A well-versed web developer/designer such as you already knows that WordPress is one of the most frequently used free content management systems(CMS). From simple websites to blogs, applications and enterprise websites, WordPress can handle them all with much ease. Thus, it’s not much of a surprise that WordPress powers more than 24% of the web.
WordPress: A Developer’s Paradise
Why, you ask? Firstly it is an open source CMS which comprises of a huge community of free and paid solutions that you can integrate with applications. Secondly, the WordPress APIs help you create plugins and thus extend WordPress by adding them to the plugin repository. Since its open source, you have the liberty to do whatever you like with the WordPress code making it highly versatile and flexible for your utility. If you’re a newly blooming developer/designer, WordPress is the place for you owing to its sense of simplicity. Here are a few reasons why:
- Flexibility – Create anything you want; personal blog, website, a business website etc
- Easy Installations & Upgrades – Web Hosts like ourselves provide one-click WordPress installations
- Themes – Countless themes. If they are not in accordance with your taste, you can always customize and upload your very own theme
- Simplified Media Management – Easily upload images and other media onto WordPress integrated with image editing tools
As I mentioned above, WordPress is like an ocean of plugins. So the list of things you could do with WordPress is unfathomable. Even though you may be an avid web developer or designer, there are high chances of you missing out on a few plugins or integrations that could truly make matters less taxing and more lucid. You could check them out below. Here is a segregated list of some exciting plugins I came across that you must have a look at:
Social Media Marketing
- CoSchedule – You should rely on this tool for editorial changes on your blog, social media scheduling coupled with an all-in-one Marketing Calendar, Evernote, Google Docs, Chrome Plugins etc.
- Social Marketing Smart Bot – Helps you automate your social media updates and proves that posting updates at the right times gets you better results
Mobile App Builder
- WordApp Mobile App Plugin iPhone & Android – Publish apps to Google Play Store & App Store, monetize you mobile app with Adsense
- Reactor – Helps you build mobile apps with deep WordPress Integration, social media integrated with stats, push notifications etc.
E-mail:
- Outstanding Bar – E-mail list builder that integrates with Mailchimp
E-Commerce:
- WP e-Commerce – Multiple payment gateway integrations; PayPal Payments Pro/Express, Google Wallet etc. SEO ready with Google Analytics integration
- WooCommerce – One of the most popular plugins that is built with developers in mind.
These are just a handful of suggested plugins that managed to intrigue me. Like I said earlier, WordPress is open source and so are most of the plugins. If you have legitimate experience on your hands, you could improvise on these plugins with bug fixes and enhancements. In case you are still blooming, keep your plugins open source so that more experienced developers could help you out. You could check out more plugins in case you’re looking for something else. Have any other plugins that you think need to be on this article? Feel free to share your thoughts.
Greetings! Very useful advice in this particular post!
It’s the little changes that will make the largest changes.
Thanks for sharing!