early-stage internet applications. It’s a great place to get your feet wet in the startup world.

href="https://plus.google.com/107078594202276854162" target="_blank">Places to See Before You Die

This is one community that is really offbeat and makes you want to come back for more the next day. It’s filled with imagery of the most exotic, wonderful and strange places that you would want to visit once you see the pictures. In terms of promotion, any photographer or travel enthusiast will find this community inspiring.

href="https://plus.google.com/communities/106915298837080075501" target="_blank">Social Media 4 Good

Performing good deeds with social media seems like a lonely crusade, right? It doesn’t have to be when a passionate tribe of like-minded individuals are willing to back up your endeavors… or at least motivate you towards the cause. Inspired by the mind of Gabriel Reynoso, this community talks about the association of social media and cause marketing.

What experts/influencers/industry leaders have to say about Google+ Communities?

Communities solve the stage fright problem with Google+. If I post something in a community, it feels far less consequential. Posting publicly in a stream can be unnerving, like talking about your steak dinner in front of people you suspect might be vegetarians.Posting in Communities, on the other hand, is like talking about a book at a book club, talking about sports in a sports bar or talking about tech at a tech trade show.

href="http://www.computerworld.com/article/2493960/social-media/what-s-so-great-about-google--communities-.html?page=2" target="_blank">Mike Elgan on Computerworld.

Participating in Google+ communities can be a terrific way to gain exposure for yourself and your business. The great thing is that unlike Facebook pages or LinkedIn company pages, you can use your Google+ page just like you would your personal profile to create, join, and engage in communities.

href="https://blog.kissmetrics.com/2013-google-plus-guide/" target="_blank">Kristi Hines on KissMetrics

Like any other area of social media, these communities are hugely important in terms of interaction and relationship-building. There is value in digging into these places daily, posting your most relevant and well-timed information, and being available to comment and give back to the conversation.

href="http://blog.bufferapp.com/advice-on-growing-a-google-page" target="_blank">Kevin Lee on Buffer Blog.

By mining your Community’s content, you will gain a better understanding for how people talk about your company and its products. Their phrases and words can be incorporated into your marketing communications, your SEO, etc. I remember when I presented to Scott Cook, the Founder of Intuit. He would always say “don’t tell me the numbers, share the verbatim”. In other words, he wanted to know what were people saying and how they said it.

href="http://blog.hootsuite.com/reasons-to-use-google-plus-communities/" target="_blank">Scott Wilder on HootSuite

Getting started with Google+ Communities

Now you have the basics on Communities and the benefits they offer, let’s look at the steps that will help you get started using them, especially in relation to your social media marketing strategy:

Discover your ideal community

There isn’t a directory to discover relevant communities; you need to log in Google+ first and then click on ‘Communities’. This section will include ‘Recommended Communities’ (based on your Google+ circles) and any community invites you’ve received.

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The ‘Community Search’ bar is the most useful tool; you can search for communities by the topic/niche you’re interested in and choose ‘Communities’ in the drop-down menu. After you’re discovered your desired community/communities, click the ‘Join Community’ button. The best way to discover communities for your business is to search for topics your target audience is interested in, or search for keywords important to your business. Then you can start contributing useful posts in these communities.

Or create your own Community

If you’re a big corporation or have a big social media marketing department, you can slam dunk Google+ with your own branded community. In the Communities section, click on ‘Create a Community’ button. Then choose whether it would be a private or public community.

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Next, add a tagline and a unique profile and cover photo for your community. These needs to be consistent to your brand and should be eye-catching. Community names can be edited and changed later.

Tip – when you select a tagline or community name, choose keywords that people may use when searching for your business.

Now select ‘Edit Community’ and fill in the ‘About’ section with the description of your business. This can include your business address and phone number (if there’s any). Hyperlinks can’t be inserted in the About section, but you can still include your site’s URL. If you’re marketing a local business, you can ‘Add Location’ by choosing the option below the About section.

 

Moving on, you’ll want to include categories specific to your business. Follow these engaging post categories for the best results:

• Introduce yourself
• Contribute something new
• Help needed
• Discuss/Chat
• Questions
• Tips & Tricks
• What we don’t know
• Industry news

These categories will engage anyone who joins your community.

With any community, you can set up some roles on what you will allow (or not allow) to prevent spam and moderate discussions.

If you need help with moderating discussions and flagging spam, you can ‘assign a moderator’, which can be a random community member or someone on your team using Google+. A rule of thumb is to pick a moderator who is an active participant.

Actionable tips to drive engagement in G+ Communities

1. Post your own and curated content

People will expect your brand’s unique insights and expertise on the topic. So be sure to keep it well-stocked with the best content. Think of approaching is as a targeted email list of your prospects and customers. They expect you to contribute all the time. Neil Patel on QuickSprout advices href="http://www.quicksprout.com/2014/02/14/how-to-increase-your-google-engagement-by-281/" target="_blank">posting the most popular content at the best times, such as sharing videos related to your business on Fridays. Quotes, images and GIFs are some other popular content types. Hashtags can also complement some of the content.

2. Use the community to offer customer service

Your community can become a forum where not only your team handles customer queries and issues, but other experienced participants and fans can pitch in to help with answers, saving you money and time. In this case, you can get close friends on board with helping to grow and manage the community as a customer service platform.

3. Participate in discussions

Communities are all about discussions; participate in them to href="http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/blog/socialmedia-marketing/the-top-7-mistakes-in-google-engagement/" target="_blank">drive engagement. Join other communities and get to know other businesses and influencers through participation. You can ‘+mention’ anyone by name in community discussions to let them know you are engaging them in a conversation. Try out different communities, but don’t spread yourself too thin, or you’ll have a hard time identifying people who benefit your business.

4. Add some emphasis to your posts and updates

It’s a great tip from href="https://twitter.com/AmyLynnAndrews" target="_blank">Amy Lynn Andrews: just *follow this’ for follow this. Just_follow this_ for follow this.

Bold, italicize and add strikethrough to add some emphasis to parts of your updates and posts, just as you would do in emails, blog post promotions, and other content marketing campaigns. You can also use the bold command on titles to make them stand out even more.

5. Use Hangouts

href="http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/hangouts-and-communities-road-google-engagement-infographic" target="_blank">Google+ video Hangouts offer a wonderful way to add more intimacy to real-time connecting. There are many creative uses of Hangouts, such as: live product demonstrations, eight-hour concerts, live cooking… the possibilities are endless. With community members, you can have interesting conversions, meetings and discussions; being more visual and having a voice will let you build even stronger relationships. An integration with YouTube makes it possible to have an archived replay ready when the Hangout is over.

Over to you

If you want to start with Google+ communities, the above tips and insights are as good a place as anywhere. The great thing about these communities is that they are flexible enough for users to come with creative ways to use them (that even Google+ founders never dreamed of).

What has been your experience so far with Google+ communities? Have you tried any of the above advice? We’d be real interested to hear what you have to say.

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