Running your own website can be a lot more work than you anticipated. WordPress, the leading platform for website management, offers users a workable interface with maximum customizability and the security needed by companies like yours. The default settings for WordPress are already far above those of their competitors, yet WordPress is not able to predict the extra add-ons that you or your clients might need. There are however, plugins, which you can use to cover the gap.

Plugins are available to provide each user with different specific functions. They can be customized for any business or industry and any type of website. Currently, WordPress supports a massive amount of plugins. The trouble is, not all Plugins are created equal. While some plugins are free, others are very expensive. Some plugins have incredible customization abilities and easy to use interfaces, yet some of them are minimal and are hard to operate. So, how do you sort through them all and find the ones that will work best for you?

Here are 5 of the best WordPress plugins currently available for business, in an easy to access list. Have a look and see if there are any that, you can begin using today!

WordPress SEO by Yoast SEO is a proven method for driving up your traffic and helping you expose your brand to others. Now, you can create quality SEO without having to use PPC marketing or expensive Adwords campaigns. Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress allows users to compare their information with Google’s hummingbird algorithm. This makes it easy to discover whether your site information matches up in the eyes of Google. Are your title, keywords and meta tags matching up? If they’re not SEO by Yoast will tell you exactly what you’re missing so that you can fix it quickly. Imagine content being organized so that you can manipulate search results in favor of your business, fairly. Using SEO by Yoast can help you achieve it!

MailPoet
Never neglect your emails again with MailPoet. A revolutionary way to send your newsletters and emails, this plugin is able to integrate your communications with your subscriptions within your dashboard so that you can monitor and review your messages. This plugin also has a great drag-and-drop interface and a custom auto responder. Using this plugin will help you eliminate WordPress stress and help you stay on top of your email campaigns. From interoffice communications, to B2B, this plugin is a great mail assistant that you shouldn’t be without.

jQuery Pin-It
This plugin is literally #1 when it comes to social-media plugins for WordPress. jQuery is able to give your website ‘pinnability’. This means that people who visit your site are now able to click your photographs for pinning directly on pinterest! No more fumbling with the pin-it! Button. One click allows your visitors to pin anything on your page they find interesting or valuable. You benefit from this by being shared on pinterest and growing your brand! Creating this link between your own site and this reliable content site is a potential goldmine for your sites traffic building ability.

ShareBar
ShareBar, explained simply, is a single bar of social media icons placed on your page that will allow your visitors to share your content immediately. It is compatible with almost every large social media platform including Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, StumbleUpon, Facebook, Reddit, Google+ and even email. You are also able to choose which of the platforms you want to show up on your bar. If you only want Google+ and Facebook links, then so be it! It’s customizable, easy to use and it’s a great way to drive traffic back to your site not just your social media pages.

Google Analytics+ Now you no longer have to travel back and forth from your site to the Google site to view your information. The Google+ Analytics plugin is able to organize all your Analytics within your WordPress dashboard so that you can see all the relevant information you need, when you log in. The display is incredibly user friendly and the data is easy to understand. You benefit from this because this information matters and you should have easy access to it. The data can be used to alter sales initiatives, create traffic campaigns or motivate new ideas for lead generation. Don’t ignore this information and let the insights go to waste! Use Google+ Analytics Plugin for an edge on your competitors who refuse to absorb their own data.

If I had to pick one more I would choose Akismet (or maybe Gravity Forms) because one of the most irritating things about running a website for your blogs, is the incredible amount of spam that seems to accrue on them. While bots, now, human interaction and the use of plugins usually did, spamming has attributed to even more spam than before. Akismet is the best plugin available for combating and defeating your spam. This combative spam blocker will make sure that your readers never have to sift through spam-filled comments. The trouble with spam comments is that they can cause your readers to stop reading, throw up the red flag and likely leave the site. They begin to question the validity of your posts and the security of your site. Use Akismet and negate these bad influences by being able to enjoy a site that’s spam free.

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