If you need to add more functionality to your WordPress website, you can most likely find a plugin to do so.
For example, some optimize caching, which speeds up your site. Others enable you to monitor user behavior so you can spot suspicious activity. Tens of thousands more functionalities are available in the WordPress Plugin Directory.
With so many options available, deciding which plugins to use can feel overwhelming. This is why we’ve put together a list of free and premium plugins every professional WordPress website should have.
When you subscribe to one of Pronto’s Website Support plans, your subscription includes pro versions for 4 of these plugins so you don’t have to pay extra for them.
In this post, we review 7 of the best WordPress plugins for small business websites. For each, we’ll explain what it does, then discuss its key features and pricing. Let’s go!
1. Elementor
If you’re not technically savvy, Elementor is one of the most helpful plugins for creating your website. This page builder lets you edit your site with ease without having to touch a single line of code.
Key features include:
- Live page builder
- Drag-and-drop interface
- Pre-designed templates and blocks
- Over 40 widgets
- Shadows, overlays, animations, and other effects
Elementor is free and includes the above features. However, if you want to kick it up a notch, Elementor Pro is available starting at $49 per year.
2. Gravity Forms
Gravity Forms is an all-in-one solution for building professional forms. It makes it easy for your customers to get in contact with you regarding sales questions or support requests.
Gravity Forms’ features include:
- Intuitive visual editor
- More than 30 ready-made form fields
- Add-ons for surveys, quizzes, polls, and more
- Integrations with popular services such as MailChimp, PayPal, Slack, and others
This is a premium plugin, but you can try the Gravity Forms demo for free. There are three different licenses available, starting at $59 per year.
3. Yoast SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a critical part of WordPress site management. Yoast SEO simplifies the process of refining your website content for search. It lets you specify a keyword for each page and post, then offers suggestions for how to improve it to adhere to SEO best practices.
Yoast SEO’s key features include:
- Keyword optimization
- Title and meta description templating
- Readability checker
- Content insights
Yoast SEO is free to use. However, there is also a premium version with advanced features, with licenses starting at $89.
4. WP Rocket
WP Rocket is one of the most popular caching plugins out there. It can help automatically boost the performance of your website through compression, pre-loading, and more.
Key features include:
- Page and browser caching
- Cache and sitemap preloading
- GZIP compression
- Database optimization
- Content Delivery Network (CDN)
WP Rocket is a premium plugin. Licenses start at $59 for one website and include a year of support and updates.
Read our article on WordPress performance for more tips on how to speed your site.
5. WooCommerce
If you want to integrate an online shop with your WordPress site, WooCommerce is a must-have. This popular and powerful plugin lets you sell both physical and digital products, ultimately transforming your business site into a fully functioning e-commerce storefront.
WooCommerce features include:
- Storefront page templates
- Flexible and secure payment gateways (Stripe, PayPal, Square, etc.)
- Automated tax calculations
- Order management system
The core WooCommerce plugin is free. However, if you want to get the most out of it, there are a plethora of premium extensions to choose from.
Read our Stripe vs. PayPal comparison if you’re looking for more detailed information on which payment gatweway for WooCommerce to use.
6. Akismet
Akismet is a spam filtering plugin that helps keep your site free of unwanted user responses on your content. It moderates your blog posts’ comments to make sure they’re all professional and legitimate.
Do you need help implementing and designing your custom online store with WooCommerce? We can help! Check out our eCommerce Design & Management service, to learn how we can take the hassle out of implementing WooCommerce for you.
Features include:
- Automatic comment checking and filtering
- Discard option to block spam and save disk space
- Ability to review comments from the admin screen
This plugin has over 5 million active users and a 4.5/5.0 star rating, which is a testament to its usefulness. Plus, it’s completely free.
7. Activity Log
When you’re managing your business website, it’s important to have a way of monitoring its activity. Activity Log makes doing so easy. This plugin tracks key activities in WordPress so you’re aware of who’s doing what and if someone is trying to hack your site.
Activity Log features include:
- Ability to see site activity and updates as well as suspicious behavior
- Email notifications for events
- Activity log exporting
Activity Log is a free plugin. It works directly out of the box and doesn’t require any setup or configuration.
Conclusion
Despite how powerful WordPress is by default, certain features that facilitate some vital business and administrative tasks aren’t included. You’ll need to use plugins to implement SEO, spam management, performance and speed improvements, and more.
To recap, here are 7 plugins your business website will benefit from having:
- Elementor to make building your site quick and easy.
- Gravity Forms so you can add contact and other forms with ease.
- Yoast SEO for optimizing your site’s content.
- WP Rocket to add automatic caching and other performance-enhancing features.
- WooCommerce to add e-commerce functionality.
- Akismet for spam filtering and management.
- Activity Log to monitor your site’s user activity.
Do you have any questions about the WordPress plugins we’ve included in this list? Let us know in the comments section below!